Fionn

In regard to the early Matsumoku-made Aria Pro II SB basses, it must be said ... The neck above the 12th fret with its even profile, the 12” fretboard radius, the beautifully sculpted transition from neck to body (neck-through-body design), and that deep-cut bottom horn makes for a highly accessible, super-fast, and easily playable upper register. The nicest I’ve ever played, truth be told. The fact that there are 24 frets is an incredible bonus.

Playing basses like these makes me want to hang above the 12th more, getting in-about the high zone like I’m guided there, so inviting are these basses in this regard.

Subjective, I know, but for me this is the greatest upper register in all Bassdom 🏆

Best Purchase: Aria Pro II SB1000 ... 1981 Japanese classic awesomeness. Possibly my new favourite bass. Tooooo much love for this thing 🏆

Worst Purchase: Westfield Thumb Bass Copy ... bought as a cheapy. It was absolute murder to play, sounded gutless, and is now well gone ☠️

Bought a set of flats from SM.

Good price, good comm’s. All straight forward, and no problem whatsoever 🙂

Squier Vintage Modified Fretless Jazz Bass.

As this forum knows, these are well regarded basses, and are fantastic for their price bracket. Especially these older ones with the DD pickups, and alder bodies (as opposed to agathis).

Made in 2008 (Cort Factory). Duncan Designed JB101 pickups, high-mass bridge (Wilkinson, I think), graphite nut, Rotosound SH77 flatwounds.

The bass is in mint condition. The chrome plating on the control cover is slightly blemished, but I’ll include a brand-new replacement, as well as the original nut.

YouTube Demo:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2nlqytnnmxA

Magazine Review:

http://www.bassfrontiersmag.com/review-squier-vintage-modified-fretless-jazz-bass

The bass is in Pittenweem, Fife. Happy to meet up within half an hour’s drive. Also, I’ve got a suitable box, so I can package it well and get it ready for collection, if the buyer arranges and pays for the courier.

I love the idea, but hate the reality.

I’m all over the concept, which is why I’ve persevered. I’ve had 4 of them now, fretted and fretless. I’ve experimented with flatwounds and tapewounds, and with lots of emphasis on technique ... yet I’ve been consistently underwhelmed and disappointed.

The basic physics of sound lays massive limitations on these things. I reckon they’re all pigs to play, and I’ve yet to hear one that sounded good acoustically.

I’ve since given up on the idea.

Superb band. I absolutely love them 🙂.

Wow ...

Just watched the Chic/ Sister Sledge performance at the Budokan, Tokyo. April 17th, 1996.

STUNNING playing and superlative tone, from the fantastic Bernard Edwards. Great concert really. 

Something notable of that event ...

During the performance, Bernard wasn’t feeling so well, even saying ‘I’ve got a touch of the Tokyo Flu, but I’m still here’ ...

It was in the early hours of the morning, after that very show, that he died in his hotel room. The cause was pneumonia. If he’d gone to see a doctor, a simple treatment would have prevented the tragedy.

If you’re a fan of The Nard, this is something I’d recommend watching. It’s emotive too, given the circumstances. 

What a great player, and such a terrible loss.

RIP Bernard

Just received a beautiful old Aria bass from Derek.

Great communication, well protected, fast delivery, all good!

🏆

I intend to add a volume pedal to my board. This will mainly be used for volume swells. It will be at the end of the chain. I play active basses.

Seems there are three basic types. Low impedance passive, high impedance passive, and active.

Because of the active bass element, I realise that it’s down to choosing between either a low impedance passive pedal, or an active one.

What would be the pros and cons between the two? Like, is there any tone-suck with the passive variants? Are there any specific issues with one type or the other that I should be aware of?

Also, I’m after a swell with a nice even taper. Recommendations appreciated.

Ta’

Thanks man. I’ll check that out 👍🏻

44 minutes ago, mangotango said:

I use one of these.

https://www.thomann.de/gb/fender_aby_footswitch.htm

Nice blue light to let you know which channel is working; all pretty reliable thus far. Bass guitar goes via a line out from my wireless into one channel; EUB via Behringer Acoustic Modeller/DI into the other. All out into the Genz-Benz Streamliner.  When using the EUB, I switch out the Gain button to take the graunch (technical term!) out of proceedings.

 

I use the same Fender ABY. For switching between fretless and fretted basses. One is active and the other passive though, so I need to change it for something with level controls for each channel. Same issue as you big-bass-playing folks.

21 minutes ago, Marcoelwray said:

 

Alex mentioned a buzz on his bass... 

Could be a number of reasons for that, but it’s not the design of the pickup that is causing the buzzing.

Mine sounds very clean. No buzz whatsoever.

12 minutes ago, Marcoelwray said:

Thanks, my bad. It's called "twin jazz" but it seems difficult to find any good information even on mec/warwick websites. 

If there's a buzz, two single coils it is... 

Yes, two single coils ... but there is no buzz. They have a hum-cancelling dummy coil.

