Paolo85

If you like to work on instruments I do not think shielding is a lot of work although I have yet to try myself. Of you are in the mindset of doing that that would give you more options.

There could be a number of reasons that make you unenthusiastic about the pickups. I found that I was never excited by the celebrated Yamaha BBs. Then I figured out it's because I like precision basses and the BB appear to have the P pickup slightly closer to the neck than a Precision, with significant change in sound.

It may turn out that's the issue you are having. Or that your bass has ceramic pickups and you like alnico or viceversa. Or that what maybe you would be happier with a bass with two humbuckers or two single coils, or an active MM style bass (all options would give you versatility harsh-to-warm, just in different ways)

I guess what I am trying to say with that is that it is very hard to give you an answer that goes beyond listing basses with supposedly good value-for-money.

Sires for example, much like the BBs I tried, did not work out for me. They tend to sound harsher than similar basses from Squire, and to be heavier. And I do not use preamps much.

Note that your bass has a reputstion of being light (and with great balance!) and I think has 40mm nut width. Maybe, and that's a guess, you take these factors as a given but long term you'd be bothered by a bass that is very different in that sense.

It could be worth going to shops to try basses out and watch loads of youtube videos (eg LowendLobster's channel)

Uhm.. on second thought, these small passive mixers have a 3.5mm jack out as well. I guess I may just buy an adapter but I had plenty of issies with adapters..

...maybe I'll give this mixer a chance  https://amzn.eu/d/hCH0pmZ

Thanks! They both would do the job! The Yamaha admittedly well above my budget and I was hoping something even cheaper than the mixer although that could be ok in absence of alternatives. The audio comes from my phone so I was also hoping something with 3.5mm jack

...I am open to odd ideas (eg buying another Zoom just for the aux in, echept a cheaper smaller pedal!)

Hi all, do you know what is the cheapest and smallest pedal I can get for aux in, and only that (ok if it does more but likely I am not interested and does not make it worth more money).

I would like to use a looper to (temporarily) record myself when I play along with songs and see how bad it was. At the moment I have three pedals: looper -> Behringer BDI21 (no aux in, no stereo out) -> Zoom B1 4 -> headphones

The Zoom does not do anything, just sends the dry signal out, but has to be at the end of the chain because of the stereo out. But annoyingly it is also the only pedal with aux in, so if I play along with a song, the looper records my bass but not the song. I'd like to put something with aux in that is small and supercheap before the looper. Not interested in solutions than involve laptops

Thanks

EDIT: obviously, if the pedal does something else as well, I must be able to bypass that and still get the aux in!

I still cannot see it😅  ...probably for the best so I do not buy!

What's that? I had problems opening the link..

Another couple of questions 

Is it light as people say?

Is it neck heavy/a neck diver?

Would you be happy to report back here in a while on neck/tuning stability?

Thanks!

How was the stock pickup?

Have not tried that! I have a feeling that the sunburst one is going to be the next bass I buy. Hopefully not anytime soon!

54 minutes ago, lonestar said:

I believe that the VTC upgrade is no longer available solderless. I certainly had to solder mine; which was straightforward enough, although I also had to add a washer to the volume pot to clear the cut out edge on my Chinese ME, rather than get jiggy with my router. I haven't seen this as an issue on any other forums or the Sadowsky users FB page apart from my post.

I see. I personally I was referring to the onboard preamp with contol plate that for example here https://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/Sadowsky_Preamp.html states that pickups connect with solderless connection (not sure about the ground for the bridge but I imagine that could just go in the earth of the J pickup?).

So what I meant is: if I buy a Sadowsky preamp for £150 and I put it in my passive Squire VM J which sounds and play great as is, I get the preamp AND the tone control - if I understand correctly. If I buy the Sadowsky ME made in China for what I imagine will be north of £700 (pure guess, given they sell the ones with the old logo for £650)  I do not get the tone control. One can buy and install the tone control for another 100 (assuming one has a soldering iron) but then brings the total to maybe £800. Now, the Sadowsky offers more than just the preamp, with lightweight tuners, high mass bridge and likely very good pickups. But then it is maybe £700 without tone control and £800 after buying it, so not cheap. I suppose whether the bass will be worth it or not will all go down to overall quality, and how the various parts fit together. Plus obviously subjective taste

I am sure these are great basses for many purposes but at the end of the day for what I understand they are jazz basses with boost only preamp and no tone control knob. From my point of view, that's not a very interesting proposition, especially as that preamp (with tone control and solderless connections) is widely available for not too much money

3 minutes ago, atsampson said:

As BigRedX says, the fuse in the plug is only there to protect the cable

I see. To be honest I am more concerned about the risk of fire and similar stuff than to safeguard my 25w amp. Not sure if that remains a risk?

6 minutes ago, atsampson said:

- they usually come with a 13 A fuse which is much more than the amp will draw, and more than the 10 A the IEC connector is rated at.

Unfortunately I am quite ignorant about all that. Does that mean "more than you need, you are good", or "too much, you should replace the fuse"

Thanks!

When I was a teenager, in the early 2000s, it was definitely the 80s. Metal above all. Then when I was in my 20s it became the 70s - prog rock. Then in my 30s I went further back in time. I go in waves, listening to different stuff. But the 60s are probably a sweet spot for what I have listened to the most in recent years. Coltrane's modal period, Miles Davis' second great quintet and other Wayne Shorter stuff (with Art Blakey and as a band leader)... to be honest if it was for jazz music maybe I would have said the 50s, but then in the 60s you also start getting Jamerson, Jemmott, Cogbill on the electric bass.

