NBD: Washburn Status

[uk_lefty]

I missed out on one on ebay by a few quid years ago and never saw another. I can't justify the cost of the real thing direct from Status sadly, but this popped up on Facebook marketplace yesterday, good comms with the seller, and today she's mine. Need to work through til 5 now though so can't really get hands on with it, but I'm chuffed so far! 

[LeftyJ]

Lovely! I was eyeing this one up as well, but already have two Status S2 Classics so it would be overkill.

One was for sale on this site almost 2 years ago at the same asking price, and gone in a flash: 

 

[uk_lefty]

32 minutes ago, LeftyJ said:

Lovely! I was eyeing this one up as well, but already have two Status S2 Classics so it would be overkill.

One was for sale on this site almost 2 years ago at the same asking price, and gone in a flash: 

 

I'd love the real thing but need to see how I get on with this and if a used lefty Status headless comes up at the right price... I thought the price is good and its fair, while these are rare I think it is a £450 bass. Can't see the prices for these sky rocketing ever, but you never know. Just hope I get on better with it than the Hohner B2A I had - nice bass but the string spacing was just too tight and something just wasn't quite there with it, though I wanted to love it. 

[uk_lefty]

Does anyone know, accurately, the history of these? Where they were made... And should it have gold knobs? 

[Rich]

A quick image search on Google shows approx 90% of the resultant Washburn Status 1000s to be wearing black knobs. Probably safe to assume that the black ones are stock. Personally I would instantly replace them with gold ones. The collar needs to match the cuffs, as it were.  

EDIT: great score, by the way. What a beauty.

Edited April 26, 2021 by Rich

[Cato]

I've had mine from new since 1992.

The red ones cames with black knobs.

Where I think it mainly differs from a full fat Status is the preamp.

I've never been sure exactly what the 9v active preamp does. The controls are volume, pickup pan and tone, there's no EQ.

There is something going on with the tone contol,on mine when it's on full it adds an almost painful amount of treble, it's the only bass I own where I have to roll back the tone to get a 'normal' sound.

Anyway, preamp mystery aside, they're great instruments.

Enjoy.

[uk_lefty]

1 minute ago, Cato said:

I've had mine from new since 1992.

The red ones cames with black knobs.

Where I think it mainly differs from a full fat Status is the preamp.

I've never been sure exactly what the 9v active preamp does. The controls are volume, pickup pan and tone, there's no EQ.

There is something going on with the tone contol,on mine when it's on full it adds an almost painful amount of treble, it's the only bass I own where I have to roll back the tone to get a 'normal' sound.

Anyway, preamp mystery aside, they're great instruments.

Enjoy.

Thanks, I had a short fiddle with the knobs while testing it and couldn't work out what was going on. If I get on with it I may consider a pre amp upgrade of some sort. I do like an active bass these days, had a few rubbish 2 band ones in the past but Sire's pre and my 3 band MM have been revelatory. 

[TheGreek]

Do they make left handed pre-amps? I've never seen one...

[BoomTing]

58 minutes ago, Cato said:

I've never been sure exactly what the 9v active preamp does. The controls are volume, pickup pan and tone, there's no EQ.

 

Isn't it a Status Board 100 ? Vol, Pan, Treble cut/boost. On full boost My S1 Classic is very bright

 

http://status-graphite.com/status/image/parts/board100.jpg

 

[Cato]

5 minutes ago, BoomTing said:

Isn't it a Status Board 100 ? Vol, Pan, Treble cut/boost. On full boost My S1 Classic is very bright

 

http://status-graphite.com/status/image/parts/board100.jpg

 

That makes perfect sense, thanks.

[itu]

6 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

Does anyone know, accurately, the history of these? Where they were made... And should it have gold knobs? 

The walnut has black knobs, too. I am not quite sure about the original opamp of the preamp (the type was filed, maybe a 741, or a TL061/071), but it consumes very little energy. I changed it to a NE5534, and the sound became stronger, although the power consumption raised dramatically. Single 9 volt battery. Back plates are plastic with aluminum foil.

The pickups are hum-cancelling, coils under GD and AE are in opposite phase.

Most of the necks have phenolic resin fretboard, no front markers. My instrument's neck was a bit "soft", it could be bent quite some, but with a 30 - 90 set it stayed in tune pretty well. I used only Rotosound Superwound 606 DBE PSD (double ball-end piano string design) strings.

The pots are basic carbon track ones with mechanics in them: blend has a center detent and volume & tone have nice steps.

I have seen few special colours (green & white), but I do not know whether they were production models, prototypes, or home/custom made specialities.

[uk_lefty]

Had a bit more of a play. The pre amp is disappointing really. However the strings are very old, too heavy a gauge for the bass and feel a bit rubbery. The neck is thicker than I would expect. I've got some 0.35 strings on order from Status so when they arrive it will have a full clean down, re string, neck tweak and then I'm expecting to get a tiny bit more out of it. Still, might see what Status themselves say about upgrading the pre. 

[itu]

I had my neck sanded thinner. A professional carpenter did it for me in the 90's. He also took the lacquer away from the body and sanded a little bit of wood from the upper hip. He even carved some wood from under the G and D strings. My hands loved these changes.

[LeftyJ]

On 26/04/2021 at 17:45, TheGreek said:

Do they make left handed pre-amps? I've never seen one...

Try putting one of these in a lefty Stingray. 

[uk_lefty]

Anybody know the size Allen key the truss rod needs? Is it a weird metric one? I can't grip the truss rod with my imperial measurement Allen keys and it's annoying me... 0.35 very light guage Status strings are putting lots of tension in to the neck. Have got it set up tuned down a step to settle it in. 

[LeftyJ]

Japanese bass = metric keys, always. 

[uk_lefty]

4 hours ago, LeftyJ said:

Japanese bass = metric keys, always. 

Bugger. 

Thanks! 

[garyt]

On 27/04/2021 at 11:44, uk_lefty said:

Had a bit more of a play. The pre amp is disappointing really. However the strings are very old, too heavy a gauge for the bass and feel a bit rubbery. The neck is thicker than I would expect. I've got some 0.35 strings on order from Status so when they arrive it will have a full clean down, re string, neck tweak and then I'm expecting to get a tiny bit more out of it. Still, might see what Status themselves say about upgrading the pre. 

I had a Washburn Status back in the day, and swapped the Washburn Status PUPs for a set of EMGs .  It certainly improved the tone.