Doc B

I had my graphite-necked Status Groove for 2 years and it barely went out of tune (no gigging) and played fantastically well out of the box. I never adjusted it once as it had a very similar action to my Warwick. I actually prefer the herringbone pattern of the Status graphite weave and love the way it catches the light giving a nice 3D depth to the finish. The Modulus finish just looks weird to me. People pay a lot to get exposed carbon fibre weave (like the Status) on their car's interior and exterior.

The Groove I had was alder bodied too and was (is) a great bass but I found I prefer passive dual pickup basses and sold it to Smash a few weeks ago. The neck was fantastic, if a little wide for me higher up as it was a Status MM type neck and I tend to prefer Jazz bass type necks.

If it's a MM style bass and/or sound you want you could try a used Status Groove - I could get pretty close to Timmy C's early sound and Flea's Flea bass on my old one (although it did have a graphite neck). These should be available for your budget and are very well made and great to play. Status are also made in England so you can cut down your bass miles and save the planet too

I sold the Groove last month and got a Squier VM Jazz 70s style and put a set of Wizard pups in it (64s in this case). I'm also getting a Bad Ass 2 fitted soon as well. With a complete set of new electronics (inc. pots) the Squier sounds fantastic and I like it as much as my old Warwick Streamer Std2. I've found that I prefer the sounds from a twin pickup bass, in fact I tend to mainly the bridge pup on full with about 25% neck pup.

A bit of distortion on my SansAmp and I can pretty much nail Timmy C's Audioslave sound as well as more trad 70s style and Hooky-esque tones. I love the neck on the Jazz - black blocks on maple too - lovely. The Wizards make the Squier very responsive to control changes and picking positions and are quite powerful for passive single coils IMO. The Wizard 84s are more powerful and darker apparently.

I love listening to funk but I'm not so good at playing it.

After selling a few bits of equipment and building up my PayPal account I decided to take a punt on one of the lined fretless electro-acoustic Swift branded basses from eBay (I was also tempted by a duvet).

I believe that you usually get what you pay for so having seen the variable reviews of these very cheap (£74 inc P&P, gig bag, strap and pitch pipes) instruments I was a bit wary of what I'd get. I only wanted a cheap acoustic bass to play in the garden or when I can't be bothered plugging the amp on so I wasn't that fussed about spending a lot of money. I've also always wanted to try fretless so it's a case of two birds with one stone etc, etc. I also reckoned that I wouldn't have to worry about dodgy fret work if there were no frets!

The first thing I noticed on opening the box was that the bridge and fingerboard were very pale and dry, resembling the colour of a manilla envelope instead of the usual rosewood. At a distance the bass looked pretty good but up close it looked, well it looked like a £59 instrument really. The fit and finish is pretty bad even compared to my old Tanglewood acoustic guitar (which was only £99 ten years ago!), in fact the Tanglewood is like a Martin in comparison. TBH they shouldn't have bothered trying to jazz it up a bit with fingerboard binding and a nasty stick on sparkly sound hole rosette as that money could have been spent elsewhere.

Anyway, after a liberal application of Manson's Fingerboard Oil and some Dr Duck's Axe Wax the bridge and 'board looked more the part, although the bridge's finish was (literally) very rough. Next step was to fit a set of 45 gauge Warwick EMPs (not easy due to the short 30" scale), tune up and have a play.

This bass actually sounds surprisingly good to my ears and very upright-like when played near the end of the fingerboard. In fact I'd go as far to say that, acoustically it sounds way better than I'd expect at this price point (my own intonation not withstanding). Acoustically it has a nice growl and thump to it. The fret markers are very broad and feel like they may be filled in fret slots. Although I am novice to the fretless I'd advise only using the markers on this bass as a rough guide and to use your ears to help find the right positioning to keep notes in tune.

