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dmc79

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Everything posted by dmc79

  1. dmc79
    I've never played a Stingray, and am not a Sunburst fan, but this looks pretty awesome. That roasted maple neck, holy cow!
  2. dmc79
    @Merton Thanks for the Gator Jazzmaster gig bag pics. Is that the $40 or $80 version?
  3. dmc79
    Got a TGI gig bag recently, I presume it's a bass one, my SS Jaguar fits in with about 3 inches to spare. The padding is quite basic and it feels a bit flimsy, no weight to it, so a light bass swings about a bit as you carry it.
  4. dmc79
    Also put the D'Addario XL Nickel Wounds in Medium gauge (50-105) on my short scale Squier VM Jaguar. Look out for the packet with 'EXL160S', orange circle and blue strip along top. Most said of this bass that going to a heavier gauge than stock (40-95) improved the string tension and took any floppiness out of especially the E string. Seemed a lot better in this regard after the change for me.
  5. dmc79
    Played my SS Jag the other week and found it ok dialled in with mostly P. . . the J is notoriously weak but I found the P ok. . . that is until I A/B'd it with my newly acquired used Squier VM PJ. That bass's pickups smoked those of the jag, even using P only on both, the Jag pickups were seriously lacking, to the point where I'm not sure I want to play it until I've replaced them with a P/J pickup set. Looking at the specs for both of the discontinued Squiers I have, the pickups are: Squier VM Jaguar short scale: Neck: Split single coil Precision bass Bridge: Single coil Jazz bass Squier VM Precision PJ: Neck: Fender-Designed Split single coil Precision bass Bridge: Fender-Designed Single coil Jazz bass I accept that the SS Jag was a very cheap bass, and as such I guess the stock pickups are about as basic as it gets. Did anyone change out the pickups on their SS Jag for a full upgraded P/J set, and if so what for? I believe the EMG Geezers & DiMarzio DP126 sets are popular. Not sure how much money I want to throw at it, as I'm still on the fence with short scale, but I want to give it a fair crack, and feel I can only do that with better pickups in it. Thanks.
  6. dmc79
    Loving the black on silver here. Recently got a Squier VM Jaguar short scale in those colours, with black headstock. Love that colour scheme. I put black pickguard screws on too. @BassAdder27which bridge did you put on? What's the weight like on these? I know weight rarely (if ever) is listed on specs, but online spec describes this as 'relatively light' - still not that helpful really. Comments like this really make it seem like new Fender USA basses are hugely overpriced these days.
  7. dmc79
    SOLD WILL NOW SHIP to mainland UK address at buyers cost of £40. This is for Parcelforce Express 24 next day, fully protected, trackable delivery. FINAL PRICE DROP now £800: Fender MIA / USA Precision Bass, from Corona, California, 2008, with Gator hard case. Long scale 34 inch. Black with gloss poly 'modern C' maple neck & fretboard. Usual USA made refinements: rolled fretboard edges, string thru' bridge, graphite reinforcing rod thru neck. Fretboard was cleaned with Dunlop 65 spray cleaner on recent string change. Strings are Rotosound RS66LDN nickel plated roundwound in 45-105 and the bass has barely been played since they went on. The pickups are upgraded to Fender Custom Shop 62s (these only became standard from 2012 onwards), and it has upgraded electrics in the form of a KiOgon loom (wired to Fender US Standard specs - CTS 250 pots, .47 Capacitor & Switchcraft Jack). Solderless screw terminals so a doddle if you ever want to change pickups (you may not need to though as the CS62s are great). HiMass vintage bridge. Fender lightweight vintage paddle tuners. It comes with a Gator Deluxe ABS hard case case to which there are no keys. No paperwork, just a Fender truss rod tool. The bass is fitted with a 3 ply black/white/black plate with truss rod cutout. The bass weighs 4.2Kg (9.2lbs) on my digital luggage scale. The width at the nut is 41mm. The bass is in good used, gigged condition for a 13 & a half year old instrument. There is a fair bit of minor scratching / swirl marks on the body & scratchplate as you would expect with a black bass. Only visible up close and quite hard to photograph though I have tried. Please contact me if you want any more photos. There are a few minor bumps, but no paint removed. As shown in the photos, there is a small ding on the back of the neck behind the 8th fret, no more than 1mm deep and I can't say it has bothered me when playing. There is a small lacquer chip on the fingerboard edge between the 12th & 13th frets. A little fret wear but the neck is in great shape otherwise. There are half a dozen small 'nibbles' on the end of the headstock. A black bass has to have some battle scars, right?! A great bass, but selling as despite always being a one bass man, I ended up buying 3 recently, and have decided to let this one go to a good home. Buyer can either collect in person from Southport, Merseyside/Lancs, or I will post at buyer’s cost of £40 as stated at top of listing. Please reply in topic or PM with any questions or if more photos are needed. Thanks. Final price drop to £800, need this gone. Can’t believe it’s still here! NO TRADE OFFERS WHATSOEVER PLEASE SOLD
