mcnach

I would have been not long ago, but my Mesa D800+ has a variable one built-in that works very well

That's just one way to use it, for speaker protection. You can definitely turn up the cut off frequency higher into the audible range and get very useful results too. Bass is not that much about the lowest frequencies, for most people, even if they don't realise it until they check. I used to have a Thumpinator, but once I tried a frequency-adjustable one, the Thumpinator went, as I often found useful to go above its rigid cutoff of 30Hz

Need one? Probably not. But they can come very handy. I would get a frequency-adjustable one, something like the Broughton Audio one. Small, simple, and not extremely expensive. I find it very useful to tame unwanted 'boomy' sound you get in some stages/rooms. THAT will be audible. It's surprising how much you can cut while still sounding fat and big. It helps getting a fat but clear bass, I find.

I've had a neck made and bought a couple of preamps... no trouble, but won't be top quality either (no surprise). Communication can be tricky, so be concise and use bullet points if possible...

Not the answer my wallet wanted to hear... but fortunately it's a cheap pedal Thank you! I must try one of these. The sound seems right and the size is perfect...

I haven't seen the new all maple bass, but if it looks half as good as the one I used to have, it'll be a beauty. However, the neck dive was annoying in the end. It was made worse by the fact the bass was very light, but I wouldn't want a heavy body just to help a bit with the neck dive. A suede strap (which I also have) just grabs whatever you're wearing: it's ok if it's a jacket, but if it's a t-shirt, you end up with a diving bass anyway and a t-shirt pulling out from the side looking very odd. It sounded good, 'though.

True. About half an inch!

It looks like it's a good thing he's gone. People with temperament like that are a liability. I'm not the calmest person, but even I would not leave a band hanging. It looks like you've got it covered for the upcoming gig... do it that way and try to get a replacement for the future. I'd personally never go back to playing with that drummer. You need people you can rely on, and accept criticism when is due.

That would be a good bass for sure, but it'll easily add another £500 or so, depending on options, than the Schecter.

I had a Cort GB74. It had a slimmer neck than I like but it was a very well made bass. However the electronics were very disappointing, especially the preamp. Still... they're not that costly, and I got mine used for £150 (yup), a beautiful natural/maple one that weighed just over 7 lbs. The Sires... I have just tried a 5 string V7 (Jazz) and I thought it was incredible, especially considering the price, but even at a higher price. I have heard of them being heavy but this one was not overly heavy. Judging by the quality of that one, I'd definitely keep Sire in my radar. It was very very very nice. The Sire P7 comes in some nice finishes... the least favourite of mine is the Tobacco sunburst... but it seems to have the J pickup farther from the bridge than the others, and that could be a very cool configuration.

well, I changed my mind. I'm keeping it. It's just too nice to play. The Yamahas have an interesting look and sound good but they've never felt "right" when I tried them.

I know it has a volume, but the pedal I mentioned earlier was too sensitive. If I wanted to quickly increase or lower gain *a little bit*, I'd have to readjust the volume too, which is not so easy while on the go, as a small tweak made my bass inaudible or too loud. Most overdrive pedals will also increase the volume when turning gain up, but not an increase that would be problematic. So just wondering how sensitive this pedal is.

heathen!

I am tempted to keep it... but removing that preamp and installing a 3-band John East U-Retro (which I already have in my drawer, doing nothing, waiting for the right bass) with its wonderful semiparametric mids control... I suspect that I would like the bass a lot more then. But it just seems to me I'm trying to make it sound like the Maruszczyk Jake I have... so what's the point? I wish I had kept an older set of DR Fat Beams to try it with, as the right strings could transform the bass, perhaps... Hmmm...

