looking for a steal, decent budget bass, new or old?

[Wonks]

Ha!

I really have no idea about pedals for bass apart from a compressor. Phaser is very '70s but a little touch of it can add a bit of movement to the sound if you are playing a fairly repetitive bass part Only other one that I can think of is an envelope filter (rather like an automatic wah). This Electro-Harmonix one is based on the classic Mutron-3 envelope filter. http://www.ehx.com/products/enigma.

[Guest]

Very 70’s? wot a snob, I got an Electro-Harmonix, not sayin’ what, from the bleedin’ 70’s, once ‘eard never forgotten, y’know, I still got it man, they’re very much sought after, I’ll show yous lot, 70’s indeed.

I nearly bought one on ebay with Bartolinis fitted, pretty sure you replied to that post too recommending go for it, so I’ll see what Hank’s thinks. I’m easy at the mo.



Thanks man

[Guest]

I reckon it sounds wicked man,

https://soundcloud.com/ldashd/bass-talk-sos/s-0bEfG

Damped without , then with, then ringing without, then with, didn't spend more than 1 min getting that quick sound, plus there's no processing, 3 mins work, I'm well pleased.

might be early 80's, pos late 70's

[Wonks]

Yep. Nice sound.

[Guest]

I broke the link seein' as you've 'eard it, yeah impressive damped, really hugs the string, i think damped is gonna tuck-in nicely in a thumping dance track.

[Urumiko]

I have an entry level Yamaha RBX which is a perfectly ok bass, But I recently bought my GF a Ibanez SR300B-CA and was absoluteley blown away by how great it sounded just DI in to my audio interface. The active pups probably help. I'm seriously considering trading mine in.

If considering buying new its well worth a look @ £215.00

[Jadoube]

I'm a fan of the Ibanez SR series. I got the SR500 last year, which you can pick up for under £500, but you can move either up or down the range according to the depth of your pockets.

+1 This my muck about bass. Sounds decent with flatwounds and nice to play.

[Guest]

Here’s a pic of the mod, the original knobs were too big and the volume knob was in my way as I often ‘strum’ into that area, Wonks suggested they could be dropped down a hole and this is the result, I also did away with the tone knob rather than stacking it as Wonky suggested.



I’ve had the frets stoned and the action’s about as low as it will go, I’m real happy with it, a really slim fast neck. The neck was my first port of call, I tried a few all without an amp, didn’t rate the neck on a Squier Mexican Jazz bass, but would’ve almost swapped on the spot my Overwater for an Indonesian Squier Jazz I tried in another shop after picking up my modified one, goes without saying I suppose but you really need to play ’em, as MIM Jazz’s seem to have the best reputation.

Bass guitar is now gonna be a permanent fixture for me so I’m beginning to wish I’d splashed out a bit more, I don’t need two basses and am prepared to part exchange it for a better up market Bass, or maybe just change the p’ups?

Not sure if anyone can judge the quality of the pickups from this upload, DI’ed through a Saffire pro no processing.

https://soundcloud.com/ldashd/basspickup/s-EzezL

Like I say I’m really happy with it, neck wise, but I figure 2 to 3 hundred extra squids is gonna get me a superior instrument with similar/better spec, so let’s say, six ‘undred sobs (£600), any suggestions, any Fender Jazzes in that price range too?

[Guest]

I tried a few more Fender Jazz bass necks, the expensive USA standard versions are all slightly diff & all very easy to get on with, I tried another MIM and the neck was fine, that’s one good and one crap, tried another Indonesian (‘modern vintage’ new line I think) it was as good as the other one I tried, but I don’t think any were really any better than the neck on the Overwater, ‘cept perhaps the USA standards, would need more time on it.

Their Indonesian is 300 quid cheaper than a MIM, I doubt there’s 300 extra squids worth of hardware/pick-ups on it.

Probably just gonna upgrade the pick-ups now I’m not jealous of others necks.

Moral is, I wish I’d paid more cos I’m really into it & only need one bass but in this case the extra dosh don’t get me much more, neck wise, than the budget Overwater, has to be said, my one seems to be the old version, as the new one has diff P’ups.

The Overwater Jazz’s got a great easy to play neck.

