itu

Many fibres are more than functional with resin: wood, glass, carbon... even paper (phenolic resin fretboards). 

https://www.daddario.com/globalassets/pdfs/accessories/tension_chart_13934.pdf 

If you want to try anything on top of a clean bass, use a X-over and push the higher frequencies with some dirt pedal(s). 

You can try ozone. The units are pretty cheap especially 2nd hand. Find a closet that is not in your apartment, and ozonize the case for few hours. After vacuuming, of course. If you can get a cardboard or plastic box that is slightly bigger than the case, the treatment is more efficient. Repeat once or twice. 

9 hours ago, prowla said:

This talk of shimming…

Doesn’t the bridge sit on the neck extension?

Yes, (No) this is a special construction where the neck extends to the bridge (which is NOT attached to the body, thank you for the correction). This isn't a neck through body, nor a bolt on neck as we usually understand it. 

2 hours ago, Mrbigstuff said:

It’s been debated before, but I think Fender body shape and split pickup in the conventional position covers the P bass definition. 

What has the body shape to do with the definition, if the pickup and its placement is the thing soundwise? Would an Adam Clayton gilt Warwick not be a P, because of the shape? (OK, the pickup is reversed, but still?) 

AI "music" is very clean down to perfection. There's no "fear" in the music anymore and it becomes muzak. If I could contaminate the material, I most probably would do it. 

A friend of mine has a 300 W Dynacord combo that I have tried to buy from him many, many times during the years. Excellent sound, a true workhorse. Has been in use since 90's! 

I would like to ask, whether it is the bass or the pickup? 

There seems to be lots of discussion about particular basses, although many of them share similar pickups (even in the same positions). This discussion is about the bass, although this could be about the pickup with basic hi-Z electronics (VT). Otherwise we may have to talk about the bass body, and neck specs, do we? 

Batteries should follow standards. 

But the production doesn't. 

Duracell used to have prismatic cells and therefore a slightly better capacity vs. volume. I do not know the exact situation at the moment. 

There's quite a lot of difference between a manufacturer and another: size, capacity, how the chemistry follows the load etc. I would like to say that Duracell is very good, Varta, Renata, Panasonic, and many other known brands very good. But as battery industry is about large numbers, any brand has a failure every now and then. No name brands from Aldi/Lidl/Coop/Ikea may be good, or not. They may use some good source, but as China is usually involved there, I don't want to use their products. 

Battery clips can be whatever. Sizes sure are not even close to standards, but up to manufacturers. Metal parts are usually quite soft, and contacts unreliable. Every time I change a battery, I check connections carefully. 

I don't tell which brand I use, but I recommend you to do some trials with the B. The best sounding gauge has been .120, and I have tried many. Find your favourite, that works with the bass and your fingers. 

If there is an eq, you can do it, if not, buy one. 

I do not know any eq box from modern tce. They had a 2 band parametric pedal back in the 80's, and a 4 band rack unit named as 1140/1144/2240 (HS). 

I liked the performance, especially the Fazioli hitter. Cello sound was very good, too. Nice combination of old and new. 

(Could someone buy the bassist a new set of strings, maybe?) 

An uneducated guess is that there are two opamps on the board (two times two parallel lines). There's some flux on the opamp contacts that can be cleaned with isopropyl alcohol (IPA, nothing to do with ale). Just in case you want to clean it. 

Just like: Scenic, safe, Renault? 

On 06/06/2025 at 00:00, tauzero said:

At about £30 a bass plus a tenner per guitar, that's about a thousand quid... 

That equals: 

B x £30 + g x £10 = £1000 

g x £10 = £1000 - B x £30 

B = 33 AND g = 1 

Solved. Could you share some pictures of your basses, that g-word sidestep is not of importance. 

pickups - blend (or vol) - vol - tone stack - output 

Any single part in this most common signal path can be hi-Z ("passive"), or lo-Z ("active"). Two most common solutions are that everything is hi-Z, or the tone stack is battery powered. Quite uncommon is to use lo-Z mixing (see: John East, Noll Mixpot, some preamp sets). 

Many basses may cost an arm and a leg, but if the chain is hi-Z, two, three pots and a cap cost under £2 to the manufacturer. (Some like that option, I don't.) 

All in all, consider something that works for you. There's a variety of possibilities available, so if the preamp thing isn't your cup of tea, there are other schemes than just VBlendT, or VVT. Add a suitable switch, and you may have a set of sounds that please you. Remove everything and go the Anthony Jackson road: a big mixing board sure is a powerful tone shaper. 

"I havent ever titlted it or put it on a stand off the floor as many say dont elevate it as you lose the bottom end." 

And you believe that before trying this by yourself? There's lots of talk out there. You don't even need any bottom end if the noise is already unbearable. 

@ikay : There's most likely a frame of some kind made of metal. That could explain the halo. 

I think you have a common problem. If you stand beside your amps (g, g, b) which are at your feet and point elsewhere than you ears = big trouble. 

Start from those g-word players: 

Amps against their own faces, and there will be less noise. This is so obvious that we tend to forget the simplest solution every now and then. It is not feasible to listen to the sound jumping from walls and other surfaces. It may also make the sounds better than everything cranked up. 

If you are able to keep your instrument at your lap, use the healthier hand to exercise. It may open up new things from the fretboard, strings, or the instrument. Do also exercises in your mind. I know a musician who had to stay in hospital for two weeks. During that time she learned most of a big composition just by reading the music. She said later that the last 10 % came from the physical training with the violin. 

Well, how about musically if literally isn't working?  

My teacher had a greenish Tobias 5 at the time they were built by the master himself. Cost an arm and a leg, but sound was nice. String spacing wasn't for me, 17 mm. Neck profile was special, asymmetric. Pretty nice, to be honest. 

@Rob MacKillop check also Tom Kennedy - Just Play! His recordings include standards. This particular record is played with a double bass. In others (Basses Loaded, points of view...) there's electric, too. 

I think Brian Bromberg has some standards played with a double bass, although he is more known because of his electric (and piccolo) work. 

EMG sold similar magnetic paper. I saw a magnetic window for 1" video tape in the early 90's at a broadcasting company. They used it to find the place for cutting the tape. 

Here's my Passion II with Benedetti single coils.