Baloney Balderdash

Not at all. To me it would be very much like asking if drawing a mustache with a marker on some famous rock star pictured on a fan poster would be a sacrilege. Most signature basses are massed produced products, not exactly works of art, or even just fine craftmanship, if you can make it one though I'd consider it an improvement, actually giving it a soul. Same goes for by far most vintage basses really, though I guess in special certain cases with really rare basses, unique prototypes as an example, that has a historical significance it could be seen as defiling a historical artifact. With boutique basses I guess we are approaching sort of a grey zone for what is acceptable, the luthier definitely does deserve a great deal of credit and respect for his extraordinary crafmanship, still it wouldn't exactly be truly unique, but just a copy of a model he, or, even more likely, his boss invented, and in the end it is still your bass, and I wouldn't consider it an actual piece of true art, just a testament to someone who did a great job. We are getting very close to sacrilegious proportions modding artfully handmade custom basses though, those should be considered actual works of true art in my opinion and not just fine craftmanship, and it would be showing the creator serious disrespect to mod it, if not even being a quite literal personal attack on them, after all he or she channeled some of their own soul into their creation, and as such has a spiritual link to it, unless of course the creator explicitly has expressed that they are fine with you modding it. Where I set the definite indisputable limit would be modifying a bass which belonged to an acclaimed artist before it got into your possession, at very least if it have had an actual significance to music history, that would be defiling a historical artifact, as well as showing disrespect to it's former owner, again they might actually have channeled some of their very own soul into this instrument.

So I recently returned to focusing on playing bass after a period on concentrating on the first instrument I ever learned how to play on, electric guitar, even if bass has been my main instrument of choice for several years, and I overall have spend much more time on playing bass than guitar. For some stupid reason I sold my amazing Trace Elliot GP7SM, 130 W 15" bass combo, some time ago, which I otherwise absolutely loved the tone of, after having quit a band that got nowhere, and eventually ended up buying an old Peavey XR-600B Mixer Amp, 200W @ 4 Ohm solid state amp with 6 preamp/mixer channels, cheap, which I planed to use for both bass and guitar, but as it unfortunately quickly developed some issues with the pots (afraid a proper cleaning will not be enough, and that a couple of pots needs replacement, though likely a relatively inexpensive and easy fix and definitely worth it too), but anyway, as I began concentrating more on playing guitar I got myself an amazing old Peavey Solo Special 112, 160 W solid state guitar combo amp, with the original stock 12" Scorpion speaker unit installed. The reason why I tell this is that since I returned to focus more on playing bass again, and as there were issues with the Peavey Mixer Amp, today I decided to hook the speaker output wires of my Peavey Solo Special Guitar amp up to a jack socket (and attached some wires to it's build in 12" speaker with a jack plug at the end, so I can always connect it back), and hooked it up to my SWR Triad I bass cab (which happens to match the impedance of my guitar amp's speaker output), that I also bought used a while back, originally intended to be used with my Peavey Mixer Amp as my bass rig. And guess what? The Peavey Solo