Leaderboard

I'm lucky enough to own a 1978 Pro ii, built out of Matsomoku factory. Its a dream to play. loads of mojo. Pups upgraded years ago to Dimazio pickups. Loads of punch and tone. Not sure of its value? but a keeper none the less.

Picked up one of these babies today and it's absolutely sweet !

I bought one about a week ago. A 2009 Musicman Stingray. 3 band EQ, single pickup. Candy red, rosewood fretboard I've only really had Fenders before, so I can only describe it relative to those... Build quality is great. Components seem excellent quality, and the fit and finish is great. If you've played fenders before, you'll find the neck is very much like a Precision. It's quite heavy, but not too heavy. Nice and solid. Sounds nice acoustically. The G string was a bit quieter than the others. I'm convinced it's because the pickup polepiece doesn't line up properly with the G string. This is apparently a common issue with Stingrays. I fixed it by raising the pickup at the treble side, and managed to get the string volumes balanced enough to where it isn't an issue. You'd think in an otherwise very well designed bass they would have fixed this years ago. But no. Apparently the new ones DO have the polepieces in the right place... but 2 grand's a lot to pay imo for that My takeaway from the G string polepiece issue is that it's pretty sensitive to how you have your pickup height set - so be aware of that Re the sound and having a single pickup. The most noticable thing is that the kinds of warm, vocal mids you might get from a precision are totally absent. And the second thing is that the low end is deep and tight. I heard the preamp has a high pass filter, and it sounds like it. There's loads of thick, punchy bass, but it somehow has a tightness to it. As if it rolls off quickly below 40hz. My main bass is/was a precision, and I use an SVT. So my go-to sound is that classic grindy rock tone (with a plectrum) with the SVT deep switch in, and a bit of mid scoop. Loads of low end, but it's more of a fat and woolly low end, and those precisiony, expressive mids. You can't get anything close to that with the Stingray. With a plectrum, you get LOADS of zingy top end, and that tight bass, with no real Fendery mids no matter what you do. It's very scooped, even when you goose the mids on the EQ For a punk or rock gig I would leave the Stingray at home and take the Precision, unless it was something modern like RATM or RHCP etc For a pop/funk/disco type gigs, the Stingray would be perfect. It seems to have been primarily intended for fingerstyle players. The frequencies that the pickup and preamp accentuate are ideal for a nice tight, modern fingerstyle sound. Lovely for fingerstyle The 3 band EQ is interesting. I tend to leave everything centered. Sounds best to me that way. The treble and bass tend to either let you take far too much off, or add far too much on. The middle isn't really a traditional mid frequency knob like on a fender amp, it's more like a knob that lets you make the sound go from fairly scooped to very scooped... whatever you do, there isn't much mids I heard someone say (and I agree) that a fender jazz (both pickups on) is more scooped than a precision, with deeper lows and higher mids. And that the Stingray is even more scooped - deeper lows and has even higher frequency mids. I think that's a good way of putting it. If there's a path from P to J, then the Stingray is the next step along I think no matter what you do it'll sound like a Stingray. But I think it has enough to make it a fantastic bass in the right context. It's certainly not a swiss army knife, and almost certainly the wrong bass for certain things I really do like mine. Got it off eBay for £900, and I'm glad I got it. Not sure I'd buy a new one for the prices they're asking now

My SB1000. Iconic, in my opinion. Nothing comes close

Any excuse to pop a picture of this 1981 SBR-150

I've had a small windfall - about the size of a new tip-top-notch bass as it happens - and I'm having serious GAS for a Stingray Classic 4 string. I buy a new bass about once a decade so it's a BIG decision for me and I need to know how many of you guys (possibly the greatest bass playing experts on the interweb so I trust you) rate this bass? How's the quality of build and is having a single humbucker a limitation? Has anyone bought one recently and are you pleased with it? Obviously I'm looking for encouragement but if there are any serious worries I'd probably rather know!

