Hey CB

If you're in the market for a new bass...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Ibanez-Musician-bass-w-kahler-tremolo_W0QQitemZ140374801549QQcmdZViewItemQQptZGuitar?hash=item20aefd7c8d

ha.. he wants another hamer

those old ibanezes are cool.

this one is sweet!

notice how the one guy asked about the frets and it didnt get answered. hmmm.

madmike wrote:

notice how the one guy asked about the frets and it didnt get answered. hmmm.

Actually, he did answer the question, MadMike. When I logged into my eBay account, it allowed me to view the entire thread:

Q: Great bass! Buncha questions: what's the serial #? What repair did you do to it? How are the frets/ neck/ action/ intonation? It was sanded down and then lacquered or? I've never seen any of these with just one pickup-- any idea what specific model it is? Do you have a closeup pic of the pickup and bridge you could email me? Is the case original? Very interested, very cool bass! My email is mishka777@gmail.com. Thanks!

A: hey thanks, the S# C831105. The neck had a crack I re-glued it. should be stronger than the neck itself now. then it was stripped and refinished with lacquer and a blue stained line added. This was my first time using cellulose lacquer It looks good but I still think I could have done some things better. there is a small spot that my belt wore off on the back. the frets should be good for another dress. action is set low and plays fantastic. and the intonation is on but I think it could be closer it's not dead on. the case is not original Just a standard Hard shell case I'm giving the case because i don't want to ship it any other way.

yeah ... those older ibanezes had tuff frets.

but still ... thats 30 years!

after playing a bass with ss frets for the last 10 months has me spoiled. even in good shape, any old nickel frets seem shot to me.

learnig to not fret such details these days. (no pun intended) i'm really enjoying using my new basement and workbench for shop space. makes doing simple jobs go much quicker and easier. i'm buying a few tools every month and hope i'll be able to start doing re fret jobs this summer. i got 2 on the deck that have been waiting ... one is an ibanez.

once i'm good at it ... then i can rehab any bass that i want.

Thanks a lot for sharing that, KS! I love those Ibanezes and that's a great find! At the moment, I'm not really in the market for any bass gear (except for the fact that I'm up to my knees in projects that are progressing very slowly) since I have the next couple of years of my life to think about and without a job, I'm not spending any money on anything. I would like some pickups and a Analogman silicon Sunface (drooooool on!), but they'll have to wait, too.

Yes, I would love to have another Blitz, amimbari, in case I do something really stupid to the one I've got...

Being able to refret an instrument sure is a valuable skill to have. Must be awesome to have your own work space, too. I grew up in houses that had large basements/garages half full of neat tools and work benches (my dad and I even built our own work bench and mounted a nice wood vice to it--that was fun!) and I'm becoming more and more aware how much of a luxury that was (I currently do my soldering on top of our washer and dryer and my wood work in the kitchen. )

Chowderboots wrote:

Analogman silicon Sunface (drooooool on!)

To save everyone else the trouble of finding clips:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=889952&songID=7544337

Sounds fantastic! I'm actually gassing over another Fuzz Face clone right now:

http://www.schumannelectronics.com/two_face.html

I want a fuzz that sounds snarly, choked-up, and full-on. It was that guy who got me interested in it in the first place. The sound he gets playing that SG through the fuzzface into the Tiny Terror guitar amp sounds just how I want my dirty channel to sound at its dirtiest. I'm not too big on a lot of stompboxes, but I really love weird, old fuzzes like the SuperFuzz, Tone Bender, and Fuzzface.

That two face fuzz looks neat...but too many knobs for me! I adore the simplicity of the Fuzzfaces.

Poking around on the Schumann website, I noticed the drone accessory for the PLL. I'd have a ball with that. Guess it appeals to the tambura player (or the bagpiper) in me...but still, all those knobs. Eek.

