BillyBass

I ordered three packs of DR strings from Amazon.com. (i.e. the American Amazon). They cost me $102.80 (roughly £85 to £86) which is considerably less than I would have paid Strings Direct. Ordered on Sunday 5th March, arrived Tuesday 14th March. Amazon US included the VAT in the transaction and I was not asked to pay customs duties. I've had a $100 gift voucher in a US Amazon account for a couple of years. My brother lives over there and he wanted to put a Christmas present in my UK Amazon account but he cocked it up and I acquired an American Amazon account. Not knowing what to buy for $100 that would be cheaper than buying here, I didn't use it. That is until I thought of buying strings. If you buy stuff from the same seller, the postage is cheaper and, as I found out, can be cheaper than getting it over here.

I started gassing for a Thunderbird after watching this: At about 45 seconds in you get a bit of bass not smothered by other instruments. The bassist in this band is on Talkbass and she said her bass is a Gibson Thunderbird.

That isn't cheap for a second hand bass, you can often find them for £700 new over here. You may have less options in Ireland though, I suppose.

I love the look: shell pink, tort, roasted maple and block inlays on a dark fretboard!

I would have to agree with you that a £1000 bass shouldn't need all that work. These are roughly equivalent to the MIM Fender player plus series basses; made in Mexico but with better hardware: posh bridge, luminlay side dots, rolled edge fretboard, DiMarzio pick ups with a noiseless J pup. They also have the beautiful roasted maple neck and fretboard and the flash colours, though I'm not sure if these would add to the price. The biggest issue is the cheap pre amp they come with; if you buy one of these just assume it will be improved by a better pre amp. I saw two shops not too far from me selling them at £699; DV247 in Romford and 'Stompbox' in Northwood. DV247 also had a guitar rack in stock that I wanted so I went there. The bass was possibly a return; it was immaculate but had Rotosound flats on. Fender stuff always comes with Fender strings, so I'm guessing someone bought it, put the flats on it, then changed their mind and sent it back. The slight fret spout did make me think in the shop but I thought it would take me longer to drive over to the other shop and buy theirs than sort the frets out myself. The John East pre amp is really expensive: £285, but its an easyish fit, has sweepable mids and active passive with a passive tone knob too-it does everything I could want on a bass. So I have spent nearly £1000 on this (or more if you consider the travelling and new strings). I feel its worth it; the other bass I was considering was the Spector Pulse 2 but these are £1000 and there was a possibility I would replace the tone pump pre amp on that so it could have ended up even dearer.

I don't know about Nova Scotia but olives in shops around here aren't lime green metallic! Unless, of course, you've been eating olives grown around Chernobyl.

🤣 Nowadays, if you are after the old school Charvel look, Jackson or Ibanez might have what you need. These new Charvels are fender shaped objects. If you want an active PJ bass, with a very comfy Jazz sized neck these are for you.

I ummed and arred about the fretspout in the shop (DV247 in Romford) but I knew I was buying this with the intention of modding it so I thought it would just be another task to add to the list. Learning to do all this stuff myself was part of the attraction.

I've still got it; I just use it at home at the moment. The band I used it for folded a few months ago and the current band I'm in doesn't go below E, so I'm just using 4 strings at the moment. I'm sure I'll need a fiver again in the future so I'll keep it. I just love the look of these Charvels. I haven't seen/played the platinum pearl Charvels but the photos on the internet look good.

I'm 60 on Tuesday, so wifey gave permission: I've already got a metallic blue Charvel PJ4 and its my favourite bass. The neck is just perfect and it looks and sounds great too. I wanted a back up bass that had the same string spacing and nut width, and as I hadn't got any metallic lime green basses in my collection, I thought, why not buy another Charvel. I had to spend two afternoons working on it to get it playable: fret sprout filing, removal of supplied pre amp, shielding, installation of John East pre amp, replacement of strings and then set up. Worth the time spent, it feels great. And I love the colour; this will probably be my first choice over the metallic blue.

GAK in Brighton have several heads in stock, including the MarkBass and the Aguilar heads mentioned above. GAK must be very close to you.

Ashdown still make these: https://ashdownmusic.com/products/ctm-30-little-stubby

Electrician here. Be aware, people, those plug in socket testers have their limits, they are not an alternative to a proper test by an electrician. I use them to indicate whether a socket is on or off and for testing polarity (whether the conductors are wired the right way around). In the UK, the potential difference between the line and neutral and line and earth is supposed to be 230v +10%-6%. If there is a poor earth and there is some earth leakage, and say the potential difference between line and earth is e.g. 120 volts, those socket testers won't pick that up. They are useful as indicators of issues, just don't rely on them.

The Bergantino Forte D is pretty small and that is rated at 800 watts into 4 ohms, I believe. There may be smaller kit around, I'm no expert.

Apologies for derailing the thread OP but, I have a tidepool player jazz. I'm not keen on the white pick guard but have struggled to think of another colour for a new pickguard; tide pool doesn't really match with the colours pickguards generally come in. I was thinking of a gold one but I might try black now.

I had a chat with John East this morning, enquiring about his filter pre amp. He basically told me that if I didn't get it, it probably wouldn't be for me. In his experience, people buying them to try them out are not normally happy with the results. If, however, you really know that this is the sort of thing you are after, as you seem to be Ely, then it can be perfect. So I just ordered another one of his standard frequency altering pre amps. But thanks for the input.

I'm sure some people would be offended but I doubt they would turn up to one of your gigs. Fantastic job mate.

I've just watched a couple of Low End Lobster's videos about the Lusithand pre amp and I'm still not sure how it would make my PJ sound. You mentioned you usually keep the tone knob to about 20-30%, I'm the opposite; with fingers, the tone knob is always full on, with a pick I will cut it a bit, perhaps 30%. I imagine that would be too harsh for you. I'm not a fan of flats either, though the Charvel I bought today came with them, Rotosound, I think, and I may keep them on it. With a standard pre amp I understand; if you boost certain frequencies the end result will be predictable. With this Lusithand, I believe you are cutting the top end, gradually but can also boost the gain along with that, so I couldn't predict the end result without trying it out.

Hi Ely, Thanks for this. I have seen mentions of filter pre amps here and there but never really paid much attention to them. John East sells one and I must admit it went very much over my head. I didn't get it. I've just watched the 'Wetter Bass' you tube tutorial about the Lusithand pre amp and I am intrigued. The Charvels are PJs but I generally use either or, not a blend of both; in fact, with my band (pick only) I have it just on the split coil P pup at the neck and I boost the low mids. I add treble for cabinets without tweeters (or dead strings!). Maybe with one of these filter pre amps I could make use of the blend knob a bit more (as long as I can avoid a mid scoop). More research required!

I'm about to buy a second Charvel 4 string PJ as a back up (and because I want a lime green bass). I have put a John East pre amp in my metallic blue Charvel and I think it's brilliant: active/passive push-pull and an independent passive tone knob, parametric mid range and a treble boost. After having three of these Charvels, I'm pretty sure I will be swapping the pre amp of my new one out. My first thought was to just get another John east pre amp and have an identical back up (except for the strings) but then I thought I could try something new. I have a Nordstrand pre amp in my fiver and its fine, perhaps a little polite, so I won't get another of those. Has anyone got any other ideas re pre amps available over here? The Aguilar OB3 is readily available and seems to be an option if you want a bit of oomph, though I'm not sure I can't get anything the Aguilar offers from the John East? Any ideas or suggestions anyone?

Yeah. I blame the mods and admins, they're all just a bunch of flipping onanists nasty pasties & Mr and Mrs Silly Billy. Do you see that? Its done it again