Kiwi

Wizard GEM 'kiwi specials' with coil splits and Noll 3 band parametric eq. Crispy, warm and toit loike a toiger...LOADS of usable sounds all very fat and funky and a near infinite amount of tonal control. If I have two inside coils on for a stingray-type sound, I can tweak the parametric eq to make that a tad more convincing. The pickups do need to be carefully matched to the character of the bass though. A crap sound doesn't necessarily mean crap pickups but more a bad choice of pickups.

a few more as promised... ...this group shot is the only one I have of both Modulii when I owned them: [attachment=40459:DSCF0144.JPG] The Cutlery (although not strictly identical twins, its as close as I could get when I owned them): [attachment=40461:DSCF1233.JPG] The two Spector NS5CRFMs: [attachment=40460:DSC03147.JPG] If I'd had the presence of mind, I could have taken a couple of the Celinder Update J's while I had the black one but the headstocks were slightly different anyway.

If you change the name of the folder in the links then people can't cheat.

Pedulla MVP and Buzz both in Amberburst, although you wouldn't think so. Smith BSR5GNs There are others for the Modulii, Cutlery, and Spectors but I have to upload them.

The Akai SB1 Deep Impact is very good, but like hens teeth now and can tend to be a little fragile. I run a full MIDI set up at home but have had endless hassles with the piezo transducers...still waitin' for replacements too.

Yes, the production began in 1979 so its possible he would have had one of the first, an L2.

Aiiiii big it up 4 da blue rinse boyzzz, make some noiiiiizzzze...

On reading the topic title my first reaction was 'oh, its a bloke who goes around licking duracells and telling you how much charge is left in to the nearest volt or something'

I have the best sounding bass I've ever played. So I'd probably plump for something gratuitously expensive like a six string alembic with onboard effects unit, wireless internet and sky tv for the guitar solos.

To be fair to Chandlers in Kew, they deliberately and specifically discouraged me from using their PLEK machine. Told me they could do a much better job by hand and the sales person conveyed more than a hint of disgust at the thirty thousand quid he confided that they'd spent on it.

When I looked into Plekking a while back the machines were incapable of taking into account how the neck bends inconsistently along its length as string tension is applied. Not sure if they’ve updated the software since then though. A good fret job isn’t hard to achieve if you play with a straight neck anyway, regardless of the action.

I've got the whole performance on DVD, Mick Karns playing on Colin Vearcombe/Black singing Wonderful Life is really nice too.

still, its not like anyone is going to be ripped off. The reserve was very reasonable given the value of the parts.

Half Moon in Putney was on the brink of closing as well.

[quote name='molan' post='703720' date='Jan 7 2010, 12:24 AM']1) What are the differences between the J Updates and a Vintage? The Gallery are listing the Daphne blue one as Vintage but it looks very similar to my Update! N.B. Is this the same ex Me'Shell bass mentioned in the Celinder factory tour?[/quote] I get confused myself sometimes, but I thought Chris offered Classic and Update. Not sure what a vintage is but the main difference between a Classic and an Update is an active eq. [quote name='molan' post='703720' date='Jan 7 2010, 12:24 AM']2) Do most Celinders have their own brand pickups fitted? Mine has these but I have heard that some have Barts so maybe there are lots of pickup options available?[/quote] Whatever you want if you're paying the money...apart from probably EMGs because Chris isn't fond of the sound of them! [quote name='molan' post='703720' date='Jan 7 2010, 12:24 AM']3) Mine has a 2 band active tone circuit - I'd like to know a a bit more about this? Bass has a centre detent but treble rolls freely - is this standard? Are there internal adjustments (I haven't looked yet, lol). How dooes the pre work - the tone controls don't feel like they work in a 'conventional' manner?[/quote] There wasn't a standard eq in the earlier instruments. He'd install anything a customer wanted but many have Aguilar preamps. Later off-the-shelf basses have had a Greengrove pre though as standard. [quote name='molan' post='703720' date='Jan 7 2010, 12:24 AM']4) I've seen some Celinders with an additional flick switch - what does this do? Again, I spotted this on the Me'Shell bass.[/quote] Usually switches between active and passive. My old black one that Bigwan refers to had the same function but as a push/pull pot. I had a go on the Meshell bass in Chris's workshop and it was gorgeous (for a jazz). Didn't seem to be anything particularly unusual about the electronics, just a standard 2 band with active/passive switch, vol and pan. Also, Badass bridges were standard on earlier basses until he went to his own branded hardware.

Not only flats but other types, I've been scrounging for sets of super steps. None to be had since July because they don't bother making them until they fill the order book.

My 2p: Its a bit difficult for anyone (including myself) to draw definitive conclusions on a bit of kit unless its been tried in a variety of environments. On stage acoustics count for a lot in my experience. Also getting the right sound is as much about getting the recipe of wood, construction, electronics and hardware right in the bass and then bass vs amp, signal chain and speakers as anything. If the bass isn't 100% then maybe pairing it with a rig with the right colouring could be worth doing. Markbass rigs make jazz basses sound fantastic but suck with Smiths and Shukers and I couldn't buy an amp just for one bass. My advice is get the bass sounding right first. The more work you can do with the instrument, the less you have to do with the amp, signal chain and speaker. Its the path I've more or less followed. Also, there are some times on stage when nothing you ever do will sound 'right' so its worth taking the performance of the backline with a pinch of salt. In my book, the bigger the stage, the better the acoustics due to a lack of reflecting surfaces close by. After I found a bass that was 80% of the way there, the final tweak was changing the pickups. That meant I could plug it into any old amp and know that the essentials of I wanted to hear would be there even if I wasn't going to get everything. Alternatively, consider a parametric eq. perhaps? Sound engineers use them and I think they're the ultimate for tone tweaking. I have an old TL Audio 5013 valve parametric eq which is awesome for nailing specific frequencies that are getting pointy or smothered. I'm also about to install a 3 band parametric eq by Klaus Noll in one of my Spectors and will be doing an A/B against the other Spector which has a East MM/U-Retro. The 3 band para isn't any more difficult to operate than a sweep filter based eq and perhaps is easier to visualise. However as Mcgraham says, if you use IEM's then you cut out two variables (the speakers and stage acoustics). Not to mention the benefits of an obscene level of portability.

Wow, great opp. I'd be up for this if I was still in the UK.

I'm in the process of putting together an improv house disco band. The idea is that we do live mash ups and remixes on the fly after agreeing before hand which songs can mash up with each other best. Then we each learn the component parts and pre agreed signals for doing things like break downs and segues and make it up on stage. It's going to take a lot of rehearsal but I think once we're all used to communicating and reacting while we're playing, it'll be one of the most amazing experiences. Have a keyboardist and singer lined up so far but am looking for a solid drummer.

Steinberger graphite necks don't fit the spirit models, according to the Moses website. The Moses Steinberger blend necks are very good though, waaaay better than the dreadful floppy things they make for jazz and stingray basses.

It's like a public admission that Spector doesn't have enough faith in its own products. I'm sure Spector already know there are lots of jazz basses out there but, apart from taking advantage of any brand loyalty in current spector owners, I'm at a loss to understand where the added value is. Maybe the profit margins on these instruments are so good (with the uncomplicated hardware, popularity and relatively low construction costs) that manufacturers can't resist the temptation.