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Seriously I need to stop playing the Squiers at work . I've been ignoring this Squier Classic Vibe 60's Jazz for over a month at The House of Guitars I finally caved and bought it during my shift on Sunday.
All I can say is wow! The neck is amazing, fret work is perfect, it weighs about 8 pounds and the alnico pickups sound great.
Squier has made some changes to the CV line, the nuclear orange vintage tint is gone and replaced by a much more believable tint, the tort in the pickguard is no longer printed but a nice layer on the w/b/w. Body is made of poplar, no more dark mineral streaks in the sunburst finishes. It's a absolutely beautiful bass I like it feel wise better than the 66 AVRI I sold a few months ago.

Over the next few days I will post some picks of new bass tee shirts I have ordered. Of my last batch (circa 2022,) only my Marcus shirt is still around. My Jaco, Bernard Edwards, and Chuck Rainey shirts disappeared. My Pino shirt faded in less than a month.

Setting up a second practice space, primarily headphones through a Zoom L-8 mixer.

My regular rig has an MXR M80 DI pedal and I'm pretty happy with the sound from my amp and DI to FOH. Testing the M80 with the Zoom mixer alone, the volume was really low. I don't think the Zoom Pre's are all that "hot", but I had hoped for a decent tone. It seemed to be either low volume or clipping... with the gain up. At first I was wondering if there some micro switches inside the case, but it seems to work fine in a live setting (checked the manual, no switches). Looking online, a few comments said the M80 output is a little lower than other DI's.

I went direct through a Behringer Ultra DI as a test and it sounded great, go figure... This system is to practice along with recorded music, possibly some recording. A friend recommended the Tech 21 Sansamp... used they are over $200. The Behringer Ultra DI 2 channel is $29... am I missing something. Not really into boutique gear, just need it to work and be dependable.

The Ultra DI is a bit of a sleeper pedal. I use it with my Taylor acoustic direct into the mixer, almost as nice as going from the Loudbox amp DI.

Just wondering if anyone has run into this?

What bass would you use to play acoustic rock?

I play in a rock'n'roll band and the singer & guitarist had this idea to do an acoustic version of our stuff which we've had some fun experimenting with. When we try it in our practice-sessions I've just played my electric as electrics are all I own. I modify my technique and style a bit to be more complimentary to the acoustic sound of course (a little softer, less busy, plucking more on the end of the fingerboard than around the pickups). But if we develop this thing to the point of doing gigs, do I want to keep using the electric? Here are some of the thoughts I've had:

-In my experience, acoustic bass guitars usually sound like cardboard and need to be amplified to be heard over anything else anyway.
-And if you have to amplify anyway, is using an ABG worth it?
-Or should I think about something like the Godin A4/A5?
-Before some wiseacre suggests it, an upright is out of the question for a bunch of practical reasons.
-Just keep on truckin' with the electric?

Hi all

I’m currently building a p bass copy and to early 60s specs I’m going for 41mm thickness for the body.
I have bought a makita rt0702 trim router with plunge base etc. I’m now looking for a router bit to trim the edge of the body after I have use the bandsaw to cut out the rough shape.

I was thinking of buying this bit and making a simple table for the router.
Cmt router bit
In theory this should work, but I was wondering if the makita could handle this? Is it to heavy a job for such a small trim router?

What do you guys think?

Have you found yourself in a situation where you had to replicate on bass the part of another instrument, presumably because nobody else was available to play it?

What instruments have you "covered" this way? Did you find it technically challenging? Did you have to think differently? Did you try to also modify the sound (with technique or sound process) to make it closer to the original instrument or did you just accept your bass sound for the task?

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As someone with three history degrees, Paul’s ability as a researcher is off the chain!

~8 months after ordering, I've just received my custom shop Spector NS-2, sn #2289. Out of the box I'm completely blown away, the differences are subtle but as a complete package it's head and shoulders above the czech spector I've been playing as my #1 for the last two years. Specs as follows:

34" Scale
2-piece construction, flame maple top and back
Chambered
Maple neck, ebony board
1.5" nut
Thin neck profile
Tortoiseshell crown inlays
Matching headstock
Violin burst oil finish
EMG PJx
HAZ 9v pre
Aluminum bridge

I did request mini clover hipshot ultralites on it, but it came with their standard gotohs. So, a small disappointment there, but it hasn't really dampened my enthusiasm at all, I'll just get them installed locally down the road. With the thin neck profile & narrow nut it's immediately easier to get around than the euro, which I'd acclimated to but never really felt like home - this is much closer to the jazz profile I played for near 20 years before. The HAZ preamp in this is way more intuitive & has more usable range than the tonepump jr from the euro as well, the high end especially is crystal clear and less abrasive. I would never dime the tonepump but on the HAZ it's just perfect. Also greatly prefer having the vol/bal setup rather than vol/vol.

