Paul S

Trying to chase 'the right tone' is the Devil's own job because 'the right tone' is so subjective. As others have said it does seem to be all about the right strings and pickup - most other things I have found to be less important other than perhaps the material of the fretboard. The strings I have settled on are TI Flats. I love the tension, general feel and tone, exactly what I like and I have them on all my basses. They aren't as thuddy as most flats but not as 'plinky' as I found the cobalt slinky ones to be. For the pup I just kissed all the frogs I could possibly find until, finally, I have got there. I tried the vintage sounding P pups like the Fender 62 RI, Wizard Trad, Aguilar 5P-60 in my 5er but found I wanted a little more bite at my disposal, especially with the flats. I found the SD 1/4lber a bit harsh but very much enjoy the Delano PC 5 AL/M2 I have fitted into my Maroos-chick Jake 5. So much so I bought another and now have this fitted to a modded Sterling 5er which now sounds much the same as the Jake. After reading a lot of love for them on here I have very recently fitted fitted an Entwistle PBXN to my Frankenstein 'Honcore' and to my ears it doesn't sound actually very different to the Delano - just 1/4 of the price. But the extra bite of these pups can be nicely tamed if required by rolling off the tone control a little to give that real organic sweet spot - mellow yet with a decent amount of bite for slightly harder edged blues/rock. I expect next year my opinion would have changed, of course.

Wot he said. I'm 15 mins in and lovin it.

Personally I can't believe the cheek of them. They have sacked you but want you to play the next gig? Really? My pride would not allow me anywhere near it. Then again, tbf, my pride has got me in trouble before now

1. Dead heat for Rival Sons at O2 Brixton and Aussie Pink Floyd at the Cliff's Pavilion, Westcliff. So difficult to compare. IN terms of being the sort of music I *really* like the Rival Sons would nudge it. In terms of a spectacular event, APF would nudge it. The encore 'Comfortably Numb' was a good a live performance as anything I have ever seen and the laser light show was nothing short of spectacular. 2. Easy - Christopher Cross, also at the Cliff's Pavilion. One of the worst gigs I have seen for a few years. 3. My new blues rock trio Tore Down getting an hour slot at the Ipswich Maritime Festival on the big BBC stage in June. Fabulous sound, fabulous setting. It was only our 4th gig! Been invited to play at Stowblues 2020! 4. Same band playing The Punch and Judy in Ipswich to an empty house, bar the couple who came up to the stage to play the fruit machine whilst the guitarist is standing next to them giving it some fierce string bends mid solo.

I quite like this one - lovely bass, too! - lyrics are a bit heavy handed but still poignant today.

That is a Fender Precision Lyte, in essence.

Can't read it on the headstock! love it Yamaha BX-5

Oooh, that's my old squeeze. Lovely thing.

'Weighs over 3.5 killos' so at least we know what he is doing time for.

Or how about 'Chant #1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On) by Spandau Ballet. Same 5 notes played in a repeating scale throughout the song. Used to play that, always went down well.

I like my Stagg quite a lot. I carried out a couple of cheap and easy mods to make it more to my liking. The biggest was making a stand for it a la NS Design tripod as I found it more comfortable and easier to play on a stand than on the endpin with the arms attached. That meant I could then remove the endpin and the associated rattle problems vanished. I then moved the tailpiece for the bridge so that it would take ordinary DB strings and strung it with black tapewound Rockabilly style strings - which gave me a sound much closer to the one I was seeking from it. I don't consider it to be a double bass experience, more a case of 'it is what it is' - which is an eye-catching bass that is fun to play. In the right context, anyway.

Well, I moved the pickups up a bit and it has got louder, so that is good. I then removed the scratch plate - the finish was really rough on the straight cut sections and looked cheap (on a £250 bass? I know...) and I kind of prefer it without anyway. I discovered it is an exact fit for the Les Paul hard case that also fits my Gibson LP Jnr DC bass and my Frankenstein Honcore. I then took the plunge and moved the strap pin onto the upper bout as per this pic: As it is the hollow bodied version I carried out some scientific test to see if there was sufficient depth of wood to take the pin screw (tapped it to see if it sounded hollow or not ) but was still a little nervous when I drilled the pilot hole. However it was apparent I was drilling into wood the whole time and it is now securely screwed in place. Hangs much better.

I have a Elf with a One10 for home practice and smaller gigs. Not used it for a smaller gig yet but at home I have the gain set around 4pm so that it just starts to drive a bit - to my old ears this sounds rather like the old TE pre-set 1 - and the master at 7pm. So only just registering, really. I believe it has plenty to give.

Sadly not from me - 6 basses, 3 amps, 1 cab, 1 pedal, 2 wireless thingies. I did sell some stuff, mind.

9 sold?

I had a toilet seat bass once but had to sell it - my wife was forever telling me to put it down.

I'd always thought there came a point when they are too close and everything kind of distorts - I just wondered if this is what was already the case or whether there was room to move them up a bit. I'll give it a go, ta. While we are about it - anyone moved the strap pin onto the upper bout or shall I stick to the neck?

Yes, pushes it all up nicely! Does pickup height make much difference to this fella? They seem quite low. Worth an experiment, maybe.

And an hour later.... Mrs S popped out so I had another little noodle but this time with more volume. And that is all it needed, more volume - it does not sound thin at all! The hollow, woody tone is very nice - very similar to the Danelectro Longhorn I had. Not keen on the bridge pup isolated but the neck alone is a lovely rounded tone and the two together have some extra bite. Hmm.

Probably the expensive basses I bought without thinking it through properly. The worst of which was most likely an NS Design Bolin 5 string that had been de-fretted. Absolutely fantastic bass that I had absolutely no need for but bought it in a rush of blood and lost a huge sum over. At least this was only £250, a decent chunk of which I would get back if I decide to move it on.

Could be my ears, of course. 😂

Gone!

This has just been listed on eBay, I think£250 BIN is one of the cheapest 'Vista's I've seen. One of those little gems that Squier do from time to time, these were limited run, MIC, chunkier neck than a Mustang and powerful, aggressive sound. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fender-Squier-Musicmaster-Vista-Series-Short-Scale-Bass-Mustang-style-body/303398086935?hash=item46a3ef6917%3Ag%3AzrEAAOSwzkRd762s&LH_ItemCondition=3000

By contrast I bought a Fender Rumble combo and couldn't get a sound I liked out of it. Quilter bass block, for me, out of the box, 5 mins fiddling and I was as happy as Larry. Also a pick player. Horses very definitely for courses - optimum tone is one of those things that is just so subjective

Well, lightning quick service from BAX, my Hofner Ignition Club has arrived. Straight out of the box it was covered in dust and bits of expanded polystyrene, the rosewood fretboard looked dry as anything but the set up was OK - I might even drop the action a little. I changed the stock strings to TI Flats and had the Devils own job fitting the E string into the tiny tuners, gave the board a wipe of lemon oil. First impressions are that it feels like a toy and sounds pretty thin but that's just after an initial noodle and very low volume. However it is ridiculously lightweight (just 2.4kg!) and it probably worth keeping for those bad back sessions. If so I might change the tuners and move the front strap button to somewhere sensible. So overall not my best impulse buy but certainly not my worst.