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Looks lovely. From that bottom picture, it appears to have the ghost of Kung Fu Panda within it as well. Maybe that's what gives it the oomph?

These look really nice, with a rather nice finish. Shame this brand doesn't really create much 'noise' in the market place.

Do you have a heavy hitting, or digging in, technique? If you get a thud when your fingers come to rest on the B string, maybe the pickup is too high and the string is hitting the pickup. If you are damping the strings correctly you shouldn't be hearing any sound out of the B string in that situation.

I think there's a place for questioning synth bass pedals and pointing out that an actual synth (or laptop and midi controller of choice) would do more better or whatever. But equally, as a non-piano player, I could stick a FI4 on my board and play synth bass stuff straight away with a fairly minimal learning curve (presuming reasonably clean technique), with no additional hardware or stage set-up changes. For what it's worth I'ld love a FI4 vip - it's an amazing little box... but I'ld also like a Arturia MiniFreak... not sure where the money for either will come from and how much I would use either....

The position of the controls in the photo above is probably very close to my standard setting when I used to own that bass. Volume on full, neck filter to bassy, bridge filter to trebly, balance slightly toward the bridge pickup.

That thud is technique and because the fingers are coming to rest on the B string the thud is lower pitched. Many B strings tend to be a bit floppy and that means they move more when a finger comes to rest on them. More movement = more signal. A tighter B string may well help but avoiding coming to rest on a string at all is a good thing to practice. It will be there on your 4 strings too - but probably at a frequency and volume you are not noticing at the moment.

Everyone's string preferences are different, so a thread like this can only be a series of recommendations, and unfortunately the OP will have to work their way (expensively) through them until them find a set that suits them. IME Rotosound are incapable of consistently making good string sets that aren't standard gauge for 4-string 34" basses, so even if you've been getting on fine with their sets on your Jazz they probably won't suit your 5-string. Plenty of people on here like DR strings. I've not been able to get on with any of the ones I tried. My recommendations for good 5-string sets would be Warwick Red Label, Warwick Black Label if you want a taper-wound Low-B or LaBella Steels although I believe they are changed the design since I last tried some. I stopped using the LaBellas because while the last set I had were better than the Warwick Black labels they weren't twice as good despite the fact they cost twice as much.

IMO the Bogen guitar plugins are superb if you're into Hi-gain metal. They're always having deals so worth checking out regularly for deals.

I swapped to 5 string basses nearly 30 years ago. I spent many years with DR, both LO-Riders and Hi-Beams rounds. Then I had a few years with D'Addario NYXL's. For flats I use TI's.

I did a small gig on Sat with just my GP-5. AMPEG Nam and footswtich turning on and off a Drive FX. I didnt even use the Chocolate foot switch as I didn't feel I needed any other FX. So impressed I can see me sticking with that for a while. Famous last words I know.

Welcome Cj

The software has got better as well I'd be very interested in your views on the bass systems in there. I suspect others would as well Rob

Breakfast in America - Supertramp

Had to do some side by side comparisons to make my final selections. Well done all.

I've played 5-string 35" scale pretty much exclusively for the last few years and (apart from a few forays to try the new kid on the block) have tended to always use DR strings. My faves are DR Pure Blues, Sunbeam or Nickel Lo Riders. They do 'go off' pretty quickly from the initial brightness but then they tend to stay where they are almost indefinitely thereafter. I have played the stainless Hi Beams and Lo Riders but found them a little too stiff for my liking. Also got some DR Legends flats on my fretless and love them. Could your issue be a slight harmonic sounding on the B when you complete the finger stroke? I had this on another guitar and found it was just the new pickups/EQ making what was always there more prominent i.e. it was a technique issue but only noticeable on a new bass with 'better' pickups. You could try and EQ it out, or use a Fretwrap or similar, or just work on the note technique so it goes away.

Fame guitars and basses always used to be built by Mayones in Poland. I wonder if they still are!

The free MODO drums are pretty decent too. Very customisable with some great snare sounds

Hi, I'm planning to do that when I can. I have been listening to music and watching videos a lot recently. I can already tell that this particular rabbit hole is deep! 👍

Actually no idea, I assume the companies are basicly buying stuff from the same factories - I just bought the first one I saw as I think it was just over £50 at the time and I thought it woudl be handy, and it really has been.

Hello, I live in the sprawling metropolis known as Ballynahinch 😉 What about yourself?

Unfortunately I lost my battle with GAS and mr DPD delivered the ToneX one bass edition on Saturday... Set up was every bit as convoluted as people say and I'm still finding my way around the software now but there are some great things in there!