LawrenceH

It's definitely worth taking someone knowledgeable with you. They'll be able to tell you, for example, if a guitar has been well set-up. I say this because from what I remember the Yamaha and Squier P neck and fret profiles are pretty close, so if the Yamaha didn't play well it may be because of this (I've never found one that couldn't be set up to play very easily with a trussrod tweak and a play around with the action at the bridge). Someone experienced would also be able to tell the difference between something that sounds better because of superior pickups/wood rather than, simply, the fact that it had newer strings on than anything else. For maximum versatility of tone, 2 pickups are very useful, however, the P bass itself with just the one pickup has been used in pretty much every style of music that uses bass! So if you liked the sound and feel of the Affinity P, then go for it. I know I've said before, but don't be scared of looking secondhand to make the most of your budget. Good luck!

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='988303' date='Oct 14 2010, 07:09 PM']2 have sold on eBay recently for £255 (used) and £360 (new) but I'd realistically have expected to get about 50% of the price you paid new; which would be about £210[/quote] I sold one one here for about £150 I think, but mine was pretty battered. And it got snapped up straight away, so I probably could have got a bit more if I'd been prepared to wait. I'd say for a mint one warwickhunt's bang on the money, so to speak.

+ 1 to the above. Something like a QSC rmx2450 will do the job very nicely and you shold be able to pick one up for under £350. Beware cheaper amps as they can't sustain the output for anything more than a short transient, so often aren't suitable for bass-heavy applications. EDIT: actually, looking around they are a bit more than that typically, but I got one for about £150 that was faulty and they're fairly trivial to repair for a competent amp tech unless the board has actually caught fire!

There is a shop in Edinburgh selling that Vintage line. I didn't try them, but the guitars looked very well put together, QC looked good close-up. I'm intrigued.

[quote name='51m0n' post='987023' date='Oct 13 2010, 03:13 PM']If you D.I a bass with as short a signal path to the recorder and apply no eq then you have a really good representation of what that bass sounds like. Clealry you need to note the strings used, piuckup selection, preamp settings and the playing style as well. And yes it wont sound exactly like you playing the part, but it will be a good indication of the timbre of the instrument.[/quote] +1. If you're experienced enough to know the limitations of what you're listening to, then the clips can be very useful to give you an idea of the ball-park sort of sound. In a similar vein I remember hearing a clip from a company that made a bass with a bridge pup that was switchable between 60s and 70s jazz position and it was the first time I truly appreciated the specific effect that shifting it over 1/4 of an inch had on the sound without being confounded by other variables. To get the same appreciation I'd have had to play a fair number of basses with both positions.

[quote name='neepheid' post='985499' date='Oct 12 2010, 11:00 AM']The following utterances are opinions, not facts.[/quote] Whereas the following utterances are facts, not opinions. The look of rosewood plus blocks/binding is the sex. But maple just sounds funk-eh and that's that.

[quote name='Bassassin' post='985432' date='Oct 12 2010, 10:09 AM']I think the break-angle over the nut will be what makes a difference to tension rather than the length of string behind the nut. Fender types often suffer from a shallow angle on the E & A because of the headstock design, I think a second string tree for these two strings would help. Also make sure when you string up that the windings go from top to bottom of the post, so the string comes out at the lowest point. This should help make the angle sharper & improve tension.[/quote] This sounds more like it actually. You could also just make sure the strings are wound so that they come off the tuner nice and low down and are held there by higher winds.

Best build diary ever

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='984804' date='Oct 11 2010, 07:53 PM']First reply thought it was about pickup height, which it wasn't. Second reply took three paragraphs to say 'try before you buy' and then seemed to think the problem was OK because Jamerson's bass was a wreck. Third reply got the point of what was being said but maintained it was merely cosmetic otherwise Lakland wouldn't allow it. Fourth reply said +1. Fifth was me.[/quote] It's a very American board

Actually that left-handed neck thing might well work! BIt of an expensive experiment though. I definitely noticed the change in compliance on the E string when switching to a jazz from an Ibby (using the same strings and scale). But I quite liked it. If you're not using through-stringing, then that might be worth trying if the bass is drilled for it. Whether these things make a difference or not probably depends on the friction between the string and the nut/bridge.

[quote name='charic' post='984028' date='Oct 11 2010, 06:24 AM']That's fair enough. There's not really a LOT to go wrong though. Short of breaking it yourself which wouldn't be covered.[/quote] Yeah, what charic said - a bass isn't really very high tech! I think all my basses have been secondhand and I kind of prefer it. The wood on an older bass is likely more stable than on a new one. In answer to your question, pickup type and importantly position, body wood, neck wood/construction all seem to impact on different aspects of the tone. But, with their twin pickups and sensible body woods something like the BB414 or a jazz would be versatile enough to cover any style, really, apart from sounding like a double bass - having said that, flatwounds, solo neck pickup, bit of foam at the bridge and it'll do the same sort of tonal job.

