Harley Benton Bass Dilema

[Mossman]

@Mossman Thanks for the nice detailed thoughtful gear lusting post. Its like old times again. I agree about the nat ash black block bass lust. I've been on the edge of getting that 10 times from rondo. I will tell you so far I'm not a fan of my jbass pickups. I love the pbass thump. My fav bass is my kawaii p-j combo and that makes for a nice combo of sounds. That's what kept me from buying the sx. I was waiting for the p-j ver to come back.

"@Mossman Thanks for the nice detailed thoughtful gear lusting post. Its like old times again. "

Yeah, well I didn't think there was enough gear talk and GAS transmission around here lately.

There seems to be plenty of chatter in the Water Cooler, but not much guitar talk.

"I will tell you so far I'm not a fan of my jbass pickups. I love the pbass thump. My fav bass is my kawaii p-j combo and that makes for a nice combo of sounds."

You really need to have both. I'm more of a Jazz Bass guy, but I also have a need for the mid-range punch of the P-bass. I should say, though, if you don't like your present J pickups, don't let that put you off of the Jazz Bass. There are all kinds of flavors of J pickups. I like to have thump and articulation. For that, a split-coil set may be what you're looking for.

You might be disappointed with a P/J, though. Intuitively, it's easy to think that set-up will give you half a Jazz bass, but that's not really the case. In my experience, the J-pickup is subtractive, not additive. Whenever I've played a P/J, I've always ended up rolling off the J pickup. You might like it, though.

[Mossman]

$135 Glarry bass in burley wood

And another name for "Pawlonia" is born!

[PsychoCid]

Being on the fence, I think that makes the $150 player the probable winner. For $300 when it's got features you won't use, pickups in the wrong place, it just seems like a lot of risk.

Yeah, I pretty much answered my own question by the time I was done writing that post. I'm going to go with the JB-75 for exactly those reasons. The MJ and MP are nice, but they're not what I'm going after. I already have a bass with two MM HBs in it, and that's enough for me. The SS frets and aesthetics of the MP-4 were mainly what was drawing me in.

The older I get, the more I choose the reliable over the fanciful.

[Mossman]

How about

SX Ursa 2 LT MN Alder Lake Placid Blue Medium Scale Bass Advanced Order
https://www.rondomusic.com/product10345.html

?

I saw it posted last night. I'd like to play bass and banjo as bad as I play guiter, but my zero or 1 blue guitar (stringed instrument) has been filled.

Thanks, I saw that this morning, but I prefer 34" scale.

You don't have room in your heart for more than one blue instrument? I have to admit, I don't have much of a desire for blue guitars, myself. Except for true Lake Placid Blue. What is that, you may ask? Only I know for sure, and I have no way of transmitting it to anybody else, because everybody has their own idea of what LPB is supposed to look like, and I have nothing to use as a real-world reference. I just know it when I see it.

I sold suits once and had an impressive wardrobe on a great discount, and I had so much blue I loved it, until I didn't want to have any more blue in my life. I still have some blue, but you know.
The problem is that I am speaking to you and I thought I would never own a vintage blonde guitar, but we know how that ended. Still don't have enough time to play all my "favorite" guitars. Embarrassing, and yet I still look.

I didn't notice the 32" scale until I had already posted. I don't know how difficult it would be to make it a 34 " with a favorite neck (I know pocket length and such,) but at least Kurt has a bass for pre-order and that might mean more to come.

I don't hate blue finishes, it just never seems like a "guitar color" to me. When I'm visualizing guitars - whether a finish I'm going to do myself, or something that I'm going to buy - my mind usually tends towards warm colors... Reds (I'm I sucker for red guitars, it turns out), browns, bursts, etc... Blue rarely crosses my mind. Only one time did I deliberately seek out a blue guitar, and that was when I was shopping for my Rickenbacker 4003. I didn't want to get a black (Jetglo) one, because Geddy played a black (Jetglo) one, and I don't like to completely emulate my musical heroes (I'm not attracted to signature guitars either). I didn't want a Fireglo because I didn't like the way they were doing that finish at that time, and the bass just looked boring to me with the Mapleglo (natural) finish. All that left was the Midnight Blue finish (they didn't have a "glo" name for that one).

Never really wanted a green guitar either.

