Jackopie1

I'm not really an effects player, but this is the board I'm using for our funk, soul and r'n'b covers band's NYE gig. Usually go without the envelope filter, but it's fun to use now and again on the odd fill!

Banged the board together last year out of a bit of cast-off timber from a DIY project.

I'm compressor curious, and have been for years, but definitely don't need one. It's just there's space for one...

Hi mate-  I personally wouldn't use chorus for that, but I believe some players do. Another poster mentioned chorus eating away the low frequencies; for 60ish quid, you can get a new EHX Bass Clone, which has a switch to leave the bottom end alone.

I was using one for an indy band recently- playing around at home on low settings, I think it definitely rounds and softens the front of the note, without being too effecty (I think thats what you mean?), whilst thickening up the sound. 

You could also get the Spectracomp for not much, and it'll be similar to your old amp's compressor. 

I love an octaver, but really for for synthy lines- I think it could muddy up your sound real quick if on all the time, even on low settings. Especially playing live. 

I'm not an fx expert, I should add! A Tuner, Spectracomp and Bass Clone would be a cool little board, though. 

That's interesting- I just measured mine and it is 23mm at the first fret. Definitely feels more chunky than other Ps I have played. Do you think they just get unfinished necks from wherever they have surplus at the time? 

The neck itself definitely feels solid, though. 

23 hours ago, Grahambythesea said:

Had no idea they were still manufacturing in Japan. I suppose therefore it came with a Japanese price tag?

Yeah, it wasn't xheap. £1,050. 

3 hours ago, Bassassin said:

Lovely bass! Stop me if you already know this but Tokai Gakki was one of the two factories which made Crafted In Japan Fenders from the mid 90s until 2015, the other being Dyna Gakki. The Tokai factory in Hamamatsu has a stellar reputation, going back to the replica-standard clones of Fenders & Gibsons they produced from the mid 70s onwards. Not surprised it's a good 'un.

I had no idea they were being used by Fender so recently. Good to know! 

20 hours ago, Ralf1e said:

Any idea what weight it came out at?

Not sure exactly, but it was a very light body, so although it was pretty light, there was a bit of neck-dive. 

8 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

 Beautiful dark wood ‘board on that 

Thanks! It's a little thing, but I'm a sucker for rosewood. 

Been playing one of these at a local studio. They are truly lovely sounding amps! If I hadn't just bought a bass... 

On 09/12/2022 at 16:54, lidl e said:

I like to do the refinishing process. It's fun and rewarding!

 

I did my MIA jazz with spraycans in lake placid blue metallic and it came out great. I want to do it again. And putting it together is no bother. Get a nice pickup and a P wiring kit. 

 

That looks lovely! Which spray cans did you use?

Often I'll hear a jazz bass, particularly on their own or when featured on a review, and really like that sound. 

But whenever I play a jazz bass in front of an amp myself, I just feel like I'm missing something - it always just sounds like it's missing the oomph, so I've always gravitated towards Ps. 

Here it is. 

Had to do the relic thing as I sanded through the auto paint I used!

Yes - I have! I built their P Bass kit.

They're actually surprisingly solid, with straight necks and fine truss rods from what I can tell. The frets were OK

The pickups are rubbish, and I ended up sticking in something else. The strings and tuners were also cack, and the bridge felt pretty flimsy, too.

As a process though, I really enjoyed it, and as a gateway into the first steps of luthiery (soldering, fret-levelling, finishing, drilling for and installing new tuners and bridges if you end up upgrading them) it's great. The nut on mine also needed alot of work, as it was very high and ruining the intonation. I managed to mess that up a couple of times...

Like someone else has said though, it is not value for money if you're looking at the bass you get out of it. I felt it was value for money for the experience!

I'm a teacher, and ended up giving mine to the school band, as after gigging on it once, I realised I probably wouldn't reach for it too often.

I'll post some pics in a sec.

Jack

Hi all,

I'm pretty new here, and new basses do not come around too often for me, so I'm excited to share this - a new Made in Japan Hard Puncher TPB97.

But first - what a lovely, respectful community you have here; I've thoroughly enjoyed stumbling upon this website, and the couple of dealings I've had with people on the marketplace have been first class.

I love Ps, and have only gigged on two basses prior to this - a second-hand Godin PJ that lasted me 15 years before age-induced niggles made it worth upgrading, and an American Fender pro ii precision, which I owned for a year, but never really gelled with (and a number of little quality control issues were enough to put me off - although that's a story for another day).

