Obrienp

Interesting thread. I have been thinking about changing the 250k pots in my medium scale P bass build, to 100k (or even 50k) to compensate for its excessive brightness. It’s a medium scale neck in a full scale body, so the pickup set is closer to the bridge than is ideal. It’s more like where you would have a Stingray pickup (because the bridge is further into the body to get the 32” scale). This would take the top end off a bit wouldn’t it but it’s not going to give me more low mids and bass? Am I just going to end up with a rather odd sounding mid centred P bass?

Good luck! Our experience was super awks (as the kids say). The only people who appreciated it were the drunk oldies who kept asking for Mustang Sally 🤣.

Absolutely with you on that. The blues band I play in got booked to play a wedding! It’s called Checkmate Kings and I can only imagine they thought we were a ska band because of the checker board thing (Two Tone). Guess that reference might not mean much to you in the States. Anyway, it was a disaster for all concerned. Pretty well cleared the marquee for the duration of our set 🤣🤣.

Interesting. I wonder why they changed the spec? I might look out for an older model but they don’t seem to come up very often.

The current spec says almost 43mm nut, otherwise I would be interested. I’m not a fan of the 3 point bridge but otherwise it would be right on my list, if it weren’t for the nut width. Is yours an earlier model with a different spec?

Unfortunately, that nut width doesn’t work for me. I’ve tried a few short scales with 42mm nuts and I just don’t feel comfortable playing them anymore. The Jazz nut width and neck profile is perfect for me.

@neepheid You’ve got a point but being weak willed, I like a bit of affirmation from others when I have GAS. Thomann seem to have the best price at the moment (of the sellers who have them in stock). Bit more of a hassle returning to them but still doable. You are absolutely right that tone is subjective but I guess I am talking about that deep thud you hear on many sixties hits. I should explain that I play in a couple of covers bands that do a lot of late 50s and 60s stuff. I am looking for something that will give that tone, as well as cover 70s and 80s as well. Also look the part. The right semi might do all of that but it’s also got to be one that I feel comfortable playing, which rules out the Epi Thunderkat, Hofners (I’ve tried), the Ibanez semis, Gretsch, Epi Cassidy, etc.

Folks for what it is worth, I asked about the nut width on the Vintage Revo Supreme semi (subject of my post a few above). The response from one dealer was “it looks about 44mm”, which really is wide! Allowing for error, I guess it is probably 42/43mm. Unfortunately not what my arthritic left hand is looking for. That puts me looking at either the Guild Starfire 1, or the Warwick Star Bass, which have 38mm nuts. The Starfire II is out of my price bracket. I am a bit dubious about whether their single coil pickups are really going to give that vintage semi tone. Some reviews say they deliver it, others don’t. Any experience here?

Anybody come across these Vintage Revo shorties? https://vintageguitarsrus.com/collections/vintage-revo-series-bass-guitars. I rather fancy the semi despite the 3 point bridge. Unfortunately, the spec doesn’t say what the nut width is, just that it is Graphtec. I wouldn’t get on with it if it is 42mm.

