Sparky Mark

1 hour ago, silverfoxnik said:

Wow - I haven't seen one of these Odyssey basses in the UK for about 30 years! 

 

IIRC, a bass player called Eg White played one of these in his first band, Yip Yip Coyote, circa 1983/4, before he went on to form Brother Beyond.

 

Eg was a really good player and his Odyssey bass sounded incredible. 

 

A really rare bass indeed and great to see on here. .. 

 

GLWTS 👍😊

That's some pretty impressive niche knowledge mate. I do remember the name Yip Yip Coyote, but must've erased that song from memory. Where on earth does a band go after that song? 

3.34kgs seems about right for a late 70s P. Once the neck and other hardware are added it could weigh around 4.5kgs / 10lbs.

Weight please?

Cheers. 

24 minutes ago, binky_bass said:

This needs it's own OnlyFans...

 

Pretty sure I bought a MarkBass SD1200 from you a decade or so ago? If so, a top man to deal with! If not, probably still a top man to deal with!

 

Actually... according to historical BC records, t'was I that sold you a bass head! The 'Top Man' comment stands. 😆

Yep, 'twas my Markbass TA503, that I still own. Thanks for the kind words mate.

2012 SPECTOR® Coda Deluxe 4 USA MODEL MADE IN THE WOODSTOCK, NY WORKSHOP.

Here is a stunning example of Stuart Spector's work, this CODA is adorned with a superb piece of high grade buckeye burl and has a Pau Ferro fingerboard fitted with quality abalone Spector crown inlays.

NECK CONSTRUCTION: 1-Piece Rock Maple, SPECTOR® 1962 Neck Shape™

FINGERBOARD: Pau Ferro

NECK INLAYS: Abalone Spector inlays

NUMBER OF FRETS: 20

SCALE LENGTH: 34"

RADIUS: 7.25"

WIDTH AT NUT: 1.5"

STRING SPACING AT BRIDGE: 0.75"

Hardware

BRIDGE HEX KEY SIZE: 2mm

TRUSS HEX KEY SIZE: 5mm

COLOR: Chrome
BRIDGE: Hipshot A style
TUNERS: Schaller®
STRAP BUTTONS: Dunlop® Dual Design™

Electronics
TONE CIRCUIT: Aguilar® OBP-2™ with passive tone and active/passive switching
CIRCUIT TYPE: 9-Volt Active
BRIDGE PICKUP: Aguilar® J™
NECK PICKUP: Aguilar® J™
PICKUP TYPE: Passive - Single Coil, This bass is Active or Passive via Push-Pull Pot

Body
SPECTOR® Original Coda™ Body Shape
BODY CONSTRUCTION: Lightweight Alder
PICK GUARD: None
Top: Buckeye Burl top - £400 option
FINISH OPTIONS: High Gloss

Weight: 4.125kg/9lb 1.8oz

Condition is excellent/unmarked other than a single ding on the body top inside edge; shown circled in one photo.

Comes with a Spector Hardcase with key (made in Canada by TKL), a Spector Deluxe padded gig bag, a premium quality leather Right On Spector branded strap fitted with a pair of Dunlop strap locks and the truss rod and bridge allen keys.

Price is £3,000 by cash/bank transfer collected or localish meet up nearish to Bury Saint Edmunds. No trades please, just a straight sale, thank you for looking.

More info and review below the photos. Please PM me for more info/photos.

ABOUT THE CODA 4™

It is no joke that Stuart Spector is always thinking about new ways to bring new avenues to improve player experience and offer new soundscapes for musicians to explore.

The Coda™ Bass is the perfect example of how Stuart looks to take classic ideas and put a decidedly SPECTOR® twist on them. Part homage to the great bass sounds and styles of the past and yet new and refreshing because of the attention to detail and hand-crafted construction, the Coda™ is nothing short of a new SPECTOR® Classic.

"But why do something that's been done before?"

Do not let the familiar and more traditional styling deceive you.  This bass is a thoroughbred SPECTOR® through and through.  All of the things that make our NS-Bass™ models so popular are present in the Coda™. 

It's these little details and the fact that these basses are hand-made by Stuart Spector and his master craftsmen in our Woodstock Workshop that sets the Coda™ apart from the rest.  SPECTOR® players are always first to point out how the necks of their guitars and basses are notably better than any instrument they've ever played.  We invite you to try a Coda™ and see if you don't agree with us. 

