Krysbass

[quote name='jonannlou' post='1052599' date='Dec 9 2010, 01:06 PM']Hi all, I've been offered a Westone Thunder 2a active from the early 80's, it has a jazz pick up and 2 precisions and plenty of switches! Can anyone tell me about these basses, sound wise ? I play alot of Jazz-Funk and funk, alot of Mark King style slap & fingerstyle - will thbis be any good for that? I use 30-90's normally so I should be able to get a brighter tone, but is the bass any good?? Also, whats it worth?? Any help or sound links would be appreciated, theres nothing on youtube about this bass!! Thanks[/quote] If it's an early one, this model is what later became the Thunder III - I own an almost mint 1984 Thunder III. The Westone Thunder III was the weapon of choice for Henry "King Thumb" Thomas in the BBC "Rockschool" TV series in the '80's and I can vouch for this bass being very good for the styles you mention. I was heavily into Level 42 when I bought my Thunder III, as I reckoned it had a few visual similarities to the Jaydees MK was playing at the time, without carrying the same price tag, which was out of my league! I don't slap much with my own Thunder III these days, but soloing the J pickup at the bridge gives a fingerstyle tone that's hard to beat and overall the tones available from this bass are very versatile. You mention that the bass you've been offered has 2 Precision pickups - I'm pretty sure only 1 was fitted as standard - unless you're maybe referring to the 2 "halves" of the Precision pickup? These basses came from Japan's legendary Matsumoku factory and were quality instruments made from good materials. Good examples are becoming harder to find, but secondhand prices (in my view) don't do that as much justice as it deserves. Typically, these change hands for £250 - £350 on Ebay, which is the main reason I've held onto mine since buying it new in 1985. I hope the above helps a bit, but also check out www.westone.info which is a mine of information on these basses.

[quote name='gicut58' post='1044883' date='Dec 2 2010, 12:59 PM']I want to keep well out of the guitarists range and add to the overall sound spectrum we produce. G[/quote] The OP mentions that you don’t want to turn up your treble as you don’t want to invade the guitarists’ tonal space, but in my experience it’s a common problem that the guitarists might already be invading yours – this could be at least part of the reason that they can’t hear you. My view on this is that when guitarists practice alone they usually don’t have a bassist accompanying them. They therefore turn up the bass tone control on their amps and become accustomed to this more aurally pleasing, full-bodied sound. Problem is, they get used to this and forget to turn their bass tone control down sufficiently when they are in a band situation where there’s a bassist on hand to handle all the low end stuff! KB

[quote name='silddx' post='1043921' date='Dec 1 2010, 04:21 PM']Some of the copy is poor, along with some poor page layout, photography, accuracy of information, completeness of information, accuracy of the lesson transcriptions, etc. It's not all bad, but the same stupid mistakes are still there and there is a distinct lack of commitment to product quality from the publishers. They have made improvements, Mike Flynn being the most obvious, but much of it is still less than compelling reading for the amateur or professional bassist. I sense very little representation of the bass community in there. No ATTITUDE.[/quote] Have to say I'm disappointed at the Bass Day review in the current issue. Lots of pix, but no captions or anything in the text to tell you what you're looking at. In all honesty, the only people I definitely recognise in all those pix are Stu Hamm, Billy Sheehan and Victor Bailey. Only by a vague memory and deduction have I guessed that another one must be Steve Williams - the show organiser, but that leaves about 8 or 9 other people unidentified. The article just comes across like it was done in a real hurry.

