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I wonder how many of these items will still turn up on the end of 2018 thread, 'stuff I shouldn't have bought, but still did'!

I didn't say it was a good deal.

I think the key is the fact that the chap was an "older gentleman". I'm 64 and I can remember when I was in my teens/early twenties, a "real" Fender was a pretty rare beast in Blighty, unless you were a pro'. Now, they're everywhere and you can choose between US, Mexican, Korean, Japanese, etc instruments, all Fender branded, at varying price points. The guitar hero at the school I went to was the only bloke for miles around with a genuine Strat' and the copies hadn't started appearing yet. When I finally got my first "proper" Fender ('72 jazz, which I still have), it cost me several months wages and was a real red letter day.

On this evidence, she has a cracking pair of lungs . . .great voice.

Absolutely. Just wondering how many on here can honestly say that out in the audience they could tell the difference between a P and a J for eg. Ive been to a few concerts this year and the myriad of diff basses might have well been wash tubs for the difference each instrument made.

I found the Ultimate Drive quite lacking in bass for me... The American Sound has tons on tap though due to it's 3 band EQ that still has decent low end without having to boost the bass. It's pretty versatile too, just at home with a mellow Precision and flats or a more aggressive Jazz with rounds. I think I got mine for £15 used! I've yet to try the Orange Juice though but will probably get one to try soon - might order the out-of-stock one on sold by Amazon for £38 delivered (normally £50 everywhere else) as they would have to honour that price when it came back in stock!

My objection is to actively forcing people to do something they don't need to do. I'm not a fan of making superfluous rules.

I actually think it helps the debate a lot in that there is no set perspective, one can have one's own taste and preferences about an instrument but I think if this thread has highlighted anything it is that there is no definitive set of criteria that make a vintage bass superior to a modern one or vice versa. There may be something about the materials used in construction, the manner of it's manufacture, but in the end personal preference seems to hugely outweigh any other factor, somehow that pleases me a lot. One thing I do know is that the reasoned arguments and totally friendly discussion on this thread has kind of warmed an old misanthrope's heart! If I were ever attracted to a bass that was considered vintage I'd be straight on here asking for advice, that's for sure.

At the risk of sounding like a utter fool, can someone explain to me why people like older instruments, vintage basses and the like? I’ll tell you for why. Years and years ago I was sitting in on a Killing Joke rehearsal, I’d just been to a West End music shop with a friend of mine and he’d purchased a cheap Washburn semi-acoustic. Geordie (KJ’s guitarist) asked to look at the guitar and plugged it into his rig “It won’t sound any different to mine” he said, laughing and gesturing with his head towards his beautiful 1952 Gibson ES-295. And guess what? It didn’t sound any different, not at all. So what’s the point of vintage instruments other than a display of what you can afford? I’m not knocking anyone who owns such instruments, I’m just trying to understand it, not least in case I’m missing out somehow! Surely modern instruments benefit from being designed and built using modern methods and technology? I have played vintage basses and very expensive modern hand built basses and none of them have sounded or played any better than any of my sub £1000 (and in a couple of cases sub £500) basses. I have talked with the luthier who sets up my guitars and basses about that and he speculated that most instruments simply aren’t set up correctly and that makes so much difference to the playability and tone (I have to agree here, I think I realised the first time he set up one of my basses that I had simply never played a correctly set up bass before). So, in summary, how or why are vintage instruments any better than modern, current models? I have never found this to be the case, is it just a myth or a marketing ploy, is it just peacock strutting with the most expensive or rare items? Or is there something I’m missing or just don’t know or understand, is there an old Jazz bass out there that I’d play and have the vintage revelation? I am mindful here of the story about the chap who only discovered his second-hand $35 violin was, in fact, a Stradivarius after it was run over by a bus, only then did he realise it was worth a million dollars, nothing in the playability or the tone led him to think it was anything special before he saw the name.

Well..? Don't just sit there..! Get to bed..! ...

