jackers

I currently have a set of 105 Lo-Riders on my Jazz Bass. I noticed they died much quicker than other sets of DRs I've had, and I didn't notice any extra stiffness. If you are interested in trying them, there are some US sellers on ebay that do great deals.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who is confused by the price of an MiM Fender, for what is basically, a lottery. Until I tested these basses out I was seriously considering picking up a second hand MiM P-bass on here, but now I am really not so sure that I want to risk it. I have to say, I am seriously tempted to walk back into PMT after work and buy that VM, it was very nice.

A couple of days ago I acquired a Tech 21 Landmark 300 (courtesy of dutchman, it is amazing ), so yesterday, since I had some spare time, I thought I would take it down to PMT Oxford and test out a variety of basses. I was most interested in trying out some P-basses, since I have had P-bass GAS for quite a while now, and I wanted to see if the famous P-bass/SVT style grind tone was for me. The store had 4 different P-basses in, a Squier VM, an MiM, a Mexican Classic (the Fiesta Red 50's one) and a '62 RI. Annoyingly there was no US standard, but there were still several for me to compare. To test the basses I asked for an Ampeggy cab, and got an Ampeg Classic 115, which, while weighing the same as my house, definitely did the trick. So, after getting the Landmark plugged in and turned on I set about picking which bass I was going to test out first. (I played all the basses fingerstyle.) I decided to start with the Squier VM, and I was pleasantly surprised by how well it played. The action was well set up, the neck felt nice and smooth and comfortable, and the seymour duncan pickups sounded great. It had a very nice aggressive tone through the landmark that I really liked. It is a hell of a lot of bass for 250 quid new, and definitely punches well above what its price range would suggest. Next up was the MiM Fender, which was really disappointing overall. The action was well set up, and the neck felt ok, but the sound was awful. No matter what I tried I couldn't get that nice grinding tone, it just farted out the second I touched the drive dial on the Landmark. I suspect with a pickup and electronics upgrade this would sound great, but at £500, you really shouldn't have to pull bits out and replace them. I then moved on to the Mexican Classic, and apart from a few small issues I really liked it. It was well set up, it felt nice to play and it had that very nice grinding tone, (albeit a little more restrained than the squier). However, I did have two issues with the Mex Classic, firstly the strings felt like cheese wire on my fingers, they were horrible, and secondly the gold anodised pickguard felt kind of awkward under my thumb. I guess I'm just used to the standard smooth fender guards. Ofcourse neither of these are major problems, but they did affect my enjoyment of testing out the bass. Last up was the '62 RI, and my god was it nice. It played beautifully, was set up perfectly, looked great and sounded amazing. It had a really nice vintage sound with a strong aggressive edge to it. I did almost choke when I saw the price tag though, as £1700 is quite steep, but it is impossible to deny that the quality is definitely there. After trying all 4 basses, I switched back and forth between them a little just to confirm my thoughts, then left the shop with a clear order of preference in my head. My favourite was the '62 RI, it is one hell of a bass, it looks great and sounds like a p-bass should sound in my head. My next favourite was the Squier VM, it was just so playable and it really snarled. For £250 you really can't go wrong in my opinion. Then came the Mexican Classic. While it did have a slightly more refined sound than the Squier, the pickguard really did bug me, and the bass as a whole didn't wow me like the '62 and the Squier. A firm last was the MiM, I was really shocked by how poor an instrument it was. I am aware that Fenders can be a lottery, but until now I have never experienced it, I guess I have been really lucky. If I had to go back and buy one of the basses I tried it would definitely be the Squier. It was a great bass, and even thought the '62 RI was my favourite, I just didn't see £1500 different between the two instruments.

I bought Dave's Landmark 300 from him complete with rackcase and tuner. It just arrived and I am very happy with it I had a few issues which delayed payment, but Dave was really patient and nice about it. An all round top guy to deal with, cheers man!

again, I can't help on the mastering front, but I absolutely love the song and video! are you guys gigging around oxford anytime soon? I would love to see you play.

I have to say I had a similar experience when I tried a PF-500 aswell. I had to use the -15dB pad to stop it farting, and I wasn't all that impressed by the tones I got out of 30-40 minutes of fiddling. I really wanted to like it, cos I had heard loads of people say it was great, but it just wasn't for me. Horses for courses I guess.

phhwwwoarrr. that aged pearloidalong with the pickups looks amazing. I love it!

yea I've read other posts about amps from the US not running etc, so I thought I would ask first to make sure I wasn't being thick, lol.

ah ok. that's cool thanks for the help, I'm not very technically minded haha.

cheers TC's website says it's a universal 100-240V power supply, but I'm not quite sure what that means, lol.

Hey there all, I have the opportunity to get an RH450 from the states, I was just wondering whether it would work in the UK straight out of the box, or whether it would require some form of modification. Cheers, Adam

I have had 2 aerodynes, (1 export 1 non-export), and both were fantastic basses. I seriously regret selling them, and I will be buying one in the near future when I can afford to. They look gorgeous, sound amazing and are very light If you get the chance to buy one, take it I say