krispn

I had a Thunderbird pick up in my old P for a while and it was good. Didn’t sound like a p bass - as you’d expect but had a different t kinda mid honk to it. I paired it to a tone styler so I could get the direct to output type hit sound or have varying degrees of capacitor each offering their thing. Not necessarily the answer to the question you’re asking but I just stuck a set of Fender Pure Vintage ‘74’s into a Harley Benton jazz and it’s way more aggressive sounding now. I really like what it does and has a really forward mid quality whereas my Pure Vintage ‘64’s definitely have that deeper classic 60’s thing as you’d expect.

It’s a shame they don’t shift focus to a ‘Modern Player’ series where the do the MM/J or MM/P thing etc. and take some inspiration from other more high end basses and rather than only have the AVRI variants step into the modern age. Pawn shop was cool as it’s that whole modded bass scene. It not my vibe as I’m not a modern bassist by any means but I can see how they could expand the he line up because their custom shop must see a lot of similar design ideas which you think would filter down.

My mate has the passive 5 string and it’s a wonderful instrument. It plays great, sounds great and and overall is a solid well made bass. The killer part is we both saw it on a local gumtree ad and he got to it before I did and paid £600 or something like that. For the money it’s fantastic value. He gigs it often and loves it even though he normally plays a short scale due to a neck issue.

So new body wood. Is that the innovation?

Not for me it doesn’t sound enough like a Fender or look enough like a Fender. 😉

Last time Fender attempted to do something different we got the Dimension bass and they were sh*tcanned because nobody wanted them. The usual complaints they didn’t sound enough like a Fender or look enough like a Fender abounded.

That was the reason I bought the JHS Colourbox. I had a tube DI and was using that as my FOH sound but wanted some eq options too. It made sense to grab a unit which worked beautifully on bass (which it does) and I really wanted that flexible EQ as I do have some preferences of where I like my jazz bass eq’d but also to dial out any resonances etc. if the room was being troublesome. Very soon after I got that set up the chance to buy a “dream preamp” came up hence the sale. If I hadn’t nabbed that pre I’d be keeping it.

I’m selling a JHS Coulour box(v.2) which has transformers on the input and the DI output (as well as great semi parametric eq options for an upright)! It’s also got combo inputs/outputs for mic or 1/4”. Often transformers are a much sought after piece of the signal chain. Some of the warmth which folks are after isn’t always from a valve pre in a pedal and there are a few considerations such as is it running at the correct plate voltage etc. I have a couple of transformers in my signal chain and a tube preamp so the colourbox is surplus now. Shameless plug but Janek Gwizdala recently added one to his live rig as his touring DI. This is for sale too (not by me) and might be a good fit for what you’re after.

Didn’t know you were a beach boys collector 😀

I care little for other peoples ocd😀

I’ve added a few things, sold a few things and experimented a wee bit and a re-route of one or two things here’s the board. The top row is for FOH only so tuner… preamp (DI out)>compressor>CabIR and is basically a clean signal chain. Everything below runs as you’d expect from right to left in order form the pre-amp> LBA2020s transformers(hidden underneath)> comp> dirt> fuzz> EQ> HPF (hidden underneath) I think I may still look for a low gain unit but the preamp does have some degree of boost and a nice gain range to keep things lively! I’ve a MarkBass comp which can add in some extra ‘tone’ but I’ll see how this goes for the next few shows. The fuzz will go next I think - I’ve been trying out various drive pedals as I think it’s the one thing which I can rotate to taste as the rest of the signal chain is sounding great.

Yeah I guess I was thinking the bog standard Ampeg style units SVT/B15 type but I think the UA plug in’s are via Brainworkx rather than in house like the 1176, LA-2A software development etc. Like I mentioned I think Tore from TC was drafted in aith the goal of designing specific guitar-centric pedals as a new venture and most of this (much like with Origin) will see the guitarists catered for first. When I was mucking about on the stomp I used whatever amps sounded best be they guitar or bass specific as they all have their qualities especially with the clean blending and parallel pathways As for market forces I think for every band where the guitarist wants a Dumble style amp or a 5150 there’s likely to be a bass player standing in the shadows who’s up for trying a new floor based stomping toy in the endless ‘promised land’ tone search.

My buddy has a passive HH Fender Dimension and it has a lovely neck which has a slightly symmetrical profile. Sound wise it’s not quite a stingray but unique enough to not be Fender either. The only problem is the prices they are going for. He bought his used for £650 a few yrs back.