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Robert White said:

Beautiful Bass, love the feel and tone, it came with rounds, looking to replace with flats, any recommendations?

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Ahhhhh, good man! To me, semi-hollow basses such as the Starcaster really come to life with flats or tapes.

I use Thomastik Flats on all of my primary basses, and have had a set on my Starcaster for 10 years. The set is model JF324, which are short scale. The gauges are 43-106, and they sound lovely played with fingers or a pick (flats played with a pick on a semi-hollow bass is one of my favorite tones, especially when the strings are broken in.) Please note that the E-string winding wrap a bit on the tuning machine (not just the silk,) but I have not noticed any tone degradation. TI's should last you for decades.

Another note about TI flats - they're expensive, but you'll like buy them once for as long as you own the bass making them an incredible value; the tone is incredible, and I personally LOVE the low-tension feel. I've been buying TI flats through Amazon for the past 3-4 years as the price is typically about $20 less than through any other retailer, however, this has just changed within the past month (however, their 5-string price is only $77 at this moment on Amazon - amazing!)

I'm not sure if you've ever used tapes, but since you're considering strings here's a video with some tone examples at the end that you may want review (comparison near the end):
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Bravo !!!!
Nice babes.

I ended up getting the Gilmour mod done on mine. Now I can use it like a Jazz with the faux-bucker and Jazz pickup or all three, which sounds bonkers good.

Hobbayne said:

I recently bought this 1978 Fender Precision. It is a great bass in excellent condition apart from the varnish on the headstock appears to have melted. Is this an easy fix??

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M.O.J.O.! Don't disturb it.

I really dug the Chase Pre Amp when I had it (pre quad cortex). Ridiculous (fun) faders yes, but the tone was great and MIDI control was exactly what I wanted.

Timmah said:

1. Grit just adds dirt. I’m still not a huge fan of it but I’ve started to find it fun in some situations. Definitely more of an effect but I could see myself leaving it on for a whole set.
2. Unfortunately I have no experience amplifying upright bass, so I can’t tell you with any certainty that it’ll be good or bad, but the combo is reasonably neutral for an Ampeg. If you like the way an upright sounds through yours, you’d probably be happy with the RB210 as well. The controls are limited but it’s clean and solid.
3. I think the BA210 might just be taller? The weight is awesome, and the volume it produces is impressive. It’s become my main gig amp since I got it

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Thanks for your feedback on the matter. Good luck with yours. I like Ampeg.

agedhorse said:

The glass filled PA-66 material that's used on the jacks is about the same wear as the original material, but the flame spread rating is higher on the updated part in order to comply with the newer safety standard. The metal insert was introduced by Neutrik and Rean at the same time because of wear issues, it's unrelated to perceived "quality" differences.

Perhaps you are unaware, but Rean is owned by Neutrik AG and handles much of the OEM development of connectors as well as the manufacturing of Neutrik, Rean and OEM branded components and connectors for products and assemblies built in Asia and some markets in North & South America. OEM's often use customized versions of connectors for the purposes of regulatory compliance, cosmetics (color, logo, cosmetics), and in some cases to achieve things that can't be done with stock off the shelf components (like for example bonding modifications for pin 1 terminal on XLR jacks) in high volume applications.

The models with R in front are marketed through the Rean channels but are identical in performance and share the same ETL safety listing certificate because they are in fact the same company:

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The point is to stop spreading incorrect or inaccurate information. I know that it can be confusing, but when wrong assumptions get made, it's just not right.

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I like the way you think.

mapleglo said:

It looks the pickguard is not shielded. That's where your noise is leaking in.

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Were they ever?

G&L L2500 all the way. Go for it!

I've just found this vido, so just for reference…

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for me, it's pretty much the same process as it has been for over 50 years. Tools are probably a bit better/more flexible but ......
I listen to the song until I get it.
Streaming music services are helpful.
Free Audio software like Audacity helps to slow down really complicated parts a bit to help learn them.
There are lots of great transcription sites on the web ... including here on TB (Tabs and Notations thread). But that only helps if you can read.


good luck!

My SB-12 has been dead reliable. One tube shorted and took out 1 resistor in 25 years of use.

It was my stage guitar amp for a few years and is always my go to recording amp for guitar. I record bass with it when I want vintage rock sounds.

