Chris2112

I don't know if anyone else here does it but the daily check-in on Bass Bros is a ritual for me now. I always want to see what new stuff they have! In this field, they have a clear edge over Bass Direct. After a large update a while ago, I found the Bass Direct site had become such a mess and such a faff to navigate that I had stopped looking at it unless I was going there for something I wanted. I like the fact that on Bass Bros, you just click the page and immediately see the new offering. 

I'm guessing Maruszczyk?

The bass looks really poor, I have to say. It's not just one issue here but several, which is what tends to convince me that the overall workmanship is poor and the builder doesn't care. Letting a bass go with one flaw and hoping it wouldn't be noticed is lazy and unacceptable but to send something out with a number of flaws like this, all of which are quite obvious, just shows contempt for the customer and the £2300 spent. The binding is stained. The paint is flawed. The fret ends look ridiculous (is one of them casting a shadow in one of those photos?). The scratchplate looks like it's been hand cut with an old tin opener. The neck and bridge are out of alignment, and the OP didn't even notice that! 

I am guessing the OP is in the UK given that he stated what he'd paid in £. I do often wonder if UK customers now are given short shift at times because of their apparently meek nature and the additional issues and costs with shipping in and out of the country. In this case, we once again see an OP tip-toeing around the issue of naming this botch-jobber in the hope that this would give him some bargaining power to get the bass fixed, unaware that bending the knee at such an early stage just signals defeat. FWIW, I wouldn't want such a sloppy bass back; I wouldn't want an ornament of insult sat around my house reminding me of the episode. OP, you're the customer and you're supposed to get what you want when you're spending the thick end of two and half grand. Grovelling and hoping the builder will deign to fix his issues is just... not what I would do. It reminds me a bit of the Letts bass saga, or the handful of posters on Talkbass clutching at straws and hoping Joe Zon would finally build them the bass they had paid for a decade ago. 

We've had it here before with dodgy builders like Cristian Grosu and Grosmann basses, where builders were named for sending out subpar instruments and it saved the community plenty of headaches in the process. Not here, but on Bass Upfront and groups like that, I was able to warn a few people to read up on some of the horror stories about Grosmann including one on this very site. I'd like to think I saved a few people some cash and some disappointment. OP really should name the builder in this instance to prevent others going through what he has had to put up with. 

3 hours ago, Mediocre Polymath said:

Weird coincidence. On the day that it was announced G&L were no more, a scrote in France stole all The Beths's touring gear, including the G&L Fallout that Liz Stokes has been playing since the band started. They're all playing Fenders for the rest of the tour, borrowed off their support act.

It was probably Fender 😂

Very sad to hear this about G&L. I've always loved their instruments though the relative scarcity of them outside of America and Japan meant that I'd never ended up owning one. I do hope that Fender could buy them and keep them going as a sub-brand, out of respect for the company that Leo had built, but I don't think the shareholders will go for that. A lot of skilled workers will suffer in this. 

Great sounding bass! 

On 11/09/2025 at 16:36, Taffbass1 said:

In the final stages of completion . Just waiting for an additional control knob to come 

Phwoar.

13 hours ago, BassTractor said:

Aye, "within the time frame". I'd be surprised if our man Mick's suspended sentence, from years back, hasn't passed its Sell-By date.
One can only hope the prosecutor knows their stuff, and can draw the complete picture for the judge.

Unfortunately the prosecutor will probably see the file of evidence for the first time on the morning of the hearing and will have time to read the summary of evidence and skim the key witness statements along with whatever other cases they pick up that morning. I wish I was joking!

On 03/09/2025 at 09:02, Graham said:

It's also, sadly, an incredibly boring song, predictably bland and dull

 

Pivoting away from the makeup and interesting music around the third album and embracing radio metal possibly meant they sustained a career, but made for very uninspiring music

 

The worst part seems to be that they didn't even "sell out" for monetary reasons, but because the singer and guitarist didn't like how much attention the bassist and drummer were getting. 

 

Br br deng memes broke the singer's brain

It's fair to say it's an absolute plodder of a song. Even if the bass tone were fantastic I doubt I'd listen to it twice. 

19 hours ago, Hellzero said:

This is something you don't see that often:

 

 

A BassLab Custom DN VII, so a double neck fretted and fretless, 7 strings for each neck and weighing 7.7 kilos, which is not that heavy for such a monster.

 

For sale at a very decent price (now) on Reverb (located in Germany, for those interested).

That is absolutely magnificent. Were I feeling silly I'd probably buy that, I mean where else are you ever going to find one? I adore my L-Bow. Thankfully I know restraint these days but still...

It's a one for the EU. The size of the case will result in a massive import cost, I would expect, and that's added into the taxable fee as it comes into the UK. Another downside of the bungled Brexit. I think mine was about £2200 in total with fees. 

2 hours ago, uncle psychosis said:

I love Deftones and they're one of my favourite bands, but I'm not that bothered about going to see them - primarily because I'm not sure there's a sound man alive who can make their sound work live.

 

I think I'll settle for the gigs I've already been to. 

Yes, it always comes across as a soupy noise live. Or at least it seems to, YMMV. They're really just a cover band live now anyway since their most important member has effectively become a recluse. Too many years of smoking weed and reading conspiracy theory nonsense on the net has fried his brain. 

Interesting to see Chi Cheng mentioned again, because he always struck me as a functional player who could have been replaced by any jobber at short notice. Could anyone point me to something remarkable he has done or a moment where he really shines? I've been listening to Deftones for over twenty years and I've never been moved by what he played other than to say he played the bass part on the tracks.