[Music Wolf]

Moral is, I wish I’d paid more

A quick glance around the studio and I can confirm that, for just about every piece of kit, I either wished that I'd paid more or, in a few cases, I hadn't bought it at all thus leaving more money to spend of the better versions of the stuff that I do like.

I think that is, what they call, life.

[Guest]

Moral is, I wish I’d paid more

A quick glance around the studio and I can confirm that, for just about every piece of kit, I either wished that I'd paid more or, in a few cases, I hadn't bought it at all thus leaving more money to spend of the better versions of the stuff that I do like.

I think that is, what they call, life.

You go with wot you got don’t you, when people were replacing their 81Z’s with say D-50’s I’d be checking Loot whatever, then checking back-issues of SOS to scour the reviews again, so I saved a fair few bob both ways, cos both aren’t really on peoples list these days and maybe the 81Z is more suited to today’s stuff anyway.

I’m pissed off that me 1080 & 8080 ain’t worth a light these days, I swear they’re languishing there laughing at me, mind you the 1080’s probably glad cos I gave it some serious stick for a good few years, then again, maybe it’s like Toy Story & they’re more than happy to let you play with ‘em.

I was surprised the more expensive weren’t really that much better, it’s been said many times before, you gotta try ‘em first, anyway now I’d call mine a bargain not a budget, gonna go on a pick-up hunt now, see how that pans out.

[Guest]

Just to put the record straight, my moan about not balancing on your knee is easily solved by sitting up straight as nature intended, this is a good thing, also good there’s about 1cm of neck after last fret-bar this seems to be the hot spot for thumb slaps, don’t know if all basses are slapped there though, the Fenders didn’t and I wasn’t plugged in but I could still feel just about hear that it wasn’t working the same there, maybe all basses are diff that way, wouldn’t know.

The only minor niggle is it’s a bit of an effort to damp at bridge with palm, it's slightly awkward way down there, the Fenders are easily damped, not gonna damp that much I suppose plus my arm/palm will eventually mould there or meld there, so no big deal. It must be to do with the diff in gap between neck end and bridge, there's a smaller distance between them on the Fenders that make it a tad easier, but like i said no big deal.

All in all, a bonafide bargain I reckon.

[Wonks]

Spending just a bit more money actually gets you very little in the way of better hardware. There's just too much mark-up in the whole factory to guitar shop chain. Worth reading this article https://reverb.com/news/guitaronomics-h ... _medium=FB. Some of the values need to be taken with a pinch of salt, but it's broadly true. You are much better off upgrading the hardware yourself on a cheaper instrument.

I've just replaced most of the hardware on a friend's old Fenix Strat copy; screened cavities, Wilkinson steel block replacement trem unit, Irongear pickups, new pots, selector switch and an orange drop cap, All for around £120. His budget didn't stretch to replacing the tuners, as they have a very low gear ratio so it's hard to tune up accurately, but they don't slip and you just have to take a bit more care. But now he's got a very nice sounding, electrically quiet, easy playing guitar that is probably the equivalent of any current £600 Strat, maybe more. Of course it pays to be able to do this yourself as it took around 6 hours to do it all, including the final set-up, otherwise it would have been a lot more expensive to get a shop to do it.

So I'd suggest fitting something like a set of Bartolinis on your bass. They will make the most out of it.

[CS70]

I was surprised the more expensive weren’t really that much better, it’s been said many times before, you gotta try ‘em first, anyway now I’d call mine a bargain not a budget, gonna go on a pick-up hunt now, see how that pans out.

The same goes for instruments as everything in music: 95% is the performance, that is, you.
All the rest is just excuses for wannabes or toys for grown ups.

Check out Joe playing a $30 strat and amp. He does his thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9v5e1TTwts

[CS70]

Spending just a bit more money actually gets you very little in the way of better hardware. There's just too much mark-up in the whole factory to guitar shop chain. Worth reading this article https://reverb.com/news/guitaronomics-h ... _medium=FB. Some of the values need to be taken with a pinch of salt, but it's broadly true. You are much better off upgrading the hardware yourself on a cheaper instrument.

