NBD: ****** ******* ** (AKA Status Buzzard B2)

[LeftyJ]

The Facebook groups (I'm in two, there's a Statii group and a Status Basses & Guitars group) are somewhat helpful, but most threads devolve quickly into "Here's mine!", "Buy mine!" or "Sell it to me!". Status themselves are probably your best bet. Dawn and Rob are usually very helpful, giving them a phonecall will get you Dawn on the line. The company is not as active as it used to be when they still had a full staff, but they're very much still active. 

[Beedster]

3 hours ago, LeftyJ said:

The Facebook groups (I'm in two, there's a Statii group and a Status Basses & Guitars group) are somewhat helpful, but most threads devolve quickly into "Here's mine!", "Buy mine!" or "Sell it to me!". Status themselves are probably your best bet. Dawn and Rob are usually very helpful, giving them a phonecall will get you Dawn on the line. The company is not as active as it used to be when they still had a full staff, but they're very much still active. 

 

Thanks @LeftyJ I'll give Dawn a call next week, I think I owe it to the bass to get it looked at and sorted by Status if at all possible. If not, I'll have to think of other options 👍

[Beedster]

4 hours ago, Merton said:

I’m pretty sure the Statii forum closed down a few years ago I’m afraid

There’s a group on BookFace which may be of use, assuming you too are on BookFace… I could ask if you are not!

Thanks @Merton as above I'll try with Status again next week and see where things land 👍

[Beedster]

19 hours ago, Beedster said:

I'm going to keep this, in part because despite the problems it's an incredible piece of engineering and I won't find another anytime soon, in part because I don't want the hassle of dealing with a shitty seller (and BTW Reverb have handled this very poorly), and in part because I'm going to enjoy fixing it. While the financially sensible thing to do is to get the circuit repaired, given I'm not convinced the bass was all that well maintained, I don't think I'll feel fully happy unless a new circuit is installed. I was hoping that Status might be able to supply/build a replica of the original but having been initially quite responsive they've gone very quiet which is frustrating. So I'm guessing there are a few options from here. 

 

Re the earlier comment about size, check this out.....

 

 

And BTW the one on the left is for sale, and it's going to need to go to pay for the repairs to the one on the right 🤔

 

 

[tauzero]

12 hours ago, Merton said:

I’m pretty sure the Statii forum closed down a few years ago I’m afraid

 

I'm sure I was on it a few months back. Domain registration was updated in March so can't have been long ago.

 

Just checked archive.org and the last snapshot was on 23rd November, forum was still active then.

[Merton]

6 hours ago, tauzero said:

 

I'm sure I was on it a few months back. Domain registration was updated in March so can't have been long ago.

 

Just checked archive.org and the last snapshot was on 23rd November, forum was still active then.

My bad memory then! Prob just having a bad day the other day…

[bremen]

If you can get a schematic, I'd be happy to do a new board. Might even be able to do it from photos of each side of the board; pm me.

[Beedster]

On 15/12/2024 at 20:20, bremen said:

If you can get a schematic, I'd be happy to do a new board. Might even be able to do it from photos of each side of the board; pm me.

 

That's a lovely offer Chris many thanks. I'm going to check in with Status tomorrow all going well. They list a lot of circuits as currently available but not the Buzzard, so I guess the key question is the degree to which one of those is easily modified to that spec. Either way, I'll keep the above in mind, and thanks again 🙏

[police squad]

statii forum seems to be back now

[Burns-bass]

I'm so sorry to hear this Chris.

 

There seem to be two sorts of sellers those who are happy sell items with a problem and those who are unwilling to do so. I've met examples of both on BC (and in the real world) sadly.

 

I was going to do a trade this week but noticed 2 issues before selling that I couldn't in good conscience not fix before sending the bass on its way. That's why we are who we are.

 

I'm sure there's a solution here and I hope you find it. I'm sure you will.

[Beedster]

1 hour ago, Burns-bass said:

I'm so sorry to hear this Chris.

 

There seem to be two sorts of sellers those who are happy sell items with a problem and those who are unwilling to do so. I've met examples of both on BC (and in the real world) sadly.

 

I was going to do a trade this week but noticed 2 issues before selling that I couldn't in good conscience not fix before sending the bass on its way. That's why we are who we are.

 

I'm sure there's a solution here and I hope you find it. I'm sure you will.

 

Totally agree Lawrie, thanks mate 🙏

[Beedster]

Why I bought this bass (clip from

Classic Albums: Who’s Next, which is a great way to spend 90 mins if you haven’t done so) 👍

 

 

[Wolverinebass]

5 minutes ago, Beedster said:

Why I bought this bass (clip from

Classic Albums: Who’s Next, which is a great way to spend 90 mins if you haven’t done so) 👍

 

 

The irony of that clip is that Pete Townshend saying Entwistle was one of the first people to move away from "duummm, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum dum" type playing. Then ironically that's exactly what Entwistle does albeit in a slightly altered way.

 

The tone in itself isn't actually that difficult to achieve as long as you can do parallel processing like on an HX Stomp. Whether or not you like the 1999 bassy/distorted/chorus tone he had is another question entirely.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

29 minutes ago, Wolverinebass said:

The irony of that clip is that Pete Townshend saying Entwistle was one of the first people to move away from "duummm, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum dum" type playing. Then ironically that's exactly what Entwistle does albeit in a slightly altered way.

