Jonesy

That's a cracking bass, really cool colour. I think the PB62 US models have an alder body? Just had a look at their site and they have some great looking basses. I love the Japanese reissues, every one I've ever played has been fantastic.

There isn't much difference in quality as far as I can tell. I'm sure someone who knows about Japanese guitars can tell us why the different terms are used. Some people say it's down to what factory the bass was built in, others that it's just down to different time periods. Either way, Made in Japan, Crafted in Japan and MADE IN JAPAN reissues are all really nice. There's a shop near me that sell loads of Japanese Fenders and I spent a while in there playing what they had in stock at the time. They were all really great basses imo and I couldn't see much (if any) difference.

I can't comment on that exact model, but I've had a couple of MIJ reissues and they're great basses. If you know you like a J then (personally) I'd be happy making that trip knowing that I was going to turn up and play a really nice bass. Do you know if it's a US model?

I think they were always supposed to have Rexbuckers? A mate was in Peach Music the other day and they said they always sell out of signature releases straight away. Collectors just gobble them up I guess. I think they also said they have one left in stock to sell, but only because they were in the process of fixing one of the pots so they could sell it. Crazy that Gibson let those leave the factory. I have a 2010 SG and had a 2019 LP DC, the fit and finish in those are great.

The challenge is the point of trying unlined! I don't generally look at what my left hand is doing, apart from a quick glance when moving over a lot of frets, but going unlined just seems like it'll take me out of my comfort zone. Despite it being lined and burst I'd love to give it a go. Can't find anywhere in the UK that has it in stock though and to order it would mean putting down a 20% non refundable/transferable deposit 😔 That Revelation looks great and I think is the front runner so far. The Gallery should have them in stock in the next few weeks so I'll pop in and give one a go. It looks more of an off/aged white than a bright Olympic white - is that just the light, or is it creamy in real life too?

The bridge looks like it's had about 30 years of touring sweat corroding it

It sounds like you're doing the right thing and already have another band on the go that will potentially be more driven towards gigging. If that all works out then I'd end up knocking the problematic band on the head, or at least having an open chat with them first saying you want to gig regularly and finding out what page they're on. If you have the chat and they're all up for gigging then I'd also suggest booking a gig for as soon as is realistic. Just book one, even if the set isn't finished yet. Having a date to aim for is pretty motivating and could make him practice more. Have you thought about putting an ad out for another guitarist to play lead? It sounds like your current guy is happy playing rhythm so another guitarist could be needed anyway? It could also help him become a better player. From what it sounds like though, your guitarist would annoy me loads. Rehearsal rooms cost money and it's a waste of time and money if a member of the band constantly has no idea what they're doing. I don't really enjoy sitting down while another member of the band spends 30mins figuring out what they should have learnt at home and I reckon it's disrespectful to act like that. It doesn't have to be spot on, but they should turn up ready to play something.

Ta for the extra info. I ended up thinking about it for a bit too long and it sold 😭 Serves me right for thinking about buying a new bass instead of just buying one!

I'd def agree with Lozz's point about not being able to use your own head all of the time and it's one of the reasons I use a separate preamp pedal. Another reason is that I'm in multiple bands and I want a completely different tone for each one. Ones a blues band that I want a warm, slightly overdriven, tube tone for. The other is more grunge/noise that I want a really horrible metallic aggy tone for. It's easier for me to bung my quilter head and small board in a back pack for a gig than have 2 big heads kicking around. If money was no object then having different heads would be an option, but a small class D head and a few preamp pedals works out cheaper too👍

Ah, I was just going to create a topic on this, so it's good to see it's not just mine and other people's necks have decided to go for a wander. Mine are on a wall and I've had the curtains drawn during the day, most are pretty stable but my MIJ PBass has bowed quite a bit. I'll leave it a few days for the weather to settle then have a tinker.

This is what I would do too. I've used the BDDI in the past like this and currently use the VTDI this way. If you're after that Sansamp tone, it's the surest way to get there.

Hello! Have you got any examples of what tone you're after? It's a funny thing describing sound with words, one person's zing is another person's thump! What strings are you using and how old are they? New strings have a brighter tone to them, so that'd probably be the first place I'd look. Something like rotosound swing bass will do the trick as they're up there with the brightest sounding strings. Make sure you're using a pick and dig in. All of that with the BDDI (what settings are you using too?) should get you fairly metallic sounding.

