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Which bass will be the next T-40?
- Thread starter Ryan X Decent
- Start date
Maybe. How many were made? I've got a Crackercaster 5, and I bet 200 other people do too- but that's not mass production.
Well, I've owned a Peavey T-40 and a couple of Guild Pilots, and now I own both a G&L L-2500 and an Ibanez ATK 800. In this hypothetical world, the idea I guess is that the T-40 is some sort of Swiss Army Knife bass capable of doing just about anything but being somehow off-puttingly quirky—yet they've found a late in service life fascination from some quarters which has upped their value. Personally, I found my T-40 to be stupidly heavy (no secret there) and the single coil/double coil tone control thing was interesting but completely impractical as an on-stage tool. The Guild Pilots were just a modest variation on an active J-bass, so there really isn't a comparison there, and their value remains low. The G&L L-series is remarkably flexible tone-wise and certainly has the quirky control set-up going for it. That said, underneath is always that characteristic MFD tone which you've got to love or not. Personally I like it a lot but it's not for everything, at least in my hands. The ATK 8XX series is the most flexible and downright enjoyable bass I've had in a long time, and its tonal flexibility is quite remarkable. I've never had a Lakland 44-94, so I don't know how uniquely flexible this ATK combination of the neck J-pickup and a variable bridge MM-type humbucker really is. However, the QC that went into my Premium ATK 800 is really impressive and I can't think of anything that isn't really well done—other than perhaps the scratch resistance of the rosewood "pickguard". I've owned single MM-type ATKs and they're really not in the same class at all as the 8XX series. These were/are unique basses that perhaps should have sold like hotcakes, but just didn't and now folks are going "Man, that's a great bass idea!". In my view, no one in their right mind would say that about a T-40.
I own a mahogany Godin Triumph, it's amazing.
As for basses, I too love the ATK, but my vote goes for the Peavey Grind (NOTHING is like it), or the Schecter Omen Elite. Both are passive, dual humbucker models & are very sensitive to where you pluck/pick. Tons of different tones lurking within, esp the Schecter with its toggle switches.
YES! And these ones, not the "long upper horn" version that replaced them.
BTW = these are really light. I never owned one, but got to play one at a small festival that another bassist was playing. Liked it.
Past of that is that Peavey was a budget brand then turned out all that stuff is built like tanks, on top of that model being cool.
So I'd say ibanez. I've kept an ibanez rb950 cause it's one of the coolest, I only wish I played 4s. That said, EHB1505MS has taken over the primary ax in my lineup, granted it's also cause I went to the heavy side of music. But seriously, as good as any and better than most for me (would definitely rather play this than a dingwall or kiesel, which are both nice as well).
Ibanez really knows what is up. I'm about to lost am atk 805 and yeah that is a surprising beast also.
So I'd say ibanez. I've kept an ibanez rb950 cause it's one of the coolest, I only wish I played 4s. That said, EHB1505MS has taken over the primary ax in my lineup, granted it's also cause I went to the heavy side of music. But seriously, as good as any and better than most for me (would definitely rather play this than a dingwall or kiesel, which are both nice as well).
Ibanez really knows what is up. I'm about to lost am atk 805 and yeah that is a surprising beast also.
I nominate the Gibson Les Paul Jr. DC bass! It’s American made and you can get them for under $1,000 used.
I’m not even a Gibson fan, but I might have bought one if I didn’t have my MIA Fender Precision Bass. It’s their best bass made in the 21st Century and an underrated short scale at that.
I’m not even a Gibson fan, but I might have bought one if I didn’t have my MIA Fender Precision Bass. It’s their best bass made in the 21st Century and an underrated short scale at that.
I had a T40 that I bought used in 1979 for $200. It was okay, the value was there, but it wouldn’t be my first choice today. If I had kept it, I wouldn’t have played it much. Too heavy for me these days, and I’m not a collector, unless you ask my wife….
Just to mix it up a bit - Fender Dimension.
I agree... That seems like one which a future generation might discover and wonder why more people didn't buy them, way back in the ol' days.
I've no idea.
The 'T-40' thing is mostly a USA trend. There's very little interest in them elsewhere.
Few examples. It's over 2 years since anyone in Germany posted on bassic.de about the T-40, it's the same story with France's onlybass forum. Here in the UK, an American TB member did a NBD about his T-40 last week. For posts before that, you need to travel back to 2016 for one I made
5 years of crickets on The Netherlands' basgitaarforum.