  8. dmc79
    Bought a set of new strings from Martin. Arrived quickly & well packed. Thanks
  9. dmc79
    SOLD 13 hole 3 ply mint/black/mint Fender scratchplate to suit USA Precision bass, with truss rod notch. See my profile pic to see how it looks on a black bass Near perfect condition, with some very minor swirling. £25 posted
  10. dmc79
    PM
  11. dmc79
    Thanks. Was hoping for it to be lighter as I think these look great
  12. dmc79
    Thanks. I will have look / play as regards to your questions. I played the Jaguar properly for the first time on Sunday. It was a little weird to begin with adjusting to the finger positions of a shorty, but soon I was really enjoying it. I think it was getting used to a jazz width nut & slimmer neck AND playing a shorty all at the same time after years of playing P basses that had me really having to concentrate! I can't say the fret buzz bothered me when plugged in, when I was using a pick (.73 Dunlop nylon) I was doing so with a light touch and I have to say it was a lot of fun to play. Along with the shorter fret reach, the best thing was the lighter weight - this thing weighs 7.2lbs / 3.2Kg! Also I have read that neck dive is a common Jaguar problem - I guess the hi-mass bridge helps, but it feels perfectly balanced. I certainly don't need lightweight tuners to help balance it. If I ever do change the tuners, it will be for greater tuning accuracy / cosmetic reasons, not balancing ones. It's too early to say if I'll ever go all in on shorties, but I really enjoy playing the Jaguar, it felt so effortless after the initial change. The other thing I had to get used to was the P/J setup, as I've never had one before. I'd read elsewhere that there is a volume dip issue with these when both pickup volumes are fully cranked, that it feels like power is being drained from the P one. I certainly noticed this, along with the J hum as it was turned up. Ended up with just a little J mixed in. Not crazy about having 2 volume knobs though, and had a scratchy tone pot, so have a KiOgon VBT (Vol-Blend-Tone ) pre-wired solderless loom with upgraded jack on the way. May look into replacing just the J pickup with a noiseless one, or going for a full P/J set sometime. At least with the loom, it will be easy to change them as I don't do soldering. Anyway, the short scale Squier VM Jaguar is a great bass for the money and a lot of fun to play.
  13. dmc79
    I have a DC5 and agree that Cioks make excellent power supplies. Buy with confidence, anyone who may be looking. Danny is a great seller too. GLWTS
  14. dmc79
    I should add, I’m talking playing acoustically on lap here, I guess it won’t bother me as much when plugged in, but I can do the same on my P and no rattle
  15. dmc79
    Wouldn’t have bothered me as it’s not like I fitted it myself anyway. I may have to add in a bit more neck relief. I just did a quick search on short scale fret buzz and a few tips were: Use heavier gauge strings for a little more tension (I have 50-105 on anyway so should be fine) Not be too heavy handed (I wasn’t bludgeoning the strings anyway, they just wanted to buzz so easily) Pick nearer the bridge (will try, even though I won’t be using the J pickup much) Do you think it’s just a neck relief issue then and nothing to do with that bridge? I’ll have to measure the action of my P at the bridge which is perfect for me and see if I need to adjust the string height too
  16. dmc79
    Quick question. Is fret buzz a common problem with short scale basses? I realise of course that this it could be an issue with a bass of any scale, but I am surprised how much buzz I get from my new Squier VM Jaguar shorty. There was some buzz when it arrived, but then I took it for a setup as the action was stupidly high. It was lowered a little but the buzz seems exactly the same as before. I don’t like a really low action anyway so I certainly don’t want to go any lower and get even more buzz. The guitar shop guy did mention something about the bridge not being quite right (Babicz FCH which was on when I bought it used) and you can tell by the holes that it wasn’t a drop in upgrade, he did say that it’s a good bridge in itself, but that it may possibly need some kind of adjustment / refitting another time. Would this be something that could cause fret buzz? I did experiment a bit with trying to be a bit less heavy handed, and the buzz went away a bit, but then I moved over to my P bass and the action was spot on for me with no buzzing. I’d just like to know if there is some way of sorting this, or if it’s like a common thing with short scale basses or something. The thing is I would quite like short scale to work for me, just for the sake of my back and hands, as the Jag is so light and comfy to hold. Thanks
  17. dmc79
    Just curious, how much do your medium Squier Affinity H Jaguars weigh? Thanks
  18. dmc79
    Tried one once, couldn’t get used to the string spacing.