"We feel we've created something new and special honouring those classic designs of years past.  "

~ Stuart Spector

Spector Coda Review 2011

Stuart Spector is a legend in the bass world. His instruments have provided the backbone to bands like Metallica and Living Colour, and have often been imitated. Spector’s Coda series is made by hand by the man himself and his small team in the USA, and unlike his more sleek models like the NS, which still looks futuristic over 30 years after its debut, the Coda pays tribute to an altogether more vintage aesthetic.
THE LOWDOWN
I reviewed both the Coda 4 (four string) and Coda 5 (five string) basses. Each features: a one-piece rock-maple neck with a 20-fret  Pau Ferro (Bolivian rose¬wood) fretboard carved into Spector’s 1962 neck shape; a lightweight alder body; Aguilar OBP-2 active tone circuits; passive Aguilar J single coils; Schaller tuners; Dunlop Dual Design strap pins; and 34-inch scale lengths. The  fret radius on each instrument is a curvy and comfortable 7.25 inches. Lined or unlined fretless fretboards are available at no additional charge.
The Coda is available in four colours: creme, solid black, candy tangerine and metallic blue. I reviewed the Coda 4 in Candy Tangerine and the Coda 5 in solid black. The workmanship of both basses was absolutely flawless. The crucial neck joint area is unbelievably tight, ensuring unfettered energy transfer between the wood grains of the neck and body. The finish is perfectly applied – something you really appreciate on a jet-black instrument like the Coda 5 on review –  and the fretwork is incredible. Bass players often aren’t as picky about the condition of their frets as guitarists, since there’s less bending involved, so I’ve played some basses with pretty woeful frets. The Codas leave them all in the dust. The sheer smoothness of the fret ends encouraged me to get more adventurous in my arrangements, throwing in more slides and grace notes than I would otherwise attempt, simply because the instruments felt so damn agreeable to such techniques.
FACE THE BASS
The Coda’s tones are very punchy, powerful, dynamic and balanced. The low end is deep and tight, the treble is present and raspy (in a good way) and the midrange is very musical, placed smack bang in the middle of the midrange spectrum rather than being an overly boomy low-mid or overly honky upper-mid voice. The bass’ unplugged tone is noticeably piano-like in tone, attack and sustain, and I quite happily spent about an hour and a half playing the Coda 5 unplugged before it dawned upon me that I should plug it in and hear what it could do through an amp.
The Coda’s “plugged in” tone is similar to it’s unplugged voice: balanced, sustaining and with great dynamics. Because the pickups are passive and only the pre¬amp is active, you can switch the preamp off and use the bass with a more vintage tone, which is great for straight-ahead rock and old-school soul and R&B. The ability to boost the treble and bass via the active pre-amp maintains the balanced tone and sustain characteristics while building upon them for a percussive, snappy slap-and-pop tone, and dipping out the treble and keeping the bass up high creates a killer dub voice. I also liked using the bass pot to reduce the low frequency a little, to allow the instrument to sit more neatly within a recording that featured double-tracked seven-string electric guitars.
IN A CLASS OF THEIR OWN
The Codas are world-class basses that are built with a discriminating touch to create, dare I say it, champagne tones. The workmanship really is second to none, and the only reason I’m not immediately wiring money to the distributor so I can keep the basses instead of returning them after the review is because my bank manager would kill me.
By Peter Hodgson
Price: RRP $4199.99 (Coda 4); $4399.99 (Coda 5) 

2018 Fender USA Limited Edition Parallel Universe '51 Telecaster PJ Bass in excellent/new condition with all original paperwork, tools and case. Weight: 4.3kg / 9.48lbs.

This is a lovely passive PJ bass with an amazing tone, described by Fender as "punchy, growling, seismic and like nothing you've heard before." I agreed when I tried it, hence why I purchased it from new. However, my recent retirement now dictates that my bass collection be trimmed to fund my other addictions. As a Limited Edition it is relatively rare, with a unique set of features which also appealed to me. The translucent nitrocellulose lacquer blonde finish allows the ash grain to show through beautifully IMO.

Also included is the framed Fender promotional Parallel Universe '51 Telecaster PJ Bass artwork to adorn your studio/man cave wall.

