gjones

I also owned the active version of that Yamaha you have in your picture - which was a nice, easy to play, versatile bass and really well made. It's difficult making a decision about a guitar after just playing it in a music shop. To help you make your decision I'd recommend checking out local bands and listening to the bass guitar. One of the best sounding basses I ever owned I first saw a friend of a friend playing at a gig. It was a Charvel by Jackson (which was never a make I would have thought about buying) but it sounded so good I bought then and there. But I would recommed that when you decide which bass to buy you get it secondhand as you get much, much more bang for your buck.

Somebody paid £35 for it!!!!!

[quote name='The Burpster' post='694122' date='Dec 27 2009, 09:23 AM']Hmmmmmmm, justification is relative isn't it. This device is completely tunable, to allow varying degrees of mute. That is across all strings or on each individual string. Whilst I agree with a lot of to55ing about you could do that with little bits of FREE foam..... Could you however, i) flick into and out of the damped string mode between tracks or indeed between notes while you are playing? I think not. ii) you replicate EXACTLY the same amount of damping that you set up with your bit of foam over and over again? I think not. iii) you select how much damping you use mid track? I think not. I am endebted to Ellio and his team for developing a quality peice of kit, and believe me it is. Whilst this doesnt fit into a 'minimum budget at all costs' approach to basses, you may have noticed that these are both fitted to my PRSs so that isn't on my agenda. This is a superb piece of kit. It works. It may cost as much as some basses do, but then it only costs the same as a quality effects pedal with which I would have to s0d about with to try to get the effect that this produces and it is not in the signal chain. The exchange is crap at currently so they do not seem like a 'bargain', but then would you spend £100 on a pedal...? My guess is that you probably wouldn't, I mean why would you spend 'actual money' on an overdrive when you can just turn the gain up: Right?[/quote] Well I don't know about anybody else but you've definitely convinced me. No more fiddly bit's of rubber for me. I'm buying one tomorrow. Then I can mute and unmute between notes. Which of course would have been impossible for me to do with fiddly bit's of old sock.

[quote name='maxrossell' post='693698' date='Dec 26 2009, 01:18 PM']I'd be interested to hear what people have to say about Squier vs. Fender guitars. Of late people have been raving about the quality of Squier basses, but I can't see guitarists being so easily convinced.[/quote] That may have been correct in the past but I'm not so sure now. 2 years ago I went into my local guitar shop looking for a cheapish squier strat for doing home demos with. I picked up a VM strat which felt lightweight, sounded tinny and wouldn't play in tune. The sales guy then recommended I try the new MIM classic 60's player stratocaster which was designed by greg fessler from fender's custom shop.......and what a difference. It felt heavier, had a real stratty tone, played in tune (which always comes in handy) and looked georgeous in sonic blue. Even though the MIM strat was £200 more expensive, guess which one I bought? But......That was 2 years ago and things may have changed. The guitarist in my band, who up until recently had his own music shop, has as his 2nd guitar a VM squier tele custom, which he plays slide on. It sounds excellent and although his other guitar is a Gibson 355 by actually just listening to them both, you couldn't tell one cost £1.800 new and the other £250. I think things may be changing in squierland and as someone else said in another post on this subject fender will be getting worried as they won't be able to charge a premium for MIM guitars if the squiers are starting to get as good.....or better.

About a year ago some friends of mine, in a covers band, had to do a gig that night but their bassist had let them down. They asked me to fill in and I spent the afternoon in their reheasal room learning over 30 songs (not very well frankly but good enough to fake it). As we went through the songs I diligently wrote down the chord charts and stops and starts and any other relevant info because I realised there was no way I could learn so many songs by memory in such a short amount of time.We got to the gig and set all the gear up, then I opened my bass case to have a last look at my notes..........and guess what ......they weren't there.! I'd left the effin things in the reheasal room 50 miles away. I felt like such a complete numpty. Amazingly, I managed to get through the gig without too many cockups. With the guitarist and singer giving me the key changes and a few winks and nods along the way it didn't end up the disaster I expected. By the way, We didn't do mustang sally (pity, cos I know that one). And as for drunks in bands............don't get me started!!!

