Obrienp

The TMB-35? I think it is a pretty nice bass for the money. There are a few things to consider but perhaps forgivable given the price. Mine was pretty noisy when the Jazz pickup was engaged but on inspection, it turned out they had shielded the P pickup cavity (strictly speaking not really necessary) and not the Jazz pickup up cavity: weird! I did my usual copper tape shielding exercise and it was fine. Talking of pickups, the P pickup was OK but the Jazz wasn’t that great and I seem to recall it had smaller dimensions than a standard Jazz 5 string bridge pickup, so would require a little woodwork to replace with something better. The Strat style jack socket arrangement was a bit weird and not friendly for my Boss wireless system. I found the neck a bit chunky compared to other Ibbys, which is why I sold it but not everybody has arthritis in their left hand/its personal taste. Mine was a bit weighty for an SS as well but I have heard they tend to vary quite a bit. Perhaps mine was made from a denser body blank than others. I can’t remember if it neck dived. A lot of the above is fixable, if you are prepared to do a bit of work. It is also quite easy to mod (except for that J pickup). I put a Fender high mass bridge on mine for not much: not strictly necessary as the OEM was adequate. The machine heads were adequate as well but looked easily upgradable, if you want. I also rewired it with a series/parallel push/pull for the pickups, which made it sound huge.

I can think of a few short scales you can get in fretless and 5 strings but none of them are going to be in that price range; e.g. Maruszczyk, Mensinger, Nordstrand Acinonyx and various even more esoteric (and expensive) boutique basses. For that money, the answer might be to buy an Ibanez TMB35, or SRMD 205 Mezzo and defret it.

Ah! That explains a lot. I thought it was very obvious he was looking frequently because he was turning the bass up so the neck faced him. Perhaps this created the impression that he was looking more than normal (whatever normal might be). In my defence, it wasn’t just me thinking this: a number of my non-playing friends and relies asked me why he was looking at the guitar “so much” in this way.

I can see the Harley Benton has decent machine heads, which would be a definite plus for me and also increases the range of strings that will fit. I love the way these basses sound but I just couldn’t get on with mine because of the way the neck is fitted to the body. I didn’t need to use it for that many songs and when I swapped to it from a standard short scale, I was always playing two frets too high, which meant I had to look at the neck constantly to avoid making mistakes. If you watch Sir Paul’s Glasto performance, he was constantly looking down to see where he was on it and he has been playing his for more years than I have had hot dinners! I guess it is less of a problem if you play it exclusively but he was playing so many different instruments…….

Yep. They are awkward to set up. I gave up and let my local luthier set it up for me. I am wondering if you have a high fret that is causing that buzz? If you bought it new, it might just be easier to return it and start again with a replacement that hopefully doesn’t have issues? I’m not sure violin basses are ever going to give you a very low action and they tend to lend themselves to flats IMO but there is no reason why it shouldn’t be possible to get a reasonable player with rounds.

Back in the club after a little absence with this SRMD200 Mezzo medium scale. This is the sixth Ibanez bass I have owned. I bought this one off BC and it is in fantastic, almost new condition for a very reasonable price. My initial impressions are that it plays very nicely but in common with most Ibby basses I have played, it is a bit too bright. There are also some signs of it being made to a price point, like the finishing (or lack of it) of the end of the fretboard. However, this doesn’t affect playability and unlike some of the Ibby Premiums, it has decent metal control knobs (not those horrible plastic things that look as if they came off a toothpaste tube). All the frets seem to be well set and finished. I don’t know whether the previous owner had to dress them, or whether it was like this out of the box but I’m not complaining. The machine heads seem pretty good and the bridge is adequate, if not as solid looking as the one that comes on the more expensive SRs. The pre-amp is very hot and seems a little crude on first acquaintance. Also there is no passive switch, so if the battery goes the bass is dead. It’s not a quick release battery box (you have to undo a couple of screws and lever the battery out), so be sure it is fresh before a gig! I also imagine that there can’t have been a lot of budget for the pickups, although the P seems alright, the Jazz isn’t great. I was prepared to rip the electrics out when I bought it and replace with a decent P/J set and passive pots. However, I had a set of flats that came on my Maruszczyk Elwood medium scale (bought secondhand but I imagine they are Maruszczyk’s own) and I gave them a try. They seem to have cured the harsh brightness and I have discovered that a light hand on the preamp controls will produce a nice solid P-bass thump without causing the speakers to fart. You still need that pad on your amp but I think the flats have given the standard electrics a reprieve for now. I am still thinking about installing a passive switch though. I have to say I am very pleased with the Mezzo. It plays like a dream and is pretty light. For the price of a set of flats and some careful use of the EQ, it’s possible to get a decent P-Bass tone. The Jazz pickup is a bit weak though but I’m not too bothered about that. It’s a very reasonable medium scale for modest money and would make a great mod platform, if you don’t mind throwing a bit more cash at it. There are so few medium scale basses on the market and most of them seem to cost serious money. In fact, the only similarly priced medium scales I can think of are the Squier Jaguars, which are nice basses but suffer from appalling neck dive, whereas the Mezzo balances well on a strap. Sorry about the rubbish photo.