I've just replaced most of the hardware on a friend's old Fenix Strat copy; screened cavities, Wilkinson steel block replacement trem unit, Irongear pickups, new pots, selector switch and an orange drop cap, All for around £120. His budget didn't stretch to replacing the tuners, as they have a very low gear ratio so it's hard to tune up accurately, but they don't slip and you just have to take a bit more care. But now he's got a very nice sounding, electrically quiet, easy playing guitar that is probably the equivalent of any current £600 Strat, maybe more. Of course it pays to be able to do this yourself as it took around 6 hours to do it all, including the final set-up, otherwise it would have been a lot more expensive to get a shop to do it.

Yes! A Fenix strat (Fiesta red, white pickguard, maple fretboard) was my first electric guitar, and it was a great one. I actually gave it away a couple years ago for charity and I miss it. Lovely maple neck, great intonation, mechanics staying in tune, the works.

Especially with Stratocasters or other assembly guitar, there's very little point in going superexpensive today, in these CNC-machinery times. It used to be that the precision in pocket, routing of pickups, neck shapes etc were a bit wobbly if not made by very skilled (and expensive) people. Nowadays a CNC machine spits out perfect bodies, necks and other parts with no problems. Frets aren't applied by machines insofar I know, but they are made by them with perfect curvature and stuck on perfectly curved necks, so if something's off it's usually easy to fix. Same for fret dressing. The only remaining differences are basically the truss rod type, since it's the only part you can't change it easily without remaking the neck. And perhaps glued body vs. one piece, but that doesn't justify at all thousands of dollars of difference. Anything else is readily accessible and improvable. Sure, you're gonna spend a few bucks in upgrades, but nothing comparable to the price of uberexpensive guitars.

Quite a different story for set necks guitars or neck trhrus, of course, not to mention acoustic ones. But "assembled" guitars.. Leo invented them exactly so that they were easy and inexpensive to make with consistent quality.

[Wonks]

This one is metallic pewter with a rosewood board, but the neck is nice and straight and the body has a proper 3 x single coil route (no generic HSH or swimming pool route like on many Squiers and MIM Fenders). The original pickups were slightly smaller than standard, so I had to enlarge the pickguard holes (a lot of copy stuff is slightly undersized).

The old pickups had simply stopped working - they just made a huge hum, though the rest of the wiring was fine. It had been stored in a damp place as a lot of the screws were rusty, as were the tops of the steel slugs ( ceramic bar magnets underneath the slugs). Whilst the magnets still repelled one another, there was no resistance or attraction at all when I put the tops of the pickups together.

[CS70]

This one is metallic pewter with a rosewood board, but the neck is nice and straight and the body has a proper 3 x single coil route (no generic HSH or swimming pool route like on many Squiers and MIM Fenders). The original pickups were slightly smaller than standard, so I had to enlarge the pickguard holes (a lot of copy stuff is slightly undersized).

The old pickups had simply stopped working - they just made a huge hum, though the rest of the wiring was fine. It had been stored in a damp place as a lot of the screws were rusty, as were the tops of the steel slugs ( ceramic bar magnets underneath the slugs). Whilst the magnets still repelled one another, there was no resistance or attraction at all when I put the tops of the pickups together.

I remember reading someplace that Fenix was, by way of subcontracting, producing Fender's MIJ bodies (or more likely, Squiers) and were using the same blueprint and materials to make their own, so for any practical purpose these were very well made Fender bodies and necks.. and that they stopped production after an injunction by Fender.

Probably an urban legend, but fact is right now Young Chang makes only pianos, no trace of the guitars.

[Guest]

Wanted to try an MXR comp pedal for my bass, he handed me an £1100 Jazz Fender, it’s slapable in exactly the same place as there’s a wee bit of wood there too, and damping was very easy, so I retract previous comment, perhaps maybe not on all though.

I played through an Orange 50 just blew me away compared with wot I’m getting at home by D,I’ing, not bothered for now cos I can do that in the studio, I’ll take my bass but I guess they’ll have a Fender or two, and if I’m not happy I can hire someone online after. It’s only a 4 bar riff, I might add more but they’ll only be short riffs too, I’ll just loop ‘em. It’s just playing through that amp made me realise how important that bass sound is gonna be, if I do do the one I’ve been rattling on about it’s got a particularly strong hook, so it will need to be heard not just to support or hold the whole thing together.

