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Thanks for the above folks, having done a little bit of digging around I found he has numerous ebay identities - five at least (some are linked to the account he bought with and some are not - and several comments on guitar forums about him doing what he has done here, sometimes even before he'd actually bought the guitar in question! He has a refund, I get to keep my 4003S

I got a half page in Bass Player magazine this month. What a hoot! I think I did the Q&A about ten months ago...I reckon half that gear and rig has found new homes now.

And some more piccies in the garden sun! I replaced the original string retainer bar as I got a comment that the Hipshot one on the ash bass I made looked much better. I quite agree!

UPDATE: as recommended, spoke to Ashdown, fantastic response as people said on here, so they stepped up to the mark, main option was to pop into Ashdown, they’d sort it there and then...then take it home...fantastic service but then the problem of location popped up....so me and the guy had a good laugh about that...genuinely nice guy to talk to....hadn’t heard of that type of problem with that model....so next suggestion , get in touch with retailer for exchange. Past experience, some retailers to be truthful don’t have the player at heart but this time (and I’m happy to name them now) PMT stepped up to the mark, said it’s not good an amp should fail on its first outing, arranged for a new model to be delivered and the faulty one uplifted at the same time...THE NEXT DAY! and as I’ve said, there is a stretch of water involved which usually complicates things and adds to cost as well. So new amp working well and I’m really happy. Apologies to other replies on here, I’ve had a hectic week, our “original” band has just released our first single and video to accompany it, and our covers band has been rehearsing non stop and playing at the same time...3 gigs this weekend coming , one a big outdoor show....so again, apologies for delay in replying and a BIG THANKS to those of you who offered advice, even the lend of gear and especially PMT and ASHDOWN for the fantastic service... heres our video by the way, love it if you could like our page and like and share our video. https://www.facebook.com/EndlessDivision/

Well the pedal gets a big thumbs up from me! Playing along to my (ex) band’s albums which were pretty light in the bass department, it delivers such a ‘produced’ tone that it just sounds like they’ve been remixed / remastered with better bass! I thought I was getting this effect from my B3K also, but now that tone sounds completely off. It’s funny how our ears adjust - I’ll probably change my mind next week! It’s made me change my technique for the better too, forcing me to play with a lighter more consistent touch and only dig in when I want to hear distortion. You can get a lot of sound variation just from how you play.

The band I was in, Inter managed to get a record deal. We were part of the post brit-pop scene and worked our rears off playing as much as humanly possible to build up a following. Started to get a name for ourselves and released a song on the Pet Sounds label and then later on our first single, Happy Ending in 1997. This got noticed by John Peel who said it was his favourite single of 1997 and gave us our first John Peel Session. This promoted us even further and it got to the point where Virgin were trying to decide to sign either us or The Stereophonics. They chose the Stereophonics in the end but we still managed to get a half decent record deal. We were all about 28 and got about £36k advance each for 3 years plus £5k to buy gear and then royalties from merchandise, sales etc. Going to the Bass Centre with £5k to go buy whatever I wanted was the best feeling in the world. I bought a Stingray, a Status and a massive top of the range Hartke rig 😊 We recorded our debut album at Loco Studios in South Wales which was where Oasis, The Manics, Stereophonics and many others had recorded stuff. The studio was also owned by Geoff Downes of Buggles fame and John Payne of Asia who both played on the album. We lived at the studio for three months in our own cottage and even had our own chef 😊 Our producer was Mark Wallis who has recorded with everyone but is most famous for recording the IT Bites album, The Primatives album, The Smiths, The Travis album and was the engineer on U2's Joshua Tree. Prior to choosing this producer we came very close to going to Seatle and recording the album with Rick Parasher who recorded Pearl Jam's Ten album but we told the record company no as we wanted to sound English still and not end up sounding like an American band. The album, titled Got My Nine sold 7k copies in the first week and we released 3 singles, National Paranoia, Speed Racer and Radio Finland. All got mainstream radio airplay and led on to a second John Peel Session, a live Virgin Radio Session and an XFM session. Also one of our tracks was used to advertise Casio G Shock watches in an advert for Spanish cinemas. We also did other TV stuff with tracks being used on Eurosport and Rebel TV. Q Magazine gave the album 4 out of 5. We continued to tour which was amazing with our own crew etc. and were doing really well but then things started to go wrong. We were getting offered some big things like going on tour with Feeder in Germany, film soundtracks, gigs in the States but the record company was saying no to it all. To cut a long story short, we found out we were being ran as a tax loss so initially the record company were happy to pump money in to us (the album alone cost £120k to record etc.) but as we started to get more successful they put the brakes on. We were literally being hung out to dry and missing out on great opportunities which at the time made no sense. Anyway, they breached contracts so we sued them and won and that was the end of it. It was incredibly hard work, constantly recording, touring, song writing, promoting, photo shoots, interviews etc. but I have no regrets as I lived my dream for 4 years, the best time of my life with the most amazing experiences. Plus I still get the odd royalty payment now and again 😊 More details below. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter_(band) Other things I've done is go on tour with Paul Weller in another band, supporting him for 4 nights at the Roundhouse in Camden and recorded an album at his studio in Ripley. He also played on the album and I had to teach him to play this piano part that we wanted. I've been the Bass player in a video for a charity song that ELO were recording. Played at Brixton Academy using The Levellers back line. Supported Cactus World News and Let Loose and best of all chatted to Andrea Corr whilst making a cup of tea 😍😍 Now I play in an amazing 50s and 60s cover band, doing about 100 gigs a year and totally loving it.

