Boodang

I don't think the Spectracomp settings is the issue as I've loaded the same toneprint on to both; I've using the Captain East on both. When you take the bypass off the spectradrive pedal it kicks in both the comp and eq. The comp seems to be working as I would expect the captain east toneprint to respond but I can't get the eq to sound flat.

Got this recently so I could combine the Spectracomp with a 4 band eq and the fact it has an overdrive toneprint as well is a bonus. However.... When I'm just using the Spectracomp with the eq all set at 12 o'clock it doesn't sound neutral, not the same as just using a Spectracomp pedal on it's own. Is it because the eq controls don't have centre detents? Anyway, swapping between the two it's noticable. So, when my fretless goes through this I just want the comp, but when I switch to the fretted I roll off the treble and a bit of high mid. The eq is good, trouble is it doesn't seem to sound neutral when in theory it shouldn't be doing anything. Just wondered if anybody else felt the same / had the same issue as regards the neutrality, or lack of it. The only solution is to use both the Spectracomp and spectradrive with an a/b switch but it sort of defeats the object of why I bought the spectradrive in the first place!

Oh, and one thing I did notice when you look at the current line up, the specials have an 11" neck radius and the classic is 7.5". So another thing in the mix if neck radius is important to you.

... and have you seen the Darkray? A usa stingray with a darkglass preamp. That has to be interesting.

Interestingly the equivalent cost today that Fender were selling the P bass back in the day is around 2K, so not cheap. Makes you realise how far we've come in terms of quality/price, especially in the last few years. My Squier jazz is one of the best I've ever played in the 40 years of being a bassist and even with the hardware mods I've done still very cheap by comparison.

Worse thing I ever did was to get a custom made bass as a headless! Now I have a great bass but limited string choice... in theory you can clamp any string but in practice a lot of strings don't like this and destroy themselves under this abuse they weren't designed for. My fav strings have a synthetic core and even come with a warning on the packet about being delicate when installing (they're not delicate for playing purposes). If I want to be be 47 quid less well off all I have to do is try and put them on my headless!

Are you actually saying flats inferior to roundwounds or did I miss the satirical element?! Oh, and the large number of spaces between text and emoji??

Maybe a fretless model should be called a Precision (not)

Aha, well some clarification in the 'five watt world' YouTube history of the P bass; the name purportedly comes from a combination of the frets, the precise tone from the scale length, and the precise way in which they were machine made.

Of course, if the name refers to the tone rather than the frets then it's not an oxymoron!

Maybe it comes with exceptional intonation built in!

Talking of the ubiquitous Fender Precision bass in another thread here has reminded me of something I read ages ago but can't find again and thus makes me think I'm making this up.. so any clarification gratefully received! It goes like this; in an interview with Leo he states that the Precision name came less from the frets and more from the fact the scale length was carefully chosen to give a precise tone where unlike an upright the overtones did not overwhelm the fundamental note. So in his experiments they were after the longest scale length where this would be the case and thus ended up at 34" and the precise tone they were after. Plenty of mention in the history books about scale length experiments but not about the reasons for it and the precise tone. Did I dream this!!

Can't comment on edited toneprints but the phone app works a treat now with no issues for me. I've got a Spectracomp, spectradrive, hof2, flashback2 and wiretap and the all work perfectly with the app. The wiretap had sooo many issues with v.1 but with the new firmware updates it's sorted. Love the Spectracomp, have settled on the tri-band captain east toneprint which adds punch to the bass frequencies but doesn't squish the overall sound.

That's the reason for mentioning custom pickups as they're hand wound, scatter wound, and clued up as to materials to use and over/under wiring for different tone capabilities. All my basses have custom replacement pups. The best so far was a set I had made for my fretless jazz after reading an article about the pickups Seymour Duncan designed / made for Jaco... scatter wound single coils, alnico2 bridge, alinico5 neck. Interesting the best sound to my ear is both pups full on played over the neck.... good amount of bass from the alnico5 with a nice blend of mids from the alnico2.

My first bass was fretless so it seemed natural to use fingers. I used lockdown to crack the pick thing but fingers is still my go to technique. Influenced early on by John Paul Jones, so mostly play over the end of the neck which also has a pleasing tone on fretless. And worked on the Gary Willis technique of using the ring finger to make string crossing more fluid... also good for triplets.

I've been looking at these, they seem like a good idea. They're on some Warwicks and Fender customs so probably not just a solution to a problem we didn't know existed, more like a sensible evolution. Do post if you get some although I might pull the trigger myself soon.

