Telebass

Two basses, as near identical as I can make them. Plenty of spare cables, usually for someone else! Rarely ever gone out with a spare amp.

[quote name='skej21' timestamp='1401444512' post='2463626'] I don't get all the fuss about the SM58. We have Shure and AKG in the rehearsal space and I use an AKG D5 over the SM58 every time. The highs aren't as rolled off as the SM58 which makes it sound more airy and open and the D5 seems to have a better low frequency response and a lower frequency reach (which is nicer for bass cabs and guitar amping). With a little bit of research on the comparisons, the D5 often comes out on top too. It's also approx. £20-30 cheaper than the SM58. It won't stop people from sticking to what they know though ;-) [/quote] Agreed, will get a D5 next time I need a mic. I originally bought a 57 for vocals. Perfectly good. Only use a 58 because a) they're a bit tougher than a 57, and it was a freebie that just needed a new top on. I just might use the 57 tonight instead!

[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1401310612' post='2462415'] I'm not sure as to why the neck cap would alter the sound. I'm a 'wood agnostic' at times anyway. Even a rosewood neck is, proportionally, mostly maple anyway, so I don't hear the night/day differences that some claim to hear between maple and rosewood.... As you suggest, Entwistle's claims don't stand up to scrutiny. We know that the pickups and electronics didn't internally 'overdrive' as John suggested. It is perhaps worth reflecting on the fact that he was using roundwounds, really low action and a crude bi-amp setup with one amp set to accentuate treble, at a time when bassists were using flatwounds, high action and Ampeg B-15 type tones (or running clean DI feeds in the studio). Bassists were always low in the mix, mixed with the minimum of effort... I have a book from the '70s about mixing recorded music in the studio and the bass is almost a footnote (after several pages of mic placement techniques for guitarist's amps). I think bassists are lampooned as the 'too thick for six strings' meathead, and totally dispensable, member of the band because of the standard attitudes of this era. Stick the bass on last, and do it quietly. I think any P-bass will sound pretty raucous through Entwistle's late '60s rig. People cite the 1970 Isle of Wight performance as being an example of how a 'normal' P-bass sounds different, compared to the slabs or Frankenstein. However I don't trust the Isle of Wight recording to be captured in the fullest sense. Did the festival techs know he was running two amps? It is a field recording with a nice stereo image, rather than a definitive live album. John is a bit lower in the mix and doesn't have the treble bite to his tone, but this could down to any number of reasons. The dedicated 'treble' amp, presumably a ~100 watt Hiwatt head, would be a lot louder than the ~100 watt bass head dedicated to lower frequencies (I doubt John used a crossover, just spun the knobs on the amps in opposite directions). Therefore the guy behind the soundboard probably mixed the trebly amp lower because 1) it was overpoweringly loud onstage and would need less support in the mains 2) he probably only had one channel spare for the bass on the recording plant, and wanted a bass signal on there. Furthermore, you have to wonder why he was not using Frankenstein that night, and even if the black bass he used instead was his. Perhaps this bass wasn't set up to his low-action standards, which would take considerable trussrod and saddle tweaks to achieve. Who knows? [/quote] Personally, I don't think there ever was any particularly different sound to these. Just pointing out that the ONLY difference to a standard instrument was that cap neck, apart from the uncontoured body, and we know that made no difference.

[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1401310612' post='2462415'] I'm not sure as to why the neck cap would alter the sound. I'm a 'wood agnostic' at times anyway. Even a rosewood neck is, proportionally, mostly maple anyway, so I don't hear the night/day differences that some claim to hear between maple and rosewood.... As you suggest, Entwistle's claims don't stand up to scrutiny. We know that the pickups and electronics didn't internally 'overdrive' as John suggested. It is perhaps worth reflecting on the fact that he was using roundwounds, really low action and a crude bi-amp setup with one amp set to accentuate treble, at a time when bassists were using flatwounds, high action and Ampeg B-15 type tones (or running clean DI feeds in the studio). Bassists were always low in the mix, mixed with the minimum of effort... I have a book from the '70s about mixing recorded music in the studio and the bass is almost a footnote (after several pages of mic placement techniques for guitarist's amps). I think bassists are lampooned as the 'too thick for six strings' meathead, and totally dispensable, member of the band because of the standard attitudes of this era. Stick the bass on last, and do it quietly. I think any P-bass will sound pretty raucous through Entwistle's late '60s rig. People cite the 1970 Isle of Wight performance as being an example of how a 'normal' P-bass sounds different, compared to the slabs or Frankenstein. However I don't trust the Isle of Wight recording to be captured in the fullest sense. Did the festival techs know he was running two amps? It is a field recording with a nice stereo image, rather than a definitive live album. John is a bit lower in the mix and doesn't have the treble bite to his tone, but this could down to any number of reasons. The dedicated 'treble' amp, presumably a ~100 watt Hiwatt head, would be a lot louder than the ~100 watt bass head dedicated to lower frequencies (I doubt John used a crossover, just spun the knobs on the amps in opposite directions). Therefore the guy behind the soundboard probably mixed the trebly amp lower because 1) it was overpoweringly loud onstage and would need less support in the mains 2) he probably only had one channel spare for the bass on the recording plant, and wanted a bass signal on there. Furthermore, you have to wonder why he was not using Frankenstein that night, and even if the black bass he used instead was his. Perhaps this bass wasn't set up to his low-action standards, which would take considerable trussrod and saddle tweaks to achieve. Who knows? [/quote] Personally, I don't think there ever was any particularly different sound to these. Just pointing out that the ONLY difference to a standard instrument was that cap neck, apart from the uncontoured nody, and we know that made no difference.

