fretmeister

I had the Vertigo and I now have a Sleeve.

Both very good, but the Vertigo is quite heavy - with my Superlight basses the bag was nearly as heavy as the bass!

I'm happy with the sleeve, although RedX's point about walking long distances and comfort is accurate. I never have to walk more than 100m with it so I'm ok with it. But for shortareses like me the banging on the back of the legs could get annoying for longer distances.

1 hour ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Maybe I missed the start of the conversation here, but no idea what the scale length has to do with the bridge spacing. Unless you meant the bridge pickup or something. The bridge is invariably either 16.5, 18 or 19mm on an ibanez, which has nothing to do with scale, and whether your scale length is a mile or 10", the string spacing at the 12th fret will be the same (maybe your neck might be wider if they want to put more wood either side).

 

according to ibanezes mezzo spec, it is 18mm at the bridge and 45mm at the nut, so a max of 11mm (probably some space, so invariably just under 10mm). So the string spacing at the 12th fret is 14mm (10 + (18 - 10) / 2), so the neck has to be at least 56mm to fit the strings over it, and then a bit more either side to stop the strings falling off the side

An SR is the same at the nut but narrower at the bridge, so 10 + (16.5 - 10)/2 = 13.25 so 53 to fit the strings then a bit more.

 

Looking at an SR here, that is pretty well what it is (except the string spacing at the nut is narrower).

You have indeed missed it!  

My point was that for the splay of the neck along it's length to remain the same as on a different scale instrument, the bridge spacing would have to be different. I wasn't saying that the bridge spacing is different.

Take the SR for example.

At 34 inches and a 38mm nut the bridge spacing is 19mm.

To leave the neck exactly as it is but make it a 32 inch scale the bridge would be closer to the end of the neck (I'm ignoring fret positioning etc). As the neck shape is going to remain constant in this example, the string spacing at the bridge would have to be a little narrower. It could not stay at 19mm because the strings would get too close to the edges of the f'board at the final fret and might not even be over the neck at all.

It's easy to see.

Stick something that is 19mm in between the E and A string. Slide it towards the neck by 2 inches or even 4 inches. You've now pushed the strings wider apart. The splay is larger. So the designer has a choice. Either have a wider splay / width progression on the neck and keep the 19mm string spacing, or keep the neck as it is and have a slightly narrower bridge spacing. (I'm ignoring repositioning the frets as that is irrelevant here).

This is why the width of the neck at the 12th fret or 22nd fret is wider on a shorter scale bass if the bridge spacing and nut width are the same as on the long scale version.

I hadn't even thought about it until I got 2 shorties - 1 with 19mm spacing and the other at 16mm. The neck widths are quite different as I move up the neck.

36 minutes ago, nekomatic said:

In a market economy, we must conclude that that’s the price at which the demand for Marcus Miller matches the supply of Marcus Miller. 

It's Ronnie's - it will sell out in 2 days. The members will probably buy 3/4 of the tickets.

I wish I lived near it. I'd love to see more stuff in smaller venues.

I'd rather pay that for Ronnie's than being 200 yards away in a field.

I have a One10 and a One10T.

I take the One10T to rehearsals and small gigs and then take the other as well for bigger stuff. Or at least I did before I quit my band!

I find the modular approach very handy.

I've never had a Two10 but I did have a Super Twin. I sold it because I preferred the tone of BF 10 inch cones.

If I was buying now - I'd get the new Three10. It might be quite a bit heavier but wheels are almost always a better option than a lighter cab that still has to be carried.

1 hour ago, Obrienp said:

OK guys. I get what you are saying but in that case, why is the 4 string Mezzo neck slightly narrower than the 4 string SR? Shouldn’t it be slightly wider too? 

 

 

 It "should" only be something when all other factors are equal - and that includes the gap between the strings and the edge of the board that the designer wanted.

The 2 basses don't have the same number of frets so the specs page shows different measurements at the final fret. The 22f Mezzo figure is narrower than the 24f SR as expected. But perhaps the Mezzo notional 24f would be the same width. If that is the case then the neck widths should be about the same at any given fret. But if it is different, then it won't be.

Draw it out to a sensible scale and you'll see the factors that affect it, and also the ones that don't.

Yeah, but I don’t have an SR to measure at a notional 32inch scale to see what the bridge spacing would be at that position. But it will be narrower than 16.5mm.

6 hours ago, Obrienp said:

@Hacksawbob thanks for that, I found it helpful, even if nobody else does 😀. It reinforces my point though: why make the 32” neck wider than the full scale? The Mezzo neck even looks chunkier in the side by side photo you posted. The extra 4mm probably means nothing to most people but if you are cursed with short fingers, it just makes that stretch up there at the dusty end too much.

 

TBH, I’ve decided to wait to see what Nordstrand’s 5 string Acinonyx is like. The 4 has a very narrow neck, so I am hoping that concept is carried over to the 5. Shame, I would have liked a 5 string Mezzo, all things being equal. Although my experience with the 4 is that the preamp and pickups need replacing, so that expense needs to be factored into the cost equation.

