Soledad

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.

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.

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. 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?

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. 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.

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.

Nice bass - reminiscent of the early Alembics to me - with a dash of '54 plate Corsa

Brilliant, a reminder of where all our shiny stuff came from: tea-chest basses, castanets, bagpipes... 'If you can't make it you can't play it'. Plus, it's a proper thru-neck Great find - the World needs people like this.

Not tried them myself yet, but been told several times that the nylon wraps will do just what you have in mind. Anyone using? nylon wraps I mean

Thanks for info Jabba You are not alone - I hate tru-oil. I don't really know luthiers but I know a few high end toolmakers (planes, saws etc) and no-one uses Tru-oil. A plane-maker I know introduced me to Osmo 1101 -like PolyX but low viscosity. He uses it on plane infills. Really good on close tight grain. I have a sample of Partridge oil from Skelton saws - he's an ex-gunsmith and knows a lot about oil based wood finishes. If interested, pm me and I'll ask him to get a sample to you. Thanks for info re fret slots - I'd often wondered how. Fine work indeed, would love to see the new bass close up. (Midlands bash a bit far for me though).

correction - I did buy an amp as well. Forgot already

Absolutely, start with the sound and work back - I have the same question but it may be chromes is my answer. I have just put half-rounds on my fretless (D'Addario nickel 45-100) and I'm not really getting the point so far. I mean they aren't smooth rounds (sonically). I'd like the mid and some top, won't get the rasp on fretless anyway. I suppose what I want is max brightness out of flats. Would that be chromes then?

Great place (here, and Kent) - enjoy. I've only been here a few weeks but bought one bass, come very close to another amp, and got a lot of good advice. Obviously the 'for sale' listings are deep dark traps for the unwary... just sayin'

I bought the Fame/Mayones BE4 fretless from Paul - the bass was well described but it's even better than the description, virtually immaculate. Really good to deal with, between us we sorted shipping to Kent and that went well and quick. Along the way I got some good advice and insight on amps and cabs. Top guy, excellent forum member, really helpful... all very good. Buy with real confidence here!

I may be helping shift this thread to the build section... but (bear with me on this) I'm no luthier but have been building high-end furniture for years. The wood merchants and users who know their materials will often hold a board of hardwood up between finger and thumb left hand, and tap hard 2/3rds of the way down with knuckle of right hand. The sound says (a) how dry that board is, and (b) this is our bit - it's tonal nature. If you got to try that with alder and ash (say) you'd hear what you expect right away - the ash is more crisp and a little higher (assuming fully dried stable woods - what is 'dry' is another topic). I've never tried ash v black walnut but would expect the walnut to sound more crisp and focussed, a slightly sharper crack sound. I'd expect the bass to be a little brighter with more pronounced higher mids. I think you can do the same with a finished bass - damp all strings and tap body - compare one bass with another - you can hear native voice differences. There's a timber merchant I know supplies many luthiers and he does this tapping thing a lot. Bob at Timberline, the luthiers here will know him. Sorry this prattles on - but a lot of what we seek starts with the woods innit?

Great thread for great basses. There's a 5 listed for sale here, and owner has pics of original brochures, the fine Wapping High Street price list etc. Those pics would be nice archived. Personally I feel the price is a tads strong... but maybe I'm still on the old money. (A grand... ??)

Just having a bass shipped to me, in transit now. All the big name carriers were similar price and I suspect they share some resources too. One key thing, get overnight - less time sitting in hubs, vans etc. And tracked of course. And absolutely as CameronJ says - after all packing is almost no weight.