BassAgent

7 hours ago, jd56hawk said:

I will not buy Musicman basses.

I will not buy Fender basses.

No one's been able to provide a compelling reason why I should.

Nobody cares, sorry

I had the renowned "Skarbee" bass.

Well, I have both at home right now. Not Stingrays, but Sterlings. I borrowed a Sterling SB14 from a friend, and shortly after bought a '93 EBMM Sterling. The SB14 is really really good. Like, for that price, insanely good. It's light, the neck is great, it sounds like a proper Music Man, the hardware is good and I really like the colour.

The EBMM is however a different ball park: the neck is a bit chunkier than the SB14 (but only a little bit), has some crazy birdseye figuring on it, the hardware is a lot better than the SB14 and the sound has more depth and "feel" to it.

Is it worth the price difference? Well, yes and no. The EBMM is actually a lot better but also about twice the price (on the second hand market) than an SB14. I do think the EBMM is a better investment, if I'd want to sell it again. The SB14 is bloomin' great, though.

On 03/03/2022 at 19:33, ped said:

Today has been a jazzy sort of day 

 

 

Oh man, seeing this makes me miss my old Celinder again. Such amazing instruments. I hope I can buy one again.

So I've been having an old set (approx 10 years old) of Labella flat wounds on my '71 which have served me pretty well over the years, but recently I've found the E-string to sound way more dusty than all the other strings. A, D and G are fine, E sounds like it's lost all life. Is this a known thing for LaBella? I really want to replace the strings, thinking about getting a new set of LaBellas but if this is the case with the next set too... Might switch to Thomastik.

Oohhhh that is a KILLER colour. Blimey.

They are absolutely fab and I've played...four JMJs so far and this one is the best, probably. Ordered it as a B-stock from Thomann and haven't been let down by it. Funny story: I asked Thomann about what B-stock meant in this case; is it technically ok, no wood damage or anything. So Thomann said: "it might have a scratch here and there". Well, it's supposed to have that, so...

Honestly the best Mustang I've ever played.

This BB is the second bass I ever had and I still really really like it. That neck is...amazing.

Sounds great too.

My Sterling is pretty black.

Pretty happy with these two amazing basses.

On 06/02/2022 at 20:03, BassAgent said:

So yeah I was actually convinced after playing that red Sterling for five minutes so now I have this.

 

 

Finally got some good light in my house

Pretty satisfied with these two gems. Both heavily modded and they sound as incredible as they look. Love these two basses. I've owned quite a few way more expensive fretlesses but especially the Jazz beats them all.

On 21/01/2022 at 20:20, BassAgent said:

Are SBMM basses allowed in this topic? Because I've been looking at a Stingray or Sterling and today I borrowed this SB14 from a friend and I'm really impressed by the sound and build quality. I'm going to check out a "real" MM Sterling next Sunday. 1993, with mutes, I believe it has flatwound strings, are there specific things I have to keep in mind when checking it out?

 

So yeah I was actually convinced after playing that red Sterling for five minutes so now I have this.

Finally had the opportunity to take some photos in proper daylight. Love that birdseye on the neck.

20 minutes ago, Bunion said:

Try a Sterling 4 with a hipshot dtuner? 

You rang?

3 hours ago, horrorshowbass said:

Really want one. The neck profile looks a lot more manageable than a standard Ray

Honestly it's a very long time since I last played a 4-string Stingray so I can't really compare, except with the Status neck on my fretless. But I have no idea how that Status neck compares to a Ray😅

How 'bout a video?

And also important to note: *the* Jamerson bass, the Funk Machine, was probably not a '62 Precision but way more likely a '65 or '66. This topic on Talkbass is a very interesting one to read.

There's a screw missing but otherwise it looks legit. But those blocks...even for Fender in the 60's, that's a strange feature. As @wateroftyne mentioned: it could be a custom order. But somehow that feels weird too.

That's not weird: my '66 Jazz also has lollipops and they look practically new too. I've seen multiple Fenders with lollipops that are very shiny.

Hopefully I'm going to see this giant in three weeks.

Just added a black bass to the collection, the only black one I have at the moment:

Had to use the wide angle lens on my phone for this one.

From left to right, top row: Dingwall Combustion 5 - 1994 Music Man Sterling - 2018 Fender JMJ Mustang - 1971 Fender Precision - Sterling CA34 w/ Status fretless neck - 2001 Yamaha BB N5II

From left to right, bottom row: 2013 De Gier Bebop 5 - 2001 Blade B2 Tetra Bass - 1966 Fender Jazz - 2001 Fender Standard Jazz fretless - 2019 De Gier Soulmate 4

In the stands are two Sadowsky MetroExpress JJ basses in sage green, four and five string.

This is how the current stable is positioned.