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Chat about the latest toys and innovations.

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#230470 by jw123
Wed Feb 26, 2014 3:14 pm
I currently have an old P Bass, really nice one, active EMGs, Baddass tailpiece.

But recently I have been asked to play some bass and thought I would add a bass.

Ive looked at some Ibanez's, and I also like a Warwick Thumb bass. Spector is another Ive looked at, I like the Doug Wimbish models.

Just curious what would the bass players on here would get if they had thier choice.

I want a full scale 34 inch neck, but I want a light compact bass that sounds good.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

#230480 by GuitarMikeB
Wed Feb 26, 2014 7:09 pm
What's the matter with the Precision? Why do you need anything else? Are there any bass players here - oh yeah, Mark - Planet Guy!

I've always like the sound and feel of Rickenbackers, but way out of my price range!
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/bass/ric ... 0437382507
Last edited by GuitarMikeB on Thu Feb 27, 2014 2:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

#230482 by gbheil
Wed Feb 26, 2014 11:12 pm
I'm going to make a suggestion.

You have a good bass, right ?

If your looking into another for the sake of different why not one of the acoustic electric models ?

Acoustic situation comes up . . . bingo your ready.

Our bassist Eric, has 4 & 5 string models as well as an acoustic version.
He can play the upright as well, but has not invested in an upright for himself.

#230484 by Paleopete
Wed Feb 26, 2014 11:24 pm
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cort-Steinberge ... 1405659230

Google for "headless bass". Here's the main google link to the ebay listings

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/headless-bass

Several cool ones, down at the bottom there's even a double neck guitar and bass and a fretless. I played in a band in Louisiana with a bass player who used one, I Can't remember what brand, but it sounded very good and he loved it. I found out later on he had a Fender P bass and never pulled it out...even when I asked him to play it now and then...

If you wanna shell out a few bucks, Steinbergers are available...

Anyway if I wanted a bass, OK I want one...let's say if I could afford a bass, a headless is probably what I would get.

You might also lurk around a bit at the Talk Bass Forums and see if some of their threads have some good reviews or recommendations.

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/

#230523 by Planetguy
Thu Feb 27, 2014 5:00 pm
well, i gotta ask the same question mike asked....what's lacking in your P?

sound(s)? weight? or are ya just jonesing for something new?

i'm not a big fan of ABG's (acoustic bass gtrs w p/u's). i find they don't have enough acoustic volume to hang w anything bigger than a parlor gtr and plugged in they just sound like a crappy $100 electric. and i've played some high dollar ones...a bigass TAYLOR and a WARWICK Alien. meh.

john, you mention Warwick...good choice. i've got a 1990 Warwick Stage One Streamer. (see pic below)

besides being drop dead gorgeous AAAA quilted maple.... it sounds amazing, and has great ergonomics and comfy weight. it plays like butter and it's always the one i bring when i'm playing anywhere w questionable acoustics. i can ALWAYS dial in good useable tone. So i give the Thumb Bass a big "thumbs up". (sorry)

i came up playing P basses. love 'em (when they're good uns).

my #1 bass is my 63 P that i've had coming up on 40 yrs now. i've modded it over the yrs w Grovers, Bartolini p/u's (P and J), and i've countersunk a BADASS bridge into it. heresy i know, but pretty early on i realized i'm going to my grave w this bass and i'm not worried about keeping it original. every change i've made has greatly improved the bass...even if it's hurt it's "resale value". (it's the one i'm playing in my avatar)

if you're looking for something lightweight that packs a heavy punch i heartily recommend trying to find yourself a FENDER Precision Lyte. i bought one from a student a few months back and have fallen heads over heels in love w it. smaller body shape, J-bass type 34" neck and P-J active pickups that sound great. excellent EQ options. they can be found for $500 and under. i got mine for $250 and two lessons. it's great for those 4 set gigs and it's the one i use most often for my regular 9-1 truckstop gigs.

it's a little embarrassing that i am now up to SEVEN basses (and an upright) in my stable. in my defense i will say they are all different animals that wear different hats!

they are:

'63 P Bass
Zebra wood P-bass w fretless '66 neck and pickups
'80's Japanese FENDER J-bass w fretted and fretless J necks
FENDER Precision Lyte 1987(?)
'67 Guild Starfire II
Washburn XB600 6 String (KILLER bass)
'90 WARWICK Stage One Streamer

1938 KAY C-1 upright



Image

#230532 by jw123
Thu Feb 27, 2014 8:14 pm
Thanks for the replys.

First there is nothing wrong with my P-Bass I love it.

But I kinda like to have more than one thing, plus the P-Bass has a sentimental attachment, and I dont know if I want to go dragging it around very much.

George I dont care for acoustic electric bass's. Im doing a gig with a drummer and acoustic guitarist and we just plug the bass in the pa system and it works great.

Planet Guy thanks for your response, a guy that played in a band with me some eons ago had a Warwick and he loved it, he also had a Thunder Bird and a P Bass, but his Warwick was his go too bass, so Im leaning that way.

#230533 by Planetguy
Thu Feb 27, 2014 9:45 pm
you're welcome, john.

well, those "Thumbs" ain't cheap....neither are the Streamers, but they are stoopid good. if you decide to do it on the cheap....i'd be kinda wary of Warwick's import line though.

happy hunting!

#230621 by mistermikev
Sun Mar 02, 2014 10:00 pm
I love the spectre stuff. vnice. i'd love to snag one of the old ones from the eighties but they go for crazy cash. the korean ones are cheap and vnice. so are the czech.