Has anyone got any info on the Aria Pro 2 Magna fretless? Any good or bad points about them? Ones come up for sale not too far away and is pretty tempting......

Yup, the second 70 comes down to the cost, which is why you get a 62-70US. No idea why that doesn't change with time as the price increases though?!?

I think they're about £200ish for the P and £250ish for the PJ. However, they've been waiting for a shipment for months apparently so are a bit hard to find now. I spoke to them a few weeks back and I think they're due in August, so hopefully not too long to wait. The red P is being discontinued though and replaced with a white model

Bang on. This is definitely something for me to have a go at rather than play in a band with (maybe one day I will though?) and I think the way you've put it about unlined forcing you to listen more is what I what unlined for too. I think the only options for unlined at the bottom end are..... The 2 Revelations...... https://www.revelationguitars.co.uk/guitar/rpb-65-fretless/ https://www.revelationguitars.co.uk/guitar/rpj-77-fretless/ DiMavery.....although I have no idea what it'll be like https://www.ltt-versand.de/en/sound/musical-instruments/basses/34627/dimavery-mm-501-e-bass-fretless-nature?gclid=CjwKCAjwoMSWBhAdEiwAVJ2ndrAH0Bjks_No6ISjnQpGNsFee1MCAfe_N3qoQcydblywEdcI1S9oqhoC51UQAvD_BwE Stagg BC300FL Vintage V940FL And that's pretty much it unless we're looking second hand and can pick up some sort of Aria or Westone. I think Warwick made a Rock bass fretless too. Out of those I think I'm leaning toward a 2nd hand Westone (or similar, if one turns up) or a Revelation.

I think in an ideal world it'd be unlined, but I'm not completely against lined. More like 80% against it 😆 From what little experience I've had playing fretless (which is only about 45mins, so very little!), it just felt like having lines was a bit like having stabilisers on. I don't look at my left hand lots when playing, but I kind of want to remove the safety net and I reckon unlined would be more of a challenge. The other reason probably has something to do with Jaco. A lot of basses in the budget fretless world are Jaco clones and I'd rather not have a lined sunburst jazz without a scratch plate.

My budget is about £400 max, but I'd be happier picking up something for nearer £200 to be honest. Has anyone played an Aria Magna fretless? There's an unlined one come up near me for pretty cheap. I found a thread with people talking about the fretted version and it seems the post MIJ Aria stuff is ok, nothing to write home about but decent enough if it's the right price?

The volume of reviews could be the issue here rather than Google purposely hiding them. Their algorithms will remove anything they think is spam, so a business getting 150 odd reviews in the last few hours is getting logged as suspicious and probably banked for review to make sure they're legit. They might come back. I thought some of the reviews were harsh though tbf. It's a crappy thing that they've done, but some of the reviews were written by people saying they were just going to go for a look at the venue and they've cancelled because they found out about the charge. They hadn't actually used the barn, but reviewed it anyway. It'd be a bit like giving a bass a bad review because of an issue you heard about, without actually playing it.

A referral scheme makes sense and isn't a bad idea in principal, plenty of businesses use them. It sounds like they've just thrown that out there as a way of trying to deal with all of the negative backlash though. 'Oh stinky poo, we've made a bad decision. What can we say to get out of it' There's no way that original email was written with the intention of introducing a sort of loyalty scheme with preferred suppliers.

And the classic pro before them, that's the only bass I genuinely regret selling. They're dirt cheap, feel great and sound monsterous!! I tried a classic pro and the full fat Gibson at the time and thought the Epiphone sounded much bigger. Little things like the machine heads were better on the Gibson, but the Epi ones were still decent

They're whaaaaaaat? I thought they we're in the £1.5k-ish territory - just looked and must have been thinking about the non reverse models. £300 extra for all of the upgrades def doesn't seem too bad then.

I'm just listening to 'Call on me/That's the way love is' and, although the 70s albums are good, I'm much preferring his earlier stuff. Spotify seems to have some pretty huge gaps in his discography, but I'll get through what they have and check out the rest on YT.

I hadn't much outside of 'Ain't no love.....' so gave 'Dreamer' & 'His California Album' a listen this morning. I really liked them, but sometimes when he sings he sounds like he's coughing up a loogie! 🤢

It costs a lot and might not be anything that new......but look at it! It's very easy on the eye. I guess either way you look at it, it's mostly aimed at collectors rather than players, but they've addressed quite a few niggles with the bridge and eq options with this.