I took it to rehearsal today, very very very carefully, alongside my passive Maruszczyk P/JJ (a Jake). I like the neck on the Model T better... even if the Jake's neck was specified by me and they built it just like I asked. I love it. It's a great neck... but the Model T is really really nice. However... I think I'm going to send it back. When I finally get the sounds I'm after, it turns out that I'm making it sound like the Jake. The EMG P sounds very nice on the Model P, and that's something I never really loved on my Jake: the P pickup alone is ok but not smile-inducing like the EMG on the Model T. The Model T is nice... but not nice enough for me to have two terribly similar basses... where the Jake wins with its double J and general vibe. I know the comparison today wasn't fair as the Jake has strings that feel and sound just right, while the Model T has strings that I dislike profoundly because they're way too bright... but it seems the character of the Model T is something I'm fighting against [*] while the Jake's character is more to my taste. [*] nothing wrong with it, just a little too aggressive and bright for my liking (although the EMG P sounds great). It's a shame... it's a really good looking bass and feels really nice to play.

I like the sound of that! Do you find that changing the drive setting alters a lot the volume? I mean, yes, it will affect the volume but is it so much that small changes in drive will make you change the volume too? I have a Joyo Ultimate Drive which is based on the OCD as well and sounds nice... but when I need to adjust the drive, the volume either drops or increases a lot even for relatively small changes in drive... which makes adjusting it while playing live a little more complicated. I'd love it if the volume change weren't as drastic. On the video the changes in volume sound reasonable but there could be a lot of compression going on... What do you think?

I'd love not to notice. I sold quite a few basses over the years mostly because I didn't get along with the neck after trying to like it... and some were really nice. Lucky you!

Totally. They're good instruments, without a doubt. My 'niggles' were purely about whether this is the sound I want, and I should have started by saying that I don't normally get along with twin pickup basses, except things like the Warwick Corvette $$, where the two pickups are not at their 'usual' positions. Unfortunately these basses are not very commonly found in the second hand market, so if one really wants to try it, buying online and gamble is the only option. So the question is: do you think it will be a better bass than other similarly priced ones that you can find more easily? If the looks grab you, there's no question as there isn't really another one like it around. But if you just want a PJ style bass, there are lots of other options too. I have to say I like this better than the vast majority of PJ basses I've ever tried so far. I played the Model T a bit more this morning and now I'm at 99% keeping it. It feels right for me. It's a lovely neck, I got it playing very nicely with pretty low action smoothly, no buzz, I can still dig in and will sound good... and it does sound good. Now that I know where the "sweet zone" is for me, so I don't need but to tweak very slightly the blend or treble controls... I'm pretty happy with the sound. I'll take it to band rehearsal tonight and unless that reveals something negative, I'm keeping it.

Not as many hits? Ah, you haven't seen me! They ask me to play right at the back of the stage to avoid riots with women trying to climb up and get closer... it's a curse, but I live with it I might do some recording, could be fun... however all these basses have completely different strings, so not sure how useful it'd be as a straight comparison, but could be fun. Right now it's: Model T: very new nickel Ernie Balls Fender P: 3 year old stainless steel DR Fat Beams, I like them a lot but they have lost the very top by now. Squier P: Fender Original 60s pickup, Status black nylon tapewounds Maruszczyk P/JJ: Seymour Duncan SPB-1 replacement on the P. Original Maruszczyk nickels... they are very old and mellow and I like them as they are Maruszczyk reverse P: Delano something or another, fresh DR Fat Beams Stingray: two year old DR Fat beams... very mellow, but the preamp still extracts a lot of treble if/when I want to EBMM SUB: one year old (or so) DR Fat Beams we'll see...

I played the bass quite a bit more now. It's growing on me. Lots. Once I stopped messing with it and just played it, with minor adjustments as I went along... I started really enjoying this. That position on the blend knob with both pickups on and favouring *slighty* the bridge pickup is such a great rubbery "finger funk" type of sound. I love it. And the P on its own, adding a tiny bit of treble growls like a beast and has a pretty cool slap sound although there's still something on the upper mids that I don't quite like when slapped. Anyway... undecided still... but I'm very likely keeping it now. Oh, and I weighed it, 8.5 lbs... lighter than my Stingray indeed.

38mm is typical Jazz... Precisions can be anywhere between 42mm to 45mm... it's noticeable and it's not 2mm. There may be the odd Precision at 40-41mm but that's going to be rare... and that's 'slim' territory to me.

