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My parents had this album on cassette when I was growing up, so I've memories of enjoying this one on a lot of car journeys! (First time I've seen the video, mind)

"Pedal board ego death" - love that phrase!! Ah it's not such a bad thing! I think I'm having the same epiphany with a Boss GX10 multifx which, so far seems to be able to do so many things really well, and a number of things well enough (with the one exception so far of synth) that the ensuing pedal board cull is likely going to pay for this new unit multiple times over! And actually very liberating taking just one, albeit very capable, pedal to gigs!

A little video, not much good but it gives a good idea of what the bass might sound like in better hands!

Just plugged the bass in and had a bash... FIYTIO....et al...Yes he was a very good blues player but Im a sucker for his slushy stuff... sooo well written. Classics all of em.

I'm in the market for a jazz bass. My current bass for everything is a EBMM USA Sterling 4HH - been number 1 bass for last almost 9 years. But I fancy a change. I've owned precisions and find the nut too wide - I have 2 precisions with jazz necks but I fancy a real jazz. I am leaning toward buying new. I don't want Mexican or Indonesian - call me whatever you like but I've decided Japanese or American only So I've narrowed the choices down to: - prerequisite RW boards only MIJ 'Hybrid' II £1,500 ish pros: price, colours, headstock end truss rod adjustment cons: basic bridge, no case only gig bag American Professsional II £1,900 ish pros: slim profile neck (I like that), option of top load or string through bridge, not keen on the tuners - prefer the large vintage open wheels, hard case cons: 5 bolt neck (limits choice of replacement necks if required) - not keen on any colour way American Vintage 66 £2,200 ish pros: love the surf green colour with matching headstock, like binding on the fb, 66voiced pickups, hard case cons: price, never liked the vintage bridge Mod Shop £2,200 ish pros: choice of colourways, block inlays available, choice of pickups, same bridge as Professional II with through body stringing and top loading available, same tuners as Pro II, hard case cons: no neck binding available, no matching headstock, 10 week lead time Custom Shop £4,000 ish pros: can have almost any spec you want cons: it'll cost both time (long lead time) and big money I am leaning toward the MIJ Hybrid II in Noir but the Vintage66 in Surf green is also tugging at my strings.... If you were in the market for a NEW Fender jazz, which would you choose and why?

Would love to hear some sound clips if you have any.

Oh, there's also a phenomenon I can't explain, but I believe it's real enough. When I listen to my crappy tv speakers, while browsing BassChat on my laptop for example, I often look up in surprise, as, when someone in a film plays music over their Hi-Fi, it's easy to hear whether their Hi-Fi is any good. I often comment-in-my-head: "Oh, that's a good system .... but how the Hull can I hear that?" Good+crappy > crappy+crappy, and markedly so.

Makes me want to put my pristine Revox B291 turntable on, but after 15 years of silence, the capacitors must be a bit dry and the motor may start a fire... No need for a preamp as I did the Studer/Revox mod to turn the internal RIAA preamp on, which is a great plus. Itching a bit...

So am I.

Not to be a stick in the mud guys , but this is the beginners guide to home recording this latest discussion may as well have been a dissertation on quantum physics for what I understood of it 😁

That, and all the other known stuff, and also someting I see mentioned few times: people's ears and pre-conceptions. The shop I worked in was up-market. We once organised a day of listening, and twas done so the listeners didn't get to know which gear they heard (dark stage, thin veil between gear and audience - lit from audience's side). People started bickering as they all heard different, often opposed, things. - "Way too scooped sound!" - "You're crazy! Way too little bass and treble!" - "Way to open! Tiring! It's that demn veil!" - "Way too compressed! It's that demn veil!" You get the drill. Twas the last day I was a fanatic. It's easy to point at a weakness the CS 505 has: it's harder to tweak than most more expensive decks. There's also the point that with a cheap Dual like that, there are more measurable differences between individual units. (We had a system for that, Ortofon perhaps, which tested the unit and printed a report.) Point remains: Put an Ortofon MC30 on the Dual and also on an SME on the GyroDec, and, to our ears, one could live very happily with the modest Dual. Oh, another story. We were to start selling Cabasse speakers. Listened to their most expensive model and were seriously underwhelmed. However, me listening concentrated, with closed eyes, I suddenly startled at a certain sound, and opened my eyes as I thought the importer was joking with us by playing a real instrument in the room. Of course the importer wasn't, and that "real instrument in the room" was actually the sound from those Cabasse speakers. Whoa! Also, during the 1812 Overture, I was obviously sitting in the wrong chair: the cannon shot right through my chest and I died on the spot. That's Hi-Fi! 😉

