Killed_by_Death

G'Day!

I used to have a Markbass 2x10" that I have regretted selling some days:

IME thinner pickup actually sounds thinner, IRL

The coils on a Precision for instance, have a wider aperture & noticeably 'fatter sounding that J-bass pickups.

That's what I love about Nordstrand's Big Singles, they have a fatter aperture (soapbar), but still have that single-coil 'stank'

I've had one of these a couple of years now & I still love it, tube timbre in a tiny lightweight package:

https://voxamps.com/product/vx50ba

A couple of years ago I was discussing how the local Fender dealer ceased being a G&L dealer.

I can't recall if the shop-owner gave me a reason, but he did say that when they got their first L-2000 he was loving it & decided he was going to keep the next one for himself.

When the next one arrived it wasn't as 'lively' as the first one.

I tried two L-2000 side-by-side at Guitar Center & one was definitely more alive than the other. I even brought home the one with the Ash body:

I've owned two SR300E Ibanez basses, one had the black hardware & just sounded OK. The other had a really stiff neck & sounded so good I think in a blind test I couldn't have identified it apart from my SR1800E with Nordstrands.

On 22/01/2021 at 07:28, glassmoon said:

what is the "Power Tap Switch"?  is that a coil tap or something completely different?

It's coil-splitting, but in a strange way to enhance the low-end response. I had a close look at the switch on my SR300E & there are Capacitors in there, the setting sounds like what G&L did with their OMG switch position, which used Capacitors:

top-left corner

both coils are still engaged, but with that Capacitive filter

8 hours ago, horrorshowbass said:

What are the Nordstrands like? I'm looking at getting a premium but not sure whether to go Aguilar or Nordstrand.

I also have a Premium Soundgear with Nordstrand Big Singles, the ones in the EHB are Big Splits (split-coil humbuckers).

The other day I was playing my SR1800E & noticing how 'raunchy' those Big Singles are with lots of Gain on my NuTube amp.

The Big Splits are quite close, but missing a little 'jangle' from the top-end, & not quite as 'raunchy', but you can use stainless strings on the EHB, because it has stainless frets.

That's my logic ATM, nickel-wound on the SR1800E (nickel-silver frets) & stainless round-wounds on the EHB (stainless frets).

If you don't want raunchy, get the Aguilars.

I believe I can get near a p-bass sound out of the EHB, by just blending to the neck & rolling back the treble-cut a little.

After-all, it is a split-coil pickup, similar to a p-style pickup:

Here is my SR1800E:

My EHB1500, The Most Comfortable instrument I've ever owned:

Well, there's a Fender repair guy 45 minutes away, so I doubt I'd ship it anywhere.

I prefer the ports in the rear, so the face of the cabinet can be smaller.

It's a commonly held belief that old instruments sound better.
Some even go so far as to say that being played for decades makes the wood align for a better resonance.

I don't think the same belief is held for amps. Being old doesn't necessarily make them sound better, but a lot of times the old designs are sought after....
but you also want to find that old vintage amp in near mint condition, LOL!@

The VFL pickups in these are active, which I believe is why it has two batteries.
I tried one out, but TBH it was too middle of the road for me. It had everything I wanted though, the neck-thru design, 24 frets, string-thru.
They even have dual-acting truss rods IIRC.

I've got a little Rumble that I use for bass as well as guitar. The gain & overdrive are actually hot enough to pull off pinch harmonics.
I think if the speaker blew I'd just buy a better Eminence driver for it.

Right now I'm realizing why I should have kept the original packaging

It's a Jazz, not a Precision.

Yeah, I know it's got Precision style pickups, but my old MIM Blacktop Precision had double Jazz humbuckers.

and the Jazz Blacktop had double Precision pickups: