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Those are uglier than Fenders. Which is not something I say very often.

The thing is that I would notice if I didn't have my 1 knob compression at 9 o'clock. I doubt anyone else would. Even my brother rhythm guitarist says that bass is just bass to him and any subtleties of my bass tone brought to his attention seem to elicit little interest. As for the audience, I'm pretty sure that as has been said many times before, most would only miss the bass if it wasn't there, let alone discern any difference. The thing that folk readily notice is the volume, "the bass was loud". I think Motown did a lot to bring a good bass-line to the attention of the listening/dancing public. A few other popular songs had strong bass-lines like 'Hit the road jack' and 'These boots are made for walking'. I'm happy being part of the rhythm section, I like locking in with a good drummer and rhythm guitarist who are also good team players. But the subtleties we enjoy getting out of our instruments, thumbs & plectrums, strings, nuts, bridges, pick-ups, pedals, amps, speakers and techniques, for the most part are like trade secrets shared and assessed and discussed like new/old recipes by the connoisseurs of the art who are I'm happy to say venerable BCers.

Should we not do the same for:- If you played a wrong note Got the timing wrong Used flanger instead of chorus Kicked some form of distortion/overdrive/fuzz on in a song you wouldn’t normally do it I take it if only 1 person notices that’s enough, or does there have to be more than that...... I have to say IMHO this survey misses the point of how you use compression and so won’t really prove anything either way

I’ve politely declined the one gig they wanted me on and they’ve agreed it makes no sense for me to do it. No sour grapes from me, just move on and be polite, professional and maybe they’ll call me if they need me in the future

I'm 6'2" and I'm now strictly short scale... so to speak. I have gigged with a cij Mustang in the past. I've recently bought a Squier Jaguar SS recently and think it's great. Now I'm considering other SS basses and am likely to be selling my remaining long scale. I'm motivated by a mixture of age and arthiticky hands, but I also think SS basses are amazingly cool.

Likewise with Tina Weymouth, she's superb. I don't know what the thing is with big basses, I struggled for years and just thought it was my lot to struggle because I have small hands for any instrument let alone bass, what I really meant by my boys with big basses comments was that you need to try stuff out without the burden of thinking you need big (or small for that matter), try everything without preconceptions is what I mean. When I went into my local music shop the chap who usually serves me and knows my particular tastes in instruments just pointed at the Taylor and said Tried one of these? Be careful when you pick it up, it's as addictive as crack. I did pick it up and I only put it down twenty minutes later in order to pay for it. Try everything.

i saw this a while back whilst browsing, looks interesting to me, a 2ohm option would be nice but isn't a deal breaker. the feature list is pretty good too, 4 band eq, switchable from active to passive input and a switchable onboard compressor. and it's got 2 speakon connectors. if you compare to the quilter then this has (to me) a much better spec list, eg. headphone output and an aux input with a volume control makes it a great practice tool at home. and a mute switch is one of the things i miss on my markbass if this had a different badge (Fender/Ampeg/gk/etc) and was 100 quid more i'd expect that we'd be buying them in droves and raving about what a bargain they were! matt

How many people do we need to get the price down to £7.50?

fair enough but the proportions are just plain wrong, a fender P is just right somehow

You utter bastard. Another knife in the heart of rock and roll.

Nearly as mind numbingly sh*te to look at as Windows 10.

B-amp with HD112 cabs & Spector Shorty strung with labella black tapes 👌

I am more than happy to apologise if people think I have been out of order. Sorry folks; not normally my style. I have been thinking back and realise that I have probably rarely if ever expressed a strong opinion here before at all, let alone a contentious one, on any threads here. Sure I have commented and been involved in conversations, but I am absolutely certain I have never openly criticised anyone else's products and wouldn't. Its below the belt and thats always going to pretty much guarantee a defensive response (for the record, as for bias, I am not employed by Markbass or Markaudio or their distribution, I am merely a self employed professional player and sound tech in the business, so these are not my products, I am being paid on a flat day rate to demonstrate them (no commission), so perhaps that could be interpreted as commercial interest, but no more than also being the bass player in a pro function band, hoping to have a fuller diary). I normally avoid engaging in any topics which obviously turn into bashing and negativity, I don't need that in my life, but I am always open to constructive and helpful advice. BFM's first "unbiased technical advice" began with "Its a variation on a Bose L1, and that is not a good thing....", or effectively "its rubbish, it won't work". I asked if he had actually heard Markaudio in action, and on what was he basing this "expert" opinion.... he has still failed to respond. He followed up saying all systems "like this one" are rubbish and won't work, as if de-personalising and this generalisation might soften the blow. I would happily have taken my concern with his clear bias (however well intended and technically minded) and his generalistic and unnecessary comments to all here that "we don't know better" off line and PM'ed him, but he has messaging disabled, so I couldn't! I would be very happy to see a debate about PA design, as it is a specific area of interest of mine (lets talk point source and tapped horns, now that would be a good discussion!), but in another place, not one that hijacks someone else's thread, and does nothing but undermine the point of the conversation. As said, all the gear we all use is a compromise between form, function, price and quality. Whether it fits with your opinion, the Markaudio (and lots of others too) are making a good job of bringing compact and good sounding equipment to the market. Interestingly, as HJ found out today, what makes the Markaudio different, is that you CAN separate the top arrays from the subs. You can quite easily run the subs in a cluster and locate the top arrays in another location, if it is your wish and the venue layout allows.. You can add further subs, you can add power amps and add more AC arrays, which can be flown from trusses, and build up quite a large (but still light and portable) system... and it does work... quite well in fact. It is being used by a function band on Saturday night at a party I have been invited to. I am not doing the sound, so I'll try and get some video to share here if that is of interest?