The "T-40s are heavier than other basses from the same era" meme reminds me of the time I mentioned to a couple of fellow employees in the bicycle store where we worked that I was about to buy my next road bike---aluminum this time, after decades of riding high-end steel. They both said I'd be sorry---that aluminum bikes break, unlike steel or titanium bikes.
I said, the shop has warrantied several steel frames in the last couple of years, right? They agreed.
We've sold a lot of aluminum bikes in the last 10 years, I said. How many of their frames have we warrantied? Well, none, they said, but . . .
OK, I said. Both of you rode titanium bikes for a few years. What happened to them?
Long stories followed of where they were and how hard they were riding when their frames cracked at a water bottle boss (one guy) or at the right rear dropout (the other guy) and how hard it was to get the companies to warranty the frames. But aluminum bikes break and . . .
I suspect that the failure rates for those three frame materials have tended to be roughly the same over time, but: human nature. As far as they were concerned, aluminum frames fail because they're aluminum, steel and titanium frames fail despite being steel and titanium.
Same deal for T-40s. In the absence of hard data, once I've decided that T-40s are heavy and other '80's basses are lighter, I'll see any deviations from my expectations as exceptions that prove the rule.
I can go along with the ATK thing, at one time I had two of the USA ATKs … today I use both a Peavey T45 and the EBMM Sterling
All what exactly ?
2 'tapped' humbuckers with a pickup selector and phase switch.
Which coil was tapped cane hard-wired from the factory. The supposed 'secret sounds' graphic and settings floating around the internet are widely inaccurate. The T-40's 6.5k ceramic neck humbucker does not sound like the 30k mudbucker found in Gibson EBs nor the lower 'k' humbucker in Fender Tele basses. Bridge pickup is in the wrong position for a Stingray, it also has no boost EQ. Neither pickup is in a position to give a decent P-bass, single or split coil version.
Dan Armstrong used the same coil tapped tone circuit in 1971 or 72 but wisely ditched the idea for 1 pot controlling the 'tap' while another knob dealt with tone.
I've owned 5 T-40s and still have the parts to build a 6th; I hope the 'next T-40' is something judged on merit, not hype and misinformation
I think it's important to remember that the T-40 didn't start enjoying its current "highly sought after and much more expensive to acquire" status until it was out of production for far longer than 10 years. Remember, they were only made from 1978-1987 ...and they were real sleepers until at least 20 years after the last ones rolled off the CNC machine. Arguably closer to 25 or 30 years.
And fwiw I still don't get why they are now "highly sought after". I owned two of them in the late-70s/early-80s, and at the time thought I was being so cleverly frugal by getting a T-40 rather than a Fender Jazz Bass or MusicMan Stingray or Gibson Ripper or Yamaha BB-whatever (which were the other basses I had considered at the time). But after playing those T-40s for several years I eventually realized that I would have been better served if I'd just spent a bit more money and gotten one of those more mainstream instruments
...well, not the Gibson
You are not wrong. I have a '14 MIM H Deluxe 5er. It's a fantastic bass. Picked it up used for $350 6 years ago. It's every bit as good in construction, tone and playability as the US made Deluxe Fender 5er J and P I also have. They didn't fully catch on, so I can see the relative rarity coming into play.
Agreed. It sounds like a T40. The claims that it gets close to a Ric sound is probably the most accurate tone chase it offers (and I don't think it's a very good Ric tone clone).All what exactly ?
2 'tapped' humbuckers with a pickup selector and phase switch.
Which coil was tapped cane hard-wired from the factory. The supposed 'secret sounds' graphic and settings floating around the internet are widely inaccurate. The T-40's 6.5k ceramic neck humbucker does not sound like the 30k mudbucker found in Gibson EBs nor the lower 'k' humbucker in Fender Tele basses. Bridge pickup is in the wrong position for a Stingray, it also has no boost EQ. Neither pickup is in a position to give a decent P-bass, single or split coil version.
Dan Armstrong used the same coil tapped tone circuit in 1971 or 72 but wisely ditched the idea for 1 pot controlling the 'tap' while another knob dealt with tone.
I've owned 5 T-40s and still have the parts to build a 6th; I hope the 'next T-40' is something judged on merit, not hype and misinformation