I'd get them looked at, if I were you... On another note, our daughter is a paediatric nurse at the equivalent Paris hospital (Port Royal...), specialising in neonatal extensive care. It's absolutely amazing the stuff they can (and do...) do, these days, with, unfortunately, the occasional heart-rending story of impossible odds, too. Their work (and the St Mary's staff, of course...) is beyond value; the progress that has been made, in many fields, is remarkable. Best wishes for a positive outcome for the mite; be sure to post coordinates and links when you get your charity single out (a current link to the charity concerned wouldn't go amiss, either...). Well..? Don't just sit there..! Get writing..! ...

I would put a link to Shine and St Mary's charitable donations pages on here, on this site. There are a lot of good people on here that I'm sure would love to contribute. All the best to you and your wife and your new addition.

I've never understood the obsession with resale value. Maybe because I've never bought any instrument with an eye to selling it on at some point. I've always bought because I have an actual need for the instrument at that particular moment in time. If I can afford it and it's something I'm going to use then I'll buy it. At the time I rarely think I'll be selling it later. If at some point I no longer need it I'll probably sell it or if I think I might use it again in the future it will go into storage. When I sell stuff sometimes I make money compared with what I originally paid for it, and sometimes I lose money. If I loose money, I look at the that amount as the rental value of the instrument for the time I was using it. TBH the amount I've spent on guitars and basses in real terms is small beans compared with what I was spending on synthesisers in the 80s.

Y'know, although I've had loads of gear over the years, I don't think I've ever posted anything in the review section..! That's a shame about the Class AB stuff. Maybe they've decided that the Subway is finally 'there' in terms of equivalent performance? The amount that were moved on on BC not long after launch makes me think... maybe not?

Some great Qs. To get the ball rolling for you... I'm a fan of their older no longer in production amps - in particular the M series. Class A/B mosfet power amp with a 12Ax7 valve preamp. Somewhat similar architecture, in that sense, to the Aguilar DB751 (another awesome amp). Delivers a warm, creamy, gorgeous tone through a Mesa 2x12 cab with a Jazz bass. I tend to play all my basses in passive mode and my goto basses are a Sandberg TM4 (Delano pups) and Ibanez SR1800 (Nordstrand pups). I'm personally less enamoured with the Subway D800 series, although I hear that the D800+ with it's semi parametric EQ is a step up from its baby bro - they just seemed to lack the warmth and lovely colour of the M6 Carbine I play through. I've not had the pleasure of trying out one of their valve amps so I'll leave others to comment on those. If you can get hold of a second hand Mesa Walkabout Scout that would be a great place to start in terms of delivering on the Mesa sound but in a package that is relatively easily to take to gigs.

Yup a complete naive newbie me, susceptible to the slings and arrows of outrageous advice from my West Country advisers, although at least I know the difference between a HPF and a LPF, thank goodness. And I do tend to avoid 12 string basses.

Sorry about the S on the end. I am wondering if a lot of musicians are unlucky. Instead of enjoying a show, musicians are seem to be looking to find fault. I don't tend to be too critical as I am not a good enough musician.

We bought one of these, 2m x 2m: https://www.rollerbannersuk.com/wide-premium-roller-banner/, thinking that 2m x 2m sounded quite big... A 2m long aluminium cassette seems quite big when you’re trying to get it into the venue without smashing lightbulbs, knocking drinks out of punters' hands and so on, and 2m high seems quite big when you’re trying to put it up in places with low ceilings, lights, etc., but to be honest it looks possibly a little underwhelming when your drummer's sat in front of it. However it is quick and simple to set up and take down, and I think the only viable and bigger alternative is a vinyl banner which will need to be attached to a frame that you have to assemble each time, and I can see that becoming old very quickly! As an aside, that photo reminds me perfectly of the gig - the hi hat stand was missing the bolt that locks the legs in place, so I spent the whole gig with my foot on one of the legs so the whole thing didn’t fall over!