Special guitar amp sounds truly amazing hooked up to a bass cab and used as a bass amp as well. Damn, it's good, so good I don't even really miss my beloved Trace Elliot combo, that I was stupid enough to sell. So here's my bass amp setup, my Peavey Solo Special 112, 160W solid state guitar combo amp, with it's build in 12" speaker unit disconnected, and instead hooked up to my SWR Triad I, 400W 4 Ohm bass cab, featuring a 15" speaker unit that receives the amp speaker output signal's full frequency range, a 10" unit that only receives the frequency content between 100Hz and up to 5kHz, and finally a high frequency tweeter, which then receives any frequency content that is above 5kHz, the output of the latter being adjustable with a tweakable attenuator build into the cab. In front of it is my 28,6" scale 5 string Ibanez GSRM25 Mikro Bass, with a poplar body and a bolt on maple neck with a jatoba fretboard, which has it's 2 stock J pickups wired in series, and is strung with the 5 lowest strings of an Ernie Ball Bass VI string set, gauge .090 to .030, tuned 2 half steps above regular 4 string bass, E standard, tuning, which means F# standard tuning, as in F#1 to D3, meant to be used for my solo, sort of progressive psychedelic stoner rock, project, which fundamental, primary, instrumentation is going to just consist of of bass, programmed and physically recorded drums and various percussion, as well as vocals, with the bass running though my TC Electronic Sub'N'Up Mini octaver, pitching the signal from my bass 1 octave up, which then is mixed with the unaffected bass signal, sort of giving the effect of a 10 string "octave" bass, with pairs of respectively bass and octave strings (and I actually managed to get a really good, and relatively natural sounding, octave up tone, only by using the standard stock polyphonic octaver and the EQ options the TonePrint editor offers for the input signal fed to the octave engine, as well as for the octave up output signal, with no obvious digital artifacts) (also by the way this 5 string Mikro came from factory with perfectly completely leveled fretwork, which means I could get the string action ridiculously low if I wanted to without any fret buzz whatsoever, an extreme rarity, for not only cheap budget instruments as this is, but for mass produced instruments at any price class really). The big pedal on the top of the amp is my always on, last in my pedal effects chain, pedal, right before the amp, an EHX Black Finger, which is a tube driven optical compressor, which 2 preamp tubes run at proper high 300V voltage, and, which adjusted right, just improves the tone of everything you run through it amazingly great : (Only downside, this rig is heavier than a full tube amp rig) The reason why my pedal board has not been included is because that, while I got the main tone shaping and the octave up, "10 string "octave" bass" effect, down as good as perfect, I still need to perfect my modulation effects and high gain distortion part of my pedal setup *( Edit! : In the meantime this has partially been solved, check the update below for more information on the subject ). I do also own both a 4 string Ibanez GSRM20 Mikro Bass and a regular 34" scale Aria Pro II Laser Electric Classic that is tuned in regular E standard tuning, but the above is what has got my main focus right at the moment. Update!!! : Here's a link to another post of mine from another thread that contains a picture of my current pedal setup, including a complete signal chain description, as well as revealing what my future plans for updating it are, since my setup has changed some since this post, among other things I've gone back to mainly using my 4 string GSRM20 Mikro Bass :

