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[quote name='BassBomber414' post='219101' date='Jun 15 2008, 09:31 AM']Thanks for all your suggestions , keep them coming , I'm listening. The Stingray is interesting.The obvious build quality appeals but I've heard a few on You Tube and they have a very distinctive sound , which I like, but seems to lack the cutting crackle and growl that I need in my band.Or maybe they can be adjusted to that sound ? Although we are a 'Pub Band' (Pah ! ) our current drummer has a full set of top of the range DW drums which are magnificent but very very loud.So the guitarist is cranked right up as well , this means that my rig ( Yamaha BB414 and Warwick CL Combo 250 watts Neo single 15" with horn,Zoom B2 pedal set on A1- Hartke 3500 sound)is up against it.The Warwick sounds great at home but can sound a bit flabby with the band.I play with the Combo on flat settings but the sub sonic switch in and the 'high' switch in,the position switch on the BB414 set on both pickups and tone set to 7 or 8 giving a cutting , percussive sound that gets me in the mix big time but is then a bit lacking in the lows. If I back off the treble I have trouble hearing my own playing which is a problem for me as can't play perfectly from memory.We don't have monitoring - we stand in front of the amps.Is a Fender Jazz going to do the job ?? Maybe I'll just have to convert to the neck.I've thought about a secondhand Ric 4003 which seems like a beast. I know the obvious solution is to visit a music shop and try lots of basses but where I live the only local one charges top dollar ,is staffed by a lot of youngsters intent on showing off to their mates and having zero interest in spending any time whatsoever with any Grown Ups.Other music shops in the area tend to have two cheap basses hanging on the walls and make their money selling recorders to children.[/quote] OK, suggestion 2. I think your amp may be the problem. It sounds like it's not got enough power to compete with the drummer. Also, I'd suggest getting rid of the Zoom, and just going direct. About what you said, yes, the Stingray does have a fairly distinctive sound, but I think it'll provide the depth you need, as well as being fairly easy to hear. I'd disagree with the suggestion about getting the 3 band, though - I tend to think the 2 band preamp has a lot more thump. Other than that, I also liked Dr.Dave's alternative about putting a P neck on a J body, although I'm not so sure it would get you all that far away from the sound you're currently getting.

Have you ever tried a Stingray? I think that might suit your needs nicely, and with the used market as it is, you should be able to get one within budget.

[quote name='99ster' post='212537' date='Jun 4 2008, 02:04 PM']Mr Tune O Matic.... Many of you are probably aware of this US based 'character' on eBay - he sells a huge amount of very expensive vintage guitars, basses & parts. He is also the seller of a notorious refinished CAR Jazz that keeps being re-listed as a protest by it's unfortunate current owner. Just in case anyone here is tempted to buy anything off him - you should first take a look at t[url="http://contact.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ShowAllQuestions&requested=tune_o_matic&iid=360056705660&frm=284&redirect=0&ShowASQAlways=1&SSPageName=PageAskSellerQuestion_VI"]his reply he recently gave to a question on eBay[/url] There was an even worse reply to an eBay question that some guy posted on talkbass.com a while back (I think there may be a thread about him on there) - it was unbelievably abusive. He also trades as 'find it only here' - again for very expensive vintage parts. I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions about how deserving he is of any of your hard earned cash.[/quote] Thanks for the heads up, and especially for highlighting the other user name he uses, which I've come very close to buying stuff from.

Pffft ..... bugger won't ship internationally!!! What's his problem?!!!!

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='201374' date='May 18 2008, 08:58 AM']blimey, what a steal. Must have been a fair few tyre kickers on that one then.[/quote] It's the sort of price that makes you think "sh*t, I should have had a bid"!!!! I bought one of my Sadowskys direct from Roger, and the other I got on Ebay from a seller in the US. Both purchases were over 4 years ago, and I can assure you both cost a lot more than this!! I would've thought that price was Metro territory.

[quote name='TimmyC' post='201290' date='May 17 2008, 11:01 PM']Anyone get this? Good price.[/quote] Good price? That's an amazing price!!! I recognise that user's name, and I'm pretty sure it's someone who posts on here.

