The Bass Company

[DarrellTBCtech]

Hey guys! Sorry for the absence. I can't tell you how many times I sat down in front of the computer to respond to all of you but got sidetracked with something (like my vacation ). I hope you all had a great Christmas, and I should be around a lot more in the coming weeks.

Darrell, it is great to have you here at TB. I have some questions about the JT-400 SS and JT-400 JJ models.

In regards to the basses on your Ebay store, why are the pickguards on the SS and JJ models different? Specifically, bottom of the pickguard. On the JJ models the pickguard follows the bottom edge of the body, but on the SS models the edge of the pickguard gets further away from the edge of the body as it goes back toward the control knobs. Is there a reason for this? I prefer the look of the JJ style pickguard. I have seen pictures in this post of a JT-500 SS with a pickguard that follows the body contour. Your TBC website shows the JT-400 SS without a pickguard. What's the deal? Is there a standard design or are things still being changed?

How much room is there between the strings and the pickguard on a JT? I like a little space there for popping technique.

How thick is the pickguard and how much does it stand out from the body?

The reason for the difference in pickguard is, in fact, because things are still changing. These were a select few (I think a half dozen) that were built, and all of the 400SS after will be the same as the 400JJ pickguards. We have yet to update the image on the website, which is why it still shows a *naked* 400SS. The new standard will be the same as the current JT400JJ pickguard.

The thickness of the pickguard measures approximately 3mm, and the distance from the G string to the pickguard is approximately 10.5mm. This is a legitimate concern, and so far we haven't had any conflict with the pickguard and that style of playing.

So uh...Darrell, how much to build me a 6?

Good question! Jack is currently home and looking for a place to set up shop. We should have a good idea of what we're looking at a month or two from now, so you custom freaks need to start compiling all of your crazy demands for serious consideration!

Darrell,

First thank you for all the advice and help here. This is what makes this and other forums so valuable. I too am interested in having a active passive switch. My thoughts..although I am sure this has been discussed by the company...is to use the same knob layout but have one of the pots be a on/off push/pull type. This would eliminate the adding of another switch to an already very attractive layout. Do you have an idea when these might be available?

It's my pleasure!

We have considered this, and other than the cost of a push/pull being more than a on/off toggle, I haven't run across any obvious conflicts yet. I'd have to check the body for compatibility issues, but I don't foresee a reason why it wouldn't work. However, our default passive switching system would probably involve a toggle simply due to cost and convenience.

I would LOVE to see a P bass style come out, daryl, snap to it and ill buy one up in a second!


edit:dont mind me, im drunk and i wanat to play some old school stuff

[envy]

We've been talking about this, as well, although Jack has expressed considerably more interest in a P/J combination. I'm sure it will be in the mega-list of custom options in the near future.

Alright,

I have been bonding with this bass now for over a week and it just keeps getting better.

I love the fact that a bass that comes in around $400.00 does not seem to have any significant drawbacks.

The neck has been very stable after the first and only adjustment and the tone is just killing me!

I love my SR4 but I sometimes miss the option of a little more bottom and low end presence, this bass has got all of that.

Darryll, I am glad I bought this bass, absolutely no "buyers remorse" and I would recommend this bass to anyone. Great product, fabulous value, hats off to Mr. Wilson.

I'm very glad you like the bass, and will pass on the positive feedback to Jack!

Darryl -

He may be drunk but I think he's on to something there. There is a mile-wide hole in the market right now for an affordable 5-string P-Bass. At your price-point, TBC could make some real noise in that space.

IMO, that's an excellent opportunity for you guys to capatalize on or at least investigate.

I've spoken to Jack concerning this particular point that you sloppy drunkards have brought up, and he was very interested in this strange phenomenon. You would think that an opportunity like this would be snatched up by a lower-end company that could just turn them out. We will definitely be getting into that hole!

You know, it is odd that more builders do not do the "sweet spot" thing with a dual humbucker model. Is there something more going on here that we don't know about? Will this tweak throw the neck pickup out of wack or is there some sort of egghead physics thing that explains why this practice isn't normally done? Would this adjustment compromise the instrument’s playability, perhaps? I mean, if moving a pickup a notch here or there will give you that majestic tone we crave then there must be some reason why more builders don't do this.

Anyone?

I asked Jack about this, and he just explained the whole bit to me. He said that they had, in fact, tried this at the factory. They had built a sort of experimental guitar with aluminum rails in the pickup rout that accomodated different pickups while allowing the pickups to actually be moved up or down. They found that if the pickups were too close together, they actually cancelled each other, causing a drop in level in the middle position with both pickups selected.

What they also found was that when they got the bridge pickup into the "sweet" position, there was barely any room for the neck pickup (although there was room). When they moved the neck pickup far enough away from the bridge pickup so that there wasn't any cancellation problems, the neck pickup became muddy (aside from the fact that it looked cosmetically odd).