Well, then here's 2 from one of my favorite bands, if not number one single most favorite band:

Here is the Ibanez GSRM25 5 string Mikro that I mentioned in the "Show off you short scales" thread, where I posted a picture of and talked about my main 4 string Ibanez Mikro Bass: It got a poplar body and a maple neck with a jatoba fretboard, and I also did some visual mods on it, among other added a silver lotus flower decal with an OM sign in the middle and painted the pickup covers grey, the 2 stock J pickups I wired in series directly to the output jack socket, bypassing the pots, which means that the knobs and the switch are just there for the sake of being decorative. To be honest, in my opinion, as the pickups were wired from stock they sounded like crap, no matter how I adjusted them, they sounded like a caricature of the famous Jazz Bass burp, a really over emphasized burp there was no way of getting rid of, on top of them just sounding somewhat underwhelming and anemic, except, as I found out by wiring the pickups in series, which not only got rid of the ludicrous bad sounding burping sound entirely, but actually also made them capable of a genuine great full sounding tone overall. Otherwise this bass was perfect from factory, and I mean absolutely perfect, just to mention one example I would be able to get ridiculously low action if I wanted to without any fret buzz whatsoever, the frets are just dead on perfectly leveled. On the particular picture above it was actually strung with the 5 lightest strings of a 6 string D'Addario set, gauge .100 to .032, but I later put on the Ernie Ball set meant for Bass VI type instruments, using the 5 lowest strings, gauge .090 to .030, and tuned it F# to D, as in F# standard tuning, 2 half steps above regular 4 string bass E standard tuning, threading the strings through the cut off ball ends of some old bass strings I had, to be able to fit it on the bass's bridge, since those Ernie Ball strings have guitar sized ball ends. I intend to use it as the main instrument for some songs in the making for a sort of progressive psychedelic stoner rock/metal solo project I am working on called "all I nil", which is supposed to have the fundamental, primary, instrumentation consist of just bass, programmed and physically recorded drums and various percussion, as well as vocals, though a much more sparingly use of additional instrumentation, like for instance programmed or physically recorded organ/synth, piano, electric or acoustic guitar, cello, flute, glockenspiel/bells, as well as eventual more ambience based effects, will be added for certain parts of the songs, restricted to fill out a, in no way dominating, fundamental or essential, more flavor oriented, secondary function. I am still working on my setup/rig for this thing, but one thing that is certain is that an octave up effect will be added to my bass signal, sometimes with separate effects used respectively for the octave up signal and the regular bass signal, sort of giving an effect similar to a 10 string octave bass with pairs of bass and octave strings, just with the advantage I get from doing it this way of being able to process the bass and octave up signal separately. For this I am using a TC Electronic Sub 'n' Up Mini, which seems to actually work really well for this, as good as flawless and super fast tracking, and in my opinion being capable of sounding more natural/realistic than for instance the EHX POG pedals, which tend to have a slight somewhat organ or synth like quality to the octave up signal. Pitching your signal up a whole octave is always going to sound somewhat artificial though, no matter how well it is processed, but it has actually still worked surprisingly well and sounded reasonable naturally in my preliminary test runs of this idea, and adds a lot of extra sonic space and flavor, exactly as will be needed for this project, where my bass is going to be the main, and most of the time only, instrument that carries the melodic content of the tracks (well beside the vocals of course). Other than that heavy thick distortion with fuzz like qualities mixed with a bit of clean signal, and secondarily chorus, flanger and phaser, will see a lot of use for this project. Just in the process of figuring out which kind of setup will give me the best results for what I have in mind currently, and so far only got fair deal of the basic bass parts down so far (I believe I more or less got the bass parts and final form for 4 to 5 tracks at the moment), then when I got my setup perfected the actual recordings can start, then the programming of the drum/percussion parts and eventual additional flavor instruments comes, and eventually writing the lyrics and getting the vocals laid down. All in all I think at least another 6 months, very likely even more, before I got an EP, or less likely a full length album, ready for release on Bandcamp and various online digital music streaming services and shops, perhaps even a self released physical version, but we'll see about that when it eventually that time comes. Here's a short sound sample of a preliminary distortion tone, using some riffs I have been working on for this project (notice that if you are not logged into Dropbox a box might pop up when you click the link, encouraging you to sign up, blocking for the audio player, in that case you just click somewhere outside that box and it will disappear, making the audio player accessible): https://www.dropbox.com/s/8m02vfjf7dv5ojx/all I nil - New Distortion Sample.mp3?dl=0 And here's a couple of older very rough takes of 2 songs in the making, respectively with the working titles "3rd Eye of Hypnos" and "In Orbit", playing both of them in a bit faster tempo than was is really intended ("3rd Eye of Hypnos" since this recording having had a much melodically expanded variation of the intro and outro riff added) : https://www.dropbox.com/s/3u06k5cct75coi9/all I nil - 3rd Eye of Hypnos.mp3?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/7f5wbstq5wh318w/all I nil - In Orbit (Take 2 F%23).mp3?dl=0 Please note that the above linked to recordings are fairly old, recorded directly and not with a miked up amp or any form of amp emulator added or other post production done to them, as well as this was a preliminary temporary setup, and as a result the tone/sound of these recordings are admittedly pretty crappy, and pretty seriously far from how it is actually eventually going to sound after I have managed to find just the right pedals for the effects I intend to utilize, just the right setup for these, recorded with a properly miked up amp, and having been edited, mixed and mastered properly, it is not even remotely close to how it eventually is going to sound live either, as it, already at this point, where I haven't actually found just the right setup that I am 100% satisfied with, sounds way way better than these recordings, but thought those crappy sound snips might still be able to give you at least some idea of what I am heading at with this project.

