Bassman68

I have a Bartolini booster pre-amp (can't remember the model number) in my MIM jazz V. I find it brings the volume up nicely to the level of other active basses i use, with a slight bass & treble boost, really rounding the tone off nicely. That fits directly in the original routing space along with the required 9v battery. With the tone control at 10, i can get that 'classic' Marcus slappy jazz sound but rolling the tone back doesn't make too much difference 'til about 3/4 when the 'mud' sets in. It could be more of a tone pot/resistance 'thing' i suppose but i can live with it, when i need that JB tone.

MDF was used in construction of Trace cabinets before Kaman took over...I was building them back in '91! & breathing in that sh*t. Pretty much all Trace cabs with the 'variable' tuned ports were constructed with this material (to my knowledge?). The best cabs IMO were/are the earlier MK V's & before, that were made of ply-wood with proper internal bracing & porting, anyone that's picked up a MK V 1048 would know why they were so heavy! they were also filled with an accoustic foam/lagging type material that was visible through the narrow porting slots, i don't know how much help this had on the sound but, to me, always exuded an air of 'quality'.... From the series 6 onwards kevlar impregnated Celestion speakers were used on all the range, prioir to that, a mixture of Celestion & Fane speakers were used, Fane being used for the 15''s with the silver speaker surround & Celestions for the 10''s, with the occasional PD (Percussion Dynamic?) used for the 15''s (fantastic speakers similar to the also occasionally used E.V), If you can find a 1518 with one of these in you'd hear what i mean. I think Trace went with the carpet covering as it come 'in vogue' with most speaker cabs in the mid-90's, a good tip if you have an earlier vinyl Trace cab is to clean it up with some black shoe polish to get rid of light scuffs, it's what they did at the factory before shipping! Lastly if you want to match up 'period' cabs, earlier cabs like MK III,IV's had chrome corner protectors & MK V's had black ones, & i think i can recall from series 6 onwards they had screen printed logo's...

Warwick seem to give everyone & his dog a bass! except me of course, i've only been playing them for 17 years & have 4 of 'em.... Then again i don't play metal & come from the USA or Europe ( As in most of their adverts!) I'm not bitter!............................................................................................Hone st!

I like it & for [b]that[/b] price it was an absolute steal. I would prefer some smaller machine heads & different control knobs but that's just personal choice...

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='765493' date='Mar 5 2010, 07:01 PM']Hell yes, people liked listening to it when I did it in the 80's. In the 90's it was a bit ho hum and now I don't do it much at all, but slapping is still a good way of finding out what the bass can deliver in terms of attack and frequency response. I stand unashamed. In twenty years time what questions will be asked of how we play now?[/quote] Yeah, go on...I'll hold my hand up too! Either Monkey business in Romford or The bass centre in Wapping (when they were still upstairs). Reckon they'll be asking what shoes we gazed at? in 20 years, either that or what Wooten lick we ripped off!

Deffo not an Alembic, they don't make bolt on necks! Either a piece of 80's jap exotica or a small time luthier paying tribute to san-francisco's finest. I remember a luthier called KGB but it's not one of them.

And what frequency is channel 38 on? 'cos i have UHF guitar, Mics & I.E.M systems to deal with!

[quote name='neilb' post='763226' date='Mar 3 2010, 06:44 PM']Thought so. Im Chas's mate and i know Lumby well...too well really!!! regards mate. Neil[/quote] Who don't? LOL! Good to hear from you mate... Gizza PM let's catch up!

Something like a LM2 or LM3 (both 500 watts) paired up with front ported 4x10 & 1x15 STDhf cabs would be equivalent BUT will sound different. Markbass has less of a 'signature' sound than your Trace gear, a lot more 'transparent' sounding but in a musical way. You can still get that Trace pre-shape sound with the MB VPF filter control, pretty much maxed out. I found when i changed to MB gear that all my basses sounded different. Not in a weired way, just they sounded almost DI'd, very natural (if that makes sense?) but then again i had been using an Eden rig for 8 years & had probably got used to that sound. You'll certainly notice the difference in weight, I love my stack & don't groan at the prospect of stairs at gigs, these days!

Might be able to get a Warwick Rockbass 'Nighthawk' streamer for that sort of money....

[quote name='Merton' post='762520' date='Mar 3 2010, 07:38 AM'] What did you do for them?[/quote] Sawmill/wood shop..routed all the cabs & amp cases. Nothing exciting really, prior to that i worked at Status, from the end of the series 3000 line to the introduction of the energy. series.

[quote name='neilb' post='762179' date='Mar 2 2010, 08:13 PM']Stevie L?????[/quote] Fraid so mate

[quote name='Merton' post='760643' date='Mar 1 2010, 12:42 PM']Careful with your history... Gibson took over after the GP12X preamp, not the SMX preamp, that wa sa Kaman era and widely regarded as the last "good" Trace. Pedantic, I? [/quote] Doh! & there was me working for them when Kaman took over! just couldn't remember the name, no wonder all these Ovations & Hamer guitars kept appearing. I left shortly afterwards

The mirrored P-pick up configuration was a favourite of John Entwistle & many of his latter basses had them. I am fortunate enough to own a Warwick Streamer from his collection that has this configuration & it sounds excellent although a P pickup in the bridge position just sounds like a meaty J to my ears.. [attachment=43797:streamer.jpg]

As stated AH stands for amp-head, GP stands for Graphic-Preamp in all their guises... Just remember as far as power, Trace are notorious for under-rating their outputs especially in their earlier models i.e MKIV, V'S & 6's! Find one of these models & you're on to a winner, IMO i wouldn't bother with the latter SMX lines when the likes of Gibson etc took over, although the latest range seems to get great reviews.