I don't have a scale to check the weight but it's way on the low end for an all maple instrument, it actually feels a hair lighter than my maple/ash euro which came in at 8.3lbs. I suppose that'll drop a bit further when I swap the tuners. The finish was inspired by this ancient beat up cello I played growing up, I'm super happy with how it turned out. Pleasant side effect is that the slight burst obscures the seam between the front & back pieces of flame maple, which are really well matched to begin with. The setup could use a few tweaks but overall is quite good, just needs some minor height adjustments. I'm really looking forward to giving it a run through at practice this week & shows around the DMV area coming up. Also, shoutout to Jason at Fret Nation, wouldn't hesitate at all to order with them again!

And of course, pics:

Purchased a rare 5 string Fender Jazz bass off verb. The weight was stated as 9.4 lbs.
As soon as I unpacked I knew that was off. On my postal scale it weighs 9.14.47.
Close to 10 lbs. I love the bass otherwise but at 71, you know. I almost feel like returning it but
not sure if weight discrepancy is considered false representation. Anyone ever had this happen?

Do you feel slighted when big name artists won't do their biggest hits?

Hello,

I have bought this Japanese Fender Jazz Bass. It plays and sounds very well!

Would someone more expert than me help me to identify approximately the year and the model?

Is it a JB62? Is it a MIJ from 1994-95, or a CIJ 2006-2008? And any other details one is able to understand from the photos?

Thank you!

Hi,

I have been researching all over the internet + AI help but couldnt find out how to.

I have a problem with my original 9 pin switchcraft jack on my fender deluxe jb and cant find a replacement in my country. And i want to replace it with a puretone stereo jack.

So can anyone figure out how to connect the 4 cables from the original, into 3 connection points on the puretone?

クエスト・マンハッタンMK-IIIベース – 情報募集中


こんにちは、みんな、


日本からご挨拶申し上げます。


私はQuest Manhattan MK-IIIというベースギターを所有しているのですが、ここにいるヴィンテージ日本製ベースギターの専門家の方々に、このベースギターについてもっと詳しく教えていただけたらと思っています。


このモデルに関する情報をオンラインで検索してみましたが、資料はほとんど見つかりませんでした。Quest Manhattanという楽器や、ごく少数のMK-IIIベースに関する記述は見つかりましたが、実物は極めて珍しいようです。


私のベースには以下の特徴があります。


● ヘッドストックにQUEST Manhattan “MK-III”の刻印


● QUESTブランドのチューニングマシン


● 大型ピックアップトラック2台


● 4つのコントロールノブ


● ミニスイッチ2個


● ネックスルー構造


● ボディとヘッドストックにバインディングが施されている


●ブラックグロス仕上げ


●日本製／松本木工所製と考えられている


残念ながら、シリアル番号を見つけることができませんでした。


このベースは現在日本にあり、しばらく前から私の手元にあります。私は単に金銭的な価値を知りたいというよりも、その歴史についてもっと詳しく知りたいと思っています。


Quest Manhattan MK-IIIベースに関する情報をお持ちの方がいらっしゃいましたら、ぜひ教えていただきたいです。


●製造時期


● オリジナル仕様


● 元の小売価格


● 4つのつまみと2つのスイッチが元々何を制御するために設計されたのか


● ピックアップおよび電子機器の仕様


● MK-I、MK-II、MK-IIIの各バージョンの違い


● 生産された可能性のある数量はどれくらいか


● これらのベースは元々どの国で販売されていたか


●ここにいる方で、他にMK-IIIベースを所有している方、または以前所有していた方はいますか？


● オリジナルのQuest/Vantage/Matsumokuのカタログ、広告、または文書


現存する実例の写真があれば、ぜひ拝見したいです。


ヘッドストックの表裏、ピックアップ、コントロール部、ネック一体構造など、私のベースの詳細な写真を何枚か添付します。


情報、思い出、カタログのスキャン画像、写真、手がかりなど、どんなものでも大変ありがたく思います。


些細な情報でも、この非常に希少なベースの歴史を解き明かす手がかりになるかもしれない。


日本から、本当にありがとうございました！

If anyone's working through Ed Friedland's Blues Bass book — the stock play-along tracks are a standard mix, bass sitting in there with everything else, which makes it tough to really lock onto the line while learning.

