The Short Scale Bass Appreciation Society!

[Obrienp]

1 hour ago, scrumpymike said:

Thanks for that. I need to move something on and was considering putting my 2A active Artist up FS. Now is clearly not the right time for that.

 

As you say, the passive is an absolute steal reduced from £500 to £199 and they obviously haven't been selling. Truth is that bass players are mostly a fairly conservative bunch and I'm definitely in the minority with my love for quirky stuff like the Starstream.

Yes, a bit irritating if you spent close to list on one!

[gafbass02]

I bought one last night, I had one before briefly and returned it, it was a bit of a disaster to be fair. But for £200, I don’t mind some fettling and modding. I’d rather like an artist with the maple neck tbh, but cant stretch to one. Fingers crossed this one is better than the last one. It’s due to arrive on Sat. 

[BetaFunk]

7 hours ago, Obrienp said:

Heads up all: I was doing some research on current prices with a view to putting my Vox Starstream 1 H up for sale (don’t want to but got to shift a bass or two); Guitar Guitar are doing an offer on both the 1 H and 2 S models today: £199!!

Thanks for the heads up. They seem like a bargain for that!

Edited March 21, 2023 by BetaFunk

[fretmeister]

I'm taking a punt on a red 1H as well.

 

I mean, why not!?!

[tayste_2000]

Looking forward to being able to put these side by side.

[Kyndainverse]

52 minutes ago, tayste_2000 said:

Looking forward to being able to put these side by side.

lovely 

 

I have the same squier. I have been thinking how nice it would be to get the white and blue pawn shop fender to pair with it. 

[ped]

1 minute ago, Kyndainverse said:

lovely 

 

I have the same squier. I have been thinking how nice it would be to get the white and blue pawn shop fender to pair with it. 

 

There was one on here recently that I nearly went for. Would like to try one! Love the pair @tayste_2000

[Obrienp]

15 hours ago, gafbass02 said:

I bought one last night, I had one before briefly and returned it, it was a bit of a disaster to be fair. But for £200, I don’t mind some fettling and modding. I’d rather like an artist with the maple neck tbh, but cant stretch to one. Fingers crossed this one is better than the last one. It’s due to arrive on Sat. 

Good luck! Mine is fine. Frets all even, no sharp ends and it is really nicely made but I believe @scrumpymikehad issues with a passive 2S, before getting the Artist version. Luck of the draw I guess. As @fretmeistersaid, at that price why not?

[tayste_2000]

12 hours ago, Kyndainverse said:

lovely 

 

I have the same squier. I have been thinking how nice it would be to get the white and blue pawn shop fender to pair with it. 

Yeah, I’ve had the pawn shop for a while now (had a red one I shouldn’t have sold back when they first came out) and couldn’t resist the inverse colours.

 

I’ll likely swap the pg so they match a little bit more. But contemplating a pickup swap to a darkstar or anything else by Novak.

 

Then of course both would benefit massively from lollipop tuners 😂

 

I also picked up a JMJ in blue but as I travel a lot I’ve got a mustang on 3 continents 😅

[tayste_2000]

12 hours ago, ped said:

 

There was one on here recently that I nearly went for. Would like to try one! Love the pair @tayste_2000

Could potentially arrange a meetup towards the end of the year as I’d love to try your vintage mustang.

 

[ped]

1 hour ago, tayste_2000 said:

Could potentially arrange a meetup towards the end of the year as I’d love to try your vintage mustang.

 

Absolutely, any time you’re near York let me know! It’s a lovely weekend away if you’re planning a break, and even better with basses

[scrumpymike]

1 hour ago, Obrienp said:

Good luck! Mine is fine. Frets all even, no sharp ends and it is really nicely made but I believe @scrumpymikehad issues with a passive 2S, before getting the Artist version. Luck of the draw I guess. As @fretmeistersaid, at that price why not?

 

Yes, I also bought the cheaper (then around £500) passive Starstream, wasn't really happy with it and returned it when I discovered I could get an Artist for £799 reduced from its original RRP of around £1,350!!

 

Here's my take on the Starstreams: My active Artist is exquisite, at least as good as any other bass priced around £1350, and was therefore a massive bargain for me at £799; unfortunately, I can't say the same for the passive because quality-wise it falls well short of its original £500 RRP. BUT at £200 I wouldn't be hesitating now if I didn't have my Artist.

 

FOOTNOTES: The Artist is upgraded in every key respect compared with the passive Starstream.

                        A nice-looking white Artist with the single humbie pickup hung around on flea-bay for a while priced at a very reasonable £400 without selling. The Edinburgh-based seller PM'd me an invitation to make my best offer but I decided not to - only because white was my least-favourite colour.

[edstraker123]

Got a 1H Starstream today - for £199 it was a no brainer. It arrived and was set up really well. I oiled the fretboard and gave it a polish and will put new strings on it , but it's a perfect bass for noodling on the couch given its weight. I liked it so much I ordered a 2S and was considering a third to set up as a piccolo or as an upgrade project.

 

[msb]

I already have too much stuff , but at that price was tempted to enquire if they might ship to Canada. 

[Lozz196]

Count me in on short scale appreciation, a rather nice Fender JMJ Mustang now chez Lozz.

Edited March 22, 2023 by Lozz196

[Osiris]

35 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

Count me in on short scale appreciation, a rather nice Fender JMJ Mustang now chez Lozz.

 

Cracking basses, I love mine. But I'd suggest swapping out the stock flats for a set of round wounds - I use standard 34" guage strings on mine without any bother - as rounds open up the top end clarity and make it sound more like the Precision tone. Mine sounded a little suffocated with flats but really came to life with rounds. 

