thodrik

I have been playing a metro jazz for around 8 months. Build quality is fantastic and it has what a consider to be one of the best preamps about. I don't think that it will ever match the feel of my 78 p 'bass or obtain a vintage vibe in terms of looks or sounds, but I know that the Sadowsky will hold its tuning during a gig and will always cut through a mix with a minimal amount of eq on the bass or the amp. It just 'works' for the lack of any other word, which is great for gigging or recording. I understand those that consider them to be a bit 'sterile', but I think that they are basses designed to be heard in the context of a band. I have found that mine just comes to life in a gig or rehearsal situation. I think that the price that they are at now is a bit much, but saying that I think they are superior in terms of pre amp than the Fender Deluxe basses. Though when I see a Sandberg jazz go for around a £1000, the metro series starts to look a bit overpriced. But only a Sadowsky sounds like a Sadowsky. However I find the finish on the maple fingerbourds on the metros and nycs (excluding birdseye etc) are just very plain and not very inspiring looking in my opinion. I still bought a maple fingerboard one because it plays so well.

I'm not a fan of the Beatles or Sir Paul's solo stuff. Its just not my thing and I think that the notion they influenced 'everybody' since is a bit of rubbish. Rock and pop music would have still existed, Buddy Guy, B.B King, Hendrix and Clapton would have still played guitar and I'm sure Pete Wentz would have still picked up the bass. Saying that Sir Paul is a very talented musician and a good solid bassist. Not really what I would call a virtuoso. I always thought of him as a bit of a guiarist that played bass, which he pretty much was. I think the idea that he was the first bassist to play more than root notes is really overstated. He was probably a bit more influenced by classical music than a lot of electric bassists at the time, which in combination with his technique and short scale basses/rickenbacker gave his playing a different flavour than others at the time. I can't say I like that flavour, but millions of others do!

Ummmm, I would still say just try a bunch of Fenders, either Mexican Standard, Roadworn, or US standard. If you play around 20 you will probably find at least one that you fall in love with. Even if you find a Mexi with a good neck and decent fretwork that plays great, you could spend the rest on new pickups and new bridge. I think that if you really want to get a 1960s sounding Fender Jazz that isn't a 1960s Fender Jazz you might be wanting an Alleva Coppolo, but I think that they are well over £2000. As for an off the shelf new bass, that isn't a custom shop job, but will not suffer from the same kind of QC issues that you often see in Fenders, I would go with a Sandberg. The Hardcore aged ones have vibration treatment that makes them apparently sound more like vintage basses. I nearly bought one at the turn of the year. I didn't know about the Lakland problems, that is a shame. I thought that they were all meant to pass through the US shop for final inspections, which would surely result in shoddy ones being picked up? I have only tried a Skyline P bass model, which seemed to be made alright, but had a strange neck profile that was really different to a Precision neck, and not in a way I liked. Still my vote would be to find a Fender that plays well and sounds good, and then give it a good set up and tweaking.

I'm a bassist, so yes! I can't get past vintage Fender P basses and Jazz basses. Then there are modern Sadowsky, Nordstrand, Aleva Coppolo and so many others. Going away from Fender shapes I love the Wal basses, Vigier and Fodera stuff. Special mention to the Warwick Jack Bruce model which I love. I do love the look of a classic style Fender Strat or Gibson Les Paul, but will take a bass over both. Normally I would say 'its subjective think of the bass x compared to guitar Y', but I play bass, so its bass for me.

I put monthly but it depends on how many gigs or recording I'm doing with a particular bass. Gigging all the time and they (Generally EB Hybrid 105-45, but sometimes Dunlop Nickels when I'm short of funds) do well to last more than a couple of weeks. It is all down to a matter of taste though, I used to never ever change strings, whether I was playing flatwounds or nickels. Now though, there is a point where I feel that a string goes beyond being 'worn in' and instead becomes 'dead'. I generally only change strings on a bass if its being used for gigs or recording though, for the sake of jamming at home or rehearsing I can put up with slightly worn in strings. I've retired my P-bass from gigs and strung it with flats which won't need to be changed anytime soon, so only the Vigier and the Sadowsky tend to have frequent string changes. I must say that Rotosounds Steels last forever but I can't really get on with the feel of them.