Advertising pull-ups work quite well, easy to transport, position onstage and no need for pinning stuff to the walls. Pretty cheap too- Vistaprint and the like do them.

I have no Mrs - and on that basis you should bring her with you next time we meet, @Al Krow 😂

Mk1 Yamaha TRB5P would fit the bill.

Looks like he's still got his own hair, own teeth, and his voice is still as good as ever, so I reckon he's doing pretty good. Who says musicians have to age well anyway? That's why I took up bass and gave up a potential career as a fashion model ;-)

Nah chorus + dirt makes a lot of sense! So it sounds like you prefer to use the Mojomojo in a similar vein to me (i.e. more overdriven). Time to discover some AC/DC or a bit of Free - All Right Now? If you want transparent then I'd recommend the One Control HGBM. That's the cleanest overdrive I've come across and works just great with filters or octavers. And it's tiny.

Yes, @stingrayPete1977 I did get to thinking, "if you can't find the £175 to buy it outright, are you the right kind of person to borrow this, and keep it in good nick?"

Metal, doomy/stoner type stuff drop b tuned, nothing recorded with it yet, I've got quite a few basses but only used it with my Tokai Hardpuncher so far, i cant see any bass being a problem with it, there's a lot of variation in eq built into it.

You'd also have to test first whether simply taking the neck off the bass and replacing it made any difference to the sound.

I thought they had to cancel due to unforeseen circumstances.

All basses sound different when played on their own. And they all sound like bass guitars in the band mix.

If I had a penny...

Oh yes, I get that. But if the seller is not bothered by that, why force them? I think having the location displayed is useful and I have no problem displaying mine. I'm just against making it compulsory when there's no better reason than "but I often search the marketplace and sometimes I don't know if an item I might like is local to me or not". edit: I said 'displaying mice' when I meant 'displaying mine'... but if I had pet mice I'd happily display them too. I used to have rats and they were a lot of fun.

If this were me then I’d definitely try putting bass through your existing PA, using both speakers, to see whether that's up to the job. Assuming it is but you absolutely have to have something for gigs where you need a smaller footprint then I’d definitely be thinking hard about something like the RCF 735 that others have mentioned. There’s no reason why you can’t feed that from the main out connections on the front of your existing mixer so you wouldn’t necessarily have to buy a new mixer yet. Then your upgrade path is another 735 in the future, and a passive mixer, which would let you get rid of the existing PA. One other question - I’m guessing that somewhere along the line, or in your future plans, is something bigger than the acoustic duo, as your Ashdown rig is probably overkill for that? If that’s the case then the 735's would be more appropriate for a bigger band, so would make sense from that point of view. If not then perhaps looking at a smaller bass rig along with smaller active speakers could make some sense?

Cool story - thanks for sharing!

You've nailed the part most people miss, in an acoustic setting you could probably ditch all the amps if you set the speakers up slightly further back than you would a vocal only pa. That's tight stage area space saved and no need to upgrade for larger gigs where you can use on stage amps along with the 735s running harder. Buy cheap, buy twice.

Great thread this ☺ And with some very well-constructed, well-reasoned points about 'vintage' versus 'modern' instruments that have really got me thinking. Having thought about it, my 2p worth is this.. I'm kind of with Shaggy on this (as in his original post) in that I just enjoy the whole aesthetic of older, over-engineered instruments that look like they've been used a lot over time to make music with... So, 'Bass Nirvana' for me is when I find an instrument that fits with how I like it to look, but also so that it fits with how I like it to feel and sound when I'm using it. All three of those determining factors are completely subjective to me and are undermined by my poor hearing and tinnitus in my right ear, my lack of good (or proper) playing technique and my own quirky sense of what looks good and what doesn't. Having said all that, one of my favourite basses that I really enjoy playing is a 5 year old Schecter Diamond P5 that doesn't look at all like my other basses, is way too big for me and will never gain any kind of classic status I expect. But I just love the way it plays in my hands and the sound I make when using it. What's it worth? Probably about £300. Yet it's outlasted some much more expensive basses that I've had over the last 5 years. I remember having a '66 Fender Jazz in the early nineties that I never really bonded with, much preferring an '80s Tokai Jazz Sound that I had for three years, which I then rather foolishly traded for a Music Man 5 string with a John East preamp that I never liked at all and which I sold on quite quickly... Hence my conclusion is that I have no set perspective on this topic that I could reasonably offer to anyone that will be of any objective value, and that in the end, my preference for any particular bass I buy will be based on my mood and my finances at the time I'm buying it. I doubt that all this will help move the debate along much though, but I'm looking forward to reading more comments as the debate continues. ☺

