krispn

Many builders offer a choice of pick ups and charges apply according. Marusczyck do and you pay for the different pick ups as per the price it costs them. Having a ‘standard’ spec is pretty normal for a bass builder and if one decides that they want different pick ups it’s not up to the builder absorb the cost same way shuker will charge you for what they don’t normally carry as their ‘normal’ options. Lets remember the likes of Nordstrand pick ups in an Ibanez it’s very possible Ibanez wind those pick ups in-house to Nordstrand spec? It’s not quite the same as Sandberg or any builder offering pick ups from various manufacturers who have their own operational costs, individual overheads and bottom line to make. If one were to buy a Fender what pick up choice do you have other than what comes as standard on that model? Even with the latest up grade to custom shop pick ups. It’s one choice per range.

Tell Hölger you heard he was rumoured to introduce a colour called ‘September Sunset’

I think the jmj is a killer wee bass and although more expensive is a fine shorty. I think as mentioned above the supro is the only other short scale I’d be into. Glad I have the jmj at my disposal and it’s gonna be my main gigging bass for the foreseeable.

Bit of a preamble The JMJ or the ‘Justang’ (they’ve missed a trick naming this bass!) has a thicker headstock which may add something to the tone but that’s beyond my hearing, different nut width and I believe the neck feels chunkier, more precision like than jazz like than the MIJ but I’ve literally only played a MIJ briefly. The JMJ does feel great to play and the sound is bang on for what I’d expect of this type of bass. I do generally favour a P bass. The sound ... If you were really wanting to try before you buy fitting a Seymour Duncan mustang pick up would likely answer the question. The SD pick up is what’s fitted in the Justang and it can do punk right through to deep dub and the tone pot on mine is very effective across the whole of its taper which is a massive plus. Not a massive help but I’m sure but with any bass all these little things like the thicker headstock do have an impact but ultimately it’s the pick up which might just edge it in terms of tones. I think Fender have just sent a new stock of JMJ’s into the wild so they should be popping up in shops about now. I nabbed mine locally via gumtree (it’s a first run model form 2017) and it’s a cracking wee bass and the pick up sounds good. A mate had an issue with his MIJ sounding too flubby in the lows but I’ve not had gigging experience with a MIJ, the JMJ hasn’t suffered these issues on my recent gigs.

@CameronJ I must be confusing the slightly larger pole pieces with another pick up

If I recall correctly the black labels have bigger pole pieces!

Couple of button presses and you have you sound set up for that room. You're effectively tweaking an eq knob just not on the bass - exact same principle just a different interface. You may find one more intuitive than the other but its the same thing at the end of the day. One could easily program that on a Stomp.... if one knew how All in all I shall concede it's a moot point as you have very clear goals abot your gigging set up - however as someone who gigs frequently, has used the same gear (active Yamaha bass and a Stomp), tweaking on the fly with the band in a live setting I feel qualified to offer the above opinions and it's not really that complicated. If you can use an eq then you're laughing. It's just giving yourself tie to get used to the interface which is easy! Line 6 pride themselves on a good clear manuals too. Also let's not pretend active pre-amps in a bass are 'new tech' Recall the joyous transition from passive to active - think how wonderful the transition from active to full control of your eq and not bound by the old technology of fixed eq points and having to change batteries! Yuk!

One of the best decisions you'll make for a tone tweak is that tonestyler! Congratulations!

Your epitaph would be more fitting if it read "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it program a Stomp!"

Yambassador Krow I’ve maybe mentioned this before with access to the parametric eq on the Stomp you could ‘recreate’ the on-board preamps of all the major after market manufacturers if you know the set points of their preamps. Then a patch could be made with eq only and saved as per each unit i.e. ‘East Uni-Pre’ etc. Or alternatively in snapshot mode you could save the same basic eq but have the mid set point differently so you have access to perhaps a 250Hz or 440Hz or 700Hz bump with a few dB’s boost already applied and have these names to a particular bass so on a gig you have instant access to the boosted eq. Snapshot mode is very clever! Based on what you already like and use it should be a pretty straightforward exercise to set up a boost at 700Hz on a eq patch - a quick a/b test should let you hear how close the two sound and off you go! So for example if you Yamaha PJ benefited from some bass cut or mid boost or you Ibanez sounds better with some high mids tamed just a/b until it’s there and Bingo! The more elegant solution is of course to buy a new bass, buy a new preamp, pay to (have the cavity potential dug out) fit said pre and use it at the occasional wedding gig. Banter aside I found the Stomp eq and basic tube preamp to be really useful in getting a great time right off the bat. Snapshot mode enables slight tweaks to suit a different room, different bass etc. if one is happy with the core sound.

I'm about to run out the door but there is a you tube ivdeo where they show the various power draws of the HX range - worth a search on YT

Yeah there are some shocking examples out there but with you tube there's a really great community to pick u the basics and get going!