It depends on the bass and the amp and my ears. Generally I start with the amp flat, or at least what is considered flat for a particular amp, then work from that. I've found that I need to tweek the eq on the amp a fair if I'm using a passive Precision without any kind of additional pre amp. I understand that those with a Status, Wal or Fodera will not need to change settings as much (or at all) to get a great sound. I sometimes think its a bit of a badge of honour in these types of forums to claim that you always bypass or at least never touch the eq settings on your amp, but its still okay to go mad for any kind of eq/preamp pedal that comes on the market!

Its a nice overdrive but I almost prefer the clean tone. Good demo but it does leave me thinking it needs a clean blend as the character of the clean tone is lost when the pedal is turned on. It may have just been the settings though. I think I will have to try before I buy. The Vt bass deluxe, EBS Multidrive/Metaldrive and the Xotic BB bass preamp have got me thinking.

If I was going for an active jazz bass and had no budget restrictions, it would have to be a 'super jazz' like a Sadowsky or the like, because I have never been that impressed with Fender's attempts at active preamps. Saying that, for a passive bass again with no budget restrictions, I would go for the US standard, though probably a Precision rather than a jazz. Much as I love jazz basses, for the type of music I like I need a bit of a low end thud that I can't get from a passive jazz. Other than that my choices would depend on budget. I ended up buying the Affinity Squier Jazz a couple of years ago for a back up bass and I must say I am very pleased with how it plays and sounds.

I allow people to use my cabs all of the time. When working with bands that are serious about their gear or bands that have to travel a fair bit I feel that this is worth it as if another band does this for me in return in the future then great. I also no have a back up Trace Elliot head I bought second hand that I let people use if they just don't bring anything. I don't like having to provide an amp for anyone, but its better than letting people use my EBS head. I've found from experience that bassists are usually the most likely to be the guy in the band that has no gear! If I'm doing a gig when I'm using a combo I'll only let people use it if I know or trust them, or if there is a genuine backline share going on (like another band is bringing a guitar amp, drum kit etc). If a band contacts us on the day of the gig asking to use everything, we just say no.

[quote name='dood' post='859898' date='Jun 7 2010, 02:21 PM'][/quote] Nice! Personally I never got on with 4x10 XL series cabs when used by themselves, not so much for being bottom shy (they were not) so much that I found the punch of the cabinets to almost be excessive! This was regardless of the EQ settings (using the 3500 head). From other bass players I talk to though, I seem to be in the minority as they seem to love the aluminium speaker cones. Saying that, I think that concept of the hydrive stuff is really cool and a few guys I know have got rid of Ampeg cabs to get them is pretty telling in itself.

I've used the 6x10 a couple of times and I love it. I prefer the 6x10 to both the Ampeg 4x10hlf and the 8x10 fridge. Just a great cabinet capable of soom very low frequencies but still cuts through quite nicely. Obviously its best to try them both out to see which one you prefer with the Trace Elliot head. Personally I would be tempted to put a new set of speakers in the Peavey cab, but that is because I like the idea of a really loud 2x15 for huge deep bass. I'm not sure the Ampeg would be much more portable though, as from my experience both the 4x10 and the 6x10 are bloody heavy and a pain to move, even considering the casters that are on them. Anyway, I don't think you'd regret getting the ampeg though.

[quote name='Marvin' post='859083' date='Jun 6 2010, 05:45 PM']Saw it went on for 2 whole hours and couldn't be arsed to even start watching it. I fell asleep to some movie with Vin Diesel in it.[/quote] There was a Vin Diesel film on? I should have just watched that.

Pretty awful show with pretty rubbish experts and guests. My favourite moments: Jonathan Ross having no real idea on who Tony Iommi is. Copeland trying to argue that Sting was the best bassist because he had strong fingers Mark Ronson arguing that Jimmy Page basically invented hip hop and Hendrix didn't really come up with many memorable riffs. That it took Vic Reeves to mention that Jeff Beck belongs in the short list of best guitarist kinda sums up the show. Jonathan Ross almost seemed annoyed that Led Zep won best band rather than Queen or the Beatles. The show really said more about the presenters and guests rather than the people and bands nominated for any of the 'awards'.