No worries Peter! Now sit back and watch the 2nd hand prices soar!!! 👍

I don't currently, but have a strong desire to start an Ian Dury tribute - as the vocalist

Started cutting and gluing!! I'm going to try to make 2 or 3 of these to try a few different things. First off is a sapele body, wenge veneer and maple top. The maple should look quite good when oiled (I'm hoping!!) Glued up sandwiches.... To make running wires through the body easier, I drill holes before gluing the two halves together. I then insert a straw in the hole to prevent any glue clogging it up when the halves are joined. To ensure I don't drill too far into the body, I draw the rough direction of the hole then mark the length with masking tape on the drill. The side have then been joined Then the outline of the bass is rough cut ready for routing

OK, one last time, these are small but the ones out there are far away.....

When I lived in Austin, used to go to Ed's bass emporium. Also watched him close up on upright, gigging in a duo with a guitarist at a pastry shop. My wife and I were front and center and the only one's giving our undivided attention. He sat with us during break and couldn't have been nicer. Quite the class act and wonderful musician.

I was in a band in the early 80s in Leeds... 2 of the members went on to become the Utah Saints, one went and joined the Rollins Band and one - the son of a famous agony aunt - went on to become a famous tv foodie and restaurant critic. I stayed resolutely unknown.

Great to see Ashdown on it!

Also where are you based? Would likely be much easier and in fact better for us to sort directly for you rather than shipping unnecessarily to the retailer and back etc if they are a distance away as you say...

Hi Torby, That's not good. Can you let us know a few more details and we will have a look at what we can do to get you sorted. Amp Model - Serial Number - Date Purchased - Retailer purchased from -

Best one I ever played in was The More Specials. We used a mix of BBC sessions, singles and album tracks. Some amazing musicians and only band I've been in where the audience was on their feet and dancing from the very first tune to the last, guaranteed, every gig. Not much money in it with so many members to split the fee with but some unforgettable nights and even got a few of the original Specials up on stage with us at various gigs.

Played in a Free tribute band for a few years, absolutely loved it. We ended up with Jeff Rich ex Status Quo on the drums. Used my by big Markbass rig and even bought an EB3 bass, bloody awful thing to play, headstock dive, but looked and sounded the part, I would have preferred to use my MM Stingray, but not authentic enough. We were fairly unusual that we were a 5 piece which included a keyboard player, about 80% of the Free recorded tracks actually contain keyboards, that gave us a live sound that was so close to the original. Would still be doing it now, but the vocalist decided to leave to form his own band with original material, the most difficult person in the band to replace, couldn’t find anyone else good enough and the band eventually folded.

enjoy...... and just cus its so funny....

This thread is a good reminder to take a long hard look at what gear you have now. As with most BC members, I have almost permanent GAS for something, even when I don’t what it is. Just the sound of a good bass or rig (or both together - super dangerous) gets me trawling the internet for info on the kit in question and we know where that leads to, don’t we boys and girls? The most recent example of this is hearing Marc Van Wageningen with Tower of Power on Jools (extended version on Beeb 2 tonight) and then going on to investigate his Fodera and Aguilar gear (fortunately way too expensive to even contemplate). However, I found a video of Joe Osborne talking about his Fodera and how to go about shopping for a new bass. That video plus this thread has had me playing and evaluating my custom Maruszczyks and you know what? I’m pretty much sorted really (bar maybe a pickup replacement) and my GAS is just ennui. I now just have to remember that I’ve made this public and fully expect folks to beat me with my own stick should I stray into any GAS driven purchases.