Why is it wider?

Easy.

Because the Mezzo has to reach 18mm string spacing at the bridge in a shorter length. So the strings naturally splay out wider, faster than the needed splay to reach 16.5mm at the bridge of the other bass.

To make the neck the same width per fret the Mezzo would need to be even narrower at the bridge than the SR series. Maybe only 15.5mm or so. And that’s too tight for many people to want to buy.

I could work out the splay properly (or ask my daughter to do it!) but I can’t be arsed! 

11 hours ago, chris_b said:

 

You'd get on stage and play your socks off.

That would still be my job and thus a source of annoyance / stress / pain / disappointment/ etc.

I have no idea what I’d do to relax if playing was my job.

There’s nothing better to get over a crap day in the office.

Ah! Could be. 

I had one for years. Excellent bit of kit. I’m amazed how cheap they go for on eBay now.  If I had the room I’d get another.
 

Mind you, I’d quite like to get a 121P if the wooden cabinet stuff is getting discontinued. The new material combos are quite a bit bigger, and I’m not yet convinced the mystery material will last as long as a wooden cab. 
 

Maybe I’ll just Hot glue / weld a head to a BF cab instead!  

https://www.bax-shop.co.uk/bass-guitar-combo-amp/markbass-cmd-102p-8-ohm-2x10-inch-combo-bass-amplifier?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=surfaces&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=17865987110&utm_term=&adgroup=&creative=&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI242MvpSyhAMVSZNQBh3N5ge6EAQYASABEgLNWPD_BwE
 

That’s a decent saving if anyone is interested.

EDIT: RRP is about £1050 ish.

Thomann and Bonners (?) are equally cheap though.

I like the amps, but other than the Hyperdrive the pedals have left me completely cold. 
They did well to capture the big stage market when Ampeg had terrible QC issues and nobody trusted them for a while, but 99% of us are not playing stages like that.

I would love to have the ABM Evo 5 750, now that they have a quiet cooking system and the fan noise wouldn’t make me want to climb a clock tower with a high powered rifle to pick off accountants who insist on putting cheap and noisy fans in expensive amps, but there’s no escaping the head weighs more than my amp and cab combined.

And I’d still have to get it modified to swap the god awful stepped / notched gain and master controls.

I must order a pedal then!

On 15/02/2024 at 09:00, Bigwan said:

Weren't we all! Ashdown flatly refuse to drop the gimmicky VU to save real-estate. What meer mortals really want is this:

 

Is that a readily available clone?

22 minutes ago, Dazed said:

Yep I get it. It’s why I stopped playing in bands years ago. What and who you think are friends become different characters at the slightest hint of money, success or improving their own situation.
Kept the friendships over the band. 

If your friends do that to you then they are not friends.

Wasn't it Billy Joel who binned his long standing band the minute he got a proper hit?

I think I saw that on a documentary. Guys like Kenny Aronoff thrilled about playing on a hit then then getting a call from an agent telling them to go home. 

20 hours ago, Count Bassy said:

Singer sounds like a bit of a w**ker. Sees a potentially successful band and wants to get his mates in.

Perhaps you should turn the tables and get another singer in.

Get a worse singer in and tell the current guy that it's an improvement.

Then get proper new singer.

I get that. I sometimes think about having my Lionel routed out for a PJ and putting EMGs in it.

And then I play it passively and tell myself to not be stupid!

Although I do wish I had a pair of Lionels so I could have one with flats and one with rounds.

If I was going to get a TM4 now I would be deciding between an EMG J and MM or an Aguilar J and MM.

I love those pickups but I'd be hard pushed to choose. Probably the Aguilar though as their MM is a bit more trad sounding.

Either that or I'd have to buy a pair of TM4s!

Don't forget that for a small upcharge Sandberg will put any pickups you want in it.

I'm not a fan of their pickups in general but I adore the rest of the instrument so I'm happy to do pickup changes.

My TT4 Superlight now has EMG J set and an EMG EQ. I really like Bobby Vega's EMG Jazz sound and since I first heard him I have always put EMGS in jazz types.

My Lionel came with the stock P pickup and I had heard the pickup was a bit modern sounding. That proved to be true. So I swapped that for an Aguilar AG4P that I had. I wanted a more traditional mid pushed P sound. The 'berg pickup has too much bass and was too hot for a traditional sound. I debated asking Sandberg to do the pickup change when I ordered it, but as I already owned the Aguilar there was no point in buying another one!

Which clone of it did you get?

Interesting!

I did buy the SFT and I like it a lot. But it seems pedals with that sort of sound are now my new special interest / addiction / waste of money (opinions vary) so I'll have a look at that!

Thank you.

I’d upgrade the monitors instead.

My TT4 Superlight is excellent. No dive, just very comfy to play.

I do play the Lionel more these days, but sometimes I just want that jazz thing!