  19. dmc79
    I’ve never been one for having multiple basses at once, but this week I did get a short scale bass just because I’ve wanted to try one for a while. When we play songs in silly keys like Eb and Bb, that first to fourth fret stretch kills my hand, so the idea of a shorter (and lighter) bass than my Precision really piqued my curiosity. Got a Squier VM Jaguar, after reading a lot about people loving the P/J pickup combination, fast & slim neck and contoured body shape (some short scales are slab bodied like the Fender Mustang). I took it to a local guitar shop for a setup but can’t wait to get it back and play around, seems like it will be a lot of fun and it’s so light. Don’t know yet if short scale will work for me but I’ll give it a try. It’s a cheap bass but I’ve read that players love the neck & body so much that they don’t mind using it as a mod platform and throwing money at pickup, bridge, tuners, electronics replacements, etc. Mine came with an upgraded bridge from the previous owner which is nice. It seems to be a lot of bass for the money - they were discontinued early 2019 and can now go for more used than they were new.
  20. dmc79
    Fender Jazz does seem a popular choice. I’ve seen more of those in the bands at big worship events than any other bass. I was thinking recently that I don’t think we’ve had much gear chat in this topic. It would be interesting to share what bass / basses we play in church, whether we play through amps or in ear monitors, if we use pedals, etc. Anyone care to share? I’ll kick things off: I play a Fender USA Precision through a small Pedaltrain Nano board which is mainly just a tuner (Boss TU-3W Waza Craft) & Tech21 VTDI which goes straight to the sound desk through XLR. Everything on the pedalboard is powered by a CIOKS DC5 isolated power supply mounted underneath. The bass, pedals, power supply & board itself were all bought used. It still all cost a fair bit, but it’s quality stuff and is by far the best setup I’ve had in over 20 years of playing. For years I didn’t even have a pedal tuner, I used to tune up before practicing then plug straight into the amp! The VTDI is really nice and versatile, I used an MXR M81 preamp with DI before, it was good but very transparent, it hardly seemed to do anything at all really. VTDI gives you cab simulation, so it sounds like you’re playing through an amp even though you’re not. I now couldn’t imagine not having a cab sim on a ‘silent stage’, bass sounds so sterile without it, sometimes others play bass (not always their main instrument) and just go through a tuner to the desk and it can sound quite dull and flat. My VTDI ‘magic box’ certainly adds something special in the mix. It’s a pedal you have to take your time with, as there’s some settings I tried which I really disliked (it can get very clanky / grindy / aggressive for example), or sometimes I liked a setting at home practice but then it didn’t work on a Sunday. It has a blend too so you control how much of the cab sim & your dry bass signal you want. Some people put it up to the max, but I prefer it around 50/50. It’s nice to be able to add a touch of drive on it too. Learning how the drive / character / blend knobs interact is a task in itself. You can do EQ adjustments on it too. It does a lot of great stuff and perhaps it’s only downfall is not being able to use it as a headphone amp too, as quite a few DI boxes / cab sims offer this now. At home I practice through a small Ampeg practice amp but generally with IEMs plugged into it. The amp is loud even just on volume level 1-2. I dread to think what would happen if I turned it up to 11! I’m playing around with a couple of overdrives (Darkglass Vintage Microtubes & EHX Bass Soul Food) but it’s more just for fun at home. Other than a bit of drive / extra grit here and there, I’m not one for effects. I’ve had a couple of chorus pedals, but done nothing more than play along to some Cure songs with them, get bored and then sell them. Same with a flanger. Never bothered with stuff like octavers & envelope filters (what the heck even is one of those?!) I just want to get a nice tone and to sound good in the earphones and hopefully in the room & online mix too. We ditched amps / powered speakers a few years ago and use IEMs (Shure SE215) through Allen & Heath personal mixers. We have a sub speaker too. It took a while to get used to in ears, but I can’t imagine not having them now, the ability to turn instruments & vocals up and down as you choose is pretty clever. One last thing is that I’m maybe one of the last few old school worship team musicians left still holding a torch for printed music. Everyone seems to use iPads now. I prefer paper. Never owned an iPad and can’t say I ever want to! Will enjoy seeing what you all use . . .
