I've been playing this one every chance I get. The wife has been a pretty good sport about it, except for this weekend when we got into a volume battle between my amp and her TV. I took the hint and put it away for a while
I name all my basses; this one is "Josephine" after the famous dancer, member of the WWII French resistance, and mother of the Rainbow Tribe.
I'm still trying to settle on a set of strings for it. So far I've tried:
* The stock D'Addario XLs (I've never liked those on anything)
* Ernie Ball solid nickels (not bad!)
* DR Fat beams (great feel, just a little too clanky)
* Fender solid nickel rounds (pretty good, but not quite right)
* GHS pressure rounds (best rounds so far)
* TI flats
I avoided trying the TIs (even though I had a spare set) because I already use them on my L2000, and I have a reluctance to have the same set of strings on two different basses at the same time. I also have Fender flats on my SB-1, so I kind of wanted to have rounds on the SB-2 to differentiate it a little more. Oh well--Fender and TI flats are still pretty different. And damned if the TI's aren't just about perfect. So I may leave them on and instead start trying different strings on the L2000.
For those who are either familiar with, or curious about, SB-2 controls: right now dig the following settings:
* Motown -- B-0, N-5
* R&B / older funk -- B-5, N-5 (works with both at 6 or 7, too--adds a little bit of bounce to the above setting)
* Rock / newer funk / fun with overdrive -- B-8, N-10
* Rock with some bass rolled off (good for avoiding boominess) -- B-10, N-10
It doesn't cover a ton of tonal ground, but it's versatile enough with a little help from the amp EQ. It sounds equally great through both my tube rig and my solid-state rig.
So I'm going to play the piss out of this thing. In the meantime, I'm enjoying a bit of GAS respite/equilibrium
