Don’t count me as one 🙂 . Dave Rocklogicxxx – that man’s owned a Chapman Stick. He’s the geezer. BTW, Lee, I’m assuming your TB has the soaps? If so, there’s not much of an answer in upping the bass-side pup height.

Do we have Pro Bassists here?! I like my LMB3 Limiter/enhancer…no more worrying about technique and dynamics just posing and not falling off stage.

The other obvious is that the A string may be decades older than the others. A and D don’t snap at anything like the rate of E and G; if I had to pick a long-liver it would be the A. In your case, I know the bass is not much used, so I’ve ruled it out. For others looking in, though, always suspect ancient strings on a 2nd-hander.

It always seems to be the “A” string, for some reason. I’ll wait on the ops of the pro bassists, but here’s my tuppence:

If the same note on E and D string play louder, on both of your p’ups, I’d have to suspect the string-height of the A. I’m not sure of (ie, have no idea) of the radius of a pukka Thunderbird bass neck. HST, I’d take a glance at whether the A is noticeably higher than the D. If so, the old “inverse square rule” comes into play.

I’m treading warily, because I know you’re not exactly a string virgin and I could be telling you how to suck eggs. If the string-height at 12th is noticeably higher for the A than it is for the D, then someone’s mucked about with the saddle height and you’ll need to adjust it back. Then sort out the intonation. A major drag, which is why (threads passim) I prefer to tweak the truss if the saddles look stock. Saddles are a major ache.

Not impossible, though, and a lot cheaper than funking it and buying a compressor (which most bass players end up moaning about anyway).

While we are on the subject, my Bass seems quieter on the 2nd A string, if i play a C on the 8th fret 1st string it plays louder than a C on the 2nd string 3rd fret, the 3rd and 4th strings play as loud as the 1st string, its just the 2nd string that seems a little quiet, any ideas from you Pro Bass players out there? plays quiet on both PUPs, so it doesnt seem to be a PUP problem.

Great for the money.
I’ve also moved the front strap button to the front of the horn (yeah, straight through the top) and moved the back strap button up to the shoulder of the curve, my strap is half leather, half hiking bootlace and both ends are held on with strap-locks, the result being a comfortable, adaptable playing position. Also I no longer drop it on the floor mid set, which I believe improves my performance no end (others may disagree)

Worth it to read about your lovely fiance sending you out with a nicely shiny bass 😆 . Gotta love girls; wonder what she’d have done with Rory Gallagher’s Strat. I played an Aria (The SLB 2a, cheaper than yours) and really liked it (ugly looker though). I got a very bright, attacking sound that I liked (current guitarist didn’t though) and the neck’s very nice in the hand. Good instruments for the money, Arias.

I suppose if the bass players weighed in, Fender would out-vote Gibson with ease (notwithstanding Lee’s new Thunderbird). Myself, I’d have one each of the Stingray 5 and the Ric 4001 rather than a Fender/Gibson choice.

That said, I love my current bass bought for £200 (which I split with my mum back in ’98) an Aria ProII MAB 20, passive, PJ pick-ups, maple neck, rosewood finger board, suprisingly light body, black body, headstock and hardware. I’ve given the body a satin finish as my fiancee kept polishing it before gigs so I looked like a total…with my nice shiny bass. played through a Boss LMB3 straight to the amp, PA, desk, whatever is required.
The end, what were you saying about us hijacking? sorry people!

Tim.

I don’t think most bassists are obsessive enough about our gear to support a thread like this, I play what I can afford, hence I’ve never actually ‘owned’ my amp, although its been in my possession for about 9 years! It still belongs to my old guitarist.

Tim.

😆 You’re not the only one who’s done that, Tim! Most of my posts appear a couple of hours after the UK off-licenses have closed, and it usually shows 😳 .

On another forum, I read a perfectly reasonable “We’ve auditioned a bass player who seems fine, but he was a bit flashy with the pops and runs. How should I tell him to tone it down?” By the time I was wringing the last drops of red out of the bottle, 90% of the replies were along the lines “Unless he’s called Jaco, get rid of the uppity git right away. Put him in his place and tell him to stick to the root or ship out.”

Ordinarily, I’d have gone ” 🙄 Of course, you don’t get lead guitarists over-widdling at audition do you?” But I went into a wine-fuelled nuclear rant instead. A bit of “what I meant to say was…” the next day. I still cringe about it 😳 . Still; no-one ever got killed reading a forum post.

Anyone for a fave-bass thread? Not wishing to hijack this one, there are enough 4/5 stringers to make a yak worthwhile. Six months ago, I’d have been talking to myself. Not a problem, if stocked up before the shops close 🙂

Maybe I should post and then drink…sorry about that!

I’d still go for Gibson though.

Tim.

What curious analogies!

Have you had your ears syringed recently?

Sometimes in life we come across these tough descisions, what sounds better, a 1970 Dodge challenger (gibson) or a cat on the spin cycle (fender) and really its down to personal preference, I prefer the dodge myself…but then again I’m a bassist, so you can ignore me entirely.

Tim.

