Soledad

excellent, thanks both. More news as it 'breaks'...

Question please Moose - so my Xenyx 802 arrived today, 30-odd quid and utterly amazing lot of gear and knobs for little money. Solid and good I think. Thanks for the tip! So, the whole Xenyx looks quite stereo, and my basses are mono obv. I need to read the manual but is there a simple thing to do here? I mean get my bass into L&R in the mixer?

Found this thread by accident, but I need to talk about my EB3 (a late '60s, cherry). Jack Bruce was playing one, Glenn Cornick (Jethro Tull), the guy in Colliseum, Andy Frazer (Free), some good players. All I could ever get from it was a woolly soft bass, or a truly ugly mid-range grunt - think toilet sounds. Bridge was a joke. Balance was also sh*t, v head heavy. I think Gibson did more than anyone else to kill off short scale for a decade or so, by making basses that sounded so bad. Why is it Gibson just never ever got how to make a good bass? (Never tried a Thunderbird mind - looks stupid but Entwhistle played one so can't be so bad?). The mad thing is I recently happened to play one of those short scale P copies off eBay (£70 new) - it sounds proper good and totally blows an EB3 out the water. So EB3 is the bass I most hated (by a good distance). Ricky 4001 is the one I wanted to love but it wouldn't let me. And we need to talk about Dan Armstrong.

Excellent piece Christine - a subject that causes more arguments on woodie forums than any other, so good stuff. I have used 'Scarysharp' quite a bit - you can skip quite a few grades so it's faster than it may sound. What's good is it's low cost to get going - it's easy to spend loads on sharpening gear but the 3M film (aka Scarysharp) is a really affordable way into great edges. I mount it onto glass sheets I got from the local glazier dirt cheap, cut to size - I made the edges safe but they'll do that for you. Or find the local stone worktop place and ask to raid their skip - what those guys call offcuts... ! And the quarz stuff is mirror flat - that'll surely do. If interested check Workshop Heaven, Matthew does a good sample set for a tenner. https://www.workshopheaven.com/3m-sharpening-film-sample-pack.html Interested to see your Record wetstone Christine - I gave a Tormek away a few years ago (bit silly) but had been seriously considering a 10" Record - are you happy with it? btw - not a luthier, but lifelong furniture/cabinet maker and big handtool user

mine was a 4 NT - good to know the B is that good, I think the low B is a real test. I'm definitely keeping Warwick on the list. Hard though, trying as many as possible when I need one NOW...

Good grief - big applause to Martin for that one... stunning !! Absolutely my view, plus there's the gamble of putting certain woods together in a certain way and not knowing for sure what the result will be. It's a high risk / high reward game I think. But that Sei... so smart the way the pickups feather into the neck line. He's a bit of an artist.

Big thanks Helzero - would never have knoiwn how to access these. I need to admit I go for extremely understated, you know: stand at the back, head down, try not to get noticed. So I do prefer subtle quiet finishes etc, and quite minimal designs. So the translucent blue might be a bit much for me, fine bass no doubt.THe MTD is probably my favourite. I plan to actually get my hands on a few: Spectorcore (hopefully), Warwick I kind of know and I'm drifting away from Warwick fretless as it is a bit hard (we all know the sound); MTD should be on the list. I was interested in a Mayones BE4 but have no idea of sound, what to expect . I think I'm heading towards 5 string also. I appreciate all help and experienced input. I'm going to try not to be impulsive - did you spot that TheGreek...

Liking that Spectorcore - watched the vid. 2 things for sound: semi-hollow body and piezo plus the EMG - both good / interesting. Try and get a play on one then. About the Pedulla (Andruca) - beyond what I'd want to spend really. When I said Warwick I'm thinking a Pro or there are German ones around well under the grand. 2K is a bit over for me.

Yes, both active (fretless and fretty). Just ordered the Bheringer - about £38 from Amazon. Seems fairly amazing for that price - I'm hoping / assuming I can plug a bass in and set mixer flat eq, out to phones. Least that's the idea. All ref Mooseblaster above. See how it goes soon.

this is getting interesting - I suppose a part of this was flat from the bass - no shaping / coloration, partly to see what the native sound out of the bass is. I'll take a look at the Behringer desk - after all it's not like I move around a lot lot of good info, thanks to all

I first met Martin around '94 when he was working out of his terrace house - and got one of the first Flamboyants he ever made (5 headless). He's a complete star bloke and as said above you will get absolute excellence. But also, I totally agree with Muzz above - you do need to know what you want as some key decisions are all down to you and the mad thing about customs is you can't try before you buy - ironic really! I would give serious thought to wood choice and get Martin's (or any maker's) experienced input. It's a bit easier to make pick-up/amp choices as they are known quantities. I suspect there's a reason the P and J platform designs are so widely used - they work on a lot of levels. My Sei headless 5 - truly fabulous (2 x Bartonlinis) but I would never go with headless again - the B was an issue for me. Anyway, big shout for Martin Petersen from me.

