Telebass

Much better!

OK, first fail. Bought a set of 'short scale' RS77 Jazz Bass Rotos, thinking that the 32" Thomastik JF324s would be too long, even though they are designed specifically for a particular 30" scale bass - the Hofner Violin Bass. The Rotos are too short and the (rather fetching blue) silks are on or over the nut, causing all sorts of weird overtones and wolf notes. So, if anyone has a 30" scale bass that top-loads, make me an offer! Back to Strings Direct...

[quote name='Rodulator' timestamp='1363648296' post='2015419'] I work very near to GAK and I have to use all my will power to not be in there every lunch break. Oh yeah and nice purchase [/quote] I doubt I could deal with that... Sounds: Unmodified, it's pretty dark and very, very hot. Probably best to plug it into an active socket. Modified to parallel, it's still pretty hot, despite being down to 5.5K. Presumably a very powerful ceramic magnet in there somewhere. But the mod does give it a generous portion of zing and zip, limited a bit by the large sensing area, so it will never sound sound like a P-bass. I find it sustains well, has none of the Fender traditional dead spots, and the tension with the original rounds was good, and even better with TI Jazz Flats, albeit an old 34" set.

As this was a massive impulse buy, the credit card gods need to bne appeased. So, just as a heads-up, going up for sale soon will be a really nice bitsa Jazz, the Plexi P, the Telecaster guitar in my sig, a Mackie 16-ch mixer, and a good many bits and bobs, including a Badass II. Keep your eyes open!

Okay, pics!

Olympic White/blue competition stripes.

See if you can find a used Fender Kingman. I was astonished at the neck on mine, really slinky.

Indeed not, the care and artistry is not in question. Just the end result.

Ay, when I get out of this damned eye unit, I will! Just had yet another bout of pressure-relieving YAG laser surgery. That's the fifth and hopefully, last...

[quote name='ead' timestamp='1363594568' post='2014367'] Beauty is very much in the eye of the beholder I think. Fender is certainly iconic, but being iconic doesn't necessarily imbue greatness. Plenty of examples out there of icons that are not best in class but survive none the less. [/quote] Certainly true.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1363557282' post='2014167'] Why do people think that kids only deserve crappily-made stuff, 'in case it's a five-minute wonder'? Self fulfilling, really. [/quote] Never understood this. However, every Mexican Fender (and pretty much every Squier) I've laid hands on has been at least acceptable. As described above, it should never have reached a shop wall. All the MIM Fenders, or parts of them, that I have had, have been entirely to standard.

[quote name='lettsguitars' timestamp='1362757225' post='2004373'] Ritter undeniably produce some of the nicest looking basses available. The finishes/colour schemes are what set them apart from the crowd. Although I do not believe any instruments justify those kind of price tags. [/quote] Only to those who find this kind of thing 'nice looking'. Otherwise, the reverse is true. My personal view is that nothing built since 1957 is particularly good looking next to a P-bass. There's just no apparent form-follows-function, no matter the design intent. They just do not work for my eye. If you like 'em, etc etc, great, but don't go saying how BAD Fenders are because of it. Most of these won't be around in fifty years, and Fender will have knocked up its centenary. THAT'S class. Staying power due to pure excellence of original design. No other basses have this, and it's likely that few of us will live to see that change. Big claim? Sure. But probably valid.

If I were given one, I'd get rid of it, pronto. Horrible, ugly things. I don't care how they might sound or play, I could not look at it. Come to that, I'd have trouble being in the same room. Don't get me wrong, i'm not being negative for the sake of it. They just repel me. As do a good many other 'furniture' basses, it must be said. But, if pushed, I'd have to say that there's nowhere even faintly approaching £5000 of difference between any Ritter and a Mexican P-bass. There just isn't, period. And I know which I'd have, even if I had millions. And, to reiterate, I'm not jusrt talking Ritter here, but a myriad other so-called 'high-end' basses. They simply aren't. they are, in the main, just high-priced.

OK, it's Sunday morning, and it's been a long hard week...5.5 it is.

See speaker example above. Two 8-ohm cabs in parallel don't make a 2... Yes, it cuts the output a lot. But the unvarnished output, as on the Squier Telebass, is so hot that it's better to plug it into an 'active' input, or engage the pad if your amp has one. Otherwise it can be be a very deep, muddy fuzz box! Of course, this mod can be done with switches to give series, parallel, or even true single coil (coil-split).

Of course, such an impulse buy hath its penalties. I shall shortly be filling a few slots in the basses, guitars, and other bits and bobs for sale forums!