Once any of us understands the interface be that on a bit of hardware or software it will be less of a barrier and while having knobs etc to tweak might seem more intuitive it's not always obvious if there are multi function on the same buttons etc. There's a learning curve with any new kit is gonna be a few hours at least beyond the most basic three knob pedal but given an hour or two messing about tweaking/pushing buttons/trying some thing out and basic trial and error anything which isn't glaringly obvious can quickly be found via a you tube tutorial or a manual. It's like the Alesis SR drum machine - if you've reached the limitation of what it can do or just want an more authentic sound then maybe it is time to upgrade but if you feel like there is still some learning to be done on that unit it feels quite intuitive once you get your head around the quantize and the basic recording function - it's basically the same step to record each sound be that the kick or snare etc but obviously one would need to understand the basic's of how that hardware is set up to work and some rhythm knowledge/terminology too! I'm by no means a master of the software stuff I use but I've used it enough to figure things out on my own or in conjunction with you tube/manual. EZ Drummer is super easy (hence the name right!) and if you want actual, recorded drums (as well as individual samples) plus the ability to make your own beats it's as a good a starting point as any. It opens as a stand alone program and it can also be used in a DAW i.e. you can mess about on you pc without a DAW. I was looking at it when I first got it thinking how do I get the drum samples into my DAW? It was a simple 'Drag and Drop' but it never occurred to me to simply pull the drum loop across D'oh! Some might say it was pretty 'intuitive' - it's so bloody obvious now as to be farcical but there you go! I suppose the debate over drum machines may vary from user to user and what's it's needed for - basic demo's or for live use with a band - but be prepared to put in some time learning the unit. Just because something requires a few solid hours of use (I'd say a good 10-12 hours taken in 2 hour blocks can feel like time well spent on a lot of this stuff) doesn't make it clunky or un-intuitive and in fact most of this type of gear really reveals their potential when the user has taken the time to get to understand what it can really do. As an aside Logic Pro for Dummies has been ordered off Amazon as I know there is so much more available to me in that program which I'm not really making use of!

It may work on other devices too but your phone isn’t listed in your signature 😀

*think the app works as the full editor

I think the app on iPhone works too now since the update. That was certainly what a lot of users were punching for. It’s a lot of fun to muck about with and you can always just reset to ‘factory’ if things get too ‘involved’

Easy answer on the Spectracomp - it’s controlling way more than one parameter (40+ at least) by turning the knob up. The editor app will tell you and show you exactly what you need to know should you feel daring and take the plunge!

@mcnash I had a 48 5 string and the pick ups are basically MM/P in the bridge and neck positions. The covers are the only for the look and they aren’t meant to be voiced moline a tbird. I felt the bass balanced really well and it looked cool as! I do still have a VM4 you can have a whack at tonight when you pop over. I’m happy for you to take it away for a few days to compare with your existing heard too as that’s always more

Hahaha @mcnach you been up all night playing that bass 😀 Yeah @lou24d53 The tone styler basically has a heap of capacitors which you ‘click’ through (mine has ten positions) from bypassed aka ‘tone wide open’ through to the equivalent off tone pot fully ‘closed’. Each ‘click’ across the range employs a different cap and as your sound gets less bright it’sremoving top end as well as shifting the mids so you get this gradual top end roll off as well as some nice voicing about the mid range happening. I know for this ‘PBird’ it really nails what I was looking for about 6 clicks back from the wide open position. There’s a ‘grindy’ mids thing which matches the bass/pick up nicely. It’s a cool device and while you may not use every ‘position’ on a gig there will be a couple of ‘voicing’s’ which will be your new sweet spot. That’s certainly been my experience.

...or facebook?

He’s bound to be on Twitter!

If it’s the better sounding pedal then it’s worth considering. I think the sound Ed gets in his video with the pedals linked is really good. I’m not sure if he mentions how the link operates in that review.

@Al Krow there’s Chunk System 00Agent Funk MkII in the for sale. I believe it has an input to link it directly to a fuzz. Might be worth a punt if you’re still on the hunt to fill the No.1 slot on your board. Ed Friedland (who else) has a demo up on you tube and if sounds funky especially when linked to the CS fuzz he demos too.

I’ve no real skin in the game or idea about the whole Yamaha thing- origins, models wood types etc but the vintage neck thru does seem to be what the die hards lust after. As an owner of a 734A it’s a really well put together bass and cracking value (for what I paid). A friend of mine bought a Yamaha bass way back in the day when we were both learning. This must have been the mid 90’s and I could never get on with the look of it and I don’t recall the experience of playing it - It was just wrong in my eyes, a bit bloated and unseemly. As an aside I was big into No Doubt and loved the bass sound on those album (Sunday Morning is an all time fav) but even then I put that down to studio recording over the actual instrument (I was in my teens and knew everything)! These new BB’s really do strike the balance between value, quality and form. I’m a proud owner and it may have taken me quite a while to get here but I’m enjoying it. I’m still not sure of the allure of the older ones but if the current range are anything to go by they’re clearly doing something right irrespective of the colours. I’d much rather have a BB734 (minus the active) in black than spend the extra on a BBP34 but I think I got a good deal on a great bass. To qualify I have a few basses and they all serve different purposes. As Andy alluded above I can tell all them apart and they all do something differently. My Frankenstein p does it’s thing with an awesome neck profile (for my hand) and invokes a previous ‘vintahe’ bass and all the good times associated with it. The 734 pulls me in another direction equally as satisfying. A recently acquired addition has a whole other vibe which I’m really enjoying the nuance of and hope to explore more over coming gigs it’s super comfy, nails that vintage mid range, flat wound thing I’ve always enjoyed as a player and it’s cool as feck.