Happy Jack

Yes, but a lighter bass has more lift.

After 10 years of obsessing about the weight of basses, I have established beyond any shadow of a doubt that heavy basses weigh more than light basses. Weight has nothing to do with quality and [[i]lights blue touchpaper[/i]] precious little to do with tone. It follows that it always makes sense to buy the lightest bass that also sounds good to your ears.

I like the sound of Vibration Mode Analysis. Where can I get me some of that?

The £3250 is just for the photos ...

So ... what's that all about then? Now exists as a sort of parallel mini-forum where people post Items Wanted ads, questions about effects pedals, comments about equipment, etc. I have no interest in being informed of what people had for breakfast or how they're feeling this morning (although I do look forward to the latest update from Les and his curious determination to spell doner kebab with two 'n's) but surely almost all the tosh that turns up in Recent Status Updates is neither related to status nor an update?

Has anyone canvassed John Hall's opinion on all this?

On the "[i][b]does it move when you plug into it[/b][/i]" question, that would be a Yes unless you have a 1/4" jack that has become so worn with use that it is now a 15/64" jack. I also don't like it when the amp moves as I plug in, but seeing as I only do this once at each gig I've learned to live with it.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1456748556' post='2991847'] The Vintage Hofner site has a wealth of information even if it looks like it was built before 2000! Has no-one bothered with a book for Hofner guitars and basses yet? [/quote] Steve Russell's original site was one of the first home-grown enthusiasts' sites and, although it grew out of his love of vintage Hofners, it rapidly expanded to also become one of the best on-line resources for vintage British valve amps and a whole bunch of other stuff. 2000? Yup, sounds about right. Books? Surely you jest? There's loads of stuff about Hofners out there, both books dedicated to the brand (I have half a dozen) and books dedicated to the music of the era (I have at least a dozen) which in turn have to include loads of information about Hofners because almost every rock star of the 60s and 70s started by playing Hofners. If what you're after is a reference book / bible for all vintage Hofners, then the book you want is a rare hardback called [i][b]Hofner: Made In Germany[/b][/i] by Michael Naglav. Next time you're down in London set aside half a day and come round to my studio ...

[quote name='cybertect' timestamp='1456431512' post='2989059'] According to this chart on Hofner's web site, there were 204 500/10s made by Hofner in 1960 and also about 400 Senator basses made in the same year Edit: the notes do suggest that these numbers may well be inaccurate, though [url="http://www.hofner.com/media/wysiwyg/Serial_Numbers/selmer_numbers.pdf"]http://www.hofner.co...mer_numbers.pdf[/url] [/quote] Yup. They surely are. Those numbers are the number imported by Selmer, not the production figures, which were presumably a fair bit higher. There is no real advantage to owning an imported Hofner as against a non-imported, other than the serial number is useful evidence of age. Hofner were, in some ways, most UN-Germanic. Their record-keeping was shocking, they had no interest in serial numbers, they would have laughed at our obsession with consistency in design and components. As if that isn't bad enough, the firm has also been through two major ownership changes plus a complete relocation of the factory. Don't expect to find any definitive numbers about anything! The Senator bass was re-badged by Selmer for import to the UK and Commonwealth - everywhere else it was known as the 500/3. That means that serial numbers are hopelessly underweight as to overall production of this single-pickup, semi-acoustic bass. Hofner made thousands of them. The President bass was both re-badged and re-designed by Selmer from the original 500/5, which was simply a 500/3 but with two pickups. Selmer insisted on reducing the depth of the body by 1/2" to make it less bulky, and they replaced the original simple dot markers with 'triplets'. The Verithin was so distinctive that even where it was marketed as the 500/7 it was still called a Verithin by the locals. The 500/10 was marketed by Selmer as the Bass Guitar 6 and, as Cybertect says, about 200 were imported in 1960. After that, there is no information available. At all! Imported where? Like I said, not just the UK. Selmer dealt with the entire Commonwealth plus British military bases overseas. In 2016 that last is pretty insignificant, but in 1960 it was anything but ... Britain had a military presence right across the world. It seems sensible to assume that at least half of these 200 came to the UK, but the rest could be literally anywhere on the planet. If this stuff interests you, my own personal archive of (almost) all the Hofners I have owned is here: http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/library/Hofner%20vintage%20instruments By far the best resource I've ever found is Steve Russell's excellent and now much expanded website: http://www.vintagehofner.co.uk/ You can also spend a hugely rewarding hour looking at this: http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/library/Other%20music%20related/Selmer%20Catalogue%201963