 

 

That's always amused me too. Of course, Who's Next being the album where Glyn Johns purposefully requested that Entwistle tone down his aggressive approach, in playing and tone, for something more akin to a "regular" bass player.

 

Although Entwistle was said to have done so begrudgingly he must have been pleased with the result as he stuck with that warm Thunderbird sound for years.

[Beedster]

30 minutes ago, Wolverinebass said:

The irony of that clip is that Pete Townshend saying Entwistle was one of the first people to move away from "duummm, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum dum" type playing. Then ironically that's exactly what Entwistle does albeit in a slightly altered way.

 

The tone in itself isn't actually that difficult to achieve as long as you can do parallel processing like on an HX Stomp. Whether or not you like the 1999 bassy/distorted/chorus tone he had is another question entirely.

Not a fan of chorus at all, ever, but love how that sound her gets sits in the overall mix. I have a potentially rather special Precision that I’m going to be working with also - feels more natural to me - but man the Buzzard makes getting the tone and nailing the lines so much easier and for whatever reason so much more pleasurable 👍

[Wolverinebass]

10 minutes ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

That's always amused me too. Of course, Who's Next being the album where Glyn Johns purposefully requested that Entwistle tone down his aggressive approach, in playing and tone, for something more akin to a "regular" bass player.

 

Although Entwistle was said to have done so begrudgingly he must have been pleased with the result as he stuck with that warm Thunderbird sound for years.

I have always regarded Glyn Johns as a tosser for that. Those songs could easily have taken a more overdriven sound. Can anyone really pick out what Entwistle is doing on Bargain? No, because all the treble has been cut off. What about WGFA? The bass is so low in the mix it's criminal.

 

This approach reached it's absolute nadir on Who By Numbers where the bass not only has no treble, but no sustain either. You can't even hear the bass in huge parts of that album. The drums sound terrible too. It's a terrible mix, mainly because he's turned the guitars and vocals up way too much.

 

Who Are You has better drum sounds, but that's because Jon Astley recorded them.

Edited December 31, 2024 by Wolverinebass

[Beedster]

4 minutes ago, Wolverinebass said:

I have always regarded Glyn Johns as a tosser for that. Those songs could easily have taken a more overdriven sound. Can anyone really pick out what Entwistle is doing on Bargain? No, because all the treble has been cut off. What about WGFA? The bass is so low in the mix it's criminal.

 

This approach reached it's absolute nadir on Who By Numbers where the bass not only has no treble, but no sustain either. You can't even hear the bass in huge parts of that album. The drums sound terrible too. It's a terrible mix, mainly because he's turned the guitars and vocals up way too much.

 

Who Are You has better drum sounds, but that's because Jon Astley recorded them.

Completely agree, and why I tend to listen to them live more than studio. Yes, WAY has a much more balanced mix 👍

[Wolverinebass]

11 minutes ago, Beedster said:

Not a fan of chorus at all, ever, but love how that sound her gets sits in the overall mix. I have a potentially rather special Precision that I’m going to be working with also - feels more natural to me - but man the Buzzard makes getting the tone and nailing the lines so much easier and for whatever reason so much more pleasurable 👍

It makes it easier due to ergonomics. How your arm sits basically. Whixh is also why one likes it. It makes you feel more connected to what youre playing due to using the same position. 

[Beedster]

35 minutes ago, Wolverinebass said:

It makes it easier due to ergonomics. How your arm sits basically. Whixh is also why one likes it. It makes you feel more connected to what youre playing due to using the same position. 

I think that’s spot on, I guess there’s a reason he gravitated in the instrument direction he did 👍

[Beedster]

…. and of course, a lot of it is a placebo effect. But so what 😆

[Russ]

Alex Venturella has a couple of custom Status B2's with fancy wood-and-resin tops - not sure how recent they are. I suspect they have different electronics to the original Entwistle version - the knob layout looks different, anyway. 

 

Give them a call. They've always been happy to help during the limited dealings I've had with them. 

 

[Beedster]

21 hours ago, Beedster said:

Why I bought this bass (clip from

Classic Albums: Who’s Next, which is a great way to spend 90 mins if you haven’t done so) 👍

 

 

Having watched a lot of 70’s Who stuff, and given that while a massive Who fan I grew up with Hendrix, Page, Blackmore, Clapton et al as the obvious choices, Townsend has to be the best rock guitarist full stop 👍

[bremen]

6 minutes ago, Beedster said:

Having watched a lot of 70’s Who stuff, and given that while a massive Who fan I grew up with Hendrix, Page, Blackmore, Clapton et al as the obvious choices, Townsend has to be the best rock guitarist full stop 👍

And never better than on Live at Leeds - also the OX's most incendiary playing (and tone). Young Man Blues; it's like they and Moon were being restrained by Security during the vocal parts at the start, to be released kicking and screaming for the chorus/riff

[Chris2112]

Well, I hadn't read any of this thread before tonight. It's been a real rollercoaster, and not always a good one at that. 

[bremen]

I think Mr Beed is happy with the outcome.

 

Give it a couple of months though, and there'll be a thread "Precision Bass: I have always loved you and always will. There will never be another 🥰"