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SumOne

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Everything posted by SumOne

  1. SumOne
    It's a fairly unusual situation in the world of consumerism as old Basses don't really go out of fashion, and they don't really wear out (beyond fairly simple fixes like re-fretting) in fact some wear can add to the appeal, and new technology doesn't leave them obsolete. So when I want to get a Bass I convince myself that if I buy it second hand it's basically a refundable deposit.
  2. SumOne
  3. SumOne
    The strings not lining up across the middle of their individual round pickup circles would annoy me more.
  4. SumOne
    I've got a 5 string Passive P Bass itch that needs scratching! If my Sandberg TM5 SL sells while this is still available I'll contact you (or I know you said no trades, but give a shout if that trade for that changes your mind).
  5. SumOne

    Unhappy

    SumOne replied to Supernaut's topic in Bass Guitars

    I've never owned a P Bass and read too many threads like this so it feels like an itch that needs to be scratched! Also, I think it might be an age thing but I'm feeling the pull of Passive vs Active....but I really dislike noise, a P seems to deal with that better J setup. My hestitations are: I've definitely become a 5 string player and that doesn't really fit the traditional look of a P Bass, any particular P that works well as a 5 string? And I generally play dubby Reggae (using more of the neck pickup and playing in front of it), and occasional slap: Passive P's don't seem popular for either of them so perhaps they're not for me....woth a try though!
  6. SumOne
    The Dingwall range demonstrate the limits to Bass diminishing returns for me: The £1,700 Combustion is a very well made instrument that I think would be good enough for pretty much any discerning high-level professional player. It is a Dingwall design built to a high spec and high-level of quality control but via an efficient mass-produced process in China. That seems to be about the limit for high-end but mass-produced and efficiently made Basses, beyond that the diminishing returns graph of cost vs how 'good' the instrument starts to go almost flat because the increased cost seems to be largely for inefficient production. The Dingwall Z3 costs £6k + and is made by hand in Canada. I've heard nothing but praise for the Canadian made Dingwalls and I'm sure they are better but I find it hard to believe it's really worth £4,300 more, surely a big chunk of that is down to paying for an inefficient build process - paying people's wages for many hours of work in Canada vs an efficient mass-produced process in China paying lower wages for fewer hours, and it's partly paying for scarcity rather than actually the value of how good the instrument is. (Similar to Wal and Foderas and others).
  7. SumOne
    My pedalboard (not sure it can actually be called that) is very boring looking at the moment: It's convenient for putting in the Bass gig bag and travelling on the tube, and for covering different music genres reasonably well and always having an alright version of an effect available, but it doesn't have the mojo of individual pedals. On the right are pedals I'm not using but haven't been able to bring myself to sell.....probably only a matter of time before they combine and start to become a pedalboard though!
  8. SumOne
    Take my money! Perhaps it's just a sign of my finances but I haven't gone for anything more than high end mass produced Basses. As the cost goes from £1,500 from them to >£3,000 for custom things made by some bloke in a garage (with suitable artistic photos of him working on it) that's the point where the diminishing returns thing stops being worthwhile for me, if I had the spare cash though I'd go for the pirate ship wood hand carved by a beardy bloke over several months.
  9. SumOne
    A £400 Bass will do fine and there are diminishing returns but global competition between brands is quite fierce and I've generally found that more expensive Basses are more enjoyable to play and easier to make sound good. And higher end basses hold their value well as they get older and rarer. I'd recommend people spend as much as they can afford rather than being tight - it's something you might play for 1000s of hours for many years, and if you get a good one you might eventually sell for similar (or more) than you bought it for.
  10. SumOne
