gjones

Hmmmmm.....very handy. I just bought it. I'll review it when I've read it. Basses are not mark 2 escorts.

I bought an indonesian made, 2002 standard Squire Jazz the other week, on a whim, from another Basschattter for £95. I already have a CIJ Geddy Lee Jazz so wasn't expecting much from it and the plan was to take it to bits and tart it up a bit with new pickups etc. But I was flabbergasted to find that when I plugged it in it sounded amazing. I couldn't get a bad sound and frankly it's the best Jazz bass I've ever heard. It is so incredibly punchy and goes from Jaco to John Paul Jones with everything in between. Of course the tuners and bridge are a bit tinny and the neck has a screw loose which I need to sort but other than that it's fantastic. I too have been hankering after a USA model for years as I assumed it was everything I could wish for in a Jazz but now find it hard to justify forking out £900 for a guitar that doesn't sound as good as my cheapo Squire (however well put together it is) If I had got this sound from a £1000 bass I would have said it was money well spent but, amazingly, I've got it from a (very) cheap low end Jazz. So the moral of this story is...........try before you buy or you could end up with an expensive (but very well put together) US bass that doesn't sound any better than the bloke down the pub's cheapo Squire. And I am that bloke down the pub.

I have 3 very different sounding basses 1 - a geddy lee with roundwounds 2- a 30 yr old Schecter with a P and a Jazz pickup a mute and tapewound strings and 3 - an old Squire Jazz, also with roundwounds. The reason I have them is because they all sound so very different from one another. So if it's an acoustic blues type gig I'll take the Schecter, if it's a rock gig I'll take the Geddy and if it's something that needs a bit of everything I'll take the Squire. My next purchase may be a Stingray, as one thing I don't have is an active bass.

These look like the little suckers! [url="http://www.stagonset.co.uk/fasteners?cart_id=5444941_26246&prm_grp=A2_ScrewBolt_PhilRaPan_M5&summit=M5|Phillips|Pan|Head|Machine|Screws#top"]http://www.stagonset.co.uk/fasteners?cart_...hine|Screws#top[/url] Choose the 10mm screw from the table at the bottom. 13p each I do believe........cheap as chips. Wish I knew where to find them 15yrs ago.

[quote name='roonjuice' post='862234' date='Jun 9 2010, 03:51 PM']WHOAH That seems an impossibly difficult task to make something that must exist in the millions by now! Crazy but appreciated![/quote] Well guess what.....he managed to find the size. It's an M5 screw with a 10mm length and a philips head similiar to these [url="http://shop.ebay.co.uk/items/__m5+x+10mm_W0QQ_dmdZ2?rvr_id=&crlp=1535558920_228459_228460&UA=WXI7&GUID=054416e61220a0aad3d59a25ff1040bd&agid=728969020&MT_ID=10&keyword=m5+x+10mm&ff4=228459_228460"]http://shop.ebay.co.uk/items/__m5+x+10mm_W...4=228459_228460[/url] What I've noticed is that the two other basses I have - a fender geddy lee jazz and an old squier jazz bass from 2002 have worm screws that fix perfectly so it must be a standard screw. Hope this helps.

I have three basses so I have the luxury of being able to set up with 3 different sounds. The first is my 30 year scheckter which has a split pickup at the neck and a jazz single coil at the bridge. On this bass I have tapewound trubass strings which sound very James Jamerson, deep and round and sound great with rootsy type country and blues at low volumes and recorded but tends to get lost and sound woolly at higher volumes. The second is my Geddy Lee Jazz which is set up with, well played in, Rotosound roundwounds. This bass has a very well defined sound whatever strings are on it and is a bit of a jack of all trades. I tend to take a bit of the treble off with the tone control and boost the bass to 'round out' the sound because the bridge pickup is set in a 70's configuration nearer to the bridge which tends to accentuate the mid frequencies. The third bass I have is a 2002 Squier Jazz, which at the moment, is my favourite (which is very weird because it cost £95 secondhand and therefore should sound naff......but doesn't?). This also has rotosound roundwounds on it and sounds fantastic with that scooped sound (bass and treble boosted). In fact it sounds jazzier than a very jazzy jazz bass having a very jazzy day (if you know what I mean). So the answer is I don't really have a 'sound' but like to chop and change depending on the band I'm playing wth and the music I'm playing.