There are lots on the skinny side, but also lots around 42mm, which is pretty decent. For me 42-43mm is ideal, but I also like 44-45mm (like the Classic 50s series Precision) as long as the profile is shallow. Some brands seem to specialise on slim, so if you are looking at them mostly that's what you'll find (Ibanez, despite their lovely ATK range, seems to do mostly slim neck instruments as far as I can see) It's annoying 'though when you find a nice bass that only comes in 'skinny'. Like you, my hands are not exactly big, but I find Jazz bass necks less comfortable.

God, that was long!!!!

Well... I've got the bass. Today I was home at 4pm from work (today it was a very early start but literally 4min away from home, so it was nice to be home before the traffic even really got seriously bad). It was doubly nice as I had arranged online to have the bass stay at the depot and for me to collect it. I received a confirmation with a note stating that they were open until 8pm and that if not collected today it'd be sent back. Well, they attempted to deliver anyway, and ended up leaving it with a neighbout. UKMAIL... I can't tell you just how many times you've failed me like this in the past... at least this time they actually left it somewhere I could get to it quickly, so l was lucky, but I'd have been really annoyed to go to the depot (13 miles away) to find they again said one thing but did another... Anyway... I got it out. I haven't weighed it but it's not heavy, which is a good thing. It does look as nice as in the photographs... or better. Mine has a very nice grain and I love the tint in person, very nice and warm. It had a rather high action for my liking, so before I even plugged it in I changed that. I had to lower the saddles quite a bit and tweak the truss rod more than I expected... so I was worried the high action was hiding uneven fretwork... but nope, I got it really nice and low and it looks like the frets are all nice and even, the nut is well cut, and it's a very nice neck to play. Pretty shallow profile. Then I plug it in, with the preamp (Bass/Treble) set at the centre detent which I assume is flat, and both pickups on (blend control set at the middle) And it's ok. Not great, not bad. OK. I'm very underwhelmed here, especially after all the anticipation. There's some funky harsh midrange going on that I am not loving, especially slapped. Bass end of the P pickup was a bit too overpowering, perhaps due to my lowering the strings? I bring that side down a bit and things get better... but it's not a lovely tone. The bridge pickup... reminded me of why I didn't like a 75RI Jazz bass I had, which was equipped with a set of EMG J. They really are not my thing, and boosting bass a bit doesn't really make it thick enough, it still sounds way too clean for my liking with a lot of top end and some added low end on top... The neck pickup... hmm. Ok, I actually like the neck pickup a bit more. It's aggressive, and it has that mid-growl that I love on Precisions... but it's still a little 'unrefined'... so I turn down the treble a bit. NOW we are starting to get somewhere. This bass comes with Ernie Ball nickels 45-105. They are not high tension, but when I use these strings I prefer their 45-100 set and only really after I've played them a bit. I really dislike the brightness they have when new. I generally hate new strings. I don't want them dead, but I struggle when I change strings until they are tamed a bit. So here we have a bass with strings brighter than I like, and pickups that are probably brighter, or at least with an extended top end compared to what I prefer... so not the best combination to impress me on a "first date". I played a little more, turning down treble almost to max, and it is nicer but I'm not fully feeling it. I miss having a semiparametric mids control... the treble frequency is quite well chosen so when I cut it works the way I want it although it doesn't cut quite enough. The bass... I don't really feel like adding or removing. I wish it had a passive pone control and a semiparametric mids control instead. At this point I look at it, put it down, and go away to do something else. I'm thinking that I should be very careful with it, not mark it in any way, because there's a good chance this bass will be returned: it is a perfectly fine bass... but I'm not really loving it and I don't see myself using it that much after the "novelty" wears off. ... I'm pretty much sure that I will return it. But I decide to give myself until Monday to make up my mind (it just leaves me tonight and Wednesday night, and Sunday night, as I'm busy the rest of the time). ... Then I have another go, after I've eaten. This time, crucially, I'm using backing tracks (some random funk/rock/reggae ones I find on youtube, as