ThomBassmonkey

Well this is the first thing I've recorded with my new band, the video was uploaded today so thought I'd share with you all! We're taking this quite seriously, we're working with The Animal Farm in London to hopefully get it some exposure. It's going to be up on iTunes and various similar thingies from the 2nd of July, when we're having a big single launch party at The Old Bell Hotel in Derby.

My bass is a Thumb 5 BO and as I said, it's fine with a good strap. I accept that not all basses are the same and it depends on the individual but a good strap will improve the situation, if not remedy it completely.

[quote name='bh2' post='867055' date='Jun 14 2010, 02:33 PM']A set of these will look the biz on your new CV Jazz... [/quote] What are they? Upgrades are a whole new area for me. Will be looking into it soon so any heads up would be appreciated.

Well the story goes that I've passionately hated Fenders for 10 years, the telecaster being the only exception that I kinda accepted 5 years ago. Earlier this year for no apparent reason I had an itch to have a play on a Jazz so I went into a local music shop and had a go on a maple boarded MIM and it was stunning, sounded great even through the sh*te amp they had and the neck was brilliant. So I'm kinda like, if I have to do it, I'd rather have a Fender just so I'm not getting a copy of the bass I once hated so much haha. But if I do get a Squier, I'll have to at least label it as a Fender, just for my own justification. Who knows though, my amp could sell before I buy and I'd be in a situation to be looking at 2nd hand USAs.

[quote name='Balcro' post='866597' date='Jun 13 2010, 11:13 PM']Also - [url="http://www.dawsons.co.uk/acatalog/Farida_Bass_Guitars.html"]http://www.dawsons.co.uk/acatalog/Farida_Bass_Guitars.html[/url] FJB6 and 20. Let's just say the quality is probably as good as the CV Jazz.[/quote] Now there's an option that I don't know why I didn't think of. We have a Farida hollowbodied telecaster in at the shop and it's an amazing instrument for the price. Don't particularly like the bottom horn, but I've heard that they make Fenders, so it's more than possible they're just Fenders with a bit extra shaping done. Thanks for that post, Tony. Very useful. I'll be ringing a couple of places later today to see if they have the VMJ and CVJ in to A/B them. Then I'd just need to replace the decal with a proper Fender one. hehehe

That'd be if I could find one second hand anyway hehe, they don't seem to crop up regularly.

Ok, so the general idea is the CVJ is the best deal for around this price, even including 2nd hand? I'll have to see if I can find one around for 2nd hand, from the sounds of it a CVJ and £150 of upgrades (would probably result in a pair of SDs and a Badass, though I'd have to see how it goes) would be a lot of bass for around £350.

Yep, I've heard "which is easier, guitar or bass?" to which I always reply the same thing, which is my honest opinion. "Bass is easier to get to a standard you could play in a band but as you progress it's harder to play the same thing on a bass than it would be a guitar." Or words to that effect.

While I appreciate that the thumbs aren't the best designed with balance in mind, I never have any problems with mine. Rather than limit your options on bass, get a nice thick leather strap, should hold it fine, my thumb stays put wherever I leave it.

Ok, I'll have a look into them, there's a shop in Nottingham that apparently sells them for £250 so definitely worth a look as I could buy a pair of SDs (though I know stuff all about pickups, so that'll probably be a whole new thread if I think whatever I get needs a little something extra) with the change from that.

That's right mate, add another bass into the fray. What are the differences between the VMJ and CVJ? Because considering what I want, the VMJ is much closer, hate the binding on them, but at least it's maple on a natural body. I've never played a CVJ though.

Well I can't really save for the best part of a year, I've still got a fair whack to pay off on my recent GAS symptoms. If I manage to get rid of some more of my stuff, I'll be looking at the more expensive models, but the other item (my WEM) I hope to get a fair bit of money from is another item that might be hard to find a buyer for.

