NancyJohnson

I had a 78/79 Precision and that decal is virtually identical. If is was just a Standard Precision from 1997 the Fender logo should be silver with a black surround, serial number under it and the words Precision Bass would much smaller. The string tree is in the wrong place, too (should be closer to the A-machine head). Maybe it's my screen but the finish on that looks too 'rich' for a Fender. Hell, what do I know. I think as time goes on, it's just going to become harder and harder to identify what's what. All these reissues, Squiers with Fender decals, Custom Shop decals, general swappage of hardware, custom builds with Fender decals, people putting different necks on. Too many people with access to sandpaper. There's probably thousands of people playing what they believe are vintage Fenders/Gibsons which came off a Chinese production line a couple of years ago.

I put the PJ set in my Hamer. I was a bit underwhelmed with the pots, so pulled the trigger on a John East Uni-Pre3. Belter.

Chris. You're missing my point. While you personally may feel the desire to make your gear create a variety of different sounds, there's an awful lot of people that know how they want to sound and have little interest in making a bass sound different. My signature tone (if I can call it that), is broadly a bit if Ged, a bit if dUg, a bit if Jean-Jacques. Suits what I do. I rarely stray from that and it's not a millstone.

But if the tone in your head is what's required for whatever you're doing (or is your desired tone), why is this a millstone? I'm sure the kit that many players use will produce more than their signature tonality, but can you even begin to imagine what Rush would sound like if Geddy Lee had decided to channel Aston Barrett?

I love these threads. Like a lot of us here, I have a lot of gear, most of which lives in cases at the moment. Expensive stuff/cheap stuff. The most important things in my armoury are a Tech21 dUg and a Tech21 GED-2112 DI and my hands. That's it. Doesn't matter what I plug into these, they shape my tone, I can dial in whatever I want with these. Even my EUB sounds a little like Geddy Lee.

As mentioned elsewhere, I've owned an NXT5 for just under two weeks. From barely being able to get a proper note out of it, I'm beginning to feel more capable now. Never really played with my fingers, so speed/blisters is currently an issue. I will not be taking lessons or watching tutorials; I know enough to get me by, so it's more a case of adapting to play what I do know. These things need side dots or LEDs as standard...bought a sheet of adhesive stars to give me something of a guide.

I'd always maintain that pickups are just one small facit in the entire signal chain and to be honest, for me, it doesn't seem to matter what pickups are in, the main thing is that you learn to adapt your gear so you dial in more or less the same tone irrespective of the bass used. On to the pickups. I've got a Delano (with the bug pole pieces) in an old beater/project P-bass...not that it matters, but it's not a Fender. I was actually more drawn to the visual aesthetic rather than any claims laid about it tonally. I'll admit I was a tad confused about the claims Delano make about the pickup matching thing; the standalone P-pickup not being matched to the equivalent P-unit in the P/J sets. Pickups are pickups. One man's meat etc. From a direct to the desk/recording perspective, tonally it's OK, nothing to write home about (any more than any other pickup). It sounds as good as anything else when you add VSTs to it (go to Spotify and listen to 'Lutz' - Light 'em All Up' that's definitely the same bass). Live, again, depends on what you're running it through (I'd use a variety of Sansamps to get to where I wanted to be tonally); it was easily to dial in something gnarly. In closing, it's neither good or bad; it does what it's supposed to do. Don't expect it to revolutionise anything in particular, it likely does as much as a £20 Warman unit.

I used to like a lighter set, never gone as light as 30-90, though. Yikes. I doubt they'd do the job for me sonically. I was always a bit worrysome about the necks on my Thunderbirds; they were extremely skinny, temperamental and I liked my action nice and rattly; if I strayed outside of 40-95/40-100 gauges, bending notes would start being an issue and I'd experience a bit of front-bow. My Amazon purchases seem to allude to me shifting to a heavier gauge since I waved a cheery adiós to the Gibsons, now favouring 45-105s.

