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Which review is this please db5?

I personally am glad the OP makes no reference to playing unlined fretless basses well, just if we are playing them

OK got it thanks.

Wow, what combos is that giving you?

That is a chuffin' lovely bass @Mastodon2

From a Spector perspective the first 'decent' bass I owned was the original Spector Legend (before the range split into two versions). It was a cracking bass and you can find them lurking about for £300 or so. Probably the best in terms of value for money that I have owned was an NS-94. Virtually a US quality bass made during the SSD period when he was in litigation about who owned what. Not up for sale often but worth waiting for imho, ymmv etc.

Oooh count me in. I have a couple of ACG fretless basses:

13 hours in and so far so good. What is the official policy on trades? Are they OK on the basis that it's not more stuff just different stuff?

Excellent, thank you for that. I'm now looking forward to seeing a metal act with a bassist using a Hofner strung with flats (in standard tuning)

I'm glad that has finally been cleared up. We now need a definitive statement on strings and pickups and we can all go home

If a J bass sounds like Cheltenham does a P bass sound more like Gloucester thus making it better for metal?

I speak as a bass fan and currently own a few in various incarnations. A passive ACG with overwound single coils (you would have to prise this one from my cold, dead hands), a passive Anaconda (technically humbuckers with switchable coils that can make it a J bass), and active ACG and a LAG collections (active EMG p/ups). They do sound different in isolation probably due to the different p/up & electronics combinations, however in a band mix I suspect you'd be hard pushed to differntiate them.

Love the NS-94s and have owned a couple over the years.

I think the case for the P34 weighs a fair amount and when I picked up the empty case for the first time I was genuinely surprised. Thankfully the bass weight was fine for me.

They are suprisingly different in sound. It's probably fair to say that the '79 is quite similar to the Euro 4LX I had (and sold to buy the '77) so I feel that you are right to stick to your NS-2 basses. I'm very shallow so wanted the two basses to match. The '77 has a really nice tone to it. It's fair to say these are hot pickups so a little care is needed dialling them in. I tend to run the bass preamp EQ with the bass at around 60% and the treble at about 25% for a bit of definition and this produces a nice warm P bass tone that sits really well in the covers band I play with. I also turned down the overall preamp gain. I think these are cracking basses and I genuinely can't see me selling either of them. The '77 is the marginally heavier of the two at 3.9 kgs (vs 3.8 for the '79) so both very manageable for gigging. I love the natural matt finish that makes the necks very special to move around on. I'd say the neck profiles are a little more P than J. As you know the NS bodies are very comfy to play now I have managed to get rid of my 6-pack they are perfectly profiled. The vintage style frets are my preference in any case and, it may be sacriledge, I prefer the dot inlays to the Spector crown inlays PJ told me they only made around 50 of the '77 basses but not sure how many '79s will be made, just yet at any rate. I tend to use the '79 in the originals band but I don't have any good recording I can share for that. Here are links to couple of recordings I made with the band using the '77. Apologies for the abosolutely average playing and the shades (and the hat for that matter) they made me do it

My P34 is just under 4.3kgs or 9lbs 6oz in old money. Probably the top end of what I am comforatable with.

Just traded a bass for a BB P34. Currently wearing cobalt flats. Gigged the bass twice so far and very pleased with the sound and presence in the mix (guitar, bass drums with occasional acoustic guitar by the singer). Mandatory pic:

Well I certainly have little enough hair and it's quite short. I do have one tattoo but it was acquired after my Spector basses so I feel doesn't really count and was unrelated to the impact of any purchasing decision. My current two are the Euro LE 1977 and sister (ish) Euro LE 1979 basses. Gratuitous Spector pic:

I played in a blues / classic rock band at the time and they fitted in rather well. Warmish tone but with the rather good and flexible EQ you could generate a wide variety of characters.

I had an SR4000e Prestige a while back that I acquired scond hand. Great bass and cost me very little in depreciation when I moved it on later in its life. I think high end Ibbys depreciated hard so I say go pre-loved.

Good choice. I've just put some EMG Js in the LAG Collection bass that I found on eBay and as you describe they have a nice clear tone to them.

FWIW my G&L LB-100 is the clearest note for note on every fret of any P bass I've played. I owned a Squier VM P5 in the past and I don't recall any particular issues but distance may have clouded the memory a bit.

Indeed it is, but I was aiming for the more easily digestable version

It's the opposite of the motor effect (pass a current through a conductor in a field and you generate a force). The generator effect bassically says in that if you apply a force (pick or pluck the string) to a conductor in a field (pickup magnets) you generate a current. The bigger the force (string excursion) the larger the current. The placement is crucial as string vibration is quite complex as if you get a node over the pickup at that particlur frequency you get virtually no signal from the pickup. That's the simple version iirc.