Muzz

They can certainly look nice... See my other posts about my very very similar sounding ash/maple/maple/corian P and my maple/wenge/wenge/brass Fortress...I can't be arsed typing it all out again...

None taken - I'll have a 34 and two 77s, please. Wow, what's the odds of those woods cancelling each other out? Ash/maple/maple/corian = wenge/maple/brass? Graphite's not really a test about wood, though, is it? It's analgous to saying "If you think Merlot and Shiraz taste similar, try Tizer, that's completely different." I think a completely different substance makes a difference, yes, as I'm sure a steel bass would (if you could pick it up), and yep, tonewoods will make a difference. Just not as much as most people would have you believe. I think a Status being an active bass with a particular EQ path has a massive effect, too: if anyone would care to nail a set of Wizards in a Status and rip the EQ out to prove a point, that'd be just keeno... The Warwick still looks like a Warwick Fortress (apart from the pickup poles), still plays like a Warwick Fortress, still feels like a Warwick Fortress. It no longer sounds like one.

That is just gorgeous.

I've just put the same pickups (a Wizard P/J set) in to two basses which really couldn't be more different in woods and construction - a P Bass with Ash body, maple neck, maple board, Corian nut and Schaller bridge, and a Warwick with a maple body, wenge neck and board, brass nut and two piece bridge. The huge similarity in tone between them has popped the bubble of whatever delusions I might have been entertaining about 'tonewoods'. Which is great news - in future, I'll be able to pick woods for their aesthetic values, without having to worry a jot about 'tone'.

Aaaand I'm back in the room. Well, I'd had a play with the PF, and then straight away moved onto the Drophead. PF vol/gain was on 3/4 (or 9/10pm if we're talking in those terms), but to get to a similar volume I had the Drophead vol/gain about halfway (midday) which surprised me. Maybe the cab's not very sensitive, maybe the gain has more of an effect on volume on the Drophead, I dunno. It did sound fantastic, tho. I'd love one.

OK, so I picked up a Fortress on here a while back, and after some initial hand-wringing about aesthetics, it's become the first thing I pick up to play, certainly at home. Had a shock at the first gig, tho, when I put down my Wizarded P-Bass bitsa, picked up the Fortress, and wondered where the volume went... A bit of pondering later, and I decided to put another set of Wizard P/J Big (Thumper and 84) pups in the Fortress. Win - best decision I've made in a while. It sounds just what I was after, very like the P. Which made me think: OK, there are some tonal differences between the two basses, but I'd say 10-15% at most, and certainly in a live environment this would decrease. One is a big Ash-bodied, maple necked, maple boarded bass, with a corian nut and Schaller bridge, and the other is a much smaller, maple-bodied, wenge-necked bass with a brass nut and a two-piece bridge. The only similarities are the pickups are the same, as is their position (near as dammit) in relation to the bridge. Even the pots are different - 3 on the PJ, 4 on the Warwick. Just goes to show what the biggest tonal influence on a bass is. I certainly won't sweat changing 'tonewoods' ever again...

17lbs... he's still got a strong back then... I like BigRed's idea of pros winding up Warwick for the ugliest bass they can think of. It's a tough call, but Mr.Clayton's still winning...

[quote name='Musicman20' post='1311724' date='Jul 21 2011, 04:34 PM']200 tube watts is seriously loud...is it all tube?![/quote] That's what I was expecting, and unless there's mayhem waiting in the last quarter of the dials, it wasn't that loud. It was the 200 version.

[quote name='Jondeeman' post='1311679' date='Jul 21 2011, 04:02 PM']Ashdown do both the heads for the Dropheads separately - the Little Bastard and the DP200H? The DP200H is £1500ish Glad to here it's a goody...[/quote] Well, that's the staff at PMT talking out of their collective hats. Which isn't really much of a surprise, TBH... If the 200w Drophead wasn't very loud, the LB doesn't sound like it would be particularly giggable. Although I'm sure someone will put me right on this... £1500 for the head? Woops, GAS gone...

Was in PMT Mcr with a bit of time to kill while Steve finished some work he was doing for me on the Fortress, so I had a bit of a play, firstly on a PF500, then the Drophead. To be honest, I was disappointed with the PF, probably because there'd been a lot of posts from people who like them. I'm bang-on target audience for one of them, too - ex-SVT-back-in-the-day, Precision, rock/pick player. It was a good enough amp, and they're great for the money, but if I did ever change my RH450 for it, I'd be looking at it as a money-saving downgrade. Anyway, IMHO, YMMV, etc, etc. I'm glad I played it, tho, because it popped a little GAS bubble that's been building up recently. The Drophead was a different beast altogether. Loverly, loverly tubiness, couldn't find a bad sound in it. Not very loud, tho, and at £2k for a 15" combo, I'd have to have at least 5 numbers on the Lotto. And even then I'd never use the cab. So still no amp GAS, but if Ashdown brought the Drophead out as a head only for £5-600, I'd be in trouble...

