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Modulus Flea Custom, twin Lane Poors

molan

By molan,
in Basses For Sale

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molan Veteran

molan

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So, after a lot of deliberation I think it's time for the Flea to move on. Every time I take it out of the gig bag I think how much I like it but I don't play it that much these days as my baby Zon always seems to call out to me whenever I feel like playing & the Flea is too valuable to leave at the rehearsal space!

This amazing Flea was built especially for Randy Hope-Taylor (principally of Incognito fame) to take on a world tour with Jeff Beck. It has twin Lane Poor pick ups and custom switching which provides a passive/active option and a separate switch for a solo boost option. It also has a stunning inlay at the 12th fret of Randy & his signature.

Plays like a dream and the various options and twin Lanes give it a huge variation of potential sounds. If you think a conventional Flea is powerful then you should hear what a second one does when it's mounted closer to the neck!

Here's what Ian from SMART said about it recently (hope it's OK to quote you Ian?):

[i]"Randy wanted an even bigger sound when he hit the USA with Jeff Beck to compete with Steve Alexander on drums, Jennifer Batten on guitar as well as Jeff doing his bit...

So, we got Modulus to provide the extra pick-up and Martin Peterson of The Gallery fitted them for Randy.

The fantastic inlay is utterly superb in detail and finish, Randy faxed me this cartoon he drew of himself and we just faxed it onto Modulus who incorporated it into the fingerboard.

Randy's bass playing was a superb addition and foundation to the Beck guitar sound with Jennifer Batten doing her zillion note thing in between and Steve Alexander with his solid techno type beat on the 'ol drums."[/i]

It's in fantastic condition, there's a few wear marks (presumably from Randy!) but not really noticeable unless you're really looking closely and under a bright light.

A standard new Flea is currently retailing at £1,395 with a single pick-up (not Lane Poor any more) so one like this would cost something around the £1,750 mark new (Ian - I'm happy for you to correct me on this - I've allowed for an extra £100 for it being a twin PU, £100 because they are Lanes, £100 for the inlays & £50 for the wiring).

With a reduced price of £1,200 that's a potential £500+ saving!

It comes with a Modulus gig bag but if I need to post it then I'll need to add the cost of a very good condition Hiscox flight case at £50 plus whatever the postage works out at. Happy to ship to anywhere really - I've bought & sold basses all over the place!

I've added one pic here, the inlay is my avatar & there's a couple of other pics in the bass porn section: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=16306"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=16306[/url]

I thought I'd put it here first as I'd like to see it go to a good home but realise I might get more if I'm prepared to export it to Europe (or even America - I've had silly offers to just sell the Lane Poors from the States in the past!). I'll leave it here for a while before it heads to EBay.

Any questions, don't hesitate to ask :)

Edited by molan
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molan Veteran

molan

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[quote name='bkman42' post='206011' date='May 25 2008, 04:06 PM']ahh this brings back memories :-) i used to own this bass bought it from the bass gallery about 5-6 years ago ended up selling it on ebay a long time ago i think it was for about £900?? Great bass![/quote]

Ouch - I hope it wasn't as little as that :)

I certainly didn't get it that cheap!

I seem to remember seeing it advertised once before I bought it for around the £1,400 mark. May have been the Gallery but not sure.

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bkman42 Contributor

bkman42

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I bought it from the gallery for £1400 1 year later after months of trying to sell it for no less than a £1000 i had to drop the price on ebay for a quick sale :-( Never understood why it didn't sell for more. Lovely bass but moved away from the sound of graphite necks.

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molan Veteran

molan

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[quote name='bkman42' post='206066' date='May 25 2008, 05:50 PM']I bought it from the gallery for £1400 1 year later after months of trying to sell it for no less than a £1000 i had to drop the price on ebay for a quick sale :-( Never understood why it didn't sell for more. Lovely bass but moved away from the sound of graphite necks.[/quote]

Ah ha, that makes sense

I'm not particularly desperate to sell so hopefully I'll get mote than that. Had a tentative offer at £1,250 earlier this year so that's a pretty good marker I think.

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Bigwan Veteran

Bigwan

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This is a cracking bass. I played it in the gallery when it was there. I was poor at the time or it would have walked out with me! I have a Shuker being completed in the next month (and a budget breaking Lakland in the post to me too) or I'd take this now.

The inlay might put some people off, but not as much as if it said 'Colin' or something! We're all 'Randy' at some point!

Funny, the pickups ARE worth quite a bit. Guys in the states would kill for 1 Lane Poor MM pickup, let alone 2!

Good luck with the sale

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molan Veteran

molan

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[quote name='Bigwan' post='206420' date='May 26 2008, 11:11 AM']This is a cracking bass. I played it in the gallery when it was there. I was poor at the time or it would have walked out with me! I have a Shuker being completed in the next month (and a budget breaking Lakland in the post to me too) or I'd take this now.