I generally use hybrids but carry a spare amp with me to gigs when we are travelling. It not only helps as a spare but also as an amp that I let others use when other bassists turn up to a gig without one, which they usually do! If I'm doing a gig and I'm just taking a taxi, I will just take a combo. If anything happens the magical sansamp will come into play.

Ah huzzah, just thought that was a rack mounted preamp? Should be good.

I bought one of these today. I'm so pleased with it but now I will be eating only bread for the next month. Really great pedal that has a lot of sound shaping possibilities and very quick tracking, even down near the bottom of the A string. I also tried the TLC compression pedal and was knocked out by the difference it could make to a slap tone. If I actually did any slap type stuff (in public anyway) it would be sure thing in my pedal chain. I couldn't justify buying such a thing just now though. Apparently according to the store guy at Guitar Guitar, Aguilar are probably going to release more pedals pretty soon. I'm hoping for a nasty overdrive/extreme Tone Hammer type thing. I won't be holding my breath though... Overall a productive day!

Ampeg 6x10 is one of my favourite cabs to play through. The 450 should be a good match. Well done!

I think it looks great and its always good to see someone thinking outside the box. I would love to try to one, but have my doubts as to how it would cope with playing chords high up on the neck. Until I try one I can't say anything though...

I have one. It is really good at getting a true valve overdrive or acting as a really nice sweet sounding preamp, but I do have a few issues with it. 1. The vintage setting is really fluffy and a bit ill-defined so not much use. 2. It does take a bit to get used to the EQ settings. 3. When used live, there has been a noticeable 'click' when swiched on and off on my one. I leave it on most of the time but it is very annoying. 4. Construction issues, the rubber feet keep falling off and the gain knob fell off once. For the price I paid this should not be an issue really. 5. No UK plug is supplied, so you have to buy an adapter 6. It is massive! Its got to the point now that I just use it for recording/practices. I'm not sure I trust valve pedals to play gig after gig, night after night. I also have the Electro-Harmonix English Muff'n which I think gives a more gnarly, unrefined sound for a lot less money. Depends on what you are after soundwise. Given the choice again, I would maybe have gone with the Multidrive or have waited for the Metaldrive. As it is, I'm back using the Boss ODB 3, as I find the blend knob to be useful and there are no construction fears. The core tone is really coming from my bass and amp really.

An efficient 300 watt amp is more than capable of driving an 8x10 to silly levels of volume. Used a Mesa Walkabout head through an 8x10 and it cut through two full marshall guitar stacks and a very loud drummer. Ashdown Evos sound fine through an Ampeg 8x10. It is the stock set up in a few rehearsal studios around Glasgow. Personally I think that the Ampeg cabs are better than the Ashdown cabs, but the price of 8x10 Mag cab is really good value for money.

For me, its gonna be a difference in the preamp, and possibly more consistent fretwork. For a passive Fender-style bass I would probably take a Fender. However, I've never heard an active Fender that could compete with a Sandberg, Sadowsky or other such basses. I've not tried the new US deluxe line yet, but generally active preamps have not been Fender's strong point, in my view. Also, until the release of the new US deluxe line, I've thought that the colour options of the recent Fenders have been pretty limited/ugly compared to the Lakland and the rest.

Round about a grand? EBS Fafner! I'm biased though... Or pick up a second hand ampeg and leave yourself some cash for new pick ups/new bass/food.

I'm a try before you buy person. If it is a 'new' bass but has a few dings I obviously don't expect to charged full price, but if it plays great then I would see no reason not to buy it if the damage was only cosmetic. Dings and stuff happen, even if you really look after your basses. Spending £2000 grand on a really beaten up old Fender with 'mojo', where the dings seem to add to the value, does annoy me a bit though. I don't like the idea of trying a 'showroom' bass which I decide to buy only to be given a new bass which hasn't been touched, the bass I buy has to be the one I try out in the store. I have no problem buying amps online, but I couldn't buy a bass without playing it first, unless it was made to order type bass like a Sadowsky NYC, Fodera, Ritter etc where I know that the bass is going straight from the workshop into my hands. Spending that type of money everything should be perfect!