NBD! A modified OLP Tony Levin 5-string Ray-a-like!

[kwmlondon]

I've been a bit worried walking home late at night with a £4k+ Dingwall strapped to my back so I got a cheap bass from a kindly basschatter to use when I know I'm going to be walking the mean streets of New Cross in the dark (it's not bad around here to be honest, it's just I've never carried anything this valuable around before).

 

So, I met up with Paul walbassuk in a service station on Saturday (as I've done so often before) and handed over some notes in exchange for a bass (great transaction, lovely guy - huge thanks!)

 

It's A BASS!

 

First impressions. The output is HOT. I mean, you could power a light off it, very very hot.

 

Heavy but comfortable. 

 

Neck is quite nice, but chunky baseball-bat like while narrow string spacing. Frets good. Nice satin feel.

 

The finish is horrible. I HATE photoflame but hey. doesn't really matter.

 

Tuners are fine. Bridge is fine. Action is high, will probably take that down a few notches.

 

Strings are fine. Should have asked what they are but it doesn't really matter.

 

Tone is pretty Musicman like, but blimey I need to back off the active. I mean, the centre detent is higher than I'd ever use for bass, mid and treble. Taking it down to bass 2/10, mid 2/10 and treble 5/10 and backing off the volume gets you a rather pleasant sound.

 

This is just the job. More than adequate for any of my needs. 

 

BUT that means the one-in, one-out rule will be put into action this weekend. My '89 Stingray will be going on the market. I'll miss owning it, but I won't miss the bass itself.

Edited Monday at 10:58 by kwmlondon

[crazycloud]

Looks fine to me, except for that PG, which isn't to my personal tastes, but I'd much rather that than 3TS and tort.

If it works for you and does the job, then it seems like it's perfect to me.

 

I had an OLP MM5 years ago (Bass VI style, Musicman Silhouette clone) that was fine sounding, stable and consistent, but I sold it off as I wasn't really using it. Then I bought the Ibanez SRC6 that's in my avatar. I really like the Ibby, but knowing what I do now, I'm not sure it was worth 3x the money. And the painted finish on the MM5 is much better than the Ibanez brown.

[kwmlondon]

6 minutes ago, crazycloud said:

Looks fine to me, except for that PG, which isn't to my personal tastes, but I'd much rather that than 3TS and tort.

If it works for you and does the job, then it seems like it's perfect to me.

 

I had an OLP MM5 years ago (Bass VI style, Musicman Silhouette clone) that was fine sounding, stable and consistent, but I sold it off as I wasn't really using it. Then I bought the Ibanez SRC6 that's in my avatar. I really like the Ibby, but knowing what I do now, I'm not sure it was worth 3x the money. And the painted finish on the MM5 is much better than the Ibanez brown.

Oh. Yeah. That pickuard is gross but I’m not worried about tue looks really 

[tauzero]

The finish is lovely. Or at least it is on mine. Photoflame? Seems to be quilted maple according to every description I've found.

 

Neck is chunkier than I like, but it would be a good donor body for a graphite neck. Just deciding whether to order one off @Kiwi.

[Kiwi]

5 hours ago, tauzero said:

The finish is lovely. Or at least it is on mine. Photoflame? Seems to be quilted maple according to every description I've found.

 

Neck is chunkier than I like, but it would be a good donor body for a graphite neck. Just deciding whether to order one off @Kiwi.

Apparently the OLP Tony Levin will take one of our necks according to @thevintagebassist

[Woodinblack]

I have an OLP and use it quite a lot, they are really good for cheap things. Mine isn't any hotter than any other bass I have, but it has a stinger preamp on it so maybe the original wasn't good.

[kwmlondon]

9 hours ago, tauzero said:

The finish is lovely. Or at least it is on mine. Photoflame? Seems to be quilted maple according to every description I've found.

 

Neck is chunkier than I like, but it would be a good donor body for a graphite neck. Just deciding whether to order one off @Kiwi.

Is it? Really? At that price? I'll have to look closer. Really quilted maple? Really? 

 

The neck is fine - reminds me a bit of my MusicMan stingray. Not something I'd pick out of choice but with my playing it doesn't really matter what size neck I have - nothing's gonna make me any better!

