Grand Wazoo

Hamster Sir,

I don't know if you have heard of them but Chandler Guitars Ltd in Richmond, Surrey have been in business for yonks, they do some excellent repairs and maintenance, the repairman is Leon, and also Brinsley Shwartz (famous person he is, I am told - google him, his hey day must have been well b4 my time anyways) works there - 020 89405874, Chandler Gtrs is one of the few UK workshops with a PLEK machine.

[url="http://www.chandlerguitars.co.uk/workshop.php"]http://www.chandlerguitars.co.uk/workshop.php[/url]

You should try a Sterling By MusicMan Ray 34 [url="http://www.sterlingbymusicman.com/main.html?dir=bass_ray34"]http://www.sterlingbymusicman.com/main.html?dir=bass_ray34[/url]


or SB14 one which is a still active and very light in weight with a J-bass neck [url="http://www.sterlingbymusicman.com/main.html?dir=bass_sb14"]http://www.sterlingbymusicman.com/main.html?dir=bass_sb14[/url]


They are pretty close to the real thing and half the price you could find them at any of these dealers: [url="http://www.stringsandthings.co.uk/MMstockhome.htm"]http://www.stringsandthings.co.uk/MMstockhome.htm[/url]

[quote name='basshead56' post='695036' date='Dec 28 2009, 06:41 PM']Which ones are offering 50% off?[/quote]

I got a newsletter from the Bass Centre last October saying they were offering them for a limited period at 50% off, but I see now that they brought the prices back up, however they are still selling them £90 cheaper than retail price [url="http://www.basscentre.com/4-string-bass-guitars/fleabass-the-wild-one.html"]http://www.basscentre.com/4-string-bass-gu...e-wild-one.html[/url]

A lot of shops are offering 50% off by the way, sorry to say I have tried them and I thought..... well best not say what I thought of them.

First of all play it, try to accertain in your views what's what if there is anything wrong and what it is, action too low / too high, fret buzz? saddle distance intonation? saddle heigth, there's a lot that can be wrong with it and most of it can be tweaked easily by yourself once you read how to do it first. If you can afford £35-£40 average for a luthier to fix it for you then do so but I strongly advise at some point to learn how to maintain your own basses, because when you get to have 6 or 8 of them it can become very expensive to have them all setup by a workshop.

What bass is it anyway?

[quote name='elom' post='693443' date='Dec 25 2009, 06:01 PM']It's a lot of dosh but a fine looking instrument.

I recall it got a good write-up in BGM. What are all those controls though?[/quote]

Well you have 3 pickups, One Humbucker and 2 Single coils with an active / passive switch and the following 7 combinations are possible in active and passive as follows:

Active Mode:
1) H - S - S all on
2) H - S - S all off (gives the bridge humbucker in series)
3) H - _ - _ only bridge humbucker is on in parallel
4) H - _ - S Humbucker and neck pickup
5) _ - S - S middle and neck
6) _ - _ - S neck pickup only
7) H - S - _ Bridge Humbucker and middle together

and again in passive

Passive Mode:
8) H - S - S all on
9) H - S - S all off (gives the bridge humbucker in series)
10) H - _ - _ only bridge humbucker is on in parallel
11) H - _ - S Humbucker and neck pickup
12) _ - S - S middle and neck
13) _ - _ - S neck pickup only
14) H - S - _ Bridge Humbucker and middle together


[i][u][b][url="http://www.captnmoto.co.uk/videos/hss.pdf"]Control Diagram[/url][/b][/u][/i]

It finally got here! After 62 days from ordering date to deilvery, I present to you my new Ernie Ball Music Man 25th Anniversary 5 strings HSS model (Humbucker / Single / Single)

[b][url="http://www.captnmoto.co.uk/videos/25th.wmv"]Click here[/url][/b]

[quote name='Alfie' post='692171' date='Dec 23 2009, 10:48 AM']I bought my wife a Squier Classic Vibe 50s Telecaster for Christmas and I am in love with it, so much so that I want to get a bass to compliment it. I have very strong GAS for a Fender 51 Reissue, but the only stumbling point is that it is says Fender on the headstock and I wish it said Squier. This is the first time I have experienced this emotion.

Don't get me wrong, I much prefer the look of the Fender 51 to the Squier 50s P, but I prefer the Squier brand. Is this weird or has does anyone else feel like this?[/quote]

I've got myself this one and I love it

My Twins:

1988 / 1999 respectively
Paul Reed Smith 4 & Paul Reed Smith 5

The strange thing is that anything Flea gets involved with, in terms of bass endorsement goes pear shape, he started with MusicMan and that one went t|ts up, then endorsed Modulus and they fell out too, and now... to top it all up his own line of Flea basses (which look and sound like utter sh|te) are being offered pretty cheap compared to their original price at the Bass Centre. Go figure.

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='683755' date='Dec 14 2009, 10:33 AM']Funny how the Squier CV Jazz keeps rearing it's cheap little head, isn't it? These lovely Jazzes really are just about the best product in the Fender lineup at the moment. Phenomenal value for money & awesome sound. As I said in another post, with the Chinese quality being this good, the Mexican plant may as well down tools! [/quote]

Agreed. Funny you say that I've just bought a niiiiiice Squier CV P-bass1950's made in China, which I needed as a beater, simple: one pickup, one vol one tone, 4 strings

Well I'll have to say, after I've set up the action, the neck which was a little too bowed and the saddles that needed setting in tune and height this bass rocks, I have just got it this morning and having a lazy day off I have found it difficult ot put it down. Soundwise and playabilty mean that as it is noithing else need to be done to this bass except I need to find a way to have it grounded a bit better because when you remove your hands from anything metallic, i.e. the strings, the bridge and the control plate, it give a bit of a buzz, but I just know the man who can sort that out for me.

