shorty basses

[vistavision]

I ike TMB30 very much! the body is not mahogany it's poplar though
http://www.ibanez.com/products/eb_detai ... ries_id=58
Both basses look great and both have nice reviews

Arggggghhhhh. Every major online shop still lists mahogany. I guess it switched at the beginning of the year. Glad I hadn't pulled the trigger yet.

[andy]

I have a 70s mustang bass and really love it. I’ve played the new PJs and while they are great I like the wide nut and large neck of the old models. I’ve been a long time P bass player so the large neck works me. When I got my bass it had dinky 90s on it. It really came to life when I put a set of flat 105s on it.

Big chunky neck + short scale = booyah

[mackerelmint]

Big chunky neck + short scale = booyah

Absolutely. I love my PJ shorty. Never got along with jazz basses, that skinny neck up at the nut feels all kinds of wrong to me.

[andy]

Totally. The PJs are a nice middle point between p basses and I basses, nut-wise.

[George L]

just ordered the shorty jag in CAR

EDIT: Just canceled my order and ordered one in black

[Squareball]

I own a Squier VM Jaguar SS since a year and I'm pretty happy with it. I have the 'non more black' version.
I bought it for writing demo recordings and pulled the trigger when they were on offer from Musicstore in Cologne.
Having previously limited experience with bass guitars I would always write most basslines on a keyboard for my recordings.
I was also looking at the Squier Bronco at the time but the Jaguar was only a few euros more and it looks so much better!
I chose the short scale as i 'thought' it would be easier to play being a guitarist. I know this isn't necessarily true but I find it
very easy to play and loads of fun!
I will add, as some posters have already, that the Jazz pick up is very weak so I only use the neck pick up. I may swap the pick up
at some point in the future..
My Bass is also a bit top heavy so would recommend a heavy strap to stop it dipping. I nearly chipped the beautiful matching
headstock one day on the side of my desk!

[Digital Larry]

Wow I thought I had weathered my recent guitar GAS - and I had, only to get hit hard by shorty bass GAS! I may have to whip by Starving Musician today.

[601210]

I have a bronco bass, with a GFS lipstick and strung with GHS Pressurewounds.

The short-scale pressurewounds make it feel pretty good to play as opposed to the garbage full-scale strings it came with. It's kind of a rescue in a sense, since it came to me completely missing any electronics and with a huge bow in the neck to compensate for the strings being too loose.

It definitely sounds distinctly not like a full scale bass but it's perfect for what I got it for, which is just messing around with basslines on the couch (short scale is good for this)

[Digital Larry]

I sure am glad I watch this forum to help guide me in periods of GAS. I went down to Starving Musician and unloaded a couple unused guitars and wound up with $350. I compared the Ibanez Mikro and the Talman TMB30. The Mikro was not to my liking although it seems to have a couple more frets than the Talman. Part of it was the chrome plated plastic knobs vs. small black plastic knobs which are not all that great either but they don't scream "cheap" like the chrome ones yeesh!

Now, to be honest, the bridge PU by itself is not great. But neck only or neck plus bridge seem totally usable.

I got the bass and a set of flatwounds and a bag and 80 bucks back so it wasn't bad. I haven't put the new strings on yet. Will report back with any life changing updates.

[Chiediazanna]

Man, you're just right. That's exactly my experience. I played live a OW Musicmaster from 1977 (at one point I ordered a Big Sister pickup from Jerry Sentell pickups to achieve a more "regular bass sound") constantly for the last 3 years with my band. I play bass and I'm lead singer so during the years I looked for something that could relieve me from the old and kinda big Rickenbacker 4003. As well we tour with a Volvo and we have space issues that a short scale bass can solve.
Musicmasters are light unbalanced and basic but so comfy the huge neck with 7,25 radius is butter. I had a Squier Jaguar bass, great bang for the buck but the feeling of the neck is kinda cheap and remind me jazz bass that is not my cup of tea. Anyway, great sound.

I'm a bass player and even if I really love my shorty Musicmaster, the growl, the piano-like tone of my Rick (or many good long scale bass) can't be reproduced by a shorty one. Even if you change the way you play you can really cover a wide spectrum but eventually you'll miss a little bit of articulation at low notes.

They don't have the power of a long-scale or the even articulation of a medium-scale. They have a tidy sound in the lower frets. They are really good up the neck. Lines like "Day Tripper" which is mostly played on the 7th fret and above are made for a short scale bass. You can put really heavy strings on them.

[sears]

OMG that Big Sister is money!! Delano also makes some "big polepiece" pickups I kind of lust after, even though I'm happy with what I have.

I have a Barden Strat pickup in my Bronco and it's just fine. There's something about short scale basses. Unfortunately, I am usually in bands where the guitarist objects to it based purely on looks.

[Digital Larry]

I put the D'Addario Chrome Flats 100-45 on the Talman TMB30. The A tuner is a bit gritty, maybe some graphite will help. Doesn't seem to affect anything else. The flats are a completely different world from the roundwounds the thing comes with. The rounds have sort of built-in Entwistle tone, really bright and gnarly and I can sort of see it working for some styles where you want a really in your face bright tone.

Anyway, the flats are much nicer on the left hand, the right hand and the ears. I find myself going all over the neck on this thing with no real issues. With the neck pickup all the way up, interesting tonal variations can be had taking the bridge pickup from 50 to 100%. The bridge by itself is still not a thing of excitement unless you are going for a thin bass tone.

So, -1 point on the tuner, and I thought about taking it back, but it's not worth the hassle IMO.

[Chiediazanna]

Oh, I was just curious about the Jerry Sentell stuff. I don't know how big polepieces works, fine for me. But always struggling with D string, less loud compared to the others.

OMG that Big Sister is money!! Delano also makes some "big polepiece" pickups I kind of lust after, even though I'm happy with what I have.

I have a Barden Strat pickup in my Bronco and it's just fine. There's something about short scale basses. Unfortunately, I am usually in bands where the guitarist objects to it based purely on looks.

[DWO]

I have a Squier Jag short scale with flats that I enjoy as my backup bass. I only use the P pickup, I find the J awful. It is super light and plays very well.

My main bass is a Lakland HB30 with rounds. I love this bass. It weighs 7lbs and sounds great. I just took it to the studio last weekend and it sounded killer on playback. Highly recommended.

I pretty much only play short scale bass nowadays. I think they sound fine and the playability is much better than long scale IMO.

[timiscott]

I bit the bullet and bought a PJ Mustang - sooo nice to play it's crazy. However, when I'm recording with it, I find that, in lower registers, the note definition seems to go and it becomes a strange, bass frequency that fill out the sound fine but doesn't thump or pump along - very odd. Great on the higher strings though. Any solutions?