Mostly it is my practice amp and sounds very sweet at low volume. I sometimes jump the latch connection with a cable I built for the task , into a 115 with a JBL D-140 in it.

If you can find one for a good price I say do it!

Stranger Danger said:

Got mine on clearance for $800 off. I guess it didn’t sell because the action was super high and the fretboard was dried out and nasty looking. Easy fixes

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They had one in a store in NC they moved to the clearance section, came really close myself to snatching it, but have too many. I picked it up when they first got it and the action was sky high from the factory. If it's the same one, unlikely, it's interesting they wouldn't take a few minutes to tweak it. Nice bass.

sunbeast said:

The Dingwall switches are just low-profile rotary switches where someone has gone in and prewired the internal connections and added the circuitboard, so as long as you understand how to wire a standard rotary switch to fit your needs it is a much better value!

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That's what I figured. There may be a lot of googling and trial & error forthcoming...

We use Amazon SES to send out all transactional emails. Have you had an issue with SES in the past? You're running your own email server?

its working now, was the power supply - seems to have a intermediate short

But then . . . .



. . . and then again . . .





. . . which was the business end of this . . .



I'm telling you, my Wierd-S**t-O-Meter just pegged.

Good evening, I hope you can help me with some questions I have about the Ibanez electric bass. I'll tell you a little about the story. A few years ago, I was playing in a band that owned an Ibanez Sr Premium 1205 bass, one of the first to come out, which I liked. Much later I left that band and I was playing with a CORT A5 bass which I have been using until recently since I was able to acquire a second-hand IBANEZ SR 1305 PREMIUM bass from abroad (my country is PERU) before purchasing it I looked for information Regarding the bass, it was a bass with an aggressive sound and the brightness of the treble was something I understood since I had played the IBANEZ SR1205 for a long time, but having the IBANEZ 1305 (my current bass) in my hands I feel or it is my sensation that I must give the treble potentiometer a lot so that the brightness can be felt and I also felt the first time I played the bass that the first two strings, the highest ones, did not have the same level as the other 3 following ones, I have compensated for this by moving the height of the pickups But I don't know if this is also due to the fact that the bass is not as bright, something that left me in doubt since most of the people I have read say that the bass is aggressive and bright in the treble. I hope they can resolve if something is wrong or if it is like that. the bass or perhaps the electronics that later I would like to replace with an AGUILAR OBP3 but that is another story I hope you can help me I will also leave you some graphics playing the bass on an RME FIREFACE 800 interface


ibanez 1305 played with:
bass pot in the center
mid pot in the center
treeble pot unturned



ibanez 1305 played with:
bass pot in the center
mid pot in the center
treeble pot in the center



ibanez 1305 played with:
bass pot in the center
mid pot in the center
treble pot at maximum



IBANEZ reference


PS: Excuse me, my English is the translator, my language is Spanish

I've ordered my MK Jazz with Spirocores, and looking for more acoustic sound, about 3 years ago replaced them with LaBella 7710N's. Since then I've added an EQ so Spirocore's could have sounded better (closer), but I never reinstalled them just to verify. If you're after more sustain, the magnetic pickup will help in this respect as the Jazz model's resonator board causes faster sound decay. This might not be as pronounced on Studio which has bridge mounted pretty much directly on the solid body. If you consider changing to this strings, here's another sample of what you can expect at least from Jazz model (this sound bite played by my bass teacher). Studio must be very close, but I have no way to compare: https://metricmind.com/music/MK_Jazz_sound_sample.mp3

Rawhitelock said:

Same here. I played a lakland jazz-style bass and I didn't like it too much either. But a good setup may have made all the difference, huh?

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I like my strings low as they can go without fret buzz them head bangers love high action lol

You mighy get away with needle files for bass strings, but for 6 string guitar, it's near impossible to gut a .010" wide slot with needle files.

lildrgn said:

NIce playing my brother!

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Thanks man!!!

I use an Empress on my main touring board but have a Joyo Avallon on another practice board at home and I can’t really tell the difference when it comes to just pure compression functions. Don’t overthink compression. You don’t need to spend a lot to get the benefits.

Stranger Danger said:

I would absolutely not mess with that. But a new one if it bugs you though

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+1. I wouldn't mess with it either if it were mine.