ead

[quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1414957043' post='2595074'] Took me about five minutes (I'm seriously below par on ability) and I was able to swap easily Even my then three year old was able to play fanned frets [/quote] I must be really crap then [quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1414956050' post='2595065'] Simple solution... Get a fretless Dingwall. [/quote] They have lines

I've had both, although as a player of absolutely average ability it took me more than the standard 27 seconds to get used to them. That having been said once I got my head around it transition between the two (when the basses were fretted) was OK. Personally I do enjoy playing fretless and the transition between a Dingwall and a "straight" fretless was trickier which is why I'm back on straight frets. I also have an issue with the value for money on DIngwalls. When you think what you could buy for the £2k plus that passive Dingwall ABZs and AB1s cost without many extras, there is a lot of choice out there for a lot less money albeit with straight frets. I would only ever buy secondhand were I to go down that road again.

Just sold some knobs to Mark. Quick, easy, practically perfect in every way.

As an amateur it didn't feel like there was a lot of answers that fitted my situation. Did my best though.

I flip between Strings Direct and Stringbusters atm (I'm a bit of a tart I know) depending on who has what I'm after in stock. Both have been excellent so far. Will try our new affiliate for sure if they have stock of my preferred items.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1414578354' post='2590812'] Now the thing is me and a mate have been talking about the deluxe, if it's not so good sounding swapping the pickups and preamp might not be as easy as the standard USA jazz, are the pickups normal sized for example? If I'm buying a jazz should I just get a normal jazz, then if I'm itching for an active I know a John east and either the stock USA pickups or something else will solve that if I find a nice playing standard? [/quote] For my new ACG JB I am looking at the new ACG 2-band EQ. It is bacially the standard 4-way switch he uses on the passive instruments via an active/passive switch into a new 2-band EQ that is based on the P Retro. So you get a passive bass with the various pickup combos, and an active bass with the various p/up options, not to mention a tone control that also works in active mode. All fed by overwound single coil pickups.

Hi Kev Well, where to start! I have this pre on my custom fretless and one on order for my new ACG fretted beastie. It requires a slightly different approach to 'normal' EQ systems. The volume blend stack needs no expanantion, and presumably you've got the hang of the tone knob (active & passive). It's the middle three stacks where the interesting stuff happens. I can't say which setting 'represents which typical bass tone, but the way I approach the set up is to wind the blend fully over to, say, the neck pickup. Set the top knob on the neck filter stack to the centre and then play an open string and then turn the bottom ring control and listen to the effect it has on the output. You are basically adjusting a low pass filter to set the frequency at which the filter operates. If you turn it back and forwards you get a wah effect (if that helps). The top control works on the boost at the knee point of the filter plus it has a pull function for low mid boost. Play a few well know riffs and adjust to see the effect and to find the tone you like. Once your happy with the this, crank the blend to the neck pickup and repeat. You can then use the blend knob to change the way the bass sounds. If you have two different settings on these two stacks and you can go from a deep double bass type thump to a very bright tone with one turn of the blend control. The treble stack is a different beast, and takes a bit more work to get the best out of it. It is basically a high pass filter that once again you can adjust the knee point and the top knob in this case is pure gain from zero to ??? can't remember +dBs. Take you time to work your way through it and my advice would be to not change everything at the same time as you can get 'lost' quite quickly. There are links at the bottom of this page which take to an explanation of the EQ03 too: [url="http://www.acguitars.co.uk/acg_admin/wordpress/basses/electronics/"]http://www.acguitars...es/electronics/[/url] ...and here: [url="http://www.acguitars.co.uk/acg_admin/wordpress/pdf/ACG_EQ03.pdf"]http://www.acguitars...df/ACG_EQ03.pdf[/url] If you'd like to chat about it please send me a PM and we can organise - more than happy to help as it can be a bit weird if you're used to 2-band and 3-band EQs.

Harsh, but true.

In other news: Having spend a while trying to find a Jazz bass I like (but to no avail) I have commissioned an ACG 'Jazz' bass with all the bits I like. More on this story later...

I'll be in London on Thursday if that helps in any way. Probably adds complexity.

With apologies to the OP for the minor thread hijack, I spend a good while trying various F*****r and clone JBs to find one that rang my bell. All to no avail, so ended up commissioning ACG to build me one to my spec. Too early on to show you any pics I'm afraid. Cost wise it will be a good chunk less then the MIA Fenders.

I would gently refer you to car prices of some of our venerable sports cars (not even the more exotic ones)...

My Pitchblack has worked fine for ages. Now of it is irrecoverably jinxed.

Very easy on the eye indeed, congrats.

Latest pic from ACG towers... [attachment=174598:Body and neck 20141024.jpg]

[quote name='Lord Sausage' timestamp='1414140447' post='2586246'] ...The singer is an ex girlfriend from about 15 yrs ago and my wife's best friend... [/quote] Respect

Yes, in short. We have been together for around 7 years now. The drummer and singer both had a short time out of the band for personal reasons, but are now back in the fold. We enjoy what we do; we like each others company and are tollerant of things like schedules sometimes being difficult to sort out. It probably helps that the average age of the band is late 30s / early 40s.