[Lozz196]

5 minutes ago, Osiris said:

 

Cracking basses, I love mine. But I'd suggest swapping out the stock flats for a set of round wounds - I use standard 34" guage strings on mine without any bother - as rounds open up the top end clarity and make it sound more like the Precision tone. Mine sounded a little suffocated with flats but really came to life with rounds. 

Great, thanks for the tip, nice to know that 34” scale will fit as my fave Elixirs only come in standard scale (which given the growing popularity of short scale basses seems remarkably short sighted imo). Be great to get it sounding more Precisiony.

[fretmeister]

My Vox just arrived and it is going straight back.

 

The action is so high that even with the E string bridge saddle bottomed out the E string is 6mm off the fretboard at the last fret. This is not a set up issue.

 

I've asked for an exchange as I really like the bass - it's lightweight, it balances very well and it looks cool. But it's unplayable.

 

Hopefully the replacement will be ok.

[ped]

15 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

Great, thanks for the tip, nice to know that 34” scale will fit as my fave Elixirs only come in standard scale (which given the growing popularity of short scale basses seems remarkably short sighted imo). Be great to get it sounding more Precisiony.

 

I've got Elixirs on my Squier Stang, they fit just fine (which is a relief, because like you I absolutely love them!)

[Obrienp]

1 hour ago, fretmeister said:

My Vox just arrived and it is going straight back.

 

The action is so high that even with the E string bridge saddle bottomed out the E string is 6mm off the fretboard at the last fret. This is not a set up issue.

 

I've asked for an exchange as I really like the bass - it's lightweight, it balances very well and it looks cool. But it's unplayable.

 

Hopefully the replacement will be ok.

I must have struck lucky with mine. Good luck with the replacement.

Edited March 23, 2023 by Obrienp

[edstraker123]

My second Vox has just arrived - a black 2s - think I like the look of it even more than the red 1H . Set up was fine but I did note it had been done by the same QA inspector as the first ( Luis).

Hope your replacement is a good one fretmeister as they are definitely a cracking little bass if you get a good one.

I bought a Donner strat off ebay this week and had a similar problem - an unplayable neck,  its a lovely looking thing in coral pink. I wanted to send it back and get a replacement and they've just told me to keep it and they'll send me another ! Now I have one to fettle with for free ! 

[ezbass]

Following a bout of P GAS and a brief tryout of same on a visit down south, I went P bass shopping, locally today but took my JMJ along to make sure that I wasn't buying just a bigger version of what I already had tonewise. To cut to the chase, the JMJ neck was better than the 3 Player series P necks that I played (1 x maple, 2 x Pau Ferro fretboard - the all maple neck was huge, not like the one I had previously tried) and the Seymour Duncan, JMJ pickup out 'precisioned' them all too, so I left P-less, but quietly smug. It's these instances that show what a fantastic piece of kit the JMJ, and the Mustang design as a whole, is.*

 

 

 

 

*I must remember this post when the P GAS rises again, as it surely will.

[gafbass02]

7 hours ago, fretmeister said:

My Vox just arrived and it is going straight back.

 

The action is so high that even with the E string bridge saddle bottomed out the E string is 6mm off the fretboard at the last fret. This is not a set up issue.

 

I've asked for an exchange as I really like the bass - it's lightweight, it balances very well and it looks cool. But it's unplayable.

 

Hopefully the replacement will be ok.

That’s exactly what my first one was like 

[Obrienp]

A nice thing about the passive Starstreams is that they are quite easy to modify. The bridge is standard 5 hole Fender style and at least on the 1H, the pickup standard MM. The machine heads are Gotoh style, so I should imagine an easy swap: the OEM ones on mine are fine so I haven’t tried to change them.

 

I am an inveterate tinkerer, so immediately replaced the bridge with a Fender high mass unit. The OEM was fine and in fact was more solid than the units they use on Squiers. After a while, I decided the Fender unit just didn’t look right: it came too close to the bottom of the body and having Fender stamped on it confused the hell out of fellow bassists. I replaced it with a more discreet but still chunky unit: there are so many 5 hole units out there.

 

I also replaced the pickup with a Kent Armstrong. Again nothing wrong with the OEM unit but I prefer covered poles on MMs because I tend to anchor my thumb on the pickup and it buzzes if you touch a pole piece. It turns out the Kent Armstrong casing is a few millimetres bigger all round and the Starstream has a very tight route. I had to ease it a bit by sanding the casing. Incidentally, all the cavities are shielded with graphite paint. In the process of wiring in the new pickup, I replaced the mini OEM pots with full sized CTS. There is plenty of space in the control cavity but the through body mounting does cause challenges. At the time the only long shaft push/pull CTS pot I could find was a 500K. Ditto standard pot. This made it very loud but too bright as well. I eventually found a full sized non-CTS 250K pot for the tone that had a long enough shaft to fit. This plus a 0.1 oil in paper capacitor calmed the brightness down. I have since seen long shaft CTS 250K pots are back in stock with some dealers. I had to keep the original jack socket because it is quite unusual, in that it has to go through both the body and the outer plastic moulding. Fortunately, it is a good unit but could prove tricky to replace if it fails.

 

As I said previously, the control cavity has plenty of space in it, so I imagine it would easily accommodate a preamp and battery, if there is a two knob unit out there. There might be enough room to drill a mounting hole for a third pot too. The jack socket might be an issue though. 

[Reggaebass]

Really like the sound and groove of this JMJ Japanese mustang by Marlowe DK