[kwmlondon]

1 hour ago, Woodinblack said:

I have an OLP and use it quite a lot, they are really good for cheap things. Mine isn't any hotter than any other bass I have, but it has a stinger preamp on it so maybe the original wasn't good.

Yeah, Paul told me the previous owner to him had used the things as a bit of a test bed for stuff. So, not sure what pickup is in there or what the preamp is but I have NEVER had anything that puts out that much signal before. I'm worried it'll give me a shock if I touch it!

[Woodinblack]

15 minutes ago, kwmlondon said:

Yeah, Paul told me the previous owner to him had used the things as a bit of a test bed for stuff. 

 

Yes, the knob location isn't standard for the OLP so I assumed there was something else in there.

[kwmlondon]

43 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Yes, the knob location isn't standard for the OLP so I assumed there was something else in there.

Lord knows. I don't know if I want to lift the lid on it, to be honest. I have a bit of time this weekend though so I may be tempted...

[tauzero]

2 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Yes, the knob location isn't standard for the OLP so I assumed there was something else in there.

 

It's also not a standard scratchplate and the routing on the OLP bodies is just massive trenches (shame, a clear scratchplate would be nice otherwise) so the previous owner might just have decided to relocate the controls. Although I would associate a diamond layout more with a two-pickup bass.

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, tauzero said:

 

It's also not a standard scratchplate and the routing on the OLP bodies is just massive trenches (shame, a clear scratchplate would be nice otherwise) so the previous owner might just have decided to relocate the controls. Although I would associate a diamond layout more with a two-pickup bass.

 

I think the OLPs are great for experimenting on, cheap and loads of space to work with.

[kwmlondon]

3 hours ago, tauzero said:

 

It's also not a standard scratchplate and the routing on the OLP bodies is just massive trenches (shame, a clear scratchplate would be nice otherwise) so the previous owner might just have decided to relocate the controls. Although I would associate a diamond layout more with a two-pickup bass.

Well, you've got me curious now. I'll lift the lid over the weekend and take some pics!

[AlexDelores]

I know you don’t like the fotoflame. But I think it looks great! 
 

I hesitated and missed out on one of these last year and still regret not snapping it up. 
 

Enjoy! 

[kwmlondon]

4 hours ago, AlexDelores said:

I know you don’t like the fotoflame. But I think it looks great! 
 

I hesitated and missed out on one of these last year and still regret not snapping it up. 
 

Enjoy! 

Look. I started a whole thread in irrational prejudices... I just can't stop thinking of it as wall paper, you know? Anyway. It's fine. It probably looks great from the audience. Better than my custom Dingwall!

[tauzero]

On 04/11/2025 at 21:37, kwmlondon said:

Look. I started a whole thread in irrational prejudices... I just can't stop thinking of it as wall paper, you know? Anyway. It's fine. It probably looks great from the audience. Better than my custom Dingwall!

 

It seems a lot of trouble to go to to make every single front different though.

[kwmlondon]

16 minutes ago, tauzero said:

 

It seems a lot of trouble to go to to make every single front different though.

Sorry, I’m afraid I don’t understand. Not totally clear what you mean.

[Geek99]

He means that his “photo flame” is different to yours. It would be a lot of trouble in manufacture to make them different so it probably is actual flamed maple 

 

I get why you call it wallpaper and it isn’t irrational, but that looks real to me 

Edited 2 hours ago by Geek99

[kwmlondon]

3 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

He means that his “photo flame” is different to yours. It would be a lot of trouble in manufacture to make them different so it probably is actual flamed maple 

 

I get why you call it wallpaper and it isn’t irrational, but that looks real to me 

Ahhh. Cheers. Could it be one of those really thin veneers? 

[Geek99]

You don’t show the back so I don’t know. @tauzero was being a little cryptic but if you show the side and back he could maybe compare 

[kwmlondon]

1 minute ago, Geek99 said:

You don’t show the back so I don’t know. @tauzero was being a little cryptic but if you show the side and back he could maybe compare 

Will take pics in the daytime tomoz. Need to get it open to see what preamp it has…

[Shaggy]

I had one of these many years ago; facing was indeed quilt maple veneer, I think mine was original spec with a passive circuit and a very weedy pickup (definitely the weak point).   Good value for what they were, but I sold it on pretty quick.