So, like many here, I've spent lots of time and money "researching" basses and amps. Some of the gear I've acquired I love, others "not so much". In the past 10 years I've probably owned 50+ basses in the search for the ultimate tone palette. The list reads like a What's what of quality basses - Wal, Ritter, Status, Overwater, Shuker, Warwick, Spector, I've got a number of custom builds, I've even owned a Fender or two. I generally have basses on a rota, play them for 3-4 months put them back in their case, bring another out. One of the basses I've neglected to play (been in it's case unplayed for over 3 years) is a Veillette Citron - most of you haven't even heard of them, never mind played one. One of less than a handful in the UK, It's always been top of my list of my "never to be sold" list. I also had a fretless which I foolishly sold here, only because it wasn't getting played. I rotated basses yesterday, went looking for my Overwater Jazz but instead pulled out the VC. Recognising it hadn't been out for a while I took it to the amp and plugged it in. WOW!! Yes WOW!! Indeed!! I now remember why I decided that this would be "the last to go" - man, it blew my mind. Tough, kicking tones - proper punchy - everything I've ever wanted tones-wise from a bass. Made me question why I've ever bought anything else ( other than i wouldn't really want to take it anywhere it might get hurt/stolen). All this time chasing the "unobtainable" when the whole time I've had what I wanted in a case. Photos and sound clips to follow.

"Ah grandma", said LRR-H "all the better for my bank balance then..."

Aha. Ok thanks. And here's the $64 million Q - do the Harkte cabs now make Markbass ones seem a little rubbish? (See what I did there?)

What’s a rehearsal?

Fumed oak? How do they get the oak to be annoyed? I assume that it's their take on "baked maple"?

We were back at the Wine Vaults in Banbury last night, always a great gig and last night was no exception. Early plans to play outside were scuppered by early evening showers, but no matter - great atmosphere, an ‘up for it’ crowd, and everyone up and dancing by the end. I had my MIM Fender Jazz going into my Genz Benz rig, and my Joyo American Sound overdrive thingy on all night for a little bit of crunch; sounded lovely and cut through nicely. Next stop for us is The Swan in Banbury, another favourite of ours in a couple of weeks. Here’s the calm before the storm...

I'm based in Walsall

Played a fun charity gig at The Waggon and Horses in Peasedown St John Somerset in aid of the South West Air Ambulance, outside and weather held up too, very chilled event, decided to take my ‘big rig’ as I wasn’t sure of the PA setup etc. Glad I did in the end - we were sounding good (The Watts) and went down rather well. love outside gigs 🙏🏻😎

Just the last 5 minutes to see what garbage has won.

I had 5 mins. . . . . I'm still waiting for the other10!!

Ah cool, thank you, certainly an amazing experience and yes, incredibly happy about the whole thing. Even better you have heard of us. If you fancy a listen to the album then just go here 😊 https://m.soundcloud.com/michael-boylan/sets/inter-got-my-nine

This might look quite good on paper: Played bass with David Gilmour; Been in the charts; Headlined the Isle of Wight Festival All this was done after the age of 30 (to counter the disillusioned youngster earlier on)! Oh, and I killed a man while playing the Birdies Song (did I mention that before?) - rock'n'roll.

I once stood next to Curt Smith (Tears for Fears) at a zebra crossing near Oxford Street tube. Only 15 minutes later Joan Collins brushed past me in the furnishings dept in Liberty. not that she's rock n roll. Just sayin'.

What’s happening then? Good to see the Ashdown crews customer service in action! They’ll get you back on the road in no time!

Not unless dog poo and McDonalds packaging is made from gold...

Hi Torby , you said a stretch of water as involved , If you are on the IoW you can borrow one of my Ashdown rigs until you get yours sorted , plus I'm going over next week & could possibly take it down to the Ashdown chaps or get a friend who does amp repairs to cast an eye over it , if that's any help .

+2 and let's make sure it's always being bumped to stay on the first page and just to make sure, here's a bona fide gem of 80s soul-funk. Simply the mutts nuts.

Video the failure with your phone?

How long have you had it?

Defnitely approach Ashdown if the shop can't (or won't) help. In fact I would probably go straight to them. They've always gone out of their way to help me in the past.

Ey Up Mi Duck festival on Friday, on drum with Headsticks, we played inside at the end of the night, around 11pm, and it was rammed. I guess most of them had seen us before as they were all singing along. The PA was a bit dodgy, they had a bunch of 4 gang extension leads chained up and one of the revellers managed to spill a drink on one of them. The soundman looked a bit worse for wear and suggested that was us done for the night but someone managed to find the reset switch - it turns out the extension had one of those protection things built in. Anyway, we played till after midnight and it was great fun Saturday night we played the May Day Festival of Solidarity which is a socialist affair. When we arrived there were a few VERY folky acts on and the crowd was in total appreciative silence - not our usual crowd. I was a bit concerned but it went alright. Nowhere near as good as the night before, but then the crowd weren't anywhere near as wasted. On Sunday I played a local festival on lead guitar as part of Julia Mosely's band. I'm slowly starting to get the hang of it. I've played guitar since I was a kid but never done it in a band before so I'm struggling with confidence a bit, but I've seen some recordings and it sounds good. It's on Facebook so I don't know if you'll be able to see it... Great weekend anyway!

I don't think MB uses high end roll-off, but that many manufacturers build in high end boost to give their products showroom appeal.