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What Bass Was The Biggest DISAPPOINTMENT?

#241
EagleMoon said:
I think it's the preamp. I would love to have jazz bass pickups in my Sterling too because I think the high end is just really hard to tame. I even thought about putting a P bass pickup in front of the MM pickup just for fun, but I know that would kill any resale value.
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'

I have not come across anyone that has put different style PUPs in a Sterling, but I would love to hear the results on something like that! My Sterling had excellent wood, high quality bridge, tuners, and the neck finish was satin-smooth! Awesome feeling bass at least!

I started laughing when I went back and read the plagent dude's advice to "Just turn the treble down, select the middle coil position and turn the bass up"


Wow! Why didn't I think of that!

But seriously, I tried every which way but loose to make this thing sound the way I wanted...and the closest I was able to get was when I put flats on it....

here is a video with my Sterling taken about 10 years ago: (This is with flats, and though the quality of the vid sucks and we were just fooling around, you can still probably hear how bright that sucker was!)

 
#243
lucas vigor said:
'

I have not come across anyone that has put different style PUPs in a Sterling, but I would love to hear the results on something like that! My Sterling had excellent wood, high quality bridge, tuners, and the neck finish was satin-smooth! Awesome feeling bass at least!

I started laughing when I went back and read the plagent dude's advice to "Just turn the treble down, select the middle coil position and turn the bass up"


Wow! Why didn't I think of that!

But seriously, I tried every which way but loose to make this thing sound the way I wanted...and the closest I was able to get was when I put flats on it....

here is a video with my Sterling taken about 10 years ago: (This is with flats, and though the quality of the vid sucks and we were just fooling around, you can still probably hear how bright that sucker was!)

Click to expand...


Might be better with a sweepable mid control. I know the mid control on my Sterling doesn't do much but turn up the clank. :D

And yeah, you can definitely hear the Sterling tone in that clip for sure. Still sounds pretty good regardless. :)
 
#244
lucas vigor said:
'

I have not come across anyone that has put different style PUPs in a Sterling, but I would love to hear the results on something like that! My Sterling had excellent wood, high quality bridge, tuners, and the neck finish was satin-smooth! Awesome feeling bass at least!

I started laughing when I went back and read the plagent dude's advice to "Just turn the treble down, select the middle coil position and turn the bass up"


Wow! Why didn't I think of that!

But seriously, I tried every which way but loose to make this thing sound the way I wanted...and the closest I was able to get was when I put flats on it....

here is a video with my Sterling taken about 10 years ago: (This is with flats, and though the quality of the vid sucks and we were just fooling around, you can still probably hear how bright that sucker was!)

Click to expand...


I know it sounds obvious but it's not just a matter of lowering the treble. The instrument has so much output you can keep the bass FLAT and turn the highs and mids all the way off and the bass will still have quite a bit of output. And at that point you cant possibly think it's too bright. The toggle also varies the sound more than I realized. (Each position also requires a different tonal adjustment).

Of course, in the end, it's all a matter of taste . I'm just saying, the bass is more versatile than you may realize. I played it for years and still find ways to get more sounds out of it.
 
#246
I'll probably get clobbered. But it was 1970s P Bass - I never liked just the split PUPS - but my friend had an original, so I was drooling to try it - and yeah...

Total disappointment. I think my hands are too small.

But then, I love MM Stingrays...not known for the slimmest necks....weird.
 
#247
I had a epi LP bass for about a year. Looker killer, sounded good in the store, but when I got it home I never could get the thing to really sound as good as any of my other basses. Also the FB edges were sharp. About all it was good for was deathmetal and I don't play death metal...

On the plus side when I brought it back to the store I got it from to trade p they gave me a really good deal do to me buying it from them and I put it twards my Fendler fretless: it's a frank with a 69 P body, Fretless Chandler J neck and PJ pickups, it had EMGs when I got it but I put in some Seymour Duncan antiquities, now that is one nice bass! So in the end it all worked out.
 
#249
I was going to completely agree with FL Knifemaker from the first page, and say Lightwave, but the truth is the Lightwave Sabre (first run production) had a killer thin and fast neck and the opticals did sustain forever. However, my playing style, as a punk artist none the less, was super percussive and the piezos picked up EVERYTHING. So, its number two on the list.

Ready for my, as my friend Sheryl Crow would sing, "Favorite Mistake?"

1997 Rickenbacker 4003. Hated the neck, hated the pickup cover position (which is why everyone takes them off), hated the lack of real Ricky growl (gotta have original horseshoe design pickups for that) and it never, ever felt comfy.