I quite liked my old Streamer Standard (flat body as opposed to carved), and I've become quite attached to my Alien, but most other Warwicks don't do anything fir me.

Awful.

For a good while over the last two years, I was doing a lot of chopping and changing of basses. Early on in that period, the neck on my MIM Precision broke. I replaced it with an all - but - unused Allparts Jazz neck, all maple, black blocks and binding. I got it from a fellow Basschatter, and it's a lovely neck. That experience led me to getting basses and mixing up the parts to see what worked. The best result from all this was a Squier P body wearing an American Special Jazz neck. However, a need for cash prompted me to reassemble and sell the American Special Jazz. My other current fetish is blocks and binding. I have the neck mentioned above, a Kingman electro-acoustic (blocked and bound) and a Squier VM77 Jazz neck incoming (all maple, white blocks/binding). This neck will hopefully go on the Squier P body and become my main gigging bass. The Allparts neck will return to the black MIM P whence it came, and be the backup. I've found my "Ones", and that's it. I can look interestedly at other basses and just think, "that's nice", and walk on. It's a really nice place to be, and probably cost less than a USA Fender to do the entire mash up! Bitsas rule!

Why does the cap neck alter the sound? Who knows? But the body it was not. Entwistle's Frankenstein had a standard contoured body. It also had a neck from a slab, and slab innards. Sounded like a slab. Electronics were entirely standard on the slabs. Not much left.

Duh...brain failure.

[quote name='tom1946' timestamp='1399871139' post='2448426'] Sorry but am I alone in thinking that modern fenders are for the most part excellent? Modern electronics and manufacturing technologies are surely better than then? Having tried both I think so. [/quote] Sense at last! The only duff Fender I ever had was a Jazz. A '68 Jazz. What a dog.

That because there isn't one...58 earliest rosewood.

Bass > Samson wireless bug > Samson pedal size receiver on pedal board with tuner and octave > cable > amp. Bug lives in the Boss BCB-30 pedal case. Weighs 5 lb max.

[quote name='cloudburst' timestamp='1400867311' post='2457767'] I love my Fender Jazz Bass with old strings. I'd need to! - since they are the same strings that have been on it since it was bought for me, new, by my dad in 1974. CB [/quote] Like!

I'm thinking my next foray into 5s might be buying one of these and a P5, and swapping the necks, then offloading the J with the P neck. Then I'll have a complete set of blocks/binding Precisions!

[quote name='Kev' timestamp='1400528739' post='2454731'] I'll never understand why people make such a big deal about this bridge and feel the need to fit them as an 'upgrade'. Don't see the appeal and I certainly didn't fall in love with it when I had one on a Fender I used to own. Just a bridge, isn't it? [/quote] And, apart from the range of adjustment, nothing special.

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1400337749' post='2453032'] Very much this. I've only seen four - two were outstanding; one was competent; the fourth was a trainwreck. A Jam tribute with a 'Weller' who could only [i]just[/i] manage basic open position chords and muffed every key riff. Like most of us, I had previously viewed tribute bands with suspicion but have come to see the benefits, not the least of which is a degree of family-friendliness. One time I was watching a couple of ten year old kids at a Whole Lotta Led theatre gig, stood at the front open-mouthed and transfixed. You could just see them thinking '[i]This[/i] is what I want to do.' Which is a Very Good Thing. [color=#ffffff].[/color] [/quote] +1 We really need `like` buttons...

Done.

[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1400020953' post='2450057'] Its a post '58 Precision bass with the colour scheme and (some) aesthetics of a '50s Telecaster guitar. The maple neck, uncontoured body, black pickguard and translucent white finish all nod towards those guitars. [/quote] Exactly ( or perhaps, Precisely? ). There were no Telecaster basses before 1968, so these are Precisions, pure and simple.

Nobody should be using multi-kW PAS in small venues. Even one with a really loud drummer doesn't need more than 300W per side, no point in DI-ing below about 200 capacity venue. Never understood why people lug such mounds of kit about.