-
Posts
1,856 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
1
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Shop
Articles
Everything posted by Sparky Mark
-
SOLD - Excellent condition Hofner Ignition Beatles Bass with Hofner hardcase. To improve the aesthetics (in my opinion of course) I've removed the scratchplate and replaced the control knobs with teacup style (cost £12) and replaced the truss rod cover with a genuine Hofner blank cover (cost £5). Hofner hardcase cost £79. The true semi acoustic Ignition Series is a great way to try a Hofner violin without spending a fortune on the semi acoustic German models. Scratchplate with fixings, original control knobs and truss rod cover included in the sale. No dings or scratches and strung with new Hofner Contemporary roundwound strings. The bright sunlight combined with my phone camera has made the bass look yellow rather than the lovely violin colour that it actually is. Price is £280 ono by cash/bank transfer collected from Hertford or local(ish) delivery/meet up. Happy to provide further photos upon request. Thanks for looking.
-
- 1
-
-
Today I removed the neck of my Reggie Hamilton jazz to adjust the truss rod. I had to remove a relatively new set of SS Dunlop Super Bright as well. Upon restringing the A string is emitting a strange fizz/buzz which sounded like a loose bridge spring, but it wasn't. The A string was also dead. I've had this problem before with new strings but this one was good and zingy minutes before. I loosened the string to allow the ball end to find its untwisted position in the bridge and retuned; still dead. So the outer winding is rattling on the core wire is my conclusion. Next I loosen the string and twist it in the direction of the wind allowing the ball end to spin in the bridge. Once I can feel the string is tight, 3 to 6 twists, I tightened the string without letting the ball spin back. Hey presto, the zing is back. This method seems to remove the slack between the core and the winding that can occur during stringing. It's worth a try if you hear the same on a new set
- 1 reply
-
- 2
-
-
WITHDRAWN; apologies - Here is a stunning example of Stuart Spector's work, this CODA is adorned with a superb piece of high grade buckeye burl and has a Pau Ferro fingerboard fitted with quality abalone Spector crown inlays. Neck NECK CONSTRUCTION: 1-Piece Rock Maple, SPECTOR® 1962 Neck Shape™ FINGERBOARD: Pau Ferro NECK INLAYS: Abalone Spector inlays NUMBER OF FRETS: 20 SCALE LENGTH: 34" RADIUS: 7.25" WIDTH AT NUT: 1.5" STRING SPACING AT BRIDGE: 0.75" Hardware BRIDGE HEX KEY SIZE: 2mm TRUSS HEX KEY SIZE: 5mm COLOR: Chrome BRIDGE: Hipshot A style TUNERS: Schaller® STRAP BUTTONS: Dunlop® Dual Design™ Electronics TONE CIRCUIT: Aguilar® OBP-2™ with passive tone and active/passive switching CIRCUIT TYPE: 9-Volt Active BRIDGE PICKUP: Aguilar® J™ NECK PICKUP: Aguilar® J™ PICKUP TYPE: Passive - Single Coil, This bass is Active or Passive via Push-Pull Pot Body SPECTOR® Original Coda™ Body Shape BODY CONSTRUCTION: Lightweight Alder PICK GUARD: None Top: Buckeye Burl top - £400 option FINISH OPTIONS: High Gloss Weight: 4kg/9lb 2oz Condition is excellent/unmarked other than a single ding on the body top inside edge; shown circled in one photo. Comes with a Spector Hardcase with key (made in Canada by TKL), a Spector Deluxe padded gig bag, a pair of Dunlop strap locks and the truss rod and bridge allen keys. Price is £2,200 by cash/bank transfer collected or local delivery/meet up close(ish) to Hertford. Thanks for looking. More info and review below the photos. Please PM me for more info/photos. ABOUT THE CODA 4™ It is no joke that Stuart Spector is always thinking about new ways to bring new avenues to improve player experience and offer new soundscapes for musicians to explore. The Coda™ Bass is the perfect example of how Stuart looks to take classic ideas and put a decidedly SPECTOR® twist on them. Part homage to the great bass sounds and styles of the past and yet new and refreshing because of the attention to detail and hand-crafted construction, the Coda™ is nothing short of a new SPECTOR® Classic. "But why do something that's been done before?" Do not let the familiar and more traditional styling deceive you. This bass is a thoroughbred SPECTOR® through and through. All of the things that make our NS-Bass™ models so popular are present in the Coda™. It's these little details and the fact that these basses are hand-made by Stuart Spector and his master craftsmen in our Woodstock Workshop that sets the Coda™ apart from the rest. SPECTOR® players are always first to point out how the necks of their guitars and basses are notably better than any instrument they've ever played. We invite you to try a Coda™ and see if you don't agree with us. "We feel we've created something new and special honouring those classic designs of years past. " ~ Stuart Spector Spector Coda Review 2011 Stuart Spector is a legend in the bass world. His instruments have provided the backbone to bands like Metallica and Living Colour, and have often been imitated. Spector’s Coda series is made by hand by the man himself and his small team in the USA, and unlike his more sleek models like the NS, which still looks futuristic over 30 years after its debut, the Coda pays tribute to an altogether more vintage aesthetic. THE LOWDOWN I reviewed both the Coda 4 (four string) and Coda 5 (five string) basses. Each features: a one-piece rock-maple neck with a 20-fret Pau Ferro (Bolivian rose¬wood) fretboard carved into Spector’s 1962 neck shape; a lightweight alder body; Aguilar OBP-2 active tone circuits; passive Aguilar J single coils; Schaller tuners; Dunlop Dual Design strap pins; and 34-inch scale lengths. The fret radius on each instrument is a curvy and comfortable 7.25 inches. Lined or unlined fretless fretboards are