Hello from Greece! I was really glad when I found this forum. None of my (musician albeit not bass-playing) friends could understand my happiness about simple bass things, e.g. the sound of the flatwound strings on a semiacoustic

What about the children..? Who's going to think of the children..? ...

IMHO profanity filters stem from a kind of philosophy that I strongly disagree with, to put it very, very mildly. I love your "tea under the pier ar Brighton" though.

He may be disappointed if he was expecting Lynda Carter..!

Something I'll never need again is a comb. Does that count?

Chic and Nile were wonderful. Regardless of the genre the performances were superb. A super tight band full of great musicians and good vocalists. They also put on a proper show and created excitement and joy, whats not to like?

The 2018 Gibson SG Std., with an Ampeg V-4B / SVT-212AV.

How about a Lindy Fralin Precision/Jazz Split Coil Bass Pickups Set.

Happy New Year to all Basschat members. Ok, so I’ve been dipping in and out of the site for the past month or so to see what’s what (and to read some very interesting / funny threads) but there's nothing new been added to the thread about the Wal and with no news from anywhere else I think it’s time I can actually call it my own. So, as promised (if anyone is still interested) here are some pics. As soon as you see them you may understand why I didn’t want to just post pics etc but rather wanted someone to come forward and say “is it serial number $%^$&* and is it such and such a finish?”. Being such a distinctive bass nobody could have guessed the details i don’t think so it would have been pretty apparent that they actually knew the instrument! I can’t imagine there are many like it out there?!!! as I haven’t heard a thing from anyone about it or even a hint of a mention of it anywhere I’m really hoping that I’ll be it’s new custodian from now on but if these pics throw up any new leads i’ll follow them up for sure. A little bit about the instrument. It was virtually unplayable when I found it; action was through the roof and the neck was so loose in the pocket it would move from side to side with little effort. I appreciate some people may have liked and played a set up like that (apart from the loose neck perhaps) but I got the feeling it hadn't been played for a while. It all just needed a little tweaking though and now it plays wonderfully, though it does still have some electrical problems. a quick once over by electric wood at some point will sort that I’m sure. Ok, so over to the pictures to tell the rest of the story. Not a beautifully exotic wood faced instrument and perhaps not everyone’s cup of tea (or glass of banana milk?) but…it’s….a….wonderful…..WAL (and definitely not something you ever expect to find at a bootsale so keep your eyes peeled!).

I lose most of my money through magic. I get paid one day, and when I look at my bank balance 48 hours later, hey presto! it's all buggered off.

It's not like you can just pull one out of a hat I guess :).

Yes - for One10 I'm using channel A (500W at 2Ω, around 250W at 8Ω) and it's just enough power. But it's also perfect with my Super Twin in bridged mode (1000W at 4Ω). It is powerful and detailed amp - and taste button is really cool also

When you go to Hell can I have the Lindisfarne gig?

Very nice!! You’ve done a lovely job of the sunburst!!

This One. My Lakland 55-02 Deluxe. Fits my Needs an my Taste the most. A wonderful Bass.

I don't think I'll ever sell this, I've had quite a few basses come and go but this one is a keeper.