.................Steps forwards, unzips anorack, holds up hand................Yes & i'm not ashamed! I like when it happens to me, makes a change to be noticed although i always feel happy to go unnoticed, makes me feel like i've done my job properly & i've played well. The usual attention/talking point concerns if i've switched the LED's on my Alembic & i get the ''Cor that looks flash mate, how much did that cost?'' but i tend not to have them on that often, depends on the stage lighting or if the rest of the band ask me to, it does feel a bit cheesy some times. My most recent comment was at a gig where the guitarists had half stacks & i had my MB & 1X15 traveller & the guy commented how the bass really cut through well, he thought i had brought my practice amp! I just couldn't be arsed to lug my 4x10 in the rain, so did the load/unload in one trip.

Neither of the cabs look genuine Trace cabs. The handles are wrong, the porting is wrong on the 1x15 & the 2x10 has been 'pimped' with red stripes...Allthough it does look like a trace 2x10, the handles have been added along with the stripes, deffo not a 1153 cab or a 1518.

These Washburns were basically an all wooden series 3000 Status with the same single tone control (ps1 board i think). I used to work for Status when these came out! They were a good introduction to Status but didn't 'quite' have 'that' sound (the graphite neck makes all the difference IMO). The biggest problem with these basses was the fact that they had a phenolic (carbon/plastic) fingerboard, like the real thing, but when the wooden neck shifted the fingerboard didn't, resulting in some real dodgy,rattling basses. If you can find a good one, you have a fantastic bargain status bass.

[quote name='bass5' post='751171' date='Feb 19 2010, 05:45 PM']Did you try fitting a new battery?[/quote] I've had the bass for the past 14 years, think i'd know when the batteries were getting low thanks... Have considered the Warwick forum but seems to full of teenage americans with rockbasses these days, who are into 'metal'! Not knocking the forum, just thought i'd try on here first.... I just want to get my slap sound back & weighing up options to 'pimp' the bass up a bit. It's a versatile bass that has sentimental issues for me. I know it weighs a ton on my shoulder but is one of my favourites...

Yes they do, in the new classic series. Oval scratchplate but only 2 band EQ. They look the bizz & i want one!

Help needed please. I have a 14 year old Warwick thumb 5 string that, i feel, has lost its tone. Don't know if it's just me but i've noticed the tone has changed over the years as the woods mature (?). The tone seems a lot 'darker' these days, the bass control is never boosted,otherwise the sound is too wooley, the mids seem to swamp everything, in a 'too broad' way (if i cut this, certain strings seem quieter) & the treble frequency seems almost too high (adding more hiss than snap!). So i'm looking at replacing the tone circuit, any suggestions? So far i've been looking at the Aguila 3 band & i like the idea of the switchable mids (push/pull). Anything else out there worth considering? I want to get the sound back to that 'throaty/burpy' growl...

Had a Metro combo & 2x10XL for 8 years, cracking gear if a bit heavy. Never let me down, blew 1 horn fuse in all that time. Just, eventually got a bit bored with 'that' authoritive Eden tone ( a bit bass heavy, even when eq'ed ). Dunno what's going on with the brand these days though? seem to be 'cheapening' the brand name, s'pose they have to appeal to a wider buying public...

Only a personal opinion but some people seem to change their gear more often than their underwear! I have 2 Markbass heads that i've used for the last 4 years (LM11 & LMK) & think they're great, Absolutely perfect for my requirements & have a very clean, true tone. And there-in lies the problem, i think, for some people..... My MB tone is fairly 'transparent' as i rely more on the individual tones of my basses... i.e my Alembic sounds like an Alembic, my Warwicks have 'that' growl etc. if that makes sense? I'm not suggesting that others are playing basses of 'lesser quality or tone' but, you kind of know what to expect when you plug a 'Precision' into a SVT (Bad analogy i know but you understand what i'm getting at?). One thing that took me a long time to understand was personal tone, everyone's is different, even using the same gear as a 'hero', what works for one player sounds like a wasp in a dustbin to someone else. Also there are a few manufactures out there now making these small/powerful heads, each with a different tone i.e a G.BENZ shuttle sounds different to a Eden to a MB etc with various extra functions such as comp/limiters, valve inputs, 3 band/4 band or graphic eq. I suppose it's what works for your bass & tone (whatever sound that is?, in your head or through your choice of cab) Other than that, i think we're all a bunch of fussy b*%$+#@'s with tone paranoia, when half the time we just need the one big volume knob on our amp to hear ourselves over the rest of the band!