A lot of amusingly ruffled feathers here, for a thread which started "Tal Wilkenfeld, amazing..." and continued " Take a look at this and make up your mind about her talent" Then everyone who did take a look, and made up their mind that they didn't wholly agree with the OP, were critised for their opinion by people who didn't agree with them. Pretty much The Internet all over, really. Except nobody posted THAT picture of Ms Wilkenbob. C'mon guys, Rule 34 and all that... PS My opinion? She's a talented played, but amazing? No, wouldn't use that word.

I went from a LMIII to the RH450, and haven't looked back. The LM was a great amp, but not for me - warm and clean, but I was after a more tubey, old-school sound (I'm using a 1515L, no tweeters for me), so I found I was using my Sansamp all the time with the LM to get the sound I was after. Bought the RH450, sold the LM and the Sansamp, job done. I'd say it was possible to get a very clean, warm LM sound from the RH, though, it's just I never wanted to, so I never tried. Was the OP's RH second-hand? Did you clear any EQ tweaks that a previous user might have set?

Black P body, Maple Jazz neck, double-P. If they did one, I might have to stop modding for one of those...

With a £500 budget for a new bass, I'd be looking at an Ibanez SR500. Very slim, beautifully narrow bubinga neck, versatile sounds from the pair of Barts, and an ergonomically delightful bass. My fave, anyway.

Yup, s/h and German's the way to go. Don't underestimate the Fortresses, tho - I've had a few Warwicks (Corvette, $$ NT, etc) and I think my 93 wenge-neck Fortress is one of the best basses, let alone Warwicks, I've ever played. Mmmmm, wenge...

[quote name='dc2009' post='1302293' date='Jul 13 2011, 01:21 PM']I've always hated rics, never liked the tone or looks. Thought they looked ugly as sin, and that they sounded like someone hitting a rusty drainpipe with a lead bar. I'm now finding myself increasingly drawn towards the shape and sound too after loving some bass I didn't realise was played on rics, in an alarming, coming on of a GAS overload kind of way....can someone please help me snap out of it?[/quote] Just try and live with one for a few weeks. That'll do it.

Started off with a couple of Precision copies, then first 'proper' bass chasing Geddy's sound, so 4001 (and a Precision), then on through the 80s with lots of actives, Yamahas, Aria, BC Rich, Washburn 8-strings, then settled down a bit in the 90s, then more recently round the luthier stuff, Overwater, Goodfellow, and then a Ray, then a Jazz, then back right where I started with a P. Then an P/J, and that's it. No actives, no soapbars, I'm good where I am. That said, I'm using a few different P/Js, a Fortress with Wizard P/Js, and then there's the long grass stuff like the fretless and the acoustic, which I don't sweat as much, but the core sound is passive and traditional P/J. So yeah, my taste has changed, but not. Err... But it's taken thirty years and Gawd knows how much money to find that out...

[quote name='thebrig' post='1298519' date='Jul 9 2011, 08:26 PM']Good price for the neck, did you pay any duty on it? The body came from the states (eBay), brand new for £120 and got away with duty, so I was well pleased in getting a very nice swamp ash jazz body for that money.[/quote] Nope, no duty on the neck, the seller had very helpfully put a $30 value on the package, so it sailed through. That's a fantastic body, I'm off to have a look on EBay now - certainly cheaper than the Warmoth options I'm considering at the moment...

Very nice - once you start Frankensteining, it's hard to stop, or even to be satisfied with an off-the-shelf bass again. Where did you get the MM body from? I got a MM maple Jazz neck delivered from the States (a guy on EBay) in about four days the other week for £75 inc postage.

I'd agree with trying the series switching. It's not the same, but it gets you closer, and in the "quick, reversible and cheap" stakes it's a clear winner. I've got one on my PJ, and while I don't use it much, it's a very useful switch to have. I'd put one on any two-pickup bass, tho I can't see the point on a single-pup P.

Yep, same here - HH VS head and a 2x15, cannot for the life of me remember what happened to them. I suspect a dodgy part-ex deal, possibly at Andy's in Denmark Street for an ancient Ampeg, but I've clearly blanked the traumatic experience from my memory...

[quote name='gerryc' post='1278528' date='Jun 22 2011, 01:56 PM']Couldn't agree more, I have an Sx fitted with Wizard thumpers and it's the dog dingly danglers.[/quote] Yep, SX FrankenP with Wizard Big P/J set and MM maple neck (in pic left). Fantastic - sold my US Ps on the strength of it.