LukeFRC

[quote name='Rasta' timestamp='1356174224' post='1907593'] +1, I know what you mean. With the thanks of Kiogon and his brilliant replacement wiring all my active basses are now passive and i much prefer the tone off all. Don't get me wrong i think there is perhaps more immediate bass/treble tone with active...but just not what i like....it often sounds compressed to my ears. [/quote] I think in most cases it is- a 9v active circuit has limits. Though that's not the only thing that can make things loose something - I feel the same about a lot of high mass bridges - yes the heavy weight disconcts the strings from the body meaning longer sustain - but you've just disconected the strings from the body! My point is... that this often seems important - but I find in a band mix that it all matters far less. (their are exceptions to this obviously - sometimes the sound of a passive P or J is what you need. Actually there's a point there....) I'm not sure precisions ever need to be active. I don't think jazzes or jazz types need to be - but some folk might like that Stingrays are designed to be active. Many other basses are designed to be active - and work better that way!

[quote name='Beedster' timestamp='1355874769' post='1904028'] He's relisted it at the same price and to be honest, if it wasn't for the Boogie 400+ and 1516EV sitting opposite me as I type, I'd be driving to Scotland now. I've not used the 15" version and as I understand it some guys don't rate it compared to the 12" whilst for others it's the opposite and the 15" is the dog's danglies. Bottom line is that at that price you can take the risk and sell it on after Xmas for at least what you paid now. [/quote] even cheaper 12 inch one in stoke. Would be tempting if I had the money to try out a wee combo. Dunno if it would be upgrade on current rig. Different deff

I imagine if you have two high end basses- one is a all passive set up. The other is the same but has some bells and whistles preamp in it. Which do you think would be easier to sell? Or put it another way... what kind of passive bass, and what would it do that a fender can't?

Ahhh, if its just for slap, I know where you are coming from, you can slap quite well on a p bass- but like you I found it hard to learn slap on. Its harder to tell by sound when the technique is right. Jazz or ray will do you

bridge doesn't look original to me either. More interesting question might be.... which parts of that bass are you sure were made by fender in the 70's?

So a few days later.... Not played live yet but played along to CD's - which normally can give a fairly decent indication on how it will sit in the mix.... and it performs well! The most amazing thing is that already I can get a sound I want through not needing to look and just turning the right knob the right way to get the sound I'm after, tuning by ear as you go. The treble volume control then to taste. Great bit of kit.

[quote name='andydye' timestamp='1356003421' post='1905483'] Haven't had chance to try it yet as am on a 'baby break' from Sunday morning serving so I can be with my family, hopefully will begin getting stuck back in sometime next year when our routines have settled down on a Sunday! I can only imagine it will make our soundman deliriously happy as it sounds perfect [/quote] Having been a sound man at church.... if they are used to regualr basses that ACG Eq might confuse them!

[quote name='andydye' timestamp='1356002790' post='1905471'] Gateway...New Frontiers yes, I'm part of City Church (Sheffield)... [/quote] cool How does your ACG fit with churhc stuff? I just stuck an ACG eq in my main bass.

[quote name='Makem_djs' timestamp='1355832097' post='1903256'] Hi there My name is David - I'm new to this web site -it was recommended by Geoff Chambers - who is my bass tutor (full marks to Geoff for talking me on!!) Anyway I play a 5 string ibenez (high c) and play mainly for my local church Would really like to get in touch with other church bass players - esp around the Leeds area Cheers David [/quote]Hello David! I moved to leeds in september - it's been good to me so far. The new year should (hopefully) see me starting on bass at church (gateway) Luke

[quote name='Rick's Fine '52' timestamp='1355965592' post='1905220'] It is, I've had a few CS basses, and have always been dissapointed at their tardiness. They've really gone to town on this though, to even include the hump on the body routing shows the level of care they've gone to on this. It's actually very similar in every way, to my real one. Well chuffed to have stumbled across it! [/quote] I did wonder why my JV had the same hump. I bet Leo would have found it mad we copy features like that!

that wall looks great! the 4005 look amazing. Needs a picture above the fireplace though!

Wow. Im must say I never really like the look of most the 50's P bass reissues I've seen - but this does look really nice! Good find, you've finished decorating the space for it to go aye?

[quote name='BassBunny' timestamp='1355913653' post='1904245'] Nice review Luke. One thing I found with the ACG pre, (or an ACG bass full stop), is how much you appreciate them after playing something else. Have done a few gigs recently where I didn't want to take my ACG as the venues were a bit "lively". Last week-end we did a couple of Xmas parties and the ACG came with me. A smile on my face all night. [/quote] I remember Chris2112 saying how he would play with his old ACG for hours - I can understnad that now, their is something morish about the tone. That said it can't do everything and I think if I played a lot of slap the original set up would be better for the sharper attack. But.... I'm happy I got a P type sound, a jazz(ish) sound, a MM sound and a load of others too

seeing that you are going to buy atleast one jazz pup, or possibly two in one housing, rout a hole in a body and so on.... have you seen the delano hybrid pickup?

