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If the balance of the pickups is fine, simply turn up the gain of your amp. B string may sound similar to other strings or not. But when you change strings, you can try different ones to find the right for you. I had a MG Quantum 5 that sounded best with a 120, so thicker is not automatically better. Congratulations, you seem to have bought lots of bass. Now go and play a lot!

The B15/SVT only affects the Grit side. Part of the reason I ditched it is because of having to always hit no try footswitch we just to turn the B15 sound on. That and the stupidly high treble frequency (10kHz if I recall correctly).

I put together an unlined fretless precision bass bitzer about 25ish years ago. I used top quality parts, but none made by Fender apart from an ‘F’ neck plate. I did however put a 70s style Fender decal on the headstock as I like the aesthetic — there has never been any intention for me to to sell this bass. A couple of weeks ago, after not having played this bass for a long time — due to losing interest in playing fretless, I gave it a neck transplant using a (fretted) Fender Precision to Jazz bass conversion neck (just a jazz neck with a precision decal) It has also acquired a Fender hi-mass bridge. The bass now has a Fender serial number, so is it now a Fender bass or is it still a fake?

That looks very nice, Alex. Especially like the clear guard. Looks very sophisticated. Enjoy!

I've not had one for a while, but used to use it a lot. As I recall, the knob on the far left is the volume and compression, which only applies to the signal when you activate the preamp switch, and the knob on the far right is the volume and grit (distortion), that only applies to the signal when you activate the SGT switch (which gives you the B-15 tube tone). When the SGT switch is off, the volume/grit knob does nothing to the signal.

I REALLY need to learn this lesson!

Moving more air than a Boeing 747!

100%, I’m on the wait list, I have 3 or 4 tracks I regularly play that I know I can use those presets on. I fake it now with fuzzy/chorus/octave/envelope…but I’m all for an easy life haha. I also genuinely think that IMA knows what’s up. He’s not just marketing hype, he genuinely is an excellent product/tone developer, who just so happens to have a very large audience too. MXR made a smart move on that front. Si

Nice 👍

The beauty of a clear guard is that you can try out different looks just by cutting and inserting thin card or paper behind it to check out the effect. I have an all black ‘insert’, one with a paisley pattern made from and old bandana (stuck onto card) and a tort one, where I bought a small sheet of stick on tort (for acoustic guitars) and trimmed it up.

Haha, you and me both! I guess having owned and tried really hard to love the FI multiple times (I've had five attempts from v1 onwards!) over the years and never quite managing it, there's definitely an element of "if they could just do that" e.g. decent tracking, form factor, make it accessible by loading with popular 'known' patches, replace the numerical display with something that displays words (Boss 200 series, many midi pedals do this). But András and crew, to their credit, are definitely getting there and there's been more progress with the FI than a lot of the competition - remember the Markbass Super Synth anyone?! Getting us back on topic: the trouble for FI/C4/Boss et al. / good news for us bass players is that MXR Synth has arrived on the scene and is already providing a great deal of what we want in a synth pedal and is rightly causing a stir.

Ive bene looking at this preamp but getting conflicting advice about the SVT/B-15 switch. A mate has one and says he never uses the Grit side, but can hear a difference between the two modes. Reviews say this switch only affects the Grit side. Can anyone confirm what is going on with this switch please.

It's interesting that in some light the bass looks jet black - and in some dark brown ... and even black with dark brown highlights. I'm a huge fan of gunstock oil .... lol to be honest I'm already looking around for another 'buggered big-un' to restore. It's addictive, and there do seem to be quite a few basses languishing as 'conversation pieces' which should be in the hands of players. If anybody wants help and encouragement with their own bass projects feel free to message me. I'm always happy to pass on skills ... and if you are in the London area - pop in to my Oil City Pickups workshop for coffee and talk basses 😁

A bit more nostalgia from me today, this is the Ed King played bass part from the tune 'Gimme Three Steps' from the first Lynyrd Skynyrd album, 2973's 'Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd'. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/gimme-three-steps-lynyrd-skynyrd/

I am also now very conscious that I’m further derailing the thread. It might be better to move to the FI thread if we continue this train of thought. While discussion around comparisons is inevitable, derailing this further from the MXR pedal isn’t fair to the OP. Cheers Si