casapete

Caught the end of the One show last night on BBC1, and The Lumineers were performing. They had an unusual bass, which after a bit of Googling turns out to be a Citron Byron , made for bassist Byron Isaacs. Am guessing this is a one off ?

Also one for sale on here for £275 incl hard case.

Assuming then that it will be used with some form of amplification, I’d recommend the Washburn AB20 or AB10. The slimmer body means it is easier to manage, and the neck / playability / sound of mine is great. I’ve had it for over 20 years and tried a few other types since then, but nothing that makes me want to swap it. Always strung it with Fender bronzewounds ( made by D’Addario?) but after reading this thread I quite fancy trying some other strings now. Friend of mine has an Ibanez (not sure what model but was around £200 I think) and it’s pretty good, especially for the money.

Absolutely, why wouldn’t you? Nothing beats getting good stuff at a bargain price, enjoy!

Also found this spec list for the later Lytes, which confusingly states they were available until 2001, which I've never seen, but maybe for the Japanese market only or something? Model Name: Precision Bass® “Lyte” Standard Model Number: 025-9500-(Color #) Series: DELUXE SERIES Body: Basswood Neck: Maple Fingerboard: Rosewood (9.5” Radius/241 mm) No. of Frets: 22 Scale Length: 34” (864 mm) Width @ Nut: 1.5” (38 mm) Hardware: Chrome Machine Heads: Gotoh “Mini” Tuners Bridge: Chrome Die Cast Pickguard: N/A Pickups: P Bass (Mid), J Style (Bridge) Pickup Switching: Pan Pot Controls: Master Volume, Pan Pot, 2-Band Active EQ with: Treble Boost/Cut 22db, Bass Boost/Cut 20db Colors: (537) Antique Burst, (555) Frost White, (564) Montego Black, (577) Frost Red (Polyurethane Finish) Strings: Super 7250M, #073-7250-006, (.045, .065, .085, .105) Unique Features: Source: Japan Accessories: None U.S. MSRP: $756.99 NOTICE: Prices and Specifications Subject to Change Without Notice INTRODUCED: 1994 DISCONTINUED: 7/2001 DISCONTINUED COLORS: (586) Blue Foto Flame Discontinued 1996), (577) Frost Red (1998), Reintroduced 1999 (540) Fiesta Red (1999)

Okay, I'll play. All late models (95/96 era) with chrome hardware which doesn't seem to corrode as quickly as the gold stuff. Around the same time Fender stopped doing the matching headstocks too. The two sunbursts are 'antique', (which replaced the 'caramel' in the range), the others being 'frost white' and 'frost' red (WTF?!!) All 4 were made in Japan yet have 'Made in USA' neckplates for some reason too - Fender raiding the parts bin I guess. Sold the red one, still got the other 3. Great basses IMHO, and still undervalued making them a good s/h buy.

Just noticed there's a black one for sale on here at the moment, £450.

Fabulous, and with the great David Lindley in the band too.

I had that for a while - brilliant!! 😱

I didn't mean to imply that a good onstage sound will adversely affect the FOH - what I was trying to say was that you can have a great onstage sound and make the gig/entertaining the crowd good too I.e doesn't need to be just one or the other. It works for me if the quality of the onstage sound is good/what I'm used to > makes me play better > will probably go to making the performance of the band better > improve the audience's enjoyment etc. Apologies if it read otherwise. 🙂

Tune!

Hard to say without a pic, but they seem to fetch around £350 to £400 if in good order. As stated previously, the metallic finishes did seem to be easily marked but so long as they’re not too bad it shouldn’t be a problem. Sounds like yours may be either what I think Fender termed ‘Charcoal’ finish, which is like a very dark grey, or the more likely ‘Montego black’ which was like a black finish with gold sparkle bits added! They didn’t do a Lyte in straight black, the only non metallic finish being sunburst IIRC. If the serial number is T plus six digits it will be from around 1994/5. Is the hardware gold or chrome? Regarding the amp, it will depend on which version (the later V3 ones with a silver grille cloth being more highly regarded) and which model / output. Hope that helps.

Apologies - the video clip I saw showed The Shadows performing Apache in 1964 in Belgium for some reason! It’s now changed to ‘Telstar’ with Heinz on bass. The Wiki page says it was the 2nd UK record to reach the number 1 slot on the Billboard chart, with Acker Bilk’s ‘Stranger on the shore’ being the first.

Do you mean Heinz Burt? I always thought he had dyed blond hair. Think it’s John Rostill on bass .

This. Used mine for a while now, no 'clunk' on the switch and good solid (although basic) design.

Unfortunately I think the clue is that it's a poll by listeners of Planet ROCK, so anything funk / r'n'b etc was unlikely to get a look in I think. 😒

Absolutely agree with you about the audience being the primary priority, but that is surely linked to you being able to your job well, with being able to hear yourself and sounding good a big help? The two aren't mutually exclusive, it being possible for both you and the audience to have a good time. I've done countless gigs where I've used other rigs and had to make the best of it when they've been a bit naff in order to ensure the gig goes well, so am not overly precious when needs must - just prefer things to be right as much as possible.

Fair play, although not worrying about the stage sound often leads to not the best performance IMHO. It's that compromise between space/transportation/set up easiness and getting things bang on for the gig for you. In a perfect world monitors and engineers would be spot on or you'd have a road crew carrying in your SVT rig. My world unfortunately isn't anywhere near perfect, so I'll stick with a portable/loud (if needs be) and reliable amp & cab. Transport for me isn't a massive issue, though I fully appreciate if I was based in London then I would probably need to have a rethink.

I’ve done quite a few gigs with monitors as my main sound source, some okay and some dreadful. Whilst I agree on the proximity of them to you, the change to your usual sound is hard to accommodate. Unless you’re fortunate enough to be playing somewhere with separate eq for each item, I found the global eq in the monitor wasn’t always great for my bass sound. Give me my own amp/ sound behind me every time. ( Disclosure - I am quite old....)

Again, IIRC it seemed that there were some reliability issues with the mosfet models (which contradicts my earlier comments about reliability...😅 )so the design was changed in the late 90's for the current one.

Good question - IIRC the older models were a Mosfet design, unlike the more recent versions?