Mornats

Haha, I was in the shop with Pinball when the guy behind the counter was telling us this. Personally, I think the guy in the shop is full of sh*t 90% of the time. He was the same guy who told me that there are only around a dozen people in the world who truly know how to set up a guitar properly (him being one of them). He's a good laugh if you're bored.

[quote name='White Cloud' timestamp='1377373372' post='2186903'] Agree with this. Do yourself a favour and avoid going down the same old F route. [/quote] I'm totally not hung up on going Fender [quote name='cocco' timestamp='1377376200' post='2186945'] I know it's not a fender, but I'm gonna suggest you have a look at a Peavey T-40 [/quote] Aye will do I think my local PMT has some Peaveys in that I didn't try when I was up there. [quote name='Pinball' timestamp='1377376491' post='2186952'] I thought about those or Ibanez Roadsters....so many nice basses! [/quote] Yea, I'll head back to PMT and have a go at their Ibby range. And I need to try some Yamahas too. But it was also pointed out to me (thanks Pinball!) that if I were to buy a Squier Jazz and put some better pups in it then why don't I try converting my Rockbass Corvette into a passive bass... so I'm gonna look into that too.

I tried a few out today. First up was a Squier VM Jazz, then I tried a Fender American Jazz with Custom Shop pickups and then a Mexican Jazz. The Squier was brilliant, nice, light, a little more compact than my Overwater and almost walked out of the shop with me. I tried the American Fender next which was a little chunkier, a little heavier, almost identical build quality and sounded a little nice (the custom shop pups maybe?) but absolutely not worth almost £1000 more. In fact you could have swapped the labels and I would have believed it. The Mexican Jazz was crap, as have all Mexican Jazz's that I've played have been. I tried an American Fender P too but it didn't feel as nice as the Squier really. The Squier Jazz's front pup soloed sounded as good as the P pup on the Precision too. I tried an Ibanez (not sure which model) but didn't like any of it. I also tried a Squier VM tele bass but the pup's too small for me to rest my thumb on so that was out. So, my thoughts after my first outing are that I should maybe seriously consider that Squier and grab some upgraded pups - maybe even two Overwater J pups to go in it. The hunt continues though, as I haven't tried half the basses on my list.

I never started simple but I'm heading there now.

[quote name='bagsieblue' timestamp='1377205396' post='2184893'] The 'de facto' passive bass for me is a (Fender) P bass. [/quote] I don't think many people could argue with that. However I'm not after a de facto P bass specifically I'm looking for something that doesn't lose the passive split/single coil sound and has a J pup at the back. I have this in my Overwater Classic J but it's bigger and heavier than the much-easier-to=play Fender Jaguar that I played, so hence my search for the same thing but in a smaller package. Mind you, if I ended up with a Fender P and it fit the size/weight/playability criteria I wouldn't be at all upset. I could keep my Classic J for the J sound.

[quote name='bagsieblue' timestamp='1377205396' post='2184893'] The 'de facto' passive bass for me is a (Fender) P bass. [/quote] Ah yes, but I am fond of rolling onto the bridge pickup and giving it a bit of jazz Mind you, I could always keep my Overwater classic J for that.

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1377193277' post='2184671'] You`ve played a Fender Jaguar and liked it, despite it being a totally unfamiliar bass - I`m assuming you`d never played it before. That would be where I`d start - your hands and back have already told you you like them. The Modern Player Jaguar comes with P/J configuration, and is passive. The regular Jag has J/J configuration, and can be used passive or active, and has many different possibilities re series, parallel etc. Start with what you`ve already found you like. [/quote] Ah yes, and they're top of my list to try out Loads of suggestions, thanks everyone, this will be a fun time Very interested to try the G&Ls to be honest.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1377172498' post='2184249'] Heh, heh. Well, I know what you mean. But just because there are loads of boring Fender players doesn't mean you'll be one. As always it's the player wot makes the interesting sounds, not the bass. [/quote] Indeed! [quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1377172978' post='2184264'] Why not just get any bass that you like the feel of? If it's active only just rip the pre-amp out and replace it with your passive control configuration of choice. Most basses don't have a pre-amp specially matched to the tonal characteristics of the wood or pickups so it won't matter if you replace it with something you find more convenient. [/quote] Maybe in the future... I'd probably just wreck it and be unhappy with it at the moment and I'm looking for more of an out-of-the-box solution just now. However, see my next point: [quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1377173545' post='2184273'] Why not get a Squier from FleaBay and mod it to have what you want. [/quote] Yes, I'd quite fancy getting a sound, yet scruffy/properly beaten up (but not faked/roadworn) cheapo bass and chucking some Nordstrand pups and an East preamp (with passive option of course) in there. The it would sound awesome and I could chuck it around. Interesting to see a lot of Yammy love coming out. My local PMT has loads of them, and a lot of Ibbys too. It's gonna be a whole weekend of bass testing! And this weekend is 0% finance weekend too... I can see my next post being a NBD one!

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1377169077' post='2184173'] So you were previously anti-Fender but now you're thinking of getting a Fender? Why not just go straight ahead and get yourself one, then? I'm sure it'll be really great. No problem. Oh sorry - that was a passive/aggressive bass suggestion. [/quote] I was previously anti-Fender as it just seemed like the safe boring unimaginative option. A bit like buying a Ford Focus IMO. And I've never been one to just go with the flow like that. But now having tried loads of different basses and hearing their sounds I'm simply starting to appreciate what the masses are appreciating. Nice pun btw.

