Rayman

[quote name='Machines' post='513146' date='Jun 14 2009, 09:22 AM'][/quote] That was a great bass , I remember it well, at that little get together we had in Manchester a few years back, in the days when I still had my lovely BB3000S .

Nah, you should've seen the shady character that sold it to me.

[quote name='Clarky' post='512801' date='Jun 13 2009, 02:35 PM']Its amazing how the Highway One nitro finish relics so fast. A three year-old bass looks as old as your 70s P-bass![/quote] Yes, it has had a little help in that department. It's subjective whether or not it works, but I was pretty happy with the end result. I bought it with a view to doing something along the relic lines with it, and maybe one or two of the dings I put on it I wish I hadn't, but there you go. The [i]real[/i] relic does look a lot better though I must say.

I had these puppies out for a re-string this morning, so I'd thought I'd take a pic of them together. L-R; '06 Fender Highway One Jazz with Villex pickups, '78 Fender Precision. A small mention too for the Ritter bags, love 'em.

Cetera is your man, give him a shout. I've tried loads of Spectors, and a couple of mates have owned them. I can tell you, they've all been brilliant basses, every one of them, from the cheaper to the more expensive models. Quite a big, in your face tone generally, bright highs and gut thumping lows. They can be a little clinical sounding sometimes and some people find them too much to handle in terms of finding a subtle tone, depending on what music you play. I think of Spectors as being a bit like the big dog next door that always barks and makes you jump when you walk past it. Great basses indeed.

Tasty couple of basses there mate, love the colour of the P, and I've been gassing for a Les Paul for a long time. Nice.

That's stunning, I love that.

[quote name='Paul_C' post='511306' date='Jun 11 2009, 03:26 PM'][/quote] That's the spitting image of the one Tigran brought to one of the bassworld bashes in Northants with the Villex pickups in it. It was a really nice player. I seem to remember that was the one where you had that [i]rasberry[/i] coloured Fender Urge?

Ahh welcome along sir, there's plenty of us slightly older chaps about, although at a positively youthful 44, I'm still hoping there's time to get rich and famous sometime soon. You're right to lust after an Overwater, I just sold my Progress 5 (WHY? Don't ask) and it was sublime, much to the joy of its new owner, so I'm now back to a couple of battered Fenders, and I'm happy with that....for now. Jazz, metal, funk, pop, reggae, country etc etc....all welcome here.

A Steve Lawson style loop session is what I'd have a go at.

[quote name='riff raff' post='511246' date='Jun 11 2009, 02:40 PM']yeah..i was expecting that to be a popular suggestion. just looking for some opinions on whether 1/4 pounds,wizard etc are what i'm looking for because they're gonna help with the sound i'm looking for or simply because they're better than the standard fenders.d'ya know what i mean?[/quote] 1/4lbers are great pickups, some people find them a bit OTT though, me I don't, I think they're great, but [i]very[/i] hot. The Thumpers are great though, I think they'll give you exactly what you want.

Wizard Thumper is the popular choice around here to upgrade a P bass. Go to the Wizard pickups website and have a look. [url="http://www.wizardpickups.co.uk/shop.asp?category=Bass"]http://www.wizardpickups.co.uk/shop.asp?category=Bass[/url]

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVIKF03KkVM&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVIKF03KkVM...feature=related[/url] [i]GROOOOVY BABY.[/i]

When I first started playing in the late 70s, there were three players that inspired me to play. Jean Jaques Burnel, Colin Moulding and Tina Weymouth. "Remain In Light" was the Talking Heads album that did it for me, Simple funky grooves with loads of space between the notes, she just knocked me out, and still does.

[i]Beautiful[/i]....with a capital BYOOO.......

Awesome. They look totally fab.

[quote name='Jobiebass' post='510991' date='Jun 11 2009, 11:07 AM']Nice work with the OLP. Whats the B like on it now?[/quote] The B is lovely and punchy. I've recently sold an Overwater 5er which also had a cracking low B, and I was nervous of how the OLP would compare. Now while I'm not expecting the OLP to seriously sit along side an Overwater in terms of quality, it actually does so quite well. Obviously the EQ has helped, but out of the box, before any mods, this bass had lots of low end thump, it was just lacking in any decent clarity at the top end. Another critisism aimed at this model is how tightly packed in the strings are copmared to a genuine MMSR5, well, all I can say is, all basses are different, and if the player can't adapt to the different designs on different instruments, then maybe they shouldn't try. This is [i]not[/i] a Musicman, but a great model in its own right that just happens to be 'ray shaped. Here comes the GAS for a Musicman SR5 to partner this cracking little bass...........[i][size=1]help me baby jesus[/size][/i].........

I just wondered how many of you were happily spanking your more affordable gear and being perfectly happy with it. This is a bass guitar forum, and many many players here have top end kit costing many thousands of pounds. I've had some nice gear in my time too, as have many of my mates, but....last year, for Christmas, my Mrs bought me an OLP Tony Levin 5. I'm a bit of a fan and fancied his signature bass because it was cheap, and if I hated it, it wasn't the end of the world. Now, out of the box is was very nice and comfortable to play with some nice meaty tones to play with, but the EQ wasn't great, noisy and cheap it had to go. It had a shocking nut and a flimsy battery compartment too. I tried a few alterations, different pups etc, but after a few changes it's come back from my techs with a John East 3 band EQ and a beautifully made brass nut fitted, also a good quality battery box has been slapped in. I had the original pickup put back in after a couple of emails from Tony, who informed me that the design of them was intentionally meant to echo the tone of his alnico original. So after the changes were finished, and it'd had a setup, I plugged it in, and fell in love with it instantly. NOT your typical Stingray tone you understand, but still it now has a voice and playability all of its own. Live it sounds immence, it plays great too, and with the superb EQ you can dial in almost any tone you like. So the Fenders have taken a bit of a back seat because of this, allbeit [i]pimped[/i] budget bass guitar that I just love to bits. I've spent the same amount doing it up that I did buying it in the first place, but I reckon it's now a much [i]much[/i] better instrument, and worth the effort. Worth it? You decide.

That's a beautiful colour, superb bass.

I play it through an Ibanez PD-7 overdrive and it's close enough for me. To be honest, I played it clean at the last gig and we all agreed it was so much better. I must admit though I'm not a fan of bass overdrive generally, I use it on that song and on Grounds For Divorce by Elbow but I'd rather not use it at all.