LeftyJ

I wasn't actively trying to participate, but didn't exactly plan on buying anything new either. But only 2 months in, I have bought a tube guitar amp, an electric guitar (Ernie Ball Silhouette Special) and a bass (Sandberg Lionel) and sold nothing 

Had a guitarist come in for an audition with my old pop noir band (murder ballads in the style of Nick Cave). I had brought my Rickenbacker 4003 along for that rehearsal. The guy barely spoke, barely acknowledged anyone in the room. His playing was OK, he had a decent enough tone with just a few pedals in front of the house amp, but was just a totally antisocial weirdo. The only words he uttered during the entire audition were "Hey, a Rickenbacker." 

They're nice basses, but be advised there are a couple of things different about these than on a German Warwick:

• First of all, this one is from the very first Rockbass series. You can easily tell them apart by the one-piece bridge, instead of the typical Warwick two-piece bridge and tailpiece. The later Rockbass series (which replaced the Korean Warwick Pro Series) do have the bridge, and are a lot more expensive. Sellers will often try to sell the older models for newer model money, but they're a completely different animal and really not worth that much. When production of the first series ended, Thomann was offloading these for €200 (and Rockbass Streamer Standards at €99). I think they originally sold for about €350-400 max;
• Second, you won't find the typical Warwick woods in these. Bodies were often pine (Warwick calls it Carolena), with maple necks and rosewood boards. Nothing wrong with that, but it may sound different from a German-made Corvette;
• It looks like this one has the same active MEC pickups and pre as many German Warwicks, which is a huge plus of you like them. 

Most importantly: don't pay too much. There are a few on Reverb for well over 600 USD, but that's crazy. 

Great finishes, very tasty! 

Owned a 2009 Rickenbacker 4003 for a bit, and definitely had a love-hate relationship with it. I loved the looks, loved some of the tones, but hated the wonky ergonomics, the sharp bound body edges, the wide and flat neck (I'm talking the rear too, it was very square), the lack of places to anchor your thumb, and I could never get the low E string to sound as good as the other three. I loved it, but i didn't enjoy playing it. I sold it, not for the above reasons, but because I needed the money. No regrets though, and it's unlikely I'm ever buying one again.

Maybe a 4003s, which has a little more curve to the edges.

Probably not though. 

My Ellio Martina Forza was my absolute number one for a few years, and still is one of the finest basses I own. For my bands however (mostly metal), other instruments were more appropriate tonally so it's mostly sitting in my rack unplayed. In or around 2013 I bought a Warwick Streamer LX5 that has been my live bass ever since up to about 2020, and currently it's a Status Graphite S2 Classic.

Every time I do play that Forza, though, I am in awe of how nice the neck (and neck profile) feels, how great it sounds and what a wonderful range of tones I can obtain from it. I'm not a huge fan of the Aguilar OBP3 preamp that's in it, I may want to change it to something more basic and add a passive tone control.

On 22/02/2024 at 12:10, LeftyJ said:

Tomorrow I'm picking up a lovely looking lefty Lionel to borrow for a bit, and I'm really looking forward to it! It's being offered for sale local to me, and the seller kindly offered me to try it out for a little while - while he borrows my Fender MIJ 1975 Jazz Bass reissue that I LOVE but don't really use. 

 

After a few days of playing this, I've decided to pull the trigger. I'm not handing it back 

It's a brilliant little bass, it's a fair bit heavier than I would have expected from such a compact shortscale bass but it's very comfortable to play and it sounds huge! Nice agressive mids and lots of attack from the stock pickup. I only have a few gripes with it:

1: the stock gigbag is flimsy, and most importantly: it doesn't fit all too well. It's not shortscale-specific, and the velcro strap to secure the neck in place sits somewhere halfway along the headstock 

2:  the body is very thin where the tummycut and the forearm contour meet. This gets uncomfortable over time when resting my arm on the body while playing seated. 

That couldn't deter me from absolutely loving this little beast though! 

Gotoh GB-1 tuners and barrel saddles are a match, and likely pinpoint it as a PB62-53. The very red tort doesn't look out of place on an older MIJ. The body on the PB62-53 will typically be basswood. 

Beautiful! 

Is that the protective film still on the pickups, or are they secretly Mustang pickups in P-bass cases? 

4 hours ago, GBH said:

Think it is a LeFay Pangton, there was one reviewed in guitarist magazine around this time, and I think Malcolm Foster used a fretted one when he was in simple minds. 

It is a Pangton! 

