Kerry Brown
Ambassador of the Great Northern Bar Jams
Had a very enjoyable day off. We have had some really unusual weather which caused all three of my basses to need some adjustments.
The Ibanez SRFF805 fan fret five string was first. The neck had developed too much relief and the action was a little high. I removed the strings and did a major cleanup which I’d been meaning to do since I bought it used a few months ago. I put a four string set of long scale D’Addario Pro Steels, 55 - 105 with a super long scale 135 Pro Steel B string. It took one and a half turns of the truss rod nut to get the relief where I like it. I lowered the action at the bridge a bit as well.
Next was the Tokai Pbass. It only needed a slight adjustment of the truss rod and a slight lowering of the action at the bridge.
Last was the Yamaha TBRX504. It needed a slight tweak of the truss rod.
All three basses have the truss rod adjustment at the base of the neck. The Ibanez and Yamaha are easily accessible. The Tokai needs the pick guard loosened and pushed out of the way.
After the work was done I played them over the course of the afternoon. I was playing songs from my bands set list, trying each guitar in turn to see the differences in tone for each song. I’ve been using one bass for the whole set with one for backup. The backup never gets used. After today I may be switching basses for different songs. Some songs the Ibanez with the heavy strings and the B in particular really shine. The Tokai has that awesome Pbass tone that suits the soft rock stuff we do. The Yamaha is the most versatile by far, being able to get a decent tone for the complete set. As good as the Yamaha sounds the Ibanez and the Tokai are better for certain songs. I’ve spent the last couple of years paring down the amount of gear I take for live shows. Now it seems I’m back to needing a roadie
three bases, a couple of peddles, the Ampeg RB210, and a stage monitor so I can hear the singers. Oh well. We have decided to only do one show a month this year so not too much lugging gear around.
The Ibanez SRFF805 fan fret five string was first. The neck had developed too much relief and the action was a little high. I removed the strings and did a major cleanup which I’d been meaning to do since I bought it used a few months ago. I put a four string set of long scale D’Addario Pro Steels, 55 - 105 with a super long scale 135 Pro Steel B string. It took one and a half turns of the truss rod nut to get the relief where I like it. I lowered the action at the bridge a bit as well.
Next was the Tokai Pbass. It only needed a slight adjustment of the truss rod and a slight lowering of the action at the bridge.
Last was the Yamaha TBRX504. It needed a slight tweak of the truss rod.
All three basses have the truss rod adjustment at the base of the neck. The Ibanez and Yamaha are easily accessible. The Tokai needs the pick guard loosened and pushed out of the way.
After the work was done I played them over the course of the afternoon. I was playing songs from my bands set list, trying each guitar in turn to see the differences in tone for each song. I’ve been using one bass for the whole set with one for backup. The backup never gets used. After today I may be switching basses for different songs. Some songs the Ibanez with the heavy strings and the B in particular really shine. The Tokai has that awesome Pbass tone that suits the soft rock stuff we do. The Yamaha is the most versatile by far, being able to get a decent tone for the complete set. As good as the Yamaha sounds the Ibanez and the Tokai are better for certain songs. I’ve spent the last couple of years paring down the amount of gear I take for live shows. Now it seems I’m back to needing a roadie
three bases, a couple of peddles, the Ampeg RB210, and a stage monitor so I can hear the singers. Oh well. We have decided to only do one show a month this year so not too much lugging gear around.