I was looking into the very same a couple of years ago. On the Bach website, you could zoom in on the example photos and the fit and finish didn't look good so I didn't bother. You'd have thought they would have put their very best one up there, so if that was their best, I wasn't interested in getting a lesser version....

I find anything simple and repetititve difficult as I get bored and zone out and start thinking about having coffee and wedding cake at the break

Looks to me like the loser in the 'Great British Bake Off' bass guitar biscuit challenge. Hand cut from ginger bread dough and then baked.

Intersteing interview with Kim Ryrie and Peter Vogel founders of Fairlight Instruments, talking about the development of the Fairlight CMI and other projects they have been involved with. Over 90 minutes long but well worth the time to listen (you don't really need to watch the video, it's all static headshots).

Find the connector block that links the preamp to power amp - give the pins a clean with contact cleaner. Other than that it’s safety check time?

These look great and I can't wait to upgrade from my V3 500 combo. I'm all about convenience these days & if I can ditch my B3 & a cable or two I'll be very happy. Do wish they'd kept the silver grille tho

WHAT? SPEAK UP! SORRY, I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER MY HARTKE 3500'S FAN.

I could be wrong but I think the originals had much better drivers. They used a Celestion 12" with a cast chassis, 3" coil and neodymium magnet, plus a Celestion compression driver with a 1.74" coil. The later ones have smaller voice coils for LF and HF and the 12" drivers are pressed steel with ferrite magnets. Sometimes it pays to be a bit nerdy about these things.

Isnt there something a bit different with the sansamp where to boost the mids you actually turn the bass and treble down?

I applied for a job there but they rejected me because my parents were married.

Just as a comment on this, my main bass is now the Taylor Mini-e Bass, obviously it's a bit niche but it exactly what I need for my current band. The scale of this is actually 23.5 inches and, despite it being a huge change from my bigger basses it was an instant and significant improvement for me, so much so I had one of those Oh dear, I should have been playing short scale for the last thirty years! I would suggest getting to some some shops and trying differing scale length basses out but most importantly, don't be put off by the It's too small / short / looks like a toy brigade, it's a boy thing, I'm sure Freud would have an answer to why men need big basses, same reason they need fast cars I expect.. just try everything rather than thinking to yourself that's not for me. The neck on mine is tiny but it has improved my playing hugely.

Well I have the SWB Pro on order but I won't be ordering the fretless SWB-1 until I've sold my Fender Modern Player fretless on here. As soon as I have the bass I will be straight on here to let you know.

Ed Friedland has written an interesting article on Mustang Sally - a line that he assumes that everyone always plays wrong: https://www.bassplayer.com/lessons/rb-gold-mistake-sally (I appreciate that Mustang Sally could be considered as just plain wrong, however you play it)

I’m not sure if I got counted or not... But with a line 6 Helix purchase last week, paired with my QSC 12.2. I’m moving all my analogue ‘old school’ bass gear on... Sorry rock and roll.

I’m thinking toilet seat.

Have a listen to the Pogues version. They just play root and 5. So chord C to chord G jumps from a low G note (the 5th of C) to the G (root of G) an octave up. Playing the same note between different chords doesn't matter. When the other instruments are playing their lines it all makes sense and doesn't sound clunky at all. It works because it is that simple.

Regardless of performance, these line array systems look pretty damn cool.

Yep that is my take on it, it’s a bit crap that they didn’t. I’ve suggested to them to let their new bassist do the one gig they want me on as it makes no sense for me to do it when he starts a week later!

Never sell anything unless you need the money or stop liking it. Frank.

Thanks all for the welcome but no, not the Young Ones, it's 'Handle with Care', so I suppose that's almost as appropriate.......

I left a band once after a blazing row at the rehearsal rooms in the coffee machine area, stormed off back into the room, packed my kit...and then had to go back and ask for a hand getting my Ampeg 810 up the stairs and into my car. This is why lightweight cabs are the way forward...Flouncing Ability is an often-overlooked plus point...

There was a thread on here recently about the lengths that online 'tutors' etc go to get people to click on their videos. I sense another attempt.

I bought a copy of the Pedaltrain (Spider Cases) and was dismayed when I realised my Fuel Tank was too deep... so I improvised. Went to a local hardware shop and got some longer screws and nuts to raise the height of the board just enough to allow space for the PSU. Works a treat! Much cheaper than buying a new PSU too.

As a general rule, flatwounds are quite high in tension vs nylon tapewounds which are known for having a much lower tension. I guess the order of string tension from highest to lowest would be flatwounds > roundwounds > tapewounds. If you’re used to flats then tapes will be quite a change!

There is always the Mark Hoppus bass if you're committed to a P sound with the aesthetics and ergonomics of a J...