Isolated the bass out of the whole book's audio and put together a free playlist of bass-only versions, one per track, with a little on-screen note reference (key + blues-scale highlighting) for practicing along: Playlist link

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Nothing for sale, just a personal project that seemed worth sharing since a few people here have probably hit the same wall with these tracks.

Edit: The media view is eating the playlist and just giving first track, may need to paste this on YT: /playlist?list=PLaTVjN0Z5RlY

I just dusted off my old Eden Nemesis RS400 amp today and was reminded of how simply stellar it sounds! Deep rich lows with glassy highs BUT no annoying hiss or string/fret buzz that's common when otherwise 'cranking the treble' to get the same 'sparkle' in the high end that the Eden just so effortlessly does. It just begs me to pour a nice refreshing beverage and explore the fretboard over the course of the evening. It's ruined me from pretty much all other amps. I've had (or currently have) Markbass, Ampeg, Aguilar, Mesa, Fender, Peavey, etc heads/amps and I just keep coming back to the Eden every single time. The only reason it's not my daily driver is age and parts.

The weird thing is, I bought a used WT550 for a few months once and just didn't really care for it. It lacked something 'magical' that the Nemesis NA320 had (what I had at the time) even with the EQ section flat compared to the Nemesis' flat. There just didn't seem to be the level of 'richness' and 'sparkle' that the Nemesis had for some reason. I ended up selling it and got a Markbass F1 that I ran for many years instead.

The Nemesis is supposed to be the 'budget' line, so I was really surprised I didn't care for the more 'premium' option as much. Has anyone else had the same luck? Did I get a weird WT? I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try picking up a WT again for giggles?

Hi,

Begging and rhythmically challenged bass player, I was starting to look for a drum machine, but I would prefer a software-based solution that I can then plug into some headphones.
Instead of spending money on the SR-18 it looks like something like I could instead buy software like ableton and then also get the ez drummer library sample and create my own looping tracks that way to learn to groove.

My main interests are learning jazz and modern brazillian jazz.

Any similar or more simple systems to do what I am aiming for or is a drum machine worth it in this use case?

thank you

A few years ago I picked up a Heartfield 5-string bass off Facebook Marketplace (see club link below). While the bass itself was pristine, the case – not so much. Two of the large metal feet on the bottom were caved in, I assume due to a catastrophic drop event. As a result, the case would not sit upright – it had to be leaned against something.

If this had been a wood hardshell case, it would have been easy enough to just screw in some rubber feet. I didn’t take much common sense to see that wouldn’t fly with a hard plastic case, as it would be too thin to permit enough thread to bite, even with something relatively fine like a 4-40 screw.

I won’t bore everyone with the various ideas I considered and discarded before coming up with my solution: Spherical peel-and-stick-on rubber feet. Of course, those wouldn’t hold up long term, so I figured a heavy-duty adhesive was the ticket – something like JB Weld’s two-part epoxy.

I roughed-up the surface with 150 grit sandpaper, and drilled a small hole where the foot would be located. I figured a bit of epoxy forced into the hole might give it a bit more overall strength, but that’s honestly just speculation on my part. Mixed the epoxy, dabbed a blob on the foot, and pressed it onto the case. The result: it’s not a thing of beauty, but it appears to be pretty sturdy.

Below are a couple of pictures, one showing prep and the other the finished product. Ignore the random holes; that was from a previous failed idea that was attempted and abandoned.

Oh yes – the feet are thick (tall) enough so that the hinges don’t hit the ground. Bottom line, the case now stands up on edge nice and straight.





Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Ecclesia: Unique Arrangements of Hymns, P&W Standards, and Original Tunes
Make Your Own Cables: A How-To Guide
Administrator, Official Pedulla Club #45
Administrator, Official Heartfield Club #36
Administrator, Official Tobias Club #133
Administrator, Official Pre-Gibson Tobias Owners Club
Fretless Club #943
Big Cabs Club #23
My Rig: Stage and FOH Friendly
My Basses

I have been interested in doing some A/B comparisons of the Empress and Cali76 v2, it has been eye-opening since I cracked the boxes on both of these pedals last week. Here are some initial thoughts I have had cross my mind:

• I had no idea the Cali76 would instantly appeal so much to my ear - I realize now that I've heard that 1176 style compression on recordings for years, as soon as I began playing through the Cali it almost instantly gained "always on" status. I really like how the the combined ATT/REL control functions. Do ALL 1176-style compressors color tone similar to the Cali?
• Compared to the Cali, the Empress is VERY transparent as many have already stated. The separate Attack/Release controls are nice in comparison to the combined control the Cali has. Do I like THAT more? Or do I like the separate Attack and Release controls? Hmmmm...I need more experience and time for my own ear to "form an opinion". I am going to take a couple days and plug in my active J and have a go at the Empress and explore all the ways it works. I really am beginning to like the Empress granularity - need to explore the 'color' setting as well as take a look at the DIP switches and determine what setting I like best.
• I am taking a hard look at using dual compressors, thinking having the Empress first in chain and then the Cali, I DO love the color it adds. I'm going to be A/Bing both pedals both by themself and in front of both my pre and my Stomp. I'm super happy that I FINALLY bought an ES-5 to help me test/explore pedals. The Teletronix LA-2A is for limiting and will be near the end of my chain. (I got the idea from someone on line but I'll be darned if I can locate THAT post. Anyway, the idea is not all mine.)
• I'm interested in trying a couple "transparent" preamps with the Cali, and a couple of "coloured" preamps with my Empress and see if I can find some magic.

I recently purchased a “used - not opened” set of D’Addario NS Traditionals for my NS NXTa 5 string EUB. To my surprise, the box was full of used strings that were repackaged.

The strings (B, E, A, D, G) all have black silk at both ends and a black hollow ball at the end. Any idea what these are?

Ok, here we go. I'm back for a few more builds, finding time to get in the shop when I can. Lots of lessons learned from my first builds. Should be fun.

Neck beams and wing blanks. Some laminates and dimensions for quick wins so I can spend more time with the fretboards and neck carves.

I must say, that I am wonderfully surprised and impressed with the new Spector ICON NS-2. I was fully expecting to have to gut the electronics as I'm typically not a. Aggie guy....however...the reverse P/J and OBP2 just work in the case. Cut through the mix without sounding thin. Carries girth without sounding too "woofy". Great clarity.

On another topic, the 3 piece neck is dead straight, frets are very level. Action is very low (after I gave her a setup, as it was medium-high out of the box).

Hardware is quality and fit and finish is top tier. Great job Spector!

I have an older version of the Randal RB100 amp (the model without the eq sliders). I was wondering if anyone has one and could answer a question.

When I turn on the amp, the compressor LED is green. If you turn the compressor down it still stays green. Only if you really crank it does the LED turn red. Is this what it is supposed to do? I would think it would not turn on until it compresses the signal, and that the red light means the signal is peaking.

I’ve had a Pedulla Thunderbass for over 10 years, and never cared for the stock gold hardware. A while back I swapped out the tuners on one of my other basses for some ultra-lights. I now had a “free” set of black tuners on hand, so all I needed to complete the “package” was a black bridge.

However, the stock Pedulla bridge in black is virtually non-existent. Of course, there are other black 19mm bridges on the market, but most are smaller front-to-back than the Pedulla. This was a concern, because when I removed the original bridge, the shade of the wood underneath was different, due to differences in long-term light exposure:



The only bridge I could find that perfectly fit the bill was a Babicz FCH (Full Contact Hardware) Original Series. It is discontinued, and there were only maybe a half-dozen available anywhere, so I snagged one from Reverb for the princely sum of $213.

Before turning the bass over to my local tech, I noticed the Phillips screws that came with the FCH were insanely long, like 30-50% longer than the Pedulla screws. When I picked up the bass, some of the screw heads were buggered up pretty bad, I expect because the tech was worried about drilling the pilot holes too deep (i.e. out the other side!) and had a hard time getting the screws sunk that last distance. I also noticed that for one string, the ball end had not dropped into the hole. It was visibly hanging out the end of the bridge like a goofy snaggletooth.

When I tried to remove the strings to install new ones, they were stuck in the ball holes. Like, seriously stuck. I had to use a pair of heavy-duty, automotive-shop grade needle nose pliers to grab the ball ends and pull them out. Being that tight, the only way the ball ends had dropped into the holes (except for the “snaggletooth” one) was from being forced / pulled in via the string tuning. Thinking something might be off with the strings, I tried another set - no difference.