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='200177' date='May 16 2008, 09:37 AM']I'm probably being picky and it shouldn't affect my judgement but... The fact that the screws from the s'plate have been reinserted into the holes means that I assume he has screwed them in so that they are flush with the surface (unless they were just put in for the pics but not sure why you would). This looks a bit ugly so if it was me I'd remove them... does this leave slightly enlarged, fairly unsightly holes OR if you were to fit a replacement s'plate (why would you with that timber) will the fact that the screws have been screwed down into the wood to a greater depth mean that when you fit a s'plate the existing screws will not bite as they aren't going in as deep. Does that make sense? Lush bass BTW[/quote] On basses like this, Roger will often put a clear scratchplate to allow the quilt top to show through. As for the screws that are in there, I can understand what you're getting at - looking at the picture, the seller appears to have screwed them in only as far as the depth of the original whole, so the head's are not sitting flugh, but are slightly raised above the body. As you said, though, if you remove them, it leaves the screw holes which look a bit bleh, so I'd be inclined to put the scratch plate back on. I've got two Sadowsky basses that are near on identical to this (one with the same finish, the other in trans blue, both with quilt tops), and they're absolutely awesome basses. If this stays around that price, it will be an absolute steal.

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='198472' date='May 14 2008, 07:30 AM']£1500 so far with AGES to go. Do these people know what they're buying? Can the tell the difference between this one and the single-coil version? I hope they do...[/quote] Totally agree. I had one of these offered to me 3 or 4 years back, and I was curious as I'd never tried one. The bass was in very nice nick, which had me interested, and it played reasonably well, so all things looked good. Then I plugged it in, and the sound was bloody awful. I'm the first to admit, I'm mainly a collector these days, so sound shouldn't matter a great deal, but I just couldn't live with owning something that I had no interest in sonically. I guess it must come down to the whole "vintage = good" thing that's so strong these days. Thing is though, for the money it's at at present, it probably wouldn't be all that difficult to find a Precision from around the same era, and that would be a million times more usable.

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='192248' date='May 5 2008, 02:27 PM']The Flecktones' "Sinister Minister." Scary stuff![/quote] I know a few Flecktones songs. Is that the piece that starts with these really haunting banjo chords? I'll try and check if it's the same song, but yeah, there's some great basslines in their work. I actually think I prefer Vic's playing with the Flecktones to his solo stuff.

[quote name='oldmallet' post='192232' date='May 5 2008, 02:00 PM']Rythm Stick is mega, saw The Blockheads at South Shields ampitheatre and they were stupendous. Norman Watroy is a helluva player.....mint. Hope you nail it 'cos I couldn't! [/quote] I'm getting there. Fortunately there's no pressure, I'm just doing it for bragging rights!!! But yeah, Norman's a monster player. One of the things I'm noticing is that when I'm playing, the 16s all sound very straight, whereas when you listen to him, there's this great swing to the part. Bastard!!!

I spoke to Roger Sadowsky a few times while I was waiting for my first bass to be made, and also after it had been delivered. Seemed like a nice guy, quite keen to keep his customers happy.

[quote name='The Funk' post='191740' date='May 4 2008, 06:37 PM']Brian at Wunjo will always do deals on things in the shop. A lot of the time you don't even have to ask.[/quote] Thanks for the tip. Next time I'm in there I'll keep that in mind. I just assumed their pricing would be similar to the rest of Denmark Street.

I've been working on "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick", although it's slow going. Fingerstyle is probably my weakest technique, so it's hard to combine the speed and the groove. Which is why I chose the song - if I can get this down, I'll feel like I've taken a big step forward.

