Musky

Got to agree with bassboy really, though the Ashdowns are a bit marmite - some people love 'em, others hate 'em. The Laneys I've tried (not any of the RBs) have been ok but don't seem to have any character of their own - nothing to really love or hate about them, just ok.

There's a good deal on the profet 5.1 [url="http://www.absolutemusic.co.uk/shop/view_product.php?product=warprofet51basshead&gclid=CNqUnaKrgJECFQwwlAodJmv6-A"]here[/url] at the moment. Insane price - £208 including delivery (be quick - it's a January sale!).

[quote name='jono b' post='131008' date='Jan 30 2008, 10:36 PM']Going by the age what model would you say it was? I'd message him but he seems like such a tool that he probably couldn't tell me[/quote]

It's got a CN serial number which is a Korean Squier made by Cort, so it's probably about the age he reckons. The first number after the prefix might be a 5 or 6, though it's a bit hard to see. It's just the standard squier that was available at the time, so could go anywhere from £100 to £150 (if people don't mind the scratches). The way he's listed it I'd expect it to reach nearer the bottom end of that.

[quote name='bremen' post='130624' date='Jan 30 2008, 01:07 PM'][url="http://www.gbaudio.co.uk/data/mains.htm"]http://www.gbaudio.co.uk/data/mains.htm[/url] :

"Member countries of the European Union are presently striving to achieve a common mains standard.
From 1 January 2004 the mains supply should be 230V (-6%, +10%), 50 Hz (±1%). ie a range of 216.2 - 253V
This replaces the UK's former specification which was 240V ±6% (ie a range of 225.6 - 254.4V)
Variations should still be anticipated in some areas as the voltage will drop during periods of heavy demand and rise during periods of low demand."[/quote]

That's true, but notice that there's scarcely any difference in the upper limit. So in practice electricity suppliers have made no change, and still remain within the EU rules. As Gbase says, it really doesn't matter - these rulings weren't really intended to affect suppliers, but the people who design appliances (who now have a range of voltages that they know their equipment should work under).

My first thought was a Squire VM as well - either the Precision or Jazz. But I'm afraid you're probably going to get a lot of different suggestions from here as well, as everyone has their own priorities of what to look for in a bass. For what it's worth, there have been plenty of people on here that have recommended Yamahas and Ibanezs as a first bass and the odd suggestion for Schecter as well, besides a whole bunch more (Peavey and SX spring to mind).

In the past my default answer has been, go with one like your favourite bassists use. Besides looking the part (which let's face it is pretty important), it's also likely to get you on the way to achieving the same tone.

So the next questions have to be, what kind of music do you like and who are your favourite bands?

[quote name='Hamster' post='130203' date='Jan 29 2008, 06:33 PM']UK voltage is now actually 230v AC to bring us closer to the rest of the EEC which is 220v AC.

Hamster[/quote]

As far as I'm aware supply voltage hasn't actually been changed in this country. The EU specified a range of voltages which encompassed those already in use across Europe. There's always some variation in supply voltage, and in practice the change in nominal supply voltage just meant UK suppliers had to keep more of an eye on the upper limit.

[quote name='bassboy115' post='129807' date='Jan 29 2008, 09:42 AM']ok cheers i just would have expected the headline bands amp to hum aswell if it was bad electrics?[/quote]

The are a lot of variables with hum - there may be a fault with one socket and not another, plugging power supplies and amps into different sockets can cause ground loops, faulty power or extension leads, or a fault within the amp. If you're not getting the problem with the same set up elsewhere, it points to a problem at the venue.

There's always the Bass Cell...

Oh yeah, I see what you mean.

If it goes away when you touch metal parts it indicates an earth problem. Active pickups have lower inductance and are far less susceptible to interference, which could be why you're not getting any problems with your active basses.

If your passive basses are grounded properly then it points to an earth problem in your amp, power lead or mains circuit which will need sorting pronto. If you've got other amps or mains leads you could try swapping them (as well as any extension lead you might be using), and the mains can be checked with a Martindale tester.

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='129184' date='Jan 28 2008, 11:52 AM']I'm sure its a Framus Star Bass - look at the body shape & headstock on this one. The only difference I can see seems to be the pickguard:
[url="http://www.framus-vintage.de/modules/modells/instruments.php?katID=4622&instrumentID=388&modellID=83&cl=DE"]http://www.framus-vintage.de/modules/model...ID=83&cl=DE[/url][/quote]

Spot on!

The clue is just a bit further down the page where elom found the first picture

I was just about to refer you to the sticky on this, only to find it has been unstickied!

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=42"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=42[/url]

As for the humming, you'd normally expect noise to increase if you up the gain but I wouldn't expect any extra hum when upping the treble (that's more likely to increase hiss). Was it somewhere you'd played before? It might have been a problem with the lighting there, or even an earth fault in the power circuit.

Heh.

"I AM TIERD OF PEOPLE ASKING IF THIS IS A FAKE PLEASES STOP ASKING THAT QUESTION ANY MORE AS I SAID I BELIEVE IT TO BE A RICKENBACKER 4001 I SWAPED AND ALTO SAX FOR IT 3 YEARS AGO. It was up for sale at £1500 and i swaped my sax for it iv had 3 music shops say its real and have compaird it to a real one and its identical!"

I googled this guys email and came up with this:

[url="http://en.netlog.com/clan/guitar_and_bass_players_unite/photo/photoID=121044#photos"]http://en.netlog.com/clan/guitar_and_bass_...D=121044#photos[/url]

Presumably thats his '1970's fender p-bass'.

