Paul S

Learning by ear is fine, say pro bassists.

+1 for try as much as you can to find out what you like. Some basses are extremely heavy, some are extremely lightweight, some have fat necks, some have skinny necks - not everyone can get on with all types. In broader terms, if you pay £300 for a secondhand bass you will get something that is good enough for absolutely any situation. Some makes/models are unpopular at the moment so if you aren't a concerned what is written on the headstock you can get fantastic bargains - SGC Nanyo Bass Collection basses go for next to nothing and are superb quality. I recently bought a mid 80s Yamaha RBX800A for £150 and it is just as good. I paid a lot more for a Fender Precision Lyte and it is no better, frankly. Westone Thunder basses, in their various guises, represent incredibly good value for money - £300 would probably get you a Thunder IIIA, which would give most £800 basses a run for their money. Somewhere in the for sale section there is a MIJ Fender Precision for £225 - but scruffy but an absolute bargain IMO. Lots of deals to be had - a buyers market at the moment but it helps if you know what you want.

I put a Kent Armstrong pup and a J East P-retro preamp into my Westone Thunder Jet - now it is the Mutts. I think that if the rest of the bass is of decent enough quality to get the most out of the upgrades, and it feels comfortable to play, then it is worth doing. It won't increase the value - that's not why I have done it - my intention, when I eventually move it on, is to put it back to stock and sell off the bits separately or stick them into another project. But for now I am enjoying a unique bass that is lightweight, comfy, sounds the biz and has a fantastic neck.

How about trying a Westone Thunder bass? They have a decent P-bass sound, similar simplicity with a single split coil pup (well some of them anyway) and the 1A gives you a simple active EQ. Necks are absolutely superb - as good as anything I have owned or tried - 40mm at the neck and, for a fellow skinny neck lover, extremely comfortable. I have the Thunder Jet, which was passive. Added a J. East P-retro, Kent Armstrong pup and am absolutely loving it.

Bought Ad's Yamaha RBX800A. Paid for it then collected it many weeks later, not a problem - totally smooth transaction, good comms, nice fella to deal with (but when he says 'you don't mind dogs, do you?' he means the huge monster at the top of the stairs. That is in fact a big softy Cheers, Ad - pleasure doing business with you.

I have a Zoom B2.1u and initially I found it useful - mainly to actually discover which effects I wanted to use (not many, it turns out). Like you I am completely happy with the sound produced by the bass/ amp/ cab combinations I have so now find all the modelling redundant. I used to have one or two cheaper passive basses that needed 'beefing up' and one of the presets was perfect for this. Now I don't and, apart from some of the distortion, I am struggling to find useful effects. This is with the caveat that I haven't spent lots and lots of time fine tuning the various patches but, when I have tried fiddling found it difficult to get on with. For example, I don't *think* (but would love to be proved wrong) you can do a straight pedal wah, only an autowah that the pedal changes certain characters of. I only need it for one track so probably won't bother. The chorus/flange is rather unsubtle and I ended up buying an EBS Unichorus. So havinglived with it for a while I currently use it purely as a tuner and for some extra distortion beyond the Tube Tone on the amp if I need it. I suspect I soon will ditch the Zoom and get a Boss or similar for distortion and be done with it.

Thank you muchly, sir. Too wide and heavy for me, as I suspected. One went for not very much on eBay this morning - £84 - and collection only from just up the road in Basildon. I think someone somewhere is happy!

I was wondering if anyone knew off hand what the neck width and weight of the EBMM OLP basses were? 4 string. I can't find the info anywhere (though i expect it is out there somewhere!) ta.

Weight was a non-issue right up until I got a back problem, then it became one of the most important things for me to consider. Like everything else that having a back problem affects - if you don't have a problem you don't get what the fuss is about. I never did. Now I do. Even slip on shoes rather than lace up I remember when I was selling a bass on here a couple of years ago, before I buggered my back this last time, and someone asked me how much it weighed 'exactly'. I thought they were being pedantic but only now realise how important it is. I have a 9lb Fender bass that is my most comfortable, best tone etc BUT for long rehearsals I go for a lighter weight bass every single time because playing a 7lb bass for 4 hrs rather than a 9lb bass makes a significant difference to how my back feels immediately afterwards and, particularly, the following morning.

I had one and would never have sold it on had it been lighter in weight. Immense tone and solid as a rock. Necks are fantastic - 40mm at the nut but a slightly deeper profile than a Jazz. You can get a really woody P-Bass type tone on them, too. I miss mine. I still have it's cousin, the Thunder Jet - much lighter but with the same fantastic neck - pimped with a P-Retro pre-amp and it is the mutts. Doesn't balance quite as well as the 1A - lighter body I suppose.

Not been to Bass Direct but Bass Merchant were exceptionally helpful when I was choosing a new amp. Nothing was too much trouble. Easy to get to, loads of parking, no issues with volume.

+1K for J. East. I haven't tried a broad range of onboard pre-amps but have used Artec and J. East before now. I have actually had 3 fitted in my Fender P-Bass Lyte in the last month or so. The stock Fender one sounded ok but one of the pots and/or pcb didn't work so I replaced it (against advice on here, I should add) with a cheap Artec SE-2. It sounded much the same as the stock one and I felt the bass had more in it. Anyway - just this morning I fitted a 4 knob version of the 5 knob J. East U retro that I bought from silddx (who had it made specially) and am still grinning. Whatever sounds are available from the bass have been articulated in a way that is beyond my dreams. Incredible. Rehearsal tonight and I can hardly wait to try it at that kind of volume.

I think I will give it a try on the back of the body and see how it turns out. If it doesn't work there's nothing a bit of polish won't restore and, tbh, it has so many dinks and dents that it doesn't really matter. It only cost me £77 in the first place! - the preamp is worth more than the bass. Thanks again

Thanks for that. I will give it a go. mcnach - thanks for the headsup but I think it will take me a week to find it! I did find one short thread with wirewool/wax paste suggestion, which I will try. Ta.

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1316871517' post='1383905'] How about masking the area around the shiney part and giving it a quick blast with an aerosol of satin varnish? - I think Plastikote do small tins in the local DIY stores. [/quote] Ideally that would work but knowing my limited spraying skills I'd need to T-Cut it back to a non-lumpy finish and end up where I started!

Duly ignored I did previously own a Thunder Jet bass (which I had sold and subsequently regretted) that, although 25+ years old, still had a decent satin sheen to it. This makes me hopeful I might be able to get it back somehow. Maybe just trial and error around the back somewhere. As I say, it isn't crucial.

I have a Westone Thunder Jet bass which, when I bought it, had been neglected for years - totally covered in sh*te. These came finished in satin black with matching satin black hardware - pretty stealth looking and cool IMO. I took it to bits, gave it a good clean and a makeoever including a polish at the end to try to remove some of the scratches with T-Cut. This worked a treat for the scratches but I now have a more glossy finish on the body. I can live with this but wonder if it might be possible to get it back to a satin finish somehow. My thought would be to carefully use an extremely fine wire-wool as per polishing wood grade but don't know if anything else might be more suitable? Any suggestions? Ta.