1976fenderhead

[quote name='TheRev' post='555166' date='Jul 29 2009, 02:58 PM']When I was in the market for a new fretless, the bubinga Corvette was at the top of my list - it's a much nicer sounding bass than the ash one (IMHO) I recommend you try one out before you discount the Corvettes completely.[/quote] I did try a bubinga bass there, but the only one they had was a fretted Thumb... The tone was a tiny bit better but I actually much preferred it switched on passive, and that's not a good sign! And then I have no tone controls! I doubt it would sound much more expressive for being bubinga? But where the hell am I gonna find that? Man you're really limited when you wanna try fretless basses!

Have just tried a fretless Corvette (ash) and was disappointed by it. Excellent tone but no fretless quality at all. No mwahh, a bit dead in that sense no matter what I tried with the EQ, etc, just no expression at all. Tanglewood beats it in that department, although probably not as a good a preamp and pickup, but that can always be changed later... More and more inclined to the £429 Canyon!

[quote name='bythesea' post='554983' date='Jul 29 2009, 12:11 PM']Depends how far "under a grand" you mean. Have a look in the for sale section here - several nice ones up recently, but there's an Overwater 5 fretless (natural, no scratchplate) up for one grand. There is also a very nice Marleaux, though that's a bit over what you want, and I see that Jan has put up his Rick Turner Electroline today ( I was considering that when it was up before). It isn't a natural finish but it is under a grand. And that's apart from all the ones I can't remember off the top of my head [/quote] Thanks, will have a look. I'd like it at around 600 to 800 tops but all depends...

I've been meaning to buy an acoustic fretless but after much research I decided it wasn't a good idea and now I'm just looking for a normal electric fretless. There's not a lot of stuff out there in shops to try out so I'd like to know your suggestions... So far best options from web research seem to be the Corvette Std ash or bubinga (which I haven't managed to try fretless but will see if I can try fretted to check out how it sounds) and, surprisingly, the Tanglewood Canyon 2 which I tried at the Bass Gallery yesterday and it had loads of mwahhh, great sound and versatility and seemed to have (from my short-timed examination) brilliant craftsmanship... It's very unbalanced though, I'm worried it might be tiring to play a bass that is so neck-heavy... But it sounded much better than the more expensive fretless Yamaha they had there... I'd also like it to have a natural finish (no pickguard) preferably, and no lines on the fretboard! Let me know your suggestions!

[quote name='lemmywinks' post='537835' date='Jul 11 2009, 12:58 PM']The Michael Kelly acoustics seem to get good reviews, fretless available as standard too. I played a really nice Takamine fretless acoustic a while ago too, don't think that was too expensive (2nd hand)[/quote] Man that Michael Kelly's probably pretty good but it just looks so... gay! With all those folksy decorations and stuff... Still, if I go for the fretless as standard, one of the best options given the lack of choice :-(

[quote name='charic' post='537711' date='Jul 11 2009, 09:22 AM']the bass gallery is the usual reccomendation.[/quote] Thanks. Yeah I'm hoping to go there this week as I'm starting to shop around for a fretless acoustic, or a fretless AND an acoustic, who knows 8-) I'll ask them...

How much does it cost, roughly, to get someone who knows what they're doing to defret a bass (and can you recommend someone in London)? I'm very interested in this [url="http://www.washburn.com/basses/acoustic-electric-series/#ab10"]AB10[/url], but I'd like it fretless, and that's a job I'd have to have done after I bought it because Washburn won't customise it. So basically, I'd like to know how much more money I'd have to put into this...?

[quote name='Mr.T' post='536215' date='Jul 9 2009, 09:41 AM']To get 'mwah' out of a fretless, you need 'mids'. So... +1 to the light guage roundwounds. Also... Try boosting the mids on your amp, at around 550hz. This is in addition to all the set-up suggestions! Although fretboard material and the general quality of the bass will have some affect, you want/need lots of mid frequencies to get 'that' fretless sound.[/quote] Hmmm thanks. I am cutting mids and highs a lot and boosting bass as I find the bass's preamp sounds too strident... Will add mids tonight to see if it makes a difference.

Hmmm, can't adjust action or intonation at all, but I adjusted the truss rod when I put the new strings on, tension is lower now so I had to losen it a bit, can't really do much with that since if I tighten it more it rattles and if I losen it more action is too high... I did notice that playing nearer to the neck (over the hole in the body) it sounds a lot more acoustic, but it doesn't sound more fretless... The bass came with roundwounds (bronze) which were quite old I have to say, but I noticed the same lack of fretless quality in the low notes with those as I have now with flats... I guess not being able to set it up further, it has to be down to my left hand fingers... or down to buying one I can set up further :-) Regardless, I'm very pleased with how easy it's being for me to adapt, I felt I could gig with it the day I got it as I could play in tune almost immediately. I'm only struggling a bit from about the 12th fret up because not being able to set intonation, I have to learn where the right spots for the fingers actually are (and they differ between strings too), and surprisingly, I also struggle to get the 1st "fret" right! Apart from that, easy-peasy (I guess 17 years playing bass helped)! 8-)

