Lfalex v1.1

[quote name='Highfox' post='1186180' date='Apr 2 2011, 08:41 PM']I bought it brand new like that from the bass center in Wapping in 89. I think it was some kind of custom model, and may of been just a one-off. Even the Guys at Warwick couldn't find out a lot of info about it. I liked it a lot and it was the only bass I used for 20 odd years. Great sound with a lot of punch. Weighed a ton tho. It went off to a guy in Norway in the end.[/quote] (Sighs) Ah... Wapping Bass Centre. Those were the days.......

[quote name='Highfox' post='1185965' date='Apr 2 2011, 05:12 PM']Interesting thread My old Warwick Streamer had 3.[/quote] Much more interesting than I expected! What happened to the Streamer? Looks like someone took out the bridge "J", invented a new position for it further up than the original neck pick-up. I think the Bridge rout has been extended, such that the front coil of the MMHB sits where the old single-coil was. If the HHHB had a tap, that could give a lot of differing tones. If done as explained above, the cost isn't even that great (assuming it had J/J Barts in the first place) I like it. Very clever. Ticks a lot of boxes without too much messing about.

[quote name='ThomBassmonkey' post='1178247' date='Mar 27 2011, 01:32 PM']I play a lot of opens, my main bass has a 0 fret though which sorts out tonal inconsistencies.[/quote] Kerching! +1 Three of my basses have a Zero Fret (two because they're headless), and 2 are Warwicks with Brass Just-a-nuts on them. I've always thought that the tonality these exhibit on open strings quite closely matches fretted notes. Perhaps it's the fret material they use? So "no" I don't really dodge open strings..

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='1183341' date='Mar 31 2011, 02:10 PM']+1. The appeal of isobarics is smaller size. But with heavy ceramic magnet drivers that size is arrived at via much higher weight. Neo drivers gets us around that, and the size benefit is real, so there is some method to the Orange price madness. You will get the low end output of a much larger cab. If size is a paramount consideration, as in you schlep your gear on the tube or have to carry the entire band in a mini, then the high cost may be worth it to you.[/quote] Perhaps they're looking forward to the implementation of an EU concept that would ban combustion-engined vehicles from town centres, then we'll all be stuck with using public transport. As if gigging wasn't hard enough as it is. I sincerely hope it was an April Fools Day type prank, but the fact it's EU related means anything's possible...

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='1184743' date='Apr 1 2011, 02:11 PM']The source of this is rising oil prices. They've resulted in the surge of hybrid autos, which use most of the neo produced....[/quote] Apparently, Neodymium is also used in wind turbine generators also. The real issue at stake here is not electricity, but GAS. How many times do you need to change a cabinet (or, more pertinently, the Neodymium using bits, the drivers)? Alright, maybe you need to change your cabs due to weight issues, but once you've done that, do you [i]have[/i] to change/replace cabs until one malfunctions?

[quote name='lee650' post='1181631' date='Mar 29 2011, 11:05 PM']OH!! and of course the fender urge with a J/P/J setup now i'd love to try one of those, sadly discontinued!![/quote] It is at this point that I would like to apologise for lying in my original post. :'( I did play an Urge II many moons ago. And liked that, too. I think I'd prefer the variety that different types of pick-up used by different manufacturers in different places would give. The Urge, for example is too Fender-centric.

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='1182540' date='Mar 30 2011, 06:19 PM']buy off here from a regular user. most folk are pretty sound and will not only sell you a bass honesty but ask nice they can set it up for you too probably...[/quote] +1, and maybe get your teacher to go along and try it. He/She ought to have [i]plenty[/i] of experience in such matters... If not, do you have any friends who know what to look at/for? Take them along. Do remember that the instrument is for [u]you[/u], and you get the casting vote...

Some interesting stuff coming through here. I still think I'd go for a DiMarzio Model one at the neck, some sort of "P" in the mid-position, and either a MMHB or JJ (with coil tap) at the bridge. Gives; P P/J Neck +P like the Attitude P + JJ (sort of Sandberg-ish) Neck alone like a Tele Neck + J Neck +JJ All Three I'd probably opt for passive, 3Vol/tone (stacked) and some sort of selector- maybe buttons rather than switches for each pick-up? There's got to be some good noises in there somewhere!