What they basically took away from the whole experiment was what would become the pickup configurations and placement for all of our basses, and the idea that the whole pickup setup would almost always be based on the bridge pickup's initial position.

Ok, reading this gave me very serious GAS.

I love that M bass, and I think there's one in my future.

Ok, my first question to our TBC guitar tech:

Has your company considered a Short Scale M bass?

When you do this, I'll take the first 2. Here's my credit card number.....

When I spoke to Jack about a short-scale bass, he considered the idea but was leaning in the direction of a student-type learning bass. The problem is, there just isn't enough demand to make a large volume of short-scale basses for pro players (at least it isn't evident to us). Although, as a custom option, I think that it would be do-able.

No big deal here but I thought I'd mention a week ago I spotted a TBC on Jay Leno. Don't know the band; some R&B dude backed up with some pros. On the floor was a backup bass, one of those intimidating, gazillion stringed Conklins. But he was playing what appeared to be a 5 stringed M TBC bass. Actually, I can't recall if it was J &M or 2 M pickup bass, but it didn't have a pickgaurd. It really caught my eye and of course it sounded great.

Look out people, the secret may get out and these low prices my go the way of G&L!

You met our good friend Chris who is currently playing for Anthony Hamilton! He's been on several shows, but has played the TBC for only a few (including Ellen and Jimmy Kimmel Live). I caught it as well--it looked good!

When he first came in, he tried a lot of 5-strings, mostly MJ and MM. He really dug the scooped mid-range, and eventually gravitated to 4 strings. He ended up with a 4-string MM, and could be coming back for an MJ. He's a really great guy, and a fantastic player who really knew what he wanted, and that's always a relief (especially when you can deliver it to them!).

 

[bryan bailey]

Darrell, the older MM clone TBC's; How much were they when they made them and when were the 300's of the model numbers made?(I forgot the actual number cause I don't have it with me) and lastly what exactly was that model called.

Ooh, and also how many were made with the sparkly blue/purple finish?

 

[SBassman]

I guess we'll agree to disagree on the market for a high quality short scale. You'd see lots of people come out of the wood work for them.

Anyway, my next suggestion is on the pickguard.
I happen to like the look, although I liked it a little less when I saw it actually protruded from the body. I think it would look even better if it was sanded flush with the rest of the body.

 

[bryan bailey]

The serial number is 314.

If you could find out when it was made, the model name, and how much it cost new, that would be very helpful/awesome.

 

[klocwerk]

Anyway, my next suggestion is on the pickguard.
I happen to like the look, although I liked it a little less when I saw it actually protruded from the body. I think it would look even better if it was sanded flush with the rest of the body.

I absolutely disagree. It's obviously a personal preference thing, but I far prefer it as a raised piece.


Anyway, Darrell! Get me shipping info on that single M already!

 

[DarrellTBCtech]

Darrell, the older MM clone TBC's; How much were they when they made them and when were the 300's of the model numbers made?(I forgot the actual number cause I don't have it with me) and lastly what exactly was that model called.

Ooh, and also how many were made with the sparkly blue/purple finish?

We have the records for these basses, and we will try to have the general date of origin for you sometime soon. There was a complex system by which these basses were named and I hope to have this chart up on the website, along with a dating chart sometime soon.

Although we can't say what bass sold for brand new (as these were sold through our dealer network at the time), I will try to secure a price chart of the suggested retail price for the basses at the time in addition to the dating chart.

I guess we'll agree to disagree on the market for a high quality short scale. You'd see lots of people come out of the wood work for them.

Anyway, my next suggestion is on the pickguard.
I happen to like the look, although I liked it a little less when I saw it actually protruded from the body. I think it would look even better if it was sanded flush with the rest of the body.

It's funny that you mention that, as many of the earlier basses were built this way. However, it was decided after a number were made and much feedback was received that they simply didn't have the same amount of depth and dimension as the separately laminated pickguards.

 

[klocwerk]

02/06/2006 6:00 A.M. OUT FOR DELIVERY

yay! come to me, my little single M...
Brought my camera to work today.

 

[dgce]

02/06/2006 6:00 A.M. OUT FOR DELIVERY

yay! come to me, my little single M...
Brought my camera to work today.

Pictures, man! Pictures!

r

 

[klocwerk]

Pictures, man! Pictures!

Well yeah, that's the point. Kinda gotta wait for it to show up first though.
Although I can't seem to find the memory card reader that I leave at work...
My boss has one though, I can probably steal his.

 

[dgce]

Well yeah, that's the point. Kinda gotta wait for it to show up first though.
Although I can't seem to find the memory card reader that I leave at work...
My boss has one though, I can probably steal his.

Ohhhhhhhhhhh. Gotcha. Well when the time comes...

Pictures, man! Pictures!

r

 

[klocwerk]

posted a new thread with my bass:
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=228284


Here's what I had to say, minus photos.

