Kiwi
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This is why we have Bassbashes...:) Depending on where you live, it might be worth asking anyone attending to bring their 5er jazz bass for you to have a go on. The market is saturated with choice - in addition to Sadowsky and Lakland there is Sire, Goodfellow, FGN, Moon, Markbass, Blade, Spector (super fat necks though) amongst many many others. Sire has been somewhat of a game changer in recent years and are fairly accessible so would probably be first of my list to try. Followed by some of the japanese brands such as Blade, FGN and Moon.
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Yes, a near perfect replica by Alan Knight in Bromley. Let's just say it didn't cost me the 5k Fender are asking and lacks a dusting of gold paint to make it look more yellow. But the parts are all Fender licensed apart from the body which is alder and slightly thinner than standard, as is the original. The pickguard is also a Kahler brass job, NOS from the early 80's, and identical to the one on Nile's guitar - rocking horse poo these days, I got lucky (ha). But Fender sell after market replacements now. I did have replica 50's strat pickups made in Russia installed originally but I disliked their weak ouput so much that I installed a set of 50's Fender noiseless instead and there's not only a little more gain but also no hum. Tonally it absolutely delivers that scratchy recorded sound of the original...although Nile's use of other guitars on recordings is kind of overlooked in the hype to promote mythology and fetishisation of the Hitmaker. You are more than welcome to the jazz box, but collection only...
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I'm a little embarrassed by the amount of guitars as it suggests I'm much better than I actually am. But I enjoy messing about with them, pick up swapping, customising etc. But space constraints will mean a one in one out policy soon, I think. In the middle are three Yamaha MSGs (aka Image outside the UK). Yamaha's jump on the PRS bandwagon and their existing experience in copying Les Pauls for their Studio Lord range. As much as I would love to own a PRS or two, it's hard to justify when the MSGs are just as playable and (dare I say it?) look nicer. The far left one is my main guitar and had a black replacement trem installed after threads wore out on the original chrome one. It used to have the pickups in the one on the far right and the sound was very creamy - imagine the solo off Wuthering Heights. Currently has a DiMarzio Satur8 in the bridge and Air Zone in the neck positions but I'm not so enamoured with the sound. Middle one is an MSG Standard - more faithful to the LP concept and it has PRS Mira pickups for a classic rock sound. Far right one is slightly surplus but a little lighter, it has Armstrong humbuckers which sound like PAF's once they've been eq'd for recording. Smooth, nice midrange but also very balanced. The blue strat in the corner was originally a Chandler Custom Strat, their take on a Valley Arts but now the only thing that is still original is the body wood - a 2 piece slab of quilted maple. I made a neck for it last year because I was so comfortable with the 44mm wide nuts and ebony fingerboards on the Yamaha MSGs. And last summer I also made this in about a week - a hybrid of a MSG and an Aria RS Esprit (which featured low pass filters) but with a middle pickup and piezos. The pickups are passive Alembic Activators, the low pass filters are customised by Lusithand and the piezo is by Graphtec to fit the Wilkinson VSW100CV convertible trem. I'm still working on the electronics as the piezo saddles have proved to be both fragile and expensive to replace but it can do Go West after turning the bridge filter down and dialling back the neck filter a little. Piezo response is not as much like an acoustic guitar as I expected and there's a bit of a gain bump as they're going through two gain stages (filters and GHOST acousti-phonic preamp) but it'll do in a pinch...probably.
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Are we including guitar stuff? 1: 4u rack with Mesa Triaxis, Rocktron 300A comp, Lexicon MPXG2, Marshall 2020 power amp through two Joyo 1x12's loaded with Celestion neo creambacks. 2: Fender Princeton Reverb II 1x12 combo loaded with Jensen N12K neo 3: Kemper Stage Profiler (with Line 6 wireless and Sure GLX IEMs) + Line 6 M5 4: Studio rack with Marshall JMP-1, Mesa Studio, Carvin Quad X and BUrman GX3 preamps into various rack effects by Lexicon, Behringer and Rocktron. 5: Hand built Fender Princeton Tweed replicas (1x8") x2
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What timbre are you after? There are LOADS of good basses for 2k from Stingrays to Statii. It really depends on what kind of treble and midrange response you want and whether you have any ergonomic requirements eg. neck dimensions, body width or weight.
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Four heads: Burman Pro400HD Genz Benz Shuttle 6 (x2) (main gigging amps) Trace Elliot Hexavalve Cabs: fEARless F112 x2 (still the best sounding cabs I have ever played through) Edit: Forgot Kemper Stage Profiler (with Line 6 wireless and Sure GLX IEM) + Line 6 M5 - this can be routed through the Aux In of the Shuttles if I don't want to use in ears.
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Douglas, please check your alternate email address for a message from the BC admin email.
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Good enough for Dan Huff, SRV and Nile Rodgers back in the day...!
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Some narrow width PreEB stingrays exist but they're hard to track down. Otherwise, yeah, go with the Sterling.
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FWIW Paul Reed Smith says pretty much the same thing in a YT video. And Rob Green also 15 or so years ago when I dropped by his workshop. So there's consensus between three individuals who own brands associated with high quality instruments. -
I have one, it's fabulous. -
I would expect that the best pickups would be as flat response as possible to allow the filters the greatest flexibililty. It would mean there is greater dependency on construction and materials for anyone chasing a specific timbre.
