barefootcyborg5000 said:Beer Baron 🍺 said:In reply to z31maniac :
You can play guitar through a bass amp, just not vice versa.
But you should have a bass, anyway.
One of the best bass amps in the world is a JCM800. See also: any Mesa Rectifier.
Never tried a Mesa with bass but I have tried my Plexi clone.
Very Lemmy like
In reply to Antihero :
It's one of those things that, like any big tube amp, depends greatly on how hard you're pushing. 800s and Plexii do the Lemmy thing very well when pushed into it. At lower volumes you can get a very full and clear clean tone. Glassy.
Rectifiers aren't as glassy, but the low end is tighter and you can push more volume (a LOT more) before things get muddy.
Not that I currently have the budget to do either, but back in my gigging days we had many more amps to play with. Couldn't afford a cheeseburger after the show, but we had the amps!
Both pickups were super close. Set back to "factory" settings and its seeming better. The neck sounds less boomy and the bridge woke tf up. I moved both 2-3/32 away with the neck being about 1/32 furher away than the bridge. May fiddle more after I make some amp changes. Thanks again!
Got my first fretless bass! Ibanez SR370F.
I tried out a fretless a couple weeks ago and loved the feel. Needed more of that. Got a great deal on this.
Not a huge update, but I fixed something on my recent Jazz Bass Special clone that has been bothering me since I bolted it together: the string tree.
Before:
After:
There, that's better. Is it more functional? Nope. Do I think it looks better? 1000% yes.
Still need to do a logo on the headstock of some sort, but I've been loving this build. It just plays, sounds, and looks so nice.
Antihero said:In reply to dean1484 :
Nice! P90s are best too
I am not good enough to really appreciate the different pickups. I know what I like sound wise. I really like the sound of the ES330. I have tried a couple. One being the epiphone casino version but I am so out of touch with what all the choices are for pickups. The real reason for going Es330 instead of a casino is the head stock. The head stock on the casino just looks weird to me for some reason. Proporshionaly wrong to me I think.
I just like the gibson better and with the casino being the same or even more $$$$ due to this small little band called the Beatles (you may have heard of them) ;-) using the Casino.
The jack on the new fretless has issues. One of the leads or something is loose, and it will drop signal sometimes depending on how the cable is pressed inside the jack.
I'm sure this isn't a tough fix. Just not sure the simplest/easiest way to do it.
Can I access the internals of the jack and just kind of bend the leads or whatever so they'll make a more positive connection? Or do I need to replace the whole jack and solder a new one into the circuit?
In reply to Beer Baron 🍺 :
An Ibanez with input issues? Color me shocked! 
Every single Ibanez instrument I have laid hands on has had input jack jankiness. If it's the same style as my SR400, it's a barrel jack. They sell replacements on Amazon or under $10, and they are simple to install if you have any sort of soldering skills. Before you spend money, pull it apart and see if the ground strap (if it has one, yours may not) for the jack that meets the cord needs a tweak or if the solder points need to be reflowed.
In reply to Tony Sestito :
I opened it up the other night for a cursory look. It is a barrel jack. I did not look closely at the solder points, but they were not obviously bad.
It really feels like it's happening inside the jack though.
I did something yesterday that I have not done in 19 years:
I played music with other people.
And those people were two of my nephews; nephews that I influenced at a young age to play music, and they stuck with it. It was like a self-fulfilling prophecy. We jammed (terribly) on some Deftones and some improv grungy noise stuff. Nothing spectacular, but it was something. And we're gonna do it again!
I need to get some pics. My dad brought me down a little cheapy bass to go with my 4 guitars I haven't touched in a while.
Also brought me a 1967 Vox Kensington Bass Amp with speaker that's in pretty good shape.
After playing for 25 years, I've come to the realization that I'm just not a tele guy.
The first guitar I ever had my eyes on was a standard tele. I was 12, and they were on sale at music world in Simi for $249. Jimmy page played one, I knew from the magazines, and that was all I needed. I didn't end up buying one for some years. The ones I did buy never stayed long. I think I've had just about every flavor at this point.
I still tell new players when asked "what should I get?" To buy the nicest tele in their budget. I'll continue to do so. They do absolutely everything well. It's the mustang of the guitar world. But it's just not my thing. I've been infatuated for a quarter century, and I may end up with another or three, like teenage summer flings.
All that is to say, anybody need another?I'm offing my stewmac build. PM for deets if interested.