I know that, ideally, muting with your hand is the 'proper' thing to do but mutes can give a more consistant sound. I've experimented with various and the best mute I've come up with was a bit of foam sponge stuff from a soldering iron holder stuck under the strings the bridge. Foam rubber, old socks etc give different but interesting tones - I recommend experimenting. I love the retro sound muting strings give (can make an electric sound almost acoustic and also very James Jamerson). I could never justify spending actual money on a piece of kit to do the job a bit of foam rubber could do for free.

The only experience of playing Squiers I've had is a friends MIJ Squire Jazz from 92/93 which sounds, looks and feels great and the Classic Vibe Jazz which could give my Geddy Lee Fender Jazz Bass a run for it's money. I don't know much about the bog standard Squiers. The old Silver series MIJ jazzes go for approx £300 on ebay and I've seen Vintage Modified basses going for £150. There's a 1982 Squier Jazz going for £850 on ebay which may be a bit ambitious? [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120505420648&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...e=STRK:MEWAX:IT[/url] And and early 90's one for Approx £300 [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140363278891&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:VRI"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...=STRK:MEWAX:VRI[/url] If I remember rightly the 92 Silver series bass my friend has, has the string retainer going right through to the other side of the headstock ,vintage style (which this one doesn't have for some reason?).

This will help. It's Fenders guide to setting up you bass guitar. It's not difficult to adjust your bass to get a decent basic setup [url="http://www.fender.com/support/bass_guitar_setup_guide.php"]http://www.fender.com/support/bass_guitar_setup_guide.php[/url]

I have a Classic player 60's Stratocaster in sonic blue. Weirdly it looks white in artificial light. So if you bought a jazz bass in sonic blue on stage it would actually look white.......just like the Squier CV Jazz. By the way here's a vid of John Paul Jones playing your dream bass [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xW84u4DOzE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xW84u4DOzE[/url]

Tried 5 Fenders recently, one after the other, at my local music shop because I had some money burning a hole in my pocket. A red road worn jazz £930(Mex), a 60's classic Jazz £600(Mex), a 70's classic Jazz £600(Mex), a MIA jazz £990, a MIA Precision £990 and a Squier 60's classic vibe jazz bass £250. Although I really liked the MIA basses, as far a as value for money is concerned, the prize goes to the Squier followed by the 60's classic jazz. I'm not sure about the road worn basses? They do look great but there's is something a bit weird about making a spanking brand new bass look like it's 50 years old (why not buy a stock Mex bass and drag it behind a truck for a couple of miles). In the end after playing all those Fenders, I realised none of them could compete with my 2006 Geddy Lee for playability or sound so my money stayed in my pocket.

I'm in the same situation with about £500 to spend and unsure what to buy. I went to my local music shop and played every Jazz they had Mexican (road worn jazz being one of them) and US but the only one which came close to my Geddy was, of all things, the Squier Vintage Vibe. I love the retro look of the new Mex 70's classic Jazz Bass as well but when I played it the neck felt awfully chunky. [attachment=38033:jazz_of_my_dreams.jpg] My advice is to try out a Geddy and you may just fall in love with it. They have a great sound and are really a pleasure to play because of their incredibly slim necks.

I agree with everything I've read. Those CV Jazzes are excellent for the money. I have a Geddy Lee, which is a great bass, that I bought after doing a lot of research on what was the best value Fender Jazz for your money (read zillions of reviews). But after watching the bass whisperer comparison on ebay went straight down to my local music shop (strangely enough reddog music in edinburgh) and tried the squier jazz out. Absolutely brilliant and sounds as good as the Geddy for 4 or 5 hundred less. If it was sunburst I would have bought it there and then. I recommend checking out the bass whisperer on ebay for a direct comparison (If you haven't already) [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6Cd98DH__U"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6Cd98DH__U[/url]

Very pretty, the same colour as my Stratocaster which I believe is sonic blue (in Fender speak). I've sent away to guitarpartsworldwide.com for a surf green precision body to team up with the neck of my old mightymight bass. I'd be interested on how you get on.