Not unlike this one: https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/320723-le-fay-pangton-6-headless-%C2%B489/ 

I like having both 

I play in a doom metal band where I absolutely need the extended range of a 5-string, tuned down to A. At home I mostly play 4-string, and often a shortscale at that. A 4-string makes me play differently, I dig in harder and deeper on my 4's than I do on my 5 for some reason and I enjoy it a lot. 

Those are Gotoh GB1 tuners, and they are perfectly fine 

Fender has been using them on their entry-level Japanese bass models since the 1980s and they work great. The more expensive models generally have vintage reissue tuners with larger backplates. Same goes for their use of basswood, the more expensive models have ash or alder - and bridges with threaded saddles. 

According to the block diagram in the manual (PDF), the headphone out is all the way at the end of the signal chain, with only the power amp and speaker outputs left to go - so it's likely a failing class D power amp or the internal switching power supply towards the power amp. The power amp has short circuit and high temperature protection and will switch itself off when either of these is triggered. Might be wise emailing EBS for a solution, although the answer will likely be "Go to one of our dealerships". 

There's a contact form on their website, and an email address: [email protected] 

16 hours ago, OliverBlackman said:

Gorgeous neck flame. I didn’t know they did streamer $$, thought it was just corvette.

The Streamer is definitely the rarer AND the nicer of the two. I love the flamed neck and the laminated body (you can just tell a little black veneer inbetween layers in OP's pics, like on the Streamer LX Jazzman) 

8 hours ago, BassTractor said:

Kind regards,
BT

Hey, it's that guy @lozkerr boycotts! Boooo! 

9 hours ago, lozkerr said:

I have a few:

 

BT, for being the worst employer I've ever experienced. 

2 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

That's nice. What's the 5/10 label about ?

Dave

I took a screenshot from the ad, because the website won't let me download any of the pics. The label is only on the site, not on the bass 

Tomorrow I'm picking up a lovely looking lefty Lionel to borrow for a bit, and I'm really looking forward to it! It's being offered for sale local to me, and the seller kindly offered me to try it out for a little while - while he borrows my Fender MIJ 1975 Jazz Bass reissue that I LOVE but don't really use. 

 Edit: sorry, double post due to my impatience 

9 hours ago, eude said:

To be honest, I don't think this does anything bar making it easier to use a LONG scale string on their 33" scale basses.

Oh, that would actually make perfect sense! Hadn't thought of that. 

3 hours ago, Kev said:

At risk of sounding silly, surely tension goes beyond the speaking length of the string?  If you have a 37" B that has a tuning peg really close to the nut and a string anchor really close to the saddle, and you have a 34" B that has a tuning peg on the far end of the headstock and a saddle a good distance from the ball end, does the 37" truly have anything like 3 inches/equivalent lbs more tension?  I don't see how it can, which again will play a part.  My headless Leduc 34" scale has a really notably articulate B, yet it anchors directly behind the nut and the break angle is close to ball end, so its as short a string as you can get on a 34" bass really, therefore lowest tension, but still sounds and plays better than most?

This has always boggled my mind: I don't understand the benefit of, for example, that weird extended low B that some Fodera's have.

People will also claim a reversed headstock alters the tone of a guitar or bass - but I just don't understand. Just to make things clear: I don't claim it's a hoax. I just don't understand 

Saw this one on Reddit. Beautiful! 

That looks brilliant, good score!

JHS currently produces reissues (actually more like modern interpretations) of these that look cool too, including lefties of the guitar version, but unfortunately they haven't introduced lefty basses yet. They're not quite as cool as the originals though! 

Rapier Guitars & Basses (jhs.co.uk)

As are the Mono's:

Mono Cases Misc. Computer Accessories ᐅ Buy now from Thomann – Thomann UK

Not as well organized as the D'Addario though, IMO. 

1 hour ago, Killerfridge said:

D'Addario do a gig backpack, but it isn't cheap:

 

https://www.daddario.com/products/accessories/backline-cases/backline-transport-pack/

 

That looks brilliant, but also ginormous! Looks like they have a smaller version too though: 

Backline Gear Transport Pack Solo | D'Addario Accessories (daddario.com)

I have both the Guitar Sleeve and the M80, both in the guitar version. I use the Sleeve for my electric guitars, and the M80 for my headless Status basses and love both of them. The M80 does not have the top opening feature, but is more like a regular softcase. That said, it opens up far enough that I can pull the zipper down to just over halfway and pull my Status out with ease. I like it a lot, the padding is great and the other storage pockets are very functional too. I prefer it over the Sleeve as the Sleeve does not have walled sides and is rather rigid, so your guitar or bass is squeezed quite tightly between the front and back, putting some strain on the tuners and knobs.