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OLP basses


seanbarnes
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If you mean the MM2 model, Stingray-like...

I love them.

But they need a bit of care to make them truly loveable. Stock I find their sound lacking. I own three right now, and at the very least I change the pickup. My favourite is the Seymour Duncan AlNiCo SMB4A. Two of my OLPs have that, a third one has a Nordstrand MM4.2

I actually was writing about them in anothe thread... so I'll paste it here:

My three OLPs have been modified.

This is my "main" OLP. I used this almost exclusively until I found the Stingray on my avatar. I still use it, but not as much. It now has a Seymour Duncan alnico pickup and a Seymour Duncan 3-band preamp. The fretboard edges have been rolled of slightly, and it's just delicious to play.
One night after a bar gig, a guy came to me to tell me he loved the band etc, and how the bass sounded fantastic (I was using a Phil Jones amp I was lent, and I have to admit, it sounded IMMENSE). Then he went on about how Stingrays are the best basses and nothing else compares and blah blah... "Ok" I thought. But I didn't say anything until he had to add a dismissive comment about "copies". Then I just had to show him that "oh, my bass is not a MusicMan, it's an OLP". I loved that moment. He stopped talking and went away :lol:
Display the OLP logo with pride!!! :)
I don't normally name guitars or basses, but I had a bit of a gastronomic moment and some basses were named as it was getting complicated to answer my girlfriend when she asked "which bass are you taking today?" :D My Stingray is "caramel". This one is "natillas", which in Spanish is a kind of custard.


The bass next to it is a very cheap Shine bass, but very nice it is too. Interestingly, the bridge pickup is not placed at the normal Stingray spot, but further to the bridge, like on a Jazz... and it sounds much more like a jazz on steroids than a Stingray. A lot more.




Before I had the Stingray I bought another OLP, as a backup. This one is still passive. I only put the same SD pickup on it as the other OLP. I didn't like the separate volumes for each coil, so I disconnected one of them, and wired the two coils in parallel to the second volume pot. This is called "liquorice" :)




And finally, this is one that I converted to fretless. It has the original 2EQ preamp I had on my Stingray (it now has the John East preamp, with the extra midsweep module), and a Nordstrand MM4.2 pickup. This one is "Friguron". A Friguron was an ice-lolly shaped like a shark (tiburon) we had in Spain when I was younger, and was blue... :P




Oh, they all had the pickguards replaced. Natillas had a tortoise-shell type one which I though looked too "posh" what with the quilt top. I initially put a black one, but then I went for the creamy one it has now. The black OLP had a white one. I hate that combo... so a black pickguard was required. The blue one also had a white pickguard originally...

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Bloody 'orrible sounding things. Don't get sucked in because they look like Stingrays.
Do what Jose (mcnach) says buy one (if you have to) then trick it out to make is sound half decent... alternatively buy some thing half decent in the first place.

All IMHO of course. :)

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[quote name='Ou7shined' post='1310485' date='Jul 20 2011, 04:15 PM']Bloody 'orrible sounding things. Don't get sucked in because they look like Stingrays.
Do what Jose (mcnach) says buy one (if you have to) then trick it out to make is sound half decent... alternatively buy some thing half decent in the first place.

All IMHO of course. :)[/quote]


Good point.
Once you factor in the pickup and preamp... you're nearly at MusicMan SUB price. Now the SUB is a really nice bass, great construction, famous 2-band EQ... and will hold its value, in case you need to sell. If you take an OLP and put a bunch of upgrades... that's not going to happen.

If you find an OLP you really like (the necks can be horrible, or very nice... they vary wildly between teh first models and later ones) etc, go for it. A pickup upgrade, without a preamp, already has the potential to make it a nice bass. My black one is like that.
But a SUB is a superior bass. The finishes may not be to everybody's taste and the original pickguard is fugly... but that is easily replaced. They only came in rosewood boards, 'though... If you prefer maple, like I do, that's another reason to want an OLP.
But SUBs are great. The white SUB in particular makes me all warm and fuzzy, and I can't justify yet another Stingray-like bass... but I really want one. Some day.

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Had a Silver Ray5 copy with a rosewood neck which I won off ebay for a hundred and fifty nicker. Neck and body perfectly reasonable for that level of bass. Neck was pretty decent actually. Hardware much less impressive though. Could get a Ray-ish tone with everything up full, but at the end of the day it's a passive bass. Got rid of it to help pay for my Jazz. Otherwise I would probably have kept it and modded it.

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[quote name='mcnach' post='1310549' date='Jul 20 2011, 05:06 PM']Good point.
Once you factor in the pickup and preamp... you're nearly at MusicMan SUB price. Now the SUB is a really nice bass, great construction, famous 2-band EQ... and will hold its value, in case you need to sell. If you take an OLP and put a bunch of upgrades... that's not going to happen.

If you find an OLP you really like (the necks can be horrible, or very nice... they vary wildly between teh first models and later ones) etc, go for it. A pickup upgrade, without a preamp, already has the potential to make it a nice bass. My black one is like that.
But a SUB is a superior bass. The finishes may not be to everybody's taste and the original pickguard is fugly... but that is easily replaced. They only came in rosewood boards, 'though... If you prefer maple, like I do, that's another reason to want an OLP.
But SUBs are great. The white SUB in particular makes me all warm and fuzzy, and I can't justify yet another Stingray-like bass... but I really want one. Some day.[/quote]
Listen to this man ^. He knows his onions...

... In fact he probably has a fretless onion with a JE preamp. :)

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[quote name='Ou7shined' post='1310866' date='Jul 20 2011, 09:39 PM']Listen to this man ^. He knows his onions...

... In fact he probably has a fretless onion with a JE preamp. :)[/quote]


I wasn't going to advertise in this thread, but yes, it's true... I have a fretless onion for sale, although the preamp is an MM and you'll have to bring your own oil. :)

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have done 30+ gigs with mine - great considering it's never let me down, sounds half decent in the mix (although lacks a bit of bottom) and cost me 67 quid (inc case) on EvilBay.

Agreed they are not a patch on a real stingray/sub, but good value at the right price.

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As with any budget bass they can be hit and miss.

I had a Tony Levin, and out of the box is was ok, until you looked close up. The nut was shocking and had to be replaced straight away. The electrics were also pretty poor, and were also replaced.

Once I'd thrown about 200 quid at it, it was a good bass, but still not on par with a Musicman, [i]for me[/i] in fact, not even close, but as a bass in it's own right, after the mods, it was a really nice player.

The lesson I learnt, was that you can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear, but you [i]can[/i] make a decent wallet.

The review I did is here:

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=11669&hl=olp+tony+levin"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...=olp+tony+levin[/url]

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I bought one when they first came on the market from a pal who had a music shop so, I had a choice of five and picked the best one. Played really nice. It was for a present for a friend who has now sadly passed away and I ended up with the bass again. I've defretted it and its fabulous. Wouldn't part with it at all, even leaving the sentimental factor out of the equation.

Gut I know bought one of the last ones, and it's terrible.

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