Flatwounds aren't going to be as bright as roundwounds but they don't have to be dull. My latest obsession is the Galli Synthesis flatwounds which I've put on my jazz (I've done a thread on them here). They have a synthetic core, and feel and sound great. If you want to have a listen I posted some clips over in the effects review section; the Seamoon funk machine dub clip gives you a good idea, as does the one I just posted of the Aguilar grape phaser. Not cheap but strings are an essential part of your sound, so if you like them, a good investment.

As always from me, a shout out for Creamery pickups. I got the solo P which is designed to cut through a band mix but if you have something special in mind he'll do a custom. And very reasonable prices.

If it's a covers band then it needs to be tight. Sounds like this guitarist needs to be in a different style of band if that's how he want to play.

It's interesting because back when this bass was made, Fender were mass producing down to the cheapest price. I remember reading an interview with Leo about the early production days and they asked him what made his pickups sound special and, to para-phase, he said he didn't know as they were using whatever was around and cheap with no consistency in materials especially the wire used in the pups. I guess that's why there's such a variance from model to model. Today's manufacturing techniques and the use of things like Plek machines must surely be able to produce a far superior bass.

A Marshall stack with only one speaker connected! Mind you, there's been a few guitarists where that's been a tempting option.

Perusing Bass Direct's second hand page to see if anything interesting had popped up and there, tucked away in the 4 string section, is a Fender Precision for 14.5K. Now, apart from the ludicrous price (or is it, as it's a piece of history?), does this mean the price and rarity signifies the death nail for it being heard at a gig? To be confined to the studio at best or a museum piece at worse? If I had the money I play the sh*t out of it live, after all it's not exactly a delicate instrument like a violin. Let's hope it doesn't end up pinned to wall in a hard rock cafe somewhere?! But another thought occured, I can't afford a 60's bass but I can afford to get custom pickups made. Now given that a big part of the tone of an electric bass comes from the pickup (I know, tone wood, tone wood, tone woods!), can you you get a fair part of the way with a custom wound pup for a couple of hundred quid? I did a similar thing with my Squier Jazz but don't have the genuine article to do a direct A/B comparison... sounds good though.

Was thinking recently that in this day and age it might be worth having a calibrated sound level meter so as a band you have an independent means of proving db levels during a gig. This incident shows that time might have arrived.

I'm sure these two pedals are familiar to bass players but they've become favourites on my pedalboard so thought I'd give them a quick review. I was watching the Andertons youtube video where they played the latest Aguilar pedals and these two caught my ear. The octamizer I thought, gave a very organic thickening of the tone and that does indeed seem to be the case. It's analogue and I know some people have said it's not the best at tracking but... I quite like that. If you play too fast or play double stops, it doesn't throw up anomalies, it just doesn't follow you and that's ok. It means you don't just have a double playing everything one octave below with ever nuance of your playing and to me that feels quite organic and pleasing to the ear. With the octamizer you can also control the filter sound from smooth, for a nice thickening of your tone, to edgy, which almost has a slight overdrive feel to it. Separate octave and clean levels is a welcome touch that makes the sound very controllable, and the tilt eq has a nice pivot point, good for taking the edge off if it gets too bright. The grape phaser is funky! As an alternative to an envelope filter I love it. The thing that does it for me is the color control which feeds back some if the original signal into the phase circuit and makes it quite funky. The pedals work well on their own but my fav sound is both together... a sort of hefty funk tone. Only oddities of note; I got an old style case with the octamizer which because of the overhang on the 'lip' won't allow right angle leads to fit (get the newer design if you're buying s/h), and when you power these pedals from a 9v psu, use an isolated supply. Initially I used a Spot One to power both but as it wasn't isolated to each pedal they were noisy, as soon as I used my Palmer isolated supply they were quiet as could be. I've added some clips, the last two I've put the octamizer through the Fwonkbeta which is quite fun. The edgy tone makes it a little bit more synthy sounding. Clip1; octamiser (smooth filter) + grape phaser Clip2; grape phaser only Clip3; octamizer (smooth filter) only Clip4, octamizer (edgy filter) only Clip5; octamizer (edgy filter) + grape phaser Clip6; octamizer (smooth filter) + Fwonkbeta Clip7; octamizer (edgy filter) + Fwonkbeta 235_Aguilar grape + oct smooth.mp3 233_Aguilar Grape.mp3 239_Aguilar oct smooth.mp3 241_Aguilar oct edgy.mp3 237_Aguilar grape + oct edgy.mp3 243_Aguilar oct smooth fwonk.mp3 245_Aguilar oct edgy fwonk.mp3