I have little in the way of positive advice to offer as to the best choice of singer. No matter what gender/demographic profile/any other spurious criteria you go for, in my experience they always come with “issues”. For example…. A 20-something male singer was doing a good job then one day announced that he didn’t want to sing anymore and wanted to take over on drums or he was leaving. Amazingly, the incumbent drummer was let go to keep the singer on board (I voiced my disapproval at the time). He turned out to be a truly terrible drummer and a few months later he was gone anyway. Another 20-something male singer joined the band – also fine for a while, then starts thinking he’s king of the hill and that his social life is more important than turning up for practices and gigs or even communicating with the rest of the band. Result: whole band folded. Another band, another singer – 30-something female this time. OK to begin with, but then her social/domestic situation resulted in regularly missed rehearsals, which cost the rest of the band £18 quid a pop just to stand around in the rehearsal room trying vainly to practice songs without vocals. Result: band folded. If I was starting a new band, I’d try to make it a band with 2 vocalists (maybe Blues Brothers style). I know; 2 singers sounds like a living hell, but there’s some method in my madness….. 1. As long as the 2 singers aren’t an item, when one of them goes AWOL, you should still be able to get by with the other one, so you don’t have to start cancelling gigs and rehearsals. 2. If one of the singers goes violent, the other singer will probably be first on the receiving end

I've moved on a couple of amps on Basschat in the past - on one of them I took a significant loss and the other came to me free, so I actually gave it away for free. However, I have no beef over anyone asking for (or getting) an inflated price for gear* because it's a buyer's market and no-one is forcing anyone to hand over any cash. Whether on Basschat or anywhere else, buyers can always vote with their feet. *Edit - as long as said gear has been honestly and accurately advertised.

I eventually started using a computer cooling fan (12 volt) soldered to a plug-in mains transformer with my Superfly to draw the heat out of the vents on the top of the amp. I attached some more of the aforementioned stick-on rubber feet on the fan housing to stop it slipping off the top of the amp. It worked a treat, was wery quiet and caused no RF interference, even with it sitting on top of the amp. I have to say that before using this fan my Superfly didn't suffer any overheating problems, so I just had the fan as a sort of "safety net" to make sure the amp remained cool, even in the volcanic conditions of mid-summer pub gigs! Reassuringly, when used with the fan, the casing of my Superfly only ever got slightly warm, as opposed to rather hot when used without the fan. So far, my Little Giant 1000 has been fine - I've always used it with rubber feet attached to the base, gving it about 10mm clearance underneath and it's never got so warm that I've felt it could use any extra cooling.

[quote name='makatak' post='1017074' date='Nov 9 2010, 01:18 AM']I suppose when you sell thousands of tham you will hear of faults occasionally . Ive never had a problem with mine , although i only use it for home practice , sold my old trace elliot ah200 practice amp , I love the conveniance of a lightweight small amp .... anyway i do notice it is very warm on the base of it after use so ive put some stick on rubber feet which gives it some " breathing space between the amp and the cab . Great wee amp , ive got the green 350 .[/quote] I've also put rubber self-adhesive feet on the underside of my LG1000 as soon as I got it and I did the same with my old Superfly 500 (when I used it without its outer casing). It definitely seems to help matters, as the base of the amp seems to get fairly hot and can use some extra "breathing space". Neither of my amps have ever overheated. But it raises the point that maybe Ashdown should have included rubber feet with the amps in the first place, as I guess it might not occur to everyone that doing this simple modification is a good idea?

The thing that persuaded me to buy my SR600 (apart from how light and well balanced it is) is how well its tone cuts through. I usually don't have a lot of treble in my tone and find that just rolling off the treble EQ stops the bass from sounding too "zingy". The first time I heard one of these basses, it was an SR500 played through a Laney 1x12 60 watt combo and it was cutting through no problem in a communal jam where there were 6 (yes six) guitarists playing simultaneously, a vocalist, a keyboarder and a guy playing an electronic drum kit - oh yes and me, playing another bass through a 2 x 10 cab. I just couldn't help but be impressed. Just an observation too; Ibanez seem to be using more woods these days that have previously been the domain of Warwick basses – woods such as wenge, bubinga and jotoba. Add to this the new arched bodies on the SRT basses (a la Warwick Thumb) and I'm now finding it hard to justify continuing the long-term GAS I had for an expensive Warwick Thumb NT4, when I could have a much better balanced and at least as well spec’d Ibanez SRT900 for around £700.