Specs:
The Bass Company, Single M model, 5 string.
Quarter-sawn 3-piece maple neck,
Pau Ferro fretboard,
Chambered ash body with "black cherry" pickguard/overlay.


Thoughts:
This is the lightest bass I've picked up with the exception of a fully hollow-bodied custom I played at Rock City Guitars once. Despite it's lightness, it doesn't feel wussy; it's rock solid. They definitely know how to chamber an instrument over at TBC.
The neck is smooth and naked feeling, just the way I like it. Doesn't feel much deeper than my fender Jazz neck, but it's a nice wide 5 string. The width is much easier than I'd expected, as I prefer a tighter spacing most of the time. This thing's just easy to play though.

"Fit and finish" is excellent. This was a B-stock, and you can find the bits of rubber left on the sides of the headstock where it was hanging in a shop at one point, but that rubbed off easily with my thumb. The strings aren't new, but still sound quite good and have some life left in them. Other than that it's a very nice bass for it's price point. Minor quibbles would be that the truss-rod adjustment route is a little rough, it could have used a quick sanding in there. Also the string tree for the A and D doesn't quite hold them straight:
Link Removed
That's really my only issue with the bass though, and it's a minor one. A string tree is silly easy to replace.
Intonation is right on, the frets feel good, it'll probably need a little action tweak though. I'll let it acclimatize before I go there though.

Sound:
Freakin' superb. I brought my little Korg Pandora headphone amp and Koss Portapro's to work with me today so that I could get some sound out of this thing ASAP. The active electronics in it are wonderful. You can get a nice punchy bass tone (bass maxed and the treble rolled off), or a stingray slap tone (treble centered and the bass up a bit), or a good aproximation of a more anemic Jazz tone (both turned down to 1/4) out of the two band eq. I can only imagine that the three-band eq. on the full-fledged models is even better, but frankly this will do me quite nicely.
Pots are quiet, no hum at all is detectable in the electronics.

Overall:
Compare it to a MIM fender and there's really no comparison. (MM vs. J or P obviously not a straight comparison, but still. Blown away in value.) The B is waaaay better than the fender Jazz 5ers that I've played, but not quite as tight as the one Warwick 5er I've payed. These strings are an unknown quantity though, so that may change with a fresh set.

For the $300 I paid (b-stock) this bass absolutely blows away anything I've ever played with a pricetag of under $500, and compares nicely to stuff in the $700+ range imho. Finish not quite as nice perhaps, but the sound is what's important to me.

Quite happy.

 

[SBassman]

Sounds great. Enjoy.

 

[klharper]

Any news on active/passive switch, next shipment, etc.?

 

[Dincrest]

Not sure if this has been answered in this thread and I'm a tad too lazy to look, but do the basses have an easy-access control cavity door for quick battery changes, or does one require a screwdriver to get at the guts?

 

[RobbieCanuck]

Screwdriver required. If you take a look at

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

you'll see that there is a single panel covering the electronics. On my 500SS it's a really nice piece of wood that matches the front pickguard. It's held in place by 4 screws. The battery is secured inside with velcro straps.

 

[Lo end PUNCH]

The custom shop is coming........ WOOOOOHOOOOO!!!!

 

[David Studenick]

From what I've read, the construction on these bad boys seems to be head and shoulders above the SX basses and sounds like the hardware is pretty sweet too, but dunno about pups and electronics.

So, anybody gutted theirs?

Results??

 

[Lo end PUNCH]

Played a fellow TB'rs couple of weeks ago, NO NEED TO GUT "EM. The electronics kick butt.

 

[klocwerk]

Played a fellow TB'rs couple of weeks ago, NO NEED TO GUT "EM. The electronics kick butt.

+1

I'm absolutely happy with the electronics in mine. I have the "single M" model with the 2-band preamp. The other models have a 3-band, which I can only imagine is even tastier.

It's a ridiculous bass for the price. I finally took mine to band practice last night, and after 2 hours of playing I asked them what they thought. Overwhelmingly positive about the sound, and their guesses about the cost were in the $700-1k range. (These guys play vintage Fenders, Carvin custom shops, etc. They know their instruments pretty well.) Obviously I paid way less than that.

This is an AWESOME feeling bass, and awesome sounding. Get one planning to gut it if you want, but play it first and I'm willing to bet that you'll leave it stock. If you want different electronics in there, go for it. It's a beautifully constructed bass, and I'll bet any good electronics will sound tasty in there.

 

[David Studenick]

Has anybody A/Bed one of these axes with:

Lakland Skyline? (any model)
MTD Kingston or Heir active?
Peavey Cirrus?

I am in the market for a versatile 4-stringer and looking for something cheap that won't need too much (if any) modification. So I am watching this thread with no small amount of interest.

I currently play an MTD Grendel 5-string upgraded with hum canceling Barts and NTMB 18V Bart pre-amp and am looking for an axe to complement that one.