My two faves? Kubicki Factor and Hartke XL-4. Go figure...
 
#250
Many, many, late 70s fender instruments are garbage. Lead canoe paddles. Quality control and wood drying were phrases not uttered at Fender during this period, yet they sell for deep into the 4 digits solely based on the name on the decal and their age. What all the buyers fail to realize over and over again, is that no one sells the good ones.

And I am no big SX fan boy, but I turned a $110 slab of cheapo into a DAMN playable/giggable axe, with only about $60 worth of parts and a few hours labor. Exactly what I'd have to do to a Squire that cost about $80 more.
 
#251
250 posts, and no hate thus far for B.C. Rich. I then must interpret that people do NOT find them to be disappointing. Nor do I.

I on the other hand have tried MANY Fender products, and fabled turbocharged Fenders, and just can't dig it.
Some of them looked O.K., or sounded o.k.,or played o.k., but left me largely underwhelmed.
 
#252
well i might get yelled at for this one, but for me it is the lakland skyline's. way overpriced and just dont do it. i"ve had 5 of these (endorsement) and every one you could slide your fingernail under the frets! one of them after a week, the back of the neck turned green. save yourself a ton of money and get one of those u.s.a. peavey millennium's. way better quality and sound for $4-500 used. another was my mia p bas deluxe. just sounded bad. and the other was a carvin. no matter what p/u's i put in it, it just wouldn't sound full. also the quality wasn't there. had dings in the neck and were the b string tuner was the wood had chipped out. all this came like that from the factory. surprised it left quality control like that. oh and the carvin b1500 amp and brx 10.4 neo cab. were's the low end?
 
#254
Easy....

1.) MMSR5. GAS'd for one for months, and finally bought one. Sold my Ken Smith CR5G Custom to buy it --- BIG MISTAKE! Hated it from Day 1. Only thing keeping me from selling itis my sonloves and made me promise to save it for him when he gets older. So I'm stuck with it

2.) older Sadowsky Modern 5-24 NYC. Just didn't like it at all. Neck to wide, sound too one dimensional, overall too bright. Traded my Ken Smith BSR5GN for it. Another BIG MISTAKE!

3.) Stambaugh SC5. Custom built for me. HATED IT FROM DAY ONE. Changed pickups, changed electronics, tried different strings. Nothing helped. Finally traded it for a Roscoe SKB3005.




dcr
 
#255
xgator4u said:
250 posts, and no hate thus far for B.C. Rich. I then must interpret that people do NOT find them to be disappointing. Nor do I.

I on the other hand have tried MANY Fender products, and fabled turbocharged Fenders, and just can't dig it.
Some of them looked O.K., or sounded o.k.,or played o.k., but left me largely underwhelmed.
Click to expand...

Or again people have low expectations of them to begin with.
 
#257
The 1st of the Tobias killer B's!!! I always wanted a tobias but try as I might I could not make it sound good live, it also felt awkward (neck and overall balance). I thought it might be better as a fretless but not so good either.
I was also very unhappy with a Matt Pulcinella level 5 that I was expecting great things from but the louisville slugger shaped neck and nasally tone could not be overcome.
To be fair to Matt, I've played some that were much nicer but this one was kind of lemony.

On the flip side, I did not expect much from the Marcus Miller IV but was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it even with the original electronics.
I've since changed the pickups and pre and it is now my 2nd most used bass!
 
#260
Tendollarcat said:
This is probably the worst website in the world to post this but I was really disappointed with my custom Alleva Coppolo KPB4. The bass arrived needing a fret level and comprehensive and expensive setup - and I paid a fortune in shipping via UPS to get it to Australia safely. It had beautiful components but shockingly little low end. I tried swapping out the bridge and dropped a fortune trying to make the bass what I expected but in the end it turned out to be an really expensive mistake. For those of you claiming Sadowsky are expensive Fenders, I think I spent more :rollno:

To balance out my comments a little, I owned an AC jazz before this build that was phenomenal. I knew I was spending alot of money but if my Pbass had been the equal of the jazz I owned at the time I would have been happy. I know Jimmy Coppolo builds some incredible instruments and about 70% of the hype on this website is justified. I'm afraid I got a dud.
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when was this? another tb'r i talked to on the phone a while back was telling me he had an ac 5 that needed a fret level to get the action low but didnt want to post about it. i dont think he felt like getting into the battles i do in the ac threads:D
 

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