With the handicap of being a bass player aside, I’d still go for the “one of each, please!” response if my ability justified it. The Fender and the Gibson are two different guitars that do different things better than the other does. Skipping my half-arsed attempts at designing/building (another thread), I’ve found that different approaches to build kindof influence the way I want to play them.

What follows is a load of irrelevant tosh about two of my 5-string basses, but please try and trawl through it. Do proper guitarists experience the same thing when switching guitars?

Bass #1 (Mahogany/koa body, mahogany/maple thru-neck w rosewood f/board, two soapbar HBs). This one has heaps of warmth. I usually like to play plec, but I’m doing more and more fingerstyle and soft thumb to make the most of it.

Bass #2 (Newly acquired, alder body, bolt-on maple neck w rosewood [wish it were maple] f/board, two “Jazz Bass” pups). Much more like familiar territory. After a while, I tend to revert back to plec or fingernail.

There appear (to me) to be obvious LP/Strat comparisons but I’m not a six-stringer. I haven’t thought about scale length and fingerboard radius, but I’d list the most important factors as:
1) Pickup construction
2)Woods employed
3) Neck-body join

In that order. Obviously, I’m leaving out the 12-strings and hollow-bodies, before someone smartarses me. What do you think? Does that set-neck, mahogany Gibbo lead you to modify your style compared to picking up the strat-type? Interested in your ops…

1BL

Dean Guitars signed Michael Schenker and check out this cool guitar at http://www.deanguitars.com” and “Check out the guitar Dimebag Darrell started his career on …this is the same guitar on the cover of Cowboys from Hell …check out how it looks today http://www.deanguitars.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4912

I recently got myself a Washburn WI 165-DL which has this Voice Contour Control system (VCC) which basically means you can mix between single coil and humbucker sounds – not just one or the other but all the “inbetween” sounds as well! It’s a fantastic guitar.

For years i ponderd this , it came down to humbucker or singles.
I also ponderd amps- fender or marshall and the advantages of having either a good clean sound or a better distorted sound.
I sinply love strats so my main guitar is an american ‘fat’ strat deluxe with humbucker in the bridge and two two hot rodded noisless singles,
so i can do the fender and gibson thing in one guitar, Its great if you love strats but still want to match the gibson ‘punch’. I’m a strat man at heart.

As for the amp dilema i settled for Mesa boogie .

In other words i ‘sit on the fence’ if you like.

Lots of people use PODs, whats the difference? its all software generated amp/guitar sims? i think they would be OK for basic recording but i cant see them being played live, you cant beat an electric guitar (humbucker or single coil) going flat out through a valve amp on full tilt, amongst my small collection of amps i have an AC15 VOX all valve with an alnico blue speaker, and played at full volume gives the most glorious tone, and the hotter the valves get the better thay sound.

[quote=”lee_UK”]Maybe we should all ditch our collections in favour of the new £500 line 6 Variaxe? a guitar for all seasons? :lol:[/quote]

…and no soul.

No thanks.

Maybe we should all ditch our collections in favour of the new £500 line 6 Variaxe? a guitar for all seasons? 😆

Yeah, Gretschs are sure nice guitars, although they do have their own quite distinctive sound so I wouldn’t see them as competing as such with Gibsons and Fenders. Each guitar holds its own in its own category.

Same applies with Rickenbackers before someone says it.

NEITHER!!!!!
GRETSCH!

a White Falcon, Nashville or a Duo jet will kick ANY strat, tele, SG or LP in the arse

I have payed both and both are nice guitars ,I own a 2003 fender tele myself ,what I suggest is you go in and play both guitars and decide that way it’s alot of money so make sure you like what your getting and it feels right in your hands.

Which is all very well until you want a Strat sound.

I was thinking of the Strat and Telecaster, I did’nt realy think about the cost implications, just a comparison between the 2 makers, i like rock so the Gibsons offer me Humbuckers with set neck and solid body with stop tail peice sustain (mainly thinking about the Les Paul and SG), Fenders have always seemed to be in the Blues/Pop/Country box. i have a couple of Strats and a Tele (all japanese) and they play great, sound real nice and look real good too, but when it comes around to gigging time, it’s the SG or Les paul every time.

Nah, Danos are fab! They may be made from crap but they sound – and play – great. The resonance due to the “unusual” construction method allied to those lipstick pickups give them a very distinctive sound. Also, they are a lot sturdier than people think.

Gibson may well have prodcued a whole series of legendary electric guitars against the mere two Fenders that you mention (which two out of interest?), but on the whole Fenders are and have always been a lot more affordable. You’re not really comparing like with like.

Danelectros?? Hardboard and Cardboard?? Page used to use one but that was so much customised it barely resembled a Dano, as for the Gibson Fender choice it’s very personal, but i can think of 8 great Gibson models, but only 2 great Fenders (6 String electric) plus Gibson make fantastic accoustics and fender really need’nt bother.
(Batten down the hatches..incoming.)

Yeah, I went through a phase of hating Fenders and I was a real Gibson fan, but now I love Strats again.

I suppose I’m just fickle like that!

Silly question!

Both of course! Plus whatever other guitars take your fancy. Personally I’ve got a soft spot for Danelectros.