bartelby

More subtle would be good...

[quote name='MMG' timestamp='1436201031' post='2815918'] Anyone any experience of the shipping of these? Ordered one last Monday, shipped on Tuesday and it hasn't moved from Koln since the 1st July! [/quote] [quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1436212162' post='2816096'] That has been my experience every Thomann order. They stay in Cologne for ages. [/quote] 2 days is the longest either of my orders has hung around in Cologne. I did notice once it was in the UK it took 24 hours for the tracking to update to say it had arrived in the UK. Here's both my orders 24.06.15 06:55 shipping Thomann 24.06.2015 thomann 18:42 The international shipment has been processed in the parcel center of origin Kitzingen 26.06.2015 01:47 The shipment will be transported to the destination country and, from there, handed over thomann to the delivery organization. Köln 26.06.2015 01:47 The international shipment has been processed in the export parcel center Köln 28.06.2015 19:25 The shipment has arrived in the destination country -- 08.06.15 07:01 shipping Thomann 09.06.2015 thomann 05:22 The shipment will be transported to the destination country and, from there, handed over to the delivery organization. Köln 09.06.2015 05:22 The international shipment has been processed in the export parcel center Köln 10.06.2015 09:43 The shipment has arrived in the destination country --

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1436220650' post='2816232'] I was thinking of doing a refin in 'craqueleur' style, i.e. a type of checking... [/quote] Yeah, but it's not going to look like this monstrosity, is it?

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1436230417' post='2816295'] I too had a VT1 EQ and it was really good. I can't actually remember why I sold it, now. I would also recommend the Tech-21 VT Bass and if you're on a budget, Behringer's BDI-21. [/quote] I had a VT2 Twin EQ DI one. It was fantastic. I can't remember why I sold it either.... I have to say I'm not a fan of the BDI-21. I know it's quite well regarded, but for me it sounded terrible.

There were some truly horrendous "crackle" finishes in the 80s. Washburn, Jackson and Charvel seemed to be the main offenders...

It still won't be worth reading IMO...

I wasn't really sure whether to put this in the reviews sections or not. But as it's not so much of a review, more like an information post I thought I'd put it here. I got this bass delivered on Tuesday and took it to band practice on Thursday. It sounds and feels fantastic. The B isn't quite as good as the last 5 string I had, but that was a 35" Ibanez with 18v electronics...... At rehearsal the lack of shielding became noticeable, so I ordered some copper tape and fitted it all today. I've used to opportunity to strip the bass down and photograph what I found. So what makes this bass a Deko? Well once the strings were off the cheap nut was obvious: I also noticed the satin finish didn't quite go all the way around the headstock, and from just by the G's tuner to round the curve of the headstock it was missing : This was the total amount of shielding that was done by the factory: The pickups came out of their covers without any persuasion and are just generic pickups: With everything cleared off the body there's a large patch of foggy and orange peely finish, but the dodgy area is entirely covered by the pickguard, and the cavities are full of crap: The neck pocket had obviously had some post finish work done to it: Once I cleaned out all the dust and bits of wood from the neck pocket and cavities I did all the shielding work (forgot to take a photo before putting the J pickup back in): While the pickguard was off I gave it another couple of coats of spray. Everything went back together nicely and there is noticeably less noise thanks to the new shielding. I need to set up the action and intonation as all the crap in the neck pocket was acting like a shim. There's a lot more air under the strings now, but the saddles were raised up quite a lot. None of the things I've found made the bass "unplayable" as Thomann advertise. All that's needed is a good clean, some shielding and a good set up.

Nice one Rob!

[quote name='LewisK1975' timestamp='1435910850' post='2813444'] Billy Sheehan has been doing it for ever so it cant be that bad an idea?!?!? [/quote] That's basically where I got the idea. I used to have a bass with an addition Model One pickup and 2 outputs.

Ashdown JJ-500 into a 4x8" and a 1x15" cab and, via a high pass filter, Peavey MkIII Standard into a Mesa Boogie (EV loaded) 2x12" Ahsdown set for a nice, clean low end signal Peavey, with the bass rolled off at about 250Hz, with a touch of overdrive. Using a EHX Bass Big Muff to split the signal. Totally impractical for gigs but nice to drag out for practice occasionally...

For me that looks much better now. Recently I've become rather partial to Daphne Blue or Seafoam Green with a nice tort plate.