[quote name='Mudpup' timestamp='1377121658' post='2183778'] Loving my Fender Blacktop Jazz. Lovely easy neck and a massive sound with a bit of Stingrayish cut when you fade to the rear P pickup. Bit unusual too which is nice. Heres a soundclip of one below [url="https://www.box.com/s/0giiip2y1612vfjh9dix"]https://www.box.com/...p2y1612vfjh9dix[/url] [/quote] Hmm, might look at those, although I do prefer the proper J sound at the bridge end but I can hear that sound acoustically so maybe it's more due to where I'm playing (directly over the bridge pup) rather than the pup itself. Added to my list now cheers [quote name='dudewheresmybass' timestamp='1377122346' post='2183795'] Fender modern player jaguar. Love mine. Easy to play, light and sounds huge! [/quote] I'm looking forward to trying one! Shame they took the Henry Ford stance on available colours - you have any colour so long as it's black... [quote name='hamfist' timestamp='1377154883' post='2183954'] There is no better bass IMO within that price range than the new Yamaha TRBX504. Yes, it's active (sorry), but it's passive too ! Just flick a switch, and all is passive, and the you have all the active sounds at your disposal too. It's a unity gain active too, so no volume jump going to active. It's got a lovely slim neck, is light as a feather and plays sooooo easily. Amazing sounds too. Thoroughly recommended. Mine's going nowhere! I can't believe anyone would really prefer playing a Chinese or mexican Fender over one of these. [/quote] Active basses with a passive switch are fine, I like versatility. I've never really considered Yammys or Ibanez's or other Japanese makes, despite being a big fan of Japanese bass manufacturing. It's worth chucking this one onto my testing list. [quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1377156560' post='2183971'] You really need a Streamer.... light, loads of bass and growl. You'll need to save a bit though, but you might be lucky [/quote] Hell yeah. I've gassed for a Warwick since the 90s (hence why I've got a Rockbass Corvette to try them out) but mine's active so I really need to try a passive one. Shame that Warwick tend not to get their basses into many shops really. Good suggestions so far, keep them coming! This should hopefully be a long process for me so I should have time to try out everything.

Yep, it's another one of those threads... Here's the story. I love my two Overwaters (the Tanglewood ones) and my passive P/J classic J is my main gigging bass. However I've just played a Fender Jaguar that the bassist from other band from tonight's gig was playing and it's so nice, and light and easy to play. My Overwaters are like tanks, they're a few inches bigger than Fender basses (despite both being 34" scale) and weight a frikking tonne. Around a third heavier than the Jaguar I played I reckon. So I want to try out some basses as a replacement. Budget is probably up to £600, new or used, I don't mind. Well, used will get me more bass Has to be passive, I don't like the active sound. I love the P/J pickup config on my current bass and I really do want the option of panning between them or sitting in the middle of the two pups. Could be a J/J, a P/J or something else. Has to be light - no heavier than a, well, standard P bass I guess, and must be "normal" size or smaller but not short scale so I'm looking at 34" scale still. Normal size means not the behemoth size of my Overwaters I used to be anti-Fender (booooorrrrriiiinnnnnggg) but I'm finding myself gravitating towards them now so they're actually top of my list. To give you an idea I'm thinking Fender Aerodyne, Fender Modern Player Jazz or something similar. I'm not adverse to trying any brand and my personality usually favour the non-mainstream brands (hence no Fenders so far in my list of currently owned basses). So, what would you recommend I try in my quest for a replacement main bass?

[quote name='Dave Vader' timestamp='1376926313' post='2180989'] Skol's not yet finished competition bass, has to be in here somewhere. [/quote] +1 to that.

I got mine for a bargainous £30 in a deal last year. It does a nice tube growl if you use the B15r head. It's tricky to get the levels right without distorting the sound if you use an active bass though.

[quote name='Roger2611' timestamp='1376828566' post='2179555'] My old Bass Collection SB801 doesn't actually seem to have existed other then the photo I have of mine. I also have a Godlyke 5 string bass which I think is very rare in this country [/quote] I'm intrigued, do you have a pic of the SB801?

Got it yet?

[quote name='steve-bbb' timestamp='1376683675' post='2178109'] the binky bunny bass [/quote] Seriously, that bunny's the only pleasant looking thing about that bass.

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1376577344' post='2176342'] Nah, I won't be putting Reaper on my system. I'm not a fan of the software and I don't fancy cluttering up my computer for no reason . [/quote] It can run off a USB stick so you can run it off one of those just to do the metering. No clutter at all then

Tempted to do this one as I have a bit of a crush on Kit hehe

I used to record on my MacBook Pro (technically, it's my work's laptop but we have a very liberal IT policy and I could use it for personal use too) with GarageBand. Then an update to OSX 10.6 and one for GarageBand prevented GB from recording through my Guitar Rig Session. Reaper worked fine with my interface but Apple's own software on their own OS stopped working. So I moved it all over to my PC and now use Reaper exclusively on the PC. Not a single problem and as my PC is a gaming PC with an SSD in there it runs very quickly indeed. This happens all too often on the Mac - nice hardware, sh*t software. Windows 7 all the way for me now.

CAR and white = lurvely! Also, trans black and flame maple = lurvely! See the pic of my beauties. [attachment=141401:overwaters.jpg] So have a black one, a white one and oh my, those red ones look good too! Hmm, I wonder if my Overwater's scratchplate is a standard size and shape...

Lovely bass! +1 for white on red. I've got a CAR Overwater Classic J with a pearl white pickguard and it's luverly.

[quote name='dlloyd' timestamp='1375882545' post='2166869'] Now why did they also name the sub-Squier Affinity range "Starcaster"? [/quote] This one? [url="http://www.tesco.com/direct/fender-starcaster-jazz-bass-guitar-black/517-7012.prd"]http://www.tesco.com/direct/fender-starcaster-jazz-bass-guitar-black/517-7012.prd[/url]. Yeah, whenever I hear the name starcaster I think of Tesco and their mislabelled Fender "jazz" bass...