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Can any one tell me if the neck on the Aerodyne Jazz is a standard profile across all non-signature Jazz models? Having a hard time verifying anything. I'm not a real bass player and the reason I'm asking is, after spending the weekend with the Yamaha BB734A and then going back to my Aerodyne, there is no comparison for my preference in the way the neck feels. I found a killer deal on another MIJ Fender Jazz but it's not the Aerodyne. If I know the neck is the same I might pull the trigger. I actually might prefer a non-Aerodyne, as the A's hard line on the arm contour annoys the crap out of me when playing in the sitting position for a long time.

This is what I'm looking at. If I get a Jazz it has to be a PJ...

jimmyb said:

#014. Bought from guitar center as a skyline!
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Talk about the find of the century!!

kirkdickinson said:

I have two of these basses. One fretless. On the fretted one, I tried a couple sets of strings and ended up back liking the OEM Dean Markley best on that bass. For the fretless, I tried Bronze Phosphur for a while and it was crazy bright and would have worked well for some genres, but not for playing at church where I mostly play. I tried black tapes for quite a while. I can't remember if they were LaBella or D'Addario. I ended up settling on Thomastik Infield Accousticores for that bass. I like them the best. They are crazy low tension and I wasn't sure I could get them to work because they don't even have enough tension to pull the neck straight with a loose truss rod. The truss rods on these basses are not double action. The good news is that after a couple weeks, the neck settled in and is straight enough to get a decent setup.

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those were my number one choice, but cost and truss issues were my main concern. i'm quite happy with these LTF's. They have a nice sound to them.

JTE said:

Sandpaper or other light abrasive would keep the wood and shim from moving in relationship to each other.

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That's bordering wives' tale / myth territory, and typical TB folklore, unless one is using sandpaper with grit on both sides. . Otherwise the plain paper side slides around, business as usual, haha.

Alas, the same mechanism to "hold" single-sided sandpaper in place is the very one that secures the neck in place: bolts or screws.

Shlabotnik said:

I recently picked up a Genzler Magellan 800 to run into my DG212 and it sounds phenomenal.

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I’ve just ordered the DG212 cab to use with my Magellan 800
Was looking at the older Magellan 212 cabs but they are hard to find and heavier. Hopefully it’s a good match ?

I have a GCB-100 that I got in the early 1990s, and it works really well. I know that some were bad and some were good as they were trying to get it right. It doesn't even have a power jack, so I use a clip adapter to a wall wart to power it. Does anyone else have one from then, and how rare are they? Thanks

Shugama said:

Disclaimer: not a bass player!

A bass-playing friend of mine said he always hated flats because they were so dull compared to nickel rounds, until he tried some EB Group 3 stainless. He swears they hold a similar amount of top-end zing, but are a bit smoother overall.

As primarily a guitarist, I did love the feel of the flats on his bass...those huge ridges take some getting used to when crossing to the dark side. But is he right...do they really deliver the same amount of punch and zing as rounds? (rock tones, primarily). Many thanks!!

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How long has he had them on? They take a long time to break in and then sound pretty similar to most other flats

I was wondering if anyone compared the Tech 21 Oxoford, with cab sim disengaged, with the One Control Fluorescent Orange, which is supposed to be an emulation of an Orange amp as well, without any cab sim.

I was thinking that since I use my Oxford withe cab sim disengaged, and almost falt EQ, the One Control might be a cheaper backup alternative.

I can't find any videos or sound clips on people demoing the One Control on bass.

Anyone using this ?

I've downloaded it for the free 3 day trial which expires today I think but have only had time to try a few tunes and am trying to determine if I want to keep or cancel it before I get charged.

So far tried separating bass on Deep Purple " Perfect Strangers " and that seemed ok, but Led Zeps " what is and what should never be " seems glitchy

Formula73 said:

More irritating to me is the way the coating frays where they contact frets and where you pluck/pick, though fingerstyle is much less destructive than a pick.

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it doesn't happen anymore, at least since 2012 when they changed the formula of the coating, and in recent years they also upgraded it making it less slippery.
I have use them on acoustic and electric guitars since 2001, and since 2012 the stopped flaking, it just deteriorate a bit, but no more snow on the pickups

gimmeagig said:

Has anybody here tried to extend the life of elixirs or are they so durable that they never go dead.
Elixirs are not cheap and I have a bunch of basses. I would like to know what my options are in that regard.

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if you don't play them 8h straight every day, they are the perfect string, because the coating maintains them fresh and without dirt (they don't have space in the gaps of the winding, they are coated over the entire string.

the wonderful thing is that you don't have to worry about strings not sounding anymore if the bass is kept in the case for a long time.

the only downside is that the coating is not conductive, so with passive basses you won't lose the buzz from the ground when you touch the strings.

gimmeagig said:

What makes elixirs age?

