[bramS]

Hello gibson people! :wink:

Listen I have some questions... I am currently interested in some gibson basses on ebay!
I bidded on a eb3 with a split head... its no longscale I discovered tho...
and one longscale sb450.
Now I like a dry jaco like growl/sound I heard some eb3s do have a bridge-pickup sound wich is very similar... they have a mahony body the 450 has an alder body.. wich in its turn has to come closer to a 60s jazz wich ofcourse jaco used! the downside on that thing is the bridge is not that close to the brige pickup as a shortscale gibson bass!
Not being able to hear those basses side by side.. maybe someone
can tell me what is the most funky and growly one in general.. and are longscale basses better then short ones?

Something else what comes to mind is these sg shaped basses I hear are not basses that like to be slapped.... is this true?
I saw someone on youtube wich had a ripper wich was unbelievebly good with slapping that thing... altho I dislike the way that bass looks , it sure sounded bloody awesome!
heres the link!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn23gLVVoyY

maybe ill get one of those later on:D also that bass has a nice bridgepickup growl doesnt it!

[jules]

Hi Bram, and welcome

the SB450 is probably more appropriate for you - for the purposes of slapping, However as a non-slapper i'd get the EB3 every time. Listen to the EB3 soundclips here

I never got round to recording my SB450 before selling, but it had a sharper sound

You might also consider an Epiphone (I think you can get an SG shaped Epi with a bolt-on neck, and bridge pickup - can anyone confirm).

The Ripper being slapped is also the Epiphone version, which has a bolt-on neck. Bolt-ons are typically snappier that glued necks (most Gibsons, including the Ripper have glued neck)

If you want to slap a vintage gibson, consider a Victory, Grabber or G3. An RD or Ripper might also work. These are all made of maple.

As long as you don't overpay, Vintage Gibsons keep their prices, so you can easily sell on if you are not happy

[Dave W]

IMHO you're not going to get a Jaco-like growl from the 450 and certainly not from any short scale mahogany bass either.

[donnervogel]

To approximate a Jaco sound, you would need an SB-350 (short scale), not an SB-450 (long scale). The SB-350's rear pup is smack against the bridge so you have a very bony/brittle sound plus the alder tone. With an SB-450, the rear pup in solo mode aready sounds too phat for that Jaco tone (which I personally dislike).

But a MiM Fender Jazz bass would bring you closer to your goal for less money.

Uwe

[bramS]

Yeah well I own one early 70s jazz and I built my own very true to life 67/68 jazz myself... so I covered that pretty much.. its more I like vinatge basses very much and its sure a hell of a lot cooler to play on something else then a jazz for a change ... only what is important to me is that I can play all kinds of different styles with it and still cut trough the cake...
For instance a p-bass is not felexible enough for me (only if u have a really good old one wich is too expensive anyway) and I find the same with the rickenbackers basicly also sounded much to clean for my liking.
I recently heard a song by jack bruce "never tell your mother shes out of tune" man that bass sounded very good and that was a short scale eb3 I saw on youtube... atleast it cut trough the rest of the band very well!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W30kJuwTORw

Now I also aquired a song from the guy selling the sd450
http://www.riffrock.com/jukebox/Dragon_ ... eleted.mp3
now thats awesome too cos that bass in there is for sale.. and it has almost no wear on it aswell!

It hard man when u have to choose!

But help me with this do shortscale basses sound better or worse then the long scale ones.. the thing I dislike about the longscales is that the bridge pickups is further away from the bridge then the short scale ones!
But I can imagine that maybe the lower strings sound a bit duller on a short scale bass then a longscale one...


aaand by the way there is a sd350 on ebay right now! but on some reviews on internet it didnt came out that great as the sd450... those owners where very pleased! look!
http://reviews.harmonycentral.com/revie ... B+450/10/1

this is the eb3 im bidding on also.. I first though it was a longscale but it isnt... oh well atleast the owner clames its very jack bruce like!
and the split headstock and bound neck do look very cool!

http://cgi.ebay.com/1969-VINTAGE-GIBSON ... dZViewItem

[jules]

Originally Posted by bramS

this is the eb3 im bidding on also.. I first though it was a longscale but it isnt... oh well atleast the owner clames its very jack bruce like!
and the split headstock and bound neck do look very cool!

That Jack Bruce clip is great - well posted! If you have two jazzes I say get an EB3. You'll get that sound from the clip, and you'll love it! You won't get far slapping it- but hey - once you get into that EB3 - you might see slapping in a new light!

HOWEVER - the EB3 you are looking at has had some wiring alterations - the tone choke is missing, and the varitone has been replaced by a 3 way switch. A common alteration and completely reversible, but its done all the same.

[bramS]

does that mean the bass is less versetile than an orig. wiring?
what is the advantage/disavantage of this wiring I must say I dont like the look much on those varitone things much to bulky...
And by the way what does a tone choke do?

[bramS]

Hi again I dint win the basses... but last weekend I went to berlin for a short holliday and I picked up a s-375 framus shortscale bass
http://www.framus-vintage.de/modules/mo ... 21&cl=EN... some early 70s copy of a eb3, but not a cheap copy really rmarkable quality and engineering!. I had a very good comparison between a really good eb3 epiphone longscale and this old thing, it was so damn punchy and the funny thing was it was very slappable, it had that rough sound of jack bruce plus a nice dark growl out of the bridge pickup... very cool! I do believe the eb3s are really kick ass basses.. and I hope one day Ill stumble against a nice old one on ebay! Cos now I have this I really want the original too!:D

[jules]

That is a nice Framus - very true to the spirit of an EB3, but with its own style too.

Is it a set neck? How bassy can the neck pickup get? Do you have the facility to record samples?

[bramS]

Yeah it has a glued neck yes (its not mahogany tho, could be maple but it has a apparant dark grain to it im not sure)... Yeah the front pu is very bassy, those pickups are great humbuckers with mega punch! My favorite setup with the knobs are bridge pickup at 10 neck pickup at 6/7ish neck pickup tone at 3 and bridge pickup tone at 8. The only thing I dont like on it are these big srewheads as polepieces on those pups.. nice to do some adjustment to them but it doesnt feel very nice playing with your fingers over them much.
Anyways ill try to record some samples.. so you can judge for your selves! I sure love it! :D
But if anyone of you guys has a masterly good sounding eb3 you want to sell.. you know where to find me:D Im currently selling my best 5 string modern bass to buy a nice gibson back! :D Never thought I liked the warmth of a mahogany wood bass that much.. but I do :wink: