uk_lefty

My ABM arrived on Thursday I think. Gigged it last night. Holy moly. What a sound!!!! Musicman Stingray, slight dip in the mids on the amp, ramping up the mids on the bass onboard EQ for certain songs and wow. The authority to the bass sound is immense. I love it! I thought my Rootmaster was great but the ABM is a cut above.

My point is that this bass is f*cked. Regardless of what it could have been. If it were in playable condition and didn't look like it had been salvaged from a shipwreck then I can understand pricing north of £2k. It just seems if it has the big F on it, regardless of condition, then the base price is £2k for any of them over thirty years old. I may as well buy up some perfectly usable 90s and early 2000s Fenders in good condition, beat them up a bit then treble my money in ten years time.

They've polished the frets but thought "f it we'll leave that sticky old blanket fused to the body" makes perfect sense to me....

In my typical perusal of Reverb I found this bass: Vintage Lefty 1978 Fender Precision Bass Electric Guitar Left Handed https://reverb.com/item/56851917-vintage-lefty-1978-fender-precision-bass-electric-guitar-left-handed?utm_source=android-app&utm_medium=android-share&utm_campaign=listing&utm_content=56851917 And I'm baffled by the price. This isn't nicely aged or roadworn, it looks like it's been left in the loft and had water dripping on it for the last 42 years. At some point will "old Fenders" be realistically valued or do we just accept that anything Fender whether playable or not is automatically worth £2k minimum once it's 30 years old? It just seems completely detached from reality. If it were an Ibanez Musician or something else from late 70s in that condition there's no way it would be up for two grand.

It's all generally nuclear war themed, except the artwork for Youthanasia and maybe one or two others.

I like to think I'm prowling around like a seasoned stadium rocker. In reality.... I wiggle my shoulders a bit if the song is "bouncy", I try to interact with the drummer but that's hit and miss whether he even notices I'm there. I often interact with the singer or other guitarist, particularly on parts where we need to lock in. In all though, on video it looks a bit stilted and unnatural. I think that's just me though! A few years back an old friend watched me play and noticed I had two moves: lean back a lot, lean forward a lot. I never knew until he told me but he was right! One thing I do like to do is play around during boring songs. We play Run by Snow Patrol. When the lead guitarist does his solo the melody of it reminds me of the chorus to "nothings gonna stop is now" by Starship so I'm often singing that as loud as I can, away from the mic, at the singer during the solo. Just a joke between me and him which makes us both laugh during one of the most boring songs we play.

I'm gigging outdoor in Leighton Buzzard on Saturday night so if you're at home you might hear it!

I'm looking forward to it. I really liked Dystopia and it seems Mustaine's voice hasn't suffered too much. I'll be buying the album on release day.

Being left handed I started a few years back to contact shops before I go in to see if they have what I want in stock as websites are not always up to date. I generally find I get treated well but they know I'm coming and I'm serious about what I'm looking for. Manson's in Exeter are great for customer service, as are Wunjos in London. I've had bad treatment though many times when I was younger. Generally looking down on me or trying to embarrass me when I'm looking at a cheap instrument and they say "nah you want this..." And point you to a £2000 instrument.

I noticed that straight away, I thought the VU wasn't working until I cranked a few other dials. Good tip, thank you! This is what I wanted it for 😎

I use two 1x15s and have done for quite a while. It used to be two Ashdown Rootmaster cabs now it's two Ashdown ABM Pro Neo's. In between times I did have a 1x15 and a 2x10 but much preferred the depth of sound from the 15s. I just prefer them to 10s overall. What kind of advice are you looking for specifically? If I were you I'd just blast through them for some rehearsals and gigs and if you don't like them change them.

It had to happen sooner or later. I do love my Rootmaster but in my constant quest to upgrade gear I was looking for ABMs. I found all kinds of 500s at amazing second hand prices, and 600s at fair second hand prices. Then I found Omega music in Belgium via Reverb. Even after paying VAT I got a great deal on this brand new ABM 600. I've not had long with it but my experience of ABMs was always in rehearsal rooms. My impression was "great for a passive P bass, not so good for active basses". But that's from not bothering myself tinkering too much with them. I've read up loads, unpacked this and pligged in my Stingray. It is very, very good for active basses, no concerns there! The Rootmaster got me used to certain features that I now want from any amp, which restricted me to only really upgrading to an ABM, most other brands won't do. But this gives me real valves to drive in the preamp which is so much nicer than the emulated sounds out of my Helix. This amp will be gigged on Saturday, outdoors, driving two ABM Pro Neo 15s. It might get loud and hairy. Second image compares the size to my RM500.

Played a whole sweaty gig with my JC last Friday and forgot my sweatband!! Have to say it wasn't too uncomfortable but my sweaty arm kept slipping around on the bass 😄

Looks like one of the Charvel basses they did recently. Doesn't Fender own Charvel...?

Superb, thank you!

If I tried it would be more Wallace and Gromit than McGuyver

Can I ask an idiot question here... I know there is the risk of shock, but what does it come from (electricity, obviously but in what circumstances?). I'm all for not being killed playing at a sh!tty charity festival or what have you so keen to know where the risk is and if one of these plug ins can help then I'll buy as many as we need for the band. Ta

I had no idea there was any complexity to it. How stuff works isn't my thing. Thanks everyone, I'm glad I asked before buying a load of second hand rubbish off eBay that wouldn't be useful.

Weirdly I'm right footed so it shouldn't be an issue.

A bit of a Noddy question but here goes. I'm assuming that any simple four button footswitch with a jack connection will work on my incoming Ashdown ABM? The new price for Ashdowns own FS4 seem very steep for what the pedal actually is so I'm looking for alternatives. I'm also thinking of going to someone like Bright Onion and seeing what they can do. As far as I can see it's just four simple on/ off switches connected to the amp by a jack lead. I can see footswitches by the likes of Fender sometimes have additional functionality so I've ruled those out. I'm just hoping that something simple, compatible and reasonably priced comes up soon on classified ads. Just wanted to check my thinking first...

Ten years ago I saw the Red Hot Chilli Peppers at Knebworth. The vocal was almost entirely inaudible. I thought Anthony must be sick or something. Then I bought an MP3 download of the gig and the vocals were very good, well mixed. It was just the engineers on the night just have decided that it wasn't important for the paying punters to actually hear the lead vocals. It ruined the whole evening, one I'd been really excited about. I rarely even listen to RHCP now and I'm sure it's down to the rubbish experience at that gig. I can understand poor sound at the beginning of a set but not an entire gig. There's supposed to be someone there to sort it out.

It's nasty to keep your money and give crap excuses. It's not nasty to say enough is enough and I will have to get the money back through formal means.

Oooooh that is nice!!!!