Linus27

Thank you for the info, sounds lovely and I know what you mean about Japanese build quality. My favourite basses are Japanese, especially Fender's, just something different about them that makes them so much better. I adore my fretless Japanese Jazz, its 35 years old but nothing has come close to it yet. Thank you very much, I really appreciate it, I would definitely be interested if you decide to part with it so please do let me know. I'm not totally convinced my fretless Stingray is for me so looking at other options. Thanks again.

Oh wow, that is gorgeous, you lucky thing, looks stunning. How does it play and sound, typical Jazz neck and tone? If you ever decide to part with it then please let me know

Has anyone ever seen of have one of the Fender Made in Japan Traditional 60s Fretless Jazz Basses that came out a few years back? I have never seen one available or for sale and it something I would love to get my hands on. https://en.audiofanzine.com/electric-fretless-bass/fender/made-in-japan-traditional-60-s-jazz-bass-fretless/ https://www.notreble.com/buzz/2019/01/26/fender-unveils-limited-edition-made-in-japan-basses/

HAHAHAHA you can't blame me, I only have 3 basses now and none of them have frets

Blimey, I remember the days when you had 3 or 4 basses

Personally, if you have played fretted for a while or have good technique, then leave the fretted packed away and just take the fretless. My switch was when I went to a 3 day song writing session and I took my fretless along as well. Picked it up in one of the sessions and found I could play it with very little problem and just played it all the time and haven't looked back I now play unlined fretless only and actually find switching back to fretless takes some adjustment. I even sold my 1975 Jazz that had lines and blocks on impossible to play as there was so much clutter and distraction on the neck with the frets, blocks and lines. I only have fretless basses now

As with all things musical, it really depends on the individual and how they want to express themselves. A fretless can be played as straight and un-fretless like as a fretted bass or it can be as exaggerated as much as your heart desires. Listen to a lot of early The Police, Sting really doesn't sound like he's playing a fretless in a lot of cases when actually he is. The other things to consider is strings and the bass you play. They will all sound different as we have seen, Jaco does not sound anything like Tony Franklin who in turn sounds nothing like Pino. Plus a fretless Jazz strung with rounds will sound very different to a fretless Precision strung with flats. So a few questions you should ask yourself is what you are trying to achieve by playing fretless and how you want to sound. The key to be successful on a fretless bass is simply down to two main things, technique and ear. You need to have extremely strong technique so that when you fret, you fret pretty much in the same place every time, you need to hit that spot perfectly. Your fretting hand is the most import thing to get right and it is important to cover one fret per finger. Two great exercises to see how good your technique is are, playing walking bass lines and playing bass lines you normally play or know but doing them in the dark. The walking bass lines will really help with technique and getting your fretting fingers in the correct places as you move around the fretboard. Playing bass lines you know or already play but in the dark will also be a good indicator of how good your technique is and how well you know your fretboard, lots of bum notes and then you need to work on your technique. The other essential is having a good ear so you can hear when you are slightly off and can correct yourself on the fly. I do think that a lot of this comes naturally but again playing walking bass lines and bass lines you know how to play already will help in being able to recognise if you are in tune or not. A very good exercise to help with training your ear is to sing along to songs and create your own harmonies and hopefully see if you are in tune. Also singing along to bass lines helps and if you know the bass line, you'll know if you are pitching in tune. If not, then get practicing. Also, if you have a piano, playing a small simple melody and then singing it back is a great exercise for tuning your ear. You then repeat the melody but play it higher and higher up the scale until your voice can't reach that pitch you are playing it in. You can do it on a bass or a guitar but piano works best. Start simple so play A, B C and D on the A string as a 4 note run and then sing it back in pitch. Then play B, C, D and E and sing it back. Just keep working up and try and keep in tune. Then change the melody, for example, A, E, D, B, C. Its one of the best techninque to work on your ear and is something professional singers do all the time to train. Both of these essential skills go hand in hand as you won't always be able to hear yourself perfectly in a live situation so having good technique will help with playing as close in tune as possible. As for the question regarding lined or unlined, personally I play unlined but I see shapes and positions when I look at an unlined fretless board so lines would just confuse me. However if you use lines and you prefer that then crack on. The bottom line is if you are a half decent bass player, with good technique, then you should be able to switch over to fretless fairly easily.

I'm quite tempted to go back to MarkBass and quite fancy giving either a Little Mark Vintage D2 or the Little Mark Tube a go. I did try the Marcus once and I was really impressed with it.

Yes, this is exactly the same for me, I also chose the lighter gauge of Roto 77 Flats and found the tension to be a smidge higher but pretty much close to a set of rounds. I'd tried flats a few times before and could not get of with them due to the higher tension but found the lighter gauge Roto 77's were pretty much identical to a set of rounds.

