nilebodgers

There must be some bass amp that has a button labelled “thump” that does nothing but make a thump noise when pressed?

That is the Vbe bias transistor that sets the quiescent current in the output trannies. If it is dead and gone open circuit then the output trannies are almost certainly blown too as they are likely to have been turned on hard and pulled as much current as they can until the fuses blew.

On a more philosophical level it depends if you personally feel comfortable owning beautiful and expensive things over functional, but less high-end items. I think it may be a function of my upbringing, but I can't bring myself to own high-end basses or an expensive car even though I could afford them. It just feels wasteful and unnecessary. I top out on a s/h USA Fender and a s/h Skoda, that suits me. I've got no problem with other people buying whatever they can afford though, we all have to make our own choices based on our values. No shade thrown on the Fodera players from me.

Yes. They upgraded the pickups though from ceramic to alnico. I think everything else is the same.

Interesting topic this. Until I retired, I worked for a company that did total event production for large corporates, conferences and parties. For several years we did a large Xmas party marquee in one of the central London green spaces which presented lots of challenges. The noise limits were very difficult to meet and the function bands (top of the tree London corporate party bands) had to have as near a silent stage as possible so electronic kit, all iem, no brass etc. The stage and dance floor were located entirely within an large acoustically isolated box (back, sides, roof with an open front - using very heavy sound insulating sheets on a self-climbing ground support truss structure) and the sound reinforcement was designed to focus entirely on the dance floor (with a low level feed into the distributed background system throughout the marquee). The shows were independently monitored by acoustic consultants so there was no wagging it, the limits had to be observed. The bands that worked in this environment were totally pro about it and the sound limits just weren’t an issue. I don’t know whether they enjoyed playing, our crew never fed back to me that kind of detail, but I bet they enjoyed the money which was £lots. That wasn’t the worst noise limit, there was a marquee down on the Embankment (not done by my company) that had to line the entire marquee with lead-lined noise damping sheets and face it with bws walls and a starcloth roof. That was a massive and very expensive job, but the special kit was amortised over several years as I know they did it for at least 10 years.

I really like the sound of my J, but there is a thick grindy rock tone that a P does as standard that I can’t really get with the J. (assuming normal single coil pickups and wiring) On the other hand, when I try and play Jazz walking bass on my P it sounds just wrong.

I don’t know about the drinking, but I read something similar about his playing. It also said he never made mistakes, so the rhythm section was rock solid while Angus did his running around. The same article also said that Malcolm was the boss and if you didn’t play exactly what he wanted in the way he told you to, then you were out, no argument and no second chances.

Many moons ago when I lived in London I had some bass lessons from a guy that could play up a storm on the most complex jazzy fusion stuff. He was light years ahead of me in every respect. He invited me along to see a band he was playing with (at Ronnie Scott’s I think) and I was very surprised by how simple and elegant his playing was in that context. I was expecting a chops-fest, but he didn’t play anything that would have even stretched my ability. It was quite heartening really.

Normally 17th fret on P & J basses. (according to Fender factory outline spec)

You have a contract with the bride - she needs to sort it out with the other parties that are trying to vary it.

I always feel that the “how high should the action be” discussions are pretty futile as it is so personal. 2.3mm through 2mm E-G and 12-15 thou relief works fine for me with my moderately heavy hands and personal tolerance for buzzing and fret-slap, but someone with a light touch could undoubtedly go a lot flatter and lower. It would be unplayable buzz-city for me.

I like the idea of that check sheet.

Wow, that is pretty bad. It sounds like someone messing about demoing a bass in a music shop by playing a lick they haven’t quite mastered yet.

Yes, everything up to nut making and level and crown frets. I hope to progress on to refrets when I get a workshop again. I have a couple of guitar necks I defretted ready to practice on.

After a bit of time playing them, I'm really enjoying flats. The smooth slideyness is really comfortable to play. It's not a sound that would work for everything, but it sits well when the bass is required to be supportive rather than up front.

This is a cracking episode. I really enjoyed it. The thing that gets me about Rick B is that when he plays along he syncs exactly with the track so it sounds like he is on it. I wish I could do that!

Maybe a fraction higher for the flats, but close enough that the playing feel isn’t too different. I looked at the Rotosound string tension info and deliberately chose a slightly lighter set of flats than my usual rounds to keep the tension down. This is how it has played out in practice.

Yes - flush. Some of the aftermarket wiring looms don’t use the short bush length (6mm) pots though and the knob skirt ends up with a gap under it.

I stuck 40-100 Roto 77s on my USA Jazz and the tension feels pretty much identical to the 45-105 stainless rounds that were on there before. The truss rod didn’t need touching.

After my successful experience of just changing the G, I have followed through and put a full set of Rotosound 77 Jazz 40-100 flats on my J. Interestingly the neck didn’t move at all compared to the 45-105 rounds, so I didn’t even have to tweak the truss rod. I like them for doing the Jazz exercises I have been practicing, it’s a more mellow sound (and no finger squeaks) and the initial pluck of the note seems more prominent compared to rounds, so it’s a tip of the hat to the attack of a double bass.

I can’t listen to that snare (sample?), it’s really annoying.

That is not my comment quoted, my response to that mentioned the city&guilds testing course.

Lol. I always fancied a Shergold Marathon when I was a teenager, but that is comedy.

Gain is actually combined gain and master volume, you just turn it up until it is as loud as you need.

Lol. The plan for 2022 is just to stick a set of flatwounds on my Jazz and play it as a much as I can. I don’t need more gear.