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SX Ursa 6-string Jazz bass

#201
Got mine today. As stated, the strings are total crap, but the bass plays well. It definately has that j-bass sound. The neck feels nice. Not to thick, not to thin. I'm digging the string spacing as well. This has the makings of a killer bass.

I currently have it taken apart. The glossy vintage tint on the neck is not something I wanted, so I just took some steel wool to give a nice satin finish. I just applied my 1st coat of tung oil to the entire neck as well. Once I buff it out, I'm going to shim the neck to get my usual really low action. Since the the bridge height adjustment is almost bottomed, I figured the shimming & some nut tweakage will give me more room for adjustment.

Although I'm currently tweaking it so I can play it out tomorrow, I have some mods I'll be doing soon.

I plan to do the following....
All the chrome will be replaced with black hardware for that Sadowsky-style look. I just love black hardware on all maple necks.

Rewind the pickups a bit hotter. My tech, Lynn Collins, makes the best single coil pups ever.

Throw in an Aguilar OPB-2 or -3 preamp. I love the flexibility of active preamps to boost/cut quickly. Thoughts or suggestions on other preamps?

Torty pickguard for an old-school look.



I look at it this way....for $150, this bass is a steal for just the neck & body alone. This will be a project bass & for a few hundred investment, it's should be killer.
 
#204
shannons said:
Got mine today.
I look at it this way....for $150, this bass is a steal for just the neck & body alone. This will be a project bass & for a few hundred investment, it's should be killer.
Click to expand...


You have really put your finger on the "problem". The more I play this SX the more I'm really tempted to go your route. My original plan was to just get a 6 string Fender-clone bar bass for a song and put as little cash as possible into it. But the more I play it the better I like it and the temptation is to start really turning it into a killer boutique Fender-style 6 string. One only needs to do a quick check of the Fender Steve Bailey or Custom shop 6ers or the Low End jazz 6 prices to understand that something really special and expensive can be had here for very few (relative) dollars and some work.
 
#205
bassbenj said:
You have really put your finger on the "problem". The more I play this SX the more I'm really tempted to go your route. My original plan was to just get a 6 string Fender-clone bar bass for a song and put as little cash as possible into it. But the more I play it the better I like it and the temptation is to start really turning it into a killer boutique Fender-style 6 string. One only needs to do a quick check of the Fender Steve Bailey or Custom shop 6ers or the Low End jazz 6 prices to understand that something really special and expensive can be had here for very few (relative) dollars and some work.
Click to expand...

Agreed 100%. $2400+ for a Steve Bailey Sig or <$500 total invested for an souped-up SX Ursa 6. Hmmmm...gotta go with the SX. ;)

As I said in an earlier post, I've been playing my Squier Deluxe Jazz Active V that I modded into a 6-string as my main bass for the last 2.5 yrs. http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=391653

Nowadays, it just seems pointless to me to spend $2K+ for a instrument that I can essentially make or mod with some aftermarket parts & a bit of elbow grease. There really is a certain satisfaction in that.
 
#207
I picked up one of these, too. No flame on mine, but the neck itself (not the fingerboard) has some definite bird's eye going on. :)

I have noticed that there is a bit of room on the outsides of the low B and high C strings. Allparts sells a 17mm spaced 6 string bridge for $60. Anyone considering modding theirs in this way? Has anyone taken a pickup out of one of these to see if it has pole magnets or a single bar, or how wide the spacing may be?

Is there anyone the on BB that may into hotrodding the stock SX pickups?
 
#210
Took mine out to sit with my brother's band for a couple of numbers this evening. I have never played a six string in a live situation before, only sitting around the house. I surprised myself in that I found myself using the high C string more then I thought I would.

Overall, the bass performed rather well...sort of... There were compliments on the coolness factor of a 6 string "J". I thought the bass sounded quite good, and others seemed to think the same. I also must say that this thing plays great without any set up work. It arrived as if it had been set up just prior to shipping. Both of these are major pluses.

On the down side, the pickups are noticeably weak. When I sit in and use others equipment I usually try not to play with settings that the owner has, doing all of the adjustments I need right on the instrument. This was not possible. I had to turn the amp way up in order to achieve the volume that the band was playing at. (Just for comparison sake, the bass player was playing a mid 70's P with a Duncan 1/4er.)
 
#211
:p
SMG said:
Took mine out to sit with my brother's band for a couple of numbers this evening. I have never played a six string in a live situation before, only sitting around the house. I surprised myself in that I found myself using the high C string more then I thought I would.

