Ghost_Bass

I'm with the OP, i hate 3TSB but a tobacco burst is sexy. I'm waiting for my new Sandberg California VM5 in tobacco with maple neck (sorry Hobbayne) to be delivered in november. Prior to that i had a Stingray in honey burst (again with maple FB hehehe) that i loved to bits, shame it was so heavy... the only mandatory thing to me for a burst to look good is a black pickguard!

@wishface: Where, EXACTLY, do you live? There are a lot of member offering to take a look at your bass but nobody knows if they are near you or not! I obviously can't help because i'm in a different country. Tell us where you live (city, village, etc.) and is very likely that one of the members will be on your part of the woods soon and can help you with your problem. From what i've been reading i don't think you should pursue your bass's setup alone any further, it's obvious that you're lacking experience in this area and the best way for you to learn is to be next to somebody who knows what he's (or she's ) doing and observe how things are done and listen to explanations. Everybody on this thread is willing to help you but you must understand that it's a bit frustrating to be explaining you something and recieve an answer saying that you done things only to some point and won't do anything more even if the inicial problem still exists. This is why the comments about "defeat" and "layzyness" started to appear. I understand that you don't want to reck you bass but you need to understand that people are offering sound advice and nobody here want's to make you reck it. Please offer the other members the same compreension and respect you are asking for yourself. This is a great forum full with great people, all with a common passion, bass! Please stop arguing with other members the same way that they need to stop arguing with you, let's focus on the main thing, your bass! So lets start this thing again from scratch? Can we? Tell us were you live and we'll start seeing how we can find a way to get your bass to somebody's knowledgeable hands! We'll pick up after that. Cheers

Finally pulled the trigger on a California VM-5 (PM-5) in tobacco, b/w/b pickguard and vintage tinted maple fb neck. I was quoted on about 10 week waiting period. So in a couple of months i'll be having some pics to add to the sandberg porn thread. I feel like a child a week before x-mas!

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1346856788' post='1794093'] Really? I've always done it with the fretted/harmonic 12th fret method... Have I been doing it wrong? [/quote] No, not wrong, i also use the 12th fret/harmonic , i'm only refering to using a cromatic tuner instead of relying solely on our ears. When i intonate i start with open string / fretted 12th and then i pass on to fretted 12th / 12th harmonic. I find that i get better results this way down to -/+ 1 cent offset. cheers

[quote name='wishface' timestamp='1346853422' post='1794060'] It's clearly a low budget instrument. Im' sure their more expensive instruments are much better. I'm not slagging them off. I've had this bass for ten years. I just would like to know what to expect from the instrument. It is what it is. I've managed to improve the intonation somewhat on the E, and i've lowered the action a bit more. Given that I pick over the pickup I can't lower it too much. I think it's probably as good as it's going to get without getting into looking more deeply, such as examining the truss rod which I'm not going to do. To be honest the tuning test for intonation didn't produce wildly divergent results, to my ears the fretted 12th and the harmonic on each string sounded identical anyway. Thanks for all the help [/quote] you shouldn't hear the difference on the 12th fret harmonic, to intonate properly you need to be using a cromatic tuner so you can set it as close as possible to the root with just one or two cents of offset.

Read this carefully a couple of times: [url="http://www.jerzydrozdbasses.com/akcndfr54jdhrei567/Ultimate_Guide_ver100.pdf"]http://www.jerzydrozdbasses.com/akcndfr54jdhrei567/Ultimate_Guide_ver100.pdf[/url] You're doing something wrong, the saddle has to move back and forward (closer tothe bridge or the neck) even if it needs to be pushed in place with the screwdriver.

From your pics i can swear that your intonation is off, the sadles are all at the same level and you hardly get that when intonating a bass. Take up on TheRev's offer and let him have a look at your bass and give you some advice on setting up and playing technique.

