Jerry_B

Sometimes wear and tear can work in your favour. I own two basses because of this factor, and they're both my favourite basses. The first is my trusty Westone Spectrum DX which, when I got it, had been sprayed very badly with a combat green colour and was covered in crud. This is why I got it for 35 quid, because the bloke in the shop thought it was nasty bit of tat. But all I had to do was clean it and strip down to the very nice maple underneath, and it makes for a really good bass. The second bass is a 1989/90 MIJ Fender Jazz fretless (i.e. an unmarked fretless). I was at a party a few months back and spotted it in a room surrounded by loads of other crap. After a few inquiries I found the owner and had a look at it. It was absolutely filthy and had various dents and scratches on it. The owner wasn't a fan of it, so I said I'd take it off his hands. So he let me do so for 150 quid, which to my mind is a bit of a bargain (perhaps I'm wrong). When I got it home, it took a fair few hours to take it apart and clean it. The wiring was, well, shot to hell and most of the connections had just fallen off (but it still worked a bit through an amp). The worst thing was the crud all over it. The pickguard had to be wedged off the bass once all the screws were taken out. The same went for the bridge. They both stayed on because layers of sweaty skin crud were holding them there. Still, after a thorough clean, some delicate restoration on the fingerboard, and a replacement pickguard, it looks and sounds bloody marvellous. Sure, it has a few dents and scratches, but it still looks way way better than it did when I rescued it

[quote name='2x18' post='735804' date='Feb 5 2010, 08:38 AM']Avon Grabber copy [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vintage-1970s-Avon-Gibson-Grabber-Bass-Copy-MIJ-Japan_W0QQitemZ320484181010QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item4a9e588412"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vintage-1970s-Avon-G...=item4a9e588412[/url][/quote] Now that [i]is[/i] ugly. Looks like it should be launched out of a 1980's-era Battlestar Galactica mothership

Oh, I dunno - I've seen worse on a bass. I think the whole thing's rather nice.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='735653' date='Feb 4 2010, 11:34 PM']Is it the bass "tone" in and of itself or the space it occupies in the music though? Most of the time you can't even tell what the bass would sound like in isolation, yet we tend to worry about it. I've found lately that I rarely need anything above 500hz in my sound, 1k if I'm feeling modern! I doubt anyone notices that a huge chunk of my sound is missing - I certainly don't.[/quote] You can get occasions in a song when a bass is just on it's own, with nothing else (not even drums). The problem then is what happens to it when everything else kicks in, and whether the bass still retains that singular presence.

I like a bit of both. Not that I'd call it 'tone' as such. It'd be something I'd expect along with 'whoomf' and 'chunk'. And I'd say that non-musicians can still appreciate it. After all, to a certain extent someone else's sound probably drew us to playing the bass in the first place. As for looks, that's a personal option - mind you, there are alot of popular basses makes out there that I think are either dull or ugly, from a design point of view.

I agree, not worth 70 quid if you don't know what it is. I'd say even 50 quid is pushing it a bit. But it may be full of surprises once it's done up. I'd be interested to know what it sounded like, given all of the stuff that it seems to be stuffed with.

Snapped up the ol' 80s-era Boss HM-2 'Heavy Metal' pedal he had for sale. It arrived nicely packaged up and is in very good nick, and was sent along to me nice and quickly. Now to play around with it for hours, grinning from ear to ear...

Sounds like a nice modification for a Jazz.

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSNSOhG0AIU"]'Dogs of Lust' - The The[/url]...

Blimey!

'Vanilla Blue' - Naked Raygun: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGJ7BTsYOTU"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGJ7BTsYOTU[/url]

I'm very low-tech. I just have an ipod-type headphone in one ear going into the bass amp. Over this I wear headphones plugged in to my PCs soundcard, and just pootle along with songs I want to play or learn. This works sitting down or standing up.

[quote name='fatback' post='732692' date='Feb 2 2010, 11:13 AM']That's why I like a lined board, even though it doesn't look so cool.[/quote] After a while I've found a lined fretboard is a distraction, once you get the hang of playing a fretless. If anything I'd say it may be better to start off on an unlined one, to really get to grips with the technique and tricks required. After all, you still have the dots on the top of the neck as a reference point.

I think there's a Dead Kennedys song along similar lines...

I like both but prefer the Jazz simply because I can get more variety out of it. I can also get a P bass like sound out of it with a little tweaking out of the pup and amp controls.

The 'growl' will come across differently depending on whether you play with your fingers or a pick. I think this is one factor people should mention about themselves when describing such sounds from basses. I play with a pick, for example, and the growl seems to be more pronounced with the neck pup slightly rolled back in volume but the bridge pup up at 11

How the hell did they manage to do that sort of specific damage to your bass? The mind boggles.

I have a set of Thumpers in an SX Pbass and they made alot of difference to the sound. They do give the overall sound alot more presence, without being too tinny or sharp.

I'm a bit sceptical about some of the wear and tear on the body. As for pickups being a little rusty, it doesn't tend to affect the sound.

Despite almost selling it on more than one occasion (and swapping it and then swapping it back), I've had my trusty Westone Spectrum DX since 1988. Yes, it can be hard to play and it's a bit beaten up, but I don't care. It sounds bloody marvelous and is built like a tank. Well, except the machine heads, which tend to make it go out of tune a little too quick.

Oh look! A bass...!

But black, not red...

Any of [url="http://www.axesrus.com/axenob.htm"]these[/url] of use...?