TheButler

Any chance of it being damaged in transit?

Send it back and i'll pay £454. Pre-damaged means i'll not be precious, which means i'll actually gig it heavily; which, if I am led to believe the modest hype around these, would be a pleasure.

I've played hundreds of gigs with the wedding band, always use my only bass, the '78 P. We play a wide-range of stuff and i've never felt caught out by my sound. Nobody has ever approached me about its indesputible lack of versatility - Joe public or fellow bass players alike

I've had only 1... for the past 7 years.

Beautiful. Would compliment my P-Bass nicely...

[quote name='GazWills' timestamp='1386770153' post='2304248']
Also, and I can't remember who said this either, but the guy who said something like [i]"all those records you like, they were all made using worse pedals and gear than what you have available to you now"[/i]... in other words, turn off the computer and get out there playing,no magic pedal is going to make you play better
[/quote]

Indeed.

Let's face it, on forums we often refer to post count to decide the value of someone's opinion - which isn't the most reliable index. I seldom have an opinion, owing to the fact that I seldom have a clue. Yet I have a few posts on here, and over 1500 on 'the other forum'. Furthermore, people that are more devoted to increasing their post count, than they are to increasing their playing ability, are not those that I wish to take advice from. The beauty of it is though, nobody forces you to listen or pay attention - you can just fly over the posts, which I find is easier now I am not an 'eager to be in the cool crew' youngster.

Slightly OT: My brother used to work for a big media company. Part of his job was to promote the business on forums, without making it clear that he was affiliated. He was instructed to bad mouth select products from their lines, and balance it by singing the praises of other select products. He was challenged with building a reputation on the forum, in order to make this plot more fruitful. Needless to say he didn't remain comfortable with the practice and used it is one excuse to ditch the job!

I found that very interesting. I would be surprised if it was funded by Zvex or DBA, as both promoted their products and had them inadvertently mocked by others in quite equal measure.

It highlighted that very fundamental GAS thing though; what motivates it and how easily we, as consumers of this stuff, can be persuaded. I find it incredibly ironic that we discuss these matters on the very media that indeed the issue comes from. Then again, that's just kinda how everything works these days - not just music gear. I have progressed in my playing the instrument more so in the last few years, than ever before. If that was plotted on a graph it would correspond quite neatly against my time spent on here, for example. I sold all of my effects (okay, I needed money more than anything - remember the 'resale' thing?), stopped making superficial nonsense with Ableton and stopped relgiously checking forums. Instead I played covers of Motown records, Soul, Funk, Disco in some of the finest and worst establishments this country has to offer - by no means the best/only way to get better, but it worked for me.

The annoying thing is now, however, that spell is over. I really just want to buy some gear. I think the important thing I omitted from the above was I basically wanted to get into an [i]in crowd [/i]and to make up for my lack of being able to play the instrument, I thought that my gear would be a means of doing so. I do intend to go crazy in the new year; buying some things i've wanted for a while now, but this time i'll do so with my ears, not my eyes, fanboi-ism, nor my 'e-penis'. I think, however, despite being conscious of this, it probably won't happen.

Got a friend that is a magician of a woodworking/cabinet maker. He is currently putting together a fEARful 1515 66. I'll be running this with my Mesa 400+, for those gigs that require that kind of speaker real estate. Anybody have any personal experience of these cabs?

I don't know what a good setup is. Apparently my P-bass needs 'setup', yet i've played it just fine for 4 years without touching anything. All very subjective.

I bought one of the new BG250 210's yesterday. Played it for a few hours and very impressed with it. Concerned about the reliability issues; I got this as a back-up to, and small gig alternative to the Mesa.

To consolidate by the way I am going to be looking at the P-Retro, but will likely be going for a Tone Hammer or such. There was a mention of the Sadowsky outboard pre, which I aim to search for too. I'm going to be getting new strings, waiting back to hear if there are any they can conclusively say aren't nickel and can offer enough tonal scope. Cheers folks

[quote name='Dave_the_bass' timestamp='1379882861' post='2217872']
Yamaha RBX270J - stunning bass and GAK are selling them at £199 brand new.

For the money (IMO) it's unbeatable.
[/quote]

Had one of these as my first ever bass about 11 years ago now! It was amazing. Much missed indeed. I never appreciated if it was any good. I automatically thought it was crap owing to the fact it was bought through the school.

[quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1379884380' post='2217926']
Contact strings direct ? They can surely point you at nickel free strings.
Your problem is not exactly rare according to a quick google search. This problem has a solution and a fairly cheap one
[/quote]

This is true, I know my mother is allergic to nickel. I remember looking ages ago, before just deciding to go with flatwounds, and I don't think the places I asked wanted to gaurentee they'd not knacker my hands. New strings is a must though, and will be a vital component toward a more versatile sound. I'm going to watch the John East P-Retro video when I have more time, and do some research on here. I will consider some outboard options - which will be handy for future bass purchases in any case - I imagine that a P-retro and Tone Hammer or VT would open up even more options. When I get to that stage though, I could just buy another bass and keep it in the car for a while.

Thanks to all for advice thus far.

[quote name='Thunderpaws' timestamp='1379878963' post='2217766']
Thanks RockfordStone....haha, next question....any string recommendations? Like my Elixirs but they are getting more expensive.
[/quote]

Depends on the sound you're wanting, shirley? i'm getting a string 101 on another thread, but I think if you need it to be brighter and zingey-er then wouldn't do any harm.

Noticed you're in Bo'ness. I'm just over the hill from you, Edinburgh originally. The band all come from Bo'ness though.

Well, the lead was newish. Got nicked at last gig though. My money is on the keyboard player. He had a shifty look about him after the gig.

I think it was the nickel thing. These flatwounds mustn't be nickel, I've never had a problem with them. So what strings have zero nickel then? Someone mentioned GHS Pressure somethings. They frankly just [i]sound[/i] cool. I really can't go back to having those 3rd degree burn hands again. It was awful.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1379883603' post='2217902']
And jolly good they are too, but don't forget all the toys. Fuzz & distortion, chorus & tremolo, synth & envelope filters, blah blah blah ...
[/quote]

Eh. Naw.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1379883177' post='2217886']
Hope I'm not going OT here, but why not leave the bass alone and just add pedals?
[/quote]

This is for sure a very simple thing that I evidently overlooked. Tone Hammer and VT Bass DI are on the 'to google' list.

Some of you may think that at this rate I could just as well buy another bass. Unfortunately, I have a sort of seperate bass fund, that a 70's Jazz will be coming out of. Current household ambience dictates that no new basses shall pass the front door threshold.

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1379882874' post='2217873']
amp Eq. Tone out the thunder when you need it.
[/quote]

The Mesa's EQ doesn't give me enough to play with. I can't really 'sculpt' - there is little deviation from what is an overwhelmingly thumpy rumble.

I'm just starting to get complaints from band members that I sound out of the mix on everything except Jamerson-ey/Motown stuff.

[quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1379882336' post='2217844']
Delicate fingers ? Put some rounds on, you complete pansy

Seriously - I had a jretro for a while and it's worth thinking about. You can't make sound that isn't there though so ground wounds / flats might defeat it a little
[/quote]

It was seriously bad... they looked like a melted cheese toasty. Proper disgusting stuff. When proper going for (geein' it laldy) bits of skin would be flying all over the front row.

Okay so John East, and a search for outboard pre's maybe.

[quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1379881955' post='2217833']
Put rounds on it ? Then you'll get less thunder
[/quote]

My delicate fingers unfortunately dictate roundwounds. Last time I played roundwounds I had pretty bad dermititis on my hands. You're right though, it would open up the sound so I won't discount them!

P-Retro... always been aware of them, might have a shufty.

All in the title. So, I love the P-Bass. Had it a good few years, and its properly played in now. It is my only bass. Don't have the money to get a 70's Jazz at the moment - which [i]is[/i] the next purchase.

The bass is all original, I don't particularly want to swap out pups, or have any internal pre-amp. So, what options do I have here? By versatile I kinda just want it to do something other than [i]that[/i] thunderous P-Bass sound. I currently have 4 year old thomastik flats on it too... Don't get me wrong I love the sound it does, and need that sound 75% of the time. I just need something a little more 'articulate' the other 25%.

Ideas?

This is under offer btw folks.

[quote name='JamesBass' timestamp='1379367529' post='2211952']
It's the players that aren't versatile.
[/quote]

Aye. This.

[quote name='RandomBass' timestamp='1379342125' post='2211457']
I had one of these for a short while. Was certainly pretty loud with a great punchy sound to it. Mine didn't come with tartan slippers though ;-)
[/quote]

I can chuck the slippers in, but it would double the price.

[attachment=143875:photo(13).JPG]

Apologies for lack of pictures. Have a look now:

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/cWwNVqy.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/XSnAFiu.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/cwRso4A.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/qy51kgE.jpg[/IMG]