Hi my name is Alex and I have Dirt Pedal Adddiction Syndrome. I also have a great affection for envelope filters. I can't afford to buy new ones so mainly build DIY. So many pedals! I've been questing for the ultimate fuzz plus envelope filter tone. Bass - US G&L L-2000 made in 2000AD! In the UK, London, playing in a 90's rave band.

Funnily enough I’ve had basses built by both Martin at Sei and Jon at Shuker and both were fantastic experiences. If I had to choose though, Jon was the more approachable and much more open to working with me on my design and build. Both very high quality builders though & all fantastic basses. Proof of the pudding is I now own 2 Shuker Jazz basses (both shown on the Shuker web page you’ve linked to) and no Sei Jazz basses.

Hi guys, just wanted everyone who has replied to my original post to know; the transaction with Alex went absolutely seamlessly, despite my reservations. It was just such a different way of doing things. And a way in which I am totally unfamiliar, being from the UK lol!! It seems that this way of doing things is so normal in some EU countries other than UK, and I had no bed to worry. Thanks Alex, so glad you are so pleased with your purchase, wish you all the best. Timmynumbers 👍

OR... for £1169 you could buy very nearly thirteen used Trace Elliot combos and keep one at each venue. Saves carrying 'em.

Pure class, this. Lovely bass

I had a TH350 and it never wanted for more beans. Where will it all end? 'Markbass announce 2kW RMS @ 4ohms amp the size of a credit card - earplugs included'.

i ve asked my wife and she said defo fingering !

Started to knock the sharp corners off to match the vibe of the original carve. The light is starting to go but made a decent start with spokeshave and cabinet scrapers:

Which Mac?? Gary Mac!!

With regards to active/passive controls, a while ago I came to the realisation that what I'd really want is a passive tone control coupled to an active mids control with adjustable frequency centre, something like the John East module which covers 100Hz - 1000Hz (or 200Hz - 2000Hz, as it's got a switch for both ranges). I don't need a bass control, really. Treble? A passive control is sweeter, for my taste. What I want is to control what happens in the middle, and with a wide range like that, I can get punchy low mids, or hollow tones, or beautiful deep bass tones... For me the on-board EQ on active basses is merely to fine tune my sound and make some small adjustments for specific songs, but the basic sound comes from the amplifier's EQ. The small adjustments I want are all in the mid range or something that a passive treble cut is better suited for.

I can't help but to get a little giddy with excitement over Jon's headless basses! I think you are quite right to say you have your own template! I think your two have the most identifiable outline in the range surely!? (Don't change it for the next one, ok?)

and mine...

A luthier friend of mine has asked me to collaborate with him to design a bass but based on the styling and design principles of his existing guitars. His builds exclusively use UK grown woods and aim to be as organic as possible both in construction and tone so, for example, the pickup is direct wired to the output and everything (bar the frets, electronics, tuners and straplocks) is handmade by him. I'd appreciate your thoughts on how these guitars might translate into bass form (or indeed any suggestions as to what might need to be changed to make it work). Link to the photo gallery on his website here:- https://www.halflightguitars.com/ Thanks.

Im literally dribbling looking at some John's J basses. Wondering wether to sell the Sei to get one. This is GAS in its purest form. The grass is always greener. But WOW http://shukerguitars.co.uk/j-bass/

GET OUT!

One of the things Jon did for me & continued through to the JJB series was chamber the body to lighten the weight of my bass 😁

The obvious musical one is playing Fat Bottomed Girls on what seems to be the Sheer Heart Attack tour. Most of the factual ones seem covered by that video clip above. I always understood that Freddie was friends with Smile long before he joined, and I had heard that he had even worked with Roger Taylor on his clothes stall in Kensington market before he was ever in the band. Also, I thought that FM re-joining the band, agreeing to do Live Aid and being diagnosed with AIDS in the space of one week was pushing it a bit. This is not to mention tracking down his future partner and introducing him to his parents (whilst coming out in the process) on the way to Wembley Stadium! The story I heard was that Freddie didn’t want to do Live Aid as he wanted a break after being out on tour, but was persuaded by the size of the potential worldwide audience he could reach with one show…

Oh man, coooool............ You need an Antigua in there!