dont forget the pickup placement

So.... first thoughts.... One. Alan is a gent. Really really- he put up with me asking questions without seeming to have any money to give him. If I had money for a bass I would have no problem giving him it and trusting him to build it. Two. Alan doesn't sell the East knobs with them. That is not a problem as I don't like the look of the knobs anyway. 4 gold stack knobs would also cost £41. £3.50 each for these http://www.axesrus.co.uk/Grub-Screw-Alpha-Concentric-knobs-p/hc003.htm seemed much better. Surprisingly they are really good quality parts too and look way more warwick. three. you need to have good ears to use it. I love this as I used to do sound tech at various events and used to love EQing a live band. four. It can do a lot! a lot of Qboost on a single pickup can sound harsh - add both together and magical things start happening. The high stack can massivly alter how it sounds or correct the unnatural sound - just messing I've found that this is a 'tune by ear' thing. Alan's suggestion to set each pickup individually isn't a bad one- but I found myself doing it by ear and they all seem to effect each other in terms of the sound you get. The blend pot is key five. It's very natural sounding- like you can hear it's doing stuff, it has it's own sound - but that doesn't feel fake. five. I still need to find the tones I like - but with everything open and the treble off (as close to flat as it will go) it sounds better than before.... mainly as the pickups have been opened up and nasal tone of the Warwick has been taken away. For a streamer stage one I think thats a good thing- for a more Warwick-y sounding fretted warwick (i.e. lots of Wenge) then I would possibly stick with the MEC preamp. Six - I still need to play with this a lot more. But.... I tried a Alembic in a shop this year- beautiful instrument, £3k secondhand and they stuck me through a £80 practice amp that sounded like crap.... but I did find myself doing new things with my fingers - finding the bass more playable and rewarding and trying and pulling off things I hadn't tried before. It was a nice bass. To heavy and expensive for me but still so nice. With the ACG preamp in I was mainly just playing whatever while I played with the controls... I did catch myself however when I realised I was playing things on the warwick that I had never done before, that it seemed to reward playing and technique in a new way(s) - this is a very very very good thing.

[quote name='hamfist' timestamp='1355836307' post='1903330'] Outstanding ! Look forward to hearing how it all goes. What's the wait time on these ? [/quote] well I ordered it on monday at about 11am, it arrived today at about 9am... Alan is a star... It's in, ill give some first impressions tomorrow

way better. I did wonder why it sounded so bad compared to the warwick

You see how someone has told him it's not a '54ri and he then has asked what year reissue they think it is. The answer is not only on the reciept but it's stamped in the neck pocket!!

Hello Today is an exciting day - why? because it's my birthday and secondly the birthday money has let me buy something.... and I think it may very well be the first bass related thing* I've bought new since I bought my NOS status bass in 2003 - so exciting. Years back I picked up a Warwick Streamer stage one off Warwickhunt, and really didn't get on with it. Then picked up another, lighterweight one which to me sounded way nicer. It took me years before this became my "main" bass though - years of buying and selling other stuff- and one of the main reasons was the sound. The bass was equipped with MEC PJ pickups and the original MEC 2 band preamp. And... it just wasn't nice- it was quite a thin naisel tone with this daft attack. Say you were just peddling the root note for a song - (think U2 style!) on a Fender bass you get a steady dum-dum-dum-dum-dum or what ever, this sounded like a machine gun - all attack and little sustain (relative) - which wasn't really what I wanted. Apart from that, and acoustically, it had an awesome rich low end and a cutting high end. It sat in busy mixes way better than my other basses. So last year I decided to change it - and bought a PJ set of Barts (original series) for it and a Glockenklang two band preamp. Well the glock wasn't much use, the bass already had quite heavy highs and lows - and the MEC preamp which pulls in the high and low mids with it works quite well - the Glock on the other hand just did not work with this bass. I ended up using the bass in passive mode most the time at which point it was time to sell the pre. For a few months till I picked up a passive blend pot I ran the thing with the pickups straight to jack - and it sounded awesome! Really opened up the pickups in a really nice way. Eventually I stuck the MEC preamp in - and while it's not bad it does sound a little bit like my bass has a cold. So a high, or vairable input impedance would be good in a new preamp. And what next caught my eye was the ACG pre. My amp has a pretty good 4 band EQ, so another 3/4 band seemed silly but I like tinkering with sound and sweepable controls that let me do it by ear work well for me. The ACG looked like it would give me the useful passive roll off the Glock had when turned off - which suited the streamer - plus a whole lot more control over the mids and then the option to bring some of the high end back in - sounds like a winner! So saved up about 4 times - including selling loads off stuff, then trading a guitar for more stuff to sell.... and each time the money went on something else (an engagement ring being the biggie) and today placed my order! *except strings, scratch plates and I just remembered my cab was new too.

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1355744974' post='1902003'] Convince him that his own project would have much better prospects, I mean... your JUST a cover band after all [/quote] * you're !

I don't get it. Like I like playing football but I don't turn up at Alex Ferguson's office and suggest I could add something extra to the United forward line do I? Why does the cock think a band is any different. Though I bet his guitars cost more than both your guitarist's rigs. Always the way