Hmmmm.......I've just bought a 2002, Indonesian built, Squier Jazz Bass standard from a fellow basschatter for £95. I gigged it last night........and I hate to say it but.........it sounds great The neck (after a tweak) is excellent. I haven't checked the pickups but I assume they're standard. The electrics are a bit supect (but nothing a squirt of cleaner can't sort). And here I am, the guy with a beautiful Geddy Lee Jazz, the guy who was lusting after a US built Jazzer or a road worn for £700/800 more than this cost me. Wondering how a bass, made out of plywood and tin, can sound so good. It just excentuates the fact that just because a bass costs £1000 more than the one you have isn't going to, necessarily, make it sound any better.

I've played early 90's Japanese Squiers based on the 62 basses with the grounding strip, Us standards, roadworns, my own Geddy Lee, the latest Mex 70 re-issue. They were all great in their own way. Weirdly the Japanese Squier was my favourite playingwise and soundwise (it had been used and abused and left unloved in a damp rehearsal room for years). So the answer is........ Japanese Squier 62 re-issue. But you don't have that as a choice.

Think of it as a go faster Jazz. Very good quality. Pickups a bit noisy soloed (Not an issue for me). Aggressive sound. Neck is only an issue if you like very low action . If you like Mr Geddy you will like this bass.

That's worrying considering all the good press these basses have had recently (and because I'm planning on buying one).

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='847211' date='May 25 2010, 09:34 AM']Quite strangely, on the Strictly Tour, I've been eq-ing as I always do, making sure I can hear every frequency of the bass & sending the DI signal "pre eq" from the amp. The sound where we are on the stage is great, but all I hear is thud and boom out front. This weekend however, I sent the signal "post eq" and the engineer commented, "Wow, your bass sounds amazing this week." Hmmm... [/quote] Hmmmmmm....a very interesting comment. I've been in the same situation where the sound of my bass out front is woolly rubbish but on stage is excellent. I've always wondered why all the sound guys/girls I've ever dealt with want a pre DI signal, into a DI box, when I've spent a lot of time getting a sound I like with the EQ on my amp. Guitarists get their sound and then a sound guy puts a mic in front of it to amplify THAT sound. Time to make a stand! Bassists unite! If they want a direct signal they can take it from the amp post EQ! Get that poxy wee DI box out of my sight!

[quote name='DreadAlert' post='841397' date='May 18 2010, 09:09 PM']Well - I'm going to town on Sunday and I'm gonna check out: Squier VM Jazz Squier VM Precision Yamaha RBX374 And maybe some others. [/quote] I have a Geddy Lee and the vintage modified squier does a really good imitation. All you need to do is paint the body with some black gloss auto paint and get a white scratchplate and there you go it's a geddy! The thing about choosing a bass for the first time is to get one that looks good..... who cares about the sound!!

Well......these seem to get good reviews on basschat for the price [url="http://www.rondomusic.com/bassguitars4.html"]http://www.rondomusic.com/bassguitars4.html[/url] And as far as bass amplification is concerned I recommend ashdown EB amps which are loud and sound great and most importantly.............are cheap (especially if you buy secondhand - about £100).

[quote name='Annoying Twit' post='835903' date='May 13 2010, 09:15 AM']What is the bridge attached to?[/quote] Hmmmmm, I can't remember but I'm assuming it must be the attached to the metal bass skin frame in some way. Possibly like a very, very big banjo.

[quote name='Bloodaxe' post='836264' date='May 13 2010, 03:32 PM']Ask them for their set list & go off & learn it. A few goodies to have in the bag if they're not in the list: The Thrill Is Gone - BB King (has a surprise 6th) Tore Down - Freddie King, loads of others (stop-tastic!) Crosscut Saw - Albert King (Rhumba) Let The Good Times Roll - Louis Jordan, BB King & others (II-V-I turnaround) Stormy Monday - T-Bone Walker (straight I-IV-V), and The Allman Brothers (not) - you'll be needing both. Bright Lights, Big City and Baby, What You Want Me to Do - Jimmy Reed Key To The Highway - Clapton amongst loads of others (I-V-IV) Killing Floor - Howlin' Wolf, Jimi Hendrix (aka The Lemon Song off Led Zep II) My Babe - Little Walter (Swinging I-V-IV verses, Walking II-V-I on the solo) Boom Boom - John Lee Hooker. Pete.[/quote] +1 Remember dynamics too. There's nothing duller than a blues band that without dynamics especially during a slow blues. If you bring a slow blues up to a crescendo, then down to a whisper during a solo the audience will really take notice. And check out a few minor key blues such as 'who's been talking' by howling wolf and 'long grey mare' by Fleetwood Mac.