    SOLD (Traded) Sandberg TM5 SL. Reduced to £1,000 (or trade options below) I got this from Bass Direct earlier this year for about £1,500 and it's still on their website so that's where to look for the most flattering photos: https://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/Sandberg_TM5_Superlight_Redburst.html . Bass Direct offered me £1,000 part-exchange for it a couple of weeks ago but after a few hours trying Basses in the shop I couldn't find anything I preferred. I've added some photos below to highlight small scrapes & dents I've added in the last year (you have to look quite hard under the right lighting to see them - you can't usually notice them). Neck - Bolted x 6 / Maple Fretboard - Maple 22 Frets, instrument fully Plek'd Body - Lightweight Pauwolina Finish - Satin Redburst Scale - 34” scale Hardware - Sandberg including lightweight tuners, bell plate. Pickup - 2 x Black Label, single coil and humbucker Preamp - Sandberg 2 band: Volume (pull for passive), Pan, Treble (becomes passive tone in passive mode), Bass, single/series switch for MM pickup Weight: 3.3kg/7lb 8oz Includes Padded Sandberg Gig bag Nut width: 45mm String spacing: Adjustable from about 17.5mm-19mm Strings: Sandberg Stainless Steel 40-128 which haven't been used much as I put on Diaddario Tapewounds (as seen in photos below) that I'd prefer to keep. At 3.3kg the whole Bass is very lightweight - not just the body (it has things like lightweight tuners so no neck dive), to help reduce weight the body wood is relatively low density and doesn't have glossy varnish or paint so it picks up scrapes/dents more easily, there are a few small ones I have tried to show in the pictures, there's nothing that affects playability and they're not easy to see..... 'lightly roadworn' costs more usually anyway! A second strap button has been added as I prefer the playing position it puts the Bass into (it's the same position as they put the button for Spector and Dingwall Basses, I'd previously owned a Dingwall and must have got used to it - it now feels like all Basses should have the button there). Postage: I've only got the soft gigbag it came with so I'd prefer collection (Twickenham) or I could drive to meet half-way within reason. Trades: I'm looking for something similar but just slightly bigger - Ideally 5 string with 35" scale, 19mm spacing, >46mm nut, Lightweight, 3 band EQ if it's active, front mounted jack if it's passive. Things that most closely fit the bill are MTD Kingston, Ibanez BTB, Lakland DJ5 or 55-02 (if reasonably lightweight).
  11. SumOne
    I like the look of the BTB 5 string series. They tick a lot of the things I'm looking for: 19mm spacing, 35" scale, 24 frets, and they have 3 band EQ with 3x mid-frequency selector. I had the SRMS805 that hasd the same pickups and preamp and it sounded great (the issue I had with it was tight 16.5mm string spacing). I am after something lightweight though and can't find anything online giving the weights - does anyone here know that? There is a big range in cost from £773 to £1,299 and that includes different body types as well as things like pickups so I assume they each have quite different weights. https://www.thomann.de/gb/ibanez_btb765_del.htm?ref=prod_variations_418299_2 ......I'll email Thomann to see if they give the weight information. (Edit: Thomann replied to say they can't give out the weights of Basses as it varies Bass to Bass - I has asked specifically about one B stock Bass though so I reckon they could if they felt inclined!)
  12. SumOne
    For anyone with the same shopping list as me, the Ibanez BTB 845 (& 745 & 1835) seems to also fit the criteria of: 5 string, 19mm spacing, 35" (and 47mm nut), 24 fret, and they are reasonably priced. The numbering is a bit confusing but basically go from 'standard' BTB845 and BTB765 which I think are only really different as far as fingerboard and the top, or quite a big price hike to get the 'premium' versions like the BTB1835 for £1,350 with better spec & gig bag. Confusingly, the BTB 845V is quite different with 17mm string spacing and 33" scale. I'm not sure about their weight but the Ibanez SRMS805 I owned was light and sounded good and I think had the same Bartoloni BH2 pickups and preamp (the 3 way mid-frequency switch is great), main downside of that for me was the tight 16.5mm string spacing (again, it aparently it's adjustable - but I never found all strings could all be adjusted equally very much without slipping off the fretboard). .....I'm not sure if it'd actually be an improvedment over my Sandberg TM5 SL but it potentially has advantages for me of slightly wider string spacing, 24 frets vs 22, 3 band EQ with 3-way mid selection (vs 2 band). BTB845 (£843 at Thomann) BTB765 (£773 at Thomann)
  13. SumOne