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All sounded great for different situations. My personal preference was 3...I'm really curious about how it might make my Status bass sound.
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Good question...if I recall correctly, it might be 35" because I was looking for tightness in the lower end (as you do). I never noticed any difference in feel but I have an old Spector which is 35" as well so may well be used to it. -
I hadn't noticed! Shall I post an awkard question relating to your membership status? Split frets, electrically isolated and hard to refret unless the neck is returned to base. I don't think they are but Steve appears to have taken his eye off the ball. Regardless, it really doesn't matter about why, the fact that it's happening is pretty much a death sentence for anyone in this industry, which is a shame. I suspect a solution might be to license the technology out again but I haven't seen Steve since 2009 so perhaps the window of opportunity is running out.
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2 Euphonic Audio (EA) Wizzy 12" M-Line Sale or trade
Kiwi replied to Mike1962's topic in Amps and Cabs For Sale
EA make some outrageously good stuff. I'm jonesing for an iAmp800. -
Bah bahbahbah bah bah-ump.
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Over last Summer I had a minor purge of gear and concluded I didn't need a 6 in my bass playing life any more, especially since getting a little more serious about guitar. This bass may already be familiar to the longer term members and was made by Jon in 2009. It features a 5 piece through neck in a matt finish featuring maple and wenge laminates. The gloss finished body wings are from mahogany and feature facings made from burl/quilted redwood sinker log that I picked up in 2007 while prices were still sane. Fingerboard is birdseye maple to compliment the burl top and back, and stainless steel frets are fitted for long life. The hardware is made by ABM and the pickups are a set of custom Wizard humbuckers a few years before Andy decided to retire for health reasons. The electronics are comprehensive and include both Jon's own 3 band eq as well as a Graphtec Ghost piezo system that includes a buffer circuit and MIDI filtering to a 13 pin Roland output socket. I ran that through an Axon AX100 at one point (which I still have with me here at home). I can't recall if there are coil splits but the pickups have four wires so definitely split capable. There are also neck LED's fitted on the fingerboard edge which run off their own separate 9v. In terms of dimensions, the string spacing and neck profile was based on a Smith BSR6 that I had just sold so there is plenty of room to move about. The action is quite low and it's very easy to get around on the bass as you might expect for something made by Jon. I would say it's almost (but not quite) like a graphite neck because Jon tends to favour very stiff and dense maple for his necks. The sound can best be described as tight - very even response across the fingerboard with deep lows and bright highs and the wenge adds slight mid emphasis. I have some recorded samples but don't have anywhere to host them as attachments at the moment. I've only gigged this bass once. The rest of the time it's had home use or been in storage. There is one minor ding on the neck where my then-3 year son knocked it against a bookcase in 2015. But apart from that, no other marks to the best of my recollection. Apart from scribbles on the back by a few plonkers noone's probably ever heard of.. The bass is currently on consignment with the Bass Gallery and they've had it so far for ten months. So it's priced below what they are asking in the interests of a quick sale on here. No trades I'm sorry because I can't check the condition of any instruments taken in without them either being in China or me being in the UK....although a Vigier Passion III 5-string with a low action or a 87-88 Status Series II 5 string would be tempting. Hmmm. Any how if you want to go and play this bass, you can go ahead and do that at the Gallery who have done a fine job of looking after it. Feel free to drop me a line with any questions. Oh...and a Hiscox case is included.
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They are, I was just suggesting it was another option. Not necessarily a japanese made option.
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I was raised in Christchurch, yes.
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I've tried a few. They definitely look the part but I've found them to be a bit lifeless for a jazz bass. It doesn't make sense given they look so good on paper. I found Peavey basses the same way as well. If I was in the market for a japanese made Jazz bass, the Moon JB5 would be top of my list. And there is always Sire.
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To a point, yes. I owned a WT800 for a while and it was a very flexible platform. But it was still coloured, as many bass amps were in the mid eighties to noughties. I had three Smiths too and I ended up selling the WT800 because I couldn't hear the Smiths through it on stage. It's an amp better suited for a Jazz bass or something else quite bright. It's the same thing with SWR amps which, I'll also add, make bright, graphite necked basses sound fabulously fat and sweet for some reason. I never had a chance to test something like a Status bass through an Eden WT800 but I've been a proponent of matching basses to amps for over a decade.
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It's not even just eq settings - sometimes it comes down to the colouring of the bass and amp. One rig I played through was a Smith (mid scooped) into an Eden WT800 (also upper mid scooped). Enough mid range was removed that all I got was woof with some string noise. And the owner was a gospel player with some complicated harmonic runs at times. I was bewildered at how he managed to avoid bum notes.
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The Genz and the Eden kind of shared the same thing in common - plenty of midrange. The number of bass rigs I've played through with the mids scooped and I have no idea how the owner can hear themselves on stage. I still have my Shuttle 6's and even replaced the power amp board in one of them myself. Still great bass amps - I can even run my Kemper through the aux ins and use them just as power amps. Very modern and tight sounding but not lacking in warmth where it matters. I can hear myself really clearly on stage. My favourite bass amp is the Mesa Boogie Bass 400+. It weighs the same as a small black hole but...sweet and clean highs with slight compression, plenty of neutral mids and an immersive amount of low end without it ever sounding boomy. I would own one again but realistically it would never leave the house and I have a Trace Hexavalve anyway...(which I haven't played yet despite owning it for 6 years.)