Yep, definitely Roto's, 100% sure. They were recommended to me by OBBM and I then purchased them through Amazon and fitted them myself.

I have a gorgeous Fender Precision which has a maple high gloss fretless neck. So to not chew up the neck, my string choices are pretty limited. I'm currently using Rotosound 77 Jazz Flatwounds which I do like as they are low tension like rounds, feel nice to play and sound very good, I wound say warm and round. However I would like to try something different. Are there any string that are low tension like rounds or my Rotosound flats, brighter and closer tonally to rounds but still smooth like flats as to not chew up my maple gloss fretless neck?

Thanks Hellzero. I managed to get the EBS working ok but the Boss OC-5 just seems superior and the tracking looks amazing. That video review was also very impressive. I'm going to take the EBS pedal back for a refund and get the OC-5 when they become available again.

Yep, very good, proper, accomplished musicianship and no silly faces or look at me playing 1000's of notes per second, just great playing and a good piece of music. Nice MarkBass rig as well.

Thank you @Velarian, helped me as well 👍

I've been using an octave pedal for the last 6 months and using it to some good effect. I'm new to using one and started out with the Behringer Ultra Octaver which has been pretty good for £20. I use it to beef up single low notes as well as creating that typical octave sound when playing high melodies and runs. Some of the effect is to create a big full bass sound when playing single low notes or a more cello type sound and style for the mid to higher stuff. The band I'm in is acoustic guitar and vocals and a percussive drummer so it works really well filling the bottom end and creating the melody. I play a fretless active Stingray and I also have a chorus pedal and compressor/limiter pedal. So I thought it was time to invest in a decent Octave pedal as it's a major part of my sound and the band sound and after lots of research I settled on the EBS Blue Label Octabass. The good news is it's pretty easy to use and has quite a nice sound to it. However I'm not overly impressed with the tracking and its causing me some big headaches. If I set it to track low, it's fine and copes well with a low G on the E string and even the open E. Mid register is ok also, for example A on the D string but as soon as I start playing high A's or even high E's on the G string it all starts to become a mess. If I then choose to set it to track high notes, it copes with the high and mid register notes really well but as soon as I play the lower notes, for example a B on the A string or a G on the E string, the tracking goes a bit AWOL. I decided to compare it back to back with my cheap Behringer Octave pedal and despite the EBS sounding a lot better tonally, there wasn't a huge difference in tracking performance between the two pedals. I'm beginning to wonder if the answer is to run two Octave pedals, one set and activated for playing low notes and then another set up and activated when I play the mid and higher stuff. Seems a bit of a compromise though. Any advice or tips or is this just how it is with Octave pedals.

Oooh good spot sir, a 600W Gnome will be very interesting. I love my 300 i Pro so very interested in a 600W model to perhaps become my main head. Will be interesting to see if it has any additional features or changes. Would be nice if they made it in the original black colour.

I wasn't born until June 1970 but if I was then I'd be listening to this,

For me Grunge was music from bands originating from Seatle. No different to Motown being music that originated from Detroit. The grunge scene then opened up a wider spectrum of guitar based rock bands who got lumped in with the grunge bands from Seatle, for example Stone Temple Pilots, Live, Smashing Pumpkins etc. These other bands were not Grunge bands but as they fitted and sounded similar, media/listeners lumped them together.

My Christmas present to me was an Ashdown Studio 8 practise amp. Absolutely brilliant little combo and just perfect for me to practise at home.

Enjoy the Warwick Gnome Nick, they are brilliant little amps and so loud. I absolutely love mine.

I love that Lagrene bass, obviously been defretted but its just gorgeous.

That is gorgeous. I get my fretless Stingray with pau ferro board back from my luthier tomorrow. I so can't wait. May I ask how much this cost to have done and how long it took? I'm not sure if I like the Pau Ferro board on mine and have been considering getting a Status neck but this may be another option.

Nice collection Nick I'm the other way around, I tend to buy when I'm gigging more and then let stuff go when I'm not. I'm pretty sorted now with only 3 basses, all fretless but I have a lovely and expensive Stingray Fretless with Pau Ferro board that I've not gigged yet. However, if I don't get on with it then I'll sell it and try something else, perhaps a Tony Franklin Fretless Precision or a Warwick Streamer fretless.

This is the thing, I really want to try before committing £100 to an Ebow and then finding its a huge ball ache. As for our guitarist, he can't do it, he's playing acoustic guitar, singing, using a harmoniser live to record layers of backing vocals and controlling the strings via a laptop using foot pedals. He's quite busy already lol

It will be played on a fretless and my gauge is .40. Plus I will be using Reverb and depending on how it sounds, Octave and/or chorus.