steve-soar Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 I'm in the process of renovating a right handed Ibanez Blazer bass, 1982, in Sonic Blue. She needs a little TLC (new strings, deep clean, set up, fret polish, electronics checking) but structurally this is a very, very sound bass. I owned one in the early 80's, in natural finish, left handed as my first bass and after messing aound on this right handed version, I totally regret getting rid of mine. Better sounding and playing than a lot of Fender basses that I have repaired or played over the years. On the look out for a lefty, now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truckstop Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 Ooh, I was after that one on ebay. Potentially a bastard to renovate so decided to make a low bid. But yeah, blazers are amazing. I honestly think I'd be happy enough to never buy another bass again! Truckstop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visog Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 Truckstop, I've a bastard to renovate... bastardisation is in two areas: pick-guard cut down and frets as it's had a defret and refret - the latter not being great. PM me if you're interested. visog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve-soar Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 [quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1340477034' post='1705108'] Ooh, I was after that one on ebay. Potentially a bastard to renovate so decided to make a low bid. But yeah, blazers are amazing. I honestly think I'd be happy enough to never buy another bass again! Truckstop [/quote]Hi Truckstop, I picked it up from the post office this afternoon. It is a little battered but everything works. Electrics, truss rod, neck is perfect, just needs a really good bit of TLC. I love the colour, not many of these around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsmokebass Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 My best mate owns the electric version, really nice guitar and yet like yours, looking to give it a TLC make over at KGB in Birkenhead when he has the money. Never seen a blue version of either guitar or bass so seems a nice rare beast. BSB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsmokebass Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 Cheeky to ask for pics of it now and through the process? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve-soar Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 [quote name='bigsmokebass' timestamp='1340522130' post='1705470'] Cheeky to ask for pics of it now and through the process? [/quote]Yeah, ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsmokebass Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 Cheers buddy. How do these basses compare to precisions? BSB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truckstop Posted June 25, 2012 Share Posted June 25, 2012 Hmm, that's a tricky question to answer. Personally I think they look better. Especially the headstock. You're guaranteed excellent build quality and excellent standard of materials. They tend to be on the heavy side (mine are 9 and 10lbs respectively) but I prefer heavy basses anyway. Tone-wise it's hard to describe. Massive dubby lows with the tone rolled off, but still plenty of definition; with the tone rolled on all the way, you're into Ricky-like clankiness, but with more aggressiv mids. Blazers get quite growly, perhaps more so than a 'regular' P, but I suppose it depends on what sort of strings you like. Thanks to the magic bridges, Blazers have tonnes of sustain, I mean a silly amount. A well struck string will ring for ages and will ring as clear as a bell. Thanks to their passiveness, they respond really well to effects, especially with octaves. With the tone off, clear sub tones; with the tone on, aggressive distorted sounding synth. I like using all kinds of fuzzes, overdrives and distortions with Blazers because with the tone rolled on all the way, you can rein in the effect, and use the natural growliness of the bass carry the distortion. This way you dont lose any of the natural bassiness of the instrument which sometimes a lot of other basses lose. Especially passives. Hopefully that makes sense. I'm not gonna say that these are better than Fenders or whatever. I simply prefer their tone, their looks and I like the fact that they're all nice and old and dusty but still sound great. Best sub £200 basses I reckon. On a serious note, I think that fit and finish equals that of USA Fenders and they sound just as good. Maybe lacking as much balls (you'd need to upgrade the pickups if you want a real Fender-killer) but just as articulate and as classic sounding. Truckstop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarnacleBob Posted June 25, 2012 Share Posted June 25, 2012 Is there any difference in the sound of the P4 pickup and the later(?) split P-type pick-up on the Blazer? My first proper bass and I liked how the design, although Fender based, was trying to look a bit different rather than a straight copy ( especially in that price range) BB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmo Valdemar Posted June 25, 2012 Share Posted June 25, 2012 I have one of these that probably needs to be sold to help fund some recent purchases. Threads like this aren't making things any easier for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsmokebass Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 found a video on youtube (slow i know but only get the net back on last night), really growly basses so tempted to get one, if in natural the better to rub it in my mates face XD BSB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevB Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 I used to have one in a natural finish that had been defretted and had most of the pickguard missing. As a cheap introduction to fretless it had quite a decent tone to it but then I joined aband that didn't do anything requiring fretless, had so much new stuff to learn I never found time to play the Blazer and inevitably sold it on. Nice uncomplicated bass put together pretty well from what I recall. [IMG]http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c307/KevB64/blazerfretlessfull.jpg[/IMG] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve-soar Posted June 26, 2012 Author Share Posted June 26, 2012 This weekend, I will start the renovation. I'll take pics all the way through with descriptions of each stage, then at the end I'll post the whole thing in one go. It won't be the epic that Bloodaxe did a few years ago but hopefully it will be of use to some folk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazm Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 [sharedmedia=core:attachments:983] [sharedmedia=core:attachments:984] [sharedmedia=core:attachments:985] Here's one I mangled about 20 years ago. It started life as a natural finish 1981 blazer. I hacked it about, resprayed it and changed the pickups for EMGs still sounds excellent now loudest passive bass I've ever played Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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