mcnach

thank you!!! I just bought this (Signing off) on amazon... loving it!!!

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1437862019' post='2829666'] WANT!!!! [/quote] move along, move along, nothing to see here... (but lots to hear! I've just downloaded UB40's "Signing off" and been playing along with this bass... seriously, these Entwistle pickups are amazing. If you have anything P-bass shaped that you're not entirely sure about soundwise, give these ones a try... £26!)

[quote name='super al' timestamp='1437860902' post='2829657'] Like Blue I had an active bass run out of juice mid gig. Mid 90s I had the good fortune to play in a band for the musical 'Grease' (Southampton Uni not West End!) but didn't have a spare battery. In front of a sell out audience my bass decides to die during the first few bars of my big moment, 'you're the one that I want', oh poop!!! Luckily the MD played the bass part on her keyboard and saved my butt. 20 years later that still haunts me but lesson learned, my EUB takes a 9v battery and I always have a fresh battery for a performance plus a spare on top of the amp in case. [/quote] ouch! what a way to learn that lesson!

[quote name='jezzaboy' timestamp='1437857870' post='2829622'] Really nice with the maple neck. I had a black one a few years ago that I put a Status pickup and new tuners and bridge on and it was a great bass. Nice and light unlike the boat anchor Mexican one. Where did you get the small thumb rest from? [/quote] The thumb rest... It was attached with double-sided sticky tape (the same method I use here) to the pickguard of an OLP bass I had years ago. I kept it, and in fact had it replicated in aluminium (got that on the L2000 and the CV50 Precision) and black acrylic (on my Precisions/PJ and a Jazz). I wish I could buy them somewhere, I could use a few more! Having just a couple made is too expensive to make it worthwhile.

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1437858157' post='2829625'] These techie explanations are great - they're really explaining what I've been hearing for a while now in the consumer bass end of the Class D market. If someone (Alex?) can come up with a lightweight with a power supply that isn't lightweight (if you know what I mean), colour me interested. [/quote] It sounds like it's doable just not cheap. It probably would not sell thousands of units rapidly, but there surely must be a market for it.

The 3-band is just an active bass/mid/treble control... I approach them as something to generally do small tweaks to. I get the sound I want from the amp... then I may adjust slightly with the onboard EQ. You find you need a bit more mids... up it goes. Or cut the low end. Or cut the treble... Just because you have 5 knobs it doesn't mean you *have to* tweak them all Find what makes it sound good, and learn what each knob does *in the band context* so that you can do adjustments on the fly when you need to. There's nothing particularly different about basses with active EQ...

So, did you end up buying one? Mine was definitely not 42mm, more like 40mm, and slim cross-section too (older one, a 2007 model, with the star on the body, unfortunately)

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1358708804' post='1943810'] Looks great. Can I call "dibs" if you sell it? [/quote] Two years on... this bass is still with me, and it only got better. Aside from a couple different pickguards I tried, which are merely cosmetic (a single ply white one, and a 3-ply mint green), the pickup was replaced earlier this year... the Entwistle neodymium job sounds great and it's cheap (I replaced the covers with white ones). Then, I replaced the neck. Nothing wrong with the original one... but I love maple, so when the opportunity to grab a glossy lacquered maple one came up, I did. This is the bass now: more here: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/266600-kind-of-but-not-really-nbd-mike-dirnt-squier-precision/"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/266600-kind-of-but-not-really-nbd-mike-dirnt-squier-precision/[/url]

