NBD - Soloking MJ1 Classic 4 String Bass in Lake Placid Blue

[wingnutkj]

As you'll have no doubt seen from this thread, Andertons are currently selling a Roscoe Beck-eqsue 4-string bass called an MJ-1 for a very reasonable 250 quid. As you may have seen from this thread, it looks very nice in black sparkle. But the question you're all asking is - what does it look like in Lake Placid Blue?

 

It looks like this:

 

 

 

Nice, eh? Lake placid blue's a bit of a difficult colour to get right, but this is a good one - nice sparkle to the finish, and the colour shifts with the light, deep blue at some angles, hint of turquoise in there at others. Everything my old Fender MIM tele's LPB finish wasn't.

 

Although I've kept @Geek99 waiting a bit, I've finally had a chance to sit down with it:

 

The bass came double-boxed from Andertons. No gig-bag included (fair enough at this price), but there is a small pack of goodies - Allen keys, truss rod adjuster, Soloking-branded polishing cloth and picks, and a cable.

 

The neck is roasted maple, my first experience with the technique, and feels very nice - slim, satin-y, smooth and shallow. Jazz bass string spacing, 21 frets. The fretwork is pretty well done. There's a matching headstock, wheel truss rod adjuster, decent enough tuners. The fretboard overhangs the neck to get the 21st fret in, which makes me wonder if the neck pocket is Fender-standard size (haven't checked yet, but I know it's the kind of thing Team Bitza will want to know, so I may report back on that later).

 

The body is made of *checks Andertons website* alder, and feels reasonably resonant. This particular bass weighs in at just over 9lb/4Kg on my kitchen scales. It certainly feels like a reasonably lightweight jass bass.

 

Electronics - there's two double-jazz humbuckers with coil taps (just on or off, the original RBIV had three way switches for single coil/series/parallel mode), with a 3-way switch, volume and tone. For anyone interested in the guts, here they are:

 

 

I was hoping to put some tone clips in here, but they'll have to wait. As @neepheid pointed out his review, the cup-style jack socket is a bit too deep for Neutrik angled jacks, and guess what I've got on my recording rig? I know that I can just go and find another cable, but that's a bit much effort for this very instant.

 

I've not played with the band yet, but have given it a blast through my practice amp. The set-up out the box is decent enough - the action is perhaps a touch high, and the nut could be filed down a touch, but I'm not rushing it straight out for a pro set-up. Tone-wise, the humbuckers are deep and bassy, but quite articulate. The various switching options offer a good variety of tones, but if I was being picky, I can't get a P-bass style growl out of it. But then, that's what I've got a p-bass for...

 

All in all, a very good bass for the money.

 

I'm planning on a few mods:

• I've got a Hipshot Bass Extender I think will fit it.
• Might speak to Earlpilanz about getting a white pearloid pickguard made to replace the cream one.
• I'm planning on replacing the cup jack socket with a surface-mounted plate one.
• I'll maybe replace the 2-way coil tap switches with 3 way ones and try to replicate the Roscoe Beck IV switching.
• With the 3-way pickup selector switch, tempted to go for a 4 way one for further series/parallel fun, but tne other thing I was thinking with the pickup selector - on Jass basses, the tones I prefer tend to be one pickup on full, the other knocked back slightly to open up the sound. With this, the middle switch position has both on full. I wonder if I could do something clever with a 5-way switch to get: Neck only, neck and a bit of bridge, both on full, bridge and a bit of neck, bridge only?

 

One final thing to mention, with the headstock design, it's slightly longer than a Jazz Bass, which may be a consideration for cases, gig-bags and car boots.

[ezbass]

That LPB looks pukka and the the parchment p/g really sets it off. £250? Amazing value!

[ped]

Good review, cool looking bass too

[jezzaboy]

That £250 bass has more shielding in the cavity than a G&L I paid £1350 for! Looks really nice and quite versatile.

[neepheid]

Thanks for the picture of the guts, saves me lifting the pickguard on mine!

 

Can I just make a clarification?  In my NBD thread, I said that some Neutrik right angle jacks gave me bother then went into further detail showing the change in design over the 20 years between the old one (which didn't fit properly) and the newer one (which fit absolutely fine).  Whoops, forgot to check the muting Neutrik jack I have on my "posh" lead.  Will check that and report back.

 

Of course it's not a massive job to replace the cup with a plate, just annoying.  I do like the look of the cup though, very clean and tidy looking.