bassbiscuits Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 It's taken a while, but this weekend I played the first full gig with a 2013 Fender MIJ Mustang bass I bought secondhand back in the summer. Strung with La Bella flats, thru a Little Mark II and a Schroeder 1210, and up against two guitarists and a drummer and lots of harmony vocals, in a pub with a few hundred capacity. I'll be honest - at home it can sound pretty clunky, woody and midrangy; pleasant but not remarkable. But loud, onstage, it sounded brilliant. The tone was perfect for cutting thru the jangle of all those guitars; quite vintage sounding, but with enough midrange to really stand out clearly when your fingers wander up past the seventh fret...the kind of frequencies that i sometimes find go missing in the noise of a loud gig. Dead comfortable at 3.5kg too, and looks pretty cool. Happy that it's finally done a full show (did a short festival slot in the summer) as the old boy i bought it from had never taken it out of the house and didn't gig at all! Not before time then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted November 8, 2018 Share Posted November 8, 2018 Thanks for sharing. I've always liked the look of a Mustang. Never played a shorty before. How did you find gigging with it? Or have you always used short scale basses? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassbiscuits Posted November 9, 2018 Author Share Posted November 9, 2018 11 hours ago, stewblack said: Thanks for sharing. I've always liked the look of a Mustang. Never played a shorty before. How did you find gigging with it? Or have you always used short scale basses? Hello. No it's the first short scale I've ever played and the first full gig using it and my usual backline etc. Found it great. A smidgeon less booming low end than a P, but lots more midrange so the overall sound was very pleasing and very usable indeed. It has always sounded a bit clanky and hollow played alone at home but in a mix of sounded superb. The string tension is a bit lower even with the La Bellas but that's ok. I dropped the E to D for one song and got a little bit lost. But no qualms about using it without a back up for future gigs at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassbiscuits Posted November 9, 2018 Author Share Posted November 9, 2018 I recorded the same little riff at home using the P, the Mustang and an active Yamaha. In a blind test there's really not that much different between the P and the M. You can tell them apart side by side but if you only heard one of them in a gig you'd be hard pressed to say which one it was. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petebassist Posted November 9, 2018 Share Posted November 9, 2018 26 minutes ago, bassbiscuits said: The string tension is a bit lower even with the La Bellas but that's ok. I dropped the E to D for one song and got a little bit lost. But no qualms about using it without a back up for future gigs at all. I tried out the MJM signature Mustang the other day while I was in my local music shop - the worn neck and frets felt great, but I found the stock string tension a bit too heavy for my taste, I'd like to try one with the lower tension La Bellas. Great giggin bass, pleased it went well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassbiscuits Posted November 9, 2018 Author Share Posted November 9, 2018 7 minutes ago, petebassist said: I tried out the MJM signature Mustang the other day while I was in my local music shop - the worn neck and frets felt great, but I found the stock string tension a bit too heavy for my taste, I'd like to try one with the lower tension La Bellas. Great giggin bass, pleased it went well. Mine has the Mustang set of La Bellas. They are fairly standard tension (45-105 ish I think) but the shorter scale is what makes them feel different from my P with the same gauge La Bellas. I've discovered a love for flats over the last couple of years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petebassist Posted November 9, 2018 Share Posted November 9, 2018 42 minutes ago, bassbiscuits said: Mine has the Mustang set of La Bellas. They are fairly standard tension (45-105 ish I think) but the shorter scale is what makes them feel different from my P with the same gauge La Bellas. I've discovered a love for flats over the last couple of years. They sound similar gauge to mine - just got a new Ibanez and it came with stock D'Addario ECB81 XL Chromes Regular Light strings, which are also 45-100s - awesome feel and tone,. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassbiscuits Posted November 9, 2018 Author Share Posted November 9, 2018 Chromes are well nice strings Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted November 9, 2018 Share Posted November 9, 2018 Thanks man, I'll add a Mustang to my ever growing list of wanna try basses. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.