warwickhunt

Decision made! Order going into Thomann for a set of their own brand strings (>£5), a set of TI SA (£27) and ead's donated RotoSounds (+ a few small items to make the delivery charge worthwhile). I'm going to attempt to review the differences and possibly record the strings. No strings will be wasted as I have a couple of basses need stringing; I'll obviously do all of the strings on the same bass before transferring them to another bass. Wish me luck!

I know what you mean about the TI SAs; they have an almost compressed tone, yet bright and punchy. They are supple but not sloppy... great strings but £40 a set when you are stringing a few basses, not good. I may end up getting 1 set and a bunch of others from Thomann (my order basket sits open from last night). A very kind BCer is forwarding me a set that he is unlikely to use, so I'm almost at the point where a shoot out of free/cheap/expensive strings is in the offing.

dangoose... you nailed it! I left it with a tech as I am clueless with actually replacing parts of a circuit. He ran a test; yes there was something going on! He tested individual components and sections of the preamp, no issues found. He eventually attached a power to the start of the circuit and scope/test gear at the end... clean as a whistle. He replaced the battery compartment and the output jack and hey presto sorted. He's fairly confident that both were contributing and regardless of that he said neither part looked at its best so they were both replaced. Thanks for the input folks. Hopefully this is here for future reference/searches. Musicman preamp issues / distorting / jack socket / battery connection

Last time I bought a batch of strings (Thomastik Infeld Super Alloys) must be 5 years ago and they cost £13 a set (special offer), the same strings, today are £40+ and sadly I'm not in a position to be paying that as I want a few sets. Hence I'm looking for a replacement nickel, round wound string (probs 45 - 105) that doesn't cost 1/2 my gig money. I'd say the Thomastik are lowish tension compared to a set of D'Addario that I recently got for free but I'm not going to get hung up on that side of things. Ideally if someone has tried the Thomastik Infelds and found something similar, please shout up. Cheers me dears.

They do a 210, 212, 112, 115 and 410. At a glance the 210 and 112 defo come in under the other heaviest on your list. You need to look at the RS range, the spec is on the 'specification' tab for each cab. https://www.tcelectronic.com/product.html?modelCode=P0CJE

Yes, your absolutely right re. TKS added to which I don't know if they are even trading. Looking at the heavier end of the range on your (excellent) spreadsheet I've noted that the TC RS cabs would be under the heaviest weight on the list, so possible inclusion of them?

Works now. No TKS on the list?

Ditto

If it is a Lightwave I've had one!

It'd need to be a guaranteed light weight body and/or downsized. There might be zero net gain by fitting my genuine MM parts to that body.

...but these pups aren't single coils are they? Afaik they are split humbuckers as per the Dimarzio pups on which they are based.

600w wouldn't be double the volume of 300w... not by a long chalk. You'd get 'ooomph' by adding a 2nd cab and were it me I'd be getting a 2nd identical cab.

#Walshy I do believe.

No more MB1... Thoughts are with his family and friends. RIP

TB ads, that makes sense as I've been using loads of search combinations to try and find all the EBMM SS basses on BC.

Were they private ads? Those are decent weights and I'd not expect them to be that much lighter (7lb would be great); my Dano Longhorn and Nordstrand shorties are silly light. Like a few BCers with back/shoulder problems I'm bordering on fanatical about weight for a gigging bass (I own heavy basses that I know I'll not sell but they don't get gigged). I've bought the odd bass or two over the years (cough) and I've been mislead/lied to by possibly 30% - 50% of sellers. I've stressed that bathroom scale hopping is no good, kitchen digital scales are best etc yet basses have still turned up 1/2lb to 2lb heavier than stated. I've threatened to return basses if they aren't what they have claimed to be and that weeded out a lot of chancers. I also completely ignore responses to my questions re. weight that are phrased as "This is the lightest bass I've ever owned/played!", that has no relevance or context and is almost ALWAYS a sales pitch that they can wheedle out of later. There have been a few good folks who weigh basses and confess straight up that they are surprised. I envy those who can get a few times a week with a boat anchor around their neck, saying that my main bass when I started gigging was 11lb iirc... maybe that should be a warning for those who don't have issues yet. LOL

That's my hope but no local stock for me to try and 2 stockists who I contacted couldn't help me by weighing them as they have no facility... fair enough.

I've owned a few USA Sterlings that were just over 9lb and they were OK but I have a shoulder that doesn't like a couple of long sets with a heavy bass (before anyone says; yes I have a wide strap and yes I've adjusted strap lengths etc). My USA Stingray is 10lb 5oz which is just a no go but I love the sound of a full bore active MM. In comparison my German 87 Streamer is 8lb 2oz and my European PJ is 7lb 9oz.

5 strings all lighter than 4 strings... what's all that about? Sadly at nearly 9lb an average 'Special', just isn't light enough for me. Looks like I'll have to look at the short scale versions (USA and Sterling by)!

I've asked in the past re. getting a body made to spec with the main criteria being weight reduction. I was essentially told that suppliers can't guarantee a weight for any timber but can give guidelines for what different timbers usually weigh. A luthier supplying a light body (chambered or otherwise) would be asking a premium. There are dirt cheap bodies on ebay etc that give an approximate weight but TBH none would give you a gross weight of near what I want (8lb). You'd be back to having spent £500 (or more) for a spare body and that's £500 you could put toward a bass that you could buy off the shelf/used and not lose money on. I think I'm going to see if I can find a Sterling shortie in a store to get a feel for weight and size whilst watching for something used in the 'Special' range or possibly a USA Shortie.

Nice idea (I already have a USA Ray to act as donor) but I'd be paying for a body + routing + finishing and to get a light weight bit of timber I'm guessing I'm paying premium money... which leads me back to the total cost potentially being more than selling my Ray and purchasing one that I know for a fact is the correct weight. Saying that, all of that is doable IF I can source a good body blank that I can guarantee is going to give me the gross weight I'm after.

Cheers for the info. However, please tell me you didn't string that one on the left... unless you were intoxicated at the time.

Of course you could. Do you have the knowledge and skills to do that?