BassAgent

I was fixing a friend's bass yesterday and it was loaded with a Bartolini preamp. Those preamps include a trim pot, which controls the output gain. Could that be a solution, and can that be added to the Aguilar OBP-3 or do I need a completely new preamp then?

Haha wow now I feel réally lucky🙃

Thanks! We've re-recorded it on the new EP, sounds even better IMO

We do! We play together in a 2 Tone ska tribute (but I play guitar there), and we play in Violet Hour, an americana band. Debut EP upcoming We've been playing together practically non stop for the last 20 years.

It was my first car and I loved that little thing.

Apparently I bought the bass from a guy who sold it just because it wasn't original.

The drum kit in question.

Yes! He had a gorgeous drum kit built in Finland. I think it also depends on whether your bass is original to begin with: mine was already refinished, had two screws replaced and was without the original case.

10 years ago, my brother and I did this: We participated in a Dutch TV quiz. While driving to the final round in my Fiat Panda, we fantasized about what we would do with the prize money. My brother (a drummer) said he'd have a drum kit built, and I said I'd buy a vintage Fender bass. Not long before that I was at Paul's Bass Matters here in NL to have some coffee and drool over vintage Fenders, as I did pretty often back then because I lived very close to his shop. That specific time, I played on a 1966 Jazz that was absolutely perfect for me. It had everything. The colour was right, dots & binding on the neck, sound, feel, the lot. But then there was the price. The 19-year-old me thought he'd never be able to afford this kind of bass. And then we won. The prize money was more or less exactly the price of that bass. I don't recall it exactly but I think I sent Paul an e-mail that very day stating "please hold the bass for me, I'm coming for it". And so, a day before my 20th birthday, exactly 10 years ago, I drove to Nijmegen to pick up my favourite bass of all time. I take it to pretty much every recording session I do, and especially since it got some new frets last year, it's seeing more stages again. What a bass. Everything is absolutely perfect.

Thanks for the advice I know about pickup height. The pickups are kind of high already, I like 'em high, also because of playing comfort. I can try to raise them even more, but I doubt if that would give it so much more output.

As you may or may not know, I own this gorgeous De Gier Origin fretless. It sounds absolutely amazing, but it has a big problem, which made me put it up for sale: the output is very, véry low. I took it to a gig when I first got it and compared to my '71 Precision the output is amazingly low, same goes for all my other basses. I really don't want to sell it but I feel forced to. Unless there is a solution: get some other electronics. It has the Bartolini Classic Dual Coil pickups and an Aguilar OBP-3 preamp. I have very good experiences with Aguilar preamps so no worries there. Then there's the pickups: you'd think "just get yourself some decent 5-string, high output pickups and that's the end of it" but there's a catch: the pickups are relatively small. The bridge pickup is 93 mm (3.66"), neck pickup is 91 mm (3.58"). I am a pretty decent googler but I couldn't find any 5-string pickups that match the size of these. Does anyone have a solution? I don't want to go gigging with extra preamps.

Yes. I always do that.

I read it on his Instagram page yesterday. Seriously bad news. I met him two years ago after a Marilyn Manson concert. Absolutely fantastic bass player (I lóve his playing in The Mars Volta) and an incredibly nice guy. Hope he'll recover.

That is the exact description of the issue at hand

I did anchor it in the tuner. The core wasn't broken as far as I can see. I've owned dozens of DR sets and this is the first time this has ever happened.

It's hard to see. It's a regular vintage Fender tuner. I have solved it for now by putting some tape around the end of the string. But it's still weird.

So I have changed hundreds of sets of strings over the last 20 years but this has never ever happened to me before. I was in the process of changing the strings on my '66 Jazz and everything works as usual but the G-string keeps slipping from the tuner. I've used these strings on this bass before and tried every trick I know but it just keeps slipping. It's impossible to tune the G-string. Is there a trick I've missed? I know the making of a 90 degree angle, I know about winding it differently... Really, really weird and really, really frustrating.

Did a cover of the new Tame Impala song:

Made a little video about the difference between a Mustang and a Precision.

Hmmm well it feels like it has a big body compared to the scale length but I think that is perception.

For me, it's nothing like a Precision tbh. I compared them next to each other in rehearsal yesterday and although they certainly have their similarities, but the Mustang is a lót "muddier", while the P is tighter with more sustain. Both definitely have their qualities and are super complementary. I can't record demos of both now; the P is currently strung with rounds because I'm doing a Green Day tribute gig on Christmas

I'll record some demos! It's not reeeaaally fair because the P has LaBella flats on it, while the JMJ has Fender flats which are really different strings but it's interesting nonetheless.