HeadlessBassist

"I'm sorry - Is this the five minute argument, or the full half hour..?"

The simple answer is the extra money buys the American workers houses, Ford F-150 pickup trucks, and also adds to their pension schemes.

No, they did away with the wheel - it used to operate the truss rod on the American Elite series. 🤷‍♂️

I've always loved the Italia basses since they came out in about 2009-10(?) Very individual and distinctive. A lot of players seem to really like them too.

Yes, that's a very good point. These are a continuation of the "assembled in USA" basses, which started with the original American Special and Highway One models, so the necks could well be from the Mexican Ensenada plant. I know they've streamlined their neck production, so that even the American Ultra II now has the nut-based truss rod and the skunk stripe nowadays. It's a shame, as the stuff they were making around 2016-2020 was far superior. It's the old premium brand game; streamline production to cut costs, thus giving you less and charging you more for it.

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.