Paul S

Of the basses I have experience of I would add a couple more in the mix - Westone Thunder basses are incredibly good value for money. SGC Nanyo Bass Collection are arguably better value for money. I recently bought a late 80s Yamaha RBX800A from a fellow Basschatter for £150 and it is superb. All three are IMO better made instruments than a Squier.

Thank you! trial and error it is.

I am just putting together a mini-pedal board, having drifted away from my multi-effect Zoom thingy. I now have: Boss LS-2, mainly so I can use the effects mixed with the clean sound, so everything will go through one loop. EBS Unichorus Dunlop 105Q Wah EHX Big Muff I will add, when I get one, a Korg Pitchblack tuner (anyone got one they want to sell?) Possibly a daft question but do these need to be attached in any particular order in the loop? Ta!

Mine looked similar to that once I started sanding it, not afterwards. If only I had known - I could have made a killing by putting it on eBay. I'm guessing the expert refinisher lent the body against something before the lacquer had hardened?

Size of hands is neither here nor there - someone recently posted a picture of one of the smaller female bassists sporting a 6 stringer. It is what feels comfortable to the individual. Comfort is my #1 priority, tone can be changed.

Trying one in the shop is surely better than buying one blind? I love everything about P-Basses but can't get on 'regular' P-Basses (see below for the ones I do have) I have tried because a/ they are too heavy and b/ I prefer skinny necks. Unless you try them you can't possibly know.

Washburn Force 4 on eBay [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/170718966628?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#ht_500wt_949"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/170718966628?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#ht_500wt_949[/url] How I wish I were in the market for this beauty - it is at times like this I wish my back was in fine fettle, not when I see vintage P-Basses

Brilliant. I have been doing, variously, all the wrong ones! Simple when you have it explained - thanks!

Could someone please explain the right way to coil leads? I try to pack them away nicely but when I unravel them the knot gremlin has always visited.

if you can do this you are a better man than I am I need some sort of clue as to where my hands are.

My last couple of forays have been into the middle territory - turd polishing, I think it is called Except not all have been turds. I customised a Westone Thunder Jet, bought for £77 on eBay, with a pup upgrade, high mass bridge and a J. East P-retro. The body and neck were of good enough quality to justify this and I have have a unique and fun lightweight bass that sounds the business. When it comes to move it on I can revert it back to stock and sell the extra bits without losing too much. My second turd was a Fender Precision Lyte, bought unseen for £300. When it arrived it was a dog - really badly refinished and the electrics didn't work properly. I couldn't live with it as it was but would have taken a massive hit trying to resell it. Instead of cutting my losses I decided to treat it as a teaching aid and completely renovated it - refinished the body from orange peel red to a decent gloss black, took the headstock back to natural from red. Shielded all the cavities and it now sports a custom 3 band eq from J-East bought second hand from sliddx. I have learnt an immense amount from doing this, have bonded immeasurably with the instrument and thoroughly enjoyed the process, too. I'll never get my cash back on this but it is now pretty much my perfect bass. I think as long as the start instrument is of decent enough quality this is worth exploring.

For my black Bass Collection (and now other basses) I got some of these [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Glow-dark-Vinyl-light-switch-stickers-x-9-/280462619707?pt=UK_Crafts_StickersScraps_Decoupage_SM&hash=item414cdff43b#ht_1362wt_991"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Glow-dark-Vinyl-light-switch-stickers-x-9-/280462619707?pt=UK_Crafts_StickersScraps_Decoupage_SM&hash=item414cdff43b#ht_1362wt_991[/url] and made dots using a hole punch. I have now put some clear nail varnish over them as they did tend to move a bit after a while but they work a treat - especially if you can be bothered to charge them up with a little torch or whatever.

Bought two pedals from Shaun - good comms, friendly guy, well packaged immediately dispatched - he even sent me some free patch leads to hook them up with! So yet another thumbs up for Shaun - cheers!

For me it wasn't an cumulative thing but a single life-style changing event. After spending most of my adult life being fit and pushing heavy weights at the gym it came as a shock - one minute my back was fine, the next I injured it, went into spasm and, although much improved, haven't been the same since. I am sure a lot of people can tell similar stories. My initial thoughts were that anything I was able to do bass gear-wise would end up being a compromise - I never thought that lightweight basses, amps and cabs could deliver the kind of sounds I was used to but the reality is far from that and I am slowly edging my kit towards Nirvana.

All points taken on board, thanks for the input chaps.

Thanks for that - it is exactly what I was wondering might be possible. I just need to make some decisions - I am going to do away with my multi-effect pedal which I use mainly for distortion and the tuner. I could keep the Classic 450 and use stomp boxes for these or change to an RH450 with a footswitch and have it all in one box. ta.

That is what I have been doing and it isn't quite enough. I recently started trying with added overdrive from a stomp box. And it is ok - I am just exploring other possibilities.

I was thinking maybe the tubetone would do this - have it dialled in to, say, 2 for the quieter passages then much higher for the loud bits. There are a number of tracks that would be useful for if it would work - combined with a footswitch.

That's useful - thanks for the replies. So you could set it up with two presets for a song that has passages of quiet, with little overdrive, and loud with lots of overdrive (like, say, Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Green Day)?

I have the classic 450 and I love the sound of it. But I was wondering about the presets on the RH450. What can you alter and save - just the EQ settings or other stuff like the tubetone, gain, overall volume and compression? Ta!

For a couple of 'off the peg' skinny necked Fender Ps that I am currently enjoying: Fender Precision Lyte has a P-Bass body and a very slim Jazz neck. Or, more accurately, a Stratocaster-type body as it is nearer that than a P. Fender Power Jazz Bass Special - Precision body with skinny jazz neck. Mine is mid 80s with SD quarterpounders and is the best bass I have ever played or owned - every time I have gigged with it someone from the crowd has commented on it afterwards. The Fender Jazz Bass Special is the passive version. These do have the single split coil pup but an additional J type pup at the bridge - and so are going into slightly different territory in terms of their sound capabilities. Also rear control cavities with no scratch plate gives them a different look, too.