Overall, the bass performed rather well...sort of... There were compliments on the coolness factor of a 6 string "J". I thought the bass sounded quite good, and others seemed to think the same. I also must say that this thing plays great without any set up work. It arrived as if it had been set up just prior to shipping. Both of these are major pluses.

On the down side, the pickups are noticeably weak. When I sit in and use others equipment I usually try not to play with settings that the owner has, doing all of the adjustments I need right on the instrument. This was not possible. I had to turn the amp way up in order to achieve the volume that the band was playing at. (Just for comparison sake, the bass player was playing a mid 70's P with a Duncan 1/4er.)
Click to expand...

You are a brave man, to play on the stock strings with others. I'm guessing you did not read the whole thread. When you change the strings your Ursa 2 6 will wake up. You can thank me later.
 
#214
Played it at practice after a minor neck adjustment (still alot to go but I'm giving it lots of time to rest)
Even with the terrible strings it sounded pretty darn good out of the markbass I'm not used to the C at all so I barely used it. I love the string spacing and the neck I picked my warwick up for a song... then put it back down afterwards...

I think my big ole expensive warwick feels bad getting replaced by chinese immigrant worker lol.
Can't wait for the preamp to come in, shim the neck and replace the strings going to be badass.
Oh need a red tort guard if anyone knows where I can get one.

Very pleased indeed
ALso replace the strings asap my fingers were grey after 2 hours of playing gotta love those "lead core" strings.
 
#215
Absentia said:
Played it at practice after a minor neck adjustment (still alot to go but I'm giving it lots of time to rest)
Even with the terrible strings it sounded pretty darn good out of the markbass I'm not used to the C at all so I barely used it. I love the string spacing and the neck I picked my warwick up for a song... then put it back down afterwards...

I think my big ole expensive warwick feels bad getting replaced by chinese immigrant worker lol.
Can't wait for the preamp to come in, shim the neck and replace the strings going to be badass.
Oh need a red tort guard if anyone knows where I can get one.

Very pleased indeed
ALso replace the strings asap my fingers were grey after 2 hours of playing gotta love those "lead core" strings.
Click to expand...

May not be the prettiest tort in the world, but Kurt gets replacement guards in from time to time. I dunno if he's gotten any for the 6 strings yet, but I would throw him an email and see if he can get them.

Otherwise, you could take the current one off and have a custom one made for 50-60 bucks.
 
#216
dakpluto said:
May not be the prettiest tort in the world, but Kurt gets replacement guards in from time to time. I dunno if he's gotten any for the 6 strings yet, but I would throw him an email and see if he can get them.

Otherwise, you could take the current one off and have a custom one made for 50-60 bucks.
Click to expand...

Doesn't have to be pretty, just tort.
I dunno a terribly ugly flame guard might be just what I'm looking for
jbva_3G07.jpg
 
#218
Well, I played mine out last night & had great results. I use it along side of my carvin LB76. Before taking it out, I did perform some maintenance to make it more gig worthy. I steel wooled the neck & tung oiled it for a much slicker feel & look. I shimmed the neck for lower action & better height adjustment at the neck. I also widened the slots on the string tree for the "A" string so it would fit & glide. I also worked the nut slots a bit too. And finally, I replaced those TERRIBLE string with a set of my usual D'Adarrio XLs.

Although I've said it several times in this thread, this is a killer bass for its price. With your personal tweaks, you got an excellent 6-string jazz for next to nothing. ;)
 
#219
shannons said:
Well, I played mine out last night & had great results. I use it along side of my carvin LB76. Before taking it out, I did perform some maintenance to make it more gig worthy. I steel wooled the neck & tung oiled it for a much slicker feel & look. I shimmed the neck for lower action & better height adjustment at the neck. I also widened the slots on the string tree for the "A" string so it would fit & glide. I also worked the nut slots a bit too. And finally, I replaced those TERRIBLE string with a set of my usual D'Adarrio XLs.

Although I've said it several times in this thread, this is a killer bass for its price. With your personal tweaks, you got an excellent 6-string jazz for next to nothing. ;)
Click to expand...

How about those pickups?
 
#220
DJ Bebop said:
How about those pickups?
Click to expand...

The pickups actually sound great, for the most part. I normally run all the controls on full, but I did back the tone control down just a bit from full to curb the high end. They are a bit quieter, but nothing that would be a deal breaker.

Of course, I don't use a traditional amp setup, so your mileage may vary.

My plan is to have my tech rewind the pups a bit hotter & then I want to add a active preamp like an Aguilar or Audere just so I can alter tones on the fly.
 

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