[edit]

Ha! I have to take that back... I just realized that I waited like a year and a half for a Surf Green Ursa 4 to come back in stock at Rondo. Everybody said the Poweder Blue looks like Surf Green anyway, but I didn't want to take any chances.

But I was thinking of a darker green finish when I wrote that.

[Mossman]

Also have you looked at or tried any hardluckkings?
Prices are good, especially for a mod platform. The prices vary from day to week, but they move their inventory and if you miss one you like, it'll probably be back in 4-6 months.

I have a spyder guitar that fits its purpose and I know TJ has one or 100 hlk's, though that doesn't really mean an endorsement.

I went and checked out their website, but none of the basses they had really grabbed me... I saw some guitars that I liked...






I could get used to the headstock, but man, those inlays are a deal-killer for me.

[Mossman]

I just thought of something, [mention]dabbler[/mention], have you ever changed the pickguard on a JB-75? Does a standard Fender PG fit?

[ID10t]

How about

SX Ursa 2 LT MN Alder Lake Placid Blue Medium Scale Bass Advanced Order
https://www.rondomusic.com/product10345.html

?

I saw it posted last night. I'd like to play bass and banjo as bad as I play guiter, but my zero or 1 blue guitar (stringed instrument) has been filled.

Thanks, I saw that this morning, but I prefer 34" scale.

You don't have room in your heart for more than one blue instrument? I have to admit, I don't have much of a desire for blue guitars, myself. Except for true Lake Placid Blue. What is that, you may ask? Only I know for sure, and I have no way of transmitting it to anybody else, because everybody has their own idea of what LPB is supposed to look like, and I have nothing to use as a real-world reference. I just know it when I see it.

What's wrong with more than 1 blue bass!?!?!?

IMGP2723a.JPG

Your picture presents a compelling argument. I can see the attraction.

[PsychoCid]

Ah, found your new tuning... !

[uwmcscott]

I think they're identical to MIM Standards.

I was kind of wondering that, there seem to be a lot of basses right around that 199 price point from Ibanez, squier(affinity) and even Yamaha. And with the rondo shipping rates, I’m over $200 for the SX. But I take it the Ursa probably stacks up against some higher price range fenders.

[PsychoCid]

PS thanks for sending me down a rabbit hole, Mossy.

Went looking at Beatle basses, then SX ash basses, then somehow got onto Gibsons and of course studios aren't good enough, fortunately I closed the browser before I got to the customs.

((rubs the guitar fever germs off))

[Mossman]

I think they're identical to MIM Standards.

I was kind of wondering that, there seem to be a lot of basses right around that 199 price point from Ibanez, squier(affinity) and even Yamaha. And with the rondo shipping rates, I’m over $200 for the SX. But I take it the Ursa probably stacks up against some higher price range fenders.

Yeah, SX spanks a Gio or an Affinity nine ways to Sunday. I think they're better than VMs and CVs too (and I really like CVs). When I bought my first SX bass, I still owned an MIM Jazz Bass, and in all the areas that matter, I think they were an even match... The Fender had the SX beat in hardware and pickups back then, but everything else was pretty much the same, and SX has stepped up their game in those departments since then. I actually thought the Fender was kinda lifeless, and enjoyed playing the SX a lot more... Even before mods.

I went and took another gander at that bass, and I'd be sorely tempted to buy it if it were full scale (says the devil on your shoulder ).

[Mossman]

PS thanks for sending me down a rabbit hole, Mossy.

Went looking at Beatle basses, then SX ash basses, then somehow got onto Gibsons and of course studios aren't good enough, fortunately I closed the browser before I got to the customs.

((rubs the guitar fever germs off))

Hey, I accept no responsibility for anybody's GASeous fever dreams.

[Mossman]

TRIGGER PULLED!!

I think I gathered as much information as I'm ever going to get, so I went ahead and ordered the JB-75 in natural from Thomann a minute ago...

Thank you all for your participation! I was amazed to see how many responses there were to this when I got home from work!

The Grand Enabler award for this thread goes to: [mention]dabbler[/mention] for his info, experience, and encouragement... and [mention]toomanycats[/mention] gets the MVP for throwing down that tasty groove that pushed me over the edge! (the TMC MVP).

Now the terrible waiting.... How long does it usually take for a guitar from Thomann to get here?