The Swift also performed surprisingly well plugged into my Ashdown Electric Blue 130, not as upright like as the acoustic sound but a nice fretless tone nonetheless. Unlike other Basschatters I did not find any problems with the output balance across all 4 strings. Mind you I did only buy this bass to use as an acoustic so it won't get much amped-up use and my intonation needs a lot of work before I'm prepared to record it!

Anyway - I'm pleased with what I got for my money but I suspect that the level of quality control apparent (i.e. not much) on my bass means that they will not all sounds, play or function as well as mine.

I'd be interested to hear from the other Swift owners on here.

I always prefer an interesting bassline or groove but pumping out straight 8s can be excellent for driving a song along (Digging the Grave by FNM). I hated doing Nirvana covers in a band I was in as it seemed to be the same bass line transposed up and down the neck in about 4 different songs.

I do always prefer covers that have a nice balance of being fairly straightforward (i.e. easy) but interesting to play and listen to. I was in a band that did Die Laughing by Therapy and I still love playing that.

I also think that it's a mark of a great song if you still love listening to the original and playing along after playing it hundreds of times over. Black by Pearl Jam is one of my favourite basslines for that reason.

not being in a band

Cheers Andy - now ordered!

My new bass was in being upgraded at Strung Out Guitars in Glasgow but the string spacing grooves on the used Bad Ass 2 I bought are misaligned on my bass.

So does anyone know if it is possible to buy replacement saddles for these bridges?

I've emailed via Leo Quan's website but had no reply - I also didn't see any separate saddles. Any ideas where else to try?

Going on the recommendations in this thread I got a set of 64s fitted in my Squier VM 70s Jazz and sounds fantastic - very clear and articulate which is what I wanted as I like to play chords and drones a lot. It also can thump like a b'stard with the tone full off and just the neck pickup on full. I also got a set of upgraded pots fitted at the same time to get the best out of the pups. Using my SansAmp BDDI into the power amp of my Ashdown Electric Blue 130 sounds fantastic - a bit of distortion and it's right in JJ Burnel territory (even dare I say it, the first Elastica album). Loads of sounds from these electronics - from clear chiming Hooky-esque sounds and chords to fat Timmy C styles. I haven't even had cause to alter the settings on my SansAmp - which is how I like it. The Wizards are also a lot less noisy near the amp than the Duncan Designed ones that came as standard.

It's early days but I may have a bass that I prefer to my Warwick for the first time in 8 years.

Great bass, great pickups, I can't help wondering what a passive Warwick Corvette would sound like fitted with these!

Oh - I think i misunderstood what this was about:

Doug Wimbish's tone of Living Colour's Stain album is awesome
Billy Gould on FNM's King For A Day Fool For a Lifetime

+1 for Lenny Kravitz's Mama Said album - I love the sound of the bass on It Ain't Over Till It's Over

Cheers for the info guys!

Wanting to change the body is all about the looks really - I'm not 100% about doing that as it may cost a lot.

My Streamer Std 2 is one of the German made ones so it is very well made and has the same bolt-on neck as the others in the range. I've had it for about 8 years and have no intention of ever parting with it. The feel, playability and sound are perfect for me. I love the sound and comfort of the 2 big humbuckers, in fact I prefer it to any other Warwick I've played in those respects (mainly because I prefer passive electronics). Unfortunately I prefer the looks of other Warwicks, especially the Thumb and 'normal' Streamers, the Corvette ain't bad neither.

Pimping my Jazz has got me thinking about doing something with the Warwick.

The first things I am considering are getting a Warwick chrome 2 piece 4 str bridge fitted (along with the required routings) and a set of strap locks fitted. Does anyone know if it is possible to buy the same kind as you get with the pricier Warwicks?

A more radical idea would be to get a replacement body and fit the existing neck and electronics to it - perhaps made by Mr Shuker?

Any any ideas/comments/suggestions?

