Funkfingers

Wot? This far into a thread and no mention of the Musicman Stingray? Fender-like feel. Magnetic pickup. Only the EQ is active. In my opinion, the two-band Bandaxall type sounds better than the three-band.

For the extra money, you would expect the wood in an American Fender bass guitar to be lighter and prettier than on the nearest equivalent Mexican or SE Asian lookalike. The other critical thing that your money pays for is the time and attention of an experienced finishing person. Here, I am thinking about tumbling of fingerboard edges and fettling of fret ends. Non-essential touches that make an instrument waaaaaay more enjoyable to use. Another significant difference is the technology that goes into full-on professional instruments. The "better" woods ought to make the neck less prone to bowing or twisting. I love the vintage appearance and feel of a Fender AVRI bass but there is no denying that the modern truss rod and graphite reinforcement construction of the American Elite, Professional and discontinued American Standard holds up better to the rigours of transportation and climatic variations.

The stock pickups on budget Yamaha, Cort and Ibanez bass guitars can be disappointing. Considering that you could probably find a pre-owned instrument for about one hundred Pounds, the remainder of your budget could go towards upgrades. An RBX260 could be given plenty of "attitude" by installing a Dimarzio DP146 Will Power Middle (Precision-style) replacement pickup. This is what I have in the blue bass in my current avatar photograph. In my opinion, it is incorrect to assume that two pickups automatically makes for more usefulness than just one. I get a great deal of mileage out of a modified (bottom-of-the-range) Yamaha Attitude Plus. Gotoh 201B bridge, Seymour Duncan APB-1 Pro Active Precision Bass pickup, Seymour Duncan STC-2C-BO Blackouts For Bass 2-band active EQ.

The Squier VM series is "crafted in Indonesia" at the Cort factory - just like numerous Ibanez, Schecter and, now some PRS SE instruments. Apart from the headstock shapes, the Cort Action, budget Ibanez SR and the old Squier MB4 are, to most intents and purposes, the same instrument. My other pre-owned bargain suggestion is Yamaha. Excellent build quality. Plenty of scope for upgrading the pickups and controls when you feel ready.

The pre-owned Affinity instrument at £129 makes a good starting point if you are not certain that you will stick at the instrument. The Vintage Modified series instruments are better in a number of respects. Try to find one of the older ones with Duncan Designed pickups. Obviously, other budget brand bass guitars are available. A surprising number of them are made in exactly the same factory as the Squier VM.

Passive Fender bass guitars normally come with 250kOhm pots. The ones in Squier VM series instruments are not of especially good quality. Upgrading to CTS pots may require the holes in the control plate to be enlarged.

I never managed to get my paws on that one. He was always trying to steer me towards some other, less desirable, beaten up Japanese item. One of my college contemporaries had a natural finish Shergold bass. I cannot recall whether it was a Marathon or a Modulator.

Was it part of a job lot sale from the warehouse of HarrySeven over on another forum that shall remain nameless?

Very Marmite. Some love 'em. Some despise 'em. Nothing else makes THAT sound. The wiring harness looks infinitely more robust than the last Hofner that I looked inside. (A Fifties guitar, as it happens.)

The Audere Audio Classic systems look interesting. Similar pots to MIG Warwick. Similar stacked Vol/Bal control concept, creating space for stacked multi-band EQ controls. Unfortunately, three band EQ with mid frequency shift did not seem to be an option. If all that the OP desires is the addition of an active two-band EQ, there are numerous brands that would do the job - even Warwick's own.

This. Me too. (Chair In The Door promotional tour.) Doug works the entire instrument to free up Vernon to solo.

My verdict was the other way around. Happy with the output, hugely disappointed by the tone. (I have even tried them through a Seymour Duncan STC-3P. Still unsatisfactory.) Similarly, I find the passive MEC Double J pickup in the Streamer Pro M to be like Mr. Anchovy in the Monty Python sketch, Vocational Guidance Counsellor - dull, dull dull. Desperately dull.

Duncan Designed pickups are manufactured in Korea. Their specifications tend to be loosely based on the American products but only loosely. For example, the long/Bridge four string Jazz Bass pickup yields a higher output than the SJB-1B, giving it a hint of that Jaco fartiness. In my opinion, the real problem with the Squier VM Jazz Bass V is not the pickups, it is the materials and the scale length. That low B string is never going to sound good. The DuncDes pickups should be okay if you were to tune to C# or D. Better still, go EADGC.

Yes. MEC Dynamic Correction J pickups and passive control harness out. Seymour Duncan Active EQ "switch" pickups in. EMG 157C Buss board, 2x EMG solderless B122rH Volume pot, 1x x2 B124rH Passive (Guitar) Tone pot. The harness is hard-wired at each end and goes solderless in the middle. The idea was that I could easily convert from VVT controls to any combination of MV, Balance and stacked knob active EQ. Turned out to sound so good that I have never felt any need to change anything. For your bubinga example, the regular Duncan/Basslines AJJ-1 pair would keep things bright and modern. (The old "switch" pickups are long since discontinued.) In my opinion, both the Duncan AJJ-2 Lightnin' Rods and EMG-JV replacement pickups will tend to sound a bit "soft" without active EQ to tweak the basic sound.

Not since the Autumn.

No but I have seen him play Grand Stick with a bow. (Stickmen perform an arrangement of Stravinsky's Firebird Suite.) The string tension and action on a Stick are both extremely low. Striking with a drumstick would, at the very least, cause fret rattle and probably bring the string(s) into contact with the pickup.

Thank you for the friendly welcome. My thread title is a feeble pun on a band name that involves Tony Levin. Funk Fingers is a registered trade mark name for those drumstick "finger extension" devices that TLev sometimes uses to play bass guitar. Contracting to one word avoids any possibility to litigation or confusion with somebody who was already using that name on a forum years ago.

Hello Basschatters, Yes. I am the same Funkfingers from The Fret Board and late of the Seymour Duncan User Group Forum and TMR.Zoo Message Board. I may already know of some of you from those other forums. If you are using a different ID here, please make yourself known. I shall save tedious equipment lists for another time.