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They look awesome (to us)

We have one coming this way

I'm definitely holding on to both my S2 Classics. My 5-string headless has been my go-to for the last couple of years. Music Man prices are already going up. I remember all too well when you paid used Fender money for one but they've gone up ridiculously. I paid €900 for my 2003 Stingray 5 in 2009, and then traded it for my 5-string S2 Classic + 100 GBP in 2017. I got lucky with my Music Man Silhouette Special for €1300 in 2023, I'm seeing them for around €1800 now

No argument there, honestly on most gigs people really cant tell what bass you are using. A playable bass isn't a price item, I am happy to play my OLP or my Shuker or my Ibanez - hugely different price points. over christmas I played my Aliexpress acrylic bass, its not as nice to play as it is really heavy and the pickups aren't great, but it plays and it lights up with LEDs and people notice that much more than the sound! I buy the expensive basses for me, because I like them but if I didn't care about that, there is no gig I couldn't have done without a sub £200 bass and a sub £200 amplifier / speaker.

I must admit that would affect my buying one (if I could afford one!). The sudden step change in body wood looks so obvious, even on the promo pics (ESPECIALLY in the promo pics 😲)

How does anyone acquire so many old bits and incomplete instruments? And does anyone buy these things? A strat neck plate for £1000, for example. I'm no expert, but that's a lot of money for a tiny piece of steel with 4 holes in it.

Matched to pinos? Yes. Matched to each other? Not so much. It is a pet hate of mine too, but authenticity is authentic...

I remember Bass Direct had some limited edition Stingrays some years back and they were priced lower than regular Stingrays. From memory it was because they only came in red or blue (possibly black also),had a gig-bag rather than the usual hardcase, had a 2-band eq and...was poplar-bodied! I have no personal issue with poplar but find it interesting it was used on a cut-price Stingray and now on this Pino re-issue. I wonder if his original was made of it. I've owned poplar basses and it's never bothered me tonally I might add. Ok Google just helped me out,the Stingrays I mentioned were known as "Limited Edition 133" . Bass Direct had a couple back in roughly 2014 and they well under a grand,about £850 or so.

Oh down get me wrong, im the same. Dont like 20mm spacing, wide necks etc. Im talking more about those that say they HAVE to spend £1000's on a bass to get something playable, and then play something much cheaper. If you can use the cheaper bass, then you didnt HAVE to spend all that money. Not that it isn't fun, its just the false justification a lot of the time

As long as the monitors you're currently using for vox are reasonably flat in their frequency response and have enough headroom to handle the extra content put through them, then yes, it should be as simple as you hope. Ideally, you'd have at least one spare aux output available on your desk - that way the new guitarist gets a mix to themselves as they'll likely want more of themselves in their mix an anyone else will need. For monitoring, mono should be fine and, as you note, for a lot of gigs that's all that's really needed for FOH too. It can be nice to have stereo, and devices like the Helix will give plenty of opportunity to exploit that, but if you're a pub/small venue band then going mono shouldn't be a deal breaker. The other guitarist should be able to carry on as normal; as I say if you're able to give the helix user their own mon mix that will help avoid having to have that guitar too loud in everyone else's monitor mix so you should be able to balance the 2 reasonable easily.

In the copper colour, it was on a Portuguese site. I found the owner before the copper edition and thanks to him and Heiko, we were able to date it: October 2000, so one of the last without truss rod. Here are the four colour stages pickups and preamp modifications of this bass from 2000 to 2025.

Call Ashdown and ask for Dave Green. He will tell you whether it would work.

Who knows what it was when it started!

Mines the opposite to that. I can play whatever bass, although I don't enjoy it if the string spacing is wide or if it has bits that dig in, or its too heavy, or there is some random piece of metal where I want to put my hand. However, if I am gigging, because I am also singing and playing keys with my feet, if the string spacing is wide, i WILL mess it up, because I don't have my attention on playing as I would have at home. For the same reason, I won't bother with a non 5 string, because I don't want to have to change basses when I am playing live, though obviously at home it doesn't make any difference

Comoare and contrast...

There it is at last Tony! I dont like you anymore 😄 I think I may have seen this one for sale, was it in Italy or on an Italian site? Remember me when you come to sell it 😛🤣

I’ll add some pictures in a bit to add some clarity and we all like a pic or two. Looked at the neck further and it appears fairly flat but the action is crazy high. Its similar to an acoustic bridge, floating wooden job but with a fairly basic steel adjustable bridge sitting on top. Everything seems original but to me it looks like the bridge is way too tall or the neck to body fit or angle is all wrong.