From what I've heard so far, it's typical Deftones. You usually get a few bangers per album with great catchy riffs from Stephen and a few plodders/filler tracks. I haven't heard a track as good as 'when girls telephone boys' or 'CMND / CTRL' yet though. 

The bass work sounds absolutely fine to me, which is what I expect. The appeal of Deftones for me has always been the interplay between Abe and Stephen, particularly the way that Stephen is often happy to play in quite a 'sparse' fashion and really get his amp going. His style of riffing is like an elephant falling on your head, but even when Chi Cheng was on the bass, I always just found the bass parts to be functional but never with any particular flair. They fit alongside Stephen's parts and that was it. 

I'd love to hear them play with Ryan Martinie on the bass (with a Warwick Thumb rather than those weak-sounding Foderas he's playing at the moment). He wouldn't have to go full Mudvayne, rather just do enough to get some great growling bass tone and presence on the tracks. 

5 hours ago, HeadlessBassist said:

Not sure if anyone's mentioned them, but Italia were flavour of the month for about five minutes in the late 2000s.

 

Thank god it didn't last 😂

I've always wanted to try one of these, they look great and I presume they make all the right J-bass sounds, which are always pleasing to my ear (whereas the Precision tone really does nothing for me unless it's very bright and played with a pick, and even then...).

I always thought the relic finish looked good but I've never inspected one up close to see if it looked really authentic or not. It wouldn't fuss me that much, I've always thought they looked good in pictures and when I've seen them on the racks at guitar shops etc. 

Ah, it's an age old problem. The problem with keys is that they're so easy to make loud and 'big' without much effort that they can always drown out the rest of the band, never mind just the bass, and because they can be employed with such versatility, keys players who love the sound of their own playing can feel encouraged to play constantly, over everything. 

Years ago when I worked at a hotel, we'd regularly have bands coming in to play functions and weddings. One band always used the set up worth their guy on a Nord Lead II (a keyboard I never really liked the sound of). He was invariably devastatingly loud and piercing to the detriment of the rest of the band. I always did wonder if they knew how much of the FOH sound was occupied by that noise. 

In this instance, I think some diplomatic conversation would be in order. A keys player can play a bass part but they can never make it sound like a bass guitar even if they have a good patch, in the same way as a drum machine doesn't bring the music to life like an actual drummer would. If the band are happy enough with stiff-sounding keyboard basslines, your daughter might be stuffed but if they band have any sense they'll recognise and address the issue. 

Woah, what a beauty! 

That is absolutely awesome! I'm going to have to get my L-Bow out this afternoon to experience the magic again. 

That is awesome. I hope things are on the up for you very soon. 

12 minutes ago, funkydoug said:

As much as I want to enjoy and respect music, most of these Glasto performances have been dire. To the point where it almost feels like a giant windup. Listening to the intro glowing BBC intro then being confronted by the performances is a curious test of sanity, and gullibility.

 

Hope others are enjoying it more than me!

It's always been a load of crap, the current year is no exception.

On 08/06/2025 at 20:52, tauzero said:

I bought a 2000 Warwick Thumb in 2006, surprisingly cheaply, and had the baseball-bat neck reprofiled to the same dimensions as my JD Thumb and defretted. Some years later, I had the unfretboard replaced with a slab of ebony by Jon Shuker. This is it with the initial defret:

 

 

That looks absolutely great. I adore Warwick Thumbs. 

5 hours ago, BabyBlueSound said:

 

I don't like to distort bass, but with my guitar, it's one of the best damn distortions I have ever heard. Nice controllable breakup on lower levels, but insane crunchiness dialed to 10. It makes me wish I could play the guitar... 😁 That rarely happens!

 

I downgraded my Notaklon to a clean boost that comes after the Dumble, but I might put it before, on paper it makes more sense. The Dumble distortion is just SO much better to my ears.

 

And with bass, through the clean channel, it just made the sound better, more exciting, like saturating it. I am not familiar with the whole oldschool Dumble stuff to be honest, I don't know how accurate it is, but I LIKE it! Makes me turn the always-on Sansamp off, so I can enjoy the pure Dumble sound more.

 

I'll still play around with the dist channel on a very low setting on bass, to see if I can get it more sansamp-y. But there's definitely less froom for EQ here than on a Sansamp.

 

Anyways, this will live on my board, always on in some form!

Thanks for your input, it's good to have this perspective!

Some of you here may be aware of the developing situation revealed by Phil Jones of Phil Jones Bass over the course of the day via Facebook, wherein he reports that his business partner has closed the business and is trying to erase his legacy. 

A couple of hours ago he posted a tribute to his wife that sounds rather like a prelude to suicide. I believe he is still living in the US but I figured someone here may know him and be able to make contact with him to ensure his safety. Sadly has turned the comments off on his posts. 

Here's hoping word gets through to talk some sense into him, he is a most excellent designer and always seemed like a decent bloke. 

On 14/05/2025 at 17:10, Hellzero said:

BassLab basses are super duper rare too, thankfully I own one.

This was my thought. Rare, expensive and unique to the point of being irreplaceable. If you want a bass that feels, plays and sounds like a Basslab then it has to be a Basslab. 

What was the thread title previously then, saying as it has caused such commotion? 

Spector with EMG's and a Tonepump or EMG preamp. Musicman anything also a good call. Status Graphite Series II, Stealth and Modulus basses with EMG pickups can also be very bright when the strings are fresh. 

I joined in June 2007, but I was a user of Bassworld beforehand. Looking on way back machine, I remember that Warwick with the curly bubinga top that was used the add flair to the pages.