basshead56

+1 to all above. Try swapping out the factory strings. Get some decent flats and adjust the intonation, action etc Try the pickups at different heights aswell- a few mm makes a world of difference. I wouldn´t give up on the VMJ-they are typically excellent value for money and as already stated, very well regarded on this site. As regards the MIA Fender- be careful. Not all are amazing. The new standard series are great basses but if you´re going second hand, be wary as like most big brands, Fender quality has its ups and downs. The synth pickup issue- avoid the guitar version- it won´t compliment the sound of the bass at all. I´m nearly sure arsenic is right in saying that the guitar version uses individual-string-specific mini pups so the bass strings wouldn´t match up too well. Have heard the Bass version though, on a Vigier, and it sounded amazing!!!

Would love to try the Trussart one. Saw a band in the local on New Years and the lead guitarist had a Trussart and an American deluxe Tele. He only used the Fender for one song. They look so alien and weird, yet strangely beautiful

[quote name='absentmindeduk' post='708739' date='Jan 11 2010, 12:47 PM']The Ampeg 4x10's give out some serious welly -They have an awesome 'growl' to the lows for a rock sound. -I loved my 410 HE, but it was a total killer weight-wise at 91lbs, thus had to go. If you're not as weedy as me, you might get away with one! lol.[/quote] +1 I love the sound of the Ampeg 4x10, especially the HLF ones. If weight/transport isnt an issue, then I´d say go wit one of these.

[quote name='BottomEndian' post='709805' date='Jan 12 2010, 11:06 AM']Got an Enigma from a Basschatter a few weeks back, and I've still not found the time to really have a thorough sit down and fiddle with it. However, from my brief dalliance with it, I can say two things: 1) it's definitely going on my pedalboard; and 2) it's a sensitive and fiddly beast that's going to take some time to fully get to grips with. I got some awesome sounds out of it. If you take a look over on Talkbass, there's a big thread full of soundclips people have made. Quite an eye-opener.[/quote] Nice one, Off to check that out now. Cheers mate

Thinking of investing in a vocoder pedal (just to mess with the backing vox and stuff in he band) I really like adding new sounds bass-wise, so why not try messing up my voice too? Am thinking of one of the three EHX ones (I know, thats all I seem to use) [url="http://www.ehx.com/products/iron-lung"]http://www.ehx.com/products/iron-lung[/url] [url="http://www.ehx.com/products/v256"]http://www.ehx.com/products/v256[/url] [url="http://www.ehx.com/products/voice-box"]http://www.ehx.com/products/voice-box[/url] Would these work ok on bass? Anyone got any experience with them?

[quote name='Gareth Hughes' post='679405' date='Dec 9 2009, 07:06 PM']For convenience of size I'm using a modded Electro Harmonix BassBalls Nano. The mod adds external controls for the frequency centers of the the envelope. Makes it a lot more usable for lowend, IMO. Otherwise hands down I just love my Electro Harmonix Mini Q-Tron, especially after I had a mod done, adding an external trimpot to balance the effect signal to the bypass signal. This pedal is just plain stanky. Soon as Bigwan stops fruiting about on his honeymoon I'll be asking him nicely to rehouse the Q-tron into a smaller box.[/quote] Where did you get the Bassballs mod done? I use a Dr Q nano- its great for certain things but can be a tad one-dimensional. The bass boost switch is annoying because it doesn´t actually work on bass The Q Tron Plus I had was the best one I´ve heard and could do pretty much anything envelope-wise. gutted I sold it now. But I am considering skipping the Bassballs route and moving onto the EHX Enigma Q Balls- tried one briefly before xmas and really liked it, though I´d need to have a much longer look at it as it´s kind of expensive.

Amazing, just amazing! Seriously, great job there. Wish I had slap/thumb chops like that man!

[b]Love:[/b] Precisions Jazzes Jaguars Coronados Any Fender bass really Stingrays Ampeg SVT Valves Marshall VBA 400 Thunderbirds RD Artists Victory Artists Trace Elliot (old ones) Ebo/Eb3´s Most G&L designs Aria Pro II CSB Eastwood rocket Electro Harmonix pedals Samson Airline wireless [b] Hate:[/b] Most Warwick designs-especially Adam Clayton BC Rich Factory Strings! Ibanez (Jet King looks good though) Heavey Metal Type basses Boss pedals (except the PSM 5 master) Hartke amps Most Ashdown amps Trace Elliot (new ones) ALL Les Pauls!!! Marshall MG100 guitar amps! Really cheap valve amps! A lot of Behringer gear! Ampeg SVT350 and 450 (they are just B2 heads in big wooden boxes!) The fact that Ampeg aren´t as good as they were Emoticons

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SLIGHTLY-USED-FENDER-BASS-GUITAR_W0QQitemZ220536672808QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item3359029228"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SLIGHTLY-USED-FENDER...=item3359029228[/url]

Oh man thats a hard one. I remember 'Listen', 'Rudie Can't Fail' and 'Police on my back' by the Clash being some of the first basslines I took note of There was probably some Metallica and The Cure ('Pictures Of You'-definately remember that!) in there too But I think the first song I went "Right-I'm off to get a bass" to, was 'I Bleed' by the Pixies. I now want an Aria Pro II CSB-check the want ads! Simple little bass line but fantastic and shapes the whole song and even the sound of that band. Kim Deal is an amazing musician. Most of my playing started out in that style, I was also vey keen on Jesus & Mary Chain- before going back to my punk roots-Ramones, Screeching Weasel, Rezillos, Descendents etc and then the crappy punk pop stuff!

