Rayman

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.

I'm waiting for your '73 to come on the market . Love it mate, love it. It's just great, why, are you missing it?

You could pimp the Japanese one with a nice new pickup. Otherwise....just blow your stash on a nice new MIA and whack some Thomastic Flats on there, splendid.

[quote name='neptunehealer' post='505345' date='Jun 4 2009, 11:11 AM']Well i have always been sick of my muddy quiet pick-ups in the mix so i guess these will solve that. Our set does comprise on some pop punk covers etc, but as i have bought these now i may aswell try them out. But i am a finger player so will that make the sound a bit more vintage. Also in the set when it come to the Beatles, James Brown etc songs what should i do to get the best tone suited for these songs?[/quote] You won't get muddy or quiet with a QP I promise you that. I think it'll sound fantastic, give it a chance. At the end of the day, if you get stuck with a pickup you don't like, pull it out and sell it here. Then put a Thumper in.

84s are darker sounding with more winds on the pup, the 64s are a bit brighter and crunchier, a bit more like a regular jazz type sound. Top pups from a top geezer.

Oh aye, I should be up for that. We're going away around that time, but I think it's the weekend after.

I've always had a softspot for 'rays, and that's a beaut.

Love TIs, the LaBellas were too deep for me. I found the TIs had a nice click to them as well as plenty of bottom end, and they're soft and flexible too, which I like. They were just fab on my Lakland JO4. I'm thinking of putting them on my P bass at some point once the Slinkys have gone off.

I love 1/4lbers. They're capable of many sounds, they're just a higher output pickup aimed at a rock tone basically, but if you back them off a bit and be a little more subtle with your playing, I think they sound great. The pickup exchange thing sounds like your best bet though, and try the SB1. Failing that, a Wizard Thumper is a great upgrade pup for a P bass.

Stuart Zender's past it?? Christ, there's no hope for any of us if a young bloke like him is past it. If this [i]isn't[/i] a signature model, then we're all talking cobblers then aren't we? I'm purely responding to the title of the thread, I haven't bothered to find out whether the bass is a sig or not, mainly because I don't care. I have nothing against any luthier producing anything they like, I just question the relevance of some of the "artists" who get their own model. I played some covers at the Ship Inn last Saturday night, do I get my own signature model?

I agree wholeheartedly.

[quote name='BigBeefChief' post='503937' date='Jun 2 2009, 04:16 PM']No doubt[/quote] Ah ha, the Tony Canal signature Yamaha BB......there's an idea.