Soledad

Re the FB Corvette, FNA... found this on musicradar 

This was a short-lived revamp of Warwick's Altus bass and actually the FNA stands for 'Formally Known as Altus'*

Altus?? How complicated can this Warwick thing get... Musicradar reckon it was a short-lived variant, a bit MM sounding but still with some Warwick 'voice'.

*Should be FKA then, but that sounds dodgy.

1 hour ago, anzoid said:

As long as you leave the 4-strings to me

yep, I owe you that  I'm after a fiver. Cracking B I gather - so many basses disappoint on the B.

40 minutes ago, eude said:

If you fancy a 5 string, have a look at this

Hadn't seen that, thanks for link. Seems very fair for a German 5. Need to investigate the single $ pup thing, I've been used to the 2 MEC Thumb before.

13 hours ago, machinehead said:

The Korean one is of equal quality,

Good point - I think it would be worth finding a Korean but also actually seein / playing. I'm in no rush at all but I can feel a 5 string in me bones...

10 hours ago, BassTool said:

hailed for its inherent transfer properties back into the bass

Sounds good (ouch) to me - the more of the string energy going into the whole bass and staying there as long as poss must be good, dissipation not good. Then the player has the job of control. Interesting that bridge ideas have moved forward from std to Badass to string thru etc etc, but maybe the nut gets slightly overlooked - after all it is the equal and opposite end.

On 03/03/2019 at 13:53, Cato said:

the V7s are popular because they punch well above their weight at the bottom of the midrange price band.

totally agree, it's a tough world in the 1k+ area I reckon, opens up a really good choice plus the higher end of the used market (OK, excluding the really exotics).

But Andertons have £1070 on it? Maybe that's do-able if it's really good. I can wait for a S/H one

2 hours ago, hooky_lowdown said:

360 + 62 P is my bass nirvana.

Two questions. (1) Is that Acoustic wall all yours? and (2) Do you have all that in the house AND a wife?

Very grateful for your knowledge and time shared, thanks anzoid. I'm getting it now, and their web archive will be useful. An example there's a Corvette Pro on eBay at the moment for £370. It looks to be a Korean 2010 (?), and the seller mentions some corrosion on bridge - so ferrous castings I guess.

Reason for interest is maybe a fretted 5. I'd prefer ash, so I'll be looking for a German Pro and wait for a deal

Thanks again, very helpful.

On 04/03/2019 at 15:46, hooky_lowdown said:

This deserves its own thread. Acoustic love. ❤️

YES ! - first time I ever plugged into a 360 it was like a life-changer. I seriously think Acoustic is one of a tiny number of landmarks in the bass timeline that Leo started.

On 29/01/2019 at 18:45, TKenrick said:

1. Chord tones

2. Chromatic approaches (aka 'enclosures'). It's jazz, but not as we know it.

3. 16th-note syncopation

I agree it was those three, I've ignored 4 because JJ gets a kind of reverence from me. But to those 3 he put his mark on it all, a sort of fingerprint - what we call soul, or feel, or cool or whatever.
Carol Kaye was obviously really good, but couldn't hit that intangible cool feel IMO. And of the three, maybe Babbitt deserves a bit more recognition? (just so long as JJ remains top).

Very smart work indeed. Applause. Brass nut seems a good idea, I'd imagine the harder the nut material the better. All right tasty.

38 minutes ago, anzoid said:

LeftyJ has got it apart from the older Pro Series - 2011 to 2013

OK, thanks - gets a little more complicated then. So Rockbass will be same hardware etc, but inferior woods, and far east build - ? 

Pro will be German or Korean depending on date, but is same hardware, similar quality woods but if Korean, maple necks - ?

German Pro is the one to go for short of limited editions/custom shop - ?
 

And is there an easy way of I/D-ing the Korean pro from the german one, other than knowing date - is it just and always maple neck?

The ovangkol fretless sounds very good - it's an excellent body wood I think, a shade brighter than bubinga I feel, and looks nicer IMO.

Thanks for help. If I have got the baove wrong please fix.

bookmatching on the back there is perfect 🍑

Nice that - i'm not much of a metal man, but good work there I reckon.
I've always mainly played fingers and never had any probs - occasionally 2 gigs in one night and they tingle a bit, but the callouses build and should be OK I think.
Also I reckon his touch is actually quite light - but with good control and damping. Nice. What does get the fingers more I think is the hard funk sound, digging quite deep near bridge pup.
been using a pick recently more, mainly for the precise attack it gives - got some really thick solid ones, totally unforgiving... damn !!
Kind of using the B as a rest/stop mainly isn't he?

4 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

he traded one of the Jacksons for a Fender Twin Reverb.

My best mate guitar player died very young, but we went together to check out a '62 Strat in Northampton (this would be early 70s). He got it back and plugged it into his Fender Twin R and .... good grief, the best ever. Had JBLs in it too - one mega guitar amp. And so loud too. It had those pre-decimalisation watts in it, you know, the proper ones.:)

btw, That's what Trace put in their heads, watts, not whats.

3 hours ago, LeftyJ said:

The $$ ("double buck") indicates a version with two humbuckers. 

Thank you for sorting that out - I didn't have a clue on that. Seems to me the RockBass is half (or even less) the German built and if they are all the same components etc does it matter where it was put together? Or is it more about woods and finishes I wonder.
SO, views on Rockbass v German would be welcome if poss please. Makes me wonder the Pro 5 fretless I missed at a little under £500 was a bit of an oversight on my part... haha.

