Muzz

I still can't believe anyone can describe a TC head as "very low output" - was it plugged into 64 ohm speakers? Mine's louder than my LMIII, and that was loud. Louder than a loud thing, it doesn't get any louder than that...

Now then, here's a very similar situation to mine - I love the Fortress to play, and I'm even getting used to the looks (ish), but the sounds not where I am. My FrankenP/J has just had a pair of Wizards fitted, and it's just the sound I've wanted, so I'm wondering if Wizards in the Fortress will bring it nearer to what I'm after. I'm also looking at a wenge/ebony neck for the P, to get the Fortress feel, but I've a sinking feeling this might bugger up the sound. Oh, it's all so confusing...

You could pick up a s/h TC Classic around that ballpark £, and for rock tones, I'd rate the Classic/RH450 above the MB stuff. The Tubetone works really really well - even better to my ears than the actual tube in the Shuttle stuff. Ticks all the other boxes re. small, light and LOUD.

[quote name='bubinga5' post='1180088' date='Mar 28 2011, 09:30 PM']owned 11 at one point..why i dont know...i only own one bass now.. unless your a pro,or in more than one band, i really cant see the point of owning more than one good bass..[/quote] Unless you like them?

I've got a Kelly Dragonfly electric acoustic bass (which is a lovely instrument) I've used a few times for gigs, for the folkier numbers, but to be honest, there's very very little you can do with one that you can't do with an electric with appropriate EQ and adjustments to playing style. It looks the part, though, and the Fishman pre gives a decent set of EQ controls. Bronze roundwounds, not tried anything else.

[quote name='allighatt0r' post='1177113' date='Mar 26 2011, 12:16 PM']Well! Here she is! The (soon to be) Infamous Dark Ryder! [attachment=75783:photo__2_.JPG][attachment=75784:photo__1_.JPG][/quote] Well, that's helped me make my mind up for the colour scheme for my Ryder - out goes the white/pearl/whatever scratchplate, and in comes...black! Thanks for that.

Mentioned it on another thread, but I'm in the process of ordering a Wenge neck with an Ebony board from Warmoth for my P. If that doesn't fundamentally change the tone, nothing will. I shall report back, but don't hold your breath, I ain't ordered it yet...

At a guess, the market for high price (not a value judgement on this bass, simply 'a lot of money') basses is very slow at the moment, and the damage didn't help. Personally it's of no interest to me, and boutique stuff like this has a much smaller fanbase/market than the common-or-garden stuff, so I guess it's of even more restricted interest. If you're up for an equation, I'm guessing: (Specialist forum members) - (people who don't like damage, repaired or not) - (non-Ken Smith fans) - (those who haven't got £1500 in this financial climate) = nobody

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='1173615' date='Mar 23 2011, 06:11 PM']The more I think about the more I'm thinking about a LM II with a Sansamp, how loud are they?[/quote] Pretty bloody loud. I play with a proper full-on rock drummer, and with a decent cab (I used a MB 410 and now a Schroeder 1515L) it'll drown him without troubling the higher numbers on the Master dial. Which is really all that's needed... In the interests of simplicity, I swapped my Sansamp and LMIII for a TC RH450, and it's even better for that old-school valvey Ampeg sound. And yes, I had an SVT and the 810 a while (OK, a long while) ago. Oh, and the TC's probably even louder than the LM. The Schroeder weighs just under 40lbs, and the TC about 9lbs.

Battleship Chains by The Georgia Satellites. Two chords, makes Quo sound like Weather Report...

Jim Dunlop Nylon 88s - tried zillions of others over 30-odd years, and they're the ones which work for me. I find them a nice compromise between feel and resistance. There's more to picking than a lot of people assume. I use the JD 73s on the occasions when I pick up a guitar.

[quote name='RhysP' post='1168230' date='Mar 19 2011, 01:49 PM']I did when I bought my first "proper" bass thirty years ago. I was a huge fan of Chris Squire & Geddy Lee so I bought a secondhand Rick 4001. Found out pretty quickly that hero worship is not a very good criteria for buying a bass......[/quote] This, except it was a brand new 4001 in, of course, Jetglo. Took me years to work out I actually hated the way it played, but it blew everyone away and I was very proud of it. Also I've always loved JJB and Phil Lynott, so black Precisions are just it for me, and have been ever since. Sort of. I bought an Aria ZZB (the half black/half white one, the only other one I've seen was being played by Rick Mayall in Bad News, which should have told me something ) in 84 not because of anyone in particular, but because of the whole AOR/West Coast Explorer thing. That was pile of crap, too, but I persevered for a while because of the looks. I've said this before, but I'm about as deep as a puddle... To return to the OP's question, I'd probably buy a Shuker JJB, but I'd have to play one first. Which isn't going to be easy. I'd also then more than likely end up putting a J in and a Serial switch, which would probably defeat the point...