[quote name='Wil' post='1024816' date='Nov 15 2010, 05:27 PM']Today I noticed the SRT series basses - wow. I've always been put off the SR because of the pickups, but the SRT looks to have everything I like in a bass! Neck through, curved back, EMG 40DC pickups, ovankol and bubinga in a natural finish... Ding dong! I've got serious GAS.[/quote] +1 I've just bought an SR600 and am loving it, but I have to admit I'm missing the better sustain (and looks) I've been used to from the thru-neck bass I've played for the past 25+ years. There doesn't seem to be much of a UK presence for the SRT basses yet, but even a major obstacle like this is doing nothing to reduce my GAS.

I like to see wood grain – don’t mind if it’s covered with coloured lacquer as long as it’s understated and the wood grain remains visible. Several reasons for this… Seeing wood grain is usually a pretty reliable means of telling that the bass isn’t made of plywood or MDF! My first bass was and I vowed “never again”. Nice wood usually says "nice quality". A bass is a musical instrument. IMHO a painted finish, especially a brightly coloured one, can sometimes make it look like a toy. Wood is an organic material – somehow there’s something appropriate about that when seen in a musical instrument. I’ve always been a keen wood-worker. I just love the stuff in all it varieties and see it as a thing of beauty, to be enjoyed. To me it just seems plain wrong to hide a nice piece of wood under a layer of paint - especially on an expensive quality bass. If Fender actually produced more models in different woods with a natural finish I daresay I'd change the habit of a lifetime and actually want to buy one.

[quote name='Circle_of_Fifths' post='1009224' date='Nov 2 2010, 02:58 AM']Are those the Roto 66s? I hear they are like hacksaw blades with the teeth up on your fingers.[/quote] I've used nothing but Roto 66's on my Westone Thunder III for the last 25+ years, so I only noticed how rough they are when my new Ibanez SR600 arrived, fitted with Elixirs (as unbelievable as it may sound - I haven't played any other bass fitted with roundwounds in all that time!). The Elixirs sound good, but I don't think they're worth the extra cost, so I'll be changing them when they start to go furry - that look doesn't work for me! But my attitude with the Roto 66's has always been that if they were ever good enough for John Entwistle, then they're more than good enough for me, so a set of these will probably end up on my SR600 too. KB

I've just bought an SR600 (it's the same as an SR500 other than ash instead of mahogany for the body and different coloured hardware) and am mightily impressed. I mainly bought this because it's both lighter and better balanced than my much-loved Westone Thunder III. But the more I play the Ibby SR600, the more I'm finding other things to like about it such as the stability of the neck, how comfortable it is to play and how well its tone seems to cut through. To my eyes, the Ibanez just looks superb - but then I've never been a fan of traditional looking basses, preferring something with a less iconic look. It doesn't sustain or do old-school tones as well as my Westone (particularly when soloing the bridge pickup), but it's still a versatile bass and I think it's one I'll be keeping for some time to come.

I had a similar problem with "joinmyband" in the last band I was in. I happened to be browsing the site one weekend and noticed that my band had advertised for a bassist and vocalist. Confusion and panic set in, because I'd been getting good vibes off everyone that they liked what i was doing, so I phoned the lead guitarist (band leader) to find out what was going on. Turned out that if I'd stopped to read the small print, the post was about 8 months old, from January 2010 and had only appeared as a new post because some anorak/muppet had gone trawling all the way back to the January 2010 posts and replied to it, asking if the band was still looking for a vocalist. Moral of this tale is that I shouldn't have jumped to the wrong conclusion, but the lead guitarist in the band should have taken the time to go back onto the site and delete the post once he'd found his bassist (me) and vocalist!! PS: the band has since folded, but not because of this incident.

That T1 looks to be in good order - an incredible bargain at £50. And it's true that the necks are stable - my 1984 T3 never needs much re-tuning. Here's a pic of it, grazing.... [attachment=61143:WTIIIangle.JPG] KB

I enjoy playing covers bacause I like the challenge of learning some difficult, iconic basslines and then putting it to the test by performing them. I see each one that I nail as a sort of milestone on my journey as a player. This may sound a tad self-indulgent I know, but it's worked for me for quite a long time.

