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Sold a strap to Tom recently, nice and straightforward, another excellent basschatter. Deal with confidence.

I've never heard of Turnstile but, considering the last two "future of metal" bands I was told about were Linkin Park and Sleep Token, I reckon I'll give them a miss 😆

I’ve had pretty much the full range from Squier Affinity up to Fender US Deluxe/Ultra. All were perfectly good, and imo ascended up to the US made ones. The Deluxe/Ultra, great basses they were, were imo Deluxe/Ultra due to the added active circuitry which I didn’t really use, so the peak for me was the US Standards. So if I had £1000/£1500 available to spend on a Fender I’d put the money to a US Standard, my fave range of those being the 2013-16 ones with Custom Shop pickups. Sure I could get a Mex Player or Vintera and change pickups and have a great bass, but for me the US Standards are the best. I’ve briefly played Custom Shop Fenders - a Precision and a Strat - and they were easily the best instruments I’ve ever played, though I don’t think I’d ever shell out that amount on an instrument.

It's extremely rude. Daryl

I was hoping you'd tell me what it was 😂 Dave

Not seen much from you recent months @martthebass All well i hope. Is your singer also a leftie guitarist. Must be a Glam thing. Ours too. Dave

Yesterday - Beetlez

You really have to treat the various mass produced Fenders the same way per model/series, in that you really need to try before you buy. You can usually find one diamond in a batch of 10-20. I've owned a lot over the years, and currently have a 2018 American Original Jazz, 2012 FSR Limited Edition Hand Stained Jazz & a 2016 American Elite Jazz, with a couple of Mex/USA Mustangs as well. Generally speaking, the current higher end Mexican ranges (Vintera II & Player II Modified) are very good. They really seem to have bumped up quality a lot at the Enchilada plant. The American Standard/Professional series seems to go in two steps per series - the 2008s were great, whereas the updated 2012s with the custom shop pickups were a bit meh. The 2016 American Pros were great and the later Pro II less so. They seem to have a habit of making something great that appeals to the pros and then dumbing it down a bit to appeal to more players. (Obviously they're there to sell as many instruments as possible!) In my own personal opinion, the peak for the 'Deluxe/Elite/Ultra' line was between the 2010 Deluxe (with N3 pickups) and the 2016 Elite. The Ultra models produced since are showing signs of production cost cutting, with a return to the cheaper neck construction with the skunk stripe at the back and top loaded truss rod. You'll have to ask someone else about the Custom Shop offerings. I have no experience. So yes, I do believe that you do benefit from the higher up ranges, but they are getting very expensive now and musicians' earnings aren't keeping up.

I have locking Neutrik jack sockets on my basses - I found a rubber lined pipe clamp of just the right size that holds the socket nice and firm. Happy to send you a clamp in the post in you like?

Yep our singer and guitarist tried using their wireless systems and had problems. Singer went for Sennheiser mic wireless system and guitarist / singer went Shure. No more issues. Dave

Ime it's your option two: better but not worth the cash. They're not better enough to be worth the extra over the lower end models and also they're not commensurate with other basses you can get for that money. Yes, I own a mia Fender P... 😁

People will have different views, but I e gigged with Squiers, Mexican, Japanese and American jazz basses. While all are great instruments (and some can be awful) the American higher end models sound better, are built better and come with a nice case. Whether this is worth the premium, that’s a question of personal choice. But for me, my Professional series jazz basses is the best instrument I’ve used and we’ve done hundreds of gigs together.

Great choice Bernardo!! The red Starstream will certainly make a dramatic statement on stage. I love my black A2S and like the sound of the Aguilar pups so much that I've ordered a 4M-J set to retrofit to my s-s Sandberg. Re strings, I too have fitted and like the T-I Jazz Flats but they're not the brightest and I had to get a new nut made to fit their unusual string gauges.

The massive crowd appeared to enjoy it and that's what counts over a few grumpy bass players.