Bassnut62

reckon you'll want that Bassman 135 head that's for sale right here now for less than £400 the back pain will be worth it. and a 1x15 cab as per what you see to the left now. goes amazing with a P Bass.

you can pick up original Asats a lot cheaper than that, if you look on TalkBass or ebay in States. also they can be active or passive and they have a lot more sound options than a Jazz. they really are high quality instruments too, built like a panzer and unbelievably punchy pups. also while the Tributes are very good indeed, in fact better than most cheaper versions, they do not play as well as an original IME. the sounds is hard to distinguish, but there is a difference, mostly in punchiness of Tribute pups being less than USA G&Ls

[quote name='TransistorBassMan' post='937273' date='Aug 26 2010, 03:54 PM']I'm started life as a pianist/keyboard player. I borrowed a Thunder 1A for my first gig on bass. Not the greatest pic, but fond memories [/quote] snap! i used a Thunder 1A for my first ever gig.....happy memories, it was a Central London Polytechnic in about 1983 in a band called Illicit Kiss!

that pickguard looks far too white to me too; but that might just be the photo. the guards on these early Ps were made of celulose and with age the chemicals turn the white guards a greenish colour - see pic of my own genuine 63P attached. i reckon the pictures are too small and too distant to give enough detail to safely identify this bass as genuine; that doesn't mean to say it isn't genuine of course.

+1 re Sandberg California JM4 i was looking for a Jazz and tried a Sandberg and was completely won over - they are better quallity basses than anything Fender ever made IMO and I am dedicated Fender nut too.

[quote name='GazWills' post='936214' date='Aug 25 2010, 06:13 PM']i'm alway anxious about these 'pull up pots' for selecting modes, is it pretty sturdy once in passive, not likely to be knocked back down into active when playing (just thinking about live - i currently switch between a P and a ray, if i can use one bass it'll be much easier!!) cheers[/quote] yeah they're reliable enough, i've not yet knocked mine into active by mistake. i got mine precisely because i didn't want to keep switching basses - i find this one covers all requirements with ease.

on the JM4 the coil tap switch turns the back pick up from single coil (i.e. Jazz pup) to humbucking dual coil (i.e. MM pup) I agree that these don't quite nail the MM 'Ray sound; but they are close enough to do the job. these basses are very flexible for sound and always sound great in any setting. I actually run mine passive most of the time and just go active if slapping or palm muting the strings. the JM4 does cop very good Jazz sounds in all the different configurations single coil you might like. i agree with you too they play unbelievably well. I couldn't resist the GAS inducing quality of these instruments. you may still be able to get an interest-free 10mth Arts Council loan, which is how I paid for mine from Electro Music in Doncaster. Also the tone controls only boost above the detent in active mode. in passive mode there is no change above the detent, i.e. cut only below the detent.

+1 re the Bassman...eyes left all! also +1 re the bi-amp link...gives lovely bit of grit and extras punch when you need it. I've stopped doing that recently, since gettinga Catalinbread SFT to drive the amp......wonder what the SFT and the bi-amp link would be like......better go and juice up those valves!

reckon an old EHX White Finger might do the trick too and i think there's one for sale here under Effects For Sale or on TalkBass in US oops..it is a White Finger and it is here on BC in classifieds, but it's not an old one. I did try the big old one a few years back and I think I remember it being dirty as well as squishy. I remember getting a nice squishy grunt for Rappers Delight finger funk

unless you're going to be doing some very loud gigs purely off the backline you probably wouldn't even need the 500w head. Hartke made a great 350w (LH3500), which is what I use and it is so loud I never run the amp at more than 3 on the master volume, even through a 2x15 4ohm cab. you could save some money that way too and help get that better cab

[quote name='tino' post='935089' date='Aug 24 2010, 06:14 PM']The customer my Dear BP is always right...even when I'm WRONG [/quote] too right and from what i've read in this thread so far I recon BP must stand for B#tt Plug. that BP has traded on Leo Fender's glory for too long anyway.....