Chowderboots wrote:

I want a fuzz that sounds snarly, choked-up, and full-on. It was that guy who got me interested in it in the first place. The sound he gets playing that SG through the fuzzface into the Tiny Terror guitar amp sounds just how I want my dirty channel to sound at its dirtiest. I'm not too big on a lot of stompboxes, but I really love weird, old fuzzes like the SuperFuzz, Tone Bender, and Fuzzface.

That two face fuzz looks neat...but too many knobs for me! I adore the simplicity of the Fuzzfaces.

Poking around on the Schumann website, I noticed the drone accessory for the PLL. I'd have a ball with that. Guess it appeals to the tambura player (or the bagpiper) in me...but still, all those knobs. Eek.

I've never really understood the appeal of super simple pedals. I can understand why someone would be put off by some Schumann pedals, but I at least need to have at least some tone control or something. I feel the same way about two knob pedals as 2 string basses. I can see why you wouldn't want a 9 string, but why limit yourself, even if you rarely use the other two strings. Thats one that sets me apart from most of the board. Most of you really like simplicity. I, on the other hand, GAS over 12 knob harmonizers and this thing. To each his own, I guess.

I really want a PLL too. After watching the video, its a lot simpler than it looks. Then again, my definition of too complicated is like to my definition of too bright (hint: I play a bass with a neck made of solid metal and sometimes use it with the bridge pickup soloed).

My limited experience with bass gear and effects has taught me that I prefer simplicity. Things that have lots of options (be it an amp, a cab, a bass, a pedal, or what have you) tend to fall in the category of "jack of all trades, master of none". I hate fooling around with endless options and never arriving at one that feels solid enough for me to stop messing with the settings. It's difficult to tell whether I don't like the character/sound of the piece of equipment (it isn't right for me) or whether I just don't have the right combination of settings...yet. That frustrates me to no end when I just want one good sound from it. On the other hand, with a simple piece of equipment, I know right off hand (after a couple of minutes) whether or not that piece of gear is right for me. Then, I can get on with playing music and not be distracted by thinking about what setting might slightly improve the sound. Finding one setting that sounds just as good to me the 50th time I switch my amp on as it did the first time I dialed it in is more satisfying to me than perpetual parameter tweaking.

Take for example my 400+. I love it to death, but I've had it for over half a year and I still don't know exactly how I want the EQ, the tone knobs, and the push/pull pots set. All of the options cloud the character of the amp, in my opinion. Conversely, my friend's Marshall amp has three tone knobs which I never have to touch because it sounds more than good enough for my taste every time I fire it up. I think that it's set with the lows slightly cut and the mids and highs boosted, but I don't know.

It's the same with pedals. I want one fuzz sound, one modulation sound, one delay sound, and so on. I'd rather experiment with how my playing interacts with the effects than what settings I can come up with. A lot of simple pedals are far more versatile than people give them credit for. For example, I'll have infinitely more fun with a 4 string P bass with a volume knob and a tone knob than I would with a state-of-the-art boo-teek instrument with active/passive modes, a 3-band EQ, and everything but a can opener.

When it comes to pedals, I still want to hear my playing. Even my Fulltone Bassdrive is a little over the top for me. I just can't find the comfortable spot with that tone control and I have had that problem with a lot of other pedals as well. I want the pedal to give me some OD, not change the sound of my bass. That's how I approach fuzz--I want it to give me some sweet fuzzin' and leave the rest of the tone shaping/EQing to my bass, amp, and fingers. I've never owned a fuzz, but I've played on a few and I've been disappointed by their performance because I couldn't find the one sound that I liked. If it can't do that, then it's not useful to me. Now, I've got a flanger with a bunch of knobs on it, but once I found a good sounding setting, I haven't had to change them because every time it delivers a pleasing modulation every time I step on it.

You like more complex things than I do. That's awesome. You probably have more diverse/complex tastes/needs than I have when it comes to tone, which means that you require equipment with more options and possibilities than the equipment that I have and want. Different strokes for different folks is what makes the world so beautiful.

you may be suprised ... this comming from a player like me.

i gotta agree with boots.

i do strive for as many different, interesting and over the top tones and effects but ..........