OLP would get my vote for best cheap bass. The stingray style - awesome but it's not that far from a p bass.

not sure if it's for you but I'm a big fan of cort curbow. it's more of a slap pop bass tho it sounds great for everything and I think it has a shorter scale.

love the early 80's ibanez sr series. some of the higher end newer ones are nice too.

bascially, my recommendation is to buy one of everything!

#230647 by jw123
Mon Mar 03, 2014 3:42 pm
Planet I took the plunge and bought a Thumb Bass 1998 model, should be here by the end of the week.

#230650 by Planetguy
Mon Mar 03, 2014 5:06 pm
hey, that's GREAT, JW!

funny, but i was coming to this thread to further "sell you" on Warwick by putting up a link to some recordings of my WARWICK w my new bass rig!

no doubt our playing styles (and amps) are different but this is some of what you can expect from a WARWICK. first three tunes here: i'm playing my '90 WARWICK Stage One Streamer thru a 2x10 cab powered by the ASHDOWN MI-BASS 550.

https://soundcloud.com/planetguy-1

a '98? whoa....i bet that's gonna be killer! i gotta ask, how much?
ok, you need to get some pics and some recording up when you can.....pics or it didn't happen!!!

congrats, man.


ImageImage

#230656 by jw123
Mon Mar 03, 2014 8:41 pm
I will come back to this thread when it gets here, and put up a picture.

I guess Ive got a bad case of G.A.S. again, cause now I cant help but want a Rick 4001 or 4003 bass to boot.

If you ever get a chance look up a gal called Jasmine Cain, she plays Warwicks and has for years, I chatted with her bout it and she said there was no other bass for her other than another Warwick!

#230749 by jw123
Thu Mar 06, 2014 7:30 pm
I have pictures on FB if you guys are friends on there.

Played the new bass for a couple of hours last night, its awesome sounding, IM glad it doesnt sound just like my P-Bass.

When I got home I polished it up and got the natural color to come back out. Tuned her up and started playing and playing with the controls, the only negative is the horn on the bass is short, so the body is real small and when I take my hand off the neck it wants to dip.

Still getting used to the tone controls and dialing in a good sound.

Im actually going into a recording studio sunday to cut a song I recently wrote, met a drummer with a studio, he produces local people and the things I heard sound good, he heard me at an open mic and introduced himself, maybe he laid it on thick for business, but he seems cool and we jammed. So Ive got a session booked to see what we can do with this song, if it works out, and Im happy, I may save my beer money over the next few monthes and go in every couple of weeks or two and re-record all the demo songs Ive got rolling around.

Along with all the other playing Im doing, my GF sees my guitar and aalready calls her the other woman, so who knows how long this relationship will last.

#230757 by Planetguy
Fri Mar 07, 2014 12:53 am
jw123 wrote:I have pictures on FB if you guys are friends on there.


what's your handle on FB, john? mine is Argus Narr.

Tuned her up and started playing and playing with the controls, the only negative is the horn on the bass is short, so the body is real small and when I take my hand off the neck it wants to dip.


ya know i forgot those thumbs have a different body shape than my Streamer. i think Thumbs are a little narrower (treble side to bass side) and maybe a little longer? (bottom strap button to neck)

no neck dive problems on mine but the difference in body weight maple vs bubinga might help.....then again your ovangkol neck would be lighter than my maple neck too. hmmm. maybe it is that short horn as you said (Streamer has full size "grown up" horns)

Still getting used to the tone controls and dialing in a good sound.

three band EQ or were they still doing two band EQ back in '98?

Im actually going into a recording studio sunday to cut a song I recently wrote, met a drummer with a studio, he produces local people and the things I heard sound good, he heard me at an open mic and introduced himself, maybe he laid it on thick for business, but he seems cool and we jammed. So Ive got a session booked to see what we can do with this song, if it works out, and Im happy, I may save my beer money over the next few monthes and go in every couple of weeks or two and re-record all the demo songs Ive got rolling around.


cool deal. looking fwd to hearing what comes out of it.

Along with all the other playing Im doing, my GF sees my guitar and aalready calls her the other woman, so who knows how long this relationship will last.


hopefully they're BOTH keepers.

congrats on the cool axe, man. you deserve a fine machine like that! :wink:

#230769 by GuitarMikeB
Fri Mar 07, 2014 2:27 pm
jw123 wrote:Along with all the other playing Im doing, my GF sees my guitar and aalready calls her the other woman, so who knows how long this relationship will last.


You know what they say:

A guitar will never complain about you bringing another guitar home ...

#230773 by jw123
Fri Mar 07, 2014 3:02 pm
Planet Guy its actually a 1995 model, it has 3 band eq. It has a pull switch on the volume knob that deactivates the active pickups. The volume knob has a lower ring that is the balance between the two pickups. The mid is by itself, then the treble control is stacked on top of the bass control on the back. Im getting used to it. Also working on my fingering technique to eliminate fret buzz. This bass is wierd cause it almost sounds fretless. You can do slides and not really hear the frets, guess its the brass frets. This thing is built like a tank. I think these days they retail for around $4500. I paid a fraction of that price, so Im cool there, the only thing, when I read up on them they came with a factory flight case, I got it in a SKB case that doesnt really fit, so Im gonna keep my eyes out for the factory case. I oiled the body and it really brought back the deep color, whoever had it, didnt keep it oiled, so it was faded on the front, but it looks good now.

Im probably gonna add a 15 inch cabinet to my rig also. Im using a Hartke Head 500 watts, with an acoustic 4x10. I see that the 15 inch bottom cab that matches the 4x10 is reasonably priced, dont really know right now how much bass playing I will do live, but if called in, then I got it covered with this rig and my 2 basses.

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