New bass day

Stuckfast

I've been looking for a cheap P-ish bass for a while and this seemed to tick all the boxes. Haven't had a chance to plug it in yet but it plays very nicely. And it's bright red. Wooo! 

GoFish

1) Yeah! Get yer Kim Deal on.

2) Are those TM flats on there? Score if so.

3)HNBD!!

Dave_Mc

Excellent!  

Stuckfast

They're not flats, sadly, but they are nice and old.

ICBM

That's *much* better than just a "cheap P-ish bass". It's a proper classic in its own right, very well made, and probably the best model in the range - the more expensive 1A active version had electrics which are probably best described as a bit dated now. You simply cannot go wrong with a P pickup, volume and tone controls.

The intonation is off and the strings need putting on properly though .

Stuckfast

*rubs hands* 

Excellent! And it was cheap, so that's doubly excellent.

ICBM

Aha! It looks like it's been played left-handed. That would explain the weird intonation settings .

Stuckfast

Yes, someone has attached and then removed a second strap button on the other horn. Well spotted!

Dave_Mc

Stuckfast said:

Yes, someone has attached and then removed a second strap button on the other horn. Well spotted!

You'll not get much past @ICBM ! 

Also I meant to say above, but I forgot, but the colour is excellent. I really like bright red in general (there's something "happy" about it, if you know what I mean), and you're right, it looks really good in that bass particularly. I think the gold sets it off very nicely, too.

Stuckfast

Well, I fixed the intonation, plugged it in and recorded some bass and I'm loving it so far. You can get such a range of sounds simply by varying the position of the right hand, it makes me wonder why any bass really needs more than one pickup.

fretmeister

Stuckfast said:

Well, I fixed the intonation, plugged it in and recorded some bass and I'm loving it so far. You can get such a range of sounds simply by varying the position of the right hand, it makes me wonder why any bass really needs more than one pickup.

BURN HIM!!!!

Funkfingers

Stuckfast said:

it makes me wonder why any bass really needs more than one pickup?

Somebody, give this person a copy of Jaco Pastorius' eponymous first album!

ICBM said:

That's *much* better than just a "cheap P-ish bass". It's a proper classic in its own right, very well made and probably the best model in the range.

I'm so old that I can remember when Westone Thunder bass guitars first appeared. The originals were Sen/Ash in a natural finish. I rather liked that because it meant that there was no laminate hidden away.

ICBM said:

the more expensive 1A active version had electrics which are probably best described as a bit dated now.

You are being far too kind. 

I remember the 1A treble and bass controls as - in the words of Vivian Stanshall - "sudden and alarming". 

Once the pots got cronky, the EQ was even less usable. Back in the day, the sensible option was to use the bypass switch.

Stuckfast

fretmeister said:

Stuckfast said:

Well, I fixed the intonation, plugged it in and recorded some bass and I'm loving it so far. You can get such a range of sounds simply by varying the position of the right hand, it makes me wonder why any bass really needs more than one pickup.

BURN HIM!!!!

Ha, I freely confess to not being a proper bass player. But the bass this has replaced had two pickups and I struggled to get one good sound from it.

Funkfingers

Stuckfast said: 

the bass this has replaced had two pickups and I struggled to get one good sound from it.

Come off it. Even a Rickenbacker manages one good sound. :-p

Bridgehouse

Funkfingers said:

Stuckfast said: 

the bass this has replaced had two pickups and I struggled to get one good sound from it.

Come off it. Even a Rickenbacker manages one usable sound. :-p

FTFY

Funkfingers

Wot? No bites yet? 

ICBM

lol

Actually I mostly agree... I rarely use anything other than the 'treble' pickup. I do very occasionally use the neck pickup with the tone turned down for that 60s thud bass sound, but I could live without it. (The treble tone has been converted into a rotary 'vintage cap' control, otherwise I could use that.)

Adey

Nice. I have an eye out for a similar one  but quite fancy black.