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I am a complete beginner so currently lack the ability to play a riff or three. You could upsell me to pick a Music Man StingRay Special £££ 😀

Ah, thanks, well fingers crossed whichever courier deals doesn`t take it straight to Sotheby`s.

@Lozz196 Unless something has changed - he won't get to see it. It will come directly to you from the UK distributor. When I ordered mine via him he didn't even get photos - I took some for him when it had arrived.

Because most vinyl lovers are in denial. There are all sorts of technical issues that affect what can be cut to a master disc in the first place and then what will actually be playable on a typical system once the results have been stamped out of a pice of hot plastic. As much as vinyl lovers would like to tell themselves otherwise, the final stage of the manufacturing process is hardly one of precision and finesse. My current band are contemplating a vinyl version of our album (CDs still sell exceptionally well in our genre) and if we do it is likely to have a different running order to accommodate the limitations of the medium as well as having some the the more extreme stereo effects collapsed to mono in order for it to be capable of being cut. For me, any records I bought as a teenager simply don't sound right unless they are played on my old dansette that cost £8 from a junk shop in 1973 and played one side of the stereo mix much louder than the other. These are versions/mixes of those records I am used to and everything else sounds wrong no matter how superior the reproduction might be.

Agree, I`ve a Sandberg Superlight being made at the moment, which Mark has arranged, when he receives it I`ll drive and collect rather than chance all this malarkey.

Welcome! Buy all 4. You will end up with them all if you stick around here anyway 😂. But more seriously you prolly need to play one of each. Basses of the same brand/model will feel slightly differently so getting the one you ‘want to play cause it feels right’ is the most important thing. You can make it sound pretty much how you want it to with an amp / modelling pedal … Others will have other views of course…

I gues the people that buy them want a vintage looking Fender but either can't afford one or can't find one in the colour they want. You could probably spend years looking for a genuine pre CBS Precision in Ice Blue for example and never find one for sale and even if you did a really rare custom colour vintage instrument would likely cost well into 5 figures. It's a lot quicker and cheaper to order a replica Having a different logo on the headstock would break the illusion. Wouldn't bother me at all but then I've never really gassed after vintage instruments.

Just found one on eBay £80 ! ordered and will try it

This. When I went to collect my finished Sei Bass Martin was still making some final set up tweaks when I arrived so he gave me another Sei to play while I waited. Also a fretless 5-string but a different body shape and electronics. It was nice, nut for me nowhere near as nice as mine when it was ready, because the other Sei hadn't been made for me, it didn't have the fine tuning to the design and neck profile that I had asked for. I've owned a few other custom basses that weren't made for me, because they were basically off-the-shelf designs that fact that they hadn't been personalised exactly to me didn't matter as much as it did for the Sei. I still own one of these basses. In fact I liked it so much that when I did have one made for me, mine was almost identical apart from the colour and pickup layout.

Reading the comments here (and elsewhere) about belt vs direct, how to get the best out of your system etc. What I never seem to read much is how vinyl is a flawed and degenerative delivery system (but plenty about how all those rumbles, crackles and pops add character to the music) or how turntables are trying to negate outside issues. Christ, I remember how even walking across the room would cause my old deck to rumble. My brother had bricks in his rack in an effort to negate outside influencing effects. We've come so far, haven't we? My mum was playing Led Zeppelin albums on a stereogram which played at 16, 33, 45 and 78. The stylus being able to flip 180° dependent on what you were playing. She regularly played old 78s. Nobody cared about whether you could hear a bit more high-hat or low end. Now it's all, 'I paid £500 for a tone arm and it makes such a difference.'

Yes - you get the option of that or a Limelight Logo. IIRC it's black with a star motif, or similar. There was a limelight logo'd one in the classifieds relatively recently.

Hi everyone Thank you letting me join basschat! Some of my family play various musical instruments, (mainly violin, acoustic guitar, piano and clarinet), but when I said I'm going to learn to play the bass, it was a shock, for as one relative put it, "you dont like loud noise!? While I really can't handle loud high pictched noises, but low frequency, thats an entirely different matter.... Musical Influences, 70's, 80's Michael Jackson, Motown, Stevie Wonder, Jamiroquai, Marcus Miller. Hence the reason I want to play the Stingray type sound On the shortlist: Sterling by Music Man Intro series RAY2, X Or opt for an Active Preamp Ray 4/ RAY 34 with Active Preamp from the outset so I don't have to upgrade - The Sire Z3, Z7 Keen to get a decent quality bass, so the budget is less of a concern than the actual quality, which is flexible, but equally dont want to run before I can walk Weight is a consideration, due to a prior lower back inury, which I'm keen not to have a recurrence Keen to get everyones thoughts

I had some more time to tweak, play and compare the new Hils HN5B with my EHB1005SMS at the weekend. Soundwise, the Hils is so much closer to the sound I have in my head, even in passive mode with the eq bypassed. There's a lot more high end detail and clarity and less subby/boomy mud in the low end. I haven't compared it with my JB2 yet, but I think it will be a better match. I introduced a little more relief into the neck as it was very flat, and there are a couple of high frets around frets 3-5 that will eventually need addressing. I got the action down to a respectable 1.75mm to 2.5mm at the last fret, but I could feel the B and G string saddle bottom out, so I can't get the action as low as the EHB. But it's quite playable. It is heavier than the EHB, but it balances well on a strap, as expected. My only real gripe at the moment is the placement of the top strap button. They've attached it to the back of the horn - I assume due to the pointy shape of the horn. Unfortunately, this puts it in line with the 15th fret, rather than the 12th, which I prefer, meaning the nut feels quite a long way to reach. I could already feel the effort required in my left arm after 20mins or so of playing. I don't plan on playing this bass for an entire set, but it does concern me that it could be a potential problem. I've illustrated where the existing strap button line up below, and where a theoretical strap button would move the alignment to. But I'm concerned that the shape of the top horn would be too weak to support this relocation. Perhaps this is why they put it on the back? PS, I've just notice that the newer HBZ4 bass has the strap button in the more traditional spot, and the top horn has a bit more meat to support it.

surely as they seem fairly customisable, you could order one without the Fender logo? Jonny

There are some luthiers who do metal aging too. You might be able to buy a new version of the right part and get it aged to match. There's a couple of big facebook groups all about relics - both home and pro work - and I'm sure they'd be able to point you in the right direction.

When AI creates a form of music that is genuinely new, that's when we need to start worrying.

We did Fender Custom Shop for a while, and it may be something that is on our horizon again for this year

Isn't the advantage of the Technics direct drive decks that they have a near instantaneous full-speed start which you need for mixing? I remember from my student radio days that we would have to wind the record back about 1/3 of a turn from the cue point so that it would be up to the required speed by the time the music started and you wouldn't get an audible pitch change at the start of the track.

These are great when used like a Sansamp.

I'm going to get me one of these.

I think it's just a different flavour of that, or it can be. People said similar with sampling, synths (memories of my Dad's distain at 80's '1 finger keyboard players'), drum machines, DJs, Laptop music etc. Granted, they did all need people to a certain extent (but lazy people could just use drum machine presets and a synth arp preset), but it depends how people use AI to how much input they have - could be anything from just mastering a track all the way up to making it all via a prompt (and isn't that a bit like the non-musician producers that just tell musicians how to play?).