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Maybe I should just talk to Dr Balls about having a 100 watt normal channel AA864 clone made....

tallchris wrote: Wed Mar 09, 2022 3:03 pm Maybe I should just talk to Dr Balls about having a 100 watt normal channel AA864 clone made....

lot of benefits to this vs trying to keep old kit afloat: all new components for better reliability, money going to a good dude doing good work, doesn't smell like cat pee/cigarette smoke, ability to add/tweak to your desired specs out the door. I'd imagine the overall build would be better as well since someone will be thinking about it as opposed to doing it on auto-pilot on an assembly line.

Garth wrote: Wed Mar 09, 2022 4:01 pm

tallchris wrote: Wed Mar 09, 2022 3:03 pm Maybe I should just talk to Dr Balls about having a 100 watt normal channel AA864 clone made....

lot of benefits to this vs trying to keep old kit afloat: all new components for better reliability, money going to a good dude doing good work, doesn't smell like cat pee/cigarette smoke, ability to add/tweak to your desired specs out the door. I'd imagine the overall build would be better as well since someone will be thinking about it as opposed to doing it on auto-pilot on an assembly line.

Oh totally! I've been playing my Bassman a lot at home and it's really one of best sounding bass sounds I've ever gotten, but I had to get it totally gutted a rebuilt before I was totally happy with it (and it wasn't having any issues).

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Tue Mar 01, 2022 11:53 amI remember there being a bunch of discussions about Staytrem vs Mastery vs stock or whatever

Didn't see anything in the archive about this matchup. Is this about Staytrem's bridges & tremolo arms vs. Mastery's? They don't make a full drop-in replacement w/plate like Mastery.

Curious (selfishly?) because doing a Jazzmaster build soon, and also need to get a bridge and tremolo for it.

jirbling rake wrote: Wed Mar 09, 2022 6:07 pm

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Tue Mar 01, 2022 11:53 amI remember there being a bunch of discussions about Staytrem vs Mastery vs stock or whatever

Didn't see anything in the archive about this matchup. Is this about Staytrem's bridges & tremolo arms vs. Mastery's? They don't make a full drop-in replacement w/plate like Mastery.

Curious (selfishly?) because doing a Jazzmaster build soon, and also need to get a bridge and tremolo for it.

This would have been the forum stuff that wasn't backed up (2010-2019) as I don't think Mastery even existed that far back.

tallchris wrote: Wed Mar 09, 2022 3:03 pm Maybe I should just talk to Dr Balls about having a 100 watt normal channel AA864 clone made....

Lol. Wait a day or so and ill post pics of the 50 watt one I just wrapped up.

penningtron wrote: Wed Mar 09, 2022 6:16 pm

jirbling rake wrote: Wed Mar 09, 2022 6:07 pm

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Tue Mar 01, 2022 11:53 amI remember there being a bunch of discussions about Staytrem vs Mastery vs stock or whatever

Didn't see anything in the archive about this matchup. Is this about Staytrem's bridges & tremolo arms vs. Mastery's? They don't make a full drop-in replacement w/plate like Mastery.

Curious (selfishly?) because doing a Jazzmaster build soon, and also need to get a bridge and tremolo for it.

This would have been the forum stuff that wasn't backed up (2010-2019) as I don't think Mastery even existed that far back.

Mastery definitely existed as far back as 2010.

Anyway, that discussion may have been ME ranting about my dislike for Mastery. Their bridges work just fine for most applications but the engineer in me hates the two-saddle bridge because its so limiting regarding strings and tunings. It's great for the bog standard set of strings but if one wanted to use a wound G, it wont support that. I have a guitar that's always set-up in C# standard, and i use a heavy set of 12's to support that which includes a wound 4th string....not on a Mastery! It's mostly frustrating to me because they did so well re-engineering the JM/Jag/Stang bridge and solving all of the things that people didnt like about them, and then took one massive step back and gave it a two saddle bridge. Its mind-boggling.*

Anyway, Staytrem is the place to be IMO. Got one for my Bass VI (they make an appropriately wide one for them) and it's the bees knees, never looked back. Would buy again.



*Also the fact that they make a Tele bridge with those saddles! Why would anyone replace a standard, well working bridge with an inferior one?

Dr Tony Balls wrote:

penningtron wrote: Wed Mar 09, 2022 6:16 pm

jirbling rake wrote: Wed Mar 09, 2022 6:07 pm Didn't see anything in the archive about this matchup. Is this about Staytrem's bridges & tremolo arms vs. Mastery's? They don't make a full drop-in replacement w/plate like Mastery.

Curious (selfishly?) because doing a Jazzmaster build soon, and also need to get a bridge and tremolo for it.

This would have been the forum stuff that wasn't backed up (2010-2019) as I don't think Mastery even existed that far back.

Mastery definitely existed as far back as 2010.

Yep.. remembering further I think I even bought one in 2009 (it was a fairly new thing, and they only made JM components at that time). I may have gotten the forum dates wrong though, which was my main point: that thread is probably gone.

jirbling rake wrote:

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Tue Mar 01, 2022 11:53 amI remember there being a bunch of discussions about Staytrem vs Mastery vs stock or whatever

Didn't see anything in the archive about this matchup. Is this about Staytrem's bridges & tremolo arms vs. Mastery's? They don't make a full drop-in replacement w/plate like Mastery.

Curious (selfishly?) because doing a Jazzmaster build soon, and also need to get a bridge and tremolo for it.

I put a Mastery (bridge and tremolo) in a JM about a year ago and it worked out great and solved all my issues. The JM had already been fucked with and had a TOM style bridge on there. The spacing was weird, intonation wasn't quite right and it didn't stay in tune for shit. With the state it was in, the Mastery was not a drop-in replacement so I had to fill and drill and start from scratch on the placement of the bridge, which was fine. I'm kind of suspect of drop-in stuff anyway. The Mastery bridge was perfect for me. I use 10s and am dedicated to the plain G. I really liked all the adjustments and fine tuning the bridge was capable of and am super happy with it, although I totally get that it has it's limitations if you're wanting to do something less conventional. As for the trem, I don't know how much it really matters. I don't use it extensively and honestly couldn't tell much of a difference between the Mastery trem and the cheap one that was on the JM when I got it.

Tom Wanderer wrote: Thu Mar 10, 2022 8:44 am As for the trem, I don't know how much it really matters. I don't use it extensively and honestly couldn't tell much of a difference between the Mastery trem and the cheap one that was on the JM when I got it.

I've never tried the Mastery trem, but I would say avoid just any cheapo tremolo if you plan to do more than just lock it in place. The springs won't hold tuning very well and the bar will just flop out in the middle of a show. But even changing to just an American made Fender trem solved those problems for me and they're like $60.