Munurmunuh

On 19/12/2020 at 20:00, dave_bass5 said:

I have a BB425 and yes, its a bit hotter and has a bit more bite to it. Its the only PJ or JJ ive had that I could play the bridge pup and not feel a drop in body and volume.

Have you ever put Daddario Pro Steels or Rotosound Swing Bass strings or something similar on your 425?

Recently youtube insisted I watch a video of a guitar that was fretted up to the 10th or 11th fret and fretless there after.

And I wondered if something similar would be more useful to bassists?

Looking at this, um, aggrandisement, I feel my thought to be, at least, not the worst idea going.

That clip of the Blazer reminds me very much of the sound Craig Adams  was getting out of his Roadstar / Roadster in the early / mid 80s, so presumably the same pickup

6 minutes ago, hooky_lowdown said:

DiMarzio PAF pickups

Thank you, that's a helpful bit of info I didn't know about. Did Ibanez use them a lot late 70s / early 80s? And is there anything specific about their construction that contributes to the punchy tone?

When I googled them, one result was you withdrawing a pair of them from being on sale recently!

Ibanez Blazer flats vs rounds comparison

I love all of this, especially when he plays the roundwounds with a pick at 2'15"

He doesn't mention what strings he's comparing - in the comments someone guesses the rounds to be Rotosound 66s. 

What is it about those Japanese split pickups which give them such a clean punchy tone? 

And what else is making a significant contribution to that tone?

Heres the page with all the available colours. LOTS of different blues!

http://glguitars.com/fullerton-finishes/

The "option order" basses (made in Fullerton) come in a hard case.

The "Fullerton Deluxe" basses come purely as standard spec, in a very restricted range of colours, in a gig bag. They cost a bit less, but by the time the prices have been hit with the shipping, duty and VAT sticks, they're not really looking like much of a bargain.

The "custom shop" basses cost a lot more than the option order basses. Some options are only available that way.

I hope his solicitors insist on cash up front

Fender really should look into making all Precisions sound like that  😛

10 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

Update: I love it.

 

You can hear that you do

May I appear very ignorant and ask what the song is? That bassline seems a happy experience for the fingers.

4 hours ago, dave_bass5 said:

Having had a TRBX505 and a BB435 I’d say BB all the way. I gigged my TRBX for about 2 years, but never really found it exciting. There was a softness about it. Not sure if that makes sense. I’d say it reminded me of a bass that had Bart BK1’s in it. Polite and up for the job, but not as exciting as it could have been.

The analogy about it purring along in a theatre band seems spot on.  Its quite a generic tone so fits in everywhere., but doesnt really claim its spot. 

The BB435 on the other hand blew me way. It had a proper P bass tone with just a bit more kick and growl, and playability was quite a bit better. IIR the BB neck didnt feel as cramped as the TRBX.

Thank you very much for this - exactly the kind of comparison I was after.

There's something in the tone of early 80s Japanese P or PJ basses that seems really punchy to me. I don't know how to describe it, so the 20 seconds from 2'15" to 2'35" in this clip should show what I mean (hopefully this will start at the right place):

Demo of 1982 Ibanez Blazer

And in this 1979 clip of Paul McCartney playing what I think is a BB1200, I can hear that same kind of punchy attack:

Coming Up in Kampuchea

Am I hearing right from demo videos that the bb424 pickups are a bit closer to this style than the bb434?

BB424 demo, starting with some Jamiroquai

BB434 demo 

The 434 sounds a bit more p-bass-ish to me.

I've found the Yamaha specs to compare. Both 40mm nuts, but 424 neck is a bit thicker (bb424: 22mm at 1st fret / 25mm at 12th, bb434: 21mm / 23mm)

22 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Is amiable = polite / bland / tame?

If so, I've not been disappointed with the Yammy BB series 2 (425, 1025) or series 3 pups (735A) at all - in that regard. I love the tone, particularly from my 1025 / 735A.

Yes. I can imagine the TRBX  doing all kinds of useful things - purring along in a theatre band for example - none of which I'm interested in. It seems a bit daft to have a versatile instrument, and then spend the entire time parked at one end of its spectrum.

I now know the BB would be a step in the right direction, but I need to find out if the step would be big enough to be worth the bother of selling + buying.... and this thread seemed a good place to start my enquiries 😊

2 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Do you feel the TRBX is coming up short and, if so, what is it "missing" for you? 

