Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

Tone to die for, with an £80 bass.


leschirons
 Share

Recommended Posts

Over the last few years, quite a few nice basses have been through my hands. Alembic, Vigier, Fbass, Spector, Custom shop Fender and Status.

Couple of weeks ago I bought an £80 OLP MM3 5string from BC member Josh (great guy to deal with) with partly working electrics. I had planned to make this a fretless project however, after 10 minutes with a soldering iron, I fixed the problem (wire off the front vol control) and now, I seem to have found the tone and playability I'd wasted about £10,000 on trying to find. Haven't picked up anything else since and the expensive stuff have been relegated to wall hangers. Not going to defret it now.

There's a lesson here somewhere. :huh:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='leschirons' timestamp='1359816386' post='1960692']
.....
There's a lesson here somewhere. :huh:
[/quote]

Yup, it's new to you so it sounds marvellous. Then in a few weeks you'll be thinking it's maybe lacking something you can't quite put your finger on, after a few months you'll get your hands on something else that's "even better".... and the process starts again. ;) :P

There is no cure for GAS.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='visog' timestamp='1359822684' post='1960801']
Well you're lucky - you've got to kiss a lot of frogs to find a princess!
[/quote]

Indeed!

Nice find there. I like OLPs, I used to be very vocal about it :) But you need to be selective, some are truly bad. It looks like the OP got one of the better ones.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm hearing you man. Best basses I've ever owned (and probably will ever own...) are two £100 planks (Jap J & bitsa P copies) that I've fettled and loved until there's really not much more I can think of that'll make them play any better...

I'll still stop by a music shop on the odd occasion to try something out (or to drool over a special) but always leave with a huge smile on my face knowing that what I've got at home does it for me.

The other side of the coin is that I can't stop buying crapulent £100 basses and spending the same again doing the buggers up...

:rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1359816819' post='1960701']
Best sound I've ever had comes from a 'bitsa' that cost £150 (max) to cobble together. I too have played MUCH more expensive basses and been disappointed almost immediately.
[/quote]

Here it is through a DHA VT1EQ

https://soundcloud.com/paul_510/fretless-o-d-demo

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='Inti' timestamp='1359827786' post='1960909']
[url="http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=iUmtBZrOBog&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DiUmtBZrOBog&gl=SE"]http://m.youtube.com...mtBZrOBog&gl=SE[/url]

Ltd bass.
[/quote]

Hahaha!

Amazing.

I've got [i][b]nothing whatsoever[/b][/i] against people who spend a lot of money on their instruments - except those that believe the more they spend the better they'll play, who really ought to watch this vid...

w./

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting post, half of the battle is knowing when you have arrived at a good tone and sticking with it. I'm where I want to be in terms of both guitar and bass guitar tone. I have a long way to go in terms of technique though :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='leschirons' timestamp='1359816386' post='1960692']
Over the last few years, quite a few nice basses have been through my hands. Alembic, Vigier, Fbass, Spector, Custom shop Fender and Status.

Couple of weeks ago I bought an £80 OLP MM3 5string from BC member Josh (great guy to deal with) with partly working electrics. I had planned to make this a fretless project however, after 10 minutes with a soldering iron, I fixed the problem (wire off the front vol control) and now, I seem to have found the tone and playability I'd wasted about £10,000 on trying to find. Haven't picked up anything else since and the expensive stuff have been relegated to wall hangers. Not going to defret it now.

There's a lesson here somewhere. :huh:
[/quote]

The joy of two volume controls on a Stingray hey? :)

Glad you're happy with it though mate :)

And as I said to Keith when he picked up the bass, my £200 Squier CV is one of the best purchases I've made on any incarnation of this site.

Edited by Josh
Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='Fat Rich' timestamp='1359818147' post='1960727']
Yup, it's new to you so it sounds marvellous. Then in a few weeks you'll be thinking it's maybe lacking something you can't quite put your finger on, after a few months you'll get your hands on something else that's "even better".... and the process starts again. ;) :P

There is no cure for GAS.
[/quote]

I know what you're saying FR and it's probably true but in the past, I think I've attempted to convince myself over a certain period of time that the new exotic bass I've just bought was as great as I'd hoped it would be given the price I'd paid.

This time however, it was a bit of a WOW moment, and not just for me, the rest of the band too,

With the Fbass, Spector and Alembic etc, I always told myself that I'd get used to the neck, get used to the sounds, get used to the feel etc. This cheapy immediately seemed perfect to play and has the sound I've had in my head for all these years but never achieved. So, who knows? For the moment I'm happy to believe that I've found bass Nirvana and can't be arsed about what name is on the headstock. :happy:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='Josh' timestamp='1359842503' post='1961166']
The joy of two volume controls on a Stingray hey? :)

Glad you're happy with it though mate :)

And as I said to Keith when he picked up the bass, my £200 Squier CV is one of the best purchases I've made on any incarnation of this site.
[/quote]

Happy with it? I'm over the moon Josh. Thanks again (and sorry I had no time for a chat) Stay lucky.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's great when everything works together to make an exceptional sound and its not always money dependent.

Someone I know from this group described his P bass as "sonically right" and it was a gem, It cost me a bit more than yours but the same principe applies. Getting that for such a low price is amazing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='3below' timestamp='1359843338' post='1961186']
I have been robbed, I thought my £150 bass was the nuts. I must go lower :unsure: My peavey Milestone iii at £40 is not bad. So who has the cheapest bass with a great tone (free as in given does not count) and what is it?
[/quote]

I love the sound of my Musima P copy.

£20, but I know someone'll be along and beat that soon enough!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...