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The BBOT bridges are rubbish, which is why hardly any classic basslines have been recorded using one.

This arrived today! I can’t believe that I haven’t gone down the Bass Collection route before. They are stunning basses. I am a convert. I have been very tempted in the past - from positive posts on here and seeing bassists like Bedders from Madness playing the Profile bass, etc. I knew that they were highly rated and now I understand why. Went for the Betsy as it’s a beauty - burgundy mist with a matching headstock. It was well packaged and in a really neat Bass Collection gig bag. Really neat. And, I kid you not, it was in tune when I took it out of the box! It's well set up with a good action and EMG pickups sound great. The build quality is excellent. When I have played it a bit I will update this in more detail. Unlike my Squier Matt Freeman Precision and my Flea Jazz bass (both brilliant bassists in their own right), I got this as I really like Guy Pratt’s playing and his, erm, his Betsy bass. The other two I bought as they were great basses rather than me being a fan of the players – although I appreciate their playing. Now, can Bass Collection now do a Herbie Flowers signature bass or a Klaus Voormann one? Whilst I wait I might check out their Profile, and the fretless Jazz, and the option to customise… Thought it would make sense to add the more detailed review here: Neck The neck is really comfortable and in shape and feel is not too dissimilar to the Flea. They are both based on 60s basses – a ’64 (Betsy) and a ’61 (Flea) – with the Betsy having a Super Slim Sixties’ Profile. I’m not usually a fan of satin necks as all of my guitars and basses, by complete chance, have had either glossy necks or painted ones. However, I really like this one. It is smooth to the touch and easy to play. It feels right. The frets are well dressed and there are no sharp ends. It is easy to play. The frets are medium and are larger than the vintage-style thinner ones on the Flea. The Macassar Ebony fingerboard looks lovely and I prefer it to the lighter Pau Ferro on some basses at the moment. Hardware The four bolt engraved chrome neck plate has the new Bass Centre logo on it, which is a nice touch. The vintage control knobs have screws to attach them rather than pull on/off ones. The bridge, like the Flea bass, has a traditional roller bridge and the tuners are more substantial than my Matt Freeman P Bass. Body The body is rather lovely. It’s a burgundy mist (pink) with matching headstock. The fit between the body and neck is perfect. No gaps here. The paint job is great and I think I can just see the wood grain. Really like the headstock that has ‘Betsy’ and Guy Pratt’s signature on it. The headstock is fairly close to the Flea bass compared to some of the other BC basses. It’s a good weight – about the same as the Flea. The body on the Betsy seems a bit more substantial, a little bit thicker? Pickups and Strings Now here’s the interesting bit. I rather like both the strings (Bass Centre Elites Stadium Series Roundwound Standard Gauge .045 - .065 - .085 - .105) and the EMG Pickups. I usually use flatwounds or nylon tapewounds and only roundwounds if playing in the pit band of a musical if needed. (I have the Flea to play 50s/60s music - ideal for 'Hairspray' and 'West Side Story' - and the Betsy for more contemporary musicals like 'Billy Eliot' and 'Our House'. Likewise, when playing in our band - the two basses cover both contemporary and non-contemporary songs.) This is a bit of a game changer. The strings and the EMGs (powered by a 9 volt battery under the control plate – just like the real Betsy) are really consistent and I haven’t yet heard any buzzing. Are EMGs noise cancelling? Not sure. Anyone help here, as I've never had a bass with EMGs or with a battery? Price The cost of the Betsy is £595. The Flea bass is nearly twice the price. I am glad and lucky to have both but would be more than happy if I just had the Betsy as it is a really well made and fantastically sounding bass in its own right. What next? On the basis of how good this bass is I am now sorely tempted to go with a fretless Jive after playing the Betsy for a few days.

New (1984) Alembic Day Spoiler in black Cliff Burton style livery. Very battered but now benefiting from judicious application of black nail varnish and a good polish of the brass bits!

Just found this by accident, and of course it's Tears For Fears Curt Smith and daughter Diva doing a lockdown rendition of Mad World. She's very competent , and a very appropriate track right now

My new Black and Rosewood P has arrived! Utterly stunning and sounds exactly like you think just from looking at it..! I don’t know how Mark does it but he does! I have a charcoal frost P also on order.. watch this space....

You ARE loud enough if your sound engineer is a bass player...

Love my Sandberg SL. 6lbs 7ozs. No neck dive at all thanks to Sandberg now producing the lightest tuners on the market. Black Label pups sound awesome with tons of EQ options from the 2 band active EQ. It can do the passive thing too if the battery dies. Add that to Sandberg's excellent build quality and you have a beast of a bass!

