Kiwi

I had a quick skim on Youtube and didn't find anything from 3-2-1 but did uncover his from Blue Peter in 1996... ...I shall keep searching in the mean time...

update from Jon last night, success at last! He and Rob managed to combine the two files (one for the radiussed curve, the other for the outline and routing) and hopefully the first prototype body will be milled very soon out of some cheap offcut just to check the fit tolerances and alignment. If I have time, I might try and sketch something to show what the instrument could look like.

Update: the finish has been causing Jon a few problems mainly because the redwood is soaking the lacquer up like a sponge, in particular over the cavities in the body. Looks like this redwood has been causing Jon no end of problems in working with it. Anyway, the bass isn't going to be ready for the charidee gig on Monday

looks like there's a MM Cutlass at the back of that group too.

speaking of TV themes, I believe I may have found an example of Abe Laboriel playing on CHiPs at last! A nice fill at 2:00 Cheesy disco! Sounds like he's playing the lines on a Musicman Sabre too because the bass sounds very similar to my Cutlass II. Its not as good as the stuff he did when it was just bass doing the incidental music. I'm still hunting for a season of that stuff on youtube

I agree about playing as many as you can, however if you find a Status Groove 5 and it feels and sounds OK to you, they're hard to beat for value. Expect to pay 200-300 quid.

Sounds good to me though I challenge anyone to tell the difference between solid state Class A, A/B, D, G or whatever on stage during the middle of a set. Everything else being equal of course. I think Trace should whack together a few wedge cabs with 12 and 15 inch drivers.

and that, gents, I hope will be the last word on the matter? Unless of course you all have nothing better to do than argue around in circles.

Its amazing how easily it can happen, especially where venues have wiring thats been rigged up on the fly. WD I'm so glad you had a lucky escape, we certainly don't need another member going to the great Bass Shop in the Sky after the last couple of months. I hope your burns heal quickly and there's no lasting or permenant damage.

[quote name='dood' post='307158' date='Oct 15 2008, 03:40 PM']Hey matey! Hope things are good down in Ipswich for ya! - Yeah, I'm not sure how many basses Jon has on the go at the moment.[/quote] Twenty when I spoke to him 10 days ago. He's on holiday this week but should be back over the weekend.

[quote name='ARGH' post='306709' date='Oct 14 2008, 10:00 PM']But you cant argue with Physics...length is good for Low end.[/quote] Certainly not, and you would be incorrect in assuming that I was adopting any kind of polarised position in regard to design issues. Often it boils down to a matter of taste and taste, as we all know, is subjective. Where we all need to be careful however, is asserting our taste as a universal truth, or assuming others are doing the same. [quote name='ARGH' post='306709' date='Oct 14 2008, 10:00 PM']Bassmaking ISNT a science,nor is it alchemy.....[/quote] Is this your opinion or something you are asserting as a truth? How does this tie in to whats been discussed already?

I've had a 35" scale graphite necked instrument and the scale made a slight difference, but not a lot compared to my 34" scale instruments. In fact probably less than the difference between a maple and a wenge neck. Oh and don't get me started on the differences in sound between graphite necks. I think noone's in a position to argue a strong case for any one particular element being dominant in an instrument, anymore than anyone could argue the case for pizza dough being the dominant flavouring in a 12" family sized advocado and feta. At the end of the day we could all argue for one element being important than the others until the cows come home. If any one individual argues for an element at the exclusion of all others, then they're going to end up out on a limb at the end of the day. Even if it is in their experience then lets compare experience. FWIW In my experience, a bass guitar is the sum of all its elements be it scale length, neck material, pickups, preamp, neck joint, wood density, fingerboard stiffness, blah blah. Any polarised argument in favour of one element would deny the manner in which all the other elements interact with one another.