Not sure this counts as a proper gig but the covers band I’m in played at my partner’s 70th birthday bash. We had 50 plus folks, a pizza van and enough booze to have bought a very decent medium priced bass, plus marquee and gazebo. Well you are only 70 once. I have yet to catch her up on that but some of our band members are well passed that milestone. Anyway, I spent all morning rigging the PA so band members could just turn up, plug amps into the DI lead provided (drummer uses an electronic kit) and connect their mics: job done. Drummer and rhythm guitarist were there at the start of the event (1pm) had tested their set up and were able to enjoy a few drinks, eat some pizza, etc and chill. We had agreed to play from 3-4:30, leaving the lead guitarist enough time to pack up and rush off to a gig with another outfit starting at 7pm. Two o’clock no sign of lead guitarist. Two thirty still no sign. All of us sending WhatsApp messages like: “Get here quick pizzas running out” and “ we left a space for you to park on the drive”. 10 to 3 lead guitarist arrives and has brought an amp without a DI and we can’t connect his monitor (he brought a street cube instead of his normal Laney wedge). I have to frantically search to find a DI box buried at the bottom of some kit box. I get that running but the “monitor” defies all my attempts, so I move mine over. By this time some guests are drifting off. We eventually get going at 3:30. To make up for lost time he seems to be playing everything at about 20 BPM faster than the original. Fortunately, faced with doing the solo in Sultans of Swing he slows down to just 10 BPM faster than the original. I don’t think I have ever done as many songs in an hour before! About half way through his monitor sparks into life: Sod’s Law! Anyway, apparently the guests liked it but then most of them were around our age and probably not used to liberal lunchtime drinking 😀. One or two did say “that was a bit frantic”! Fortunately the birthday girl (actually her birthday was in February but that’s not the greatest time for a garden party) was well pleased. Won’t bore you with the full equipment list but I used my LFSys Monza with Blackstar U700 and custom made P/J shorty from Tony Edwards Guitars who lives round the corner from us. I can’t get over how good the Monza is. It’s not just me: some friends did a spontaneous gig after us at much reduced pace: very chilled. Bob the bassist loved it and his fretless Ibanez Aerium sounded amazing through it.

I just bought a Soundcraft mixer from Nick. It was a fantastically smooth transaction and I couldn’t be happier to deal with him again. Very quick postage and brilliantly packaged. Deal with confidence.

@spyder Great choice. I’ve had my Lake Placid Blue Acinonyx for a year and a half now. The only thing I’ve felt the need to change is the volume knob. I’ve put a conventional metal knob on that matches the machine heads. Apart from that it’s brilliant out of the box IMO. I even like the preset tone buttons, which a lot of people complain about. You really feel the benefit of the light weight and easy playing when you do a long gig.

Somewhat delayed report of four gigs over the last 10 days. First was with the covers band Bandwidth (not my idea) at Blakeney Harbour Rooms beer festival. It wasn’t actually raining when we set up, so they had us playing outside under a gazebo in the beer garden. The venue hired a very good sound engineer with excellent kit, so my LFSys Monza and Blackstar U700 were more than I needed. I could have used a preamp direct into the desk and I am sure Mark would have made it sound fantastic. Unfortunately, the weather intervened. It was pretty cold (around 14C) when we started and about half way through our 2 hour set, it started to rain. We decided to play through without a break. Most of the tables were occupied when we started but by the end our audience had dwindled to about 6 stoic individuals huddled together. I later learnt that this group included the ex-British High Commissioner to Nigeria, the former Financial Times Nigeria Correspondent and the former President of the Nigeria/Britain Association. Blakeney is that kind of place where the great and good retire. Gig number two was at the Necton festival with Checkmate Kings blues band at the Necton Festival. It had been lashing down that Saturday but about an hour before were due to go on (early evening) it stopped a the Sun came out. The stage was a trailer but they had an amazing sound system with two very competent sound engineers. I had come prepared to make enough noise to be heard, which turned out to be completely unnecessary because of the amazing PA. I had my BF Two10, plus LFSys Monza stacked under a Blackstar U700, which can handle the 2.7 ohm load. We just had a one hour slot but the crowd had grown due to the sun and were appreciative. The backstage organisation was great as well, somehow turning the bands round in 15 minutes! The money was pretty generous by local standards as well. All in all an excellent gig. Gig three was playing in the “house band” for a blues jam organised as part of the Dereham Blues Festival. I brought along the LFSys Monza and a Mark Bass LM III. Another great combination and easily able to fill the pub with bass, without having to go much above 10 o’clock on the master. It was interesting to hear the rig from the audience side during the general jam, when the house band weren’t playing. It sounded great with a number of different basses: P bass, Mustang P/J and a Jazz. We had quite a few participants and plenty of punters. Everybody seemed to enjoy themselves and there was some excellent playing. One or two oddities but overall a great night. Shame about the cricket on the massive TV behind the band! That’s pubs for you! This brings me to gig four at the Dereham Blues Festival with Checkmate Kings. This is our third year playing at the festival and we were delighted to be given a prime slot: 9-11pm at the Kings Head on the Friday evening. The Kings Head has a massive beer garden and puts on a real ale tent plus catering during the festival. It is normally packed on the Friday of the festival but this year it lashed down. We asked the manager if we could play inside in their back room three times but they insisted on us playing outside on their fixed outside stage (it is covered). Consequently we ended up playing to about 10 people in the garden and another 20 or so in the pub (which had the garden doors open). Be careful what you wish for! On top of everything else, they have a decibel limit because of local residents complaining about noise: the complainants moved in recently, next to a pub that has been putting on live music since the 60s! We had to turn down a couple of times, so I doubt the folks in the pub could hear us that well. It turned into a paid rehearsal but the last gig for our current vocalist/guitarist. Not the greatest way to go out! No photo of that gig unsurprisingly.