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='165186' date='Mar 28 2008, 01:39 PM']I am about to start a campaign that seeks to ensure that Fender 'Jazz' Basses, of all hues, are only ever used to play 'Jazz' and that any use of said basses for idioms other than Jazz should result in the removal of that instrument from the perpetrator and it sale, at a reduced rate, to responsible jazz musicians in order to gain funds for the Musicians Benevolent Fund.

I would also insist that 'Precision' basses should be played with precision and that all Double Basses should be played twice. [/quote]

So when you get really good at playing jazz on a Jazz bass you can progress to a Jazzmaster bass?

I'll have to learn Indonesian Jazz on my Squier VM 70s!

I'll also have to move to Coventry to play standards on my Warwick Streamer Std, damn. At least I don't have a Dolphin as I'd have to learn how to swim while playing, somehow avoiding electrocution, and catch fish in my mouth while making clicking sounds.

My Warwick Streamer std into my SansAmp BDDI with level at 12 o'clock, blend full up, presence, treble and bass about 1 o'clock and drive at about 2.

I can get a lot of sounds with that set up and using the tone and volume pots on the Warwick. I nearly always plug straight in to the FX return on my amp.

FWIW I really like the buy/sell/trade of gear on BC - it's good to know that something you had has gone to a 'good home' and I like the idea of stuff doing the rounds on here.

I had my first experience of getting a 'your asking price is too high, I'll take it off you for a fraction of that and give you good feedback as a favour to a new seller' email on eBay last week. I just didn't reply, the best response was to wait for the item to go for what I wanted and still get the price I wanted.

I also think that this thread warrants being moved to a more prominent place!

[quote name='minty fresh death' post='190709' date='May 2 2008, 05:01 PM']I'm glad this thread came about, it was well overdue.

Almost worth a sticky, so people can learn etiquette.[/quote]

+1 for that

from reading the I Hate/I love jazz threads it would seem that Jazz is for the more discerning, intellectual player and the P is for the true 4 string dullard - 1 pup, 2 knobs, nothing too complicated

Unfortunately I only ever managed to make it into Rose Morris on Denmark St. I tried a nice Yamaha BEX500 and a stunning MM Sterling.

The whole trip was worth it to see the look on the sales assistant's face when I asked how much Martin Acoustic guitar strings were and I burst out laughing as I told him I could get them less than half that price at the shop round the corner from my flat.

I know there are loads of players on here who have had instruments specially built for them but that's something I think the majority of us have no experience of.

But - today I ordered a set of Wizard 64s and Andy at Wizard ended the call with, "we've just started making them now..."

I love that, actually speaking to the guys making them. Had the same experience when I ordered my Status from Rob and Dawn.

I dunno why but it made me feel a bit special, knowing I had been in touch with the actual people making them.

[quote name='NJE' post='189903' date='May 1 2008, 06:57 PM']been going through some michael jackson, particularly thriller and beat it. I dont care what people say about him, he was a genius......evil genius maybe but still genius.

He had some great bass parts and bass players.[/quote]

Shouldn't Quincy Jones get at least some of the credit for that?

A fair few sellers have been messing people around too from what I hear. The buyer of my Status told me that several sellers changed their minds on him too.

I think it's a symptom of the internet - too easy to be impulsive and then regret later on.

I, on the other hand, am a ruthless b'stard when it comes to clearing out my surplus gear.

I've just sold my Status and replaced it with a Squier VM Jazz.

If anything I am a bass inverted-snob as I don't believe that my (lack of) playing ability and my not being in a band justified having such a nice instrument.

[quote name='Soulfinger' post='189896' date='May 1 2008, 06:43 PM']Re. Tony Wilson (1950-2007): "Hating Jazz is hazardous to your health." - Soulfinger (*1967)[/quote]

There may be something in that, Tony Wilson did die relatively young.

cheers

I've got my Bad Ass 2 (cheers Doc Dave) and just ordered my Wizard 64s.

Does anyone know which D-Tuners match a Squier and a Warwick ?