Happy to provide more information or photos on here or via Personal Messenger, just ask.

Price is £1500 collected from Bury Saint Edmunds or localish meet up.

No trades please, just a straight sale, thank you for looking.

Link to Fender video:-

Specifications:-

Body: Solid Ash. Body Finish: Blackguard Blonde Gloss Nitrocellulose Lacquer.

Neck: Maple with maple fingerboard. Neck Finish: Gloss Nitrocellulose Lacquer Front, Satin Nitrocellulose Lacquer Back. Scale Length: 34 inches (864 mm).

Fingerboard Radius: 9.5 inches (241 mm). Nut Width: 1.625 inches (41.3 mm). Controls: Dual Concentric Volumes, Master Tone.

Custom Shop '60s P Bass split-coil middle pickup, Custom Shop '60s Jazz Bass single-coil bridge pickup.

Stacked volume knob, where the top knob adjusts the volume of the Precision Bass pickup and the bottom adjusts the Jazz Bass pickup. Master tone control.
Bridge: 4-Saddle Hi Mass Vintage-Style Bass with vintage-style nickel-plated brass saddles. 

Tuning Machines: Fender® Lightweight Vintage-Style Keys with Tapered Shafts.

Fender blurb:-

The authentic style extends from the slab body, distinctive single-ply black pickguard to the dual-concentric volume knobs and vintage spaghetti logo on the Telecaster-style headstock — original-era touches brought into the present. What's more, the neck recalls the time of James Jamerson, as it's based on a '63 P Bass profile ideal for funky, thumb-over playing, and the 9.5"-radius fingerboard makes for fast, low action. In all, the '51 Telecaster PJ Bass has the look of the bass that started it all, but several contemporary trappings. The result is a bass that is punchy, growling, seismic and like nothing you've heard or seen before.

The way you are adding these files seems to require them to be downloaded to our devices. Do you have them in a recognised picture format? They should then appear in this thread as photos. 

Sounds like Andertons may be employing the assistants too disinterested and rude to work in Denmark Street. (That used to be a pretty high bar). 

Is the tone control the push/pull switch? Is it a parallel to series switch? Does it still function as a tone control in both positions please? Apologies for the inquisition. 

10 hours ago, BassAdder60 said:

Well in fairness they use DPD as a standard next day delivery so I couldn’t expect a refund and in fairness on the delivery day they emailed to say things were running late 

 

That's not a whole lot of use if you've arranged the day off work to receive the delivery though is it? Luckily, having retired, I'm free to hang around the house endlessly in anticipation. 

Warning; contains some rude words:-

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/17jcisw6mb/

1 hour ago, BassAdder60 said:

As a comparison I ordered my XVIVE A58 from Andertons and paid next day delivery DPD based on I would be home to receive it. Order placed early enough but they didn’t ship and after calling them they said they were very busy and not all next day shipments were processed. Not a major thing as they are normally slick. As mentioned ordered on Bass Direct Friday, it was shipped Friday to arrive Monday which is fantastic. Yep they get my vote 👍

Did you receive any sort of refund from Andertons; I'm assuming the next day delivery cost you more?

21 minutes ago, Rosie C said:

 

There will be no future owner, well, not until I've popped my clogs.

 

We're emigrating to the Republic of Ireland. So not as crazy as Australia or Canada, and I have the longer VW Caddy so I can get all my amps, basses, etc. in the van and take them over myself. 

 

As to which cab I prefer, I've not had a chance to really play with it yet - I'd only just got over Christmas when we had an offer on our house so everything has been pretty crazy since then. 

What a fantastic place to live with a music culture second to none, I'm jealous! Personally, I'd still keep the pedal; you'll probably make new contacts in Ireland with the skills to diagnose/fix it, and it could still prove an asset at home.

23 hours ago, Rosie C said:

In other news, our emigration plans have moved up a gear. I don't have time to fix the foot switch and I'll not really need it - so it's available here for postage:  

 

 

A slightly more sensible option might be to just take one of the cabs to the gig, depending on which you prefer the sound of on its own?

When and where are you emigrating to, and are you taking this rig? Keeping the pedal with the head could be a nice touch for a future owner to fix.

57 minutes ago, Rosie C said:

 

Thanks. I'll probably just leave them, and stick the badge on with that stick foam you fit car number plates with.