*edit. Sold
Not really instrument-related, but I did a "vibe enhancement" to my attic practice space recently:
A few years back, a friend of mine gifted these Deathwish Skateboards "Creeps" decks to me, which had been in my garage for a while. I figured the attic was a better spot for them. I also have to hang my old OG Mike Caballero Powell-Peralta deck in there; it's still assembled, so I need to figure that out.
What actually is music related: I decided to try tuning my "Stinger" P/J bass (the white one in the first pic) to C Standard. Most basses I've tried this with haven't played well after doing this, but this one loves it. Still really happy with how that one turned out.
In reply to barefootcyborg5000 :
Mmm... I'm a sucker for a natural finish on a Tele. Probably going to send you a PM
FB Market find. Fender California P-bass with a Warmouth fretless neck. No one else seems to want fretless, so after waiting him out, I scored it for $350:
In reply to Beer Baron 🍺 :
Hell yeah. I'd put flats on and never look back. In fact, if I was in the bass market I'd have a hard time choosing anything else.
In reply to barefootcyborg5000 :
Already has flats. They're a bit thicker than I normally prefer, but I'm going to give it some time. If I don't like it, I can restring.
In other news, shopping for a 4x10 cab for band practice. My 1x15 just starts to get muddy when cranked up to match a loud drummer. Decided to just bite the bullet and buy new. Looking at Markbass MB58R line, been trying to decide between trim lines.
The "P" - older style ceramic driver speakers. 47lbs. $750
The "Energy" - Neodymium drivers. 36lbs. $850.
Leaning in favor of getting the Energy in 4ohm. I suspect I'll enjoy having something that light for the long term more than I'll miss the extra $100.
In reply to Beer Baron 🍺 :
Lighter weight for an extra $100? Worth it. Your back will thank you later!
In reply to Tony Sestito :
I've been waffling on 8ohm or 4ohm. About 90% certain I want 4 ohm. I don't see myself being in a situation where I'm going to want to carry around a full stack. If I hit that point, I'll be able to justify a different Amp/Cab setup (and/or a 2ohm amp).
Edit: Ordered the cab. Open box. GC was going to charge $70 for shipping, but I called up and the customer service rep gave me free shipping.
Trying to do setup on the new fretless bass last night, I discovered a couple of issues. Pretty sure the neck purchased is for a newer model of body with some construction differences.
The heel of the neck, where it screws onto the body, is too thin. Needs about a 1.5mm shim.
The trussrod adjustment is on the body side of the neck, not the head. The body does not have a cutout to access it. So I figure I need to take a router and cut a small hole. That means the pick guard is also an issue. Not sure whether best to try cutting the pick guard, or to just buy a new one that has the channel. If I do cut it, whether I can just leave it in place while I hit it with the router, or if I should router the body first, and then trim the pickguard back with maybe a dremel tool or something.
In reply to Beer Baron 🍺 :
I think cut the body then do the guard to match. I'm not fond of cutting dissimilar materials together.
As for the neck joint, as long as the action is good and the overall neck angle, I'd just run it. Heaven knows I've played and owned a lot of guitars with gaps and various other non-issue-issues. You can shim it, but with the cutouts being uneven side to side I'd worry about introducing misalignment issues.
In reply to barefootcyborg5000 :
The problem is the action is too high (for me), and the bridge saddles are already lowered all of the way. The only way to effectively lower the action is to effectively raise the fingerboard up. So I'm looking at a shim like one of these things to lift the fretboard up about 1.5mm
In reply to Beer Baron 🍺 :
Ah, yes. Neck angle shims. Carry on then. If you want to get fancy, you can built adjustment in. Some fenders (and maybe others) come that way. I did it on my last Tele build.
It was very cheap, and a better answer than I had on hand, since the angle shims I had ordered were not angled. They were marked, but it was just decorative, which is nice but not helpful. Just make sure if you use a washer as I did that the hole is too small for the Allen screw.
In reply to barefootcyborg5000 :
I don't think I actually need to change the neck angle though (unless I do?). I think I need the same angle, I just need a shim that raises the whole thing up evenly by 1.5mm.
In reply to Beer Baron 🍺 :
That should work just fine. As long as the neck screws still have enough engagement. I can't imagine 1.5mm is enough to worry about. I prefer as much angle on guitars as I can get away with, but bass is a lot more forgiving on those fine adjustments since the scale is so much longer.
In the realm of internet and old guy theory, adding neck angle would allow the bridge saddles to be raised as well, and generally speaking, a sharper angle on saddles/nut means a little more sustain. But I doubt that translates to fretless since sustain is lessened on the neck anyway
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