I love this bass. The drop tuning arrangement is brilliant.

I had my own trinity some years ago...

Apparently not. It was a couple of years before any diagnosis occurred. Other mistakes include how Freddie met Mary Austin and the band, Freddie having a moustache at the time of writing 'We Will Rock You' and timeline/factual issues around Freddie's solo album/supposedly the band breaking up etc etc The Mike Myers character (Ray Foster) is fictitious too.... I spotted them at the time but chose to enjoy the film as 'entertainment' rather than a factual record. Here's some more info I've just discovered: https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/films/1041132/Bohemian-Rhapsody-movie-true-story-how-accurate-Freddie-Mercury-fact

But unfortunately there isn't any direct and absolute correlation between cone size and frequency response as the trace that Bill posted shows. Yes, a manufacturer can design a range of drivers that will exhibit the characteristics that Chienmortbb's trace shows, but unless you know exactly which drivers are inside your cabs you are far more likely to get the sorts of results that Bill posted. @Al Krow stop trying to rely on misleading figures and just use your ears.

I have one of these, lovely, lovely bass: I also have an '84 RSB Deluxe II, which I've had from new. Was pretty much my only bass for 10+ years but retired when the neck developed an alarming and irepairable twist. It's currently wearing an RSB Straycat neck, which is sadly a completely different profile - so I'm looking for a proper replacement. And finally - that there Cliff Burton bass, an '83 SB Elite I B&G - absolutely beaten to hell and back, modded with a Bart J pickup, rewired by an imbecile and half the original MBII pickup dead, as they are seemingly wont to do. Despite all that, the neck is perfect and it's gorgeous to play. Just very quiet... It's currently in bits waiting for me to have time/motivation to do a sympathetic pseudo-resto, which will largely involve filling the hole where the J pup is, dropping in a Rautia replacement pickup, wiring it properly and giving it a tidy up. And one day, finding a pair of the original knobs - as well as that RSB neck...

Well I thought I should do an unboxing video... and then I thought “No, no SBL-style ‘Look at this bad boy’ shenanigans” from me. I will try post some playing videos later as I’m planning to take it along to our church Worship Team practice on Thursday. It seemed unscathed by the journey all save the E string needs raised a bit for my tastes - it’s just too growly and snarly for me. I will need a touch more string height. Just on the E. Instead here are a few unboxing photos - it was certainly well wrapped. I’ve stowed the packing away for next time. In the flesh the bass is a lovely as I remember from the SE Bass Bash. There are things I would change, some places where there could be improvements but those are more or less polishing rather than problems. Anyone would be proud to have this bass slung around their necks.

My wife got me this for my birthday. A soldering and rework station. I have to say, I’m impressed. The ability to desolder smd ICs in a couple of seconds is fantastic!

+1, and where low frequency response goes it doesn't matter very much. This charts three speakers, one loaded with a ten, one a twelve, one a fifteen: If you were to believe the size matters crowd you'd have to think that the red line is a fifteen, the blue line a twelve, and the green line a ten. You'd be 33% correct. The blue line is a twelve, but the red line is a ten, the green line a fifteen.

I’d sound better playing it strings facing my body

what was discussed ahead of the "jam"? Were you expecting it to lead to something, like forming a band and lining up gigs, or was it just to hang out, play a bit and see what happens? Probably doesn't help that "jam" means different things to different people. For me it's always meant going off script, seeing what you can come up with, just playing for the fun of it and not to worry if anything comes of it or not. Currently playing with a death metal band and having to intensely learn their songs ahead of a couple of gigs. Last week we had a reggae jam and last night a 20 minute bluesy hard rock jam, neither of which will come to anything more than that time in the studio, but worked great for a bit of light relief and getting to know the other musicians. Then back to work on playing their actual songs - wouldn't have mattered if I was amazing or awful in the jams themselves, they meant nothing tangible. But I know others who think of anything other than playing gigs as "a jam" - there are no auditions, only jams, even if you are sticking to a rigid set list. The "sorry, not for us" sounds a bit like dumping you before you could dump them, when they know it hasn't gone well. I wouldn't read too much into it. Seen way too many average guitarists reach for the extended guitar solo at every chance, usually when they have a vastly over-inflated opinion of themselves

I believe the correct protocol when buying the Mail is to simultaneously purchase a copy of Razzle magazine. That way, you'll have something to hide it inside and thus avoid shame and potential humiliation when leaving the newsagents.