[quote name='bass_ferret' post='306554' date='Oct 14 2008, 07:28 PM']He is playing something sparkly at the mo. G&L?[/quote] Yes he is. I've seen him somewhere else recently as well, was it Live 8? www.myspace.com/trevorbarry

Sure, no problem. Just so you know though this one was apparently made for ex-AC/DC bassist Cliff Williams and one of an estimated 5 known Cutlass 1 basses with pre-EB features (ie 3 bolt neck and pre EB bridge). So if it wasn't rare enough in being a Cutlass 1, it's probably one of the rarest pre-EB basses ever made, with the exception of prototypes. I'd be reluctant to let it go for the same price as a Cutlass on that basis (and I paid quite a bit more for it than I would have for a bog standard Cutlass 1) so I'll probably end up selling it on commission through Vintage and Rare.

judging from what I saw, he was just sleazy.

I'm a bit late with my post but WTF. We had issue with our keyboardist losing focus half way through the songs. Sometimes he'd be enjoying them so much, he'd forget to play. Othertimes he'd just busk and come in on cues late and it wasn't ever really a bring it up in band issue but it was irking to say the least. Then we recorded ourselves at a gig so we could mime over it for a demo vid. When we did the vid, it became glaringly obvious that the keyboardist had missed cues, played wrong notes, screwed up his solo and generally was playing sloppily. We did about 5 takes for that video and each time we did a take, he had to put up with hearing his mistakes over and over again. He and the guitarist still coast at gigs, but he's at least aware of the issue and I can turn around to him when he stops playing because he's too absorbed in the song, and give him The Eye. The coasting bit we're still dealing with. Sometimes both the keys and guitarist will stop playing (the guitarist suddenly finds he needs to retune a squier strat that he actually tuned 2 songs ago with his electronic tuner) so its just the drums, the singers, the bass and percussion... ...so plus one to the idea of recording a session and listening to it as a band.

[quote name='Thunderhead' post='306017' date='Oct 14 2008, 09:25 AM']Well, the two I've worked on both had blown and replaced main rectifier diodes (before I worked on them), bridged/repaired circuit traces where the originals had burned out, issues with the pots cracking their joints because the whole thing is badly designed with the entire preamp circuit board suspended from the (very low quality) pots and the jacks, plus nylon standoffs further back which make the whole thing flex as the transformers bounce up and down on the slightly too flimsy chassis, and stresses the front panel joints with every single movement. PCB-mounting pots is not inherently bad, but it must be done such that they are isolated from other forces - ie mounted on a board which is small, light and NOT connected to anything else. Likewise nylon standoffs are a GOOD thing when done properly because they allow movement and reduce shock on the board, but NOT in conjunction with other PCB-to-chassis parts - this is an absolute requirement in proper electronics design for mil-spec applications etc. The design and build quality is almost exactly like the very cheap guitar amps and low-end bass amps they made at the same time, not what should be inside a thousand-pound-plus professional bass head. It's good to hear you've had no trouble with yours (yet), but on the strength of only two that I've seen, BOTH with problems, I am in no hurry to own one. It's sad to have to say that because they're one of the best-sounding amps I've played through.[/quote] Its too bad you don't have a record of the serials, it might actually underline the point I made about early models. I'm sure the other two owners on this forum will chip in with their experiences too. I'll open up mine some time this week and cross check your comments against what I uncover. It might be interesting to see if there are any signs of movement in the PCB mountings or cracking solder joints so thanks for the heads up. I've already had problems with similar poor component layout in a non-trace sub woofer I used to own.

[quote name='birdy' post='306033' date='Oct 14 2008, 09:59 AM']I thought this myself for a while but was that when you were playing solo? For some reason they seem to sound not so good solo but awesome in a band situation, I think it may be this crispness that does that. The other thing of course is that the VTC (vintage tone control) goes a long way too taming the sound somewhat.[/quote] Fair enough, I've yet to try a Sad in a band situation.

I like the look of these two But all the Sad's I've ever tried have sounded a little too crisp compared to my other instruments.