1 hour ago, Marcoelwray said:

Question: did all the Masterman series got the MEC quad coil? 

Two single coil pickups in that housing, with a dummy coil.

1 hour ago, Lfalex v1.1 said:

Here you go..

From the left;

Volume & pan

Bass & Treble (neck)

Bass & Treble (bridge)

Alas only 9v, though.

Tempted to add an extra battery, one for each pre. To give it more headroom and hopefully battery life..

Thanks for that. I’ve got a ‘98 Pro M. Stock electronics, but not this set-up, like most of the Pro Ms. Mine is original, although with stacked Bass/Treble, Pickup pan, and Volume (push-pull active-passive). Passive mode bypasses the preamp, so the pickup pan basically becomes the tone control.

I’d love one like yours too. 

38 minutes ago, Lfalex v1.1 said:

Those of you that were fazed by the Streamer Pro M controls should look away now!

This has the two separate preamps, for each coil then? Could you show us what it looks like inside the control cavity?

At a mere £23, a cheaper alternative ABY box, reversible, with gain controls for each channel. Can be run passive, or 9v if you want the led...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.gear4music.com/amp/Guitar-and-Bass/Belcat-ABS-520-Dual-Input-A-B-Box-True-Bypass/FY4

I get you.

So, I basically need an ABY with level and eq controls for each channel. I don’t have the physical space on the board to add an EQ in front of my current ABY. Wondering if I could swap out what I’ve got with another pedal.

Google, here I come ...

Wondering if you could give me your suggestions on remedies for this. It seems obvious, though I’m open to being taught something ... 

I like to have both a fretted and fretless bass plugged into my board simultaneously. This is so I can change between instruments quickly and smoothly when looping.

I currently have an ABY splitter at the front of my effects chain. Both basses plug into this, then go to the tuner> compressor> octaver> etc. My ABY splitter is simply that. A switch which has no other controls.

Problem is that one bass is an active Warwick, and the other a passive Aria SB. The output levels of each instrument are radically different. 

When I switch to the passive bass, I boost the output level on the compressor to make up the difference. I’d like to remove that step though.

Am I right in thinking that a line selector with level controls for both input channels (like the Boss LS-2) would work for this, simply keeping the active Warwick’s input at unity and boosting the input of the passive Aria? Could I simply replace my current ABY with one of those (or similar)?

If I’ve failed to perceive any problems with this, or if you folks have any better suggestions, I’d be keen to hear them.

Thanks in advance

Nice bit of kit.

Give us a shout if you change your mind about trades.

For sale or trade (options below):

Source Audio Soundblox 2 Manta Bass Filter.

Highly versatile and well regarded filter. Capable of a wide variety of filter effects. Wet and funky, out-there synthy, or dirty and distorted, it does the lot.

It has two separate footswitches to which you can save and assign completely different settings, basically giving you two pedals in one. Highly functional and tweakable, it’s also controllable with a Hot Hand or expression pedal, so loads of creative scope. 

There are many excellent reviews online, and a ton of forum chat about it, if you want to read about what this thing does and how far it goes. 

Here’s the corporate blurb ...

https://www.sourceaudio.net/sb2-manta-bass-filter.html#

And a YouTube demo ...

Condition is excellent. No issues whatsoever. Velcro on underside.

Trade options: Things I’m currently after are ... Dod Meatbox (reissue), Boss LS-2 Line Selector, Boss SYB-5 Bass Synth, and SFX Micro Mix. Give us a shout if you’ve got one of those that you’d want to trade and we can discuss cash balance, etc.

I’m in Fife, Scotland, but can post 1st class Recorded for an extra fiver.

Aye, I also use an RV-3 ... and I LOVE it. 

I have two common uses for the reverb at present, using various reverb settings in conjunction with various synth sounds, and alone, subtly, when playing fretless. I love the thing. It works beautifully for bass.

The delays are fun though, truth be told, I haven’t really put the time in there. I need to explore that section a bit more when playing without a looper.

I tend to use the delay on the effects section of my looper (Boss RC-300). That’s not the greatest delay, I admit, but it’s synced to whatever loop I’ve got happening, and there’s a lot of value in that. I guess I could use the delay in the RV-3 for looping, but I’d need to become a bit more precise, haha!

I’ve got an ABY splitter pedal at the front of my effects chain that has both a fretted and fretless bass plugged into it simultaneously. Just a click on the pedal and the input switches from one instrument to the other. Rapid changeover when looping. You could do it that way.

At the other end of my effects board is the looper. I use a Boss RC-300 multi-track looper, which itself has multiple inputs. So that too.

It nice to see that there are a few choir singers here, albeit with very different music to the Gaelic songs I’m familiar with.

Aye, it’s sublime, to be sure. I was singing tenor before, which was an almighty challenge. Just joined a new choir though, where I’ll be singing bass. Far more into my comfort zone, and more where I’m at in my soul. Looking forward to this. It will be interesting, given this bassist’s brain that I’ve developed over 25 years.