Obviously, this was an untenable situation, especially with the “snaggletooth” end that wouldn’t press into the ball hole at all: If all the ball ends were exposed at the end of the bridge, ala Badass, I could have lived with that, but not with only one of them.

Fortunately, I have a Dremel, and happened to have an appropriate tip that I could grind out the holes enough for the ball ends to slip in easily. In the process, I managed to scuff the wood below the bridge a bit in one place, so I no longer have a pristine bass. I guess it could be argued that I should have taken appropriate precautions to prevent that, but it could also be argued that the work shouldn’t have been needed in the first place. Especially for what this thing cost.

In the end, I love the way the bass looks with the black hardware, but this bridge is a serious disappointment. Hopefully this issue has been resolved with Babicz’s current offerings.







Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Ecclesia: Unique Arrangements of Hymns, P&W Standards, and Original Tunes
Make Your Own Cables: A How-To Guide
Administrator, Official Pedulla Club #45
Administrator, Official Heartfield Club #36
Administrator, Official Tobias Club #133
Administrator, Official Pre-Gibson Tobias Owners Club
Fretless Club #943
Big Cabs Club #23
My Rig: Stage and FOH Friendly
My Basses

Hey all -

I just picked up a GK 700RB-II at a yard sale for $25 (unknown working state, of course). The guy said it had fallen off the cabinet and one of the 1/4” output jacks was broken. I figured a jack replacement would be an easy fix at minimum. If more involved it would be a cool learning project.

Little background - I’ve repaired probably a dozen or so tube amps. And I have five “from scratch” builds under my belt. I’m familiar and comfortable with the risks of high voltage and have reasonable troubleshooting skills for identifying the source of problems.

Where my experience is lacking is with transistor amplifiers and haven’t done much with pc boards beyond replacing obviously damaged components or jumpering broken/lifted traces.

The amp powers up. It has a feature where it starts muted, does some integrity checking and then unmutes. It does this and then seems to work fine initially. After between 1 and 2 minutes the volume lowers dramatically and given a bit more time will almost completely disappear. Note that when this happens the status LED remains blue and doesn’t switch into the (red) fault mode with the active muting. No fuse blowing. No smoke or obviously overheating components. If I turn it off and back on it comes back at full volume repeating the same behavior dropping down after a couple of minutes.

The amp has a tuner output after a couple of gain stages but before the volume control . If I run that output to another amp it also diminishes in volume. I’ve also run the output of the effects loop to another amp and plugged into the fx return - all exhibiting the same behavior after a minute or two.

I opened it up and visually inspected everything. None of the electrolytics appeared bulged, discolored, or leaking. I haven’t removed the heat sink over the transistors yet but the molex connector from the toroidal transformer was melty and brown around the leads that provide the +/-40v rails.

I was thinking that perhaps the bad connector was heating up and increasing resistance causing the voltage to drop. I replaced it with a good one using the existing pins since they all looked fine when I removed them. The issue remains.

I removed the preamp board and hit all the pots and jacks with DeOxit per some comments that came up after some google searches.

My next step will be to bring the transformer up to line voltage slowly with a variac and monitor the secondary voltages. If they remain constant I’ll reconnect and test voltages at various test points specified on the schematic.

My suspicion is that something is causing the rails to lose voltage. In a tube amp the first culprit would be electrolytics. I could just replace them but I’m not sure if there is a failure mode of transistors that might also cause this.

I could remove the heat sink and inspect the transistors but my belief is that any failure there that would result in observable physical damage would likely be catastrophic enough that the amp wouldn’t produce any output, a fuse would blow, or it would go into “fault mode”.

Does anyone have experience with the fault modes of transistors and if any of them would result in the behavior I’m seeing?

Clearly the amp had some trauma, enough to break one of the 1/4” outputs. Perhaps when this happened it also temporarily shorted the output leading to enough current draw to cause the main rail feeds to get hot enough to melt. In this scenario would the capacitors or transistors be most likely to suffer damage?

Looking forward to any thoughts or advice folks might have. I’m somewhat reluctant to pull the heat sink off because in my experience troubleshooting PCs it’s a messy but necessary pain in ass to clean and reapply the thermal paste.

Thanks for bearing with me this far! I’ll post updates as I get result, but I’d love if anyone can chime in regarding transistor failure troubleshooting.


Thanks!