Hmm. Always thought the JV was 5 digits. Isn´t the SQ series 3 digit? Unless the seller is refusing to give the last two digits (lots of people tend to do that to stop people cloning serial numbers online for chinese knock-offs)?

[quote name='Thor' post='706383' date='Jan 9 2010, 11:03 AM']Hi All, tried one yesterday and was well impressed with it, reproduced that whole Muse/Hysteria sound exactly - only trouble was 'er indoors was sat outside in the car and as mentioned it's fairly big (about the size of a wah pedal, maybe a tad bigger) - couldn't really have snuck it in without her seeing Might be taking another trip down to the shop today though...shhh. £120 fairly hefty price tag too, just trying to weigh up how much use it's likely to get ....sounds great though. [/quote] If you do, let us know how it sounds after you´ve given it a proper going over. Very keen to see what people think of it, been contemplating this one since I saw the youtube upload.

Hi guys? Anyone have any idea what a decent 2nd hand price for one of these wee amps is? Can´t seem to find any examples online. Someone said around 500pounds-is that a fair price 2nd hand? Thanks

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='705878' date='Jan 8 2010, 07:02 PM']Maybe I was playing a duff one - it was sunburst. I love the seafoam finish. I recall reading at another bass chat place (maybe TB) about someone who had replaced the pickups with TV Jones bass pickups and another who replaced them with some custom made jobs. IIRC, both said that the stock pickups were guitar pickups. And an interesting review here at BC saying something similar: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=1308"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=1308[/url] I'd still really like one in seafoam with TV Jones Thundertrons like this: [/quote] Had a similar idea re pickups and the dean, though mine would be the cabbie! Thanks Dave, And Happy Belated Birthday!

[quote name='hillbilly deluxe' post='705800' date='Jan 8 2010, 05:39 PM']Squier bullet bass.[/quote] Cheers for clearing that up

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='705507' date='Jan 8 2010, 02:16 PM']Nope! The JV's only ever came as a full 34" scale.[/quote] There wasn´t a JV era shortscale. Just the P and J bass Was there a squier bullet bass? I know there was the Fender and there is a squier bullet guitar Think the next run of squier shorties was the Vista Tone series? Could be totally wrong here

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='705766' date='Jan 8 2010, 05:17 PM']I played one of those (although not the Cabbie finish) and thought the sound was very poor. I've since been led to believe thay have six-string guitar pickups.[/quote] Really? That´s strange. The two I´ve played (one cabbie, one seafoam green) sounded great. Both were run through an Ampeg SVT 200T and 4x10HLF. Both sounded exactly the same, though the green one had a bit more Hum with the tone on full whack. Perhaps anything sounds good with that Ampeg! I really want the cabbie bass though! Didn´t know they were guitar pickups. Interesting.

[quote name='Born 2B Mild' post='705643' date='Jan 8 2010, 04:01 PM'] Personally, I think I'd rather haver a Rickenchewbacca[/quote] The Truss is strong in this one... DONE!!!hehe

[quote name='bigjohn' post='705733' date='Jan 8 2010, 04:58 PM']He won it in card game from Hondo Calrissian...[/quote] No, That´s not true! Thats IMPOSSIBLE!!! I´m off to try and find a dist pedal. Thinking of a Grand Moff...

[quote name='BurritoBass' post='705690' date='Jan 8 2010, 04:32 PM']I spent half of yesterday evening googling Gretsch basses and they seem rarer than hens teeth! I'm genuinely surprised so many of you have played one as I've never got to try one and it's not for lack of trying.[/quote] True, you don´t see many about, but they are there. The first one I tried was at a jazz/blues gig in Cork in 07. Some American guy had one and didn´t use it once during his set-he stayed with his EUB. I got to mess with it for about 20 mins with a mate on drums between sets. A local cover bands´ bass player has a white falcon bass he bought in Germany. Got to use it and his (awful) Ric when I dep´d for them for 4 gigs last summer. I played the shortscale one when they were around first-my local guitar shop had two (of all the luck) But honestly, you are right, I´ve only seen one or two in a few shops n the last few years. Nowhere near as common as Gibson basses and over here there´s only really one store (two shops in Dublin) that sells those.

I´ve got a bad feeling about this... How are the Boba-Fretts on that? (shudder!) How bout anything with modded Deathstar pickups (or were the Darkside pickups)? Think I saw a set of them a long time ago, in a Hofner Galaxy, far far away...

seems like that should be made by Gretsch for some reason... I´d go with a Darth Vigier Or a nice Gibson R2D2 Artist... Or a Musicman Light-Sabre sorry, those were the best I could come up with in a rush!

Either someone on here´s beat me too it, or it was already gone. Eitherway, neither the Fernandes nor Gibson bass (green) are on the site anymore. Damn!

As a rockabilly nut, I have to say the Gretsch guitar is a fantastic looking and amazing sounding instrument. The TV Jones pickups are amazing! The Setzer, The Chet Atkins, The Electromatic,even the Duo-Jet-all seriously great guitars! Bass-wise, they haven´t built a decent one in forever. They all LOOK amazing, but they ALL SOUND weak and flabby. The only one with a bit of kick to it is the budget one they had out, the Junior Jet or whatever it was called. It was a shortscale thing with one pickup and came in a weird grey/greenburst colour. That was a pretty decent one. May still buy one, though probably won´t If I was to buy a Gretsch-type bass, my money would be on either the Eastwood Classic 4 (in white, obviously) or a Dean Stylist (Cabbie version) They are the best hollowbody copies around and let yellowish/clear (whatever you´ve had to drink will affect this) liquid fall from a great height on top of any bass Gretsch has made soundwise in my experience. Still, on looks alone, gimme a Gretsch any day!