Bleat

1993 B-200 - Metallic Dark Blue. 🤘

I would seriously consider looking at the Gretsch Junior Jet II bass if you are thinking of getting a short scale. Great sound and quality for the price, and bags of fun to play. Another one to check out is the Dean Evo XM, also short scale, great pickups and tone. I am waiting for a Dean to arrive for use as my main gigging bass as it is light and well balanced and won't destroy my shoulder after 5 minutes of playing it.

I get your points about Mexican/Chinese made instruments, and Fender in general , which are valid and could be part of some bigger more meaningful discussion somewhere, the op is in US Fender Precision territory financially, and wants something that looks and sounds like a P-Bass, so my response is based on that really. I just don't see much point in looking at something that is nearly the same cost, unless he's really after something very specific that the Mcdoodlywhatsit has or does any better than a US Precision, which doesn't seem to be the case.

If I was in the position of affording an expensive bass and was looking at "P-basses" , I would go straight for the originator of the instrument, in this case a US made Fender. Unless you are after something specific like a particular finish, or wood type that Fender don't use, anything else is just a copy no matter what its made from, what fancy name appears on the headstock, or how much money you throw at it.. it's always going to be a copy of an iconic instrument. If you can afford "the real thing" I would get the real thing! Just my opinion.

I'm looking forward to using my "customised" Laney rig and Washburn bass . I'm due an "audition" with band in couple of weeks, so at least the rig now stands a slight chance of seeing a bit of live action at some point. The led's were an attempt to distract the crowd from all the noise and wrong notes I will be producing, then I remembered that being a bass player, no one will be listening anyway.

I've had the displeasure of learning Teenage kicks for a "new band" I'm joining. Had the same issue first couple of times, but all ok now. There is just something so wrong about 50 year old blokes playing a song like that in my opinion, but hey ho it is what it is for the moment. I do hope they bloody drop it though! I have just also learnt "Time Is Running Out" by Muse. Not overly hard, I can play it quite well, but really need to wedge the structure in my head, as I fear one wrong move on my part and I may be instigating a train wreck on stage!

Jus Lukin, it's a 1993 B-200. It really does play and sound great. Being active, It's way more versatile than it looks. 👍

It's the Black Country in me I guess! I used Laney's guitar amps as inspiration for the cosmetic upgrades. Sounds great as well as looking unique. 😎

This is the latest version of my bass rig.

A bore of bass players

I had a Trace 250 SMX head years ago that did this. It went off for "repair" several times but the problem just came back every time. I used to find that the gentle art of thumping the top of the amp several times used to work... sometimes. Got rid of the damn thing in the end... Trace Elliot , never again !

Washburn B-200 in Dark Metallic Blue. Looks great, and plays beautifully. Sounds fantastic.

My sound is so big and heavy I need a HGV licence to play.

I bought a pair of these. Not only have they vastly improved my playing speed and technique, they could also come in useful for hitting annoying punters and/or fellow band members.

Can't polish a turd...but you can make it look like one.

Not sure about the tonal advantages of strap buttons, though am wondering about the sonic advantage of actual guitar straps. For example would a 3.5 " studded real leather strap make me sound more appropriate for Metal, rather than say a 2.5 " nylon strap with holes in it?

If you have been in isolation for the last 12 months with no company whatsoever, then that may be the reason you are hearing differences in tone and sustain from a scratch plate. If not then have you considered getting a family member to make notes while you use a stop watch to measure and compare sustain times? Edit: If you have access to several family members, let each take it in turn to place an ear against body of bass while you pluck a note. Ask if they hear a difference in tone. Compare number of "yes" to "no" answers to conclude tonal or non tonal differences.

A million slapped and popped notes from start to finish can end up saying so very little, whereas a couple of very well placed and chosen notes can end up changing someone's life.

It is the actual bass line that is iconic and as the op already stated, he's not even looking to replicate particularly "that" sound. I agree that certainly in this case, any number of vst synths could provide what the op is looking to achieve. The original song is *not* massively bass heavy, and as I already stated above, if this is to form part of a band project, you most definitely don't want to be wrecking a mix with speaker blowing levels of low end anyway.

It doesn't look like a Jupiter 8 though. 🤨

We aren't back in the day though dreaming about owning a Jupiter 8 or to achieve the exact sound of the original song? The guy asked about any free vst's available that he could approximate a "synth bass-like" sound. I made a suggestion for one that is quick and free to download, with an easy to use interface, also providing a quick demo of it. There you go , a suggestion as asked for? And there are always solutions, for example: 1) Play the bassline on a real bass and mix in a synth sound underneath. 2) Open up another instance of VST, create another bass sound, play octave lower, detune and layer up the sound. 3) Spend a bit of money and get a Boss SYB pedal to get a true "bass synth" sound, then re sell it after project is finished. 4) Sell house, wait around for a "Jupiter 8" to become available (good luck) , and use proceeds to purchase. If the project involves other musicians and therefore will be a mix of instruments, what point is there in creating a speaker-blowing bass sound that may seem great in isolation, but devastating to a band mix?

Here you go I downloaded, created this sound and recorded bassline with TAL U-NO 62 in about 10mins. Don't You Want Me - Bass - TAL U-NO 62 by User 549051091 (soundcloud.com)

How about this Juno -60 VST? TAL Software (tal-software.com) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyxrhdWeiE8

I have some Audio Technica ATH M50X. Had them a good few years now. I have worn them so much there is no leather stuff left on the pads! I must get around to replacing them. They have been thrown around, dropped, had loads of volume put through them, and still work beautifully. Very much worth the initial extra outlay of money in my opinion. I am more attached to these headphones than any bass I have owned! The sound quality is top notch, not only great for music production, but due to a slight bias towards the low end, basses sound wonderful through them.