I had a PJB-200 for a while, and it was a very very clean, clear amp, tho very underpowered. As has been said before, not a rock amp, nor for those who associate with loud drummers.

+1 to all of the above - sold my Overwater, Goodfellow, etc and, while they were undoubtedly fine instruments and a privilege to own, I don't miss them at all. I'm having miles more fun modding.

Well, I've got reasonably advanced plans to swap a maple neck and board out on my Franken-P for a Wenge/Ebony one, tho I've been assured it won't make a blind bit of difference tone-wise. We'll see.

..never again sit down to replace a pair of P/J pickups*, copper-shield the control cavity and rewire into Serial/Passive thinking "I'll just run through this while the match is on the radio". Result: one half-wired bass, two soldering iron burns, sliced fingers and a rushed botch-job which I'll have to restart when I've got at least half a day. Bah. * with Wizards, woo!

[quote name='cameltoe' post='1154609' date='Mar 8 2011, 09:55 PM']How nice could I get a bitsa like this to play? To the inexperienced man (myself) these guitars are so simple, that it seems if you buy quality parts, especially the neck, there's no reason why it shouldn't play really well, providing it has a decent set up. the low action is important to me, and I'm willing to pay out for a decent fret job to help achieve this, but I'd hope, hope that I could get it playing as nice as an MIJ/ Am Standard. If I could get it to feel as good as my Road Worn P, I'd be over the moon.[/quote] Well, I built a FrankenP from an SX body, a MM neck and a Schaller 3D bridge, and sold both my US Precisions on the strength of it. It wasn't a straight fight, I guess, but I was playing and looking at the USs and thinking "These aren't very much better at all, I don't pick them up before the FrankenP, and I could have over a grand in the bank". Having said that, I'm now fitting a pair of Wizards PUs (P/J) to it, having a faff with parallel/series wiring, and seriously considering a Wenge/Ebony Warmoth neck (the MM will go onto my Ryder Double-P), so I guess once the improvement bug bites, it's hard to stop! It's the one in my avatar - we played five gigs in Scotland one (long) weekend last year, I took the Ray, the FrankenP and a US P, and only played the FrankenP...

Hi Bad Back, if you've really got a bad back, I'd say the RH450 for no other reason Seriously, I think the RH450 can get very very very close to the Ampeg sound (I've had both, admittely a couple of decdes apart), tho only your ears will tell you for sure. It's also got stuff like a great compressor, onboard tuner, mp3 in, headphone out, 3 presets, etc, so if these things are useful to you, then it's something to consider. I'd still try and hear both, and through whichever cabs you're considering, too. It's fun finding out.

Oh, now you're just telling me what I want to hear.

Thanks for that, I can live with warmer/growlier to a point, it's not as if it's going to get slapped...ever...

OK, so I've spent a hatful of time and money narrowing down what I'd really like for a bass, and I can't buy it off the shelf. Life's also too short (as is the money) to wait for a luthier to build it for me, so I'm going the bitsa route, which has so far proved to be very successful with the MM neck/SX/Schaller 3D I've currently got. I was all set for a nice birdseye Warmoth Jazz neck to go on my Wizard-equipped P/J-Bass, but I keep going back to play the Warwick Fortress (which some of you may recall from a previous whinge I can't love because it hurts my eyes to look at it. Not really, but I'll never love the looks, and you lovely people have convinced me I'm not terminally shallow in this). Ugly to my eye it may be, but that Wenge neck is juuuust great to play. Not specifically the profile, but the wood. I love it. Sooooo, the logical step is to trot off to the folk at Warmoth, and then bolt an unfinished Wenge neck with an Ebony or Wenge board onto a P/J, but I'm unsure if that'll radically change the tone of the bass away from the 'normal' (albeit Wizard-enhanced) P/J tones. I know it's bound to change somewhat, I just don't know how much. Anyone replaced a maple neck with a wenge one? Did it completely change the tonal character of the bass out of all recognition?

[quote name='Horizontalste' post='1158007' date='Mar 11 2011, 01:18 PM'][url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMkbnLUovXs&feature=relmfu"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMkbnLUovXs...;feature=relmfu[/url] Maple! don't know if its custom though. I can also vouch for the 614 too.[/quote] Yeah, it's a custom. And not one you can buy, either. On the other hand, Glenn doesn't use it much (see my earlier post) so he might take an offer for it...

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