I've recently acquired an used Aria electro-acoustic fretless bass. It's quite cheaply made (plastic back, like Ovation guitars) but good enough for an acoustic set I have to do soon. I'm really loving the fretless thing though, and next week I should start shopping around for a proper quality one (acoustic or not, not sure yet). I have a question regarding the tone though: I only really get that fretless mwwahhh roughly from D up, nothing in the A string below that, and almost nothing on the E string at all, it just sounds like a normal fretted bass there. The strings are brand new Thomastik Jazz Flatwounds. Is that just the way it is with fretless or is it due to the bass's cheap quality?

wah > fuzz > flanger

[quote name='hubrad' post='527785' date='Jun 29 2009, 03:08 PM']Putting flats on will give the closest approximation of a DB sound, if that's what you are after with fretless. Works quite nicely, and as you say it wears the board far less.[/quote] Yeah, that's the sound I'm after. What are phosphor bronze strings for, are they better for acoustics than steel/nickel? And are there bronze flatwounds?

Just bought a second-hand Aria electro-acoustic fretless bass and wondering what strings you'd recommend for this type of bass? Since it's fretless, I would think flatwound would avoid scratching the fretboard, but I see phosphor bronze seem to be the most used for acoustic basses and I don't think those are flatwound?

Just bought a second-hand Aria electro-acoustic fretless bass and wondering what strings you'd recommend for this type of bass? Since it's fretless, I would think flatwound would avoid scratching the fretboard, but I see phosphor bronze seem to be the most used for acoustic basses and I don't think those are flatwound?

[quote name='megazap63' post='524553' date='Jun 26 2009, 08:34 AM']I bought one of these a couple of weeks ago, together with a modified Gig Rig Virtual Battery (modified to an isolated 18V source). Both can be used to power the Mutron III reissue on my current board. Interestingly, when using the GigRig VB the Mutron's power light remains lit indicating insufficient power, and the sound of the Mutron is kind of thin. This doesn't happen with the Diago - full clean power to the Mutron and a nice big, fat sound!! So, the GigRig VB remains a backup to the Diago.....also, the Diago is quite a sturdy unit so doesn't look like it will present any problems.[/quote] Thanks for the info! You may have just swayed me to the Diago :-)

Just thought I'd give a heads-up about this new [url="http://www.diago.co.uk/component/page,shop.product_details/flypage,shop.flypage/product_id,66/category_id,3/manufacturer_id,0/option,com_virtuemart/Itemid,206/"]cable[/url] from Diago I've recently noticed on their website. I asked if it does the same as the GigRig Virtual Battery and that was confirmed to me. Might be worth it to some people as it is a little cheaper (add postage) and takes less space (I'm a bit divided though and think I'd still prefer the Virtual Battery as it looks sturdier so probably worth the extra £££). Be aware though, it will look nothing like that image. But if it works as well as the 18v adaptor I have, that shouldn't matter.

Thanks guys, all great tips. So do some of you use a fretless as main bass, i. e., playing standing up in a loud gig, fast heavy-ish tracks, moving around on stage etc or mainly jazz, ballads, slower quieter stuff?

Cool, thanks for the replies. It will actually be an electro-acoustic so it will be very different from the one I'm playing now, which is a Fender Jazz American Deluxe with a 34" scale. The fretless is likely to have a 32" scale so it seems it will definitely require some care to play it in the first few weeks (arms position will also be very different around it, etc). Can't wait to try an discover those little things like BottomEndian described. What else do you particularly like about playing a fretless?

Hi there, considering buying a fretless bass, just wondering whether it takes some time to adapt to play in tune or if it's quite easy or unnoticeable when the fingers aren't in the exact position? I never played one at all, but I've been playing bass for 17 years so let me know what you think. I might have only a couple of weeks between buying it and having to use it in a gig! Cheers!

Yeah I meant electro-acoustic. What do you reckon about the Fender and Ibanez models? So far they seem the most interesting to me, at £300-350... Seeing it will only be a few gigs and this price range seems to give quite a suitable instrument, that Tanglewood's probably too pricey... :-/

Well, we're supposed to be using mics to go to the mixer, so I suppose an electro-acoustic is better? I think that's what I meant, it seems semi and electro-acoustic are different things?

I'm going to be playing some unplugged sets and need an acoustic or semi-acoustic bass... I never really looked into that kind of bass so don't know what's out there... What brands do you suggest I should look into? Both pricey and mid-priced are ok, I'll make my mind up later on how much to invest... Cheers!

T-Rex Bass Juice.

Sounds really nice, but sooo pricey... [url="http://bassface.tv/index.php/demo-show/91-queer-for-gear--t-rex-sweeper"]http://bassface.tv/index.php/demo-show/91-...--t-rex-sweeper[/url] (pay no attention to the idiot reviewing it) Any idea where I could try it in London? Not sure if it's too new or when it was released at all...

I'd add a flanger (or a phaser but I prefer flangers).