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physical stiffing of the steel core, nothing else. the core of the strings is made of spring steel (acciaio armonico), which is the same kind of steel used for swords, which is elastic and can bend up to a certain breaking point.
the strings, contrary to a sword, are always in tension, the steel is stretched almost to it's breaking point (lower strings are farther from the breaking point, higher strings are nearer), so after some time, depending also on the use/abuse (plucking, bending, vibrating...), the steel start to become "stiff" and it loses flexibility.

one unknown method to revive strings is just detuning them for a while, to let the steel "rest" and regain his physical flexibility. however doing it too many times makes the steel lose strength, it's not an infinite method.

so, coated strings like Elixir only go dead when the steel become stiff and loses it's flexibility. they just start sounding with less harmonics, due to the stiffness. you can revive them a bit detuning for some hours.

also flatwound strings die in the same way, the only reason we can keep them for years is because we expect a dead and dull sound from flats, and they are stiffer (the flat wire makes them less flexible, without gaps, like every kind of wire in the world), so once they lose the initial brightness, they keep the same sound forever.

Elixir last A LOT, until the coating don't start to deteriorate in the plucking area (if you play with a pick mostly), but still go.

the thing is that, compared to other coated strings, the coating is on the entire string, as you probably saw on the website and package. this preserves the gaps from dirt, so they can sound identical for a long time.

after a while they start to lose the steel's physical flexibility, that's the only kind of "death" they meet.

on my Manson JPJ there's the same set since three years, still working great. it's been 25 years since I started using them on my acoustics and electric guitars, and on the acoustics they are the only string I use.
usually I change them after an years or so, because they start to feel "stiff", but the overall sound is still great. they also have anti-rust treatment on the plain strings, so they don't suffer oxidation, and stay shiny forever.
a set on my "battle" acoustic was on since almost 10 years plains still shiny, wound/coated lost the coating in the plucking area, but the remaining area of the strings were still perfectly coated.
now that guitar is in my music school, used and abused, and still sounding with that set.

It sounds like Paul Powell is playing a Stingray 5.

trothwell said:

But that was a long time ago. Is it still an issue?

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sorry for the late response:

in 2012 they changed the "formula" of the coating, and now it doesn't "flake" anymore. in the last couple of years they upgraded again, and it's also less "slippery", they feel a bit more natural.
I have a set on my Manson JPJ since at least three years, abused with a pick in punk gigs, and still not flaking.

trothwell said:

Thus, I reckon -- the irritation in the past must have had nothing to do with nickel per se.

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GHS Boomers IMHO are some of the "more nickelish" out there, so probably the issue was not nickel irritation.

In my experience, this stage is big enough for my 5-piece band, including a keyboard player with 76-keys synth.

A 5 stringer doesn't have to have 5 strings he he

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You don’t need full-on distortion to be brutal, and practically everything Hooky has played is brutal. But this entire album, due to its circumstances, is brutal on so many different levels…
Login to view embedded media The chronicle of a man giving up. Not an allegory, not a third person thing, but an actual documentation.

For some reason, in the 10pin socket, only the pins 4 and 8 receives the pickups input. I strongly believe that this pcb board was also used for other projects at that time. My bass is a 5 strings Vantage from 1994. Someone burned the copper trace when trying to change two potentiometers (As you can see in the pictures). Because of that I will probably build a new pcb with the same circuit.

I have a Johnson acoustic guitar made in China circa 2000 and it still sounds and plays awesome after all these years. My father's name is John so it suits me just fine...

96tbird said:

Non dire fesseria!

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Ma stai zitto su e impara un po’ d’inglese, altro che fesserie .. ciao bello, bardzo prozsę!

It turns out that Matt did the set up on the West Valley College 1970s awesome carved bass with lots of curly everything. The set up on that thing is unbelievable. It plays like a Les Paul. Buttery…
Unfortunately, I am lefty so I can’t play it.

I play louder than the fan.

Flatwound said:

Gig report! Played a rooftop bar in a local touristy area, We had to turn down a couple of times (because of the bartenders, not the patrons), but the tip jar kept filling up. Lotsa dancers. The bass did it's job perfectly (well, almost). Confirmed my previous statement that this is a good bass, not a "good bass for the money". People liked the color, which I would call "very red".

Why is it "almost" perfect? Mostly the pickup. To my ears, it's a bit brash on the top end. Even when we did our one slap tune, I didn't open the tone control all the way. Just too much, IMO. And speaking of the tone control, it may be the best I've used. Very linear, usable tones at every position. The upshot is that I *might* replace the pickup with a Duncan SPB-1, which I have found to be a very traditional sounding pickup in the past. As per usual, I used my Terror Bass 500 and two OBC-112's. For next weekend's gig, where load-in is super easy, I might bring the AD200B MKIII. It's cool, but heavy.

Oh, and I got compliments. I'm no virtuoso, but one older (like my age) person came up and said, "You know when to hold back and when to let loose", which I took as high praise indeed. Since bass players don't get many compliments, I treasure each one.

Pix or it didn't happen:

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With the Pacific ocean in the background:

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I have the same bass in the same color, and the same amp and cabs too. I put an EMG Geezer pup and wiring harness in mine and it was just the trick.

I think MA's style is almost more attitude than gear. He attacks the bass.

I would love it if GK made an actual analog preamp pedal with the appropriate routing. I’m hoping to see Bob in January.