I’m abit late on this, but I really recommend this one. Regularly reference this as a starting point, which eventually I aim to do less and less, using it as a sort of tool to help me understand the fretboard really. Its been sweet in recent times too, for example my mate will send me a clip of a riff he’s working on and he’s like ‘key of whatever’ and il have a little read up to see what I can work with and just have noodle, see what lines I can conjure up with it. Really useful way of understanding the fretboard, I reckon so anyway. It’s a hefty book. It’s got all the scales in every key and where you can play different variations of them across the whole neck, same with all the arpeggios, each laid out on mini fretboard diagrams up to the 17th fret, colour coded the lot it’s a beaut! I picked it up for like 12 quid off amazon, it’s an extremely useful tool to have. Keep it in my gigbag all the time now. https://www.halleonard.com/product/201827/bass-fretboard-atlas

Feel free to follow my youtube channel im only 15 so im not great but i try my best 🤷‍♀️

Stealth build bass. Swamp ash body, Custom Shop '62 pups, Badass II and Status P neck.

Just home from picking up my second BB1000ma. Toggle switch non functional. Therefore reasonable in price. Lucky day! Bought it to refinish it completely. Just can't decide the colour...

1984 Alembic Spoiler arrived at Clarky mansions today

Newly arrived, battered 1984 Alembic Spoiler. Get your Cliff (Burt)on!

Surely it should be Everybody was Kung Fu Riesling...

Just in case anyone is interested Mark sent me some pictures of a white over candy apple red precision he has made for stock, I was originally talking to him about making me a similar bass but with white blocks and he was struggling to access a neck. He e mailed me the pictures in case I would be interested it’s a stunning bass ,but at present with the fact it’s unlikely we’ll be gigging before the end of the year and the fact I already have 2 precision’s I really can’t justify another. Thought i’d Post just for your perusal and on the off chance someone is looking for a precision, i’ve had 3 basses off Mark and they more than hold their own with any other bass I’ve owned. If anyone is interested I have some more photos just drop me a message

'Why do you need more than one bass?' asked an ex mrs Spiders when she caught me furtively lurking outside a guitar store?Why do you need more than one pair of shoes? I replied. Back of the net!

^^^ This. (Ezbass then goes off and looks at new basses and FX online and tries to keep drool off the keyboard*.) * Yes, I need help 😂

Yeah, I’ve had that for about 15 years now and it’s seen off everything especially with the synth built in so it can do perfect (to my ears) impressions of J, P, MM styles too. But I like that it has a unique sound of its own, it’s one of a kind and sounds so even and plays so well it’s almost digital! I used to think I’d also need a 5, a fretless and so forth but in reality when I was playing something else, especially something easily recognisable like a Jazz, I kind of felt like I was copying a sound rather than playing MY sound on things if you see what I mean. There’s an album by Gov’t Mule where each track has a different bass player and it’s really good to see how an instantly recognisable ‘signature’ sound can be used in different contexts and still sound great. Flea plays on a fusion blues kind of tune with his Modulus and it sounds amazing, whereas my first thought might be ‘oh I need a P for that tune’ I guess when you’ve had a bass long enough and used it live, at home, in studios and all sorts you just get to know it so well that you just feel at home on it and know how it’ll sound in every situation.

‘What sort of stuff do you play, mate.’’ ’Jazz from 1940 to 1980’. (sniff) ‘ Oh, covers then’.

Wifey got me a beat buddy mini 2 for Christmas and I use it quite a lot for practice. The drum sets used are real and there is a bit of swing in them, not like a full on paralytic drummer but a lot more natural than a standard drum machine. If you are good with all that Midi computer stuff you might appreciate the more expensive model, which you can download different drum sets to, like 'John Bonham' for instance. I just wanted a drum machine in a pedal form and I have no idea what 'Midi syncing' is. I have just ordered the TC Electronic Ditto X2 jam looper. According to one long thread on the Singular Sound forum, this works with the Beat Buddy, without being Midi synced. Andertons will deliver this on Friday and I'll let you know how I get on. Apparently you can loop your bass or guitar in time with a Beat Buddy drum track without having to step on the pedal exactly at the right moment, the X2 jam looper can keep in time by itself, or with a little assistance from you.

Hi Everyone. I made an attempt at playing Wrathchild by IRON MAIDEN. Not gonna lie, I found this quite tricky to learn. It's pretty relentless, and there are lots of fast runs and fills. I hope you enjoy.

I've always enjoyed the Count Basie Orchestra on triangle.

If I was interested in playing music I'd likely easily define a good all rounder and stick to it. As my primary hobby is sending and receiving carboard boxes, clearly the unitary approach won't suffice.

Mh.... they are often cheaper than a BB425. So I can't agree 😉 Even less because my BB1000MA is my main axe since ..18 years (?) !

Hi, I have a Fender Ultra Jazz in Blue Cobra color. It is a really amazing bass, beautiful & the neck is super comfortable. I love its sound so much that I almost don't touch my other basses for now (Fodera, Suhr, Fender Jazz 50's anniversary, Fender Jazz custom shop & others...) I usually play is passive, the pre amp is really good, but I only use it if I need something more which is very rare with this bass. I must say that although the bridge is really good, I have changed it to the Badass II bridge & I added a Hipshot Xtender for drop D. This bass is like the ultimate Jazz for me, it gives you what you expect from a real good Jazz. The pickups in it are killer too. Regards,

At that weight, the next owner’s shoulder!

