Sean

Mods, would this post be better off in Repairs & Technical? I'll respond to the post tomorrow. I've rescued 6 of these so can add a bit of value.

I've got 4 Japanese Yamaha 😉 basses, I've always been a fan and have always fancied an NE2, they are so classy and beautifully made. I went to a Nathan East clinic years ago and fell in love with the BBNE2 then. Flagship Yamaha bass.

I agree on not de-fretting. The BBNE2 is a neck-thru design, making a fretless neck for it isn't an option. It's also a high-end and quite sought after bass that could be difficult to resell if de-fretted and you'd have the cost of re-fretting if you wanted to reverse the job. If money is no object and none of this matters, go ahead and defret. It's a different decision for different people.

The EMGs are a lot of that sound. It's a Reverse P and a J. The placement of them is further "south" than many "conventional" basses. This means that because of the placement of the bass coil of the P, it is picking up the strings much further back than a non-reverse P in a conventional more "north" placement. Then we have the preamp in that Spector, which is a vintage HAZ unit, that will be working with the EMGs in a way that gives the signature Spector sound. The HAZ sounds liked it's dimed on that isolated track. Dimed HAZ pre-amps have a sound that is specific to that circuit design, very distinctive and unique to that combination. It depends how far down the rabbit hole you want to go but even if you had Mike Starr's exact bass, rig and settings, you'd get close but you'd still sound like you playing it. When Mike Starr was recording that bass line, he was trying to get as good a sound as he could with the gear he had (on a decent record company budget) and he'd have been influenced by his favourite players, his band mates, the engineer etc. That iconic sound is the result of a lot of inputs from various people. It's good to explore and dissect some of your favourite bass tones, we can learn a lot but we have to understand the constraints we have with the gear we've got. And, when we play as part of a band (whether live or recorded), the sound we get sits as part of a mix and a lot of the detail that us bassists obsess about can be lost, or just isn't important to the audience. I've seen many great/legend bass players playing their own iconic bass parts live on different basses through different rigs and getting a different tone and it's all good. On the complete flip side of that, I take great pleasure in "Spectorising" bass parts in my covers band. Sometimes I think, "how can I make this sound as Spector as possible and get away with it?". I'd also say that if you get creative, an Ibanez GSR200 and a Zoom B1x together are capable of producing more good bass sounds than any normal person could use in a lifetime. So many bassists have had a career on one pickup bass with minimal effects. You've got a vast palette available. Go explore!

There's not one post here that was against a happy ending of the bass being reunited with the owner. I went back and reread them all. In fact, there's no negativity toward Mark or the buyer. What there was, was some healthy non-conflict comment and information about some of the legal aspects and what could happen in similar circumstances, and a few well-meant warnings about certain couriers and practices. I think it's been a useful learning experience and it reflects well on the community that we can have these discussions.

I doubt BotGazz uses a phone keyboard with auto correct that changes a misspelling of "tube" to "time".

Business relies on the ignorance of the average punter. A classic case is Debt Collection Agencies. They don't buy debt from companies/councils etc at discount prices, that's BS, they buy data. They then pretend that the "debtor" owes them money, send threatening letters, knock on the door, "can't pay, take it away" etc and that's how they they make their money. What they don't have is a legally valid deed of assignment and without that they have no claim, they are nothing more than a 3rd party interloper that has processed personal data in breach of DPA 2018. They are all part of the system. It's all covered in case law, it's all out there in the open but there's an entire industry based on criminal offence that breaches tons of legislation and Martin Effin' Lewis doesn't tell us about it. This isn't conspiracy, it's how the system works. What parcel couriers and auction houses get up to is childsplay in comparison to councils, utility companies, banks etc

There's the added complication of the goods being (in the eyes of the law) counterfeit or bearing an unlicensed trademark. It's illegal to steal and/or sell counterfeit goods and if due process is followed by police in the case that they are involved, the recovered will be assessed, categorised and if the boxes are ticked, they will be disposed of to remove counterfeit goods from the marketplace. Whether or not this particular bass will flag up as counterfeit is anyone's guess. It could slip through the net, get to the buyer and we all learn a lesson about applying decals to headstocks. If it doesn't, I guess things would have to be more like Nash Guitars.

It looks to be a real bottom-feeder amongst auction houses. Just read the way everything is worded on the website, it's all threatening and warning and fees and BS.

Basschat award for the detective work. Brilliant. Just be careful that plod doesn't follow the law and dispose of the goods. That would not be a happy ending to this story. Legally standing Wellers is currently selling stolen and counterfeit goods.

A pound to a penny, it's autocorrect for "tube amp".

Sadly not. There's at least a coach-load of us with older 4-string Spectors looking for these (in gold). Putting a GB7 on is about as close as you're going to get. I've got 2 of mine with "odd" Xtenders and no one, including me ever notices. I'd rather have a slightly odd one than not have one.

There are some excellent videos on YouTube that talk about how to get the best out of a compressor with bass. Understanding a compressor is a really useful skill as a bassist. Another thing to do is understand how changes in EQ affect the sound, not just solo but in a band context too.

I've tried the solid connectors and they fall out quite easily. I was amazed. They also make the whole thing more cumbersome. For the majority of gigs I use the wireless just for soundcheck. However I'm going to get one of these Levy's pouches and make up a lead. The reason I bought the solid adaptors was to eliminate buzz rather than anything else.

I think the Levy's one is meant to be used with a female to male extension lead. The bug plugs into the female jack and sits in that pouch then the lead plugs in as per usual. You just need to make sure the lead is the right length.

The "Monty's basses" were all partscasters built in house to demo the pickups and were very impressive instruments. Unfortunately, they were "demonstration purposes only" and not for sale. I know that he could've sold a couple on the day, no problem.

Did he not explain what a time amp is? If it's a device for making your day longer, I might be interested in one but I'd need to check in with Gazz to see if I should get one with valves and what modulation goes best with it. If you do see him, pass on my regards and tell him I said, "See you next Tuesday, Gazz."

Nice to see a Spector on the front. And it be a proper one with EMGs.

Yes, it was. I agree, it was rather special indeed.

The Retro Wind P pickup sounded amazing to my ears in the room and also the pair of Retro Wind J were as good a pair of J pickups that I've ever heard. If I end with a JJ configuration passive bass again, I'll need putting these in.

Another great video from a BassBash hosted by @Mike Brooks. There's currently a sale on bass pickups at Monty’s with 20% off using the code BIGBOTTOM at https://www.montysguitars.com/collections/everything-bass?omnisendContactID=683ad312daab087f10cdbde4 The code is active.

I had a similar experience letting that maple board rocking horse poo BB2024MX get away. I'd still buy that.

Great news. Enjoy the rehearsal tomorrow.

A lot of us seem to have the same experiences with this. One friend of mine has asked me every time I've seen him for the last 32 years how the band is going. "How's band life?" Is his favourite question. Every time I see him he says that he'll have to come along and see us play one night. He's got no concept. I've been in at least a dozen regular gigging bands in that time doing a vast variety of material, covers, originals, playing different instruments etc. My response is always the same, "Yeah, good, thanks. Busy as ever." I bumped into a former colleague last year that said to me that he was still intending to come see me play because him and his lad were such massive fans of the Blues Brothers. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I quit that tribute act in 2007. I go out and see friends' bands and I pay if it's ticketed!

Second hand Gigrig is good stuff. It's very low profile. You can pick up the units 2nd hand and then buy any specific connectors new. T-rex Chameleon fuel tank is a good option. I use both.