Here it is: (note: after the pic was taken, the silly sticker and the useless thumb rest below the strings have been removed)

Guilty as charged your honour, I've bought a Mark Bass Compressore, from the The Gallery in London for £179, but... it's a pukka pedal, I tell you it is the best comp pedal I've have ever owned and I've had a few, my previous one was the highly sought after Trace Elliot SMX Dual Compressor, which was what I believed to be the best, until I tried the MB.

The Compressore is very quiet i.e. no hisses or unwanted modulation when the signal is really squashed, it's got a ecc83 tube that actually takes care of the compression as in the priced tube amps, does a great job and even though I am not made of money, I stand by the expense as very worthy. Here is a review from the MB website which I agree 100% and couldn't add any more to that its printed.

[url="http://www.markbass.it/risorse/allegato_pro.php?id=152"]http://www.markbass.it/risorse/allegato_pro.php?id=152[/url]

[b]and here is a pic of mine[/b]

Thanks to both of you gentlemen, I guess its a done deal, I'll go and pick that bass on Monday.

So now I have learnt that the harmonics are depending on where the pickups are placed, and you know I am baffled by geoffbyrne comment on the Statocaster neck pickup concept. I have another bass, a Paul Reed Smith, with a neck pickup virtually placed at the end of the fingerboard (see pic below) and I've just tried to hear how the harmonics come out with that pickup, and stange enough I can get most of them as I get with the other pickups, perhaps this particular pickup was cleverly placed so close to the neck for that reason. Thanks again.

Hi guys, I have found a cheap bass to use as a beater, one I don't have to worry too much about knocking it about and getting it damaged.

The bass in question is a Squier Classic Vibe P-bass 1950's as in the pic below:



First of all I have watched a review from bass Maestro Ed Friedland on youtube here: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6Cd98DH__U"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6Cd98DH__U[/url] and I was quite impressed, but then again it is said that even a stick on a tea crate sounds good in Ed's hands.

Then I decided to go and try one for myself and was lucky enough to find one at the Gallery in Camdem Town, London, I played it through a Mark Bass Jeff Berlin (the one without the high freq. horn) and I realy liked it, excellent playability, decent built quality, and gave a very convincing "vintage" sound. Now in all fairness this bass having just one pickup only does one thing, you have one volume and one tone controls and all you get is 2 options one with tone fully on and the other fully off. Anything else in between is inaudible really. But what concerned me about this bass was the fact that it was very difficult to get harmonics out of it, the only "clear" harmonics you could get were on 5th 7th and 12th fret, but if you tried 4th, 8th and 3rd frets or those in betweent fret ones you get on good basses you could forget about it. Maybe I am spoiled because my main basses are a Stingray 5 and a Bongo 5 where you just need to feather a string with your fingertips and harmonics would inevitably come out but what I'd like to know is:

why is it that this Squier bass hardly had any harmonics? The strings were new, is there meant to be something wrong with it, when a bass doesn't play harmonics through most of the fretboard or is it something that really only come out on very good quality instruments?

Thanks for your time

AS you know I am new here, in which subforum section can I ask for techincal assistance in regard to a bass which I am about to buy that doesn't convince me?

Hi all,

old boy here!! 47 years young, semi retired from gigging due to work commitment. I spend most of my life on cargo ships these days. I've never lost the love for the bass, so I shall continue to pursue this passion for as long as I can.

I have owned a lot of basses and guitars in the last 30+ years, usually keeping what I liked, and selling on those I didn't like. From cheapo's to boutique, lots came and went and I guess it never ends until you find what suits you. I can never say this is what I have and that's it! Even my personal preferences have changed after time but presently I own 4 definately "keepers", plus one more on the way (maybe 2 more, if luck has it) and these are:

2 x twenty years old Paul Reed Smith's first generation, built between '89 to '91 a 4 and a 5 [b](see pic 1)[/b] The 4 strings is the seafoam green alder body, bolt on maple neck / fingerboard, the 5 strings one is the whale blue with mahogany back, quilted maple top, and fixed mahogany neck with brazilian rosewood fingerboard. (both basses have 3 single coils plus hum cancelling dummy coil in the back of the body, active / passive bypass switch, 1x Volume, 1 x 5 positions rotary pickup selector, 1 x bass 1 x treble which work in both passive and active mode)

2 x Ernie Ball MusicMan, [b](see pic 2)[/b] a translucent red StingRay 5 maple fingerboard, to which I have fitted an Alnico Duncan Basslines pickup, and a Bongo 5 in sapphire black, double humbucker and piezo system, which is a killer.

The one which is on the way, it's also an EB Music Man, this time a 25th Anniversary 5 strings, HSS model, one humbucker and 2 single coils, with rosewood fingerboard [b](see pic 3)[/b] All going well this will be with me on DEc 21st. Fingers crossed. It's on one of our company ships loaded from a far land where they speak like us but funny like, so it might suffer the odd day loss through the various stops along the way.

The other one I am considering is a cheapo, sometimes you get some real stars in the budget range and the one I have set my eyes on, which I intend to use as a beater, it's a Squier classic vibe P bass 1950's lake placid blue maple board, [b](see pic 4)[/b] I've tried it in a shop on Denmark Street and was very impressed by the vintage feel emanating from that one single p/up, if you haven't tried one yet, please have a go, they are well worth it for the price, at around 290 quid.

[b]PIC 1[/b]


[b]PIC 2[/b]


[b]PIC 3[/b]


[b]PIC 4[/b]


Cheers and look forward to check out the forum some more when time permits.

Well I have one of the old ones, 200W model 1215V Combo 2 x 10, and 2 piezo horns, valve preamp solid state power amp, sounds great, weights a ton, very heavy to carry but I am yet to find anything that sounds beefier than this