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Fender-style basses. I'd been playing bass for almost 25 years before I felt the need to try one. I dabbling with the idea of playing fretless bass with the band I was in at the time and the Squier Vintage Modified Fretless Jazz had been getting great reviews in the musical instrument press (remember that?) and on the forums. Seemed very nice in the shop but once I actually started using it with the band there were all sorts of short-comings. Compared with my other basses it felt over-sized and awkward, even next to my Overwater 36" scale 5-string. It hung weirdly on the strap in such a way that I couldn't easily reach the G-string machine head and it sounded weedy in comparison with all my other basses including my 60s Burns Sonic. The £60 Wesley acrylic bass which it was supposed to replace was for me a superior instrument in every respect.

Funny thing after gigging an SVT-CL and V4B I now use a MB LMIV amp ! Honestly it’s nearly as good !!! Definitely easier to move around

I use tubing that fits over the screws. Like this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/285761252182 Cut to length so the pickup will be a bit higher than required when the tubing is uncompressed, then tighten down the required amount.

Oh yeah, BF cabs. Had a couple. They seemed nice but i didn’t keep either long. Looking back i think i assumed they were fantastic even though i didn’t personally like them much. Oh and i guess a big one is FRFR. Couldn’t wait to get away from that one.

I was surprised how many of the earlier Alembic users were on flatwounds, it tends not to be what I think of those basses as doing

Nice bass, and it might become unique.. Rumor has it that a group of creditors has filed for bankruptcy again in court. So be carefull when placing orders with Bax.

My goodness, I never realised what a seething pit of resentment and hatred we had here on basschat! Get it all out and purge yourselves!!!

And seeing as we're allowed to follow the herd, get things, and then find we like them: Sei basses - there was a lot of mention of them on BC, as they seemed to be the next flavour of the month after Shuker. So when one came up at Bass Direct, I went and tried it, and bought it, and bought another and another and another. I could probably have afforded half a second-hand Fodera withnthe amount I've spent on them. Barefaced cabs - Alex has been flavour of the month for quite a lot of months, with LFSys now snapping at his heels, and some time ago I bought a BB2. Later, a One10 came up at an unrefusable price so I had that. The One10 proved insufficient for my needs (couldn't keep up with quite a quiet band) so it went, but the BB2 lasted quite a bit longer until I got a GR Bass combo.

A couple of Rays, modded one from 1995, and the fretless is a 1994 & 1997 hybrid.

I still need to recable this, but I’ve had a major shuffle over the last few months. I’ve also broken my ‘if it’s not on the board, it gets sold’ routine… so there are a few toys on the shelf for swapping in and out. For a long time I struggled to justify having a ‘collection’ and so I just kept making the board bigger and bigger. I’ve finally got out of that silly spiral Large board is my bass board, small board is for synth (and the space at the edge is for a Walrus Canvas Stereo LI). The big board is really two boards in one. It covers my synthy/electronica/soundscape side of things, and my prog-y Tool-esque rock stuff. Realistically, it could be two boards, but I like the option to throw in a few extra sounds here and there. I also have PT Classic 1, so might put one side of the board on the shelf for a bit given I’m not gigging at the mo and downsize the board.

Echoing another couple of posters: Flatwounds - tried flats and don't get on with them, either the feel or the sound Fender Precisions - don't like the necks on Precisions (especially the 5s) and I'm exactly overwhelmed by the sound, especially with flats Helix LT - fantastically powerful multi-effects, bought as a step up from an HX Stomp, but for me it doesn't have any advantages over the HX Stomp and it's far bigger and heavier

A Bass. I wanted to be a bass player so figured that's a good thing to own......😂 Compressors -BC flavour of the month to blame. HPF - BC flavour of the month to blame. This to me was the biggest item of the Emperors new wardrobe. A Pedalboard - Didnt realise I needed one until I got a few pedals (see above). OD/ Fuzz / Synth - Made me forget I wanted to play bass parts. Tubes - Not sure why I even considered these. After an almost 4 year gap from bass, I now realise all I need from the above list is the Bass. Admittedly I have Drive and Comp in my Microbass 3, but these aren't required for me to enjoy playing bass.

I’m not overly familiar with the Ampeg B18 , I like this guy’s videos and it sounds really good here

@Beedster I haven't opened mine up, I've only got a shot of the cavity from when it was being spraying, but looking at the size and layout, I'm going to assume it takes some space!

Nah, yours is fine, they’d stopped using lacquer by then (around 1993 I think).

Like the Taylor bass, the Ibanez was designed to use that particular set of strings. I’ve had both basses, and they are great with the D’Addarios. Mine last years, even with regular gigs. As @lemmywinks says above, tension on strings is crucial here, it’s not just about the gauge. Also their unique construction means other varieties may affect the sound. I believe it is a false economy fitting unsuitable strings, and may even affect any warranty you have remaining.

NI pays for the state pension and various benefits, not the NHS, so that's not a good comparison. The NHS is funded from general taxation. OK, using current figures, a salary of £50,000 brings in £3,293 a month, or £39,521 a year after tax and NI. That's an effective tax rate of 20.95%. Using today's exchange rate, the equivalent US salary is about $67,800. So let's pick a state - let's say Virginia, that's a middle-of-the-road state in terms of state income tax. Adding up federal, state and FICA (basically NI) taxes, you end up with $52,728, an effective tax rate of 22.23%. In some states, it'll be a bit higher, in some a bit lower. So. not a great start for the US. That amount of tax only covers healthcare if you're a military veteran (the VA), so poor as to be indigent (Medicaid), or pension-age (Medicare - which has a whole different bunch of requirements). The way it generally works, assuming your employer provides health insurance, is your employer will pay a percentage of the total premium - typically 50%, leaving you on the hook for the other 50% which comes straight out of your pay cheque. Some employers pay more than that, but 50% is pretty standard. That number is subject to how many people the insurance is covering - might only be a couple of hundred if it's just you, up to well over $1k for a family, and, like I said above, the insurance premium is only one payment out of many that you have to make. There's also various levels of insurance, the availability of health savings accounts, and all sorts of other nonsense. The whole thing is a colossal cluster-fornication. And add in that the cost of living is probably about 50% higher than the UK... yeah. You see where I'm going with this.

Jazz Basses - I`ve learned to love them, but it took me a while (and a good few) Stingray Basses - The third member of the holy trinity, I love how they play, love how they sound when others play them, just not when I play them Flatwound strings - I love the playability, but can`t get on with the sound, though have heard plenty of other people sound great with them Compressors - no matter how they`re set, either by me or by someone who actually knows how to set them, to my ear they never sound as good as the bass without them

Turd Uncle - Bauhaus

I LOVE that pedal. Really nice tones, has 3 built in amp sims and 8 IR's, which to my ears are better than anything else ive used IR-wise. I sent my firs tone back as I wanted to try other things, but quickly realised I made a mistake. Recently got an EBS Microbass 3 to replace the Nux (this has drive and comp), but decide dot keep the Nux anyway, and find I use it more ay home than the EBS.