Jonesy

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.

So, hot on the heels of the Gene Simmons T'bird, Gibson release.....another signature T'bird! OK, so it's not a Grabber/Ripper reissue that I'd love to see, but this one makes a lot more sense to me though. I mean look at it. PHWOAR! https://www.peachguitars.com/gibson-rex-brown-thunderbird.htm

It's been a while, so have some great slow blues from Johnny Winter....

Good point! I was thinking that the only body I'd be happy to put a fretless neck on would be the Harley Benton PJ. However, I do have a G&L SB2 Tribute that I could see if I could find a fretless neck for..... The only unlined neck I could see on allparts was a finished PBass one for £407. I'll do some measuring and see if it'd fit. My only drawback is that I think I could get a decent fretless bass outright by the time I factor in the cost of fitting a decent neck. The G&L tribute Kiloton fretless is tempting (despite being sunburst and lined) at just over £480. It'd be nice to try one before ordering one in though.

Ah, what a gorgeous bass! I used to have one and it was the P bass that turned me back on to P basses. This model has the US pups and upgraded hardware, they're lovely basses and have amazing necks. Enjoy your new purchase!!!

I'm going to sound extremely fickle here.......but I'd rather not another sunburst bass. Otherwise the revelation PJ would be my go to choice. In an ideal world I'd have an unlined PJ in lake placid blue......but without the £2.3k price tag the Tony Franklin comes with. However, I think revelation are the way forward. I spoke to them the other day and they should have the unlined P in the UK in the next month or so....but in white now as the red is discontinued. The Dimavery MM is an interesting choice though. From what I hear they're up there with Harley Benton in terms of quality and equally cheap.

Hahahaha! It sounds like he just has a knackered input jack and is just pulling the lead in and out. I do love 'Warhead' though, such a tune!

Good shout! I've seen a couple of thunders come up here and there and will keep an eye out for one. I hear P&O also look out for them when they need boat anchors, what was yours like?

Ta for the extra info. I could get away with doing most of that, but would have to tap out when it comes to drilling holes I reckon. Ah, I didn't know HB did an unlined fretless. Ta for the heads up, I doubt that neck would fit in the PJ body I have, but the bass itself is another option.

I do like the look of those and when I was searching through the forum the Portamento was getting a lot of love. If one came up second hand and in budget I'd jump at it as I've heard nothing but good things. However......trying to balance GAS vs the waiting game will be difficult!!

Nice! Really like it without the control knobs too. Did you have to do much fettling with the neck, or does it drop straight in? I'm guessing it doesn't come predrilled too? And one last Q......are there side dots on the neck in the right place?

GAS being GAS, I've been playing with the idea of picking up a fretless over the past month or so. Maybe I'll play it loads, maybe it'll gather dust. Who knows? Either way it sounds like fun and something else to learn. I've never picked up a fretless before the other week, but had a go on a couple of lined fretless in a shop, just to get an idea of what they're like.... Player Series Jazz - seemed Ok, fretboard was really dry, but that can be sorted. Ibanez SRH500 - I liked it a lot more than I thought I would tbh, but wouldn't normally go for something that looks like it was designed after 1975. Since playing those I've realised 2 things......I think I want to go unlined for more of a challenge and I don't want a sunburst J with no scratch plate. I was thinking of spending £400 max and reckon my options are...... Revelation P bass. I'd probably prefer a PJ, but don't want sunburst. Dimavery MM fretless Fazley PJ fretless (although it is sunburst) Or I look at lined options..... Ibanez SR370. Despite what I said about the SRH500 looks, I quite like the 370 for some reason and have heard good things about the power span pups. Or go left field...... I have a Harley Benton PJ that I bought as a deco and must have ended up with one of the only duds. The necks warped, but I could pick up a HB fretless and put the neck on the PJ body. Or I do the same with a couple of Squiers and put a fretless neck on a non jazz body. Has anyone got any views on the basses above or can throw some other ideas out there?? At the minute I'm leading towards the revelation as I've heard good things.....

Yeah, I think you're right to look at a PJ for the versatility, as has been mentioned - MM basses are worth a look at too and fit what you're after. Sire basses have a really great pre amp in them and you can get a wide range of tones from them. The G&L L2000 Tribute is extremely versatile, but worth playing one just to see how you get on with the neck as it's a chunky one, the main selling point with these is you get exactly teh same pick ups and bridge that goes into the full fat USA version. Where abouts are you? Just thinking we may be able to throw some decent shops your way so you can get a feel of the different necks and their profiles, or throw something 2nd hand near you your way. TBF, it's pretty hard to find a crap bass nowadays and you can still get some decent gear (like Harley Benton, SX or Revelation) at the lower end, so I wouldn't go into this thinking cheap = crap. I regularly gig a £300 bass over a £2k bass and there is some great value to be had out there at the minute. On the amp front - I'd look at something that's about 15w for home use, Fender, Ashdown, Orange & Ampeg all make great practice amps for home use. I have a 15w Fender Rumble and don't need to go any way near above 9 o clock for home use, I'm always well under so 15w is loads. Depending on who else is in the house and how much you like you neighbours, the main thing to make sure it has is a headphones out for silent practice and an aux in so you can jam along to mp3s. If you haven't got a clip on or some sort of app then a tuner is a nice to have too. Or you could pick up something like a Zoom B1 Four. It's a great little pedal with a few decent effects thrown in and you can use it for completely silent home practice. I have an 8 month old daughter in the house, so have to make time to play around her naps. This is a great bit of kit for me! This is great advice and is what I'd do too. If you don't mind losing £300 or so if, in a few months, you've had a go at bass and want to shift that thing in the corner that's just gathering dust, then buy new. Otherwise, look second hand as you'll make your outlay back and be able to invest it back in a more expensive bass if you really want to upgrade later on. The only issue is that the Model T isn't that common and don't come up loads second hand, so if you have your heart set on it and don't want to wait then new might be your only option. Can't say I've played one, but I do like the look of them, and they come with decent EMG's from what I've heard.