[quote name='Rich' post='190423' date='May 2 2008, 12:32 PM']That's what was so great about the Bass Centre (RIP) back in the Wapping glory days of the late 80s... you'd wander in there and a guy would approach you and the first thing he'd say after 'hello' was "Is there anything you'd like to try?". That's [i]try[/i], not buy. It was always kid/sweetshop time in there. I remember going in there once and telling him what I wanted from a bass... he sat me down at a Trace amp, pointed me at the free coffee m/c, and then brought me [i]fifteen [/i]different basses to try, gave me all the time I wanted, and never once prodded me for a decision or showed any sign of impatience... ahhh man, those were the days... [/quote] Yeah, the original Bass Centre was awesome. When I first got to London, I was desperate to go and check it out, as I'd always read all these great things about it, and I wasn't disappointed. Even though it was a complete pain in the butt to get to, it was always worth the trek. One of the coolest experiences I had in there, as far as customer service goes, was a time when I decided to try out a Jack Bruce Thumb Bass. I'd recently bought a Streamer Stage I, and just wanted to try some other Warwicks out as a comparison. I was playing the bass, and it was nice, but the strings were a bit old, so it wasn't going to display it's full potential. The guy serving me asked if he could have a quick play, which he did. He then looks at me, hands me another bass, and says something along the lines of "just bang on this for a few minutes". He nicks over to the counter, restrings the bass, gives it a quick set up, and brings it back, and the bass was playing absolutely superbly. He didn't give a damn whether I intended to buy it or not, he simply wanted the bass to play as well as it possibly could. As for the Bass Cellar, they're *ssholes. I had two basses on consignment with them. They sold one fairly quickly, and paid up fairly quickly (say, 6 to 8 weeks, which I wasn't too worried about). The other bass took about 6 months to sell, but it took them over a year from the selling date to actually pay me, and that was only because I was ready to call the police. The d*ckhead manager kept blaming the shop owner, saying that he was never available for signing cheques, or some crap like that. Having said that, I did get to play an amazing custom colour '66 Jazz in there that was absolutely amazing - I think I must've got the salesman on a good day, as he was more than happy to let me try it out. As for the rest, yeah,Wunjo's is probably the pick of the bunch, although they're still very expensive. I doubt I'd ever spend money in Denmark Street.

[quote name='Alemboid' post='173723' date='Apr 10 2008, 10:16 AM']The early Fender-like Bassstar graphite necks go back even earlier in fact, dating from the late 70s onwards. Here's mine (1979-ish, neck number 53): [attachment=7456:bassstar_head.jpg][/quote] I didn't know that, I thought it was a bit later. I also didn't know the part about the Modulus/Alembic logo - I've never seen one before!! Thanks for the picture, that's great. Other than that, the logo looks pretty similar to what I had (at least from memory). Thanks for the info!

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='172339' date='Apr 8 2008, 02:41 PM']That was my view on the manufactured Super-Jazz as opposed to the modded Fender. Does anyone know of any sites that have examples of early production Sadowsky's etc?[/quote] The only time I've ever seen any old Sadowskys is when they've been put up on Talkbass or Bassgear for sale. In the 7 or 8 years I've been going to Talkbass, I've only see 3 or 4.

Early Modulus graphite necks had a Fender headstock, and were called "BassStar". Originally they were produced as a part to be added to other instruments, then Modulus starting producing full instruments using these necks. I think this all happened around the late 80s, early 90s. From what I understand, Hutch's instruments are a pair of the complete instruments I mentioned. I actually had one of their necks for quite a while. Absolutely brilliant neck, I really regret selling it, to be honest.

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='171998' date='Apr 8 2008, 07:57 AM']When did the 'Super Jazz' ie Sadowsky take on the jazz come into being?[/quote] If you look at the way Roger describes what happened, he was modding basses in the late 70s and early 80s, but at that time, he'd tell the guys who came to him to go and find the nicest 60s Jazz they could, then he'd mod/upgrade it. I think he was building full instruments by the early 80s, and also, he stopped recommending that they upgrade 60s Jazzes as he realised he was telling them to basically destroy any vintage value the instrument might have. I'd imagine other builders were doing much the same thing. For instance, Charvel/Jackson were certainly do Fender style basses in the early 80s, and I know Schecter were building similar instruments as well. So you can definitely say that that style of bass existed in the early 80s, and I'd imagine there are probably earlier examples as well.

I really liked Louis Johnson's Starlicks video. It's like a crash course in the roots of slapping. I started from there, and found it fairly easy to expand out from what I learnt from his video. And that was about 15 years ago!!

[quote name='simon1964' post='153544' date='Mar 8 2008, 11:53 AM']Some good suggestions above. I've just bought an Ibanez ATK305. They're certainly worth a look. I've never got on with 5 strings before, but this is really playable, and very versatile.[/quote] I was going to suggest an ATK as well. They're good basses for the money, and have a sound that would probably suit the style of music karlbb plays.

[quote name='sticker' post='151747' date='Mar 5 2008, 02:24 PM']"Hit me with your rhythym stick" ... if I could play that I'd be a very happy chappy indeed ![/quote] LMAO!!! This is exactly the song I thought of when I read the thread title!! It's fast, but it's also got such an amazing groove. I think I'll just stick to listening to Norman nail it!