available at no additional charge. The Coda is available in four colours: creme, solid black, candy tangerine and metallic blue. I reviewed the Coda 4 in Candy Tangerine and the Coda 5 in solid black. The workmanship of both basses was absolutely flawless. The crucial neck joint area is unbelievably tight, ensuring unfettered energy transfer between the wood grains of the neck and body. The finish is perfectly applied – something you really appreciate on a jet-black instrument like the Coda 5 on review – and the fretwork is incredible. Bass players often aren’t as picky about the condition of their frets as guitarists, since there’s less bending involved, so I’ve played some basses with pretty woeful frets. The Codas leave them all in the dust. The sheer smoothness of the fret ends encouraged me to get more adventurous in my arrangements, throwing in more slides and grace notes than I would otherwise attempt, simply because the instruments felt so damn agreeable to such techniques. FACE THE BASS The Coda’s tones are very punchy, powerful, dynamic and balanced. The low end is deep and tight, the treble is present and raspy (in a good way) and the midrange is very musical, placed smack bang in the middle of the midrange spectrum rather than being an overly boomy low-mid or overly honky upper-mid voice. The bass’ unplugged tone is noticeably piano-like in tone, attack and sustain, and I quite happily spent about an hour and a half playing the Coda 5 unplugged before it dawned upon me that I should plug it in and hear what it could do through an amp. The Coda’s “plugged in” tone is similar to it’s unplugged voice: balanced, sustaining and with great dynamics. Because the pickups are passive and only the pre¬amp is active, you can switch the preamp off and use the bass with a more vintage tone, which is great for straight-ahead rock and old-school soul and R&B. The ability to boost the treble and bass via the active pre-amp maintains the balanced tone and sustain characteristics while building upon them for a percussive, snappy slap-and-pop tone, and dipping out the treble and keeping the bass up high creates a killer dub voice. I also liked using the bass pot to reduce the low frequency a little, to allow the instrument to sit more neatly within a recording that featured double-tracked seven-string electric guitars. IN A CLASS OF THEIR OWN The Codas are world-class basses that are built with a discriminating touch to create, dare I say it, champagne tones. The workmanship really is second to none, and the only reason I’m not immediately wiring money to the distributor so I can keep the basses instead of returning them after the review is because my bank manager would kill me. By Peter Hodgson Price: RRP $4199.99 (Coda 4); $4399.99 (Coda 5)
- 5 replies
-
- 15
-
-
Fender American Vintage Reissue 1962 Jazz Bass - *SOLD*
Sparky Mark replied to Sparky Mark's topic in Basses For Sale
-
Fender American Vintage Reissue 1962 Jazz Bass - *SOLD*
Sparky Mark replied to Sparky Mark's topic in Basses For Sale
-
SOLD - I bought this new in 2013. It's never left the house and is in immaculate condition. This is as close to an original 1960 stack pots jazz that you'll find, short of a Fender Custom Shop special order for who knows how much £££££. Beautiful dark rosewood fretboard. Comes with all case candy, vintage made in USA leather strap, bridge and neck pickup covers, thumb rest and mutes, none of which have ever been fitted. Deluxe G&G brown tolex case with gold interior and key. Weight is 9.25 lbs according to digital bathroom scales. Price is £1600 by cash/bank transfer collected from or local meet/delivery close(ish) to Hertford. Full specs below photos. More photos on request. Thanks for looking.
- 7 replies
-
- 11
-
-
Ashdown ABM Mini 2 x 10. £50. WITHDRWAN - *WITHDRAWN*
Sparky Mark replied to jezzaboy's topic in Amps and Cabs For Sale
-
Ashdown LB-30 fliptop valve combo - *WITHDRAWN*
Sparky Mark replied to Pow_22's topic in Amps and Cabs For Sale
-
Markbass' out of warranty repairs have never been particularly straightforward in the UK. You can bank on a repair costing at least £200, maybe more in these inflationary times? In the UK, the only manufacturer that I would go with if repair support was my main consideration would be Ashdown; but their products are nothing like Markbass IME. (Just as good but different).
-
That's not an unreasonable price for a low production quantity hand built in England amplifier. If they ever get built in PRC then the price could come down, but I'm not convinced another 150 watts and an output meter make this amp any better than the brilliant ABM600.
-
Clever to use green for the bass version. It's effectively a twin channel valve pre amp with a free 50 watt power amp for the price of a pre amp only pedal. As my 500 watt heads aren't that much bigger and I don't own a tiny cab to create another micro SVT I doubt I'll ever buy one (unless I can "steal" one too of course!). My Ampeg Micro VR with SVT210AV does a brilliant low to low-medium volume SVT rig impression.
-
I used my LM2 on an outside gig last night with one Bergantino HD210. The LM2 is simply a brilliant amp. I'll be sad when mine goes to the great gig in the sky.
-
What cab(s) will you be using with it?
-
I've never played one of the 1000 watt Markbass heads but from all reports they punch like Mike Tyson. There's nothing weedy about Markbass propietary 500 and 1000 watt class D power amps. The only question is which flavour of preamp/EQ you want in front of them.
-
Although I've used my Markbass heads with many different Markbass cabs over the years and really liked how they worked together, my Bergantino cabs do sound better.
-
I hope all of these contributions have convinced you to withdraw your offer. Bleedin' cheek!
-
No worries, Mum's the word! I'll keep 'em peeled. Cheers.