Leaderboard

Today and pre lock down

The BBOT bridges are rubbish, which is why hardly any classic basslines have been recorded using one.

A few more changes..... so here's an updated list as of June 2020 with latest purchases in bold: (PRE-KRAMER) SPECTOR SB-1 USA 1976 (Walnut/Maple) (PRE-KRAMER) SPECTOR NS-2 USA (Cherry Sunburst) (KRAMER) SPECTOR NS-2 USA (Black) (KRAMER) SPECTOR NS-2 USA (Black) (KRAMER) SPECTOR NS-2 USA (Gloss White) (KRAMER) SPECTOR NS-2 USA (Tobacco Sunburst) (KRAMER) SPECTOR NS-2 USA (Red/Black Lava Crackle) - Ex-Barry Dunaway (Yngwie Malmsteen Band) (KRAMER) SPECTOR NS-2 USA (Red Stain) (KRAMER) SPECTOR NS-2A (Gloss White) (KRAMER) SPECTOR NS-2A (Black) (KRAMER) SPECTOR NS-2A (Black) (KRAMER) SPECTOR NS-2A (Teal) SPECTOR NS-2 USA (Custom Holoflash Black & Abalone) SPECTOR NS-2X USA 'Spectorbird' (Tobacco Sunburst & Abalone) SPECTOR Euro CR (Holoflash Black) SPECTOR Euro CRFM(Dark Purple Stain) SPECTOR Euro CRFM (Plum Stain quilt) SPECTOR Euro CRFM (Forest Green quilt) SPECTOR Euro LX (Gloss White) SPECTOR Euro LX ‘Ian Hill’ (Black) SPECTOR Euro LX 'Rachel Bolan' (Black/Silver Sparkle) SPECTOR Euro LX (Black Stain quilt) SPECTOR Euro LT (Violet Fade quilt) SPECTOR Euro NS-2 JA-CR Euro RI (Gloss White) SPECTOR Euro NS-2 JA-CR Euro RI (Black) SPECTOR Legend 4X (Holoflash Black) SPECTOR Legend 4X (Black Stain) STUART SPECTOR DESIGN NS-4 Euro (Red Stain) DINGWALL D-Bird (Blue/Purple Colourflip) WAL Mk1 Fretless (Mahogany with Stained Maple facings) WAL Mk1 “Geddy Lee” (Black with Gold Hardware) FENDER Precision ‘70’s Jap RI “Phil Lynott” (Black/Mirror) FENDER Precision '70's Classic' Jap RI (sunburst/Blocks on maple board) FENDER Precision ’62 Jap RI (Vintage White/Red Tort) FENDER FSR Precision PJ Deluxe Active (Sea Foam Metallic) 1 of 150 FENDER FSR Precision 70's RI (Nat Ash) FRANKENSTEIN Tele neck/P body '"Billy Sheehan - The Wife" JACKSON "Kip Winger" Sig (Cherry Lacewood) JACKSON TBX-Pro ‘Jacksonbird’ 1 of 56 made (Black) JACKSON Ontario ‘Concert Bass’ (White) HAMER Impact USA (Black & Gold ‘Marble’) HAMER Impact USA (Red) HAMER Scarab USA ‘Rick Savage’ (White) KRAMER Forum I (Flipflop Blue) KRAMER Ferrington Electro/Acoustic (Black) ESP The Surveyor 1984 (Blue Stain with Blue fingerboard!) ESP PPJ-160 ‘Masayoshi Yamashita’ Sig Model (White) ESP/Zep-II PPJ-160 ‘Masayoshi Yamashita’ Sig Model (Black) PEAVEY RJ-IV “Randy Jackson” Sig Model (Red Sunburst) PEAVEY RJ-IV “Randy Jackson” Sig Model (Grey/Silverburst) PEAVEY “Rudy Sarzo” Sig Model (Dark Natural) TOKAI ‘Hard Puncher’ P (Black/Mirror) TOKAI Works TW801? (Black) FERNANDES MV-65NS “Nikki Sixx’ Non-Reverse Spectorbird (Black) FERNANDES MV-65NS “Nikki Sixx’ Non-Reverse Spectorbird (Black) FERNANDES MV-65NS “Nikki Sixx’ Non-Reverse Spectorbird (Black) FERNANDES TB Ltd Edition ‘Thunderbird’ (Off-White) YAMAHA BB3000 (Black Sparkle) ARIA CSB Black & Gold (Black) PEDULLA Buzz Deluxe Fretless (Black) HARTKE XK-4 Active (Black/Chrome) GUILD Pilot (Purple Burst) GUILD Pilot (Red) MUSICMAN USA Sub Stingray (Black) HAGSTROM Super Swede "Rutger Gunnarsson" (Dark Mahogany) EPIPHONE Thunderbird Vintage Pro (Black) EPIPHONE Thunderbird Vintage Pro (Tobacco Burst) ITALIA Imola GP "Ricky Phillips" (White) HOHNER B2A w/D-Tuner (Black) HARLEY BENTON PB-20 Precision (Matt Black) FELINE/SPECTOR "Gene Simmons SB-1" Copy (Black) FELINE/KRAMER "Gene Simmons Axe" 1980 Hybrid (Black/Silver) PUNISHER "Gene Simmons" Ltd. Edition (Signed/#’d) (Black) AXE "Gene Simmons" Ltd Edt (Signed/#’d) (Black/Silver) CORT “Gene Simmons Axe-2” (Black/Silver) CORT “Punisher GS-2” (Black) STACCATO MG Active (1 of 34 made) (Black/Magnesium Alloy) I also have 10 'guitards'....