The inlay might put some people off, but not as much as if it said 'Colin' or something! We're all 'Randy' at some point!

Funny, the pickups ARE worth quite a bit. Guys in the states would kill for 1 Lane Poor MM pickup, let alone 2!

Good luck with the sale[/quote]

It's funny but I've never been concerned about the inlay. I always think of the bass as being called "randy" rather than it being a reference to me as the owner :)

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Waldo Collaborator

Waldo

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Amazing looking bass! I only sold my Flea because I thought it was a bit limited tonally (due to having only one pickup) but add another pickup and some switching and you probably have my dream bass right there! And it has lane poors :)

Yum.

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molan Veteran

molan

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[quote name='Waldo' post='208668' date='May 29 2008, 10:36 AM']Amazing looking bass! I only sold my Flea because I thought it was a bit limited tonally (due to having only one pickup) but add another pickup and some switching and you probably have my dream bass right there! And it has lane poors :huh:

Yum.[/quote]

The flexibility of the second pickup, with individual volume controls, does give a huge range of sound options. The Lanes are very nice as well.

Someone with far more ability than I came round to try it & ran it through an EBS combo - sounded lovely through this :)


Had a few offers on this & quite a bit of interest so it may go fairly soon.

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carlosfandango Explorer

carlosfandango

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Hello!

I popped over to Mr B's house the other day (it turned out that we are practically neighbors and share the passion for bikes and basses!) and tried the bass and I can confirm that whoever get's the bass is going to be really happy! The Lane Poors sound amazing and the two pickups gives much more flexibility that the traditional configuration. Dialing in a bit of the neck pick up gives that extra bit of solid low-end that I personally think that the Flea bass lacks (personal opinion). I played it through the EBS Drome and it sounded fab! The bass is in excellent nick and Barry is a top bloke so you can't go wrong here.

Have a weekend bump on me!

Edited by carlosfandango
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molan Veteran

molan

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Well, I thought it was sold but haven't heard from the potential buyer for a few days so thought I'd make the offer I gave him available to anyone else who might be interested.

Now £1,200 with the Modulus gig bag or £1,250 with the Hiscox flight case :huh:


PS - I don't have the technology to record direct to disc I'm afraid so not able to record sound clips :)

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molan Veteran

molan

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[quote name='Stockholm Syndrome' post='217922' date='Jun 12 2008, 08:59 PM']Still available?

Also, how much would shipping cost to Sweden?

Please PM me if the bass hasn't sold yet!

Cheers\Samuel[/quote]

Details on their way :)

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molan Veteran

molan

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OK, so the Flea is back up for sale.

I'd decided to hang on to it after a couple of sales fell through fairly late in the day but realised that I've only played it once in the last month & it just seems such a waste to be sitting quietly in a case!

I'd had two firm offers at £1,300 (but these were the ones who were unable to complete) and quite a few tentative feelers at £1,200 so thought I'd split the difference at £1,250 if anyone is interested :)

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molan Veteran

molan

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As I've just stuck another bass up for sale I thought I'd give this one a bump and a price drop - yours for around the £1,200 mark or make me an offer

Would consider something of lower value as a PX.

Couple of pics transferred here as well now - the guy in the pics is Randy Hope-Taylor (just to help prove that it was once his!):

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MB1 Veteran

MB1

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[quote name='molan' post='253304' date='Aug 2 2008, 01:59 PM']As I've just stuck another bass up for sale I thought I'd give this one a bump and a price drop - yours for around the £1,200 mark or make me an offer

Would consider something of lower value as a PX.

Couple of pics transferred here as well now - the guy in the pics is Randy Hope-Taylor (just to help prove that it was once his!):[/quote]

MB1. :)
Hes changed a bit since 5 STAR! :huh:

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molan Veteran

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[quote name='MB1' post='253321' date='Aug 2 2008, 02:28 PM']MB1. :)
Hes changed a bit since 5 STAR! :huh:[/quote]

Indeed - Here he is with Beck: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1Mdl-bqGIo"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1Mdl-bqGIo[/url]

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MB1 Veteran

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[quote name='molan' post='253332' date='Aug 2 2008, 02:51 PM']Indeed - Here he is with Beck: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1Mdl-bqGIo"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1Mdl-bqGIo[/url][/quote]

MB1. :)
............Hi Ho Silver Lining? :huh: :huh:

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molan Veteran

molan

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[quote name='MB1' post='253342' date='Aug 2 2008, 03:27 PM']MB1. :huh:
............Hi Ho Silver Lining? :huh: :huh:[/quote]

Poor old Jeff - that's going to haunt him to the end of his days isn't it :)

Mind you, maybe he earnt enough from it to fund his less 'commercial' career - which is pretty much everything else he's recorded :huh:

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