If you're mainly after the 70s spacing then you could probably get a US75RI or a MIM 70s for a lot cheaper (try US ebay there's normally one or two), though obviously that wouldn't have the relicing. But otherwise going by the ebay prices on those things, you really are better off buying a whole one and then selling the parts separately! Though that would be a shame.

No disrespect to others above, but given what you list as music you like I would ignore suggestions to buy a P-bass without an extra pup at the bridge. Before anyone jumps on my back, yes they are great for some funk (Paul Jackson of the Headhunters springs to mind), but the core tone is sort of exactly the opposite of Level 42 etc! A jazz type, MM, or a P-J, will be more versatile. I started on a Yamaha RBX170 and it was a great bass to begin on, ergonomic, well-constructed and reliable. The core tone was a little weak but you'll struggle to find better in the sub-£100 bracket that these go for 2ndhand. Having said that, I'd say the BB414/424 is a very worthwhile step up. I don't think you need look beyond the Yamaha range at the low end of the market, there might be others as good but I don't think there's better pound for pound. If you want a jazz then the CV Squier is a safe bet, and there's one for sale on here I believe.

Feel nice and with an aggressive top end, but this doesn't last for a huge amount of time and they probably lack a bit in the mids which makes them sound very dead when they are gone. Were my favoured string until I switched to DR black beauties, although I didn't compare to a huge number of brands.

[quote name='Big_Stu' post='979677' date='Oct 6 2010, 06:00 PM']Anyone know if it's possible to buy a clear coat polyurethane based spray can? On Saturday I won a guitar previously owned by Andy Scott of The Sweet. He's signed a marker pen dedication on it to me which I'd like to permanently protect. I've been told by Washburn that it's polyurethane based. So far I've been told my a couple of manufacturers that their spray paints won't do it - one of them was acrylic which surprised me. So I'm looking for the name of a manufacturer that will definitely be compatible - or the name of a Lancs luthier than can do a small patch spray of coating without breaking the bank.[/quote] I would guess that the solvent in many sprays will unfortunately dissolve the marker pen. You might be able to get round that by doing very very light initial mist coats. Plastikote do a poly-based spray but whatever you use, test it against marker pen on some other smooth surface first!

I had what I'd assume are those same pickups in a Jap 75RI and they were very meh. I'm a bit suspicious of the Japanese 'US' pickups. I'd say it's worth swapping them out

[quote name='Dave Vader' post='979125' date='Oct 6 2010, 09:22 AM']reverse wound reverse phase. Often used in strat middle pickups so that the 2 and 4 positions are humbucking. Means that when you select either of these positions the hum becomes noticeable by it's absence, and your output goes super wimpy. And buying a new router seems to be the best option, or sanding block and a knackered elbow.[/quote] Ahh! Thanks for enlightening me. In that case I can't see how it could be that since it would surely be immaterial except when pickups were used in combination? More likely it's just a weedy pickup sitting too low from the strings. I jam my bridge pup right up close to the strings without problems and I remember it seemed to make a good difference to the bass response.

[quote name='Dave Vader' post='978223' date='Oct 5 2010, 12:33 PM']Finally got my latest bitsa project together last night, Jazz body, silly reshaped headstock neck, MIM pickups. All seemed not too bad, neck has back-bowed a bit but I've loosened the truss, put the strings a bit # and left it over night to pull out. Real problem is same as always, the neck heel is too deep, and the pocket is too shallow, so my pickups don't go quite high enough (at least that's what I assume) to get decent output. I might make some stilts for the pups (foam is super deep and stiff, just wood is too low). On top of this, my neck pickup is not too bad, sounds quite nice, as does both up full. Trouble is, soon as I roll off a bit of neck to get a trebley slappy tone, it goes very thin and weak. Is this just the height? Is it wired up funny? Is it rw/rp (cos I hate that, and it will annoy me a bit) No idea, any help on deepening my neck pocket/thinning the neck heel would be greatly appreciated, need to lose a good 4 or 5 mm overall, and I have broken my router. [/quote] Err, buy a new router? Forgive my ignorance but what does rw/rp mean?

[quote name='Bottle' post='976845' date='Oct 4 2010, 11:12 AM']OK, so I've been using this setup for the last month or so - first impressions have been good (although, it's fair to say I miss playing my Ibanez - it's out on loan at the moment). The Squier has been gigged lots - Sunday mornings at church and Wednesday evenings at the funk jam. Think I can draw some conclusions now - glad I performed the experiment.[/quote] Is the jam using Claudia's bass rig nowadays? I'm glad it's not still my little 12" combo, I think it would probably crumble to dust if you tried to play a low A through it!

Here is a good graph from Audere which shows how the resonant peak on a passive bass pickup shifts downwards as you add capacitance. [url="http://www.audereaudio.com/TechDetails.htm#capacitance"]http://www.audereaudio.com/TechDetails.htm#capacitance[/url] Bear in mind that though the overall response of the pickup gets lower, shifting the peak from a region where the bass doesn't output much to one where it does, and/or from a region which the speakers can't reproduce well (say 4.5k through a 'typical' 12") downwards (say to 2.5k), will have the effect of apparently boosting high-end output.