jonnybass

Just looking in the market place on this site there are a number of high quality basses from great builders at the £2k point. To command a £2k second hand price this builder must have a good reputation so I'd say get them to build what they are famous for and people usually buy from them, to me that would be the route to a quick sale. Jonny

What is the ballpark ££ for your preferred builders? Do you want a quick sale or are you looking to maximise return? Both will have different answers. If its maximise return then it should be the model closest to the one the builder is good at. I wouldnt buy a 34 inch passive four string wooden necked tobias or status. Like wise I wouldnt buy a 6 string 24 fret 4 band active eq graphite necked modern vintage bass. So what type of bass the does builder usually build, and will selling one second hand get you enough ££ to buy your dream bass?? Nothing else really matters as much to be honest. Jonny

It will depend on the maker as well....I'd say a 36 inch scale fodera six string will be worth more than a Harley Benton p bass. By the same token, a NYC sadowsky 4 string 34 inch scale will be worth more than a Cort A5. If you are just looking for a quick sale 34inch scale 4 string would be the most probable to sell quickly. Jonny

I have Nordstrand hum cancelling jazz pickups (NJ4SE) in a jazz bass and a Lindy Fralin humcancelling jazz bridge pickup in a PJ bass. Both are great sounding pickups IMO. Jonny

Personally I'd say if its a £700 bass cab £5 is cheap. if its pickups then they are smaller but easier to pocket by someone a bit naughty so £5 for guaranteed arrival feels ok to me too. But its your money and your choice if you arent happy about it, can you shop for these products elsewhere and get free delivery. I do hate the 24 hr g'teed delivery that takes 48 hrs, but in my experience that wasnt Bass Direct that was the delivery company. jonny

Different things altogether for me. I think an onboard preamp means you can go to a gig with a bass a lead and a stand. Add in an outboard preamp especially a quad cortex or a Helix or even an HX stomp and you need another bag, possibly an extension cable. I use an HX stomp xl, but i cant see how I could boost the bass halfway through a song during a live gig as easily as I can using my onboard pre amp. Fine if the boost is preprogrammed but not if its just because of the venue/sound/my mood. Jonny

The accountants and lawyers I know own 0 fender custom shop basses and guitars, However 100% of the owners of Fender Custom Shop guitars and basses that I know (including me) are musicians. Maybe perception doesn't match reality here? Jonny

I'd agree, I had to think long and hard and I came to the conclusion that after a set up and with the right strings I hadnt had a four string that played as well for me as the jazz bass. So the mods were done. If it was just an ok bass to play I would have sold it as was and kept looking. Jonny

To me the Custom shop is about getting a bass you want, not just vintage reproductions. I got a Fender Custom shop Custom classic Jazz bass second hand. Played beautifully, looks amazing, doesnt weigh too much. Was equipped with Fender N3 noiseless pickups and a fender 3 band pre amp. After 18-24 months of playing it I could not get a sound out of it I really liked. To me it sounded ok, but not amazing. I didnt sell it as it played so well. Fitted Nordstrand pickups and a custom East pre-amp and its became an incredible sounding bass (IMO) gigged and recorded it sounds exactly how I want it to. D-tuner now fitted, luminlay side dots fitted and its now a bass I'll keep til I cant play bass anymore. Versatile, comfortable sounds and looks great, again in my opinion. Perfect jazz bass for me. It took a big leap to mod the bass though...but so glad I have done it now. Jonny

Thre snothing like playing with other people especially jazz, nice one dude. jonny

I think the craftsmanship looks fantastic and from the electronics being offered I think they will sound amazing too. Love when bass builders design new shapes. However, I dont like the shape of the four string. Love the double cut SM2 basses in five and six string format. If i was looking for a very well built modern five I'd look at a Jones SM2, not sure how they play though. Any owners out there? Jonny

Bass collection SB315 in pearlescent white, with black hardware. Great bass to play but pickups and electronics were a bit meh, in was 1995 so had no idea about being able to change electronics so traded it for a mexican jazz, which was traded for a Fender precision lyte, which was traded for a yamaha BB1500a, which was sold to fund a Stingray V, which was sold to buy....etc etc Still have an occasional thought of buying one and getting new electronics in it. jonny

I used to use a Zoom b6. This was to switch between various 'styles' of sounds Vintage, modern, dubby that sort of thing. really easy to use, has dual inputs (if thats important) balanced DI out and a great tuner, used you'd be looking at around £200=£250. I moved it on to get a HX stomp XL but thats as i was no longer playing live with the band where i needed these styles of sounds and i was wanting to do more experimental effects. Jonny

@BigRedX uninstall re-install worked Hx stomp xl now working. Thanks for the advice. jonny

Thanks Big Red X 1.I'm trying this I need to restart my desktop which i can do later today. Hopefully it will work. Annoying that my macbook just wont allow me to run the Line 6 updater. 2.ready to try this once step 1 is complete. 3.Yeah lesson learned there. Sleep mode will be well and truly off. I did, although to be honest i use 4 patches at the moment. I was about to start working building a whole load. Jonny

Hi I decided to update my HX Stomp XL today and midst update my macbook went into sleep mode. This generated an error message and now the stomp is stuck on the load screen. Any ideas how to fix this? My Macbook (2020 M1 chip) wont install Line 6 updater and my desktop (2013 running Catalina) wont install the Line 6 HX stomp XL drivers. Do i now just have a very expensive door stop? Can i carry out a factory reset without a computer? Jonny

These things happen sometimes. I quit a band I had slogged away with for four years. I was scunnered, ready to jack it all in and enjoy my evenings weekends and make plans without thinking "do i have a gig'. Quit the band in July, joined an originals band in August, bought a double bass in October, now looking at recording an EP with the originals band and gigging/recoding on the double bass with a singer songwriter. Feels far more relaxed and enjoyable again. Dont rule out playing again, and dont sell your gear too soon, unless you'd sell me a lovely ACG bass for the £1.43 i have in my savings after buying the double bass Jonny

That is a fair point, strings are expensive without trade tariffs etc kicking in. Are there many significant DB string manufacturers in USA?? I'm very new to DB playing (started in October) and rather than following the trend, I have an idea what i want to sound like, which seems to be very similar to the tone he's talking about. Jonny

Thanks for sharing I that sound interests me. Agree doesnt seem fashionable but I dont have a problem with that. Jonny

Hiya Doug, Nice to see another local I'm from East Lothian, hope you enjoy it but be careful before you know it you'll own a different bass and amp for each day of the week Jonny

Spot what?

Personally, i'd say play them (if you can) and get the one that feels/sounds best to you. I dont think where they were made matters half as much as how well they play. That being said, I've not played a MIJ fender or Squier that I didnt like the feel of. I have also got on well with around half of the MIM fenders I've played though. Black does look cooler IMO though... Jonny

Thats a lovely looking bass @SimBass congratulations!! jonny

I have a fender custom shop custom classic jazz bass. Love the playability of it but the pre amp and pick ups were the same as in the Jazz bass (ultra/elite/whatever) from 2012 and i found them a bit lacking. Fender N3 pickups i believe. Now the bass has an East preamp and Nordstrands and it sounds like a proper super jazz. Jonny

Totally agree with Mr Burns. Its about getting a good instrument, regardless of price and spending time with that instrument. Any instrument you buy can be tweaked or modded, no matter the price. Basses, strings, amps, effects, cables can be as expensive or as cheap as you like, the only thing that matters is does the sound fit the band/song you are working with and is it reliable. Jonny