Unfortunately we don’t have a branch in my neck of the woods. There is a PMT in Norwich but it’s not great for carrying bass related stock, although they will get stuff in for you if you ask.

It looks like a Fender high mass bridge would pop on there without any modifications and sort the issue with the saddles. It might also help the tone a bit, although the jury is still out on that one I think. Sustain and durability would be better anyway.

Acinonyx are great basses IMO. They have a bit of a novelty look but they are fantastic to play, especially for those long gigs. They are super light, with a slim neck and narrow string spacing, plus the pickups have got real grunt. As has already been said, the bridge pickup is really strong solo. I notice there is one for sale on this forum at the moment (no personal interest in this).

Yes. I think that must be the same neck as I have on my Elwood medium scale. One of the most comfortable necks I have ever played.

Much more modest gig with the covers band in a village hall to raise cash for its maintenance and a defibrillator. Two of the guys live in the village, hence doing a freebie. Managed to co-opt another local band to start the show. I used to play guitar for them about 5 years ago and recognised quite a lot of their material, which is mostly self penned. Our session went pretty well, despite the usual set up hassles resulting from lending your gear to the opening act. Most notable challenges for me were the A string going flat by a whole semitone in the first number (will have to check if there is an issue with the machine head) and flagging speed at the end of set two, which has about 6 rock and roll numbers in a row (I’m getting old). For the gear heads: Peavey Max 150 combo on an Auralex isolator (compensate for wooden suspended stage), Peterson Strobostomp HD, Valeton Dapper Bass, Boss wireless system, custom made P/J short scale by Tony Edwards Guitars and Nordstrand Acinonyx. Lots of compliments at the end but not many dancers that I could see. Home by just after midnight, so not too bad.

Lovely! Is that the medium scale that was advertised recently? I was really proud of myself for resisting the temptation but it hurt! Brilliant spec and looks fantastic! Enjoy!

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I will check those out. I accidentally discovered that my Fender 610 SS bag will just about fit the Maruszczyk Elwood 32”. I never imagined it would fit, so didn’t try it before. However, quality isn’t great. It gives me hope for other SS bags though.

Oh, dear! We do seem to be directing a lot of negative vibes at Vincent. I am sure they are brilliantly made instruments and sound fantastic. There is definitely a market for this type of instrument and the price alone might attract some people because it makes it pretty exclusive. Personally, if I was in the market for a Mustang, it would take a lot to convince me that it is worth ponying up (😀) an extra £1K over the JMJ and I don’t think Vincent has quite got there.

Reviving this thread in case somebody has found one? I have a medium scale version of the Maruszczyk Elwood and they obviously gave up trying to source a medium scale bag, because it comes with a full size bag, leaving a few inches of spare at the top. I have just ordered another 32” bass that doesn’t come with a bag and I am wondering what to use. I have a full size case but I tried it with the Maruszczyk and it rattled around inside it. I guess the body is marginally smaller than full scale as well. Hoping somebody has found a medium scale bag, or case! Otherwise it’s full size with blocks of foam to take up the slack. Not very satisfactory.

Can you configure cut-outs? To me that seems like a pretty obvious improvement to make to the Mustang design. The slab body has always put me off them. If Harley-Benton can do it for a tenth of the price, it seems like a glaring omission in £2k+ instrument.

