itu

A preamp may have some or many of the following features: - active mixing (instead of two vol, or blend) - bass -middle - treble - semiparametric eq - filter - tilt eq - individual adjustments for two pickups or coils On top of that there may be: - ser/par/single switching for pickups or coils - pickup selector - passive, or rather, hi-Z switch - hi-Z tone During the years some effects have been built to basses, like fuzz, and comp. Even a headphone amp. List the feats you want, and we can try to recommend something suitable to your bass.

@spyder: two more to reach 5.

Use a name tag Björn Svensson. Tape the bass with a SAAB or Volvo or Bahco logo, and the amp with an SSAB. SSAB is a metal company, as far as I know. If I remember right the bass string core comes from Sandvik.

...or disco lights.

I can see tin, and components, but the iron has been cold on the table.

I think - although not my idea - that a good sideman is far more important than a flashy soloist. It may even be so that a flashy soloist can be a lame sideman. Such a player may not be the best bandmate.

In Japan people do pronounce R very close to L, which they do not even have in their kanji, hiragana, or katakana. Therefore the seller looks a lot like a Japanese person. I have heard that they have learned English with their own writing, where intonation is important. Many speak English, but if your intonation fails, some do not understand you.

Before changing pickups, have you adjusted them? Measure current heights from the body to the pickup face. Write numbers down and draw a simple "bridge, neck, pickups, heights" chart. Press G and E down from the highest fret and adjust the pickup height to the max before the strings touch the pickup. Now you can start to tighten the screws. Half amount of turns to the bridge pickup. If this doesn't help at all, buy a new set: Delano, bartolini, Lollar...

Should the headline be something like: "overpriced" Fender basses? During the years I have played quite many P and J basses from different decades. What I have noticed, the "quality" is very similar from cheapo to expensive, varying that is. Design is from the 50's and has been there since. Building methods have evolved quite a lot, thanks to CNC. Modern features like preamps and light weight are too - modern. Sadowsky, Pensa-Suhr et al. take care of those. If I go to a store, I see the same colours, shapes, mediocre setup and so mediocre build quality. Once a shop owner gave me a "reliced", ugly that is, P from Custom shop. Quite nice playability, but for that price I want a bass that looks new, is light in weight, has a preamp, and does not look Beach Boys. Fender himself wanted to go on, and built refined instruments with MM, and G&L. He wanted more and better. Why wouldn't you?

From the web: his main bass is Moon. I am on the same side with @velvetkevorkian: that green one looks a lot like Tune. Multistring basses, I think you can find fine instruments here made by @Basvarken.

http://www.ak-line.com/medium/Bassschaltungen.pdf Hope this still works.

There has been a very good German paper about different connections. Someone has to have it, if this link does not work: http://www.ak-line.com/medium/Bassschaltungen.pdf

Tilt comes from a Steinberger trial long ago. I liked the idea, and Klaus made a functional solution. I didn't have time to make my own design. And Klaus could use a switch pot to include another - smile eq - option. Mixpot was already a must, not an option. Tilt is very easy to use. If I need more bass, it happens while treble lessens. You know: eq could be used as a volume, but it shouldn't (smiley could be done by cutting mids...). I haven't have the chance to meet John East personally (my bad), and I don't know all of his creations, but his attitude and workmanship are world class. His mixer based thinking is very interesting and one day when my account says yes, a preamp is in order.

That looks about right, and the pots are in right order: blend, vol, tone, out. As you use three pots in parallel, consider, what's the right impedance to the system: 1) 250 k pots give an overall Z around 250 k / 3 = +80 k 2) 500 k gives approx 170 k 3) 1 M -> 330 k Bigger Z gives a slightly brighter sound. If you want some extra, consider Noll Mixpot. It does not load pickups, but requires a 9 V battery. Klaus Noll made me a system consisting of a Mixpot, and a tilt eq with a switch: turning eq clockwise increases B and lessens T. Pulling the pot and turning the pot clockwise increases both B and T. Surprisingly practical, single pot.

You need quality, check Bourns, Vishay, Alps, and any manufacturer that offers plastic track, or cermet pots. I did quite a lot of work on this as a youngster when the interweb was non-existent. At some point I lost my temper, and built step attenuators. Some are still in use in two of my basses. I don't remember has this 3, or 6 dB steps? Most likely latter.

OK, now you are stepping to dangerous waters. You say there is good and bad art. A republican are you? Harsh start could be global musical styles, where the scales differ from western tempered scale. I suggest you to read this and come back to comment on "good music": en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_temperament See, if someone plays you music that has something else than tempered 12 notes in an octave (but instead there would be 15 - 72, and not tempered), it may sound very strange to you, as you haven't lived in such an environment. (When I was a kid, my father gathered many musical styles to his library. As an example I hate Indian music, although more than one billion people listen to it.) Musical scales are a learned/agreed thing. In western music even the A has been moving from say 390 Hz to something like 470 Hz. 440 Hz was recommended by a conference in 1834, but this was adopted as a standard no earlier than 1955! Oh yes, check Comma, too. I think your understanding of "good" music depends on the environment you have been living in. If your taste does not understand different musical styles, or music from other areas, they may sound "bad" to your ear. It still does not mean the art is "bad" per se. Yes, I know there are bad performances available (try F. Foster-Jenkins - Queen of the night). But is the music "bad", then? Yes, I hate B. Springsteen's voice, but after my bandmate sang Born to run, I understood the music behind Bruce's voice.

One more: Too late for goodbyes (Julian Lennon - Valotte).

@Grooverjr: Is Schönberg bad music, because I happen to like it or is it bad, because there are lots of others who don't? (By the way, I am not so keen on Bach, Pastorius, and Nirvana. But I have played or sang some of their work on gigs.)

@Basvarken: Can't say I could play those monsters, but they do look kool!

Just my two cents... That Jack Daniels, as well as the oak necked instruments are the best looking, because the graphics continue through all parts, including neck. I love that yellow black scheme, but how about tinting the neck, too? 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 12th fret, should they be black or yellow?

Any Real/Fake book is like that. You choose when to play double tempo, or whatever during playing, or before the session. That's it. I know some songs by heart, but a Fake book library is super helpful. Now, when the books are in PDF format, I can carry thousands of songs with me in just one tablet. Very different that 30-40 years ago, when everything was on paper. My bass bags were filled with paper. And every time some paper was missing. Thanks to you, @Bilbo as well as @ChrisDev and @tomread! Your impeccable work has saved me numerous times. I can also say that MuseScore pages have usually something usable, although the bass is not the most popular instrument there - but for a head start, or chart...

What would Kinga and Basia do together? A lame Matt Bianco reunion, or something interesting?

Surprisingly lot. Do not try it to Live. You will be hurt. I had pencil that I happened to hold from the end (graphite), and for a reason I do not recall I touched a E27 lamp base. The line was ON (shouldn't have), and Live hit my fingers very painfully. When I was youngster doing some electrical work, my master told me that every cable may be Live. If not today, maybe tomorrow. He fell from a ladder, because he didn't follow his own instructions to check every cable. Someone had turned lines active one day without telling others. Beware. And love Fluke voltage detectors.

Two songs: Friends and strangers Rio funk I don't like his solo work, but as a sideman he plays the right notes.

Kool. That would most likely be good for metal, too! Will the wood be seen through the colour?