Just reverting to the Hofner 500/10, I used to be a serious collector of vintage Hofner basses. If sheer rarity is your thing, then the 500/10 will certainly tick your box. I spent five years scanning eBay right across Europe on a daily basis, and not one ever turned up. http://www.vintagehofner.co.uk/gallery/bass/bas4.html Even the best Hofner website (Steve Russell) has only got three photos of this bass - one is owned by the Marketing Director of Hofner, one is in Sweden, and one was snapped in Music Ground in Doncaster some years ago and may well actually be one of the other two!

Yup. I still don't believe that it's a practical substitute for an EUB.

Play us something you know ...

So I went along to Wunjos on the strength of this thread, and came away with http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/library/Basses%20CURRENT/Fender%20Precision%202015%20Sandblasted So why did I buy it? Was it the great-looking body and lustrous colour? Was it the light weight and impeccable neck? Was it the range of tones on offer - not two but three? Or was it the chance to own a basic, simple instrument that requires a 7-word name. Ladies & Gentlemen, I give you the [i][b]Fender American Standard Limited Edition Sandblasted Precision[/b][/i].

Is he a guitar tech?

Does it really say "Bridge" on the headstock? If so, then he's built it the wrong way round ...

[quote name='Sibob' timestamp='1456311600' post='2987604'] In case people didn't know, he's a Watford lad (or around that area anyway) and Slipknot are one of the biggest (American) metal bands in the world [/quote] [quote name='NickD' timestamp='1456320815' post='2987782'] He's also the guitar/amp tech at Titan Studios Watford too I think. Pretty sure he serviced my amp. [/quote] Did anyone else read these two posts and think ... WTF? The bass player for "one of the biggest metal bands in the world" is also "the guitar/amp tech" at a shop in Watford? This is the same studio where Robert Trujillo is a shop assistant, right?

I played mine in a band situation for the first time last week at rehearsals on Wednesday and Saturday. Absolutely gorgeous sound, very flexible, and attracted immediate compliments from my bandmates. Against all my expectations, and despite having my regular stool with backrest and footrest to sit on, I ended up playing it mainly standing up. As mentioned elsewhere it's really not a heavy bass, just very bulky. First gig with this bass is a 3-hour semi-jazz gig tomorrow night (at The Forester, just off Northfields Avenue in Ealing, in case you're nearby) and I'm really looking forward to it. At the volume we'll be playing at I'll be surprised if feedback is going to be an issue. I'll be going through a PJB Bass Briefcase. I've already bought a cello gigbag in a particularly nauseating shade of chrome yellow so carrying it will be fine too. And punters will see me coming ...

Good call.

[quote name='sunburstjazz1967' timestamp='1456224877' post='2986718'] No need for that even but whilst people on a bass forum will buy gear that they see and hear with their eyes when their favourite players are clearly on in ears then it pays to ship 7 GK cabs around the world I guess?! [/quote] Don't be silly ... he's so bored playing the same old same old that he's actually listening to Adele on his iPod.

Incidentally, when I started this thread ( http://basschat.co.uk/topic/134869-re-valving-an-orange-bass-terror/page__hl__otb%20valve ) I ran my OTB500 from the DI into a mixer, took a feed from the mixer into my Zoom H2, and monitored using headphones. Not a speaker cabinet of suitable impedance in sight. I suspect that, as others have said, this warning is of the "may contain traces of nuts" variety.

A piece of information that has just popped up on my radar screen, worth adding to this long-running thread: http://basschat.co.uk/topic/279683-heads-that-dont-need-a-speaker-load/page__pid__2986345#entry2986345

[quote name='stevebasshead' timestamp='1456185445' post='2986497'] It's a bit odd, I grant you, but the manual states the following when talking about the DI output: "IMPORTANT: A speaker cabinet of suitable impedance and power handling must be connected to the amplifier's speaker outputs even when the DI Output is in use." So it's implied rather than stated directly the way I read it. [/quote] I'm guessing that they made the DI so utterly unusable for this very reason ... it discourages people who never read the manual ( ) from trying to use the amp as a DI-only source.

Slightly off topic, but is Verve Clicquot bittersweet?

Anyway, surely it's more interesting to hear what other people call you, than what you call yourself? Well, in some cases anyway.