ossyrocks

I’ve been playing my new to me P bass a lot this week, and yesterday a had a bit of an epiphany. I’ve played in many bands over the last three decades, always on guitar, bass is a new adventure for me, but I’m seeing playing now from a different perspective. Over the years I have had the pleasure and honour to play with some of the greatest bass players, Scott Whitley (latterly Big Country), Roberto Ruiz ( Jake Stigers, The Animals) and many more. Some of the guys could be described as “busy” players, others just sat right in the pocket and grooved, keeping it simple but jaw droppingly musical and appropriate. What I’m finding now, playing bass myself, is that I am tending to over play, too many notes, too fast, and I know I’m doing it, and I want to move past it. I think with me it comes down to my lack of confidence in my own abilities and I’m over compensating by playing too much. I want to reach a point where I can play the simplest of grooves which absolutely serve the music. I feel some of the busy players I’ve gigged with over the years similarly lacked a degree of self confidence and held a degree of self doubt, even struggled with their mental health, and perhaps used bravado on gigs to mask it. The Bass players I most admired playing with, were more relaxed individuals, confident in their abilities, and therefore could just relax, listen, and lay down the greatest grooves and bass lines without ever getting “busy”, overplaying, or deterring from the material. Roberto Ruiz was/is one of those guys, and now I’m playing bass, I have a new found respect for how he managed to achieve this. I suppose the point I’m trying to make is that personality and self confidence is a factor in how one might approach playing bass, and affects how one’s bass lines either sit perfectly or subtly work against the material. So, I’m determined to understand the instrument and the fretboard on a deeper level, try to be more relaxed whilst playing, so that I may one day become that guy who just grooves, doesn’t stand out like a sore thumb, and doesn’t over play. What do you think? Rob

I’ve had a look at it today. It was immediately apparent what the issue was. One leg of the cap was touching the wiper of the tone pot. I just gently moved the cap a bit and moved the leg away from the pot lugs. I did re-do that ground on the back of the pot, and I shortened and tidied up that added ground to the jack. All back together now with a new set of flats on it. Everything is as it should be now. Thanks for the input chaps. Rob

@ikayThat’s really useful thanks. I can see why that earth wire was added, and I’ll probably wire another in, but better. Relying on the shielding under the guard to hold the earth to the jack isn’t the greatest, but there are probably thousands of P basses out there with exactly that.

250K Audio CTS pots, dated 1973 with a .05uf capacitor/ Looks ok, and original. I might just reflow the solder to start with and see if that makes a difference.

I haven’t yet. But it is original, I’m told.

I know Fenders of that era can’t be done. Again, you’ll be able to find out when you look at it. There may be multiple unused primary taps and if there are, then you just need to find out which one is 240.

I’m the proud owner of a ‘73 Precision. I’ve only had it a couple of days, but yesterday I spent time with it through two different amps, my little Rumble 15 in the lounge, and my Markbass LM. I feel that the tone pot doesn’t have the sweep that it should have. It does work, but even backing it off completely doesn’t roll off the highs as I feel it should. The cheap Squire I have has a lot more tonal sweep than this does. I want to be able to really roll off the highs if I need to, and at the moment I’m using the bass with the tone pot rolled all the way back, and it’s just getting there. As I am unfamiliar with vintage Precisions, is this normal, or should I be taking a look at the pot and the tone capacitor? My feeling is that the cap might be way out by now. I can’t see the pot being at fault, it’s silent in operation, and I’ve got older pots in older equipment and they rarely fail. Any opinions and experience welcome. Cheers, Rob

Here's the schematic. There's a .047 600v cap to ground off the Polarity switch (look bottom right of the schematic), this needs to be removed. Simply clipping it off is good enough. Then you need to make sure that the LIVE goes straight to the fuses, on to the mains switch, and on to the mains transformer. You can hang the wires off a single lug of the switch, just using it like a tag strip. The neutral needs to go straight to the mains transformer too and can be also hung off another single lug of the switch. Wired correctly, the switch will have no function at all except to be a convenient placeholder for the wiring, and it won't matter what position the switch is in, as it will not function as a switch. A simple visual inspection will confirm if this has been done, and if not, it's a ten minute job for anyone who knows what they are doing. Rob

Ok, so the polarity switch on the front of vintage Ampegs IS the equivalent of Fenders ground switch, so if there's a cap in there, that's what it will be connected to. I'm back home now, so will have a look for a schematic. Rob

I wouldn’t hesitate to buy it over this one minor thing. It’s very straightforward to put right

You’re probably right. But 96db is very low, the punters themselves could trip that.

