Paul S

I can collect and package it for a courier if you want a punt on it. I am only 25mins down the road - I don't have any boxes at the moment I am sure I can scrounge one form somewhere.

I believe thats the one I now have - great bit of kit, fitted into my Precision Lyte.

[quote name='Rick's Fine '52' timestamp='1365509659' post='2040434'] or a 1st series JV, if you can find an example for sale of either...they do show up. They are the best built, most vintage correct you'll find for that money, and are pretty close to the real deal. Assuming you want the vintage feel of course. They also hold their value very well, and will probably continue to increase if its a nice one. [/quote] There was a JV on Gumtree this week that almost doubled in value in the space of just a few days.

I did it with a Westone Thunder 1A once. Worked a treat.

Well, if nothing else it removes the finger of suspicion from any Basschatters.

I used to run a small plant nursery at one point and reluctantly sold plants by mail order. One time I took a parcel to a different post office to my usual and handed the box over. I had, as usual, covered the outside of the box in the words, 'LIVE PLANTS PLEASE HANDLE CAREFULLY' in red capitals. The guy behind the counter took it, weighed it, then threw it in the corner. I said 'Can you be careful I have live plants in there'. He said 'And how am I supposed to know that?' Not sure how many people in the queue behind me went back again after my reply.

It does leave a bit of a nasty taste, doesn't it. Almost certainly it was someone who read this post.

I was 46 when I bought my first bass and, after a few stutters, 50 when I had my first gig - don't be negative! The Trace Elliot combo will suit *all* your needs - home practice, jamming, rehearsals, gigs - unless you have a bad back.

I have the maple MM Jazz neck fitted onto my P.Bass and it is gorgeous - nice snug fit, feels really nice to play - as nice as a nice Fender neck. Be aware that the vintage tint arrives looking like turmeric - it is VERY yellow and, to these old eyes, looks nothing like a warm pale caramel aged tint.

The thing I like about these designs is the symmetry of the double cut away. I had a Washburn Scavenger bass that I really loved but weighed as much as a small planet. This Les Paul Junior/EB0 shape is slightly less pointy but, for my taste, just about perfect. Better proportions, too - the Scavenger was a bit 'fat-arsed'.

Yes, I was thinking maybe a MM humbucker type in the 'sweet spot' (whatever that is). Get John East to make me up 3 band eq. I like the sound of my SBMM Sb-14 which has this arrangement. I would prefer a headstock, I think. Shortscale with the bridge as far back as it will go, a small headstock al la SGC Nanyo Bass Collection. Very slim shallow neck, so we'd save some weight there. Lightweight tuners. Not that I am seriously considering it but, well, you know.

I recently 'auditioned' for an 80s band that has male/female singers (neither of whom, it transpired, were good enough despite getting raved about by the band organiser). A lot of suggestions made here were on their to do list but also some Tina Turner, Patti Smith 'Becasue The Night', a lot of Pat Benetar. Chicago seemed to come up a lot, too. Blondie. Other than that Susan Tedeschi - Rock Me Right - jogs long nicely. A particualr favouorite of mine, which has nothing at all to do with the way she wiggles about, is Cadillac Blues by Karen Lawrence. I know you don't do vids but it is worth posting for the guys... to hear her gravelly husky voice. [url="http://youtu.be/sqx-1ME6rxo"]http://youtu.be/sqx-1ME6rxo[/url]

Shows it is a minefield - I had the long term loan of a '98, with option to buy for very little money, and it really didn't do anything for me at all. My early 90s Squier Silver Series blows it out of the water.

Deep Purple. If we are being *really* picky, I'd have to specify MkII because Ian Gillan's voice still had full power and range back then.

That is a bargain! Be nice if someone on here snapped it up so we got a full walk around it afterwards.

Cheers chaps, I appreciate the input. Much as I suspected on all fronts, really. I think, if I were to ever consider having a custom made bass, it would look quite a lot like this. But somehow contrive it to be lightweight, short scale with no neck dive. I guess a smaller headstock would help. Ta

I was having a look at some pics of the early style Gibson EB0 basses, shaped like the Les Paul Junior - like this one (pic from the net somewhere) and wondered if anyone knew anything much about them. Short scale, single pup. fairly straighforward beasts, I would imagine. I prefer this shape to the SG shape. Do originals change hands for outrageous sums? are they heavy? fat at the nut? Probably yes to both. Does anyone make a copy? There are a lot of things that resemble this - Ibanez Gio springs to mind - but are any of the copies any good? Gene Simmons has one that he has fiddled with and I have to say I find it rather appealing.

[quote name='garry71' timestamp='1365102778' post='2035465'] Yes I've had it on for a couple of weeks now. It has 4 fixing holes, not 5 like on the original but managed to fit it ok with some new holes. It's very well built, chunky and fairly heavy. Can't really compare the sound differences at the moment as I've only just started playing bass again and hadn't played it much with the old bridge on. I'll swap them over again soon and then see how they compare for sound. It does look loads better than the old bridge, and it doesn't have the allen screws sticking up, so no edges to catch your skin on. The saddles have locking bolts, so intonation and action stay where you set them at. For 14 quid posted can't complain really. Sorry for the late reply, forgot I'd posted on this thread! Cheers [/quote] Thanks for that. Interesting.

I tried various pups in my MIJ P-Bass - original stocks weren't bad, as it happens, but I tried Seymour Duncan SPB-1, SPB-2, SPB-3, Wizard Thumper and Wizard Trad. Wizard Trad gave me the sound I had in my head. I had one of Ki0gon's wiring looms which, with the screw terminals, made the whole trials process quite easy - now got a P-Retro, which is amazing. Strangely, perhaps, the most vintage, old school, woody toned P-Bass sounding pups I've had actually came on a Squier Silver Series P. Bass I bought recently. The tone is quite special and it is one of the few basses I have owned that I am fairly happy to keep it as it came out of the case.

If portability is the ultimate goal maybe consider a Barefaced Midget with the head of your choice? I routinely rehearse and have gigged with just this cab (and either a TC Electronics Classic 450 or GenzBenz Streamliner 600) in a classic heavy rock band with loud drummer and never found it wanting. It is voiced slightly differently to the BF Compact but in terms of space occupied and weight think it is probably unbeatable.

I have recently bought a Fender Musicmaster and would say the output is a bit weak but tonally quite nice. I have also recently borrowed a Behringer BDI 21 pedal and am fairly blown away by how much this has beefed up the sound of this, and other, basses. But particularly this one - seems a very good match for some reason.

A Westone Thunder Jet has just finished on eBay at £68.51 including a decent hard case! These are lightweight models, around 8lbs, with an extra fret and all black hardware. Someone got themselves a bargain. Upgrade the pup and you've got a really good bass.

Queen famously supported Mott The Hoople and wiped the floor with them, so I guess you do have to be careful.

Can you not jerry-rig the East preamp somehow and get it playable? Should be 'relatively' simple to cut the wires, use screw terminals to get them attached to the preamp. If you used longer wires you could even have all the bits sitting on a desk or what-have-you then just plug into that while you test the sounds. Worst case scenario is you have to reconnect the wires to the controls again but at least you wouldn't have done anything intrusive or damaging. Edit - I have East Preamps fitted to 4 basses, all different. It makes a HUGE difference to each of them in the way the range of tones has been opened up but they still retain a recognisable individuality.