bassbloke

The obvious benefit of placing your highest bid at the last minute is that many people bidding on an item do so without taking an objective view of the value of the item on which they're bidding. Unless you're stupid or desperate enough to bid way over the odds for an item, chances are, someone will always outbid at the lats minute just, well, just because...

serial number will allow you do date it. First digit is year of manufacture, I believe.

[quote name='electrizer' post='84760' date='Nov 7 2007, 08:57 AM']Hi everyone! I'm not going to describe the music with words. Just check this --> [url="http://www.myspace.com/brightcolorvision"]<a href="http://www.myspace.com/brightcolorvision" target="_blank">http://www.myspace.com/brightcolorvision[/url]</a> Material is ready and waiting to be practiced. We're a bunch (voc, l-guit, guit, dr) of easy-going, passionate about what we're doing guys with experience in gigging and writing. If you feel up to par with the music and, most importantly ENJOY IT, you're more than welcome to drop us a line, either by Instant Message at MySpace, PM here or e-mail me Electrizer @ ...::: Bright Color Vision :::...[/quote] I sent you an e-mail yesterday in response to your Gumtree ad. I'm well up for coming along and trying out.

[quote name='finnbass' post='84272' date='Nov 5 2007, 11:38 PM']Very interesting review, thanks I have just ordered a JZ3-VB-3B Z-mode Jazz Pre - Vol, Mid/Bal, Tre/Bass model which I intend to stick in my Aerodyne. I have a standard Jazz with a J-Retro installed so I will be interested in comparing the two...[/quote] I wish I'd updated this review sooner. I ordered a second preamp for my other bass. This time I opted for a vol/vol/2band/tone model thinking that the two volume controls would be more useable than the sometimes hard to reach blend. I much prefer this to the 3 band model which still has a noticeable jump in volume as you move between front to both to rear pickup. The 2 volume simply doesn't have this problem and it's much faster rolling off an indiividual pickup. This still doesn't detract from the fact that the JZ3D is a great piece of kit. Since first installing the preamp, I raised the pickup height and lowered the gain of the low Z mode my bass sounds absolutely stunning now.

I'd second the Schecter. My mate has one and it sounds great. The standard model, not the Robert DeLeo has good pickups, looks good and sounds good. The Robert DeLeo model has not as good pickups but a satin rather than gloss neck that you might prefer. Sound Control must have some in stock.

What year is it? Does it have the Gotoh tuners or the Fender-badged Schaller lightweight tuners. I would say a reasonable price for, say, a 1996-1999 model in good condition would be around £500 - £550. I'd expect to knck seller down £50 because of the poor condition. Add £100 for a newer, up to 2002 model.

You have three options 1) Passive pickups with active preamp. So, Bartolinis, most Seymour Duncans, Kent Armstrong pickups with a Bart, SD, Audere, John East preamp. 2) Active pickups with onboard preamp. The most obvious example is EMGs which have an onboard preamp. So, just get voluem and basic tone, but the benefit of low impedance pickups, if you like that sound. The EMGs are a breeze to wire in - the pickups have simply push in connectors and the circuit comes pre-wired, you just need to ensure that you have sufficient space in the control cavity for a 9v battery. 3) Active pickups with seperate active preamp. EMG again. Much more tonal control. My preference is passive pickups with active preamp. Some preamps, such as the J-Retro or U-Retro have a bypass switch to give you that unadulterated passive sound - not tone controls.

Noisy pots and intermittent jack are nothing to worry about. Provided it's structurally sound (i.e. missing dot isn;t result of it being dropped froma great height) and you can get a good deal on it, then go for it. I think US Deluxe jazz Vs are great basses, especially if you drop one of [url="http://www.audereaudio.com/JZ3D.htm"]these[/url] in it.

[quote name='MacDaddy' post='83995' date='Nov 5 2007, 03:01 PM']there's 2x10 on top in the combo, and 2x12 underneath in the cab. I'm not really using the EQ much either, though I've noticed the Compressor just reduces the volume - lots - unless I'm winding it up. Then it seems to do it's job. I need to try my V-AMP through the FX loop, but it's getting round to it.[/quote] F*ck me. That's nice. Is one driver angled or rear firing? Where did you get this? I've found that the tone of the amp changes lots when you drive it. I've given up on using the compressor on my TVM600 - it just overdrives. However, the guy that fixed my TVM350 says that the opamps they use in the TVM350 are probably superior to the ones inthe TVM600, hence the better tone and that it could easily be modded. I have an APhex punch factory that sounds more transparent than the onboard optical compressor one ither head and I use that instead.