  21. dmc79
    Love it! This reminds of a time in my first church back home when I was in the congregation and sat next to a guy with learning difficulties who had took a shine to me. He had trouble pronouncing some words, and as we were about to stand up and worship, he turned to me and enthusiastically said “We’re gonna do some sinning now!”. Seconds later as we rose to our feet, he excitedly declared “I love sinning!” I didn’t know what to do with myself. He said it loudly enough that a couple of others nearby also heard it. I just looked at him and smiled and said “Me too!”
  22. dmc79
    Brilliant. Comedic worship lyrics could be a thread within a thread here. One of my favourites was in the old days of acetates & OHPs, when on one song the word ‘desert’ was wrongly spelled as ‘dessert’. But my all time favourite is in Everlasting God, the line “You’re the defender of the weak”, which sounds more like something you’d hear on Match Of The Day
  23. dmc79
    Sounds good. What’s the weight of the JMJ ?
  24. dmc79
    Thanks for the input. When I saw the price, condition & bridge upgrade, I didn’t hesitate. Otherwise I’d have asked about the weight. Its my first SS, so I guess it’s for trying that aspect out more than anything else. The JMJ Mustang seems popular. I’m not crazy about roadworn stuff and I’ve heard the neck is quite chunky. If they had a slimmer neck and a standard gloss finish I bet I’d love to try one. Actually I don’t mind the matt black, just not sure about the fake wear. If I find I like SS, I wouldn’t rule out trying a Mustang, especially if I was to go all in and sell my only long scale bass
  25. dmc79
    Following up on my short scale curiosity from a couple of months ago, I couldn't hold off any longer. Well, actually I've not been looking actively every day, but happened to do an eBay search on Sat and there was a Squier VM Jaguar SS in silver. It looks to be in excellent condition and has an upgraded Babicz black bridge. A quick search reveals the bridge alone sells for around 120, so I think 240 was a fair asking price. I am really excited about trying this out. There is a big fan club for these on Talkbass, and I read 100 pages of the current one since buying this! Interesting findings going through that topic. It seems that the weight of these massively varies, as does the neck dive, with some players saying it didn't dive at all, and some saying it was nothing that lightweight tuners didn't sort out. Nobody seemed to get bad neck dive with them. Perhaps I should have asked the seller about the weight, but at that price I'm not losing any sleep over it. Other common thoughts are that the P pickup is generally decent, but the J (bridge) one is a bit weak, with some leaving it as stock, some just replacing the J one, and others replacing the whole lot. All manner of opinions on strings, I've only ever used rounds so will stick to those. Most said that going to a heavier gauge than stock (40-95) improved the string tension and took any floppiness out of especially the E string. There's also something called a 'magnet mod' on there which is said to improve the J output. Anyone a fan of the VM Jaguars? They don't seem to get much love in this topic. I'd be interested in gig bag (and maybe hard case) options for these that I can get easily in the UK. I've seen that PMT to a 'Tourtech' gig bag for 30 quid. I've ordered some black pickguard screws as this seems a popular and cheap mod, and a set of short scale D'Addario XL Nickel Wounds in Medium (50-105) to start off with. I will see how it goes, for pickup sets (if needed), the EMG Geezer PJ & DiMarzio DP126 blacks look popular, as do Hipshot Ultralite black tuners. Cool that it already has an upgraded bridge. By all accounts it sounds like a really fun and playable bass, with nice mod options. It's killing a few birds with one stone too - I've always fancied trying a Jagaur, recently wanted to try a shorty, haven't played a thinner Jazz style neck for a few years, and hopefully it will be lighter than a P bass. I can't say I've ever particularly wanted to try a P/J combination, but I get the chance to do that now too. I wasn't sure about the silver / black colour at first, but I believe it''s better in person than on pics, and the industrial look will be a change, as I've never had a bass this colour before. I'm trying not to get too excited in case SS doesn't work for me, but I can't help it! The thought of a shorter, lighter bass does appeal to me. Fun times!
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