Since summer, I've been getting around the country, visiting shops, and generally playing as many Ps as I could get my hands on. It's been great fun, making a day of it with friends on a number of occasions. This Tokai was one of the first I played, and for me, none of the subsequent Ps I played felt or sounded as right to me. It also has a feel of sturdiness and quality to it, that many of the basses I played did not.

The fit and finish are genuinely first class, and it has a hand-wound pickup apparently, which has a really resonant, piano-like vibe. It cost just north of a grand, so not exactly cheap, but it is lovely. Apparently, Tokai do a factory setup, and then export models get a second set-up at the closest distribution centre to the shop, so it has a nice action out of the case.

It was very hard to find anything at all about newer Tokai basses online, or on English speaking forums, so hopefully this will be useful to someone who is curious about their quality. I also played some of the cheaper new Made in China Tokais, which were not nearly as nice.

I've had it for a week, and I'm not gigging until NYE now, but can't wait!

All in all, just a very well made P Bass, but for those who like some specs:

U-shaped neck, but it measures 22mm at the first fret, so not too chunky. It suits me just right.

42mm nut.

Rosewood fretboard.

It comes with Gotoh hardware, GHS boomers on it, and has a compound radius (7.25 - 10).

The only downside so far is that the tweed case it comes with looks lovely, but there is a bit of play in the sides, and I wonder how sturdy it will be long term.

Thanks Alfie! 

Phil sold me an EBS pedal- it came quickly and well packaged. Great to deal with! 

Played on one of these at Andertons the other day. I agree that the neck felt lovely. Congrats on a great bass! 

I'd love to buy it, please!

Is this still for sale? 

Long shot, but is this still for sale? 

Hi, 

Is this still for sale? And if so, what sort of profile/thickness is the neck?

Thanks. 

Thank you so much for the information. 

I've recently moved on a P Bass because, despite being in love with the aesthetic and sound, the neck was just a little too big in my hands for the 2 hour + gigs I sometimes find myself slogging through. 

That's amazing that the neck makes such a difference to how the sound feels- I'd never even thought of that! It'll primarily be a live bass, so that's great advice. 

Stumbling across Mark and Limelight seems a little too good to be true! I've bever ordered a custom bass, so it's an unfamiliar process for me, but quite exciting. I suppose you just have to deal with the fact that you don't know whether you're going to love it until you get it?! 

Thanks again. Jack. 

Hi Limelight owners.

I was wondering whether one of you could answer a question for me?

I am very interested in ordering a PJ bass with a jazz neck - I've read great things about fit, finish and setup. They sound great from the videos I've seen, too.

I like fairly skinny necks (the most comfortable neck I've played is a Godin, which has a jazz neck measuring 20mm at the 1st fret - I know this isn't the be all and end all as to how a neck feels). 

Mark has told me that the necks they use are similar to an American Standard Jazz. For those of you that have played the jazz necks, how do they feel? Are they fairly thin feeling? Cheers.

Jack

For anyone wondering about the quality of Godin- I bought a used Godin Freeway 16 years ago, and it has been my only gigging bass for most of those years, and has just become so again. 

If the neck profile is the same (and it sounds like it could be),  then it will feel absolutely lovely! Any time I pick up another bass, I wish it was my Godin. 

Have been bass shopping recently, and by far the nicest rig I played through was an ABM 300 and one of the Ashdown 210s (Not the Neo, maybe the Rootmaster). 

I have always thought the tube preamp thing didn't give too much of a tube feel, but that thing felt and sounded so much like a full-blown tube amp- it's definitely something for me to save for now! 

6 hours ago, Japhet said:

I used to play with a guitarist who was on a search for the Holy Grail Strat sound. After an exhaustive search he was in a music shop for the umpteenth time trying all the Strats out when the owner asked if he wanted the name or the sound. He said he wanted the sound at which point he was handed a 1980s Tokai Strat. He bought it 30 minutes later. That story served me well when I fancied a Precision and I've been the owner of a lovely 1980s HardPuncher for probably 8 years now. Lovely, lovely thing.

Lovely story! It’s very easy to reach for things that are more familiar, too.

Do you mind if I ask whether you’ve ever had any issues with getting enough neck relief, as another user reported?