The 1100 hundred quid Jazz’s neck was a bit more scooped out ‘C’ than mine, mine is a tad wider too, I prefer mine but I’m already getting to know it, but could def get on with the USA standard Jazz, can’t believe how narrow it is, it’s just the deeper 'C' scoop throws me, brains already mapped mine I suppose.

So for now pick-ups are on the main agenda, I suppose the Orange 50 was contributing to impression it made on me though.

[Wonks]

It can make a very big difference, but 99% of all recorded bass sounds are DI'd. It's quite difficult to record a bass amp and get the same sound as you hear in the room - a lot of it is down feeling the small vibrations and the air movement, so I'd let the engineer do what he thinks best (at least to start with) and see whether he can simulate the same sorts of sounds once the bass track has been recorded. If not, ask to record the amp (if he hasn't already done so in addition to the DI).

[Music Wolf]

Recording is how symmetry in the Universe is restored between guitar and bass.

I spent my early years as a bass player lugging enormous, heavy, speaker cabs up countless stairs and into the boots of cars whilst the guitarist used to rock up with guitar in one hand and a small combo in the other (usually without a serviceable lead with which to join the two).

Now I masquerade as a guitarist but I've spent the last decade, and a fair bit of dosh, attempting to capture the right sound in the home studio (pre-amps, iso cabs, simulations etc). Bass on the other hand - since my AI has a decent Hi Z input I don't even bother with a DI box. Bass > DI > bung it through the Cubase bass amp sim afterwards if required (I don't even bother with this whilst laying the track). Works every time.

[Guest]

Should've said, I meant the pick's and at home I've got 5 inch monitors, it's just the full rich tone I heard, don't think mine are gonna match that. I'm just playing/writing at modest levels, sketching, I'll be more than fine with a experienced engineer, I'm gonna use me right side and 'e's gonna use both.

I don't wanna bore you with the details, but I've never really written much with a guitar and only ever laid down a few parts occasionally, I have, i think, a complete and thorough enough understanding of harmony/intervals mainly cos of using synths for so long i reckon, bringing that to the guitar now, is just freaking me out.

I might also try a couple of bass parts, already have messed around, prob need editing but there's some interesting stuff happening as I play, i ain't gonna lay any down just yet though.

I'm happy to DI, picked that up in another recent thread, couldn't believe it, funny thing was the kid in the shop said gotta record through an amp, I kept it buttoned.

You've all been a big help so big-up for that chaps.

And i ain't done yet keep 'em peeled people.

[IvanSC]

You're forgetting 'ground squirrels' a cheap alternative to mince......

Delicious made into mini burgers as an hors d'oeuvre followed by a pipng hot bowl of my tasty Wabbit stew!
Yum.

[IvanSC]

Er, £399.

Meant to ask: What is a sob?

Other than a son of a biyatch, I mean.

Could you actually be mis-spelling "sov" as in "sovereigns"?

You bloody kids....

[Guest]

Really into playing bass, so I wanna step-up.

I tried a Fender American Special Jazz Bass, Hank’s fits me like a glove, amazing neck, very slim and easy to finger/play, no blaming this tool.

‘tis a given that you gotta try ‘em, Hank’s is £800, second hand on line maybe £500, at that price are they all gonna fit like a glove, 800 quid reasonable?

Didn’t try thru an amp, the action was so low that the strings seem to be almost touching the fret/wood is this ok? Harder to slap?

I’d luv to leave it like that it’s viable, maybe an amp will show any probs?

The picked tone unplugged is impressive, if right is that transferred to the pick-up?

[Wonks]

Unplugged tone only shows the possibilities for the plugged-in tone. A lot still depends on the pickup. But it's going to sound like a Jazz Bass, so if its got a lot of unplugged sustain, then that's going to be seen when plugged-in.

I'm not a proper bass player, so can't answer the slap questions. I'd imagine that if you want to slap and play fast, say like Mark King, then a lower action would make the speed easier to achieve, and then getting a good slap sound is down to perfecting your slap technique. But you'd need to test the guitar through an amp to see if it plays nice and cleanly without any fret buzzes with that low action.