thodrik

Must say that I quite like it. Old vintage Fenders seem to a law unto themselves when it comes to price, so I don't really get the 'wow its far too expensive, and it looks ugly' argument. Its as much a piece of musical history as it is a musical instrument. If I had the money I probably would buy it. If I would was looking for a great playing and sounding bass within a certain budget, I would look elsewhere. I do love maple boards on P-basses.

I'm not too picky, but I avoid any bass with gold hardware. Preference on colour works with design as well, as some of the block colours I don't like on Fenders (White, that horrible frosty grey colour, bright red ) but look good on other designs. To me a Fender of any standard will never really look out of place at a gig, pretty much on the basis as its a Fender and Fenders are everywhere. My preferences for Fender type instruments: Cherry sunburst, Natural, Black, Deep wine Red (a la the new Deluxe range), lake placid blue. I also love the colouring of some of the Sandberg hardcore aged basses, even if I'm not a fan of relic-work.

Ampeg 8x10 with SVT 450, Ashdown ABM 500, and SVT Classic in the posh rooms.

[quote name='matski' post='1026257' date='Nov 16 2010, 07:34 PM']But the Sadowsky is supposed to be a 'retro' bass, isn't it? Hence the ultra vintage (UV) name and the Vintage Tone Control function.[/quote] Well it is and it isn't. It is designed to look like a vintage bass, but to me Sadowsky basses have a quite modern sound, even when run passive. The VTC helps to take a bit of the modern 'zing' off the bass and is a cool feature. For me Sadowsky sits halfway between retro bass and a really modern type bass. If you want a Fender sound though, I would suggest sticking to Fender. I bought an MV4 model and love it, I'm not really a fan of the UV series, because I'm not a fan of neck binding and it has one fret less than the one I bought. As an owner of both a Sadowsky and a 1978 Precision though, its going to be the Precision every time. Really cool black vintage Fender Precisions are not very common and are tricky to replace once you get rid of them. Really nice Sadowskys are fairly easy to find, though they cost a lot.

[quote name='lojo' post='1019138' date='Nov 10 2010, 06:28 PM']what a pain having to play through a top end ampeg fridge, no wonder he had a bad gig[/quote] Poor guy, surely must have been better than the bird poop gig though?

So they are playing Glasgow it seems. I probably will see them after all. I saw Brant Bjork a few months ago in a tiny little venue. Somehow I feel these gigs will be a little less intimate, which I suppose is good news as it means they are making money. I wonder with it being Oliveri that it will mostly be stuff from Blues for the Red Sun and Wretch rather than anything written after he left?

I heard about this a while ago, though originally I thought they were just playing Germany. Personally I would prefer Scott Reeder in there. No gigs in Scotland is a bit annoying. I would go if it was local, but its not something I would travel to. I'm generally against bands reuniting just for the sake of it, without actually releasing anything new. It really needs Homme to be Kyuss as he was such a big part of their sound. Should be some good gigs though.

That is pretty cool. I didn't know that early Passions had different pickup configurations. you learn something every day. I wish I had an Arpege or Passion bass.

Ummm, it doesn't have fret-markers, not great attention to detail... Nah, sorry can't help, lovely bass. I would maybe prefer a white pickguard or another colour, but otherwise I really like it.

I'm really interested by the line of amps. I don't mind the Ashdown ABM and MAG heads on the whole, but never would feel the need to buy one. The valve ones look really cool though. The proof will be in the tone and build quality though.

Does the Aerodyne series not have a slightly different flatter fingerboard? I might have imagined that though. Mark Hoppus ones too, but that is a Precision neck. I would say Sadowsky jazzes have a somewhat different neck profile that I really like but they are expensive and its clear that some folk on here just don't like them! Sandberg as well I thought as well had a less cramped jazz neck that didn't plat like a standard Jazz neck. I would stick to a good P bass personally or get a second hand Fender and switch the neck with a Precision neck.

EBS Fafner (The big amp) Trace Elliot GP12 SMX 300 (back up to EBS bought on ebay for cheap) Two of the new Trace Elliot cabs (the 2x10 and the bigger 1x15, mixing drivers oh no!) Mesa Walkabout 1 x15 (My 'lightweight' portable rig, its really loud and can fit in taxis no problem) Trace Elliot GP 7 SM 300 1x15 combo (my main and only rig for about 8 years until I got the EBS and Mesa last year. It now lives up north so I have an amp when I go home). To be honest, I have been pretty blown away by the power of the Mesa, to the point that I could almost sell the Fafner and use the Mesa to drive the larger cabs. I'm probably going to cross that bridge when I really really need the money though. I will be looking at cabs or a five string bass before I look at any more amps. Probably a 4ohm 4x10 or 2x12 to replace the stack I have just now. It is almost overkill, though it does look cool!

[quote name='risingson' post='1005660' date='Oct 29 2010, 07:38 PM']Honestly I'm lost for words. It's like a bass player saying 'oh sorry, I don't really use my E string that much'.[/quote] Peter Hook?

I have both an GP 7 SM 300 in the form of a 1x15 combo and the 300 SMX GP 12 head. Both are really nice and good enough to do a job. I do think however that the SMX offers a lot more, just in terms of features like the dual band compressor, effects send return and the valve drive. The valve drive is hardly that great and isn't really driven hard enough in my opinion, but it does add a little but of life to the sound and makes the tone sound less hi-fi and clean than the SM series, as you can get a little bit of grind when you drive it hard. It can do the clean hifi sound as well The 12 band graphic is also a lot more useful than the 7 band, and allows some decent scope for tailoring your sound. The GP 7 SM series offers the basic Trace sound with few bells and whistles. I think that it is a really good solid state amp that has plenty of power, I've disconnected the internal speaker and driven the amp through different cabs, and it copes well with a 4 ohm load through a 4x10, 8x10 etc. Both amps also have the 'preset 2' option, which I think was the company's attempt to do a 'mid-bump' preset than a mid-cut, and I think they both sound pretty bad. Both also seem to be built fairly well too and haven't caused me much bother.