I was just going through some old emails - on 23/9/21 I got this reply from B&M following an enquiry I emailed them: Hi Paul, Thank you for your enquiry and interest in Spector Basses. Spector had actually planned to release a Euro 4X this year but unfortunately due to production complications and material shortages they have had to postpone this for the foreseeable future. Sadly there is no date for them at the moment and to be truthful it seems unlikely that we would see them next year either. I am sorry we were not able to give you better news. Many thanks and best regards, Pete Peter Hoggett Barnes and Mullins Ltd etc. I know it's only 40 basses (so far), but this kind of response hurts, especially now. It's no wonder people lack faith in many things. Years ago, I bought a Honda CRV; during the purchase process we visited a Honda dealer, the salesman denied all knowledge of any facelift model (which despite us doing our homework, seeing the new model and knowing when it was coming out) and seemed horribly ignorant of the cars Honda were selling as well. This email from B&M just reeks of the Honda model.

Better get something sold, then.

I've applied a couple of coats of spray lacquer and to be honest the results are way better than the Crimson stuff. I was patient, but man alive, the results were unimpressive. I'll give it a day to go off, flatten it, apply a couple of coats, repeat.

Oops. And buuuurn.

They take the board off? I understood the process was supposed to be non-invasive (god knows how).

Been using these for decades and it's a joy to discover that Dunlop are now selling just the strap button elements separately. I've accumulated loads of the parts that go on the straps; I don't need a strap for every bass. Weee!

Do basses in bits count?

Well, a few days in, big blister but grinding through the pain. Bought a sheet of adhesive luminous stars and have stuck these on, which has helped immensely. Much as I detest playing along with stuff, oddly I've found Paloma Faith to be quite satisfying. Got a reply from Sims LED; £300 for taking the job, £15 a dot, so we're looking at £600-ish. God knows how they'd do it to be honest. Maybe. Considering what I've haemorrhaged on gear this year, £600 is well within budget for 2022.

I'll just add another thing. Looking forward to a few stills and videos of these models being sported by guys who look like this and haven't done a gig in years. [Edit: I am wuvving the fwuffy bwunnie on the sofa. \m/ ]

Gotta say, given that Korg said (to me, via email) that they categorically had no plans for a Thunderbird-style bass (and as a plus, Gary and I have been pretty vocal on Facebook boards about these), I am a bit rankled that they're building Euro models for the US market. I suppose as a species we just crave for the unattainable and that drives the want for one. Being pragmatic, my money has gone elsewhere this year/generally and consequently I don't have the funds (or perhaps the desire, either) to chase one down. Sure they look nice, but right now, disappointingly, it's a nah from me.

Slowish! I'm just about to do a 2000 grit rub down. Bit disappointed with the lacquer, it's been well applied but a few spots have rubbed back to bare wood (in the scheme of things, not too bad as they're in spits where you'd expect the finish to thin in regular wear and tear.

Just to add to the purchase list, I put a John East preamp in the Hamer, so it's got EMG GZR pickups and the East.

*Should just say that, yes, while I've schlepped a £6k bass to a gig, it was a Lull. Would I pay £6k for a Jazz Bass? Umm, no.

Umm. Guilty.

Two days in, I have a blister. Lots of fun. Only downside so far is the bass could really use some side dots on the neck; the markers on the board aren't particularly visible as you're standing slightly behind the instrument and they pretty much disappear in low light. I'm thinking about putting a call into Simms LED to see whether they could install something.

It's a weird thing. I've played an upright twice before today; this is like going from a tricycle to a bicycle. It's kind of like familiar, but different. Despite how well I play regular basses (*subjective), I was quite shocked how bad I was on this when I first started playing it earlier. If the bass itself, can't fault it. Charging the power cell takes 60 seconds for 16 hours active (why aren't all active circuits like this?). In active mode it sounds gorgeous, thundersome. Right now I'm just sticking it through the Ged/Darkglass set up I use generally, there's no dirt. More later!