21 hours ago, NJE said:

some of the really cheap gear is really playable and solid compared to when I started and the encore basses were just beyond awful.

Agree very much. Got someone a Yamaha 370 recently and I was blown away with a 100 quid (S/H) bass. My first was a short scale Vox, it was beyond awful and virtually unplayable. Same with rigs - smaller, lighter, more efficient, big EQ ranges etc, and often a house system to go into anyway.

15 minutes ago, mangotango said:

And no matter how much I messed with the EQ and gain, I still had this gritty, mids-heavy "crunch" sound

Yes, you're right - i think as you drive the TE harder it resolves into its sound. Also maybe the pre-shape was in? One fifteen won't do it any favours, I reckon it needs more speakers to deliver the tonal range it is capable of. I used to hook a 410 to an all-valve combo (with 15 in) - that made a huge difference. I think maybe the onboard 15 is just having to do too much work.

Could someone help me understand the heirarchy of goodness please. I see the RockBass (Far East I believe), the Pro, I see $$ comes up a bit. What is actually what, I'm confused.

postscript - oh no - the Fame logo just fell off. It was the chisel's fault.

I'm a Trace fan - I grew up on big heavy rigs and that was normal up to a few years ago, maybe more than a few but recent. I reckon there have been a very few landmark bass systems ever: The legendary Acoustic 360 - if you're old enough you'll remember the first time you plugged in... FFS  Then for me TE. OK< Ampeg needs to be in there. I certainly agree Trace are heavy lumps, but boy do they deliver.

I wonder and hope - is TE gear due a bit of a comeback?

On 03/03/2019 at 16:02, Kevsy71 said:

Welcome from up the road in Tonbridge Steve!

1 hour ago, police squad said:

I live in Deal too!!

Grief - there's a whole gang of bass players close by! 
Really like your Aguilar rig Steve, but a bit over-spec for my needs.

Acquired a Fame fretless from Bigthumb recently - really fine bass and an enjoyable transaction. As we know, Fame is Mayones re-branded for MusicStore Germany. More recently I think the Fame guitars and basses are slight variations on the Mayones, but in the case of my BE4 it is really identical, it's a Mayo BE4.
I thought it may be of interest to get up close and see what we have got> I haven't worked out how to place text next to pics so...sorry!!

- look at that neck fit. I know you can use routers and template guides etc, but they didn't make life easy. This compound curve is immaculate. Top work.

- the pre-amp and pot cover is cut and shaped from a solid piece of ovankol. I expected a veneer over plastic, but this is major work. Not technically better, but wow these guys like to shape wood. The ovankol body is beautifully formed and crafted.

- 6 bolt neck, even the bolts are offset parallelogram-style. As good as it gets.

- ebony fingerboard - I've never seen better - very even tight grain  dense true black. Top quality ebony.

I could go on ! Every single detail is really impressive - excellent woods, workmanship, finishing... 

I think it's funny that the naff Fame logo is slightly peeling off, like the bass wants to disown the sticker. Anyway Fame sounds a bit Poundstretcher to me - it may fall off quite soon.

 Big thumbs up from me to the guys at Mayones - this is so much more than a W copy. 
 

An update on where I got to. Watched the Spectorcore vid - sounds great and is well respected around here. Then got involved in a Warwick 5 pro  ash and would have bought that but someone beat me to it - on FB and went very quick. Then a Fame (Mayones) came up here and I went for that. I'd seen a Mayones up in Derbyshire on eBay (still there I think at £625) but the Fame at around 350 seemed a good option for me. Bearing in mind I'd had an NT Thumb some years ago so it's a familiar package with its MECs etc.

I'll try and do an overview of the Mayo - the woods, workmanship, detailing are really outstanding. Put half-rounds on and I'm settling in with it. Some of the things that decided me are maybe not rational - I dislike lines on the fingerboard. I aim to do most fretless practice in the dark anyway (muscle memory) but the Mayo is so very minimal and tactile - so it suits me I think. ON a Q/C front the one thing I notice is the Fame logo is slightly peeling off - it's just a foil sticker and quite an afterthought. I think it needs to drop off

+1 - just bought a TC amp - absolutely as new and excellent. Great to deal with. 

On 05/01/2019 at 20:22, Deedee said:

Trade with confidence 👍

Agreed.

Just found this but love the fact there's a 62 page thread on Precisions. They were my first proper bass and getting the cash together for the first one was a mountain-climb.
I still have a relationship with Precisions that I'll never have with the Jazz. With the P when you dig deep it delivers a shovel-full - something the Jazz* just can't do.
And I think of the Precision as the working man's bass - got the tool, now go make your living son.
Owned 3 over a long time. Don't own one now. Will do, bound to happen

* don't get me wrong, the Jazz does some good tricks, just not that single excellent one.

4 hours ago, MoJo said:

slightly higher tension than either the Chromes or the Fenders.

sounds good to me - one issue I have with quite a few string sets  is a soggy bottom, I mean a certain slop on the E (even worse on some Bs).
Worth a try, may not last so long but at 1/3rd the price that's fair enough.
By the way, warming to my new (first time user) D'Addario half rounds - I may come round to liking them.