So I bought this Squier Precision, a Mike Dirnt model, a couple of years ago... that's just before my Precision love blossomed and this bass played a big role in that! It was light, very comfortable neck, slimmer than most Precisions, somewhere between a P and a J, cheap, and made some great noises. It came with some roundwound steel strings, which also started to open my eyes to stainless steel strings... great feel, nice sound... it looked like this (on the right): I liked that it had no routing or anything under the pickguard so it looked nice without one: At the time I started a thread about it, [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/197094-mike-dirnt-squier-p-bass-anyone/"]here[/url]. It is a bass that didn't see a lot of action for a while, but that I felt strangely attracted to... and ultimately led me to other Precisions. There was nothing wrong with it, but I never truly *loved* it. First of all, I am a bit racist (of tree species) when it comes to fingerboards. I can have flings with rosewood, but I only really fall in love with maple. Especially lacquered. Yes, I could have changed the neck... but I wasn't keen. It was meant to remain cheap, and the neck was lovely. Plus, the square kind of body/neck joint makes it harder to find a suitable neck. I used it for busking a lot. It was my inexpensive but nice player kind of bass that I was not too worried about if I used it outside and could get dirty or whatever. It was also light, did I mention that? That's a nice thing when carrying a bunch of things about in town. I changed the pickup earlier this year. The original was ok, but a little unrefined. I bought an Entwistle neodymium one, based on the good reviews and low price... and found it didn't fit the bass as the ears were too big. No problem... I didn't like the big lettering on the Entwistle pickup covers, and I bought new covers for it, in white. It ended up looking like this: Those pickups are great! I started a thread about them [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/258271-entwistle-neodymium-p-type-pickups-pbxn"]here[/url]. I have used this bass without pickguard a lot. I also tried two different ones, a white one (pictured above), and a 3-ply mint green one which I think looks nice with the kind of creamy aged white colour of the bass body. I played some gigs with it now, with the new pickup... It sounded great. Huge. Not exactly traditional Precision, but for that I already had now the red Classic 50. Great sounds. Fat. Powerful. Yeah! Still... rosewood. Sorry, I could not love you. "I'll take you home tonight and play all night, but I will not take you to meet my parents" kind of deal. Until... I found a CV series Squier neck online, new, maple, lacquered... from a 50s series, with the squareish neck bottom!!! It wasn't the yellow tinted one, which would have been AMAZING, but it looked great in pictures. So I went for it. Sure, it cost more than what I paid for the bass, and I was hit with £40 charges (it was in the US)... but it was BEAUTIFUL. To my surprise, it was nothing like my own CV50 Squier neck... this was less chunky, and in fact not too far off the Mike Dirnt one.The fit was very good too. The holes did not align, ok, but that's easily sorted. While the original neck fit was nearly perfect, this one leaves a bit of a gap, tiny... I'll call it "70s Fender vibe" It works. It's not something I'd be too impressed with on a £800 bass, but I can live with it here. I gave it to my favourite (well, one of my two favourite luthiers, because I know two lovely ones now and I don't want the other one to be upset if he reads this ) luthier, to make sure the neck was fitted nicely and took the opportunity to ensure frets were levelled etc. I also replaced the nut, just to get a nice one in and cut it just right. I got it back a couple of days ago... and it looks like this: I also like the fact the neck is a Squier, so I'm not changing logos or anything... Its new neck is as comfy as the original, but I like it a lot more, just from a personal preference point of view... the lacquered feel is lovely. So here it is... it's not exactly a new bass day... but almost! Now I'm confident this bass is here to stay

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1437641388' post='2827720'] Re: guitarists and tubes - I've become much more involved with playing guitar now, and a small Fender tube combo with those pristine cleans is a wonderful thing. I have two low-ish wattage tube amps for guitar, and they do sound great. Guitarists have it much easier though, as a good quality 1x12 22W tube amp covers a lot of ground. Buy a nice overdrive pedal (like a Klon clone) and bam, you have some very interesting tones. However, the new Roland Blues Cube has NO tubes/valves whatsoever, and it sound absolutely stunning. Get it right, and guitarists wanting a solid, reliable, cheaper to run amp will buy it. It IS tough to get it right, more than bass IMO. [/quote] While I really love the tone (specially clean!) of a few nice and relatively small valve amps, and I thought that it was in the valve domain where I'd find "guitar peace", I've recently made a great discovery. We have some new equipment in the rehearsal studios we normally use, and there's this little Fender amp in there. I did not pay attention at first, but after a few weeks I noticed that whichever of our guitarists was using it sounded fantastic. IN particular, a stratocaster through it with a nearly clean sound was just beautiful. I'm not saying it was the best sound ever, and maybe on its own it might not be amazing... but in the band context it was just delicious. I noticed it. Each guitarist noticed it. We didn't notice everybody else noticed it until one made a comment and we all jumped in "yeah! I was thinking that too!!!". As a result, two of the three guitarists are ditching their bigger amps and getting one of those Fenders. Guitarist number 1 already found one. The amp? A Fender 112 deluxe. Solid State. Not a valve in sight. £70 on eBay, 10kg. Loud enough for any of our gigs. Lucky gits. I hate them! :-p I'm after one too now.

[quote name='thebrig' timestamp='1437550358' post='2826876'] [size=5]I get so frustrated at rehearsals because I never get the chance to warm up and actually hear myself.[/size] [size=5]Once the guitarist plugs in and starts thrashing away at high volume and without any thought for others, that's the end of it, even the drummer gives me a defeatist look, and we both just sit down and wait until everyone is ready and we go straight in to the songs, and of course it's the same between numbers when we want to discuss something, and nobody can hear whats being said due to the bloody guitard playing away! Is it just me?[/size] [/quote] don't waste your time in bands like that... get him to behave, or let him go, or walk... life's too short. There are better people to be in a band with out there if you look for them.

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1437574944' post='2827199'] Yeah. I'm pondering another, too. [/quote] it's a disease! I feel better knowing it's not just me.

[quote name='ednaplate' timestamp='1437573827' post='2827183'] Thanks WoT, I will. I took my inspiration from your latest purchase. They seem such good value for money, compared to other custom builders, that the cynic in me wonders if there is a catch. [/quote] I'm afraid there *is* a catch, as I've just found out... You will not be able to stop at just one bass Yup, I've got a second one ordered already. This one is a little more special than the first, although I suspect most people here will say "really?? that???" when they see it...