Any bass is only as good as the use you can make of it. I think I'd lose the G&L if I were in your shoes. If you prefer the sound and feel of the Squire, go for it. It rather sounds like you don't like the tone of the G&L at all, which is good enough reason to get shot of it.

If it's just the name on the headstock that's bothering you go for a second hand Japanese Fender, though by all accounts the VMs are good basses in their own right.

[quote name='Sean' post='127687' date='Jan 25 2008, 12:51 PM']Just come back from Aldi in Cheltenham and they haven't got any. [/quote]

Yeah. I tried picking up one of these when Aldi's had them last year, and they sold out double quick. I think a lot of people use Aldis as a cheap source for ebay items.

Like tayste says, it really depends on what you have in mind. A band I used to be in managed it with a midi foot controller and a sampler, though you could equally use a synth workstation. Old samplers can be picked up for a pittance, and are quite usable live in conjunction with an external hard/zip drive.

Least we forget this thread:

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Rickenbacker-Bass-4001-vintage_W0QQitemZ300193359818"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Rickenbacker-Bass-40...emZ300193359818[/url]

This seller claims to "believe this to be a 4001", but posts up a picture making it very difficult to figure out exactly what it is. The tuners are definitely not Rick though, and look like the sort of generic ones that a lot of Mats used to sport.

Great review Matt, thanks a lot for clueing us up.

For those who didn't know, the Mondial is based pretty heavily on the old Supro/Valco/Airline designs, borrowing the shape/construction from the Res-o-glas Belmonts and under bridge transducer from the Pocket Bass. Although they never produced an instrument quite like the Mondial the heritage is pretty clear. The Italias have been around since the late nineties, but seem to have been without a UK distributer for the last few years.

One question though Matt - what's the battery access like?

[quote name='gafbass02' post='123362' date='Jan 19 2008, 01:34 PM']A good mate of mine just won 15 grand to release an album through slice the pie, should they be worried?, hope not they've worked damn hard for it, id be gutted if it was a bit dodgy?, any thoughts?[/quote]

I don't think they've got anything to worry about as such. SliceThePie take a cut from sales for a few years, after that everything goes to the band.

My only doubts were that if you're going to put in the hard work in getting fans to sign up and pay through one of these services, why not just do it yourself? It seems likely that the majority of the cash will be coming from fans the band has encouraged to participate, rather than from people who've just chanced upon the band.

I'm deeply unimpressed with both Sellaband and SliceThePie to be honest.

For a start, Sellaband takes 30% of your albums sales for the length of the copyright and SliceThePie takes about 22% of download sales (only downloads are on offer in their deal). It cost you money to load up your songs, with plenty of opportunities for it to get you nowhere - £1000 short of the £25,000 or £15,000 minimum needed for a 'deal'? Sorry, you're back to square one.

To my mind, if you've got the fanbase to record an album (and if you haven't why are you bothering) you might be as well to appeal to your own fans. Marillion did this with 'pre-sales' on a forthcoming album, and Electric EEl Shock have successfully asked for £100 donations in return for a variety of freebies.

But then I'm a natural cynic.

[quote name='tinyviking' post='123199' date='Jan 18 2008, 11:38 PM']What would be really handy is a big room with every kind of cab lined up, a pile of leads and amp heads so we could all go there and try everything out - DIY and factory cabs together. Anybody done that yet?[/quote]

Oddly enough the next bass bash has just been brought up. [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=11679"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=11679[/url]

[quote name='DHA' post='123029' date='Jan 18 2008, 06:39 PM']Would a VT1 pedal with a DI be useful?

Dave[/quote]

Strange - that thought occurred to me after I posted Dave!

Personally I just use whatever DI box the venue or studio has. There are plenty here who seem to want to have control over that aspect of their sound though, and those who provide their own PA for gigs so, errrr.... probably!

You might like to check out the sound clips of a direct comparison between the BDI21 and BDDI [url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=294957"]here.[/url]

Though I'd have to second Stewart's suggestion of a DHA pedal if you're not buying for a DI facility - they sound amazing!

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='122276' date='Jan 17 2008, 04:25 PM']If I recall correctly, there is a blooper in Jimmy Page's guitar solo on 'Stairway To Heaven'. Two decades since I listened to it so not 100% sure. Can anyone conform (I don't have a copy)?[/quote]

Quite probably! Page fluffed his way through absolutely stacks of solos. Doesn't stop them sounding awesome though, and is probably a good example of going for the feel in a take.

Another (which has proably come up before) is The Kingsmen's version of Louie Louie - the singer comes in early after the solo before stopping and restarting in the right place.

That probably about right. The Standards came out in 82 (apparently) but I've seen pictures of P's bearing S9 serials and with the channels and holes, so that's something to think about before shelling out. The S9 numbers were only supposed to be used up until 1981, before the Standards came out. So either S9 serials can denote an 82 instrument or Fender were at least using the routing of the Standards on earlier basses.

I've got a small collection of pictures from ebay showing older P bass routs, but very few of Jazzes unfortunately - partly because they don't seem to come up often on Ebay.

I know that starting around 1980 Fender were using CNC location holes and rather bizarre channels on precisions, so this might well be something to watch for on Jazzes from this date.

It's likely that Fender have changed their routing over the years since, and at least some basses have the CNC holes hidden under the bridge.