I never had much interest in keeping up to date with music

I have this hartke HD 25 with EU plug bought from Bax. I want to replace the power cable with a UK one as I assume that would be safer than using a socket adapter.

The problem is I don't know a thing about any of that. It seems the amp can take 220v-240v so in that sense, to my understanding, any UK kettle lead would do. But then there is a warning "use only with 250v fuse". If I google power cables I find no indication of fuse's voltage. Maybe I can find indications on the fuse's amperage.

Do you know how I would go around that? Do you know specialised  shops that can give advice or provide more info on their cables?

Thanks!

Right, so I have this neoprene Lekato strap that also was slightly too long for me. I ordered a thimble, black nylon sewing thread, upholstery needles on Amazon for a total of 18 pounds. I googled "how to sew" then folded the strap at the extremity that does not touch anything when I adjust length, and stitched everything together.

My stitches do not look beautiful up close but that's all hiding inside when I play and the nilon thread is extremely robust.

The strap now is perfect length, and still adjustable

I tried them once. Mine did not feel sticky to me. At least no more than any other flats which can in general feel sticky - although in my case that's normally for the plucking hand, not the fretting hand, slides are normally more than ok.

Oddly, they did feel slightly "soft" under the fingers as if I could squidge them a tiny bit, but it does not sound like that's what you are getting

Hi all. For what I see both Warmoth and Allparts only sell P and J necks with truss rod adjustment at the heel. I wonder what are the "high-end" providers of P and J necks with direct access to the TR

Thanks

I find myself in the same situation. I do not feel like buying a bass. I have felt like that for weeks. That is weird!

I am left with

- A Stingray-inspired Cort which is great (although it needs a fret dressing) and I bought when I was around 18 - I don't feel like selling. Especially as it has minor issues and would sell for peanuts

- A PJ bitsa which at the end of the day has everything I could ask from a bass. I just love it and reach for it most of the time

-A Squier P with Wilkinson pickup, a great neck with lovely small frets and flatwounds for some old school tones

-A Squier VM J with a neck that better than that would feel to me like cheating. And great pickups

-A Fazley fretless PJ with a very good neck, good balance, and sounds alright. It's a boat anchor but I play fretless so little that anything more would feel like a waste

These basses cover all I could reasonably think of using. And I have run out of space. The basses are what's left after I bought or otherwise acquired 14 basses, and got rid of most of them. I have made mods to most of them (in fact, when the new tuners for the J will arrive, all of them) to suit my needs. They are all extremely good for what I paid. Selling them would not make me rich, but trying to find basses that I like more could make me poor.

Let's see how long I last before buying another one!

53 minutes ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

Well, really I was just trying to score some funny points at you expense.

 

On a more serious note I actually think the car wheel balance weights seems like a really brilliant solution. 

 

So much that I will definitely be looking into where to get such and likely try it out on a slightly neck heavy (or rather unusually light weight body) bass of mine.

 

Even if personally I would properly fit the weights inside the control cavity, rather than outside on the back of the body.

 

Glad it helped. It's not an idea of mine actually! Somebody mentioned it in another forum. I bought a hundred or so of these 5gr weighs on Amazon for 8-9 pounds

7 hours ago, tauzero said:

 

Just chop the headstock off. It would look nicer and balance better.

2 hours ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

Just drill  a series of holes through the fretboard all the way through the neck where the dot fret markers are now, and chop off excess wood from the headstock as well, then fill the control cavity with cement/concrete... Fixed! 

 

On 15/05/2023 at 01:14, jd56hawk said:

On 15/05/2023 at 17:01, franzbassist said:

why not put the weights inside the control cavity?

It seems this thing of the weights on the back of the bass is not a huge success 😁

The bass already has hipshot licensed ultralight The body is from a Squier Affinity PJ, which is both poplar and thin.

Weighs in the control cavity would be a good idea! The first time around I did not do it because it would be more of a faff and because I was not sure how many of those I would need and how much space they would take. The second time around just because it is a bit of a faff compared to a 5-second job Maybe next time I change strings I put them in there!

I'll take the opportunity to show off my beloved bass

From my point of view, that is, the point of view of somebody maybe just above beginner, the issue with advancing abilities in relation to the forum is that there is not a lot to discuss. I feel like I have a good sense of areas that needs improvement (not very difficult to identify a number of them, really). I have piled up more manuals and transcription books than I could go through in a couple of years (at the very least). I have enrolled into online courses. My youtube front page shows me every day new free online lessons.

I don't feel like I am held back by lack of discussion or information available. Any time I want to improve my playing I know what to do and that does not involve asking questions online for the most part. I am not saying I have not benefited from reading stuff here from time to time, but still..

Gear is different. There is not much that can be done about it without buying objects. These objects are expensive and bought unfrequently (at least, less frequently than one plays). Careful reading lots of chatting can help a lot with purchasing objects that are "right for you"

There you go! I can't believe 10 grams matter! I must say, it's not like the bass was neck diving before. It would slide from angled up to horizontal every now and then. Just enough though to trick my brain into resting the wrist on the body to hold it, as I don't rest my thumb on the pickup.

In fact, maybe more than perfect balance I am looking for slightly body-heavy..

Well, the strap is for multiple basses so I am happier this way, but true, as I ended up needing just 20gr, it would have not been a problem with other basses!