They have one of these in the Taybank Hotel in Dunkeld in Perthshire (which holds acoustic sessions throughout the week). It's made with a precision fretted neck attached to a bassdrum skin stretched on a frame with a spike protruding from the bottom of the frame so it can be played upright. It's sounds fantastic with loads of oooomph and the volume of an upright double bass (louder than an acoustic bass guitar). And amazingly it's lighter than an average electric bass. If someone built these in decent numbers (rather than a one off novelty) they would sell like hotcakes!

They are dead purty. I love the inlay on the neck. Neck is quite chunky but not a problem unless you like ultra thin necks. Sounded fine when I played it. Decent construction too.

I tend to think that the sound you get has more to do with your speakers than with the amp. I've had dodgy cheapo amps in the past (carlsbro, peavey, solid state marshals) and most of them sounded fine at low volume. Of course at high volume the speakers started to fart and get woolly. I experimented in rehearsal rooms with putting these cheap solid state amps through decent speakers and the difference was immense! The conclusion I came to is you can economise with the amp but try and get the best speakers you can for your money because they WILL make a big difference to your sound.

Hmmmm, sound engineers do tend to put a lot of compression on bass. That's ok with the louder stuff but the last time I D.I'd and just used monitors onstage to hear myself there were no dynamics. However quietly I played all I could hear was bass guitar drowning everything else out. Of course that may have just been the sound guy being a bit heavy handed with the compressor but I do like a bit of control over my level onstage.

Yes I know exactly what you mean. One fell out of the machinehead of my Schecter about 15 yrs ago and I've never been able to find one that fits in any hardware store. The good news is that the screws from my Geddy Lee Jazz (which I believe has vintage style tuners) do fit the Schecter so they must be a standard size. I have an American friend who is an engineer (he builds simulated robot insects for Edinburgh Uni......somebody has to I suppose?) and after telling him of the problems I've had finding a replacement he has recently made it his sole object in life to find a screw that fits. After measuring them in minute detail he's now in the process of ordering them from the states. So IF they fit I will give you the correct size to ask for. Hopefully my long search will be over.

I always prefer to be on the hi-hat side of the drummer because usually thats the direction the drummer is facing most of the time and you can catch their eye easier for stops, starts, dynamics etc. Which means I mostly listen to the snare and hi-hat more than the bass drum. With most drummers I've noticed that they tend to sync their bass drum pattern to the bass line anyhow - except for the dodgy drummers I've played with over the years who tend to go off on their own tangent. By the way, I was just reading some previous comments and my idea of hell is to play with a drummer like Keith Moon who just wants to solo his way through a song. I don't know how John Entwistle didn't end up just thumping him. When Kenney Jones joined he must have thought he'd died and gone to heaven (no offence intended to Mr Moon......but his drumming sometimes sounded like a drumkit being thrown down a flight of stairs).

For the discerning bassist looking for that Road Worn look.

I always thought of Jazz basses as having a thin middy tone, more suited to soloing or snapping and popping than driving a rhythm section. Although I loved the look of them, I would never have actually bought one as they just weren't suitable for my style of bass playing. Then one day I went to audition for a band and the singer had his Squier Jazz Bass at the rehearsal room (one of the early 90's ones made in Japan) so instead of using my own bass I used his and to my surprise the sound was deep and punchy and clear and not at all the weak and nasal sound I was expecting (despite having 100 year old rotosounds on it). Next thing I knew I was on Ebay and bidding for a 2006 Geddy Lee some guy in California was selling for £320 (that was in the good old days when you could get $2 for £1). The only thing I think that could improve a jazz bass is if they had a knob that would allow you to blend the the input from the two pickups together rather than two volume knobs which would make it easier to adjust your sound onstage. Maybe there is an upgrade available already? If there is let me know, it would make a Jazz the perfect bass.

Looks like there's a brand new lifeform evolving under that bridge cover.