Sorry, are there 2 10" drivers in each cab? How are you getting on with the Tech stuff? You had a few questions about the EQ, but I've found it doesn;t really need touching - I just use the gain and master on mine and maybe adjust the mid for more or less bark. Other than that, it sounds great with tone controls set to 12 o'clock.

One exercise I find really helpful is to take an exotic scale, like the harmonic minor and work out all of the modes. It really opens up the finger board and helps you learn the sound of each scale. In fact, it was using this exercise that I discovered that the spanish phrygian and harmonic minor are different modes of the same scale.

I think there's a US ebay seller called Slonk who sells parts, a lot of which are good quality Japanese ones from, I think, basses made by Signature. There's some nice stuff on show. Another good seller is Sigler music who do pickups, bridges etc... They have a lot of the Fender Custom shop and Seymour Duncan basslines. You can also get badass bridges from them for a good price. Need to keep checking their ebay shop though. A good aftermarket preamp is the Audere JZ3. Again, exchange rates, which are becoming ever more attractive for buying from the US make all of the above potential bargains.

Some excelelnt scales to play with [url="http://www.meditera.co.uk/theory-scales-Greek-and-Balkan-Scales-used-on-Bouzouki-and-Tambura-in-music-from-greece-folk-and-Traditional-song-and%20dance.htm"]Meditera[/url] The Hijaz (Hitzaz) scales is also known as Spanish Phrygian I believe anyway, have fun. And remember that you have to play them in 7/8 (3-2-2) to make it really authentic.

I had my bass pleked a year ago. It's good, but £145?!?!?!?

[quote name='6stringbassist' post='76696' date='Oct 19 2007, 07:47 PM']I love my Modulus, no dead spots......fantastic. I've always found Sei's to be great basses, I've never played one that had dead spots, how would removing the frets and levelling the fretboard cure the problem, and what actually causes the problem in the 1st place. As regards the choice of preamp, I had an OBP3 in a Roscoe bass a few years ago, that was quite 'boomy' sounding, it had a very prominent low mid bump. I have a John East U-retro deluxe in my Modulus, it's probably the most versatile pre that I've tried, it sounds great with the Bart pickups.[/quote] I was informed that deadspots are caused by gaps between the frets and the neck.The luthier who told me said his solution was to plop a couple of drops of glue into the fret slots to ensure that there is a good bond.

Amp modelling was all the rage 2 years ago - Vox, Line 6 everyone was desperate to get in on the act. A former bandmate of mine, now living in the states, summed it up perfectly. He said Line 6 stuff was a fad. Granted, it has it's place and for a lot of people in tribute bands or doing session work where you need to nail a specific sound and a close approximation will do just fine, PODs are great tools. Unfortunately, for a lot of people, having umpteen amp and cab models, effects, biamp capabilities, etc... just detract from the most important part - namely turning up, plugging in and playing. As for Fender gear. Well, guitar brands like ESP Ltd, Dean, Schecter Diamond Series all kind of sound the same - basswood or mahogany bodies, EMG Hz pickups, etc... whereas a strat, tele, precision and jazz have completely different sounds and you can get so much variation out of a couple of volumes/selector switch and a tone.

[quote name='bnt' post='76539' date='Oct 19 2007, 02:30 PM']...have you seen the inside of a Proliant 8500 (DL760) server? [/quote] Careful, you're showing your age!

excellent, but I think some more oinking is needed to compliement the squealing The ultimate death metal vocalist award has to go to the guy from [url="http://www.myspace.com/cephalotripsy"]Cephalotripsy[/url]

A MAc G5 vs what looks to be a generic home build PC or similar. Hardly comparing apples and apples is it?

Just had a quick peek on www.amazon.co.uk and they sell Leatherman goods. Why don't you enquire about setting up a Markeplace account with them? You'd probably do much better than on ebay, which has always had the air of a dodgy market stall about it, and probably get a better class of customer.