This arrived today! I can’t believe that I haven’t gone down the Bass Collection route before. They are stunning basses. I am a convert. I have been very tempted in the past - from positive posts on here and seeing bassists like Bedders from Madness playing the Profile bass, etc. I knew that they were highly rated and now I understand why. Went for the Betsy as it’s a beauty - burgundy mist with a matching headstock. It was well packaged and in a really neat Bass Collection gig bag. Really neat. And, I kid you not, it was in tune when I took it out of the box! It's well set up with a good action and EMG pickups sound great. The build quality is excellent. When I have played it a bit I will update this in more detail. Unlike my Squier Matt Freeman Precision and my Flea Jazz bass (both brilliant bassists in their own right), I got this as I really like Guy Pratt’s playing and his, erm, his Betsy bass. The other two I bought as they were great basses rather than me being a fan of the players – although I appreciate their playing. Now, can Bass Collection now do a Herbie Flowers signature bass or a Klaus Voormann one? Whilst I wait I might check out their Profile, and the fretless Jazz, and the option to customise… Thought it would make sense to add the more detailed review here: Neck The neck is really comfortable and in shape and feel is not too dissimilar to the Flea. They are both based on 60s basses – a ’64 (Betsy) and a ’61 (Flea) – with the Betsy having a Super Slim Sixties’ Profile. I’m not usually a fan of satin necks as all of my guitars and basses, by complete chance, have had either glossy necks or painted ones. However, I really like this one. It is smooth to the touch and easy to play. It feels right. The frets are well dressed and there are no sharp ends. It is easy to play. The frets are medium and are larger than the vintage-style thinner ones on the Flea. The Macassar Ebony fingerboard looks lovely and I prefer it to the lighter Pau Ferro on some basses at the moment. Hardware The four bolt engraved chrome neck plate has the new Bass Centre logo on it, which is a nice touch. The vintage control knobs have screws to attach them rather than pull on/off ones. The bridge, like the Flea bass, has a traditional roller bridge and the tuners are more substantial than my Matt Freeman P Bass. Body The body is rather lovely. It’s a burgundy mist (pink) with matching headstock. The fit between the body and neck is perfect. No gaps here. The paint job is great and I think I can just see the wood grain. Really like the headstock that has ‘Betsy’ and Guy Pratt’s signature on it. The headstock is fairly close to the Flea bass compared to some of the other BC basses. It’s a good weight – about the same as the Flea. The body on the Betsy seems a bit more substantial, a little bit thicker? Pickups and Strings Now here’s the interesting bit. I rather like both the strings (Bass Centre Elites Stadium Series Roundwound Standard Gauge .045 - .065 - .085 - .105) and the EMG Pickups. I usually use flatwounds or nylon tapewounds and only roundwounds if playing in the pit band of a musical if needed. (I have the Flea to play 50s/60s music - ideal for 'Hairspray' and 'West Side Story' - and the Betsy for more contemporary musicals like 'Billy Eliot' and 'Our House'. Likewise, when playing in our band - the two basses cover both contemporary and non-contemporary songs.) This is a bit of a game changer. The strings and the EMGs (powered by a 9 volt battery under the control plate – just like the real Betsy) are really consistent and I haven’t yet heard any buzzing. Are EMGs noise cancelling? Not sure. Anyone help here, as I've never had a bass with EMGs or with a battery? Price The cost of the Betsy is £595. The Flea bass is nearly twice the price. I am glad and lucky to have both but would be more than happy if I just had the Betsy as it is a really well made and fantastically sounding bass in its own right. What next? On the basis of how good this bass is I am now sorely tempted to go with a fretless Jive after playing the Betsy for a few days.