 

Good idea. 

I reckon you'll need to pull them off. They may be very hard to pull off after all the years. 

11 minutes ago, scrumpymike said:

Did anybody else watch the Jools Holland Hootenanny on NYE? A pretty turgid event as usual but I was interested to see and hear The Kooks' bass player laying down some neat bass lines with a pick on a Hofner Club bass.

Yep, saw that and thought of this thread.

2 hours ago, ASW said:

Thanks for responding though. I particularly like the Eggle bass in your profile pic (at least I think it is). I've never seen one in the wild but am a fan of their New York guitars. 

No problem; sometimes you just have to provoke a response. LOL.

Yes, it's a Patrick Eggle New York bass. Took me a few years to find it on Ebay after a local bass player sold it on Reverb. 

16 minutes ago, ASW said:

 

Does anyone have an answer to this? 

Artist series are just based upon specific models in Hofner' history. Google AI is your friend.

I put one of these on my 4003SW and it completely transformed (for the better) how it played. It seemed to quicken the string response, with more sustain. GLWYS. 

Are you 100% certain that the neck is ash and not maple?

3 hours ago, Rosie C said:

 

None taken!

 

Nice work! I did look on ebay earlier for new capacitors, but immediately realised that I don't know what sort of pins they have soldered to the PCB - some of the new ones have wires, while some of the larger values have flat blades - so I can't progress until we open the amp again and this time look at the underside of the PCB.  

Cheers. Hopefully you won’t need to do too much disassembly to get to the underside of the PCB. Old solder joints and connectors can be rather fragile and crack when disturbed, causing more issues. Desoldering large caps can also be a bit of a PITA, due to needing a fair amount of energy from the soldering iron to melt the solder sufficiently to remove without lifting the PCB track/pad.

You are very lucky to have a friend with the knowledge to help fix your amp. 

20 minutes ago, Rosie C said:

 

My friend is a knowledgeable amp tech     

 

She explained it to me (though I've since been to Google to make sure I get it right here)...

The 50Hz AC mains is rectified, converting it into a series of positive DC pulses, and the capacitors smooth the pulses into a steady DC voltage. If the capacitor isn't working properly, the ripples aren't fully smoothed and you can hear a ripple frequency in the speakers. But because it's between the peaks of the rectifier wave the frequency has been doubled to 100Hz.

 

I found this drawing which sort of shows the frequency doubling...

 

That's good information; no disrespect intended towards your friend. I recently replaced some swollen but still working capacitors in a 1980s NAD amplifier because I could see they were damaged. The good news is that new capacitor technology has moved on and you should be able to find replacements in smaller packages.

That's good news re the front panel illumination; I guess it's possible a previous owner preferred the panel unlit?

Is 100Hz hum a known symptom of failing PSU capacitors? Before doing any desoldering or replacement of parts, I'd recommend you get a knowledgeable amp tech to take a look.

Of course, it may be impossible to get that head to be completely silent or hum free simply because of noise on your mains supply or other radio frequency interference. On a gig, additional noise is very often present for various reasons, but isn't a real problem because of other background noise.

13 hours ago, Rosie C said:

I've finally got to play with my AH300 today. It's awesome, but there's some strange behaviour. The front panel has lamps for pre-shape, valve, compressor, effects loop, etc. and the pedal board has the same set of lamps. I'm assuming the same lights should be lit on both panel and pedal board. But when pressing various panel switches or foot switches it's easy to get them out of step - e.g. valve lamp is lit on the panel, but out on pedal board. I press either switch and it swaps over. 

 

Is this anyone has experienced before? Google AI seems to think it's a common problem, but I can't find any real website with information. 

 

Is the pedal definitely the correct one for the head? (there may be different versions for different generations of head).

I would expect that once the pedal is connected that it takes precedence, and probably best not to use the head's switches.

Are all of the switches on both the head and pedal momentary or latching? (The type of each switch on the pedal should be the same as the one on the head).

If all the lights on the head are on, what happens when you insert the pedal connector? (Do all hot switching tests with master volume at zero).

If certain pedal switches don't work every time they are pressed, it could be they need their contacts cleaning. It could also be worth cleaning the pins and female pin sockets on the head.

Although there are many switch cleaning products available, I'd recommend Deoxit D5.