Awesome! Do you think that 3 pick-ups' worth of magnetic field "drag" on the strings kills sustain too much? That's one of my major concerns...

I really like my Yamaha Attitude. Great bass in many ways, but it never "sings" in the way that a bass with a bridge pick-up does. I've often wondered what a bridge pick-up would sound like, but I'm not about to butcher the Attitude. In the future, I may well try and acquire a used BB414 and add something like a DiMarzio Model 1 at the neck. I could be persuaded to remove the "J" at the bridge and replace it with a Bartolini MM or Humbucking soapbar. (Barts because they're available with bladed polepieces, and pick-up alignment won't suffer if it's in an odd place) Then it came to my attention that I've only ever played one bass with 3 pick-ups. A Burns Bison (And liked it) Who else has or has had a 3 pick-up bass? What did you like about it? What was didn't you like about it? How did the controls work? (Just for guidance' sake, a P=1, MMHB=1, J=2, J/JJ=2. It's about [i]discrete[/i] pick-ups, not individual coils in one housing- so all the post 1992 'Ray5 and Sterling owners, Status Groove owners and Original T bass owners don't get to count as 3!!)

No shifty necks in this household. The basses are stored in cases/bags inside a brick (!) built-in wardrobe. All the cases/bags have silica gel sachets in, too Otherwise, The Streamline doesn't care, nor does the Vigier. The Fender's got graphite rods in it, and has never been a problem. The Wenge-necked Warwicks seem very stable, and the Ovangkol-necked Warwick has a moderately high action because it sounds better that way. Without any specific design, I seem to have sold on the two that needed the odd tweak (Ibanez SRX700, Zoot Chaser) [quote name='Clarky' post='977783' date='Oct 4 2010, 10:36 PM']But where's the fun in an entirely stable neck? I thought we bassists love to tweak truss rods and, er, other things? I imagine Status owners have carefully manicured lawns and quartz watches that are accurate to 1 picosecond per millennium. Chaos, entropy (killer word), wild times, thats what life's about ... and slightly shifting bass necks[/quote] Pfft. My lawn's a mess. Rather play bass than; a)Tweak Truss rods b)Mow lawns

If it was the original player, it'd be one Graham Maby. He's an awesome player and criminally underrated/overlooked . On "Look Sharp" and "I'm The Man" (the first 2 albums) he played an Ibanez Roadster, I believe. Last Bass I saw him playing was a US Spector, though that was a while ago. He could well be playing something else by now...

They [i]nearly[/i] got it right! If I subjected it to my "de-crassifier", the following changes would be made; BLACK hardware. Natural neck, but body-colour matched headstock front face Lose the scratchplate!

I browsed BGM in WHSmith, specifically to look at this article. My eyes fell on the Vigier section (was it #48?) for the Excess. Nothing against Excesses, but the Arpege and Passion are more original. According to BGM they; 1) Do the Excess with a Delta Metal 'board in fretless 2) Do the Excess with a Delta Metal 'board in fretted. Both of which are news to me, although I haven't checked the Vigier site recently... Then I flicked through to see what was in 1st. And lost the will to live. Is a Ricky what we all really most want to play before we die? In summary, there's more point to this thread than the article, and I'll warrant that it's more varied and better informed, too. Nice idea, but it was overpopulated with basses that would fall into one of 4 categories for most of the members on here; 1) I've got one of those 2) I've had one of those 3) I Know a BCer who could let me try one of those 4) I have no interest in one of those whatsoever! Obvious exceptions being stuff like Ritters and BassLab etc. Fender, EBMM, Ricky and the other major manufacturers' mainstream output may be worthy of being played, but most of us could at least try one (at a Bash?!) before we croaked. They'd be better off having a monthly collumn hosted by Big Red X on a bass you'd never heard of and why it was worthy of interest...

Fender Bass V is a good choice. I could make good use of one. Fender Roscoe Beck. Still haven't got hold of one yet. Basslab L-bow. Because it's a bit different. Something Short Scale. Something tuned to low F# or whatever.

[quote name='nash' post='1173496' date='Mar 23 2011, 04:37 PM']i'm a traditional guy. i can't get on with class D power amps.[/quote] My old(ish) QSC is class A/B. [b]Only[/b]1200Wrms into 4 ohms, though.

