Paul S

At ten (plus an acoustic, an EUB and a Telecaster guitar - but they don't really count, do they ) I have too many instruments, far more than I need, but I don't care. None is especially valuable. Six of those ten are Precision bass flavoured one way or another. I like Precision basses Best and favourite is my Squier JV Precision. Simply the nicest Precision bass I have handled - gorgeous and everything I want from a bass. Next up would be the Antoria P bass with a '75 Fender pickup - not quite as nice as the JV but the neck is a whisker more comfy. If I sat myself down and had a serious talk with myself I probably wouldn't need any of the others at all - just these two. New kid on the block, I bought one of those new 50s style short scale Precisions from Retrovibe with the scaled down slab body and telecaster headstock, that has gone straight up the chart to number 3. I thought my GAS was a thing of the past but David went and posted pictures of it on the forum and I was helpless 😍. It has a really great tone - with just the gentlest of pushes it has a gnarly, gritty, saturated sound that is a great fit with my blues rock band - and is light as a feather. Slim neck. The other three Ps - Peavey Fury, Hondo/Encore 32" scale hybrid bitsa, Harley Benton PB Shorty. All have their place, all get used. 2 are Gibson flavoured. I love the idea of short scale Gibsons. I have one of those fab Les Paul Jnr DC re-issues that really is a lovely thing. I also have an Antoria EB-3 short scale with Artec Pickups that is different but also fab. But sadly their one and only crime is that they aren't Precisions and so mostly sit it out on the bench. The Gibson, in particular, is in imminent danger of being moved on. Then one 5 string (Peavey Foundation 5) and a modded Hondo Alien for those confined space, back-up moments. [/ramble]

Another happy previous Jake customer - I had a passive 5er configured to my liking and it was marvellous. Sold now, of course.

What is the back story here - such an intriguing picture!

Near enough! Cool.

Where was this, please?

Be great to see you!

Our last gig of the year unless something drastic happens. Come say Hi.

I like it....

Good to see you back, Blue. Take it gently. These are, as ever from you, thought provokinig questions, many of which I have been giving consideration to recently. I am now 64 and aside from a dodgy back I'd say I was pretty fit. A shadow on the horizon - I have a progressive neurological condition called 'Essential Tremor' that makes my hands shake and which will prevent me playing eventually (but not yet!) Over the past couple of years I have trimmed down from being in 3 bands to just the one, and we aren't desperately busy. I sometimes think of doing a bit more but the trouble is these 3 bands were with players of a high standard and it has given me high expectations. I recently tried out for a classic rock band but they fell short of the mark and the time and effort spent learning the material could have been better employed elsewhere, really. So after much soul searching the conclusion I have reached is to completely focus on what I have and make the very best of it. I'm in a blues rock trio with 2 guys that I really like. There is a difference is age - the drummer is 40, the guitarist 50 - yet we gel and are very comfortable with each other. I am playing music that I love - music that was the soundtrack to growing up - with a smoking hot guitar player who really does justice to the genre. We all have a passion for what we do and playing is just a joy. We've had some great opportunities and, hopefully, will pick up some momentum again during 2022 after Covid stalled us. My last hurrah that I wil follow wherever it leads me Meanwhile we have our final gig of the year tonight at the Swan and Hedgehog in Ipswich, should anyone be free and fancies a night of guitar solos

I've owned two Silver Series basses and both were really good. I had a Silver Series Jazz and it was a lovely thing. The slightly wider neck was really comfy. Sold it on here to a chap and it became his main gigging bass. Possibly still is, haven't seen him around for a while. @allighatt0r - do you still have this, Bryan? I also had a Silver Series Precision which is one of those 'one that got away' basses that I should never have sold. Beautiful woody tone and weighed around 8lbs.

A Peavey Fury is a Precision bass with a slim neck. Fab things they are too and are unaccountably cheap to buy secondhand, too. Stock pickups are the angry side of vintage.

Do they do it in short scale? Asking for a friend.

yes, me too. I thought perhaps Mrs S had put some kind of filter into the classifieds so that I only got to see them once an offer had been put in.

PMT Southend ws where I tried out the RCF Evox 8 although I ended up saving quite a bit getting B stock from Thomann. But if they have RCF there I do strongly recommend that you try it.

Passive Precisions, vol 100%. Tone around 80% but a little either way to find the 'sweet spot'. Thereafter if the song particularly requires it a bit more or a bit less but rarely 0% or 100%.

I also follow Lozz's path - precision bass, black body, black scratchplate, maple neck. I find maple necks to be brighter. I was able to do a fairly direct comparison when I swapped the rosewood boarded neck on a bass for an all maple one - the difference seemed significant, even to my knackered old ears.

I had a similar situation a few years ago in a band doing rock covers. We wanted to play Foo Fighters' 'All My Life' but the guitarist couldn't get the rhythm. He would start the first of the 3 notes on the first beat, rather than the second note. Yet he happily transcribed and played the keys solo in Highway Star, nailed the solo in Mr Crowley and assorted other complicated stuff.

It's never been acceptable. Disgusting behaviour is digusting behaviour in any decade.

My approach is fairly straight forward these days after many years of shenanigans. Bass > tuner > TC Spectradrive > pa (or powered pa speaker if with another band) That gives me a bit of EQ shaping, bit of compression, bit of drive then take that sound with me wherever I go. Other than that I have the tone control and right hand position, pick/no pick.

In the 'good old days' before I knackered my back I used to have an assortment of TE gear - various heads that I put through 1x18, 1x15 or 2x10 TE cabs in varying combinations depending upon my mood. My favourite head was the GP12-SMX 250. Something about the tone that I particualrly liked. But, to my ears, the best sound I ever got from my GP12-SMX head was when I played it through a Barefaced Compact and Midget. Then, subsequently, a pair of Supercompacts. Seemed to me to be the best of both worlds.

True, hadn't thought to mention it but - yes - that has made a difference to the bass above. The neck was moved back in the body a bit more so effectively closer to the pickup. The pickup itself is one of those hot Entwistle PBXN so it gives an interesting nuance to the usual P bass sound.

I would imagine in terms of the mathematics of setting the right scale length it wouldn't matter one jot. As long as there is room to move the bridge if your choice was a short scale. There is a theoretical issue of neck dive if you put a medium scale neck onto a short scale body but it wouldn't necessarily happen. For example I have a medium scale neck from a Hondo II H1015 (great neck!) grafted into the very small a lightweight double cutaway Encore bass to make the rather gorgeous bass below It does dive but only a fraction to just above horizontal and I'd say the Hondo neck is particuarly heavy and the Encore body particualrly light. Although for complete disclosure the neck pocket in this case was routed out a bit more so that the neck was set slightly further back and the bridge set quite a way back. So beyond that, it would just come down to aesthetics - what appeals to you and what doesn't.