[dabbler]

You really need to have both. I'm more of a Jazz Bass guy, but I also have a need for the mid-range punch of the P-bass. I should say, though, if you don't like your present J pickups, don't let that put you off of the Jazz Bass. There are all kinds of flavors of J pickups. I like to have thump and articulation. For that, a split-coil set may be what you're looking for.

You might be disappointed with a P/J, though. Intuitively, it's easy to think that set-up will give you half a Jazz bass, but that's not really the case. In my experience, the J-pickup is subtractive, not additive. Whenever I've played a P/J, I've always ended up rolling off the J pickup. You might like it, though.

I agree. But as a primarily J guy myself, there is another way to appreciate a PJ. Install a series/parallel mod on the P pup! It will make the combination more like a regular J when you put the P in parallel mode.

[BrianSkeezer]

Thanks, I saw that this morning, but I prefer 34" scale.

You don't have room in your heart for more than one blue instrument? I have to admit, I don't have much of a desire for blue guitars, myself. Except for true Lake Placid Blue. What is that, you may ask? Only I know for sure, and I have no way of transmitting it to anybody else, because everybody has their own idea of what LPB is supposed to look like, and I have nothing to use as a real-world reference. I just know it when I see it.

I sold suits once and had an impressive wardrobe on a great discount, and I had so much blue I loved it, until I didn't want to have any more blue in my life. I still have some blue, but you know.
The problem is that I am speaking to you and I thought I would never own a vintage blonde guitar, but we know how that ended. Still don't have enough time to play all my "favorite" guitars. Embarrassing, and yet I still look.

I didn't notice the 32" scale until I had already posted. I don't know how difficult it would be to make it a 34 " with a favorite neck (I know pocket length and such,) but at least Kurt has a bass for pre-order and that might mean more to come.

I don't hate blue finishes, it just never seems like a "guitar color" to me. ... Blue rarely crosses my mind.

I don't even understand what you're saying here........... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->

[toomanycats]

TRIGGER PULLED!!

I think I gathered as much information as I'm ever going to get, so I went ahead and ordered the JB-75 in natural from Thomann a minute ago...

Thank you all for your participation! I was amazed to see how many responses there were to this when I got home from work!

The Grand Enabler award for this thread goes to: @dabbler for his info, experience, and encouragement... and @toomanycats gets the MVP for throwing down that tasty groove that pushed me over the edge! (the TMC MVP).

Now the terrible waiting.... How long does it usually take for a guitar from Thomann to get here?

Never underestimate the attraction of a Harley Benton thread.

Regarding the question of "How long does it usually take for a guitar from Thomann to get here?", which has been asked many times by other anxious first time Benton buyers, I think the general consensus answer has been, "About three weeks." It could come earlier, likely won't come later (unless there's a problem), though putting it out of your mind for the next 21 days is a good way to maintain your sanity.

[Mossman]

You really need to have both. I'm more of a Jazz Bass guy, but I also have a need for the mid-range punch of the P-bass. I should say, though, if you don't like your present J pickups, don't let that put you off of the Jazz Bass. There are all kinds of flavors of J pickups. I like to have thump and articulation. For that, a split-coil set may be what you're looking for.

You might be disappointed with a P/J, though. Intuitively, it's easy to think that set-up will give you half a Jazz bass, but that's not really the case. In my experience, the J-pickup is subtractive, not additive. Whenever I've played a P/J, I've always ended up rolling off the J pickup. You might like it, though.

I agree. But as a primarily J guy myself, there is another way to appreciate a PJ. Install a series/parallel mod on the P pup! It will make the combination more like a regular J when you put the P in parallel mode.

Oh, that's a good idea... My imagined solution (I haven't actually tried it yet) was to use a split-coil J. The idea being to make the J more like a split P, rather than make the P sound like a J. I don't care about making a P/J sound more like a Jazz Bass, I just hate that tone suck you get when you engage the J pickup.

[dabbler]

You really need to have both. I'm more of a Jazz Bass guy, but I also have a need for the mid-range punch of the P-bass. I should say, though, if you don't like your present J pickups, don't let that put you off of the Jazz Bass. There are all kinds of flavors of J pickups. I like to have thump and articulation. For that, a split-coil set may be what you're looking for.

You might be disappointed with a P/J, though. Intuitively, it's easy to think that set-up will give you half a Jazz bass, but that's not really the case. In my experience, the J-pickup is subtractive, not additive. Whenever I've played a P/J, I've always ended up rolling off the J pickup. You might like it, though.