[quote name='drewm' post='1174835' date='Mar 24 2011, 04:07 PM']Fortunately, I think I could pick up a backup Warwick for about a fiver at the moment [/quote] I bought a 14 year-old Fortress MasterMan V as a gigging machine for dives. It's excellent. As for back-ups... No. It's one more expensive "asset" to have to keep an eye on, and the distraction it generates outweighs its worth. I've not broken a string live since I started playing... about 14 years ago. I give whatever bass I'm using a pre-gig once over, maybe swap out the battery in an active, but that's it. BTW, I never gig brand new strings. I'll always make sure they're at least "played in".

[quote name='cocco' post='1151141' date='Mar 6 2011, 08:32 AM']....anyone else detecting a hint of Vigier around the horns?[/quote] Er... No? It's a pity, because Ibanez try so hard and release some (relatively) different basses (EDA, Anyone?) Alas, they never quite seem to get it right often enough, and the genuinely good models tend to get ignored as a result. Their more conservative efforts are generally better regarded (ATK300/305/400, SR500) and are very good value. They [i]have[/i] given us some good stuff in the past (Musicians/Roadsters/Icemen) and I hope they don't stop experimenting with designs. It's still prettier/less anonymous than a Warwick Katana!

[quote name='KevB' post='1165763' date='Mar 17 2011, 02:05 PM']Closest thing to those I currently have is this; Not had it too long so still experimenting with it tonally but it's capable of some serious output! I picked it up S/H for only slightly more than the OP's Mexican new price. One of the pots is a bit scratchy so I have one on order from Fender, otherwise no quibbles about it at all. The neck is a P rather than jazz (I have a uS jazz in same colour from same year (2004) so it's an easy comparison. At the moment the S1 jazz is still my first choice but this is creeping into my affections too.[/quote] This is what I'd have aimed for. I liked the (Now sadly gone) Bridge JJ pickup.

Have I missed something? Have Warwick now outsourced all their production to the Far East, or are they running some sort of three-tier model range; Rockbass Korean std German std Presumably they're keeping Der SuperExpensiveKustomShoppe in Germany? Geez. The times they [i]are[/i] a changing.. I'm fairly sure I've seen (German) Thumb BOs with both Ovangkol and Bubinga Bodies and with both Wenge and Ovangkol necks (depending on [i]when[/i] they were bulit) Corvette BOs definitely come in Bubinga, so I can't see why you couldn't/wouldn't make a Thumb BO in the same material..

Love the yellow hardware... Funny thing is, the subject matter cheapens what I'm sure is a very expensive bass. Ask the man in the street, and he'd reckon it was a cheapo far-eastern bass. Give it one of Jens' more usual finishes, and I'm sure that'd alter their value perception. Did I say I liked the Yellow hardware?

I don't use anything live or at rehearsal. There's no need. At home I may tinker with the odd effect from the Korg Pandora, but that's just for "fun" and/or trying to replicate other people's sound/tone. I've nothing against them, but YMMV....

What I find interesting about Fenders is that (for a long-running, mass-produced item) virtually no two are the same! In terms of features, fit, finish, timber/parts, they all seem to exhibit some differences, and that's ignoring the place of manufacture, strings and any other aftermarket bits and bobs that have found their way onto them (Scratchplates, Bridges, EQs, etc.) I have a 2004 MIA S1 Jazz with a nice 2-piece Ash body in Translucent Sunset Orange. It has thru-body stringing via a BBOT bridge and a rosewood fretboard. I bought it new for £650 a couple of years back, and still consider it one of the best Jazzes I've played and also consider it to have been quite good value. It's been strung with DR Sunbeams and sounds lovely. It easily justifies its place in the collection, even though it's outnumbered by "better" basses. In the end, you just have to seek out the right one for you. Fortunately, there's so many and so much variety that there's bound to be one that's ideal. Unfortunately, there's so many and so much variety that it may take some time....

[quote name='BigRedX' post='1168022' date='Mar 19 2011, 10:30 AM']Get cheap [b]basses[/b] or expensive [b]basses[/b]. It doesn't matter so long as they're the right [b]basses[/b] for you.[/quote] Excellent advice, but it needed just a lil' [i]adjustment[/i] You're always allowed more than one!!

A sad loss indeed. RIP.