interesting how different everyone in this thread is so far. I go for OTT muff fuzz - compression - synth - mammoth fuzz - overdrive - octave - filters - modulations but even then i mix it up quite often; e.g. i like putting tremolo in front of filter, as square wave trem is great into filter. +1 re compression in front of synth/octave to help with tracking

true enough comments above from the roaring rabbit if an instrument doesn't give you the feeling you want, it ain't gonna work for you. I guess I've been fortunate enough that all four of the preCBS Fenders I've played have felt absolutely incredible to me. I've tried 3 Precisions - a 61, 63 and a crossover 65 and I've tried a 63 Jazz. I now own the 63 P. Having said all that, on a technical level, the Sandberg California JM4 Supreme I bought last year is probably a much better bass than anything Leo Fender ever made. But it would be the 63 P I would take to a desert island, if i was going to be stranded there for the rest of my life.

this thread must've kicked off so much guilt around the BC community. I'm sitting on the following spends: '79 MM 'Ray £550 '63 P Bass £1250 '89 G&L Asat £550 '08 Sandberg Cali JM4 Supreme £1100 makes £3450 total; but I reckon that apart from the Sandberg they are worth a lot more.....so I can live with it. it's got to be better than letting the bank use my hard earned cash.

+ another 1 re the Hartke HA500 head

+1 re the Hartke a ten year old HA3500 head is a trusty piece of very affordable kit that will cover almost any situation. it is also very loud if you need big volume. You can pick up the Hartke cab combinations that suit you on here quite easily. For a good wide sound that will cover most situations I would suggest a 1 x 15 cab with a 2 x 10 cab. I think the Hartke 2 x 10 has a horn in it too, which could be useful. You could probably pick up that rig for less than £450 without much difficulty and you would probably always get your money back on it if you chose to sell it too.

[quote name='bubinga5' post='931887' date='Aug 21 2010, 01:41 PM']check out a Mike Lull p basses..there awsome[/quote] never heard of those - what do you like about them?

[quote name='guybrush threepwood' post='931656' date='Aug 21 2010, 09:29 AM']I made a rather rash and impulsive purchase a couple of days ago; I was in a shop in Leeds trying out different basses, and after playing many Fenders, Sandbergs and an Ibanez ATK I picked up a Stingray. I've never played one before (I did have a cheap copy as my first bass, but that was terrible) and I was blown away by the feel, sound, articulation, build quality and, most of all, the range of tones available from that one pickup! It can be tight and snappy or warm and loose, simply depending on where you place your right hand, but it always maintains that incredible growl. Then add in the EQ and there's such a massive range of tones there. Also, the neck is quite fat, but [i]so[/i] comfortable and fast - it just fills the hand beautifully. I hadn't planned on buying a bass that day... but well, it had to be done. I tried out 5 of them, including a five string, and a Sterling (which I didn't really like the feel of - the body was too small for me), and I picked my favourite. After thinking that they were overpriced (as they look quite a 'simple' bass when compared with others in their price range), I am now a complete convert! Anyway, sorry about the terrible iphone photo - a friend has my camera at the moment. [attachment=57126:Stingray.jpg][/quote] that's exactly what happened to me in 1984 and i've never looked back - here's the proof..... this baby was in factory fresh condition when i bought it - all it needed was a bit of mojo, which i was happy to apply. great choice - i hopy are both very happy together and that you never have a cross word without making up before bed time!!!

[quote name='Musicman20' post='931831' date='Aug 21 2010, 12:32 PM']Cheers guys. Ill stick with what I have unless a really nice vintage P bass ever comes along.[/quote] Smart move. PreCBS Fenders really do have something very special about them that cannot be recreated and cannot be improved on, even by spending £4k with a fancy luthier to make a brand new custom P bass. Only the real thing has that mojo and played-in feel. To me, it's almost like it takes 40+ years for all the different parts to grow into each other. No doubt you can get a great P-like instrument for £2k+; but it ain't going to be the best P money can buy. In My Opinion only!

[quote name='Truckstop' post='930333' date='Aug 19 2010, 09:51 PM']Iz yoo nut a gret bazz zlapper?! Truckstop[/quote] 'fraid not - not many slappers that I like anyhow - two noteable exceptions being Larry Graham (the SlapDaddy) and Rusty Allen who followed Larry into Sly Stone's band in the early 70s (i'll leave the slapper gags to someone else!)