My 3-EQ bass pre is flat, on my walkabout everything is flat appart from one of the 3 parametric EQ it has that is cutting a bit around 50 to 60 HZ. All my mids are obtained with pickup pan and right hand position. Oh! Mixer tends to run my channel flat also when the room is not very bad. cheers

I've played a Warwick Starbass and i can say it's one of the best sounding basses i had the pleasure to play and it was one of the two Warwick basses that i've ever heard pumping a tone that i liked (the other was an old Streamer Stage II).

Just ignore it, stick a bit of duct tape over it so you don't see it lighting ! You're going to be playing with your backs to the amp anyway! Mine never reached protection and i ran it a bit hot because i only used one 8Ohm cab with it (with a 4 ohm cab i never noticed the LED coming on).

Sold an Artec SE2-A to Paul, payment sent in record time. A great guy to deal with, strongly recommend! Thanks Marco

Is the OP refering maybe to something like this? [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujEph5vFwmc"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujEph5vFwmc[/url] In this particular case i believe that Fieldy's peculiar way to hit the strings isn't a sign of poor bass playing but just an addition to "his" sound, like anobody else using a fx, for example. I do believe that other bass players with much lesser skills can get away using a similar sound in his band mix. Clean and defined tone on a bass brings out all the players faults but just because you use a dirty sound doesn't mean you can't play it properly. Cheers

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsD1zoI7NYo[/media]

Had and tried all the usual suspects, BSW, OC-2, Aguilar, EBS, MXR and even the EHX BMS and out of all the MXR sounds and tracks the best IMO. Even done an A-B-C with the OC-2, MXR and EBS and the MXR outperformed the other two. The sound is very clear and organic and cuts better in the mix. I won't be parting with mine any time soon. I found the OC-2 to be too synthy and a bit too "wooly" in a band context.

I'm not trying to start an argument here but IMHO i often find very helpful the fact that i can plug to the same socket in two diferent positions but i have to agree that UK plgs look safer due to the fact that the ground connection isn't sticking out of the socket so you can´t touch it... unless...

Update! Back from the store with mine: Boy does this work!!! Dropped it on top of my amp and all noises ceased imediatly! I just need to find out what are the settings to let the bass sound through the amp again...

[quote name='bremen' timestamp='1345728981' post='1780966'] ...must...resist... [/quote] You can't! Flavour of September came early! Race you all to the store

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1345727983' post='1780935'] Bet they do wonders for your tone! ................................................................. [/quote] But it has to be the straight ones for me, they're more defined, the angled plugs have a darker sound!

Couldn't you just "borrow" one from an old computer instead of buying new? And haven't you got extra leads in case one faults? I've been gathering leds for some time now (some remained from old PC's and some magicly apeared on my gigbag in the morning after gigs/rehearsalls - others have disapeared too so the thing balances itself ) and now i must have about 10 leads stored in a case somewere in my house...

[quote name='dincz' timestamp='1345659888' post='1780213'] They're still standard here and apparently also in France, Belgium, Poland and Slovakia. I'm only 60Km from the Austrian border and got caught the first time I went down there. Czech plugs won't go into Austrian sockets but the other way is OK. [/quote] One of the main reasons that's making EU change to these plugs is the ability to either plug the socket one way or rotating 180 degrees. Like i said some countries are still using them and many device's plugs have both contacts for either socket but i recon that could start changing in a near future. edit: just a curiosity, the "EU" plug shown in my pic will fit in both plugs, PT and CZ.

I think its best if you sell it to me cheap (because it sounds very boomy) and start using your Jazz... What's your EQ like? My TRB its everything but boomy, in fact it only booms if i boost the lows and start cutting on the mids and highs on the EQ. I always use it with flat EQ though.

[quote name='dincz' timestamp='1345648972' post='1780005'] Here's the third pin. [attachment=116316:socket.jpg] The point being that European power sockets have an earth connection. [/quote] That's fallen out of use for some time. Some (few) countries still have them and you can still find one or anther in some very old houses but nobody's using them in modern construction nowadays. These are the plugs in current use:

Europe: UK: "European" plugs only have two pins, what could be called of a third pin (those side metal plates) are for earthing. Edit: both sockets going in to the amp are the same (like the ones used on PC's).