itu

Mullard and Philips (the yellowish boxes on the right) are somewhst sought after valves/tubes. But the interest depends on the types of the valves/tubes. As an example that 6AU6/EF94 pentode costs anything from £1-2 and up. If there are interesting ones, the price may rise up high: a Telefunken EF806S can cost anything between £50-500.

I have had several fx that need a tad longer plug for a secure connection. If you want to cover the bare part, put some shrink tube over it.

@Linus27 : if you can try it by just rewiring the comp, test it. Trust your ears, there are no right or wrong choices here.

So many neat boards, should I rebuild few of mine again...?

Come on, this is a steal. Small, well built, functional bass for travelling. I am amazed that these small, '80's basses are not that sought after. If I needed one, a Bean, an Axstar, or this would be very high on my list. And I don't even like Yahayas. A friend of mine had similar, and it had good sound and was very playable.

Put some nail lacquer to the thread, and it will stay in place somewhat longer than without. If you don't happen to have thread lock at hand. Colour is up to you.

GK 200MB, or MB150

PJB

Warwick, TE... check their tiny amps and consider buying a small cab.

I have one in my Passion. It says: "Made in France"

Strings dictate partially the sound of the bass. My electric upright has different strings than my electric basses.

Flatwounds: flat sound, slowish attack, short decay, can be used for years.

Groundwounds are close to flats.

Roundwounds: sound really depends on the material and age. Nickel is flatter in response than stainless steel. MMiller and MKing may change strings every three hours of playing in studio. Your wallet, or endorsemet can be different.

Fretless likes the response of nickel strings.

Very thin strings (30-90) are good for slapping, although LEJohnson used flats to slap his MM. Uprights have slap strings, as well as solo, jazz, gut, and arco sets.

If you learn a bit about gauges, you can detune your bass with similar tension. No need to adjust the truss rod. Check D'Addario's tension guide.

The bass may sound good or bad depending on the strings. I thought that thicker is better in the low end (E and B) but have found out that for my playing thinner gauges sound and feel superior. This required lots of trials and errors.

I like light touch, therefore a luthier trimmed my upright. I have fixed my own electrics.

Whatever you put to your fingers will be in the strings. Do you want to oil them? I don't think so. Some kind of oxidation is happening there. If it doesn't cause allergic reactions, don't care about it.

If I remember correctly, I bought a used '76 4001 in 1986 for £400, and a new headless Hohner Jack was more expensive. The ones I tried then were very good sounding basses.

One point of view seems to be missing when people talk about gone instruments/amps/etc. and that's nostalgia. Many want to have their youth equipment back. Yes, I paid £400 for a '76 black 4001 from Denmark street in 1986. Now the price would be close to ridiculous. It wasn't that good.

Of many instruments I've played I wanted to buy a Vigier Passion. Now I have one and I am very pleased with it. But a Ric? Please no, why bother?

If I wanted a good instrument now, I might turn to some luthier ("Dear Overwater..."), or buy some hand made instrument from Eastern Europe (Czech, Poland...). It would be a small investment, but nothing like a Fodera, or a severely beaten Nash. The quality and the price would certainly be very good compared to a Jazz from 70's. Retro is for someone else.

Alembic Spider

- weighs a metric ton

- ergonomics, say what?

- probably even worse to find a case than to a T-bird, an Original, or a C-bass (which would also be of interest)

- price is around £toomuch

15 hours ago, Jerry C said:

One can always use rail-to-rail op amps that can make full use of the 9V supply...

...when battery is fresh, and the circuitry enables full scale. ±4.5 V is pretty much on the preamp side.

Now the mojo is gone!

Yes, and that's good. Who needs any mojo anyway. Nice work!

tc electronic Triple C, a 3 band comp, available as single channel model. I tried it, but as a rack unit is bulky, moved to HyperGravity.

Presonus Blue Max, a half rack unit with presets, and fully manual unit. Comp16 is even smaller model, similar to Alesis nano comp (9 VAC in!).

Somewhere around here is a Canadian guy, who miniatyrized dbx's Over Easy comp. It is slightly larger than a pot. You can install it to your bass. Very interesting unit.

I think MM offered a fretless neck against the serial of the fretted and vice versa, but not replacement necks.

Maybe a P neck would fit pretty well, but @Lfalex v1.1 had the best alternative so far when he suggested visiting a luthier.

Take two sharp pictures, i.e. one from each side of the PCBA (veroboard). I am pretty confident we can steer you to the right direction with the unit.

Why not (is this happening)?

requirements

- independent body (or some very enthusiastic person like ovnilab.com) making tests

- (big enough) anechoic room or OATS

- test equipment

 * noise generator

 * measurement mic

 * audio analyzer

- regular calibration of equipment

- lots of cabs

- lots of amps

We want independent tests that we could compare, but who will pay the bill? Besides, if any fanboy likes Ampeg-Boogie, BugEra, Mercedes-Benzio, or anything else, something was wrong with the test setup. Or the tests do not tell facts (that the fanboy does not like other voicings).

I have been sitting in a few anechoic chambers (also in one meant for radio testing), and they cost a lot. That's why outdoor testing would be a feasible option. If the results could be pretty good, and comparable instead of laboratory grade, some cheaper equipment could be OK. But again, last - and definitely not least - would be the numerous EUTs.

Do some tests today, and you have to repeat them every time a company modifies a unit. This also is most probably the main reason companies do not publish their results: they are expensive. They are the key to the recipies of their tone.

How about this way:

- measure 10 (100) amps in an anechoic room

- use the measurements and attach suitable terms to those graphs

- publish the results and wait for comments

Bourns 500k MN for blend?

This is a special balance pot, where the tracks start from the middle.

Are all neck bolts tight, is the bridge tightened?

I just had some funny sounds from my dear Vigier. Strings were old enough, and while I changed all at once, the bridge (Schaller) was loose. It moved from side to side.

3 hours ago, BassApprentice said:

Some cool paint designs which I guess separates them from others.

Coming up 2025-2125: A new Paintera collection every year!

Reverb ad 2050:

A rare Paintera available, 100 000 made, but only 50 in this particular colour.

Total weight of the finished bass would be one wonderful detail. And first impressions, naturally. (I still remember the feel, when I received my custom fretless 4. And the feel is still the same.)

On 12/01/2024 at 03:42, tauzero said:

They add length if you leave the strap on. If you take it off, they might add a millimetre or two.

I think there's even a song: You can leave your strap on. But is the case in discussion hard or soft?

Seriously, all my basses have strap locks, and they all work well (Schaller, Dunlop). I check them yearly, because every screw tends to loosen over time.

Specs, we need specs of that machine! That looks so good.