In general the TRBX is a bit too amiable for my tastes - putting on flats helped bring out the bassy side of it, which I like, but I was wondering if the BB pickups would be a bit less polite. More woof less miaow.

Has anyone has ever played a BB434 side by side with a TRBX504/604?

I'm considering swapping my TRBX for a BB, but perhaps the difference in the character of the sound wouldn't be enough to justify the effort?

At the moment the TRBX has Chromes, mostly gets played on neck pickup only, and is permanently set to passive, so you can see why I'm wondering!

10 hours ago, gareth said:

Worth £90 for a sub 7lb bass

Wise investment 

When browsing from the options list, it looked extremely good value compared to some of the decorative stuff. The quartersawn neck, the change of neck width and the empress were all cheaper than pearloid inlays or an ebony fretboard or a colour matched headstock. Once I had resisted frittering my money away on that kind of thing, these three options looked both sensible and cheap.

I still have daydreams of a Graphite Metallic Kiloton with pearloid pickguard and an inlaid ebony fretboard.... and daydreams are free 😊

3 minutes ago, ped said:

Just saw it referred to as ‘the titanium of wood’ which sounds good to me!!

I just worked out that by the time Her Majesty's Customs and Excise have had their way with me, choosing empress over the standard alder will have added about £90 to the price. Which is a lot more than nothing, but I've wasted a lot more money than that in my life 😉

14 minutes ago, ped said:

I’ve heard of that wood before, paulowena or something, very fast growing but really stable. Interesting. My SB1 is about 8.5lbs I think. Not sure what the wood is. 

I was a bit nervous of it when I first read about it - would it be a bit soft? would it sound a bit underwhelming? - but some guy called Brad in Seattle seems to buy a G&L every other month and he reported being happy with the many empress basses he's had.

11 minutes ago, gareth said:

That’s a fabulous weight

Not very long ago Rocket Music sold an LB-100 - which has a slightly less scalloped body than the SBs - which was an even more incredible 6.7 lbs. And even that didn't have neckdive. Sorcery is the only explanation.....

6.7 lb LB-100

16 minutes ago, gareth said:

Under 7lbs?

Are you sure?

Yes, it's made of empress, which isn't listed on the options page at the moment but which is seeming frequently available. I ordered through Rocket Music in Virginia - Greg there seems very good at knowing what G&L can do. (Fortunately he's also good at checking that the factory have actually made what was asked for....)

My very handsome TRBX604FM. Although I find its extensive sonic possibilities wasted on me - with hindsight, a BB434 would have been more suited to me - I like it very much nonetheless. 

1 hour ago, ped said:

I see you're in York too!! Soggy York!! I'd love to see the bass when it's in your hands.

Meeting people....I remember that....long ago....

20 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

I have an SB2 - very impressed - especially as the fella I bought it from complained that there is no tone knob. Takes a bit of getting used to but once "mastered" it seems completely natural.

I did have a good think about the SB-2, but decided that the direction a tone control takes the basic neck pickup sound in is more me than the direction mixing in some bridge pickup goes. I know there's the unofficial option of having a tone control added to an SB-2 but since everyone says that the volume controls also have an effect on the tone of MFDs, I decided three knobs would be one too many for me! I'm easily distracted..... 🙄

To get your arm around this particular body, you might be slightly raising your shoulder to get your hand to where it's used to being.

Sitting down, your options for tweaking your posture are a bit limited, but perhaps have a go at rethinking your posture when sitting down, getting your shoulder and neck comfortable and relaxed first, and then working down the arm.

(Maybe at the end of all that your hand will be unhappy instead....😬)

1 hour ago, ped said:

My first P bass was a Fender ‘57 reissue in shell pink.

A perfect colour for a 50s reissue! I like that SB-1 has a modern-sounding MFD pickups, but is unashamed of its p-bass roots, so I picked a colour which emphasises that.

4 hours ago, ped said:

Looks great! Why so slow?

The factory failed to notice that the specs asked for a quartersawn neck, so it's going back from the dealer in Virginia to California to get the right one! Since the neck is quite slim and the climate here soggy (the tech who set up my TRBX back in the autumn was complaining about the weather changing all the instruments overnight) a more rigid neck seemed like something worth waiting a little longer for 🤷‍♂️

Also in that picture, a set of Daddario Chromes 😀 They'll be replacing the stock Nickels before the bass gets shipped in my direction