See here. I almost bought a B-stock 200 recently, but decided I have too many medium scales and if I get another it would be the 205. Just waiting for a secondhand one to come along.

You'll get them when I get the bass!

Yep. Agree 100%. Now people will say yeah but once you give it a good setup it will be fine. Not always true. Some necks are just messed up. Some sit in around with some much relief that they "take a set" and never come back to a good position. I'm picky, I'll admit that. I can tell if my action changes by 1/64th. I want low low low action. I want to play a touch screen lol. For example I considers Fender's recommended action/relief to be sky high.

Agree, on one gig where I recklessly took only one of my 6 basses it had a problem with the electrics, leaving me having to borrow one. Lesson learned, take a backup to gigs.

It's definitely funny the first 400 times you hear it though, right?? 'Bet you wish you'd taken up the flute!' is another staple that makes my blood boil (have you ever heard a flute? Hands down the worst sounding instrument available)

As has already been mentioned, you cannot go wrong with the Ibanez Mikro, it's 28 and a half inch scale makes it just slightly larger than a regular 6 string guitar. *Shameless sale plug*, but I have one for sale which I bought with the intention of teaching my son but unfortunately, he wasn't interested in playing. Drop me a line if you're tempted

Cocktail stick glued with Titebond and excess stick cut off once dry.

I think it's totally possible to get by with just one bass if it's a good one. Every gig I have ever done has been on the same bass and after over 35 years and more than 2000 gigs it's still going. It's been re-fretted 3 times, had a new nut, new pick ups and occasionally new strings. This may seem odd for a professional player but I don't think I even had a back up bass for about 6 years of solid touring. Looking back on it I probably should have had a spare but at the time it didn't bother me. Some of the gigs were pretty big but luckily nothing ever went wrong with the bass. Amps have failed but there's always a DI. I did get a second bass eventually and in the past few years picked up a few others so I now have 7 but I only gig with the same one.

Here are the ones I used to own: Born To Rock F4B: Atlansia Solitaire Fretless Hondo Alien:

Back onto the amp, I am really interested to see how the 'Global Gain' and 'O/D symetry' works in practice/practical use. I can hear a difference from the video but it is very subtle. I think I would need to physically try the amp to really appreciate it. However, I really the idea of the feature. It would appear from my initial read of the specs that the hi/low gain, 'Low' and 'Bright' presets) apply to both channels, rather than being able independently assign them to a specific channel. If so, I actually prefer this as having separate presets for each each channel would make the front panel of the amp very busy and create a bit of option paralysis on my front. Also, I like that there is a tube in the front end of the Subway channel as well which is a nice touch. My only other comment is that I would have liked for the footswitch to include the ability to switch from 'Low gain' to 'High gain' on the Boogie channel to enable the player to change from a nearly clean bloomy setting on the 'low' setting to more of an overdrive on the 'high' setting). If the low/hi gain setting is more subtle than a obvious 'clean to overdrive' change though isn't really a big issue. In practice I would probably just use a separate overdrive/boost on top of whatever core tone I wanted out of either channel, or even use the Subway channel as the 'clean' channel and the Boogie channel as the 'dirty' channel. I really like the amp and feature set overall. Probably my favourite feature set of the current Mesa bass line.

Back on topic of comments I don't miss, in the band mentioned above I solely play doublebass and, as mentioned by @Silvia Bluejayearlier, "That's a big cello", or "How are you going to get that violin under your chin?" gets tiring pretty quick, but they're only having fun and I'm gigging so it's all good.

I always buy online or second hand from here I wouldn't dream of going to a shop and trying a bass out and then buying it online from another retailer I think that is really out of order

Even the authorised version can be ridiculous. I was in a folk worship band in the early 70s and one of the solemn responses was written to the exact tune of 'Knick knack paddy wack give a dog a bone'. Something of a late Friday afternoon job by the CofE composers, whoever they were.

I have the fretless P bass, one of just three go to basses I've had in the 40+ I've owned. £199 new is crazy value for money: IMHO they considerably exceed Squier for quality, and the Entwhistle pups are excellent. One of their main dealers is the Bass Gallery in London, one of the UK's most respected top end bass shops and luthiers, which must say something.

Reminds me of a bloke I sold an old Hofner to a few years ago. He said he was a 'dealer', and when I asked him was it just in guitars, he replied - 'No mate, I do all the middle aged bloke stuff - cameras, watches and motorbikes as well as guitars'. 😂 ( As I was probably pushing 60 at the time, I can only guess he was trying to flatter me for a better price)

Sandberg bargain alert! Very tempted but just can't afford it 😅

https://www.creamery-pickups.co.uk One of the Best in the U.K. and further afield, I’d sell the bass With it in removing it before I sell his pick up I have in it

I'm possibly at the point where I'd happily play nothing but Valerie for an hour straight. You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone, as they say.

I'm missing packing the car, the travel, setting up, the challenge of making an audience like you enough to get them to come back next time, packing up, the travel home and unloading the car. IMO inane and nonsensical rubbish from drunk punters is par for the course and no more than water off a ducks back. I couldn't care less what they are asking for if I'm gigging.