Dom in Dorset

I tried the Fenders in a shop in Brighton, they had two. One had a natural finish , the other had a heavy black laquer (like the Ibanez) the tone of the black one was noticeably richer , warmer , darker and I think louder than the natural. The Ibanez also uses two AA batteries in the pre-amp rather than the more usual 9v, they seem to last forever, the low cost of the batteries does save the price of a pint every six months or so.

I got back into bass playing after a few years gap when I bought an Artisan acoustic for (I think £148), After a couple of months I was well into bass playing but hacked off with the artisan. It had a 30" scale , the strings always felt slack, the tuning wasn't that stable, the tone and volume of the E string was radicaly different to the other strings. It did have a fairly cutting sound if a bit clanky and good acoustic volume. Last october I bought an Ibanez AEB? they were special offer at £169-problem solved. 32" scale, even tone , sounds good with pic , fingers or slap (old one sounded tinny with a pic) built in tuner ,I rave about it at every oportunity. I've tried : Echo- good, more harsh sounding that the Ibanez Stagg ovation style- sound like a long dead doornail. Ashton- tried it a long time ago , liked it. I tried some acoustics about ten years ago, the Fender was by far the best then. I will post a more comprehensive review of the Ibanez when I have time, there are almost no reviews of acoustics (that I could find).

The bass in question could be good, it could be bad, I've never heard of that make before so I can't tell. If it was under £100, then it might be worth the risk, howevoer there are several well known brands available for £150. My first acoustic bass was a bubget special , I soon got anoyed with the silly problems that it had eg: the E string had a different tone and much lower volume than the others, I tried everything but to no avail. In the end I just bought the best bass I could afford by a big name, reasoning that at least all the basics will be right. I got an Ibanez (was £169, they've gone up to £250 now) and it was even in tune when it came out of the box.-wow I must be getting old I'm repeating myself. In short , there is so much out there in the £150 and under range it's worth shopping around.

The P bass copy is most likely made in China ( as are most budget instruments) , that's only a problem if quality control is alowed to slide. As this bass dosen't bare a makers name that I've heard of I would be cautios, Ibanez make instruments in China but unlike budget brand X they have a reputation to uphold. I've just done a quick search and found this : [url="http://www.guitarandampshop.co.uk/acatalog/Ibanez_SR_and_GSR_Soundgear_Bass_Range.html"]http://www.guitarandampshop.co.uk/acatalog...Bass_Range.html[/url] - I recon that's a prety safe bet, about the same price as brand X but with a respected name on it. I've got an Ibanez acoustic bass, it was perfect straight out of the box. The value given for the brand X of £280 a bit suspect, it's worth £280 because they say it is.

[quote name='Kongo' post='492005' date='May 18 2009, 11:24 PM']All I can remeber playing one round a friends house is DAMN do they dive! [/quote] Thunderbird devotees tend to ignore such practicalities as ballance.

I could always turn the body into a novelty bread board.

[quote name='Buzz' post='491988' date='May 18 2009, 10:58 PM']If you're thinking of getting one beware the new model, the Epiphone T-Bird Pro, should surface next month. Bascially, the current T-Bird is a Bolt On, and has a really wide neck (it's 1.73", but quite thin) which on par with the original t-birds iirc, the new Pro is much like the current Gibson ones, neck through and with a width at the nut of 1.5". The Epiphone ones are also very difficult to play past the 15th fret, the combination of the heel block for the BO and the lack of a deep cutaway conspire to make life difficult. The only problem is that with the new active electronics (2EQ) and pups in the Pro and different neck woods (Pro has a maple walnut 7 piece laminate), no-one has a clue how they're going to sound. I'm *really* looking forward to trying one this summer though And in preperation of it sounding sh*te, I've aquired an Epiphone T-bird which I plan on gutting for the pups as the bridge isn't aligned properly to the body and neck and I can't be arsed to fix it. Edit: yes, 34".[/quote] What are you planning on doing with the leftover neck?

Hi Metalmoore, looks like you got a bargain with the Stagg, they are about £150 unscathed. I planning on making myself a fretless , I bought a copy of "Make your own electric guitar, by Melvyn Hiscock" it covers prety much everything.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='491973' date='May 18 2009, 10:45 PM']To get the scale length measure from the nut (or zero fret if there is one) to the 12th fret and double.[/quote] That makes it 34".

Wikipedia says 34" however.... I have my Epiphone with me now and nut to bridge on the E string is 34 and 3/8" the G string 34 and 2/8" - do I win the Billy No-mates prize fror nerdery? If you are thinking of getting one (Epiphone) I think that they are a good bass, I've seen a couple with quite high action due to the slim neck. It's easy enough to sort out and when set up well it's a far better instrument than it's price would indicate. As for a Gibson, I've never tried one, apparently they're quite good.

