Muzz

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...

If something's worth saying...

[quote name='Scooby' post='1118943' date='Feb 7 2011, 02:39 PM']Kev, try out Trip Wamsley [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1qTd2c72GM&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1qTd2c72GM...feature=related[/url] or Michael Manring [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gyVSNWXoJs&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gyVSNWXoJs...feature=related[/url] Let me know how you get on ;o)))[/quote] Just watched the Michael Manring one and thought "Bloody hell, he's taking forever tuning that bass up..." Then I realised he'd started...

Forgot to add, I've had a BB3000A from brand new in, erm, 87...I think...yeah, probably... and it's a fantastic bass. Rosewood board, tho...

I played one of the BB2024s late last year at Bass Direct for a while, and it was undoubtedly a very very high quality bass, and pretty much what I'd look for as a top-line Uber-P/J-bass. Are they worth the money? I dunno, it depends if you've got it... Apart from not having £2.5k to splurge on a bass, they only do them with rosewood boards, which rules me out - if I was gonna spend well into four figures on a bass, I don't want to be compromising [i]anywhere[/i], and they just don't look good enough for me. As for the celeb endorsements, I'd take those with a massive pinch of salt - Glenn Hughes spouts on at length about how good they are, and then in another interview reveals that for recording the BCC album it "just had to be the 65 P-bass". And then he's gigging with the 62 Jazz...bet Yamaha were delighted with that one...

Well, I'm using mine...as a testbed for a Double-P with Series/Parallel wiring. I've a hankering to hear what that'll sound like, and rather than mod an expensive bass as a trial, I reckon I'll get the answers I need from the Ryder. Pics will follow upon completion. The only real issue will be what to call it... Should I like what I hear, then the mother of all Franken-P projects will lurch towards the light: poncy Warmoth Jazz birdseye neck and board (no dots), some sort of P-Bass body (probably swamp ash, but I've yet to decide, and it'll be black anyway), two Wizard Thumpers with push-pull pot series switching, Hipshot, black pickguard. Mmmmm...

I take it you're not lugging them about yourself, then?

I'd like my 1980 Jetglo 4001 back please. I've got the £180 ready I got for it, too... oh, and my 76 P-Bass: I've got the £150 I got for that. So that's £330 the pair, then...

I've never seen the only thing I'd completely bust the bank for - an Apr 64 Precision with a maple board. Not even sure such a thing exists...

Yup, I've been entirely amp-and-cab-GAS free for a long while now: everything I look at on that front is of purely academic interest. Basses, now, that'll be harder to sort out. I know exactly what I want now (and it's been a very, very long trip to get there - it's gonna be an uber-Franken-P) but I don't have the finances to get there just yet. Then there's the stuff which you just fancy - like the Fortress I bought last month...