iconic Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 as above....never heard of them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clauster Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 The ones from the 80's? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahpook Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 yes... they're awful. i had one catch on fire on stage once. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat Burrito Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Yep, these were EVERYWHERE in the late 80s. And not very good if memory serves me correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iconic Posted January 14, 2011 Author Share Posted January 14, 2011 nice one , cheers guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 I still have a Marlin Sidewinder bass. I ripped out the frets using screwdriver and pliers and filled the slots (and gouges) with polyfilla. Sounds a lot nicer than you would expect! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simon1964 Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 [quote name='TimR' post='1089994' date='Jan 14 2011, 11:23 PM']I still have a Marlin Sidewinder bass. I ripped out the frets using screwdriver and pliers and filled the slots (and gouges) with polyfilla. Sounds a lot nicer than you would expect![/quote] I had a Marlin Sidewinder strat type. It looked nice, but sounded awful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roland Rock Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 [quote name='simon1964' post='1090003' date='Jan 14 2011, 11:37 PM']I had a Marlin Sidewinder strat type. It looked nice, but sounded awful![/quote] Still got mine, it ended up being painted a garish Hawaiian Shirt theme Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stinson Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 Still got mine in the loft somewhere. A nice red one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 (edited) IIRC Marlin were Korean made and imported through John Hornby Skewes back in the late 80's. I think they later dumped that brand and concentrated on their 'Encore' stuff as their budget range. Best thing I can say about them is that they quite often worked sometimes... EDIT: There was also a range of kit manufactured by Carlsboro called Marlin as well but I don't remember much about it. Edited January 15, 2011 by icastle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delberthot Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 [quote name='TimR' post='1089994' date='Jan 14 2011, 11:23 PM']I still have a Marlin Sidewinder bass. I ripped out the frets using screwdriver and pliers and filled the slots (and gouges) with polyfilla. Sounds a lot nicer than you would expect![/quote] My first bass was a Marlin Slammer which was a precision copy. I too defretted mine but by taking a huge flat file to it then had to get it done properly cos the fingerboard was now flat. The chrome on all the hardware peeled off and I lost count of the number of cuts I got because of that. An OK starter bass but the best thing I ever did was to bin it and get my Riverhead Jupiter when I was 16, conversely the stupidest thing I ever did was to sell that and I've been looking for one ever since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 Someone I used to know had one of the sidewinder basses, she was convinced it was worth a lot of money. After I asked "why does it sound so bad then" she didn't talk to me much after Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roland Rock Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 I'm going to defend the lowly Marlin Sidewinder! I picked up my silver Sidewinder along with a cheap 1x15 amp (Cougar) for £200 The output was fine, the tone lacked a bit of definition and character, but was acceptable, and the action was quite high, but it was a great starter bass. I managed to practice, gig and even record with it for about three years. Maybe I lucked out with a good example Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 [quote name='Roland Rock' post='1090620' date='Jan 15 2011, 04:47 PM']I'm going to defend the lowly Marlin Sidewinder! I picked up my silver Sidewinder along with a cheap 1x15 amp (Cougar) for £200 The output was fine, the tone lacked a bit of definition and character, but was acceptable, and the action was quite high, but it was a great starter bass. I managed to practice, gig and even record with it for about three years. Maybe I lucked out with a good example[/quote] I'll put it this way... I took a chunk out of one of my fingers on the fretwire on this particular example You definately lucked out! Or she REALLY DIDN'T!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 [quote name='Roland Rock' post='1090620' date='Jan 15 2011, 04:47 PM']I'm going to defend the lowly Marlin Sidewinder! I picked up my silver Sidewinder along with a cheap 1x15 amp (Cougar) for £200 The output was fine, the tone lacked a bit of definition and character, but was acceptable, and the action was quite high, but it was a great starter bass. I managed to practice, gig and even record with it for about three years. Maybe I lucked out with a good example[/quote] Yes the action on mine was murderously high but once I ripped the frets and gave the truss rod some serious abuse it now tows the line (although a truss rod tweak is needed every now and then). I aso rewired the switch and put in vol/vol control and took out the capactor on the vol control. Helped a lot as the two pickups are really badly matched. I think it was around £100 in 1985 but it's nowhere near as good as what you can buy for around £200 now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 [quote name='simon1964' post='1090003' date='Jan 14 2011, 11:37 PM']I had a Marlin Sidewinder strat type. It looked nice, but sounded awful![/quote] +1 to that. Mine had a humbucker, but the thing squealed like a pig as soon as the gain was increased above minus six thousand on my amp (not really, but you get the idea) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvin Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 [quote name='BurritoBass' post='1089689' date='Jan 14 2011, 07:02 PM']Yep, these were EVERYWHERE in the late 80s. And not very good if memory serves me correctly.[/quote] I seem to remember them being in most music shops. I always thought they looked alright but never even thought of buying one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smudge Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 Got a Marlin Bass 25 combo sat here at the side of me now.... i has been sat here since gods dog died..... and every now and again i will plug into it rather than start unpacking gig ready stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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