Good question. Marketing hype to justify the price? Looking at the photos, the ball ends do seem to be hidden under the bridge bass plate, rather than being anchored on the end of the plate. Perhaps there is a cut out underneath the bridge to accommodate the ball ends. I’m not sure how that improves vibration transfer to the body. Seems a bit gimmicky but maybe there is some science behind it.

That’s why I have my Gnome perched on top of the Markbass LM III, at gigs. It’s the just in case, hot stand by. I also have a pre-amp pedal with DI out in case the cabinet goes faulty (hoping the PA is up to it).Fortunately, it’s never happened to me but there is always a first time!

@WalMan that’s some rig there! Running both heads in parallel? Which one is the cab on the bottom attached to?

I wish I understood what those charts are telling us! What I got from all of this, is that the Gnome has a mid scoop, plus bass and treble are boosted a bit? I think the measurements were taken from a 200 watt Gnome rather than the iPro. Having owned both, the iPro seems to have a slightly different baked in tone but this is subjective, rather than scientific. Also I am running mine through a BF Two10 that is designed to be coloured, so possibly not the best cabinet to reflect the amps character accurately. For what it is worth, I l think it is a great combination but that is highly subjective and might not be your opinion at all.

I would like to be able to say that was a deliberate pun 😀. Yes, the Gnome starts to compress/clip if the input gain is too high. This is indicated by the clip light going red. I’ve never pushed it that much, so it hasn’t been a problem. In fact I rarely have the Gain beyond about 10 o’clock but all my basses have quite powerful pickups, or are active. The Gnome has loads of gain as it is and paired with my BF Two10 my iPro is very loud, so the Master rarely gets to 12 o’clock. I have no idea what it sounds like flat out/in the clipping zone but I would worry about the damage you are doing to your hearing, if your stage volume is that loud. Perhaps you are playing stadiums? I haven’t got any experience of the BAM 200 but I wouldn’t be surprised if it clips/compresses.. I think it is fairly common in these small class D amps. Someone on here will know.

You’ve probably all seen but Warwick released a 600 watt version of the iPro Gnome. Along with all that extra power, it has Low and High-Mid controls, an aux in mini-jack socket and twin speakon out sockets. From my perspective, they have sorted all that was missing from the original iPro (that I have). I wouldn’t need the extra power, because the original iPro is plenty loud enough but the additional EQ and speakon sockets would definitely swing it for me, if I were looking to buy now. The price of the 600 watt unit is still pretty keen at around £350 (depending where you shop) but it’s £150 more than the original iPro and it is much bigger.

Dave just bought my Orange OBC112 cabinets. He drove up to Norfolk to try and collect them (2 hours each way). A great bloke to deal with. We could have talked gear for ages and I have learnt quite a bit about Rickies. Immediate payment by bank transfer and a very smooth transaction altogether. Deal with confidence. I hope the cabs serve you well Dave.

🤣 Lurking behind the sax, my rig was a Barefaced Two10, powered by a Mark Bass LM III (500), with a Warwick Gnome iPro as a hot stand by, sitting on an Auralex isolator This was DI into the desk, so stage volume about 9 o’clock on the master. Maruszczyk Elwood 4a medium scale, with a Nordstrand Acinonyx as backup. Pedal board consists of a Peterson strobostomp HD in front of a Valeton Dapper Bass.

Depped for a covers band on Saturday. I had agreed to dep for New Year’s Eve and a few weeks back was given a set list of 42 songs, of which I knew 6, had played another 10 once and the rest were completely new to me. Given the 3 month lead time, I was taking it easy learning one or two a week, until they contacted me last week to say they had a gig lined up for the 21st and their regular bassist was going to be in the US sorting out a family crisis. Somehow we fitted in two rehearsals beforehand and I did the gig on Saturday with chord sheets on my iPad. Amazingly, it went pretty well with me remembering most of the intro and must do cbass lines and jamming the rest. The punters at the village hall we played in the Norfolk Broads, were very complimentary and there were loads of dancers. No action shots but one of setting up below. All in all a great experience and good preparation for New Year’s Eve, despite 2 pm bedtime.