........ most effects come up short. i always have to sacrifice one thing or another in my sound for a certian effect or tone.

and,

........ the more i strive for the different, interesting and over the top, the more sensitive, touchy, tuff to dial in, complicated and distracting things get when i shud just be focused on what i'm playing. the processor helps because i can just bank settings ... but as of right now, i just got too much gain, drive, eq, preamp, cabinet modeling, contour and other stuff going on for things to stay consistent from week to week.

and i've also been listening to the latest recordings noticing that what i'm trying to achieve didnt get recorded too well. i wonder if i can ever find someone who can record me correctly ... or if i'm gonna need to simplify things.

i miss the days of playing rockabilly where all i needed was a bass, overdrive pedal, compression and a wah.

I'm a bit on the fence when it comes to how much tweaking variety a particular piece of gear has. Like you said Martin, I also am not a fan of having a kajillion tonal knobs on an amplifier. In fact, I pretty much hate amplifier EQ's, because there is so much room to go with the tonal spectrum that my ears can never settle on any one setting. Like, I'll find a good tone, but then I'll add or reduce an area of frequency, and it will still sound good, but will be different. So then I'm going "which way sounds better? Option 1? Option 2? I can't decide!"

Now I also believe that pedals should have a lot of tweakability, like you observed KS. For example, I tend to run the other way from overdrives that don't feature separate gain, master, treble, mid, and bass controls.

MadMike, I totally hear what you are saying with regards to where we have come in terms of options. I also go through phases of wanting to have every toy imaginable at my feet. I think sometimes that I would love to have a flanger, phasor, chorus, wah, delay, octaver, ring modulator, in addition to my distortion.

But then again, I also miss the good 'ol days when it was simply the guitar into the amp. There was a time not all that long ago when this was sufficient.

EricHaven wrote:

I'm a bit on the fence when it comes to how much tweaking variety a particular piece of gear has. Like you said Martin, I also am not a fan of having a kajillion tonal knobs on an amplifier. In fact, I pretty much hate amplifier EQ's, because there is so much room to go with the tonal spectrum that my ears can never settle on any one setting. Like, I'll find a good tone, but then I'll add or reduce an area of frequency, and it will still sound good, but will be different. So then I'm going "which way sounds better? Option 1? Option 2? I can't decide!"

Now I also believe that pedals should have a lot of tweakability, like you observed KS. For example, I tend to run the other way from overdrives that don't feature separate gain, master, treble, mid, and bass controls.

MadMike, I totally hear what you are saying with regards to where we have come in terms of options. I also go through phases of wanting to have every toy imaginable at my feet. I think sometimes that I would love to have a flanger, phasor, chorus, wah, delay, octaver, ring modulator, in addition to my distortion.

But then again, I also miss the good 'ol days when it was simply the guitar into the amp. There was a time not all that long ago when this was sufficient.

That's exactly how I feel, man. I want an amp, not my fuggin' eye doctor! "One.....or two.....one......or two.....two....or three...." AAAGH!! I want to hear how the amp sounds, not how the EQ's capacitors and stuff sound. Most of the frequencies that I'd want to boost on a graphic EQ just don't sound natural. Amp graphic EQs are often a prime example of a "jack of all trades, master of none" feature.

I certainly can understand the need to have a three band EQ on an overdrive. It's much harder than I expected to find a pedal that gives decent dirt without mangling my sound too much.

Back in the days of coily cables and platform shoes?

Chowderboots wrote:

Back in the days of coily cables and platform shoes?

Um....I wouldn't go quite that extreme!

the coily cords, yes.....

What was the idea behind them? They seem like such a silly idea. I think the white ones look kinda cool in the right setting (in Yes concert footage ).

That's a really good question, and for the life of me, I cannot find the answer.