Lfalex v1.1

(For various reasons) I ended up with a heavily-strung (50-110) 4 string tuned to D standard. If I want E standard, I put a capo on the second fret. It wasn't at all what I had envisaged, and was driven by circumstances I hadn't forseen coupled with a touch of laziness on my part. The end result is really rather good, though.

Absolutely. But it's not just vinyl that descends into willy-waving. The best way to "gain access" to the subtleties contained in recorded music isn't by investing a fortune in replay equipment. It's by investing in your ability to listen to music. Best achieved by learning to play a musical instrument. And here we are.

I'm sure Rega could knock you up a Planar 3 in the appropriate shade of green. The hardware/Rega logo is black as standard.

Can only find one image of Tony Levin's 3 string 'Ray...

I wasn't suggesting that Fender stop producing Ps and Js, but it feels like they've mistaken the Fender Archive for their R&D department. The original P and J were innovative enough in their day, even if they did lean on existing guitar designs a bit. Even Leo himself moved on a bit; the Stingray headstock, Pickup, and the Active EQ. After that, there's the other refinements at G&L; the saddle-lock bridge, Tri-tone EQ and MFD pickups. Fender do have some nice instruments in their back-catalogue; Roscoe Beck signature Stu Hamm Urge I & II Elite Precision Marcus Miller Jazz Hot Rod Precision To name but a few. Okay, they're mostly variations on existing instruments, but it's a start. All they do at the moment is the Dimension. I think what I lament the most is that they do so little in terms of product development. All we've had in recent years was Hi-mass bridges, graphite reinforcing rods in the neck, a different tone pot and the ill-fated s1 switch.

Innovate?

Fortunately it's fairly hard to screw-up passive electrics. It's cheap, nasty active EQs that are a real issue on budget basses. My concern about this bass is that the pickups wouldn't come close the the RB's items (weren't they a Bill Lawrence design?) I'd love a "proper" RB. Preferably a five. But finding one AND having the requisite funds at the same time...

This is BassChat. "You can check-out any time you like, but you can never leave" (As The Eagles once sang) 😉

Also gives a good visual reference point for where E, A, D & G are (using D standard tuning) Only slightly strange thing is that the harmonics have all moved. The first harmonic is now at the 14th fret, not the 12th. Otherwise, still a good idea for this particular bass and for me.

Were it not for that blob of a scratchplate, it'd be just fine..

Will we get to see it before December? 🤣

Stability for small bodied upright? Tripod stand. Stays up on its own when you walk away! Fitting in small car? If it's just you, take the front passenger seat headrest out, slide the seat all the way forward and recline the back of the seat as far as it'll go. Drop the split in the rear seat. I could get 8' (2400mm) decking boards in my Fiesta like that. The NS did fit in my (original) Ford Puma also- in its flight case.

Don't think they do one. Only 2500 and 1500s (in Tribute and US, IIRC)

I'd keep the LTD. Much nicer. The Rockbass is a step backwards IMO.

A quick summary of the SB-2's behaviour: IMO, no need for tone controls. The way the volume controls work is such that they alter the tone as they go; roll off the P volume by 25% and it doesn't get a whole lot quiter, but tonally, the "grunt" fades and gives way a more traditional P bass thud. Same for the J. The trick (for me) is to get the P delivering the bulk of the depth of tone, then just wind the J up a touch for a bit more definition. P sounds fine on its own. The J doesn't. That's not to say that a J- biased sound isn't good, it is. The solo'ed sound in too thin. On the plus side, it's one of the few configurations that I've played where the P doesn't totally overpower the J. The above observations are heavily influenced by 3 factors I play with my fingers. A plectrum player may indeed find it too twangy. I'm using DR Lo-Riders (50-110) I spent an age fiddling with the pickup heights to get just the balance of output and tone I wanted.

My recently acquired SB-2 Tribute is very good indeed. Definitely not heavy. I also like the look of Reverend; The Mercalli or Thundergun get my vote

Precisely (Precisionally?) this. It's reminiscent of the American automotive tradition of having "model years", and serves only to offer the new and used buyer a myriad of choices, which, once you take variable QC into account, may leave a cheaper bass being subjectively "better" than one further up the price ladder. That would make me not want to bother with the more expensive instruments unless I chanced upon a good 'un.

At the £1k price point, it's got some serious competition from G&L, Yamaha, Sire; all of whom offer something similar for less. If you then move away from traditional instruments add in Ibanez and Musicman..

Given that the balance of any given bass is ok, can you tolerate a detuned long-scale bass with a capo? I've recently bought a G&L SB-2 and found the strings too heavy (50-110), so I thought I'd tune it down to D standard. This worked fine.... But it made some songs that use the open E heavily difficult to play. As an experiment, I thought to try a capo at the second fret. One of the lovely chaps on here sent me one for free (!) And I've been using it since. It reduces the scale length to ~30" Whether or not the tone is right, I can't say, as I've no basis for comparison with a true short scale. Issues? Only that the harmonics are displaced. Benefits? Take the capo off and there's a bass in D standard lurking in there. Maybe not the compromise you're looking for, but it does item up a lot of instrument choices that might otherwise be closed to you.

MFD pickups 👍

Klaus Voorman Herbie Flowers Tony Levin

I was referring to coil splitting/switching as I figured that was what you were after. I can't see musch use in coil taps on any bass, let alone a modern one with an 18v active EQ.

Lovely instrument. I miss my SR5. Sort of 🤣

Leaving aside my experiences with my Status, and on a more general note- If you have specific requirements from a build or alterations from the norm to be made in any bass, be very specific, otherwise you'll get the builder's interpretation of what you asked for. Don't just tick a box on an options sheet, discuss how it'll affect the performance of the instrument. In this case, I'd find out from Status how they implement single-coil taps, which coils they use and why, and what effect that has on output and tone. If the manufacturer can't answer that sort of question.. Well, decide for yourself how well tried and tested the modification is. I ended up paying extra for something that was useless based on the assumption that it would work like my previous positive experiences of series/parallel/single coil switching. It worked really well in the aforementioned Stingray5, a Warwick Corvette $$ and (subsequently) an Ibanez ATK derivative (SC with hf roll off and slight mid-scoop, SC, and parallel) * I think I'm going to drop out of this discussion now as I'm concerned that my personal experiences are biasing my views. I hope that your S2 turns out to be awesome, and stays that way.

As long as the pickups have enough (3?) output wires, coil switching for series, parallel and single coil are all possible. The issue you'd face is knowing which single coil in each pickup you'd want to select. By definition, one coil of each will be Reverse Wound/Reverse Polarity. You'd ideally want it to be selectable with its opposite number in the other pick-up (Normal wound/Normal Polarity) in order to give some degree of hum-cancelling (life a Fender Jazz) I'd guess that you'd end up with either inner or outer coils running as pairs to achieve this. You could always have that as a switching option- front coil/parallel HB/rear coil for both pickups on two switches. Don't know whether that'd yield worthwhile results. Last time I had a "good idea", it was having series / parallel switching on my Streamline...