Interesting that. I was thinking that I see so many Behringer stuff about at gigs, but never really see it in shops. Now I know why.

A five string bass. Vigier/Sadowsky/Sandberg/MM Stingray. Realistically the G & L L2500 or the Sterling by MM Ray 35 is already way more than I can afford. An all valve amp, or failing that the EBS Fafner II or Mesa Big Block 750. A 1970s Fender Jazz. A nice 4x10 or 2x12 at 4ohms, to run said amp through. DR strings. I will start saving for these first I think.

The VU meter on an Ashdown. Input pads when there is a gain/input volume knob (like the Ampeg SVT 450). Graphic Eq sections on an amp that already has bass. middle and treble knobs (Ampeg SVT 450). Built in octavers (or any built in effects) in amps that rarely come with a footswitch (Ashdown). Side-mounted fans in rack-mounted heads, so you have to buy oversized rack cases so said amp can 'breathe' (EBS Fafner). Any attempt to excite us by trying to jazz up mid controls as something really exciting (the 'ultra mid' controls on an SVT 450). 1000 watt amps that are actually two 500 watt amps that can't be used in mono(Ashdown/Trace Elliot). Mute switches, they only lead to people telling you that your amp is broken if people try it.(Trace Elliot/Ashdown). Being designed to look like a valve amp, but containing no valves, making the amp twice as large and heavy as it could be, with the only benefit being some space to store a cable or two (Ampeg SVT 450). Really loud fans (Mesa Walkabout). Having a 'special' input jack which means that you could run an active bass on no batteries, impressive but not really that much use (EBS Fafner and probably the other ones I dunno). Pointless LEDs or lights that are only there for visual purposes (The glowing red bulb on EBS Fafners). Having tube overdrive capabilities with no footswitch, so if you play quiet or have a clean part to play, you either have to magically turn down the 'drive' knob and then up again, or use a pedal to get the 'dirty' sound, making the overdrive potential of your amp pretty pointless (Ashdown/EBS Fafner mark I). Room balance knobs (Fender Pro series). Master volumes that go from 0(silence), 1(quiet), 2 (loud), 3 (full power), when the numbers go to 10 or 11. (Like Marshall guitar amps). Ashdown Little Giants. Still love my Fafner though!

I have a Valve drive myself. Its really good as a preamp on low gain settings, it adds a little bit extra to the sound of most solid-state or hybrid heads. On the higher gain settings it works well too, though personally I prefer the EHX English Muff'n for gritty bass overdrive. The EBS one sounds a bit flabby in comparison and lacks a bit of bite naturally in my opinion, though you can pretty much use the eq to get the sound you want. You can swap the tube as well obviously to get a different sound. I don't use mine much to be honest, it might be something that needs to go eventually. Good pedal though.

I used to be obsessed with obtaining a really low action, but its not something that bothers me now. Not that a play with a really high action, but its nothing that I'm overly concerned about. I do have limitations though as I do don't like anything overly 'spongy'. I think that there is a difference between having a higher action and a poorly set up bass (generally off the wall basses in a guitar shop, though there are exceptions). I don't really measure my action though, I just tend to know when it feels and sounds right for me, and usually I won't go far away from a set up provided by someone that knows what they are doing and knows what I want.

Not a fan of the ying/yang design, its not that it isn't nice but more that it isn't for me.The general contours and shape of the bass is really nice though. I would probably get a Monarch.

Seems to be in really good condition, way too steep on the price though. Strung out guitars have two Jazzes from the same time period, in a fairly similar condition, priced £1399 and £1899 [url="http://www.strungoutguitars.com/Electric/"]http://www.strungoutguitars.com/Electric/[/url]. If I was heading to Bass Direct armed with £3000, I'm not too sure I would really be heading out with a vintage Jazz, and I'm a big vintage Fender fan. On second thoughts though, the original case and instruction manual is not something you see everyday, and I'm assuming would add a fair bit to the price. Regardless of everything else though, its a vintage Fender, somebody will buy it.

Decent enough strings. I have had been using them on the Sadowsky for all my gigs this year. For about £18 they do the job , nothing special but I find that they last about as long as the D'addario prosteels I using before, sound about as good, and are cheaper as well.

Neither of them went to Leeds College of Music, so I don't think that there is any evidence of either of them being musically talented on a technical level.

[quote name='danydan' post='988756' date='Oct 15 2010, 02:30 AM']Hello Thodrick, i think in your way generally, so i really understand what you mean... I just speak about this MM master built because i try it and i can say it's a real very good bass, and try to say people who can, buy it because it' will be a collector bass. I win anything to say that Keep on groovin' :-)[/quote] I have no doubts that it would be an exceptional bass and a collectors item, and that anyone who wants to buy it would not regret doing so.

Out of the options you listed I would probably go for the 2x15 as a single cab solution. Plenty of volume and personally I think that they look really cool. A 4x10 and a 1x15 is quite a lot to carry about, and would probably need to run on a crossover, though there are people on this forum that advise against any mixing of different speaker sizes. If carrying about 2 cabs I would probably go for another 4x10 personally.