Jean-Luc Pickguard

Have you ever bought any bass gear which you expected to be good, but turned out to far exceed expectations? For me this would be my Epiphone vintage pro bass. I've owned a bolt-on epiphone thunderbird before and still have a pro-v 5 string, and I expected the vintage pro to be prettier version of something between the two. I've not used roundwounds since the last century, but after receiving the bass I played it for a few weeks with the stock strings and apart from the abrasive roundwounds on my fingertips I loved the feel of the bass - the 'oval' narrow neck with a slightly rounded fingerboard edge and the well finished fret-ends make it very comfortable to play. I was not prepared for how good it sounded though - the pro-bucker pickups sound huge and are dripping with tone. It is possible to a massive range of usable tones with just the three knobs and it is sometimes hard to believe it is a passive bass. The roundwounds had a little too much zing for my taste when they wrre new, the bridge pickup was on and the tone pot was open. I didn't enjoy the feel of the strings as much as I enjoyed the sound so I decided to get some La Bella 750T white nylons, hoping for a brighter variation on flatwounds, but not really knowing what kind of tone to expect from them. Once I had the strings on the bass, the smooth feel was even better than my previous favourite strings Thomastik TI-344, but what I liked about the bass's tone with the stock strings on was preserved, perhaps with a little more low end punch and without the excess brittle zing. I don't know whether the La Bellas would work this well on every bass, but they are perfect for me on this one. So this bass which cost me £450 (b-stock for a near-invisible minor cosmetic issue) and a set of £30 strings (it pays to shop around) which I originally bought mainly due to the super-cool vintage looks rather than for it to become my main bass, has replaced my CIJ mustang as my go-to bass for rehearsals and recording, it's the first one I grab to play at home, and I used it on my only gig since I bought it. What has anyone else bought - perhaps a combination of bass/amp/strings/fx/etc which was expected to be good, but far exeeded those expectations?

I'd put the Jazz neck on the precision body and hide the Jazz body & Precision neck from the missus in the loft.

The line “Aside from the paint job it looks all original with the split pick ups and elephant ear tuners.” looks pretty meaningless when the honking great badass II stands out as much as the nasty refinish but isnt even mentioned.

I’d just slap a bit of gaffer tape over it

I use a Schroeder 1212L (the one with one of the drivers at an angle) with a MarkBass LM II. Excellent sound and can be very loud if needed.

That sounds like a lame excuse. If he was told it was an alder body and the indication is that it is basswood or agathis, that has been misrepresented. He should turn up and tell the vendor he wants to reverse the trade for both that reason and that the strat is not fit for purpose as it cannot be set up properly.

With no pay there's no Contract. I wouldn't play

Cowpoke was a nickname given to this model of precision bass by members of a US forum - possibly the long-gone dudepit. My understanding is that the nickname was due to the shape of the pickguard resembling the yokes of a western/cowboy shirt. I really liked the look of these back in the day but was underwhelmed when I tried the MIM one they had at Rockbottom in Croydon.

Just under two miles

I got a thunderbird vintage pro a few weeks ago just after they leapt in price everywhere. I was initially after a white one but when I saw this sunbust one in stock & advertised as new/B-stock at a bargain price it would have been rude not to. The reason for the reduction is a tiny area of rub-through of the black finish at the far edge of the headstock which is only noticable when you look for it. It'll probably pick up dents in that area before too long if it collides with cymbals on a cramped stage. I normally use thomastik, La Bella or fender flats on my other basses but I wanted to get a brighter tone from this bass so I kept the stock roundwounds on until today when a couple of sets of La Bella 750T white nylon tapes arrived. I've just fitted a set to the t-bird and I'm knocked out by how well they work for me on this bass. They have a similar tension to Thomastik JF344 jazz flats so I can play with a lighter touch like I can with TIs, but the sound seems to lean more towards rounds more than flats & the ultra smooth surface feels perfect for me. Changing the strings showed the tuners as being less smooth than ones on my other basses, although they work fine for tuning up. If I do replace them I'll probably get a set of Gotoh GB-640 res-o-lites, but they aren't cheap. I can live with the existing ones though. Looking forward to my first rehearsal with the La Bellas next week and my gig with the bass next weekend.

Send an enquiry to Roland at https://www.roland.co.uk/spares/ select microcube bass rx on the drop-down menu

Weird that the dodgy listings remain visible when amazon knows that the account has been hacked.

I'd be tempted by the Gibson Thunderbird for £480 but if something looks too good to be true it usually is. There's no way they can be selling it at that price and have four in stock. The shop's negative feedback has jumped up to 13% in the last 30 days

My epiphone pro-v went totaly dead a couple of weeks ago after I tightened up one of the pots. I initialy wondered whether there was a problem with the active circuit but it turned out that the pot had rotated so one of the terminals was touching the shielding paint. Once it was straightened out it was fine, so check that nothing is shorting out. Also when the socket was replaced was it replaced with a switchcraft one? I've found that the cheapo (eg from maplins) can lose their springiness after a while & often start to crackle & lose contact before too long.

Just seen that these are now up from £499 to £599, and out of stock everywhere I've looked. Anyone know why the unusually huge price increase? I don't think currency exchange rates have shifted that much.

Is there any effect he can get on his laptop that can't be emulated using a multifx pedal? I can understand a keys player using a macbok with mainstage, but a guitarist using a laptop on stage seems like a load of unneccessary hassle & risk to me, unless there was a compelling reason to do so. If my bandmate insisted on this, I'd not get involved in working out what cables etc he'd need & leave him up to it.

I would email the company with photos of the strings & packaging. I had a dead E string in a set of GHS shortscale flats, so contacted GHS & they sent a replacement string to me all the way from battle creek michigan.

It used to annoy me in a previous band when I'd spend time designing & money printing posters for the pub to put up, a band member would take the posters in a week or two before the gig, and we'd see the posters are all still rolled up behiund the bar when we turn up on the night.

I'd never seen the headphones before - I must admit, for a second I did wonder whether it was an April Fools joke that leaked out early. I'd feel a right pillock wearing anything that looks so daft.

I'm trying to work out why it would have been necessary to remove the frets

The description says "was brown & worn" – makes it sound like the seat was secondhand when it was thrown together. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BIG-BUTT-004-BASS-made-in-USA/173186521681 – just noticed its that overpriced chancer in Germany who is trying to sell it for £888. Ridiculous.

Thanks for the generous offer, but I think I've managed to find a good solution. I've now swapped out the bridge for my spare badass II. it was already grooved and I haven't needed to deepen the grooves. I managed to lose one of the (imperial size) grub screws so I now have some on order, but I've found that I can get the action slightly lower than I achieved on the original bridge by removing the grub screws from the G & E saddles, so I probably won't need the ones that are on their way. The D & A saddles are raised a smidge and as the badass uses 3/16'' long grub screws they only protrude by about half a mm. As an added bonus, I think the badass looks rather good on this bass.

Also post photos here - there are a lot of BCers who can spot a fake Fender a mile off.