Why would it quarter it? Zs in series add, Zs in parallel, if there are only two, divide by 2. Same as cabinets. 2 8s in parallel = 4 ohms. I gigged the bass last night. Great! There was the occasional bout of of finger acrobatics while adjusting to the scale, otherwise very impressed!

Pics tomorrow!

To get the bite, you do a simple electrical mod. The TEB101 humbucker is a 4-wire jobbie. Under the plate is a taped pair, red and white. Solder red to ground and the white to the green wire on the volume pot. This puts the pickup into parallel mode, halving the impedance from 22k (HOT!) to around 11k, not too far off a standard P-bass pickup. Voila, lots of zing and bite, enough for me to go get some TI Jazz Flats to fit it.

Went to visit my niece in Brighton. She lives 250m from GAK. There was no way I was not going in. Didn't expect to come out out carrying! Pawn Shop Mustang Bass, white. Pics to follow when I'm home!

All my gear lives at home, but I only eer play through a Tascam MP-BT1, except when testing stuff, then I use a Fender Bassman 25 combo. All the big stuff is for rehearsals/gigs only. I often have the basses out on stands, though. Got drool over them as often as is decent... KingBollock, get a Hercules autograb stand for the Warlock - pretty sure that will be solid, if a little pricier than average.

Went to see them a while back to get some tips, as we were putting our own FM tribute together at the time. Very good. Not really a look-alike tribute, just a musical tribute, and all the better for that, IMHO...

Being a three-piece has never really stopped us doing anything that takes our fancy! Just go for it.

[quote name='AnalogBomb' timestamp='1361276461' post='1983672'] This scenario is all too common to me.... I've lost count of the times that I have brought all of my gear to gigs (even when we're not headlining) to be asked 'ere mate, can I use your amp?' - this is when my face turns an ashen grey looking colour. My main reason's being, I like to think of myself as an easy going, nice guy, who doesn't like to upset people and so I have in the past pretty much said, 'err Ok'. This was until recently. We had a gig at a local club in Bradford and I took my then combo, (Ashdown ABM EVO ii 500) and set it up and for once in it's life, got a decent sound! Then ther other band turns up and all I can describe it as is.... 'Do you want to start a band?' 'OK, I've got some rad tunes and a zany haircut, do you know anyone who plays bass?' 'My mate plays bass, but she's only been playing for 3 months' 'no worries, how hard can it be?!' I think you get where this is going. So she turns up, doesn't even ask to use the amp, but just plugs in (which annoyed me no end), then has the cheek to say, 'I don't like it, it's not my tone'. I know that, because it's my tone. So she fiddles around with the EQ and then I come to plug in - nothing. Nada. Zilch. Turns out, she'd turned the input level up to max and completely blown the speaker, which cost me £100 to replace. Not good. I've also literally walked on stage during a guys gig in Leeds once and turned my amp down as it was in the red constantly. I also can't understand how people don't know how to use gear and I know this is a massive bugbear of people on BC! For example, when I had the Ashdown, folks would just plug in and turn the output dial...... and look perplexed when nothing happens! I mean, for me, if I was using another amp, the first thing I'd do is look for a mute button! I agree that gear share is sometimes necessary, just for ease of transition, but for gods sake, please just ask and I'll talk you through it! I also get that some folks maybe just can't afford to buy a decent rig for whatever reason, but I don't know if anybody else thinks this, but I tend to find that there are people around who if asked, will refer to themself as a 'Bass Player' and people who just play bass cos it's the only way they could get in a band. I class myself as the latter..... [/quote] This is quite enough justification for never sharing. If it's inconvenient - too bad. And no, I don't play at the bottom end of the originals circuit, nor, I hope will I ever do so if this is what it means. bad enough that there's little pay in that circuit, but getting gear trashed is, in so many ways, a show-stopper.

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1361549393' post='1987406'] The science of sustain is very simple. Any energy transferred from the string to the bridge will reduce the movement of the string. If the bridge moves over the metal plate then this would do it as would any flexing of the plate itself. The standard bent metal bridge of the traditional fender would appear to have several weak design features. The plate itself can be very thin and fairly flexible steel. The grooved roller bridges are mounted on very flimsy grub screws which finger pressure can move easily over the shiny chromed plate. The grooved roller doesn't seem to be the best mount for the string either as it runs through a length of groove rather than pivoting on a knife edge. Whether this adds up to anything significant compared to the losses in the neck and body I have no idea. [/quote] In my experience, no bridge betters the original in any way except being rough on your hand if you happen to play that way. So the design faults, in any meaningful sense, don't exist. If it's hurting your hand, change it. If it doesn't, don't waste your cash. PS I'd be willing to bet a large sum that no-one, ever, has ever been able to demonstrate any meaningful 'flexibility' in any fender supplied BBOT. Unless they used a hammer.