No Rickenbacker Corporate worshiper here, The Dark Lord is an arrogant dude, and really could care less what customers think as long as sales continue apace. Their CS and QC kinda suck, particularly lately, what with basses having clearcoat peeling off them willy-nilly, another reason I decided to build my own, I have only myself to blame, and believe me, I know where every flaw is on the black one, however miniscule, and I OWN them. I'm hoping this thread will generate some creative Ric INSPIRED build examples, no desire to rile people up about Rickenbacker, that's somebody else's thread! I didn't build a Rickenbacker, I built a Hossenfeffer.

In fact, you are not even British as the original Celtic tribes were slaughtering themselves when the Angles and Saxons came. For the record, those were German tribes and your language is a German one, really, it's as simple as that... Sorry to bother some of you, but it's history. The truth is not always good to hear, I know. 🤐 On my side, I have almost all European bloods running in my veins : the perfect bastard !

I forgot to add my fifth... Super J5 with J-Retro Deluxe. (I've equipped the SJ4 with the same preamp too...)

I found a good clip on tuner and a quick check for intonation on each note really helped

No doubt there will be plenty of Pedaltrain recommendations made shortly but be sure to also check out the new Rockboard by Warwick range. They have nice little design feature tweaks from the PT range which really work.

It would seem from my good friend @NancyJohnson 's post above that the Bass Player crew have taken this rather badly. Were further confirmation needed I have been passed an unredacted copy of the BP FB post as originally drafted: Bass Player Family When we launched Bass Player almost 30 years ago we were motivated by a festering resentment at the way that guitards had three or four magazines for themselves but we bass players didn't merit more than a single page shoe-horned into the back of Guitar Player in among all the other bits of articles that started at the front then unaccountably broke off and continued after the classified ads in the weird way that we Americans lay out magazines unlike anyone else in the world because they do it wrong and we do it right, kinda like football is football and soccer is soccer. We digress. BP was meant to show the world that bass players are the most important people in the band and not at all sulky passive-aggressives who can't get laid. And over the years, we've succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. No one ever laughs at bass players these days. Now on the eve of our 30th anniversary we have been stabbed in the back by those treacherous sons of bïtches at the hedge fund. All you need to know about these guys is that only one of them plays a musical instrument and it's a PRS. What's worse is we've been sold to a bunch of effete limeys who sip their tea with their little finger stuck out and curtsy to each other when they meet. Was it for this that thousands of our best young men crossed the Atlantic to join the 8th Air Force and save the Brits by raining death and destruction on Germany? All we have to say is 'Semper Fi'. Could it get any worse? Turns out the upstart English magazine is in bed with those anti-American, Rickenbacker-hating dirtbags at the 'TalkBass rip-off website' BassChat. All you need to know is that the owners of BassChat wear bowler hats and say things like 'God save the Queen, actually'. Anyway, the murderous English redcoats who are taking us over will completely screw the pooch so please cancel your subscriptions now and protest this unwanted takeover by burning the Union Jack flag. We wish the new editor well but it will be a clusterf*ck of biblical proportions and in the end it's all down to Donald Trump and his fascist nationalism. Make America Great Again? We think not. Bass Player

^^ The cake is the most important thing of all, by the way.. 😁

So my white one, up there ^^, can stay as it is. As today I traded my Musicman Stingray, that wasn’t being used much, for this (that I didn’t even see was on here, Hi Dave!). I’ve been after one for decades. Just never managed to nab one until today! I’m beside myself with joy, just looking at it gives me a huge smile!!

Tone foam is tricky stuff. If you can't get pre-CBS foam then modern foam that has employed wax-based products gives the best results. Be sure never to wash it though!