well as stuff from my own band). And now things start sounding better. About an hour and a half later... I'm leaning towards keeping it, but I'm still 100% sure. These are my thoughts at the moment: The bass feels very nice, the neck is just my kind of neck (I could do wider, but it's wide enough and it's shallow so it doesn't feel chunky but it's got "meat"). Cosmetically and physically I have no issues here. It's not the lightest bass but it's not a heavy bass at all, probably a bit lighter than my Stingray. The preamp... I'm not a big fan of. The stacked knobs don't feel that great, a bit 'gritty' even if the operation is noise-free. The treble is just right in terms of the frequency centre that I like to cut, especially with new strings. I wish it cut cut a bit more than it does. The bass... seems a bit lower than I'd like... but then that's usually how I feel with most preamps. I miss having control over the mids. I'm used to the John East mids module, or the 2-band Stingray preamp which after years of use I instinctively know how to set so that I get the sound I want. This preamp doesn't seem as interactive as the Stingray one, but there's still some degree if interaction and I'm not yet familiar with it. As it is, I still would like to have a bit more control on the mids... and if this bass was to stay, I can see replacing the preamp in the future for a John East mids module, and using a passive tone control. But not in a hurry. I'd imagine most people would be more than happy with the EMG preamp, I think it's just me being almost obsessed by the John East preamps, of which I have a few :D) The pickups... I still don't love the Jazz bridge. It's too clean and thin and I can't thicken it the way I want by adding bass to it the way I can on a J-Retro preamp with any other standard Jazz pickups I've tried. However... with both pickups on, you get a nice sound, with a bit more midrange than usual for a P/J combo but still somewhat scooped... but here is where the blend knob comes handy: just turn it a bit towards the bridge... and you gain clarity very nicely, still sounding fat and punchy. For THAT reason alone, the EMG Jazz deserves to stay. I'd never use it on its own, but it allows me to control the midrange when using both pickups, and it's what makes me not too worried about keeping it stock. It's a sound that on its own wasn't that nice.... but when playing along to backing tracks it started to make me smile. It sits very well in the mix, but it still has a nice presence. The EMG P pickup... now, this is a LOVELY sound. It's not a traditional vintage Precision type of sound at all... but it still sounds like a Precision, and it has that low midrange growl... hmmm... This is a very good sound! No more to add... it's just a really good Precision sound. Aggressive, but taming the top end just sounds incredible. In the mix it sounds really really good. Powerful, strong presence, but not overpowering. It's the EMG P that probably swayed me the most towards keeping it. I'd probably use this bass as a Precision most of the time, and sometimes with both pickups on. But it makes me wonder... what if I just put an EMG P into my cheap but lovely to play Squier Mike Dirnt Precision? I suspect I'd end up with something I really like, and save a bunch of money. So, is it really worth it? Should I keep the Model T? I'm not sure. It will not replace my Classic 50s Fender Precision, because this one has THE classic Precision sound. It will not replace my passive Maruszczyk Jake P/JJ, because this one has righteous funk and reggae sounds and the JJ pickup at the bridge is a very useful sound by itself... although it doesn't do very well the classic Precision sound. But the EMG P on the Model T is completely grin-inducing once I tamed the treble a bit. I think once I put a set of stainless steel DR Fat Beams, and let them get 'funky' for a couple of months, the Model T could sound pretty awesome. But... the tonal adjustments onboard are not my favourite options, and I'll never know 100% until I use my preferred strings for a bit... Some argue that if you say "this bass is great but... " and then start saying how you'd shape its sound with EQ etc, that it's probably not a 'keeper' bass. And in my experience, the basses that are surviving any culls are the ones that felt and sounded right from the start, regardless whether the strings were my favourite, new or old... It just seems that £700+ may be a little too much for an instrument that doesn't completely floor me (as nice as it is) when I really do not have a need for a bass like that right now. So... I'll retire and meditate for a bit, then play some more... and see how I fee in a couple of days.

Best a double J... but then I already have a Maruszczyk like that (just a bit less pretty)