Kongo

Would you believe...£130? :-P I dunno where it's from, there's no country of origin, no serial number but tbh I'm not fussed because it's one hell of a bass for the money, and I don't just say that. :-)

[quote name='alyctes' timestamp='1350696576' post='1842509'] I have a Cirrus BXP four-string, plain wood. Pretty, nice neck, comfortable to play... but the electrics are not good. I also have a Fury II, which I like a lot (so far - haven't had it long). [/quote] I agree the pre-amp could be a bit less um...cardboard? Lol it's not that bad but it's rich in the midrange I don't like. Still, it's Low-B will ring forever and it's pretty punchy. Luckily, this is the model without the silly 4 hour battery life issue they had in the early days.

That's what I'm doing man. I rarely mod basses these days because either they are already good or aren't good enough. My Infinity 5-string fretless is to be modded, however. I think I'll keep it passive because it sounds good as is, though I have a spare pre-amp should I wish to give it a pre, but the pickups will be passive. Still may upgrade them but keep passive. The bridge and tuners have gotta go. The bridge works, but it's the rickety cheap Fender style and the saddles on these tend to wander. The tuners stay in tune but they won't last, not smooth at all so the gears will chew up over time. However, it resonates like no other. You can feel the note translate through even your own body it's that good and when plugged in the tone is full and articulate, every note comes over fine and also every note frets, no dodgy humps in the board. Only issue was that the dots on the side aren't like normal unlined fretless. They SHOULD be on the fret itself but instead they are where they would be normally. This makes me assume they use the same fingerboards for fretted and fretless. I remedied this with some masking tape and tip-ex, made me some lovely lines where the dots should be and left the other frets blank, although I did do the 1st fret as well cause I found it hard to find. Last but not least, being unfinished (just a clear lacquer) I can re-finish it someday if I wish. :-) Enclosed a pic.

[quote name='bubinga5' timestamp='1350804494' post='1843557'] imo you should play something different to everyone else and walk your own path [u][u].[/u][/u] [/quote] This. Seriously, try whatever you like and when you find it, no matter what it is, use it! And hell, if it is a strange bass then the audience afterwards may wish to speak to you about it.

I'd be interested in their origin also. I recently acquired an Infinity Fretless 5-string bass and I have to say it's near perfect for me. The playability, resonance and articulation by far beat my 6-string fretless. It is built of dirt cheap parts, but because it plays and sounds so damn sweet I shall be modding the hell out of this. I have no clue where they come from though. No serial number, no country of build...Nothing but the name "Infinity".

I've never understood this way of thinking. Up until recently I used basses that are used in anything other than metal normally. If they work, feel right and give the sound YOU want, then your onto a win. However, to keep with the thinking used currently, I'd try out what I've used for Progressive Metal for years now; Yamaha TRB6II. More than enough dials to play with if you wish, built like a tank and the string spacing allows for pretty much anything.

Other Peavey's I have are from the Cirrus series...Well, the BXP version to be exact. I have a 5-string Peavey CIrrus BXP with a lovely bubinga top. It's built pretty well, same bridge as the grind so again, I filed the saddles down. Thru-neck etc. Previous owner put a 3-way toggle switch in over the pan pot, which was it's selling point to me. Real sweet, well built and ultra easy to use. Tone is a little bit rich in the midrange for my tastes, however. I may one day put it up on here as I no longer use it.

[quote name='dincz' timestamp='1350550611' post='1840290'] It includes a bow? "Bow Material: Brazil Wood" [/quote] What the...? That's what it says haha!

Sorted it guys. :-) I sat and stared at the wiring diagram today until it appeared. The blue and black wire going to the volume pot were the wrong way round. :-/ How did I do this? Well, so it now seems the pan pot is also wired backwards...But I didn't touch it this time because I noticed it's meant to be that way. The ground etc were all correct so I left that alone and instead just swapped the blue and black wires instead...it works! I was using the previous wiring as a guideline and was thrown off by it. No more swooshing from the volume pot (So whoever said it was some DC going through was correct) and the output is...well when I 1st plugged it in I plucked the E-string and sh*t myself. My amp also decided to activate it's safety and disabled itself temporarily haha. So in other words, it clipped like a mother! I've turned the trim pot to 40% output, yes 40%! Now it's output is similar to what I'm used to, but still has that TonePump edge to it and with a bit of treble and bass dialled in it sounds so damn sweet, even with these month old strings. Thanks for the help, guys. My confidence is back and this mod is 100% successful. Now...maybe time to add active pickups! X-D

2nd bass I even bought was a Grind. 'Twas a 6-string and I still have it now. Cost me about £350, being a music college student in 2005 it was well attainable and saw me well through my last year. Plus, it looked "kinda" similar...if you squinted...To Claypool's Rainbow Bass haha... This model is the one with the scoop on the bottom horn. I didn't like that part because tbh I don't see the point. If your gonna slap and hit the body to the point you need a scoop...stop hitting the body! All it did was mess my technique up and made playing sitting down a touch painful because the bottom horn is so thin it dug in haha. Build wise though other than that it was solid. I used to use medium-high action back then, not sure why as all it did was made stuff harder but hey, there must have been a reason. I modified the bridge saddles a few months ago as it doesn't go as low as I'd like because of excess bulk, so I filed the saddles down and it sits really close to the last fret just nicely. I don't think I'll ever actually fully mod it though, just feel it deserves a place nearby as my 2nd bass and my 1st 6-string, 35" scale bass. Was quite a jump :-)

Bringing my favourite parodies here haha... "Capital leeman neemas!"