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1435827398' post='2812701'] They are good aren't they... the P soloed does what a P should, deep and thumpy. But the real surprise for me was the J pickup, soloed it had a wonderful burp. I reckon it would sound great fretless. [/quote] yeah, The J is brilliant. I was thinking of chucking in some more expensive pickups But all it really needs is a little work on pickup heights. Would be worth getting one to defret.

I'm taking the 5 string to practice tonight. Had a 20 minute play at home yesterday. I have to say, it's got one hell of a punchy tone to it!

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1435764973' post='2812253'] Looks great with the black scratchplate. Do you reckon the paint will stay on once you start using it in anger? [/quote] Probably not but I did a white scratchplate for another bass 2 weeks ago. it's been through several hours of playing at home and a 3 hour rehearsal session without a mark on it. If it gets marked, I'll just respray it.

[quote name='funkgod' timestamp='1435665808' post='2811109'] i needed a new midi card for my mackie Hdr24 and a new drive rack for another storage hard drive (the pull out drive bay) RRP= updated midi card €403.68 [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/mackie_serial_9_interfacekarte.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...erfacekarte.htm[/url] Pull out drive bay €109 [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/mackie_media_tray.htm"]http://www.thomann.d..._media_tray.htm[/url] Thats €512.68 worth of gear i needed for £14....... Yep £14 and they sent it [u]free[/u] and paid the paypall fees [/quote] WTF!? That's almost worth buying even though I have no use for them!!

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1435744868' post='2811962'] And your PJ looks massively improved. I am now very tempted to do the same to mine. [/quote] It's a bugger they've swapped the two halves of the P pickup over. Will have to get a custom made one made. I was hoping a Squire one would fit...

Might want to check that link AT...

[quote name='Andytre' timestamp='1435740931' post='2811904'] thats looks great! what spray paint did you use? it looks slightly sparkly [/quote] Good old Halfords car spray that I had hanging around. It's a slightly satin finish. [quote name='ben4343' timestamp='1435741303' post='2811908'] Nate Mendel P bass?? As a 5er?! And a J pup! For 40 quid??! Bargain [/quote] Not thought of it that way. I thought I'd seen the colour scheme somewhere... [quote name='BassBunny' timestamp='1435741595' post='2811910'] Any chance you could weight it? Am interested in how heavy the PJ5's are. [/quote] Using the old bathroom scales method: 4.4kgs (9.7 lbs)

I used both Warwick and Dunlop straplocks with my Corvette. As to what pre, I picked up a MEC 3 band on here a few years back. Got a 2nd stacked knob for a vol/blend, so I did't have to drill a 4th hole

Went ahead and sprayed the scratchplate. Will get a proper one made up when I can be bothered...

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1435699257' post='2811686'] ... By God it's ugly though. [/quote] The scratchplate is quite nasty. [quote name='Andytre' timestamp='1435702141' post='2811730'] Iv been thinking of coating the scratch on my PJ-5 with some sort of black coating, it's the only part of the bass I don't like! On the other hand on my deko Jazz actually has quite nice scratch plate [/quote] I might just spray mine black. It worked quite well on the plate for my bitsa bass. I agree about the Jazz basses having nicer scratchplates [quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1435710040' post='2811793'] Just move up five frets and down a string, so play bottom G on the 8th fret of the B atring, and go from there. [/quote] I've had a 5 string before and I'd forget it had 5 stings and keep dropping to the B instead of the E

[quote name='kodiakblair' timestamp='1435686836' post='2811482'] That looks a thing of wondrous beauty. Congratulations. [/quote] For £41 it's the most beautiful bass ever made... Now I need to find some things that use a 5 string to play to get used to it. I also need to remember the lowest string ain't an E anymore...

[quote name='kodiakblair' timestamp='1435685344' post='2811464'] So bearing in mind it's " Decoration only not playable " are you pleased ? [/quote] hell yeah!! All it needs is a full setup...

Left work a bit early... Right out the box it's pretty good. The pickup heights are all over the shop and the truss rod needs a tweak. The nut could do with some attention, but it's more than playable.

Don't worry about it making a mistake. Unless it's a real clanger no one in the crowd will notice(even if is a proper glaring error some don't notice). If you do make a mistake don't draw attention to it. After the first song, nerves should be sorted and adrenalin kicks in. Watch out for digging in too much and wrecking your fingers Most important of all: HAVE FUN