Hi all - got into a chat recently with TheGreek and I mentioned I was looking for a fretless, probably a 5 but maybe a 4 - not sure and I do think how the B sounds is critical (some lack pitch definition low down I think). So I had a Warwick Thumb NT years ago, and it was definitely good. I've seen a couple of Mayones on here and wonder if the body wood (normally ovankol?) helps mid-range or warmth a little - a good thing on fretless I suspect). TheGreek mentioned Spector - which I had not considered. One important thing - I reckon that good fretted basses don't always make good fretless, I mean just deleting frets. I think the natural acoustic tone matters a bit. I tend to find fretted Warwicks a bit hard - that's their trademark isn't it, the growl? But my Thumb fretless was pretty good. Any hand-on input please - and if anyone has what I'm looking for going spare (someone here has a Moyenes NT BE4 I think), I'm shopping.

Thanks Greek - I'll have a punt, sounds about ideal for what I want.

Ah yes, seen that, very neat - but too ££ for what I have in mind. All the simple cheaper ones seem to require a DC power supply, so more leads all over the place. Sounds simple but can't find one: must be small, flat response amp + vol control (output for phones only), 6.3 jack in, 3.5 out, battery or rechargeable. 50 quid ??

Is there such a thing as a flat response headphone amp around - I mean gain only so the bass onboard controls all sound shaping. Or just something really simple, no gimmicks or effects etc. And not silly money. Part of the idea here is to practice in private (ha, ha) but to know the true sound of the bass before any amp system adds its own colour. I've seen a Vox thing around but it has built-in rhythms FFS, and it looks so naff it'd give me a headache. Actually, just thought, wireless bluetooth would be fairly cool...?! And I could send my grooves to Alexa in the kitchen - she'd like that.

Interesting, what gummy says - that was always the thing I reckon - the P (see, I'm resigned now) has one particular native sound that belongs to the P alone. I agree Jazzes are prob a bit more versatile but they always sound like they have a hole in the middle to me and I never quite got the tight bottom end the P gave me (I'm talking straight US Fenders here). I suppose that's where P/J hybrids came from - if they really do that then every session player has one, right?

Today I think this - the Jazz is good. But the P is gooder. (see what I did there, Ricky?)

I reckon something's changed then. Nearly everyone has (and can afford) one of each. So are we talking a U.S. one of each here, or is there need (desire) for one of each but Mexican (say) is fine? I'm going to sound very 20th Century here, but I liked the old days* - one player, one bass - JFDI. * and cabs that weighed a sack o' spuds - that's 112lb in old money, about 50-odd Kg. Get in there

Is it still how it was when I was a kid - there's the Precision (not P Bass please!) and the Jazz - pick one. It was like joining a gang - for life. Years on I've owned both and calmed down a bit - I'd be OK being seen with either. So what's the current view - Jazzes seem more common these days. Give me the current state of play.

I remember Going up the country really well, but don't ever recall playing it - here we go! Be good to hear of any other deceptively simple basslines. Re the audition piece, I think it is a v good test of technique (we used to play it in A which I think was the original key), that quick A/G with the right accents and precise focus, that's where the fun is I reckon 😂

I'm new here so if this is old hat (it's certainly old) then apologies. In my view, one S.O.B. bassline to really nail. Check out 'Whipping Post', both studio and live. The late Berry Oakley was just 24 when he died in a motorcycle accident just one year after Duane Allman had done exactly the same. Oakley gets overlooked I think, but that band worked live a LOT like non-stop and it shows. When they'd just played a great gig, Duane come offstage saying they'd been 'hittin' the note' Intro sounds simple, but getting absolutely down in that groove, with accents right, super-tight? One of the hardest 'sounds easy' lines i EVER came across. (hope I put this in the right place... just needed to share!)

There we go - thought it looked a bit tasty, but I'm not blowing several grand on a bass just now. I might just blow a few bob on a U.S. Jazz though... that'd do.

On YT, Scott does a thing about 70s bass players - he's holding / playing a 4 string thu-neck. Does anyone know what it is please (doubt I could afford one anyway). Here's a screen shot, it's called 'the players you need to know'