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Obrienp

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Everything posted by Obrienp

  1. Obrienp
    Unfortunately, arthritis in my left hand is forcing me to go short scale. Consequently, I have to sell my lovely Ibanez Aerium acoustic bass. The full spec is here on the Ibanez website: https://www.ibanez.com/eu/products/detail/srh500f_1p_05.html. Please note this is for the fretless version but that apart they are the same instrument, except I am pretty sure mine has a rosewood fretboard. To summarise it is a full 34” scale, 4 string, fretted, hybrid electro-acoustic bass. I say hybrid because it has an electric bass style body that is chambered/semi-acoustic. The top is spruce and the body mahogany, with a chamfered top edge where the arm rests. It has a super fast jazz style neck. It is really light and ergonomic. The really clever stuff is in the AeroSilk piezo bridge that provides individual string saddles that adjust for intonation like an electric bridge. The volume of each string can be adjusted, so that you can get the string to string balance you want. It has a simple but effective active preamp with volume and tone controls. It is fitted with D’Addario 45-100 tape wounds and provides a low action. The colour is Dragon Eye Burst. It is in great used condition, with a few small dings in the back (pictured) and some superficial playing scratches but nothing serious. The frets have little wear and the fretboard is unmarked. The protective plastic is still on the rear plate that houses the fine adjustment screws for the pickup system. I have fitted Schaller locking strap buttons. I think it plays beautifully and sounds great. You can get a pretty convincing acoustic (upright like) tone from it, especially if you use an acoustic preamp like a Zoom AC-2, or TCE BodyRez. These don’t come with a case but I can throw in a Thomann branded gig bag. I also have the original box, so can post at buyer’s expense. You are welcome to try and buy in Fakenham, Norfolk and I will meet/deliver within 50 miles or so.
  2. Obrienp
    I regret selling my Jaguar SS. I thought it looked good in black and chrome too. I agree it did suffer from neck dive but a grippy strap goes some way to stopping that. I put a matched set of DiMarzios in it and it sounded great, especially taking advantage of the wiring options that the 4 leads offered. TBH the original pickups weren’t bad but there was a big difference in volume between the P and the J.
  3. Obrienp
    What does the panel think? I have an Ibanez SRH500 Aerium (see photo) 4 string with a fretted neck. I love the sound I can get from it when combined with an acoustic guitar preamp peddle (in my case a Zoom, or TCE Bodyrez). To my ears it sounds really close to a double bass. However, I have regretted not going for the fretless version, which I think would sound even closer to an upright. Recently I have been having issues with arthritis in my left hand and I have moved to short scale in my standard electric basses. Trying to kill two birds with one stone, I asked a local luthier to quote for making a custom replacement fretless neck with reduced scale length, to make it a 32”. The quote came out in the region of £400 with ebony board and decent machine heads. Now I guess £400 is about what the whole bass would be worth, if I opted to sell it. I doubt I would recover my £400 for the custom neck, if I came to sell it with both necks. Is it worth it I wonder? Would I be better off looking for another fretless short scale acoustic bass? Am I likely to get a better quote for the custom neck from another luthier? Incidentally, the only shortscale fretless acoustic bass I can find online is a 32” Warwick from Thomann, which starts at around £680 and has a conventional under saddle piezo. Somehow, I doubt it is going to sound as good as the Ibanez AeroSilk system.
  4. Obrienp
    Sorry if you were interested, it’s sold but watch out for some more interesting gear in the near future: Ashdown Little Stubby all valve amp; Ibanez Affirma 5 string bass in Walnut (breaking my heart); TC Electronic BH550; Ibanez SRH 500 Aerium bass in Dragon Eye burst. Contact me if you are interested, or wait for me to get round to doing the adverts.
  5. Obrienp
    Further update: I have now replaced the original pickguard with a custom made 4 ply dark red tortoiseshell item that cost £30. I have also fitted new D’Addario nickel round wound strings. If I could find a way of editing the price, I would have put it up to £140 but I can’t, so at £120 it’s a total bargain. No trades please.
  6. Obrienp
    The DP 145 is a more modern take on the Model One designed in conjunction with Billy Sheehan and less boomy/muddy but I see it has been discontinued. It is worth looking for any remaining stock IMO. It also has 4 leads, so you can play with parallel/series wiring and/or coil tapping. Not to say that the Model One isn’t a great pickup and certainly better than the stock Epiphone mudbucker but that kind of sound was good enough for Jack Bruce and many others back in the day…..
  7. Obrienp
    For sale this amazing polyphonic synthesizer pedal for guitar and bass. Unlike previous guitar/bass synth pedals, it does not require a hex pickup. Just plug in your bass lead like any normal effects pedal and it tracks perfectly, even string bends and chords. The full spec can be found here: https://www.boss.info/uk/products/sy-300/. The unit has not been gigged and has not been out of my studio. There are a few minor scratches from use; the worst of which I have tried to capture in one of the photos. It comes with original box, UK power supply and massive manual. I am also bundling the Roland EV-5 expression pedal, which I think I have used 3 times. To be honest I don’t understand synthesisers and although Boss provide free, downloadable workbench software for it (which is the easiest way to programme your own patches) I still can’t get my head round it. I have downloaded and installed firmware updates and free additional patches from the Boss website. I understand you can buy additional libraries from various sources online but I haven’t tried. I had a quick look online for the street price new and it seems to be around £570 (list £695), so my asking price (now £325) with the bundled expression pedal is a bargain IMO. No trades please. Try and buy in Fakenham, Norfolk. I am now offering free postage.