I agree. But as a primarily J guy myself, there is another way to appreciate a PJ. Install a series/parallel mod on the P pup! It will make the combination more like a regular J when you put the P in parallel mode.

Oh, that's a good idea... My imagined solution (I haven't actually tried it yet) was to use a split-coil J. The idea being to make the J more like a split P, rather than make the P sound like a J. I don't care about making a P/J sound more like a Jazz Bass, I just hate that tone suck you get when you engage the J pickup.

Also, there is a "sweet spot" when you bring the J in. Where it is along the continuum depends on the relative strengths of the pups, their relative heights, and, of course, what tones you like.

[Mossman]

TRIGGER PULLED!!

I think I gathered as much information as I'm ever going to get, so I went ahead and ordered the JB-75 in natural from Thomann a minute ago...

Thank you all for your participation! I was amazed to see how many responses there were to this when I got home from work!

The Grand Enabler award for this thread goes to: @dabbler for his info, experience, and encouragement... and @toomanycats gets the MVP for throwing down that tasty groove that pushed me over the edge! (the TMC MVP).

Now the terrible waiting.... How long does it usually take for a guitar from Thomann to get here?

Never underestimate the attraction of a Harley Benton thread.

Regarding the question of "How long does it usually take for a guitar from Thomann to get here?", which has been asked many times by other anxious first time Benton buyers, I think the general consensus answer has been, "About three weeks." It could come earlier, likely won't come later (unless there's a problem), though putting it out of your mind for the next 21 days is a good way to maintain your sanity.

I figured on at least 2 weeks, but stuff from Germany seems to arrive quickly. I've ordered C64 parts and gadgets from Germany (the Germans still love the C64), and they always arrived in about a week... And that was well after the Covid outbreak. A friend of mine recently ordered a C64 clone from Germany and it arrived in 5 days. He thought it would take 3-4 weeks to get it. I don't know how they do it... Must be that famous German engineering.

I don't care if it takes 2-3 weeks, though. That will give me time to order the pickups and parts, which will take at least a week to arrive.

How are the tuners on the JB-75? I don't recall anyone mentioning the quality of the tuners in the reviews I watched. I usually find most import bass tuners to be fine, and don't replace them unless they're objectively terrible.

[Mossman]

I agree. But as a primarily J guy myself, there is another way to appreciate a PJ. Install a series/parallel mod on the P pup! It will make the combination more like a regular J when you put the P in parallel mode.

Oh, that's a good idea... My imagined solution (I haven't actually tried it yet) was to use a split-coil J. The idea being to make the J more like a split P, rather than make the P sound like a J. I don't care about making a P/J sound more like a Jazz Bass, I just hate that tone suck you get when you engage the J pickup.

Also, there is a "sweet spot" when you bring the J in. Where it is along the continuum depends on the relative strengths of the pups, their relative heights, and, of course, what tones you like.

Yeah, I imagine there's a similar effect to a Jazz Bass. I usually have both pickups engaged on a Jazz, but I roll back the bridge pickup a little until the tone kind of "blooms" or opens up. Or I'll have the bridge pickup full on and roll back the neck pickup a little, depending on the tone I want. Turning up both pickups 100% makes the tone sound kinda flat and dimensionless.

[nomadh]

Squier vintage modified jag are about 200 and very likeable too. https://reverb.com/p/squier-vintage-mod ... ss-special

[toomanycats]

TRIGGER PULLED!!

I think I gathered as much information as I'm ever going to get, so I went ahead and ordered the JB-75 in natural from Thomann a minute ago...

Thank you all for your participation! I was amazed to see how many responses there were to this when I got home from work!

The Grand Enabler award for this thread goes to: @dabbler for his info, experience, and encouragement... and @toomanycats gets the MVP for throwing down that tasty groove that pushed me over the edge! (the TMC MVP).

Now the terrible waiting.... How long does it usually take for a guitar from Thomann to get here?

Never underestimate the attraction of a Harley Benton thread.

Regarding the question of "How long does it usually take for a guitar from Thomann to get here?", which has been asked many times by other anxious first time Benton buyers, I think the general consensus answer has been, "About three weeks." It could come earlier, likely won't come later (unless there's a problem), though putting it out of your mind for the next 21 days is a good way to maintain your sanity.