[quote name='stevekendal' post='947840' date='Sep 7 2010, 12:42 AM']Just got a S/H Little Giant 350. Makes plenty of noise, but I did notice that there was no sign of a fan working inside. Tonight, towards the end of the gig it cut out, being quite hot and needed to rest a couple of minutes before the power came back on. Do these tiny things actually have a fan inside? Mine was being pushed quite hard and was definitely too hot when it cut out . Steve.[/quote] I’ve been using a Little Giant 1000 for a few months and I think the cooling fan in the top of the amp is wired to a temperature sensor, so that it only kicks in once a certain temperature is reached within the amp. But you should notice the fan operating briefly when you switch the amp on, which will confirm that the fan itself is working. If this happens OK on your amp, then it may be that something else isn’t working correctly, because I’d expect the fan should begin operating long before your amp gets so hot that it cuts out. As has been said – this definitely sounds like a job for Ashdown’s technical support.

Rickenbackers. I love the sound but I just can't stand the looks - reminds me of something re-cycled from a 1950's fairground ride.

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='930212' date='Aug 19 2010, 07:44 PM']not the max resistance but the taper - the ramp of resistance change. sounds like you may have a log pot which are normally used for volume pots, you need a linear one. Cheaper pots tend to have uneven ramp where all the change is in a small sweep.[/quote] Thanks for that - the pot on the bass is a "mini" pot and in line with the bass's humble origins is probably as cheap and nasty as it gets. I'll replace it with a better quality linear pot of the same rating and see how it goes. Cheers KB

A few years ago I replaced the stock pickups on my Stagg BC300 fretless with a DiMarzio P/J set and although the bass now sounds great, the tone control crackles and needs replaced (I’ve used electrical contact cleaner on it, but to no avail.) A further issue is that rotating the tone control has always reduced the treble very gradually throughout most of its rotation but then in the last few millimetres of travel the treble suddenly drops away completely. I’d prefer the tone pot to operate more evenly throughout its rotation, so presumably I need to use a pot with a different resistance to the 500k one fitted to the bass. Question is, do I need greater or less resistance than 500k to give the more even operation that I’m looking for? All advice greatly appreciated.

[quote name='Big_Stu' post='921277' date='Aug 11 2010, 08:46 AM']I don't much like Fenders, can you tell? Only because they're too common, too every-day. If they float your boat then fine, but I really don't get the "other" forums that show endless lists of near identical Fenders & they drool over them like they're some grail.[/quote] +1

I can also recommend the DiMarzio P/J set. I used these to upgrade my humble £99 Stagg fretless, mainly because the stock pickups had a very low output. The bass now has considerably more volume and a tone that rivals much more expensive basses. I fitted the pickups myself - instructions were included and it couldn't have been easier

Utterly amazed to hear it was done on keyboard. My covers band have just decided to do this one - but we play it in E. It would probably sound better in Eb, but better to avoid messing around with de-tuning when you're playing small pub gigs and don't have the luxury of a guitar tech to hand you the correctly tuned bass at the right moment.

My own band just folded on Wednesday - again caused by our singer thinking he was more important than all the rest of the band put together and running out of commitment. Singers tend to be a bit of a common denominator in band splits. Seems to me it's time to either show them the door, or have a heart-to-heart about the levels of commitment that will be expected in the future if things are going to be allowed to take off again.

To answer an earlier question; I've been using a lead with a straight Neutrik silent jack for about 4 years and it's only just given up the ghost. I think the reason it failed was possibly only due to me walking on my lead a few times, which eventually bent the jack slightly, causing the switching mechanism inside to seize. I've recently replaced the lead and the new one has a right-angled silent jack - it certainly looks like it's built to last. I tend to plug/unplug the lead a lot from my bass to save the batteries in the active circuit - it's useful not to have to worry about muting my amp when I do this, especially at gigs, when the amp volume tends to be fairly high.