Bassman68

I agree with Dazed about the body shape, but the headstock is reminiscent of 70’s Aria’s or even Kawai?

The old green Dod envelope filter certainly tested the bottom-end handling of your rig on certain settings? Mutron & Bassballs would be my recommendations

I seem to recall them having a 12ax7 in the preamp valve in the SMX series? Yours should be the same, best contact somewhere like Watford valves (if they’re still going?)

I’m hoping I can keep the pick-ups & wiring to the stacked volume pot. My bass also has side l.e.d’s so I don’t want to go ripping everything out? Hopefully I can keep the preamp 18v, along with the 3 extra 9v’s for the l.e.d’s?

MEC pick-ups & stacked treble & bass with separate mid control. Volume & pick-up pan on a stacked knob with pull switch for active/passive

Greetings one & all, I’m looking for recommendations The preamp on my 25yr old Warwick Thumb 5NT is starting to hum & buzz. As the woods have settled over the years, I’m getting less impressed by the 3 band MEC preamp. The bass is rather woolly & I find the treble frequency too high & unworkable. Has anyone replaced their preamp & what with? I quite like the aguilar 3 band with the switchable mids but a luthier friend of mine has also mentioned a Noll preamp. Your views please are appreciated..

Just been working my way through ‘Pet sounds’ by The Beach boys Carol Kaye & the gang were laying down some amazing stuff? It all came about through the dead strings on my ‘go to’ practice bass sounding perfect for that oldschool sound.

That’s the original GMT carbon replacement neck he got from Status?

Density & weight, I think? Swamp Ash is lighter than Ash in my experience..

Didn’t John Bentley (Sqeeze) play a TB? I seem to recall one in the “Cool for cats” video.. Another sighting was Alan Lancaster in a few Quo vids.

I’ve been after an Aria SB for a couple of years now & marvel at the prices these fetch, which surprise me given the retro style of these instruments ( I’ve was playing in an 80’s cover band pre-Covid). Whilst perusing the 80’s Japanese bass scene (Lived through it first time round, even had a JV Precision) another brand that struck me was Ibanez, especially the Roadster series.. I’ve played a few in my time & was always impressed with the build quality, Solid bolt-on necks & quite often DiMarzio pick-ups with good hardware, Often being overlooked in favour of the more sought after (& higher priced) Musician series. But whilst mention of vintage Squiers, what about the other Fender stylings of Tokai & let’s not forget the rest of the “Lawsuit” Jap basses that brought about the reason for Japanese Fenders/Squiers? Some of the build quality was awful but there were some nice alternatives out there? Even prices of these must have at least doubled/tripled in their time?

Just thought of another that I’ve seen a price increase in... Squier bullet basses What’s going on there?

The original Musicman American made S.U.B basses seem to be holding their value these days? I’d be interested in how the first Sterling by Musicman Ray 34/35’s fair... German built Warwicks pre 2000 took a dip but seem to be climbing again? But these are mostly for personal/selfish reasons as I have a 10 yr old SterlingRay 35 & 4 pre 2000 Warwicks (Not that I want to get rid of any of these basses yet) 😉

When I’m feeling in a ‘Pino’ mood... ‘87 Ray, Just add an octaver & chorus