[quote name='bonzodog' timestamp='1437412617' post='2825782'] Logos are a great idea. If you are ever on a multi band gig the posters will need a logo as the space you will get on a poster will be too small for a photo. Look at any festival posters. They all use the bands logos [/quote] +1!!!

I bought one so you didn't have to... DON'T BOTHER. It mutes too much, and on basses with small fingerboard radius it's too uneven. However... I am tempted to keep it just to experiment with different foam/pressures. It's easy to disassemble, and you can replace the material inside. Not sure it'll work that much better using other materials/pressures... If you want to play about, it may be ok. If you want a nice palm muted tone as it is... this will not do it.

[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1437388061' post='2825464'] If that's the only blemish I'd accept that as a 'mint' or 'as new' condition - it's most definitely 'as new' because I'd say that's how the bass arrived when bought by the previous owner... it's a minor manufacturing defect/flaw/blemish that's been there from new. If it's really bugging you then you might drop some clear lacquer into the nick to fill it. [/quote] it would not bother me much and I'd accept it as "as new". When I bought my Classic 50 precision the neck had an unsightly blemish, a small dark vein on the back of the neck. If I went by looks alone I'd probably change it... but it felt and sounded wonderful, so I would not change it for anything. I'd keep it.

[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1437388550' post='2825474'] I like Class D a lot, I haven't found any of the Class D amps I've owned lacking in warmth. I don't need to feel rumble because I don't rely on those frequencies to tell what notes I'm playing. If anything the Trace V8 I used to have put out too much muddy low end and made hearing myself much more difficult. I normally let the sound man add low frequencies if thats what the soundcheck needs. [/quote] same here, I actually tend to cut the low lows onstage, otherwise it seems I'm fighting against the bass drum.

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1437385900' post='2825426'] Well, if the one or two (hell, even five) Class D amps which one has tried aren't producing the goods versus the one or two (or even five) Class AB ones one has listened to, then of course it stands to reason that all Class D amps are crap and all Class AB are awesome. QED? [/quote] exactly! who needs statistically significant differences, eh? Precisions used to be rubbish, but in the last couple of years they really have improved the way they make them, because now I like them.

[quote name='mikechapmanhill' timestamp='1437221045' post='2824510'] Also what is greate-ing? [/quote] ooops, typo, now corrected. I meant "create"... As in the original J route is only half the route for the double J... so you need to "create" the cavity for top half somehow.. with the router, with a chisel, dynamite... whatever you can use

[quote name='mikechapmanhill' timestamp='1437220184' post='2824504'] What is a router? Sorry I don't have much experience in changing pickups haha. I think I would prefer to install a MM pickup if I'm honest, but wouldn't I need to make the bass active to get the same sort of tone? Also that bass looks extremely tasty [/quote] a router is just a tool to carve the wood and make a neat (depending on your ability... I've also used a router to make a horrible mess once ) pickup cavity. I'm not sure you can cover the existing cavity with the MM pickup... let me check. Bad news... it'll leave a gap at each end. If you put the MM pickup flush with the bottom ears, so that they're covered, the pickup is a bit narrower than the J pickup and it leaves a gap: It's not huge, but it would bother me a bit. You could make a thin frame for the pickup too, which might look pretty cool and would cover the gap. You don't need a preamp. The MM pickups are standard passive, and the Stingray sound exists even in passive mode (when placed in the correct spot, it'll sound different when you place it closer to the bridge, as in this case, but it will still sound good, just not very Stingray-like). I already experienced that when experimenting with OLP Stingray clones, but the final proof to convince disbelievers was my 2002 Stingray: I had the original 2EQ preamp replaced with one of John East's preamps. They are based on his own '76 Stingray preamp, but it adds a mids module with a sweepable centre frequency you can cut or boost... or leave flat which renders the preamp a copy of the classic 2EQ Stingray preamp. In addition, I asked him to install a preamp bypass switch. So I can bypass the preamp entirely and it's unmistakeable Stingray! You just cannot boost bass or whatever, so you're stuck in that one particular sound... but it's a great sound on its own. The pickup in the pictures is a Seymour Duncan SMB4A. I bought it for a Cort GB74 I have (MM pickup on the bridge, J on the neck, so pretty much what you're after). It's a very powerful pickup (I've used it on OLPs before) and would be my first choice. The Maruszczyk is a great bass. I got to specify the exact neck profile etc... it's a beast! BUt a good kind of beast

[quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1437218734' post='2824487'] Part of the way the standard TS works is to roll off lows. The R18/C10 takes the HP frequency lower. [/quote] so it's a design that was never really suited for bass then, eh? Not complaining, as it sounds lovely for guitar! Maybe part of the "tightening" the sound it does is through cutting some of the "flab".