It sounds like you have a high fret. Sometimes you can see one fret standing higher than the rest if you look along the neck, try putting a steel rule unto the frets in the area of the buzz. Any good guitar tech should be able to fix it without too much cost, the exact remedy depends on the exact nature of the problem. Sometimes the offending fret can be tapped down with a special punch ( supporting thr neck with a sand bag or padded block ), sometimes stoning the fret down can help, sometimes both.

[quote The Epiphones go first, cause they are my main basses, some may say epiphone is a brand for the starter bassplayer, but I still like them a lot (not that I consider myself to be a good bassplayer). [/quote] My thoughts exactly!

For Sale, semi-detached house in quiet residential area, off road parking,good size garden, Gas central heatining , 2 beds, 2 reception, up-stairs bathroom , loft with vintage Fender Jazz bass.

Hi Tim, what part of Belgium are you from? (ok , I've seen your myspace, Brabant.) I see that you have some serious basses, nice to see that you list the Epiphone first! I've also got an Epiphone Thunderbird, once I'd set it up properly it's got the nicest neck I've ever played on. Dom.

I'm not in a position to buy right now, I'll check out the for sale section as and when. I've emailed the owner of the Trace Elliot, I've got to follow this up, it's potentialy a good deal.

I spent the morning rummaging through my pile of mint condition 1963 Gibson Thundebirds, I turned my stash of vintage Jazz and P basses upside down, but I just can't seem to find that neck from a no-name Rickenbacker copy. I know it's there somewhere, I'll take a look in my Alembic collection after lunch.

Don't make ememies on your way up - you never know who you'll meet on your way down. I can't remember where I heard that but, I can't see any harm in it.

I've had the "split and re-form" done on me once, I was a bit narked at first but, when I heard their new material that they'd been working on I thought "how lame , I'm glad I'm not part of this!" I'm not saying it's a good way to go about it but, in my case it didn't cause any serious problems and we are all matey again.

[quote name='chris_b' post='489714' date='May 16 2009, 12:18 PM']Go second hand and give combo's a miss! I think a good 300-500 watt head (200-300 watt at 8 ohm) and a 2x10 or 1x15 cab would get you going. Add another cab when you're gigging if you find you need it. Ashdown, Peavey, GK are all good, then there's Markbass LM2 (approx £400) and a Barefaced Compact (approx £425).[/quote] that's almost word for word my eventual plan. I've just heard of a Trace Elliot that is going for a song, it's owned by a guy who dosn't need it any more, I should run into him in the next few weeks.

Thanks for that Machines, I had done a few searches, but came up with the more expensive stuff. I think that my eventual choice will come down to what can I get on the day I've actualy got the money in my hand. The Peavey looks interesting.

"Split the band and re-form with out X" is a classic, in this case you could refine things by telling X that maybe he's too good for this band? After all you said he thinks he's great. Joking apart, if you want to bring the situation to a head you could always resign yourself.

I'm getting back into bass playing after a few years lapse. I'm mostly playing acoustic at the moment , but I need to get some amplification so that I can advertise myself as an electric player. The problem is (and this will probably shock some people) until now I never payed any attention to what equipment I was using. When I first started I had a 15"speaker cabinet and I borrowed a head from my brother, that was about 20 years ago and I can't remember what it was ! The last time I was playing in a rock band I had a Peavery combo that I bought from the guitarist , I think it was 100W. I'm thinking of buying a head and building my own spearker cab(s), I've set an arbitray price limit of £300 (for the head), that's not set in stone, just a ball park figure. Second hand is ok, but I'm not thinking of buying anything until later in the year. Or is it simply a case of "a bass head for less than £300, is this a joke"

[quote name='hatori' post='487846' date='May 14 2009, 01:10 PM']Hi Dom and greetings from Weston super mare welcome to BC. I also have a Thunderbird.[/quote] Hi Hatori, is that a genuine Epiphone or one of those Gibson copies?

[quote name='yorick' post='487825' date='May 14 2009, 12:59 PM']Welcome.[/quote] Hi Yorick, what part of Brum are you from? I grew up in Sutton Coldfield/Erdington.

Hi, as you might have guessed I'm in Somerset. I've been playing on and off for about 25 years, at the moment it's on , though I'm not in a full time band. I'm here for advice about re-building my armoury after years of neglect. After a failed attempt to raise some cash by selling my Hohner Steinberger system bass , I ended up leaving the shop with an acoustic bass and got sucked back in. At the moment I'm mostly playing an Ibanez AEB8E, my electric is a second hand Epiphone thunderbird that used it's evil mind control powers to make me buy it.