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  8. Obrienp
    Hardly used Zoom B1Xon multi-effects pedal for bass. Never gigged and it has spent most of its life on a shelf in my studio. This is the one with the expression pedal for wah, volume/swell, etc. The full specs are here: https://www.zoom.co.jp/node/62. Try, collect, buy from Fakenham, Norfolk. I will post at buyer’s expense. Open to offers. No trades please.
  9. Obrienp
    I rate D’Addario short scale strings and the round wounds aren’t too expensive. I would avoid Rotosound short scale strings: they seem to have intonation issues, unlike their 34” which are great IMO. For the EB-0, flats would be in keeping with the general vibe of the instrument but they won’t improve the mudiness of that pickup. TBH roundwounds aren’t really going to fix the mudiness that much. You could replace the pickup with a DiMarzio DP 145, if you can find one, which is surprisingly crisp even in that neck position (I have one in one of my basses).
  10. Obrienp
    Yes. The main thing I notice is much less fatigue in my left hand, arm, shoulder and back. Sound wise I really can’t tell much difference between my custom shortie (P/J) and the Fender Aerodyne Jazz Bass I used to gig. I doubt the audience notice any difference, unless I am using my Ibanez EHB1000S, which being headless and sea foam green, does look a bit unusual. It is quite difficult to get bags and cases purpose made for shorties but as somebody else said, some shorties will fit into guitar cases and bags (e.g. the Ibanez EHB1000S). Fender do quite a good short scale gig bag for not much cash. Generally speaking I have found the move to shorties positive. Typically they are easier to play and generally less strain, although I understand the Reverend Watt Plower is really heavy.
  11. Obrienp
    I recently sold mine, not because there was anything wrong with it, in fact the opposite but arthritis in my left hand is forcing me to go short scale. They are great bases but IMO the stock pickups were a bit weak. I put a DiMarzio set in which really gave it a new lease of life, plus they were a lot quieter. That mod plus, shielding the cavities with copper tape made it really quiet on standby. The DiMarzios have four wires, giving you the option of clever wiring combinations, should you wish (parallel/series on a push/pull, etc), or you can just use them vanilla. They have a super fast neck and are quite a lot lighter than your average J bass. They also look great with the lacquer style finish and top binding. The body does end up with lots of superficial scratches but I don’t think it is any more fragile than other finishes. Another common mod you might want to do is to change the standard bridge for something a bit chunkier. It is quite difficult to find one in the smoked chrome finish. Gotoh do one but be warned, if you have one of the models with the controls mounted through the body, rather than on a standard J bass metal plate, the top is carved (convex). In order to mount the standard bridge level, the top has a very shallow indent for the bridge. This route is not big enough to accommodate the larger base plate of the Gotoh (or any other) higher mass bridge. You therefore end up with the choice of enlarging the indent, or putting a spacer in so the new bridge will sit level. I gave it to a Luthier to sort out and he went for the spacer so as not to do a non-reversible modification. This required the neck to be shimmed to compensate for the slightly higher bridge. It all worked out very well but it wasn’t as straight forward as your average Fender bridge upgrade.
  12. Obrienp
    Now I love the look of that but I have this:
  13. Obrienp
    Thanks. I couldn't find them originally but I now realise that is because I was using my iPad to access the site. Edit doesn't seem to be enabled in the mobile version of the site. I logged on using my MacBook and hey presto, those dots are there.
  14. Obrienp
    Thank you for your kind comments Ben. I hope you get years of good service from the One10.
  15. Obrienp
    Hi Folks, I haven’t worked out how to edit the heading yet but this has sold.
  16. Obrienp
    Yeah. It does sound too good to be true. I just tried it on the bathroom scales and they say 3 kg (6.6 lbs), so it must be in the region of 7 lbs, give or take. It does feel like picking up an acoustic in comparison to my other basses. The chambered body must be helping a lot with the weight.
  17. Obrienp
    Yes. I just weighed mine with one of those baggage scale things: 5.5 lbs. I have changed the standard Bartolinis for Aguilar pickups, which were not as deep, so that might have had a marginal impact on the weight.
  18. Obrienp
    Sorry, I don’t know how to edit my original post but should have said that I am not open to trades on this I am afraid. I am trying to cover the cost of a recent purchase and I also need to thin the herd.
  19. Obrienp
    Update to the above. The machine heads are Wilkinson, not Northwest’s own brand. One of the pictures shows where the chrome has come off the edge of one of the retaining nuts. The grey marks on the nut are where I have used graphite (pencil lead) to lubricate the slots to stop the strings from binding.
