Jerry_B

I have an '83 T-40: It's one of my favourite basses. I'd not put it through an amp for a while but got the chance to do so last weekend, after not having the chance for a few years. It's a nice rugged piece of engineering, and I don't mind it's weight (tbh, with a decent strap the weight isn't noticeable IMHO). I like all the different tones it can create, and sooner or later I've found myself gravitating to a few settings with the controls/switches that I use as a kind of default. I'm also interested in the 1000w MiniMega head, as my PF350 isn't really powerful enough any more in a band situation but I've not committed to that idea just yet. My only 'gripe' about the T-40 is that, now their price has ballooned, using one for gigs seems like a bit more of a risk...

I don't mind the weight of the T-40 - mind you, in the event of a nuclear war I'm going to use its hard case as a bunker 😁

Aha. I've not seen any since maybe 1990 or so. The three music shops in the little town where I was living at the time all stocked them, IIRC.

Strange. I've been using Elites for donkeys years and have never had any problems with them. In fact, they're the only strings I've used that don't go dead or muddy after a lot of playing and as I play with a plectrum I like the fact that they keep their sound well over time. I think one of my basses has a set that's about 3 years old and they're still perfectly useable. Their DBEs are good too. That said, their Detroit Flats are not my cup of tea as they do go muddy - I much prefer Chromes. I think in the late 80s I was using Labella Hard Rockin' Steel strings but I think they were rebadged some time ago(?).

Mids. But I play with a plectrum.

Yep. I almost bought a quite battered 1979 model on Ebay before I spotted the one I have now, which I bought from someone here on BC in 2010. It's crazy how the price of T-40s has rocketed since then.

Oops - forgot to mention I also own this monster from 1983 (my brain still thinks of this as being a 70s bass, for some reason or other):

My first proper bass was a 1985 Westone Spectrum DX, which I bought in 1989. I say 'proper' as my first one was an Indian-made Jazz that was barely playable. I got the DX second-hand for 20 quid from a shop in Weymouth, but some dingbat had spray-painted it with green car paint and filed off the serial number. The paint was a bugger to strip off and when removing it the original red paint went too. So the whole thing was given a coat of beeswax and it's been the same way ever since: It's been a solid bass over the years. The only thing I've ever had to do with it was put in some new tuners and had it refretted about 3 years ago. I am a die-hard Westone fan. I have a few more: This site has a lot of details pics etc on the various Westone basses and guitars. The other 80s basses I have are an Aria Pro II Laser Electric Heritage from 1985 or so, and a Hohner B2 headless from about the same date or a bit later. Both of those are good fun too.

I've just acquired a Westone Spectrum LX and it's neck pup is essentially a Pbass type but with bigger poles. At the moment the D and G strings sound much quiter than the others when played. I've unscrewed it from the body and flipped it over to see if there are any loose wires, but it all seems ok (although the pup itself is sealed with a dob of plastic-looking glue at four points). I've had a look at the pots and the wiring there seems ok, so I'm wondering what the issue could be. The bass wasn't in all that great condition when it was delivered, despite having its own hard case, and was generally cruddy with some evidence of rust on exposed painted metal parts, and some of the poles on the pup were a bit tarnished. So I'm wondering if something has rotted somewhere, or whether it just needs all the electrics having a squirt of contact cleaner (which I haven't tried yet). Any ideas about what might be going on would be much appreciated. I have a few regular pbasses but have never had this issues with their pups.

I have an old Hondo II guitar that needed revamping so as part of a few upgrades I asked John if he maybe made looms for Les Paul-type things. Luckily he did and he also tweaked the loom a bit to get the most out of the Iron Gear pups I'd added as part of the revamp. Once my my sausage fingers managed to install it, everything worked brilliantly!

Yamaha BB's are awesome bits of kit. Not a huge fan of the scratchplate and metal they put on them now but either way they sound good and play very nicely.

Bass: David J Glenn Campling Hooky John Nowlin Dave Riley Rainy Wainwright Paul Gray Leslie Langston Alison Shaw Dean Garcia Sooyoung Park Klaus Fluoride John McCoy's bass on the first Space:1999 theme tune is what started it all. Geetar: Michael Schenker Captain Sensible Bernie Tormé Dave Sardy Steve Albini Mark Francombe Matt Cope Jon Fine

I've been playing Spectrums since '88. Still have my original Spectrum DX (see pic) and it's still going strong. Generally I really like Westones (I have a few) but the Spectrums are my particular fave.

I bought this 1986 Westone Spectrum GT earlier this year, which was a nice find. They don't turn up for sale very often but this one was on Ebay quite cheaply so I snapped it up. It's in a particular shade of red that my phone camera can't capture very well. Initially I wasn't sure about it as the bridge pickup sounded very thin and it has a quite odd volume/tone/tone arrangement with a push/pull phase reverse on the volume control. However, after taking it apart and doing a bit of work to raise the pickup height, it's turned into a very giggable bass.

My bitsa 'Quite Black' P-bass. Gigging at the Water Rats in 2017. Thinking of putting everything onto a sea-foam green body and not using those tapewounds any more.

My recently aquired Westone Thunder 1A from 1984. A really nice solid bass. Took quite a bit of work to bring it up to scratch as the previous owner had not looked after it too well.

Ok, cool - thanks for your help! I'll get some on order.

Aha - thanks very much for the info! The exterior part of the jack has a slot in it. Would a new jack also need this, or is it a nut that can be attached to the new jack?

I've just acquired a B2 and it seems that the jack input is a bit loose, so the signal can be a bit patchy. I took the cover off of the bass too look inside, and it seems that the jack itself is inside some sort of sleeve. Does anyone know of some trick(s) that will allow me to fix the issue? Usually with Pbasses, etc I can make this sort of adjustment easily, but the sleeve thing on this B2 seems to prevent that unless it's removable in some way.

Nice An Aria was the first bass I ever bought new (up to then, I'd bought second-hand basses). That was in 1988. I think it was a Pro II from 'The Cat' series. A friend of mine may still have it, but I've not seen him for yonks.

Yeah, it's the first medium scale bass I've ever owned or played and for the first few plays my brain was not sure what to do It's actually more beaten up than it looks in the photo. Various dings and scratches. I'm guessing the previous owner mostly played the E and A strings at the top of the neck and hammering away with a plectrum. There's a lot a scratches around the neck pup, there's gouges in the fingerboard and the frets have seen better days. But it's still very playable and the pups are nice and barky

I also recently acquired this Pro II Laser Electric, but I've not tried it out yet as it's in the UK and I'm in Finland I've been after one for a while after not being able to afford one in the 80s

Well, with a lot of swearing and much flattening of thumbs, I managed to get the bugger to budge! The pup rubber was more like a thinnish block of plastic, so the pup now sits on some slices of mousepad. The bridge pup now it adjustable, and combined with a new set of roundwound Chromes (I think the bass was still wearing the original factory strings!) the whole bass has come to life I've attached a pic so that you can see how it looks now. It's a medium scale 1983 CSB. Thanks again for all the help and encouragement!

Hehe - I was thinking of maybe using a few spoons as levers

That's good to hear - cheers! There's a bit of a gap around the pups so they're not wedged in by the body, so it must just be 36 years of being just sat in it. Anyway, it now means I can just have another go at trying to get the pup to budge, so some more elbow grease is obviously in order.