[quote name='rOB' timestamp='1349975488' post='1833031'] Well said. I'd also highly recommend boosting your low mids to help differentiate your sound from the guitars. [/quote] This. I play and have played in a lot of metal bands and the bass always gets noticed. In a rock situation the low mids are just as important to punch through and play your role whilst not throwing out a tonne of mud. I second that it's also fine to double up on the guitar parts and pound root notes from time to time. There's no real do or don't in type of bass to use IMO, I've seen all sorts. But most in rock will stick to P-bass / J-bass / Stingray etc, the usual. Last but not least; attitude. Give it some power, son! Even if it's old school rock, it's all about getting up there, having fun and sticking it to the man. X-D

Damn, back when I liked playing them that was the style of OLP I wanted; the two pickup option with maple fingerboard. No longer looking however...wonder how good these clones are? I'll bet someone here is gonna check eventually. :-P Who's the guilty one going to be?

It's a possibility the wood has swollen slightly. A microscopic bump in the fingerboard is all it takes to choke the notes. It could cost a small amount to fix, but it's better than forcing high action when you play with low. :-)

I generally use no less than 5 now. I have a P-bass I love that's a 4 but other than that I stick to 5 and 6. 6-string for progressive styles and 5-string for everything else. With modern tunings and my hate of dropped (as in, just the one string) tunings I often have use for the low-B, no matter what it's tuned too. I've learned over the past few years to use more of the board and rely less on the 1st few positions, but the string then becomes useful as you can use it for low notes that would be on the E-string, so once again you can flow with economy. Also, more recently, I've come to love 17mm spacing. It makes chord hits and stretches across strings easier, more so as I prefer 35" scale, it helps to offset the fret spacing. So for me, 5-string+ range and 5-string+ for comfort. :-P

Mine has been a revolving door for a long time. 2nd bass I bought was a 6-string (Peavey Grind) because I was hugely inspired by Primus. I took to it like a fish to water realising it gave more notes for tapping and chords were easier. I still played 4 but I found 5 to be an oddball; neither here nor there. Many years were spent in progressive metal bands meaning the 6-string was fine, and I still play one as a main bass in my main band now. But outside of it my tastes changed. I always went for 6-string basses with wide spacing, but outside of progressive music I found it to be extra baggage. The high-C was hardly used and I was playing music / learning songs where most could be played on a 4, but having sold all but my P-bass, which much as I love it isn't exactly what I needed, I decided to take the plunge into getting a solid 5-string. There I could switch from Eb standard and Bb standard without changing bass. Decided to keep to 35" but as it's all finger style play, narrow spacing was welcomed...And...I love it! So, yeah I chop and change depending on band but it doesn't matter too much. Been playing almost a decade now, my hands and brain just adjust. But my preference has changed. I do now prefer narrow spacing and AFAIK you can't get that on a 4-string, nor would you want to. It means moving from string to string takes less movement, for one. I still love my 6-string basses but the music I play outside my main band means I rarely use anything under 5-string. Some songs may not use the low-B (whatever it's tuned to), but it's there if I need it. I prefer to stick to more similar models however, that way I know when something goes wrong I can trace down what it was in my technique. I think these days my dilemma is more "fretted or fretless" instead of string number. X-D

Damn man, Michael Manring plays those. CRAZY music he makes, so melodic and the like. For a fretless they sound surprisingly snappy also.

I imagine the move could be to do with the economy of late? Every other company outside of instruments are cutting production costs / staff yet keeping prices the same. I'm surprised it took Fender this long.

Rounds are all I use. I got by the logic that you can't add what's not there. Flat wounds to me sound dulled from the off, I can't EQ in frequencies or harmonic responses that aren't already there. Nickel strings would be a happy medium, as they are round, yet softer. However they don't agree with my fingers. I've been using D'addario ProSteel for the past 7 years now, nothing touches them. But they are quite rough until your used to them, which makes me think of my board. As for soreness, eventually that'll cease to be with regular play on such strings. :-) Ah screw it, I'm just gonna use what I use and if it needs a re-surface, so be it,

[quote name='drTStingray' timestamp='1350217959' post='1835840'] I think you're doing Trujillo a dis-service in terms of his playing - have you heard him in the band Infectious Grooves? Some nice SR5 sounds - a bit like Level 42 fingerstyle at times. He must be one of the most technically able of modern bassists. [/quote] Not saying he's not able, I don't follow that view. Most of what I typed was sarcastic because he's being compared to Jaco.

I've got a couple of fretless basses, nothing too expensive but I love how they play, especially my recent 5-string. But I too find that I prefer roundwound strings. I'm a little heavy handed (I think, maybe not as much as I think) and the roundwounds certainly do leave tracks, but I wonder how deep they will actually go? My main thought it of course as the strings expand and contract (length, not width :-P) etc the tracks will eventually be near smooth than jagged, which could be problematic. Then again, surely they can only cut in so far? I'd love to coat them in Epoxy, the snappier attack people say about would be great for me. But it will require sanding and avoidance of air bubbles, something I'm worried I'd mess up. :-P