carlsim

I remember this bass well, I got it from @bubinga5 and was ‘on it like a car bonnet’ as soon as I saw it for sale. I always hankered after a ‘super jazz’ as I love a jazz bass but passive ones always seem a bit ‘meh’ to me… unless your talking a ‘76 in natural finish with mojo and the 70s logo… anyway… it served me very well and to be honest, I only sold it due to financial issues I was facing at the time. It is an amazing player, and certainly no throwaway, stick it in the corner type of bass… when I saw this come up for sale I was quite tempted but have fallen into the Atelier Z web and am loving my current DAL5 that is one of go to’s at the mo… @tauzero it will certainly serve you well ( the Barts x-axis pups were in there when I got it and I put the John east uni pre in there… not sure if that is what it is still sporting though… it’s an excellent bass for modding and experimenting with configs… a great bass and a looker! Enjoy!

Thanks for all your helpful comments guys - I have decided not to keep the b3 (70cdr has already been sold) and am going to look at individual pedals I think… it seems to be the unanimous vote that multi fx units are good for certain things but will always lack somewhere… I think I will investigate the specialist synth stuff (SY1 etc.) and go from there… cheers everyone!

+1 for this… slurry and buff will look great and protect!

Try and find someone with a laser cutter! Makes for a much nicer edge and finish. Scan in your old scratchplate, create a vector image and boom! Perfect every time!

Add a bit of heat to the fret before you do it, helps to loosen any glue that may have been used. Also, make sure you use some flat edge end cutters... tease them out very slowly and carefully and you will minimise your tear out. You will probably get some, however minimal. When you sand, save the dust and feed it into any missing bits and add some CA glue. Will help to disguise any tears in the wood. If you can, keep the tears there and glue them back down. IMO, makes for a much neater job.

Hi everyone… I’m quite a seasoned player, 25 plus years of function gigs, theatre stuff and reading and it is only recent that I have started using fx. I love synths and do a lot of production work on synths for someone who runs a audio production company - new gigs means I need to produce a cool 80s synth bass sound and not being a live keys player, I’m trying to achieve that on bass. so, I start researching and found this: a great sound… I notice it’s listed as produced on a B3. So I do a bit reading and find out that an Zoom Cdr70 can do it… so I buy one and struggle to get anywhere near this. so I buy a B3… and still I struggle. I understand synthesis in detail. But I cannot get anywhere near this sound. tracking doesn’t seem to work well when I play, is it a gain thing? im running the b3 on the fx loop of my Radial bassbone. Has anyone with a B3 been able to get near this sound? if so… what are the settings? I quite like the rest of it but I really want a decent synth bass. Is there a technique thing I need to embrace? I get it is going to be more monophonic, but I just can’t get anywhere near this. can anyone help? Or offer some advice as to what I should be looking at? I’m trying not to spend loads of dosh but, if needs must! having said that… if a b3 is used in this video, what am I doing wrong? i have messaged the person in the video but had no reply… any advice is most welcome. I have listed the 70cdr and B3 for sale in the classified due to frustration, but would definitely keep one if I can get there with this! cheers in advance for any help… carl.

Cheers! Plus it’s just a matter of swapping back the scratch plate to return it to normal which is handy.

A slight amendment, I like the circuit showing so cut a shape of copper tape to shape around the circuit and rest of the cavity. Looks a bit more interesting this way I think. it’s not perfect but a lot better in my view! Maybe add an led strip a bit later!

Ooh!! I like the LED idea... I didn't mind the circuit showing, it was the parallel / series switch I didn't like. Will have another think!

so... a temporary solution which I don't find too insulting... basically copper shielding tape stuck on the underside of the clear plate. I precut a nice curve in one piece to give it some shape. Will do for now until I consider a better option and have the time to look at a picture of the wood stuck on the underside or something...

I like that idea. Might give that one a whirl! Perhaps not the Pacman or Star Wars route though!🤣🤣

So... this is how it turned out. I'm not sure how I feel about the control cavity to be honest... Thoughts anyone? Luckily my work has a laser cutter so the clear plate cost me £1.30... just the price of the perspex. So I can make more if needed. Maybe I should start up a sideline?? I like the clear plate allowing the quilted top to show through, but the control cavity.... not so sure. I wondered if there was something I could put underneath / on top of the cavity maybe? Any ideas anyone?

Completely with you - although I hadn't thought about the headstock from that perspective! I have probably just devalued mine! 🤪 Stock strings are a bit naff... I need to change my fretted one when get the chance.... I put some EB flats on my fretless - it sings! I with you about the Preamp and pups... mine is nice and quiet and I don't think £200 is worth it just to add the VTC...

It's a funny thing, when I first started playing, i got involved with a local jazz big band playing DB and electric on some numbers. It was a lot of reading dots which was a great learning curve and I did notice that with big bands, arrangement - due to the transposing nature of brass and woodwind instruments, you tend to find yourself reading flat keys a heck of a lot more than sharp keys. That's not to say that ALL big band arrangements are in flat keys, but arrangers definitely seem to prefer flat keys when writing for big bands... that's my experience anyway! Now, 30 years down the line of reading gigs, function, theatre work etc. I always seem at ease when I see a flat key signature but pucker up a little when I see 5 sharps! 5 flats.... no worries, 5 sharps... concentrate!! It's not so much of a tone thing, but maybe you get used to hearing your instrument more in certain keys so maybe it becomes more familiar to you? I certainly feel happier playing wise and sound wise when I see flats rather than sharps.... Just my opinion of course!

Yeah my atelier z jazz has a clear plate and clear control cover, exactly as the pic… luckily, my work has a laser cutter so gonna have a go at making one myself by scanning in and vectorising the image… hopefully if the scan is accurate, it will match up perfectly!