You could bypass the whole thing though. Only the sockets on stage will be wired to the meter. In the past we’ve run long mains leads from other sockets up to the stage and powered everything from those. The meter can do what it likes then and the power will stay on. Just don’t let the Jobsworth see you doing it.

Perhaps, but it’s worth checking. Just look at the ground switch, the cap will be visible if present. Often the ground switch is left there, with the cap removed, and the mains leads are hung off the lugs as it’s convenient to use it for this purpose. Post a pic here when you have it in hand.

If you are at all uncertain how to do it, then yes, get it done by a tech. However, I did buy an amp last year, which had purportedly been serviced by a tech. He had replaced the mains lead with a three prong, but he’d wired it as original, keeping the ground switch and death cap. I found this quite amazing really. But I found this before ever even switching it on, and was able to wire it correctly myself.

I’ve run vintage USA amps in the UK on a transformer like the one from TAD for 30 years without issues. Just get that one. More importantly, you need to make sure the amp has a modern grounded “three prong” US plug on it, wired correctly, and the death cap removed. This bit is important. After that, if the electrolytic capacitors are original, consider changing those at the earliest opportunity. They have a finite lifespan and could fail at any time. Rob

I’ll check those, I’m completely open minded at the moment as I basically have zero experience. Cheers

It did crash after 2008 to an extent. I remember looking at an early 60’s 335 at a show in about 2010. It was priced at £12k, but only a few years before it would have been double that. A lot of people were holding guitars which were worth a lot less than they had in them. I don’t think the 335 market has ever recovered to where it was, even today. But in the last couple of years, prices have been shooting up again, and I just wonder where they might go.

Yes, prices are nuts. I suppose I’m fortunate enough to have been buying and selling vintage guitar equipment for long enough to benefit from the market. Much of the gear I have was bought for much cheaper years ago, so I’m able to sell the odd piece to fund other pieces, much like the housing market, which I benefited from, but in which my kids are fairly screwed. I’m selling a few bits and pieces at profit to fund this bass, so the hit is softened to a large degree. The dilemma everyone has who is sitting on gear is when to sell, as prices are still rising, but will the bubble burst? Rob

Duly noted. Cheers @BassAdder27 Is there any particular brand you think would work best? Think classic soul, motown, funk and blues. My local shop has two set packs of Ernie Ball Super Slinky 45-100's for £39.50, but Gary always knocks a bit off for me.

Yes, I was using 40-100 on the Squire, but these are quite a bit heavier. I’ll consider a lighter gauge when I come to change them, which will probably be soon. I suppose it’s my soft noob fingers, I’ll just have to keep practicing and harden them up!

I haven't put this down all day! Jammin James Jamerson licks. It has heavier strings than I'm used to, but it still plays really well. However, I now have a blister on my left hand index finger from playing so much. Can I claim for industrial injury?

I see you're in Edinburgh. There's a Precision listed on ebay, with pretty poor pictures, which claims to be a 1970. It looks ok at first glance, but I think you could provide a great service by going to check it out. I thought long and hard about it, but I couldn't justify a full day round trip to see a bass without knowing more. He's open to offers too. Just a thought. Rob

Thanks for all your advice on Precisions @Reggaebass. It really helped a lot.

Yes Sir. Whouda thunk it? It doesn't get in the way either. Thanks for the info.

Well, I'm having quite the week. This beauty arrived by UPS this morning, well packed, and undamaged. Straight out of the case it plays really well, only a little intonation required on the G string, which I'll get done in due course, and fix that long adjustment screw too which appears to be the only non-original part on the bass. It's light, only 8 1/2 lbs, feels great on a strap, and balances well. The neck is sublime, a well rounded deep C profile, and instantly feels comfortable and easier to play than the Squire P-Bass I've been playing for the last couple of months. I've not had chance to try it through my new Markbass rig yet as Mrs Rocks is working from home. I'm supposed to be working too, but a little distraction never hurt anyone did it? I'm chuffed to bits! Cheers, Rob