A couple of Friday tunes from my all time favourite band ,who I’ve seen many times , and the first is a great Bassline from Robbie ☝️

And done. FINALY . Last few parts arrived, neck fitted, strung up and I love it. Was destined to end up being smashed but it will now be played. At some point I will sort the truss rod cover properly and invest in a set of EMG’s but for now I’m done

this is an old band of mine, playing a song wot I wrote. Bass solo kicks in 1:33

Yep, get over to the den of iniquity thread - with content like this you'll fit in perfectly over there

I think in real, quantifiable terms, some people think they look better.

Hi My name is GisserD and i have an addiction to envelope filter pedals. This one is the Dr Scientist - Dusk demo here 1. clean bass - fender jazz elute 5 passive mode, both pickups full. 95% tone 2. dusk env mode - filter at 11 and resonance at 3. internal trim sens +1/4 turn 3. dry gated fuzz (fairydance - Farting rainbow) 4. gated fuzz into env mode 5. gated fuzz into env mode 2 6. clean into sine LFO 7. clean into sine LFO 2 8. (and on.... )messing with the expression controll Early conclusions. 1.The filter itself sounds AMAZING! 2. i have no more early conclusions dusk demo.mp3

Do a cheeky drive past my house with it mate... I won’t tell all the others 🤫🤫🤫 (money will be by the gate under a pot) 👍🏻💜

It’s a long list, but yes, you two are at the top 😎

@Cosmicrain built me the black beauty in this pic

I take your point but would respectfully add that Mr O'Range was merely an insipid strummer whereas Messrs Weller and Davies were frenzied chord-manglers whose right hand's velocity exceeded their left hand's dexterity. For example: a cursory listen to any Jam live album will reveal that in his pomp Granny Weller sounded like an angry scaffolder trying to remove a clamp with a lump hammer yet this presented no impediment to his career. It was only when he embraced his feminine side and did that Wildwoody sort of stuff that people could hear just how stiff and forced his technique really was. All rock, no roll.

You make me look rational and, for that, I thank you 😁

I've just had an Ashdown TonePocket arrive and after a few minutes of noodling, I am very impressed! Has everything I need (simple EQ, aux in,) plus can be used as a DAW interface which I am hoping to experiment with over the weekend. Rechargeable so I don't have to be tethered to the wall, which is quite nice if I want to sit out in the garden and noodle. Only 'gripe' is that I had to buy an adaptor for the headphones, but that is really minor for me.

Here's my collection

I think he's posted the reason, but in another thread. That way he can claim to have told us publicly what he did, but we can't find it. What's the BC equivalent of "on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard.” "?

I used to forget songs while we were actually playing them live. Little panic. It's an age thing. Amazingly I can remember every note of the old songs I played 30+ years ago.

I've just bought my old bass back. I bought it new in March 1989, but used it to cover an outstanding storage bill at our rehearsal studio about 10 years later. I've always had the option of buying it back, and I finally got around to it today. Needs a clean and some new knobs, but it still feels like my bass.

Ghost Pickups are here in the UK in sunny Whitley Bay, Wilf is a good bloke and will wind you anything you like.

How do people usually put weight on? 🙄

All I can say is whenever I’ve changed anything about a bridge material - even changing the saddles on one of my old Rics for ones made of a different material - I could definitely hear the difference. I didn’t necessarily expect to, I just did. I changed a BBOT on my early ‘70s Fender for a Schaller, sounded very different to me.

Having just gone back up to 4, I am going to show this to my wife. 😀

Why Oh Dear? The bridge and body are securely attached to each other and therefore act as a single mass. The alternative would be that the high-mass bridge is so "massive" that it prevents any significant transference of string vibration energy to the body and therefore renders the choice of body material completely irrelevant. Also if that were the case, then fitting a high-mass bridge to a bass would mean that you would no longer be able to hear or feel the string vibration energy in the body of the bass.

Oh dear.

Despite the wisdom that curling the thumb of your fretting hand over the top of the fretboard is “bad technique”; I never cease to be amazed at how many highly competent, creative, successful and iconic bassists (and guitarists) I’ve seen do this to no apparent detriment to their abilities.😯

And they are wrong. As soon as you securely attach one component to another they act together as a single item. A heavier weight bridge will only make a measurable difference if it increases the overall weight of the instrument by a considerable amount, or if it is not mechanically attached to the rest of the instrument, like a floating bridge on something like a Hofner Violin Bass.

