gjones

When I bought a G&L 2500 I was amazed at the sounds I could get out of it.

It has two humbuckers which can be put in parallel, or series mode.

You can have any sound from a fat Precision on neck pickup, Jazz bass on series mode (good Jaco sound on back pickup), or Stingray on parallel mode through the rear pickup.

It's also active and has a bass and treble boost.

When people talk about the 2500, the first word that comes to mind is versatile.

The days of playing toilets are far behind me.

Not that I play super, well paying, gigs all the time. I just play venues where we don't have to drive for miles, the audiences are enthusiastic and the sound engineers know what they're doing.

Gorgeous looking bass.

I know the feeling.

I bought a Fender Elite PJ that cost just shy of two grand. I'd seen so many great reviews of the Elites and it was supposed to be 'The One' but although it is a very well put together bass and is very versatile for a P bass, I just haven't bonded with it.

On the other hand, I had some parts hanging around.....a Squier VM jazz bass maple body, the maple neck from my ever first P bass(which I'd played a thousand gigs on over the years) and a set of USA 70s vintage pickups. When I put them all together everything felt 'right' and I fell in love with that bass immediately.

I say go for the Tokai if you feel the same about it.

2 hours ago, Velarian said:

I just had a quick look at Fender basses listed on Thomann’s website and of the 169 advertised, only 23 are in stock and they all seem to be Mexican player series instruments. The availability of the American ones is quoted as “several months”. That doesn’t suggest there are warehouses are full of them.  Perhaps it supports the theory that they’re moving to a more custom/built to order model?

The head of Fender, Andy Mooney, said in an interview recently that even pickup wire is hard to source these days and that availability and prices of electronic components vary wildly. He said the demand is there but the ability to satisfy that demand is very limited due to the state of global trade today.

When the music is good, I don't have a problem. My neighbour across the street occasionally plays her music loud but she's got great taste in music.

I had a neighbour who played sax and he was excellent, so I didn't have a problem with it.

My neighbours came up to me, a few months ago, and asked if it was me playing the electric guitar the other night? I said 'Was it any good?' and she said it was great.

I replied, 'It couldn't have been me then....'. 😊

1 hour ago, Misdee said:

People are miserable everywhere you go. I hope you can take some comfort from that. I know I do.

🤣

That's great to hear. Gail appears to be enjoy playing with Matthieu Chedid. I got the feeling that she wasn't too comfortable touring with Lenny Kravitz.

2 hours ago, Geek99 said:

I think they’re all hugely overpriced. The Mex stuff is perfectly good. A US isn’t worth the extra 

You are right of course.

But some idiots still lust after them.

Like me 🤪

On 05/08/2022 at 22:54, Doctor J said:

Perhaps putting the same products into the market for 70 years has finally filled it to the point that almost everyone who wants one has one and there are enough used ones to satisfy the rest?

Ha, ha, Fenders business model is unfortunate. Its products don't have built in obsolescence, like other manufacturer's products do. With care their guitars and basses will last forever. If Ford had this problem we'd still be driving around in Ford Zodiacs our grandfathers bought in 1965.

I bought a Fender TV 15 Bassman from GAK about 12 years ago. It was reduced but didn't state on the website that it was B stock or a demonstrator. When it arrived it had signs of use and the tweed covering was pretty badly marked.

I kept it because they were only minor surface defects and the amp worked as it should. Some music shops have a record of not being totally honest as to why a product on their web site has been reduced, in the hope that people won't return items they're not 100% happy with, due to the hassle factor.

Natural fibre eh?

They'll be making them out of wood next........

🤔

Last minute gig last night at a local music bar. My band would have liked a couple more rehearsals before we gigged but the drummer got a call from the booker asking if we'd do the gig and we 'seized the day'.

The songs we knew well, sounded great and the crowd loved them, most of the ones we weren't  100% up to speed on were pretty good. Only a couple of total disasters but we'll work on them at our next rehearsal.

That was my first gig for over 2 years.......here's to many more.

The way it works is......

Start a new band with the members of the band you think are good and you are able to work with.

You can keep the old one 'on the go' until the new one is up an running.

.Then leave the old band (or just ignore the lazy guitarist's calls).

I now own a Markbass CMD 121 but I played through an Ashdown MiBass 550 for some time and I really liked the sound. I've played through Ashdown Rootmasters in rehearsal rooms and I also like the warm, punchy sound they have. I was very impressed the first time I heard one, so I would reckon it's definitely one to consider if you like the Ashdown MiBass sound.

I've been playing bass and gigging for over 40 years, and I've probably got to the stage now that I've mastered what to leave out and when not to play.

That's definitely a start.

I lust over sonic blue Jazzes.

They're few and far between. Most of the ones that claim to be sonic blue are actually daphne blue.

It's weird, in some lights they look white.

You have to change the scratchplate to a cream pearl one though.

That's the law.

21 minutes ago, itu said:

The comment from @gjones is somewhat questionable. If the adjustments are named unconventionally, this may be true, but the input gain is the thing you set and forget. All other adjustments can be tweaked while playing. (Although every eq pot should be seen as a bandwidth limited gain. Use the eq wisely along with input gain.)

I was having a typo moment and typed gain when I should have typed master.

As far as I am aware, there is no noise to amplify on a class D head, so you can turn the master to full and then use the gain to adjust your volume. 

When the amp starts to clip, as you adjust the gain, you know that's as loud as you can go (assuming your cab is good enough to take that level of input).

I was under the impression that the master on a class D amp can be turned to max and you can then use the gain to adjust your volume.

Which means that your gain shouldn't clip, unless your band is seriously loud.

Another vote for a G&L L2000 or L2500.

Ridiculously versatile with all sorts of sounds including a good Stingray impression.

Interestingly, the last time I used my CMD121P the sound engineer didn't bother to DI it, he just put a mic in front of it and listening back to the recording that was made that night, he got a very good sound.

Great interview, by Colin Murray of Radio 5 Live, with legendary bassist David Hood from Muscle Shoals https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001947y

4 hours ago, BassAdder27 said:

Hardly a reason and definitely not why it’s up for sale ( but now withdrawn ) I do  prefer my PBass though ..

So I’m looking to mod the Ray and get a deeper fuller tone from it 

Not sure how but maybe a different pickup / preamp ? 
 

John East does a 2 band Stingray Pre at a reasonable price. I had a 2 band EQ in my USA Stingray SUBs and the 2 band EQ does have a darker tone, like a P bass on steroids.

Tears For Fears in the grounds of a big old castle in the Scottish borders.

Great gig and a great sound. 

They looked like they enjoyed it as much as I did too.

It's a cross bass players have to bear. It's one of the reasons I like active basses, as I can go out front and adjust the sound from a distance.