BBass

Hi there, It's been a while since I've visited BC due to living abroad for the last few years and not having the opportunity to play. It's great to see it's as friendly and informative as ever so i wondered if someone could spare a few minutes to offer some advice? I've been approached by a local school to select a bass and amp with a budget of £700 - £750 but there's a catch - we're in mainland China where certain items are difficult to get (you see stuff advertised but actually getting it is a different story). It must also be brand new and from a list of approved sellers which makes things somewhat limited. The budget can be split in any combination of bass / amp. I am way out of touch with regards to gear and particularly clueless on budget amps. Bearing in mind that they'll be used by quite a few people / students where English is the second language, I'd like to keep them both simple in terms of functionality and achieve a decent sound with minimum tweaking. They'll be competent players though. I'm considering the usual suspects for the bass (Ibanez, Yamaha, Squier) and any recommendations would be welcome. Squier VM jazz? For the amp, it needs to be loud enough for concerts (think musicals with a brass band) and the occasional smaller gig so I though 100w should be a minimum. Judging by the comments here, my considerations are: Fender Rumble 100 V3 but I can't get those without being stung for import taxes. This would make it £350 - £400. EBS Session 120 which I can get for £300. I've used EBS gear in the past (have bought / sold a bit on Basschat in the past) but it's been the HD / TD heads, Proline / Neo cabs so way out of budget to consider. I have no experience of the Session combos and can't find any info on BC. Any comments? Orange Crush CR100B - no experience of this at all. Can get for just under £400. Hartke - can get most of their range but opinions here seems split? Under powered? If not, any recommendations on which model? Ampeg BA series - any good? If it helps, here's the main site stuff gets ordered through but not sure if you're able to access it from outside of China. www.taobao.com Any advice would be hugely appreciated. Cheers, Bryan

Just sold my Status Groove 5 to Chris. An absolute pleasure to deal with. All feedback here is spot on. Cheers Chris

Just completed a deal with Mike for a Status Groove. All the positive comments above are fully justified. Excellent communication, item well packed, prompt delivery, insured, etc, etc. Couldn't ask for more and was very understanding regarding a delay in payment from me (cheque lost in post). Deal with confidence. Bryan

Thanks for the response Paul. Unfortunately it's more of a time thing that anything else. I live abroad and the bass is in the UK - I'll be visiting home soon and hope to pass it to someone to "do a number" on it and then I'll bring it with me. If not, I may well sell the "good" components and buy new bass when I'm at home. That said, even if I did have time I've still no idea if the pups need a preamp or anything else. I did go as far as getting the bridge changed to Badass 2 or 3 (can't remember which) but I found it so bulky and intrusive I had to change it back. So I'm not looking for "best of the best" as it were - I just want something that plays well (which it does but has a balance problem) and sounds good (sounds ok but I'm sure it could be better). I could probably live with the other cosmetic issues but thought that the balancing would need a new body anyway so may as well do the lot. Cheers, Bryan

Hi, I'm looking for some advice and hope I'm in the right forum. A while back I purchased a jazz bass copy that had a Moses Graphite neck. I didn't pay that much for it (cheaper than I could get the neck on it's own for) and wanted to compare it to the Status basses I've had in the past. Anyway, when it arrived it seems pretty obvious that the whole thing had been done "on the cheap" - terrible pickups, "off" drilling for the jack socket (doesn't align with the scratchplate, etc). It's also seriously neck heavy. I decided to try and upgrade it (the neck is good) and had some Bartolini's given to me. I had these fitted but no preamp installed. Since the change over the sound is better but much quieter - is there anything missing / might be done wrong? The predicament I find myself in is that there's a decent neck (tuners seems ok too) and a good set of pickups but that's about it - I'm undecided if I should scrap it and buy another bass altogether or have someone fit the neck / pups / etc on a different body. Would anyone here be able to advise roughly (I appreciate that prices vary) how much it would be to buy a Jazz body (2nd hand is fine) and have someone capable fit the neck, pups (and a preamp if needed), balance the thing and set it all up? I can't do this myself. I notice there's a sticky with luthiers, etc but thought I'd get some advice from here first. I should also state that I'm not looking for anything fancy - I've had high end basses but they don't do much for me. I just want a "basic" bass that plays well, sounds good and doesn't neck dive. As you can probably tell I have absolutely no idea regarding upgrades and I'll never attempt something like this again. Happy to scrap it but thought I'd take some advice first. Any advice would be welcome. Cheers, Bryan