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Woah, slow down there 😁. What are you planning to do, just a normal refinish or are you relicing to reveal the underneath colour? There's absolutely no need to strip a poly finish off to refinish a bass if it's in good condition. You can just key the surface (not as harshly as you might expect) and paint your colour straight over it, no primer needed. If the original finish is damaged then any repairs done will need primer applied, left to dry and then flatted to stop the repair showing in your final finish. If you want to remove your fresh finish to reveal the paint underneath as per your picture then things get a little more complicated to make it look realistic. If you want to remove the original paint then you can but I see so many folks complaining about what a nightmare it was, not realising it's unnecessary. The only real reason to completely strip is that any new chips may show the old colour depending on depth, and if the old finish is badly damaged. 🙂

Pleasure - you are a top chap to deal with. Or make a body? This is my 51p coming through, happy to post you a paper template if you want.....

No, no, no. As I said, because the bridge is securely attached to the body it becomes part of the body and can no longer be considered as a separate item. It's basic physics.

But the bridge is mechanically attached to the body of the bass by several screws and therefore, as long as it has been fitted properly, to all intents and purposes it becomes part of the body. As I said before the increase in weight due to the high mass bridges is negligible. It may be that other aspects of the high mass bridge are better engineered such as designs which prevent the sideways movement of the saddles, which should provide additional sustain, but the actual weight of the bridge itself has little or no bearing on the sustain.

Without the strings. 🤣

I’ve eaten a kebab with an Aldis lamp.

Basschat needs a "who's the best guitarist" thread as much as the ozone layer needs another hole.

I’ve been lucky enough to hook up with a new band, Breathe, during lockdown. It’s given me a chance to get my Stingray 5HH out for this track. Each musician recorded at home and sent in a .wav of their part. Do please have a listen. Track is also on Spotify.

I used to love watching Morse and pointing out all the places I’ve been sick around Oxford

For me, Brian would unquestionably be up there in my personal top 5. Utterly unique and always unfailingly musical.

That's really quite interesting. On first glance I'd say it's probably 70s Japanese - although some of the better Korean instruments from that era can be hard to distinguish from MIJ. I don't think it's the same bass as the Matsumoku-built Arias, although there was an Aria Diamond sub-brand. Instruments branded just "Diamond" occur quite regularly in various different territories and it's not clear if all, or in fact any, are connected to Aria. It's probable several unconnected distributors used the Diamond name. What's most unusual about this bass is the headstock shape - almost all 70s MIJ Fender copies used the standard Fender style. Some (including Aria) changed the head shape from around 1977, after Gibson's threatened litigation against Ibanez over their use of the Gibson head style (the so-called "lawsuit") but this isn't a style used by Aria. For me, that's particularly interesting on a Fender type bass which has the large chrome truss cover seen here. On early 70s instruments, several Japanese factories used these, including Fujigen, Matsumoku and Chushin. All phased these out by around 1972, apart from Chushin who continued their use on budget Fender copies throughout the 1970s. I've been interested in these old guitars & basses for a long time and this one is the first I've ever seen to combine that early truss cover style with a non-Fender headstock. The headstock points to late 70s, as does the position of the thumbrest - earlier instruments have it fitted below the strings as a tug-bar, as the late 60s/early 70s Fenders would have. There may be some clues to its origin in some of the bits you haven't shown, so if possible pics of the neckplate, tuner backs, pickups & bridge might be useful. Neckplates can sometimes identify a specific manufacturer, or at least, narrow down who didn't make it. Finally - it really looks in exceptional condition, pretty much unplayed to my eyes. Very unusual to see something like this where the neck lacquer hasn't yellowed significantly. Looks like it's been in a box for 40 years!

This one's a keeper. Plays so well. 38mm neck, Ivory pearl scratchplate., fitted with flats. Great basses for so little cash.

Hi folks, great modding examples! My HB one seems to be a "bit" different... more "heavy relic style". The original bass was sunburst and brand new... Here some features: All hardware aged Neck 39mmm at nut ( I made it more slim) & waxed Bone nut Headstock with personal logo Body through bridge + additional screws for better body/bridge connection. Brass saddles with larger diameter Additional neck plate (6 screw connection) Additional shaping MM- Pickup + mm-style preamp passive & active mode for both pickups Tele-style Control platewith Sandberg knobs (slightly smaller than usual JB-Knobs) Have fun complaining my "art-work" 😂