HeadlessBassist

The Rumblefish was an earlier model which was semi-hollow. I'm not sure whether we got it here in't UK.

I've heard that the secret handshake involves playing repeated slap triplets while simultaneously singing Arne's "Rule Britannia".

You'd get on well with my friend Jaymi in Nashville - the PinkBassMan!

Interestingly, here's a video from the Croydon gig from a couple of nights ago, with the Videographer obviously at the front, catching more of the bass rig, and much less of the full PA mix. The pink JayDee sounds pretty good here...

I think he's talking about owning 4 & 5-string Space Basses, Steve

I was chatting to @Mike Brooks on WhatsApp about this latest L42 tour the other day. He was saying that the Pink JayDee sounded a little hollow and flat, but when the red JayDee came out, it sounded immense. I haven't heard it in the flesh yet, but I've never liked traditional/vintage instruments through the ultra-processed MarkBass amps. They just don't sound right to me. (I have one and only use it due to the light weight. I much prefer my TC RH750.) By all means tell me if I have weird ears, but the JayDees through the MB rig always sound as if they 'Quack' like a Duck... 🙉

Agreed. The Mexican £1400 signatures are very good in isolation (I had the Flea Jazz with the Pure Vintage 64's for a while), but when you put them next to the American Original, there's no comparison. There was just something about them that gave them an organic sound. Mine is also very light, so I guess it's a very high quality piece of Alder too.

How do you find your American Original? I've had mine for six years and it's still the best passive Jazz I've ever played.

Hey Mark, Rob always said that the 18V pre had more headroom. All of the more expensive graphite models were 18V.

No issues at all, Steve. Some people recommend changing the spring washers on the tuners for a smoother action, but I've been using monorail headless tuners for 35 years and never had any issues. The only thing I've had to change on any of the three Space Basses was the jack socket on the four string one I had, as it was crammed in against the power supply and would short out the bass, but that's a small job on any bass, and a component which can always fail. My only criticism on the Cort is that the Bartolini preamp needs a lot of bass frequency boosting. It's a seriously flat preamp as goes the bass control, but you only need add a tiny smidge of treble for clear and glassy highs. Apart from needing to boost the bass frequency a lot in order to gain some serious shove, there's nothing not to like. Output wise, they're like a passive Fender Jazz, so if you have a general "Jazz Setting" on your amp that you regularly use, there's no bother. More than anything, having owned three of them, I like the consistency. The quality is great and they always sound good. They're quick and easy to play, too. And the final bonus? They're light to carry around. Mine in the gig bag is often slung over my shoulder while walking around huge secondary schools. It's no effort to carry either, being so light.

Hi Steve, It's a tricky one, and I guess it all depends on what kind of a sound you personally prefer. From what I've heard of the M6, they sound slightly gritty, but better than the Ibanez EHB models. I really liked the sound of the Hils Next Bass BN5 models, but the Cort is still my personal favourite. They have a polite and hifi-sounding quality which is more up my street as a Status, GB & Jazz bass player.

I wouldn't go as far as saying that EMGs are harsh, but they are always consistently very bright and bitey! They definitely cut through, put it that way.

Yes, it was thirty years ago now! I was looking at a Barracuda earlier this year. It's the one wooden Status I always wanted. Now I've got my eye on the full Status T-Bass up at Andy Baxter's. Might go and have a look at it in the next week or so, but it would mean sacrificing one of my Status basses... 🫣

In all honesty, they generally seem to be very well cared for and cherished. They're not an ordinary generic 'super jazz', more a full blown Status bass disguised as a Jazz bass. The preamps are seriously powerful and the build quality is stunning. We were discussing the T-Bass the other evening, and the original 15 limited edition models (a friend of mine has one of the 15) were more curved and svelte, and the later full production models had more of a slab-like body, hence the increased weight.

Maybe 'hate' is a little bit of a strong word, but I have definitely made mistakes over the years. When I was living in the South West, I would treat myself during the Xmas holidays, usually from the Andertons sale. Several basses I bought were epic, like my Fender Elite Dimension, and my American Original Jazz (both of which I've kept for years), but several would be returned immediately. One such case was a ltd edition spalted Maple Spector Euro LX. Yes, maybe the neck was a little thick (fingers to thumb), but the real issue was that the one in the sale was equipped with the insipid Aguilar pickups. Now I know Aguilar make fantastic pickups, but whatever I did with this bass, nothing sounded anything more than dull and generic. The bass had utterly no character. Obviously, I now know that Spectors need the EMGs for their signature sound, but in this case I personally drove it back to Andertons on the very same day to return it.

That sounds great, Sean. I'll look forward to seeing that one next time I'm in the area

As soon as I saw the picture I was ready to leap to Johnathan Frakes’ defence and shout, “… but he really DOES play the Trombone”, LOL!

Pretty much, apart from the Pure Vintage "Coastline" pickups. Maybe the Lollipop Tuners cost £1200..? 🤔 On a more serious note, I'm glad they've brought back Firemist Gold.

Fender American Professional Classic Jazz Bass (or in other words, "We redid the American Performer Series in satin faded poly finishes, and added '62 'Coastline' Pickups, a Grease Bucket tone circuit & '66 Lollipop Tuners.") Nothing to see here, then! Those new pickups based on the Pure Vintage series do sound good, though...

I'd be more worried if they chop the player's left hand off. 😳

This may be of interest...

This piqued my interest, being as Yolanda is one of my favourite players. Interesting colour choice, too. Scale: 34″ Body: European Ash Neck: Maple and Mahogany Fingerboard: Rosewood Frets: 24 Inlays: Oval, Glow-in-the-Dark Side Dots Pickups: Delano VT Spilt Coil and Single Coil Electronics: Sandberg 3-band Active/Passive EQ Bridge: Sandberg Tuners: Sandberg Finish: Brown Burst Matte Other: Made in Germany

That's a sad farewell Hellzero. I do hope you'll be sticking around these 'ere parts. I do understand though. By the time you get to our age group, we tend to have less and less tolerance for other people's egos and stupidity. I just recently walked away from one very lucrative regular job where the two [quite disturbed] people running the show would regularly go into a totally unreasonable 'red mist' mode and 'make up s***', basically taking their mood from their home lives out on people working with them for no good reason. When people start shouting aggressively in the faces of others and clearly don't listen, I just walk away. I don't do conflict. I deal with children in my semi-retired day job. I don't need to deal with yet more children in the supposed professional playing world. But I digress. I do hope you enjoy your Pianistic endeavours, and occasionally pick up your Bass and smile, knowing you had a good time and have good memories.