I figured on at least 2 weeks, but stuff from Germany seems to arrive quickly. I've ordered C64 parts and gadgets from Germany (the Germans still love the C64), and they always arrived in about a week... And that was well after the Covid outbreak. A friend of mine recently ordered a C64 clone from Germany and it arrived in 5 days. He thought it would take 3-4 weeks to get it. I don't know how they do it... Must be that famous German engineering.

I don't care if it takes 2-3 weeks, though. That will give me time to order the pickups and parts, which will take at least a week to arrive.

How are the tuners on the JB-75? I don't recall anyone mentioning the quality of the tuners in the reviews I watched. I usually find most import bass tuners to be fine, and don't replace them unless they're objectively terrible.

The tuners are perfectly functional on my JB-75. The steel is a tiny bit thinner than that on my Fender Modern Player, but they hold tune just as well.

I actually haven't changed a single part on my JB-75. Pickups are very good to my ears. The hardware is nice. I did dress the fret ends and roll the edge of the fret board, though not because the frets were sharp. I just wanted it to feel super nice.

[Mossman]

Squier vintage modified jag are about 200 and very likeable too. https://reverb.com/p/squier-vintage-mod ... ss-special

I've thought about buying one of the full-scale Squier Jaguars on several occasions (since I seem to have a thing for offset basses), but I would want to replace the P pickup with a J, and I don't know what the rout situation is under the pickguard... Another thing that held me back was they never did any finishes that really sparked my interest. It seemed like all I ever saw was black, sunburst, and trans red. I wanted to see some LPB, or Olympic White, or Firemist Gold, or something. At least you could get a Jag-style bass in some different finishes from Rondo, and I had a jones for a Surf Green Jag, so I held out for that. I also think SX edges out VM in build quality.

But who knows if they're ever coming back? It might be nothing but pointy, five and six string, multi-scale, headless monstrosities from here on out... And ukuleles... Can't forget the ukuleles.

The thing about the most recent SX offset basses is; the pickup placement isn't the same as a Jazz bass, like the original SJMB-62s, so it doesn't quite sound like a Jazz Bass. If it did, I wouldn't be looking for a Jazz bass to replicate the sound of my original Jaguar bass...

Make sense?

Just out of curiosity, I went to the Squier website while I was writing this, and they now only offer one Jaguar bass, and it comes in any color you want as long as it's black, or three-tone sunburst.... But it's a Classic Vibe now, and it has two concentric knobs like an early '60s Jazz Bass. It looks real nice, but I've already got enough black and 3TS guitars in my life.

And they're still using Indian Laurel for the fretboards? Of all the Rosewood alternatives, I think Indian Laurel looks the worst. I'd rather have Pau Ferro if I can't have Rosewood. But we CAN have Rosewood again, so what gives Squier??

[Mossman]

The tuners are perfectly functional on my JB-75. The steel is a tiny bit thinner than that on my Fender Modern Player, but they hold tune just as well.

I actually haven't changed a single part on my JB-75. Pickups are very good to my ears. The hardware is nice. I did dress the fret ends and roll the edge of the fret board, though not because the frets were sharp. I just wanted it to feel super nice.

Well I've got a brand new set of vintage-style Wilkinson tuners that I never ended up using for the fretless project, but if what I hear about neck-dive, and the general weight of this bass are true, then I may not want to add any more weight to the headstock. I think most open-back, Fender-style bass tuners are fine.

I may slap a Gotoh 201 bridge on it, though... Because I have one, and it's been collecting dust for several years.

Does your bass have Wilkinson pickups, or Roswell?

[toomanycats]

The tuners are perfectly functional on my JB-75. The steel is a tiny bit thinner than that on my Fender Modern Player, but they hold tune just as well.

I actually haven't changed a single part on my JB-75. Pickups are very good to my ears. The hardware is nice. I did dress the fret ends and roll the edge of the fret board, though not because the frets were sharp. I just wanted it to feel super nice.

Well I've got a brand new set of vintage-style Wilkinson tuners that I never ended up using for the fretless project, but if what I hear about neck-dive, and the general weight of this bass are true, then I may not want to add any more weight to the headstock. I think most open-back, Fender-style bass tuners are fine.

I may slap a Gotoh 201 bridge on it, though... Because I have one, and it's been collecting dust for several years.

Does your bass have Wilkinson pickups, or Roswell?

My JB-75 has the Wilkinson pickups. The bridge is also Wilkinson.