The headstock of my main bass, a lowly, but very much beloved, black Ibanez GSRM20 Mikro Bass, that has received several visual mods, a fair share of use and abuse, as well as a pickup upgrade:

My Ibanez GSRM20 Mikro Bass, which is actually my main, qualifies for this thread, though my pickup upgrades does bring it way over the price limit for this thread all together, so not sure if that disqualifies it, even if the stock bass definitely is under 180£ from new. Anyway here is is my black, 28,6" scale Ibanez Mikro Bass, with mahogany body and bolt on maple neck with a rosewood fretboard featuring 22 medium frets, and with a P/J set of EMG Geezer Butler pickups installed, though the P Geezer is soon to be replaced for a DiMarzio Model P pickup:

My lowly and by now quite battered Ibanez GSRM20 Mikro Bass, with it's just 28,6" scale length, that got a a mahogany body and maple neck with rosewood fretboard, and a P/J set of EMG Geezer Butler pickups installed currently, though the Geezer P pickup is very soon to get replaced for a DiMarzio Model P one. I also own a GSRM25 5 string Mikro Bass that I have strung up with the 5 lowest strings of a Fender Bass VI string set (gauge .090 to .030), and tuned F# to D, with it's 2 stock J pickups wired in series, but the 4 string is my main, even if I do own a supposedly higher end full 34" scale 4 string bass as well. But without further ado, here's a picture of my beloved 4 string Mikro: Edit!!!: I guess I might as well post a picture of my 5 string Ibanez Mikro Bass as well, now that I did mention it: You can read more about it in this post, where I also explain what I mainly plan to use it for, and why it is tuned as it is:

Nut width of the Squier Mini P is 40,6 mm (1,6"), don't know the width at the bridge for certain, but I strongly assume it would be the same as a standard vintage Fender bridge.

I assume this is a cheaper take on the relatively short lived Fender Precision Jr. Bass that has the same scale length, though that only has a volume and no tone knob. I am quite of tempted to get the black one, as I love my Ibanez GSRM20 Mikro bass that has the same scale length, though an additional J pickup added to the P, as well as 2 more frets. But I'd likely just stick to my beloved Mikro, which is actually my main bass that I upgraded the pickups on. Big fan of short scale basses, and especially these slightly shorter than the regular 30" scale standard for short scales, and I very much welcome more options on the market for those. The ESP LTD B-4 JR being another of those, that just recently went into production again, after having been discontinued several years back. That one kind of tempts me too, having 24 frets, but also just one single P pickup, like the Squier Mimi P Bass. But honestly if I get another bass of this kind of scale length I would likely end up with just another Ibanez Mikro, one in the Weathered Black finish to be more exact. And I guess, just for the sake of having all the options mentioned that I am aware of for this type of scale length basses, there's the Jackson Minion as well, a 22 fret P/J bass, like the Mikro. All of these being in the lower budget price category, though I would love to see a higher end take of this concept as well. even if I suppose that is unlikely to happen, unless having a custom one made. The original Fender Precision Jr. Bass was more of a lower mid priced instrument though.

You might want to add the brand new Squier Mini P Bass, hitting the market in just a week or so, which I suppose is a cheaper take of the relatively short lived Fender Precision Jr. Bass, and which is a 28,6" scale 20 fret P bass, as well as the ESP LTD B-4 JR, which recently went into production once again after having been discontinued for several years, and which is a 28,5" scale 24 fret bass, also just featuring one single P pickup, and in the lower budget instrument price category too.

Oi, oi there fellow bass players. I am new to this forum. Composer/songwriter/multi instrumentalist/singer from Denmark here, who has had bass as my main instrument of choice for several years. And believe it or not but this lowly, but very much beloved, monstrosity of an Ibanez GSRM20 Mikro Bass, currently with a P/J set of EMG Geezer Butler pickups installed, but very soon to have a DiMarzio Model P P pickup installed in place of the Geezer, is actually my main bass : And here's a jazzy instrumental track that I made, featuring improvised electric bass and guitar recorded on top of a programmed track consisting of drums, bells and synth, composed, programmed, played, recorded, mixed and mastered by myself, though quite far from the type of music I usually create :