  20. Obrienp
    I bought this Bronco bass from PMT earlier this year as an interim, while I waited for a short scale to be made by a local luthier. It is the ultimate mod platform as far as I can tell. Stock it is a sound instrument, let down by some of the hardware. I have only used it my home studio but it is a lot of fun. I have made some modifications to it, as can be seen from the photos. I fitted lightweight tuners from Northwest Guitars, with 14mm posts. You can see from the photo that I have filled the original screw holes with the old toothpick trick. The electrics have been replaced with CTS pots and a decent jack socket. I have shielded the cavities with copper tape so it’s very quiet on standby and fitted a Tonerider Precision Plus (TRP1) pickup, which sounds great. I have now replaced the original pickguard with a custom made 4 ply dark red tortoiseshell item cut to fit the precision pickup set. I also replaced the bridge with a chunkier item with individual saddle adjustment but the same (approx 18mm) spacing. It uses the same screw holes as the original but is a bit of a compromise. The design doesn’t really allow for enough saddle adjustment to get the intonation right, so I have had to replace one of the adjustment screws with a shorter item and use a spring behind the back of the bridge to pull the A string saddle back a bit. The intonation now sounds spot on to my ears. The neck plate and scratchplate still have their protective plastic film on. Condition wise the body and neck are in very good condition. There are a few minor scratches in the gloss black but none that go through to the wood. You will get all the original parts with the bass, so you can put it back to standard if you should want to, although you will need to sleeve the post holes, if you want to put the original machine heads back, as I have enlarged them from 12 to 14mm. I just fitted a new set of D’Addario 40-95 nickel round wounds. I decided to stick with the gauge it comes with as stock but I am sure it would be great with standard light, or even medium gauge. The extra lights are just so easy to play but I don’t they lack bottom end. Try and buy in Fakenham, Norfolk. Will travel up to 50 miles to handover, if I get the asking price. I have the original box but I am very nervous about posting TBH but will do at buyer’s expense.
  21. Obrienp
    I have decided to move on this hardly used Barefaced One10 to cover another kit purchase. I bought this cabinet direct from Barefaced just before lockdown, so it has been sitting in my studio without much use. It has never been gigged but I have somehow managed to put a tiny ding in the top edge (see photo), it hasn’t broken the vinyl covering. I also noticed while I was photographing it, that they were a little economical with the vinyl inside the top corners and you can see a tiny bit of the ply underneath. This is only visible with the cabinet upside down (see photo). A spot of black marker would cover it but I mention it for completeness. Comes complete with a Roqsolid padded slip cover. You are welcome to come and try it, or collect in Fakenham, Norfolk. I have a variety of amps you can try it with, or bring your own. I have the original (recycled packaging), so can post at buyers expense. I would also be prepared to meet you for a handover within about 100 miles.
  22. Obrienp
    I agree with the sentiment, plus my Gnome is my backup amp. My main amp for gigs is an Orange Terror 500 that has 2 x Speakon sockets, which I use to connect two cabs. In order to have my Gnome as standby, I need to remember to pack a jack to speakon cable in addition to the two speakon to speakon cables. If I ever have to do a hot swap during a gig, I will need to unplug one cable, plug in the jack to speakon and reconfigure the cabinet cables so that they are daisy chained rather than coming straight out of the back of the amp. That’s a lot of faffing about under time pressure, possibly in poor lighting and often cramped conditions. Admittedly I could configure the cabinets to be daisy chained out of the Terror but given it has 2 speaker outlets, I am inclined to think there must be a reason for that, so I use them both. It would be great if the Gnome had speakon out (even a combi). That way the hot swap would just involve kettle lead and one speakon lead out of the Terror.
  23. Obrienp
    One10s seem to be a match made in heaven for the Gnome. I have the basic 200 watt model but it sounds incredibly loud through either one, or both my One10s; so much so that I am thinking of moving one of them on because it is surplus to requirement with this amp.
  24. Obrienp
    😀 Well I was thinking about headroom really. As I said, the Gnome starts to push the 250 watt RMS rated One10 to break up at about 3/4 volume. It is an 8 ohm speaker, so must be getting a max of about 120 watts at full volume from the Gnome. Therefore, I am thinking a speaker rated at 100 watts is going to struggle when you turn the Gnome up. As a comparison I had a MarkBass Micromark 801 that had a an 8” driver rated at 200 watts at 8 ohms and the amp delivered 45 watts at 8 ohms. It was comfortable at full volume but it did have a lot of headroom.
  25. Obrienp
    I used mine for an open mic on Tuesday evening and it was great. I put it through a Barefaced One10 and it was pretty loud, clean and bassy. I’m not sure how it will work with a 6” rated at only 100 watts. I find that with the One10 you can push it to start breaking up at around 3 o’clock with gain at 12 o’clock. One10s are rated at 250 watts and are safe to (clean) 500 according to their designer. Anyway good luck. I am sure it will be OK if you keep the volume and bass down. I found the Gnome and One10 to be the perfect mini rig. The Gnome and cables fit in the pocket of my bass’ gig bag. With the bass gig bag on my back and the One10 in one hand, I have a hand free to open doors, use keys, tickets, etc and it is a really light, and easy carry: easily manageable on public transport.
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