kevham

I've had two of these over the years. Great sounding and fantastic for travelling.

That's a really good spec. Any idea on prices?

It all depends on your expectations I guess. The current V4 Reissued basses retail at about £300 new but you can pick them up for nearer £200. That is well below Squier classic vibe (£350). It is also well below the other budget contender the Sire P5 (£400). The Vintage neck, hardware, pickup and electrics all seem very robust and certainly compare favourably to any Squier or Sire I have played or owned. This bass plays nicely and sounds pretty good - it is definitely gig ready. I have seen these V4 basses used by touring bands. The thing that Iets this particular bass down is the naff 'relic' finish - it's not like an old beat up bass - it looks like a printed finish. However, the current Vintage V4 Reissued P bass has a much nicer gloss finish albeit you can only get black if you're left handed 🙄. Overall, I would certainly consider one if in the market for a 'budget' p bass - Squier, Sire or even Fender Player series - the Vintage may well be better value.

New bass incoming. Risky wee bid on eBay but it turned out to be a good one. Much better than the similar age Squier I had and a bit better than the Mexican Fenders I've had in the past. For less than a couple of hundred quid, it does make me wonder why I have spent thousands on some basses! Ok, the finish is a bit naff but the hardware and pickup are spot on for the money and it plays very well.

Fretless Status S2 on eBay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Status-Graphite-S2-Classic-4-String-Headless-Fretless-Left-Handed-Bass-Guitar-/124835083302?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0

The pickups aren't active but there is an active 'buffer' circuit which reduces signal loss and interaction between the pickups. The eq is a simple passive treble cut. I had the option of a John East active EQ circuit but I rarely use the active EQ on my other basses so chose not to.

More details: Body is swamp ash with a transparent red burst high gloss finish. I decided just to let the grain of the ash show rather than go solid. I'm glad I did because I think it looks great in the photos. Pickups will be PJ Overwater with volume, blend and tone. I toyed with the idea of getting an MM pickup in the bridge position but settled on a more 'classic' PJ layout. Hardware will be all black and I've specced a Hipshot extender (all my 4 strings have a Hipshot). The hardest choice was the pickguard. I still swing between black and red tort. I've settled on black but I could see me getting another one made up!

Has the new bass arrived yet John? Did you ever sell that WAL you had?

Some interesting basses there. I nearly bought a Retrovibe once. It was really nice and light, had a big fat tone and played great. I just didn't like the looks. I do regret not buying it though. I had one of the first Sire V7 - great sound and easy to play but the tuners fell to bits (literally) and it wasn't reliable enough to gig so it had to go. Hopefully they've solved that problem by now so I might get one of the short scale Sire basses to try.

Cheers. Neck is a flamed maple. Board is the darkest Laurel they had in the store. I decided to go for simple dot inlays.

Yes I went for PJ configuration for a bit more flexibility. It's an Overwater.

Because it is so hard to find decent lefties in anything other than bog standard colours or pay mahoosive amounts for a relic'd Fender custom shop, I decided to go for a UK crafted custom P-Bass a while back to get my dream bass and support British craftsmanship. Pics of progress so far. It's going to have a black scratch plate and black hardware. Neck will have a vintage tinted satin finish. Can't wait to get it and it will fill the p bass gap in my collection nicely.

Can't get more 80s than that. Status and a Trace. Classic. I picked up a Status S2 during lockdown. My dream bass when I was a kid.

I've been off basschat for a while. Just catching up with all the lefty news! My current wish list is: 1. Spector Bantam 2. Fender Aerodyne Jazz 3. Fender MIJ Precision I've got a new bass being built for me at the moment which has dented my back account severely so I might have to sell something soon....

Got yourself a Washburn Status. I've had mine since new in 1989. It is the one bass I will never sell.

This post reminded me i had a couple of videos on YouTube playing through the DP-3x with my son who is learning guitar. Here is one with my Spector (excuse the dodgy playing):

Fantastic. My kinda music. Riff driven, reminiscent of the music I loved as a kid. And, the unmistakable sound of a Spector!

I bought 2 jazz basses last year (including that Blonde one) and whilst I love the necks and the way the basses look, I have come to the conclusion they are just not for me. I can't quite explain why. I had a Stingray for a while and it was my number 1 until I got my Spector. I still would like a decent P-bass at some point.

That Jazz looks familiar...... 😉

I've just done it on my Two10. Easy enough job with a metal grill. Took me 20 minutes. I videoed it to show that any numpty can do it. Not sure how it is done with a cloth grill. My cab was a 12ohm version which simply has a capacitor across one of the drivers (this has to be removed when fitting the new switchplate). There are no other crossover electronics. I understand the 4ohm version has a different arrangement.