largo

Mmm, dangerous thing to say on these boards Josh. I own a Sei and Shuker (both Jazzes) and have to admit the Sei just pips the Shuker in playability, but I mean just and it's probably a personal thing. Jon Shuker is actually going to make a few amendments for nowt to get his bass playing just how I want it, so things might change. In terms of cost there's no comparison. S

I asked Jon Shuker to fit one of the J-East low battery indicators to me Shuker Jazz I just had built. Instead he designed a circuit himself (someone did say he has an electronics degree) and I now have a little LED that will pulse if the battery is getting low. At least I hope it will because being honest I haven't had a low battery yet. He fitted it to the battery compartment on the back of the bass, so it's hidden well away. Don't want to take work away from Mr East though, as he's a very nice man and I love his J-Retro preamps. S

Believe me, necks move on neck thru's too

Sat next to Leo Sayer on a flight from Heathrow to Edinburgh. All he wanted to do was talk about fishing ! I also refused to let someone jump the queue ahead of me at security at Heathrow, only to turn around and see it was David Bowie. The security guy gave him the VIP treatment and let him queue jump anyway. Bl***y rock stars !

Do Sadowsky offer different string spacings on their 5'ers ? I know 19mm is standard but I really don't like beyond 18mm.

I've used these guys for custom-fit cases, [url="http://www.gothardflightcases.co.uk"]http://www.gothardflightcases.co.uk[/url]

You won't get blocks on a NYC Sadowsky, otherwise I may have been tempted myself. Why not just buy Warmoth parts and put in Sadowsky electronics, isn't that the same thing. Hehehe !

Have you dropped Mark at Ashdown an email and explained, see website for address. Ashdown are actually very good for customer service. They may even send you a replacement valve FOC to try and see if it fixes the problem.

Good stuff ... Spooky but I play in a Wedding & Function Band called Big Night Out covering the East of Scotland mostly. Time to call the lawyers me thinks ;0) We've been going for around 15 years now and cover pretty much the same material as you guys. We were 4-piece but recently went to 5-piece when our female drummer had kids and we didn't want to rely too heavily on her for gigs, so she went out front and we got a new drummer. Would be kinda cool if we did a gig as Big Night Out and the Big Nite Out Horns though. Awe the best. Stephen

I did about 80 last year and got 60 or 70 lined up for 2008 so far .... I too have a day job so that's enough for me .....

Hi Pete I promise I'll post a review of the Shuker vs Sei soon, possibly between Christmas and New Year when I find a bit of time. As for the set neck, it's difficult to do a comparison completely as the preamp in the Shuker is Jon's own whereas my Sei has the J-Retro in it but the two basses do sound significantly different especially in the treble/bite department. The Shuker has a real snap to it in the treble response, whereas the Sei is a more rounded tone at the top end. This is the first set-neck bass I've owned but I've had others with thru-neck and the Sei is a bolt-on. It doesn't have much of of a heal either though. I've always found the bolt-on's to have a snappier feel to their sound which I prefer, but I also prefer the feel of the neck-thru. The Shuker is the first time that I've had a bass that doesn't have any heal but also has that snappy feel to it. Strange but there's more snap to the Shuker than the Sei and that's something I didn't expect. Most of the bass is the same, i.e. body woods, neck, fingerboard, pickups it's just the preamp and the neck join that's different. So, I'm guessing a bit of both in there. I've started rambling now, so hope you can take from that what you will. Stephen

I've got two, a main gigging 5-string bass (Sei Jazz) that gets left in a trailer in a garage from week to week. And a second 5-string (Shuker Jazz) that kicks around the house for practice, jamming, dep work etc. as it saves me trailing to get the main bass. Complete laziness or I'd only have one, maybe ! ;0) I've been brought up (my Dad plays bass) on the one bass rule. He owns a nice '72 Precision he's had since new and now played a few thousand gigs on. It's pretty beat up but it works and he likes it. I can see the point of a backup bass but other than that it's all just GAS ! Don't be too proud to admit it.

Jerzy Drozd is a Spanish bass builder that springs to mind, or there's Rob who is Rim Custom basses (quite CT'ish with the tailpiece) who posts on here. When I get the cash together I'm going for an Eshenbaugh J 5 style, possible built by the one and only Jon Shuker. Good luck.

Hi Ash I've heard it said that Ashdown are like the Ampeg sound, only better. Seeing as you have an SVT-3 PRO what didn't you like about the Ashdown that you do in the Ampeg. I'm curious as I've always thought about the SVT-3 PRO with it's additional 9 band EQ as a different option to my Ashdown. I love the Ashdown tone though, and I have the ABM 500 EVO II RC. I'm also curious to as to why Ashdown prices have dropped like the proverbial big lasses knickers again, in the last year or two. ABM 500 EVO II for less than £500 and yet an SVT-3 PRO is £750 at the cheapest, or an SWR 550X or Eden WT500 or whatever are all about £1000. I'd put my Ashdown on a level par with these other brands in terms of professional amps.

Ditch the 2 4x10's and get yourself a Schroeder 410L at 4 ohms, you won't notice the difference. And I'm only guessing but I reckon a host of BC'ers are going to suggest a Mark Bass Little Mark II. Haven't heard one myself but lightweight and apparently a very good amp for it's size. I'd stick with the Ashdown though ;0)

Haven't got a clue and nothing written on them I'm afraid. The bass is a Sei Jazz with elephant style tuners. Looks like there's a small allen key screw on the base of the stalk which may do something. A hunch tells me they are Hipshot Ultralites and a quick check of the HS website, they definitely look exactly the same.

Interesting what you say KingTut .... Can you tell me more. I was hoping a PJB Flightcase would do me as a backup amp as well as practice combo at home as it delivers 150W from the combo (no external speaker needed to get full power) and apparently can handle down to a low B at decent volumes. DI out for PA and a headphone input which mutes the speaker so I can practice at home without waking up the bairns too. You telling me I'd be better with a Cube 30 and if so, why ? Would rather save some cash.

Hi Jamie In terms of gigging I find my amp and cab combination to be A1. I play in a wedding and function 5-piece band with room sizes ranging from 80-500 people including marquees and the likes, and the amp is hardly pushed at all. Usually 1 'o clock on the pre and 10 ' o clock on the master, some valve drive added and that's it. We play everything from front pickup dubby bass to back pickup 70's disco funk and everything in between and it handles everything well. What I like about the sound is the punch, you know what I mean, feeling the bass as well as hearing it :0) The cab really helps there too. Haven't played Ampeg yet so can't compare but no complaints on the Ahdown tone.

This is driving me mad ... When I play my bass acoustically one of my tuners, the E string rattles. It seems to be the stalk if that makes sense, as if I hit the "elephant ear" I can hear it. Is there an easy way to fix this, or tighten it. Or is it get a new one. The bass is less than a year old and wisnae cheap. S

The Ampeg website say's that the power amp also has a 12AU7 tube so not all solid state for power, or am I missing something.

I've been looking at the Phil Jones Bass Flightcase for just this, pricey though !

Ooh, interested to hear comments on this one... I've got an Ashdown ABM 500 EVO II RC or whatever it's called, and love the sound from it. Through a Schroeder 410 it's the best bass tone that I've heard or used. Maybe not everyone's taste but for pop/rock IMHO you can't beat it. However, I have been toying with getting myself an SVT-3 PRO (just to try it, and I like the idea of the EQ section) but comments on TB have always said it's underpowered and the Ashdown's sound like Ampeg only better. People say about reliability issues but the Ashdown's (why am I tempting fate) always been reliable for me. Why have you purposefully avoided Ashdown until now ? S