For some reason, I always loved this tune and video...

Ok that’s cool - but how about this???

I wish to thank you for not saying "colourway".

The poly finish applied to Kramer instruments from the 70s is a complete bastard to remove. Don't ask me how I know. You'll need a good power sander, a LOT of course grit sandpaper, a well ventilated space to work in, and MANY hours of free time before you'll get to see any bare wood. And be very careful removing and replacing the wooden pickup surrounds as they are prone to damage and the ones on your bass still appear to be complete which is a rare thing in itself.

I quoted what I was replying to? But while we’re here. There should obviously be a premium on a well established name with a good reputation compared to a new brand. That goes for any product or service. How much that premium is, the market will dictate.

Toltec is a brand belonging to Laverack Guitars based near Leeds, UK. https://www.laverackguitars.com/toltec-pickups Lee Laverack is the chap that makes them. They are very boutique and many are wound to people's individual specs. Lee is very helpful and engaging and loves a new challenge of trying to get a pickup to match a customer's requirement. He's done two custom jobs for me, one was a pair of splittable J humbuckers, the other was a PJ set that doesn't sound like a "normal" PJ set. I've also got a pair of J pickups from Lee that I'm hanging on to until I need them. They're that good. My advice would be to contact Lee and have a proper chat if you need anything. He's a gem.

Well I play other gigs as well, just not that many at the moment. The only comment I ever had about my bass was when I turned up to a Working Man's Club cover band dep with my Jackson Charvel complete with pointy headstock and the band leader took one look at it and said "Just stick to the roots - nothing flash." Not long after that I bought my current bass which looks a bit less flash and looks far more expensive than it was. Sounds like January might be an expensive month for me, currently eyeing up some £1700 basses to get rid of some cash I have lying around.

I think judging by the poll results so far it's fairly Conclusive that anything over the £1-2k mark is considered expensive. I really don't think anyone buying a £3k bass, regardless of how much money they have in the bank is thinking it's not an expensive instrument. Probably the opposite, they may be thinking I'm glad I can afford an expensive bass. I think a lot of people project what they think 'rich' people think based on some strange societal stereotyping. We know actual rich people tend to be rich because they don't waste money on expensive items if they don't need to. Probably the closest comment so far is the most expensive bass is the one that never gets played.

Because you're worth it. Don't let that pesky imposter syndrome get in your way. And lose the "just". Even "just" doing pub gigs you are already in the rarefied air of musicians who actually make it out of the bedroom.

Like what would happen if it replaced the cab m and the Siméon and….

I've spoken to ACS about their Ambient series, and while they do acknowledge there'll be some loss in bass response, their approach has been to design the inears to minimise this. It's a trade-off, I guess, and the results will be acceptable to some and not others. Sadly I don't have the cash to try them out, and like all custom inears it's a leap of faith. I sometimes have to pop one inear out to hear the drums properly (venue/setup depending, especially with deps), and even then (with the bass turned up in my mix), it's plenty. Talking to other band members, though, I think the ACS 'squidgy' casts are more comfortable than the harder shells of some other vendors...I can wear mine for hours, where the other guys (on a long day's session) were getting uncomfortable. I would add that I've done some gigs on the runup to Xmas with bands that don't have the full quiet stage/inears setup, and I absolutely wouldn't go back; not hearing myself clearly and accurately (as well as at a volume I can control) is a deal-breaker for me these days.