Ok, I'm getting slightly blown away by the choices in this price range, which is what I'm looking at spending on a jazz. My ideal jazz would be maple boarded with no binding and a plain wood body. Not too fussed about the rest, just never owned a maple bass and like the look of pale wood on pale wood. What would come close to that is a 2nd hand Fender MIM, of which the maple necked versions don't seem to come up often and I don't think the standards come as natural finish. A Squier VMJ, either new or 2nd hand with upgrades. But the binding is horrible. Another brand completley, maybe a Tokai (the shop I work at can stock them so I'd get discount) and I'd be able to get that with some major upgrades. Saving up a bit more money (around the £400 mark) could net me: A CIJ, which is my preferred choice, but they're so rare that finding one for my budget (or rather a bit over it) with the options I'd prefer would be very lucky. A Highway 1 which is a US Fender, but they don't really have any of the options I'm looking for. Of course I could always save up much longer and buy a US (which is something I don't have any reserves over doing apart from the time it'd take) but I know nothing about them either. Ideally I want something that has good quality woods so it can be upgraded nicely as and when I get money (possibly to the point where I replace everything and I actually have two fully functioning basses), but is a good base to work from.

I've been using my Ibanez 6er for 10 years, never felt the need to have different basses for different jobs. Recently got a Warwick because I fancied a change and used the fact I'm playing slightly less riff based stuff (so I can be faster on arpeggios) to get a 5er. The Warwick into a Gallien is a very distinctive sound so I'm using that as an excuse to get a Jazz for the bits of session work I'm getting for a more classic sounding set up. So I'll be using my Warwick for "my" band and my Jazz for everything else basically. They might get swapped about if I want to use drop D in my band or I need a 5 string for some work but there's always exceptions to the rule.

I try and judge them on the instrument, but it is off putting because I feel like it'd look like I was trying to be that person. Though if the instrument is nice, it doesn't bother me that much. I'd still rather have the bass without someone's name attached though.

What bass do you use?

Seen a few posts about members' bands getting good gigs/being featured on TV etc. My band's releasing a single soon with a management company called The Animal Farm which we're pretty excited about, we're going for proper promo with it and trying to use it as a foot in the door. We saw the video for the first time on Wednesday and it's all coming together. Roll on July 2nd! Going for some radio interviews and touring it. Also got a gig coming up with Streetlight Manifesto who (I'm told, I've never really heard of them, like them though) are/were fairly big coming up in Derby later this year. Should be a good one.

I have my thumb set to passive and my EQ flat most of the time. That being said though, my amp has a contour knob which scoops some that I have on about 5-6. Generally though, I'll only touch the 4 band if I think the sound's suffering, last practice I turned down the bass a little because the room was quite boomy, that kinda thing.

[quote name='algmusic' post='863093' date='Jun 10 2010, 11:27 AM']the quality of: the Player how well the equipment is used (eq-ing etc) The sound guy and his rig[/quote] Surely the quality of your gear is a big factor too...I can't imagine someone playing an Encore through a 10w practice amp is going to sound as good as someone with a US Fender through a MB stack assuming that both are competant players.

For solid state amps, they do a fair job. Something trying to be something, will never be the same as that actual thing being it's self, because it just won't be, but that's not to say that it won't do an equally good job, just slightly different. Emulators are never as good as valve amps though. I played a gig recently where the guitarist from another band had his own monitors and laptop (not just a POD into the PA) and used a setting that was supposed to sound like a Mesa (our guitarist uses...a Mesa). To be fair, the sound wasn't awful, it was maybe 90% of the sound of the real Mesa, but as soon as it went into the mix it died a very sudden, obvious death. If you want a valve sound, you need to use valves. Never really been into valve bass amps though, my experience is with guitar amps. I've used them to an ok effect in the studio, but there's so much control there. The biggest problem I've seen with them in live use (and why I'd never use one) is that they vary so much in mixes, it's not like an amp that's roughly the same every gig and I'm not prepared to sit down and re-EQ/write every patch I use for every gig.

I have to say, I'm with Rmshaw on this, expensive gear should be able to stand abuse. I was running my GK 700RB-II through one 210RBH and it was struggling, if it had only ever been me using it, I would've dealt with it but to make sure for a) when we didn't have a PA and when other people used it, I got another 210RBH. That being said, with the 2nd 2x10, it's so loud that your head would probably explode before the amp did.