    Sivcak

    SumOne posted a topic in Bass Guitars

    I can't find a thread on Sivcak Basses and I don't own one but am keen to so my question is - are they as good as they look? https://www.sollerguitars.com/index.php?option=com_flexicontent&view=category&cid=28:seria-ndhs&lang=en
  14. SumOne
    Thanks to Rich for sending me a Bass quickly and as described, and then good communications and very helpful responses after I received it.
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  16. SumOne
    I get the impression you are considering every comment to directly relate to you, I was just commenting generally on the discussion points. If someone really didn't care about having any audience to their art then I don't expect they would record and release music or perform it to an audience (perhaps they'd record it so they alone could listen to it). My point is that just about everyone that creates art does care a bit about what the audience thinks of it and it must inform their art to a certain extent.
  17. SumOne
    I expect that even the most avant-garde and experimental artists consider how their art will be consumed and appreciated by an audience. ...at least the ones that have been heard by an audience. I suppose the ones that really don't care at all about an audience would never record or perform their art for an audience to ever know about it.
  18. SumOne
    Yeah, I wouldn't say no to a Status! There's a streamline for sale on here that looks good, it's more than 10x the cost of the Steinberger Spirit I just bought though which would kind of defeat part of the purpose for me as backup/travel bass that can be chucked about a bit! Ideally I'd like to use Tapewound strings but I think that's a non-starter.
  19. SumOne
    Yeah, perhaps not my cuppa. It's not going to stop me trying though!
  20. SumOne
    I keep hearing similar comments and have never owned a P Bass so it's tempting to get one to see if it applies to me. Perhaps incorrectly, I assume that a P is ideal for soul/motown and most rock and punk stuff and perhaps for general pop stuff, it's dependable with good low-mid thump and you can't really get a bad tone out of it. However, they are rarely seen used for Reggae/dub, and aren't the 'go-to' Bass for slap, and they don't seem to be popular for down-tuned metal type stuff.....seeing as those are the three genres I tend to play the most I'm not sure a P Bass is for me, it seems to be one of those things Bass players probably should own at some point though so is an itch I'll need to scratch!
  21. SumOne
    My day started with no intention of getting another Bass. I watched a few Reggae youtube videos and it dawned on me that Steinberger type basses have been used by a lot of good Reggae players (possibly just because they are easy to travel with rather than anything specifically special about the sound) and that it could be handy for me as a backup/travel Bass.....before lunch I've gone and bought a 2nd hand Steinberger! My limited research concluded that the original 80s ones are the best but cost >£3k, the Hohner ones seem to be considered better than the Steinberger Spirit but generally cost more and are rarer, the Steinberger Spirit cost £350 new or around about £200 2nd hand and people tend to basically say 'they're alright for the price'. So I'm not expecting to be amazed or it to replace my main 5 string Bass but I think it'll fill a niche (and it has a drop D tuner which is something I've been keen to spend time learning).
  22. SumOne
    Nice one. I'm going to do some more research but I'm quite keen - they are appealing as cheap backup Bass/one I can easily travel with (the Steinberger Spirit seems to go for about £200 2nd hand), and seeing that yourself and plenty of other Reggae players use them is a good endorsement. I think the Bass player in Asian Dub Foundation sometimes uses one too.
  23. SumOne
    Anyone here played a Steinberger? Quite an 80's looking thing but I've seen that Robbie Shakespeare, Donald Dennis, George Fullwood, Flabba Holt had all used them (or something looking very similar) at some point. I'm all about making life easy for myself and if I can (potentially!) get the sounds they got from them with a Bass that goes for about £200 and is light and easy to carry around then I'm all for it.
  24. SumOne
    .
  25. SumOne
    It's a great pedal, the only potential problem is getting it to talk to your laptop (see posts above from different people, and similar on the Talkbass thread). That aspect works fine for plenty of people though so it's still probably well worth getting - you might need to be more patient or more tech savvy than me to not get frustrated with it though!
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