Great speaker. I am really pleased with mine. I have done a few gigs just using it and my Blackstar U700 head (250 watts @8ohms). More than adequate on its own and really reflects the range of tones the U700 can give. I have also tried it sitting on top of my BF Two10S at an open air gig. Phenomenal combination, if you have an amp that can handle the combined 2.7ohm load (U700 can). I’m still toying with the idea of getting a second Monza and moving the Two10 on though. I think two would sound even better.

I’m sure either would make a fantastic bass but not in those colours IMO. I dread to think what the price is for those specs! I have speced up a light weight 32” several times and it is easy to end up with a pretty expensive bass! WRT hardware, the tuners on my Elwood seem OK but I hated the stock bridge. It seemed pretty solid but the intonation adjustment was a right pain. After much searching for a drop in replacement, I found a Gotoh with proper intonation adjustment screws. Perhaps things have come on a bit since you last bought from them.

I can feel the anticipation from here! I’m sure it will be worth the wait👍.

Another aspect to consider, as @LeftyJ mentioned, semis can be surprisingly heavy but genuine hollow bodies can be feedback monsters. That said, I had a hollow body Hofner Violin bass (some have a centre block), which was light and didn’t seem too prone to feedback. I never got used to the playing position though, because of the way the neck is set into the body and the position of the front strap button, it seemed a big stretch to reach the bottom frets.

Yesterday evening doing a catch up on Glastonbury on iPlayer, I stumbled on the Last Dinner Party. I noticed from the very brief glimpses of the bassist (BBC seems to try to avoid showing bassists) that she seemed to be playing a Gretsch Junior Jet and it sounded pretty good. Good on her I thought. You don’t need fabulously expensive kit to sound good. Of course they didn’t show her rig (at least while I was watching). One up for the short scale players anyway.

Parallel mode gave plenty of top end but the stock pickup doesn’t lack top end as it is. Typical Stingray ceramic pickup I guess. I agree about small pots, if they are Alpha/CTS. I am beginning to think I prefer the feel of Alphas to CTS. I have had some very loose feeling CTS pots recently. The vol actually starts to roll off on one when I am playing. I have to constantly tweak it. I have not had this with Alpha. I was shooting the breeze with my local luthier about this and other things recently, and he said his experience was exactly the opposite, so the jury is still out. I have moved the Jaguar on now. Great bass but I decided a P is more the vibe I am looking for in a single pickup bass. I have just finished putting together a medium scale P bitsa but that will be the subject of another thread. I was on the point of stripping the Jaguar just for the neck, as there aren’t any medium scale necks available in the UK for reasonable money. However, that would have made it a pretty expensive neck! I took a risk and went for a neck direct from China that turned out OK.

I think 8 ohm, plus 4 ohm comes out as 2.something or other. There is a guide to mixing impedance on the BF site. I guess that means you will need an amp that can handle the load. Blackstar U700 head will do it and I know there are others (Bergantino, EDS Reidmar….).