Leaderboard

On Saturday we rocked up bright and early and set up at one of our favourite venues in Bolton. Our dep drummer walked in just after 8 with his phone to his ear and a stunned expression. He said his elderly mum had had a fall and was on the flooring her kitchen and he had to go sort her out with an ambulance. He said he'd be back asap. A bit of a shock, but we decided that our only way forward was to play the two sets acoustically, instead of the 4-5 we were going to start with. Our dep drummer didn't reappear as he was in A&E at Wythenshawe hospital and his mum was only seen at 2am. I felt so sorry for the dreadful situation with his mum. He sent us an awful photo of her bruised face. He did exactly the right thing. Fortunately it went down very well and we even threw in some songs we'd never played together before. It's such a pleasure to have my new guitarist in the band. There's enthusiasm now, as opposed to the 'getting through it' that we had before.

I used to have strong feelings about/against it, but firstly it's what shops such as Bass Direct/Bass Bros do and we don't have a problem with that. Secondly (and more importantly) we never know what a person is dealing with in life, quite a few members have lost their jobs recently, or have other financial problems (divorce/increased cost of living etc), and while I've historically tended to flip basses for a loss here, if I were in a difficult situation financially and struggling to pay the bills/put food on the table, I'd have no problem doing it for a profit. I hope it doesn't come to that, and I suspect I'd probably still make it clear where the bass came from. Basschat is a strong community the members of which are 99.99% of the time highly supportive of each other, even to the point of happily donating gear and even money to other members with problems. Perhaps part of that charitable ethos is also to allow other members to make a few quid buying and selling?

No useful content but thought I'd show off my appreciation for my two shorties!

Yes, it speaks positively mate 👍 In similar vein, and I won't embarrass him by naming, but one long-standing member here bought a bass from me, sold it for more, and sent me 50% of the difference out of the blue. Did I expect him to? Absolutely not. Would I have been pissed off had he not done it? No. Did I appreciate it? Hell yes

So as its rained pretty much non-stop since 30 secs after I brought a load of wood for the cabinets, I thought I'd think about something I can do indoors. I want to make the 8" cab easy to use with my Warwick Gnome. My original intention was to print a cage on the back of the cabinet that the Gnome would slide into. Then I looked on the bottom of the Gnome and there are four M3 holes in the base. They are quite deep, but I didn't want to open the unit up to check, I needed a few mm maximum. So instead of building a large (and easily broken) and cumbersome cage, I made two sliding angular rods. I'm sure there's a proper name for this type of connection but I have no idea. The inside rod connects to the base of the Gnome, the thinner side is the base and the larger is away from the base. The outside section connects to the back of the speaker. This is dead easy to print, about 20 mins for two of them and works very well. There are three screw holes in the larger that will fix the two rails to the back of the cabinet and that's it.The amp will just slot in and gravity will hold it down. The inside rails are slightly thinner than the four rubber feet so the Gnome will still sit on a desk or another speaker with no issues. So my intention is not to take them off as they don't interfere. I like simple (and elegant) solutions Rob

This topic has been raised numerous times with the same opinions offered. If someone is happy to sell an item to someone for price A and the buyer then does a little tinkering, freshens it up, plays it for a while, then sells it on for price B (higher) I really don't see the problem. The problem would be if the buyer misled the seller by saying something like "Please can you sell it a little cheaper as I only have X much cash and this is an item I have always wanted" and then they flip it for a profit straight away. I have bought literally thousands of guitars and basses over the years, my 'buying rule of thumb' is to never buy something for a price where I'll likely loose money if I sell it. This has given me a fantastic opportunity to play with more basses/guitars/amps than I EVER would have had I paid absolute top dollar all the time. It's also meant many many people have made a sale at a price they were happy with. Being honest, on balance I've probably made a little money on most basses etc. I've ended up moving on down the line, but they have typically left me in better condition than they arrived. I've also sold basses to known BassChatters at X price to the see it listed for a much higher price a week later. So be it, I sold the bass so I then don't have a stake in what that buyer does with it after that - I've got my cash. While direct profiteering might not be in the spirit of BassChat, I don't have an objection to it so long as the seller wasn't misled by the buyer. We dont complain at Bass Direct and Bass Bros making their back end, nor about literally any shop we buy anything from. Just my two cents!

If I'm putting a bass or anything else up for sale, it's because I don't need it anymore. What happens to it after it has gone is no longer my business and TBH I really don't care.

My thoughts exactly. It used to annoy me, especially when it was clear where items had come from (and what people had paid) but it can be more complex. The economic argument (“it’s worth what someone will pay”) is a truism, and it fails to tackle the morality of doing so. As an example, I was asked by a friend to value the items her deceased husband had acquired. She would have taken what I said was fair. That could have been £100 or £1000. (In the end, I wrote advert text for her and she sold them privately.) Sometimes it’s not all that it seems. I bought a Pedulla from an auction for £900 (I was there to bid on another item which I won, but it’s a handmade mega beast of a bass). Add fees to that (£250), new strings (£75), the tools to work on it (truss rod tool needed to come from the States £20), parts (new bridge adjusters £20) set-up (£100) and the new bass was a little more costly than purchase price. If someone saw I’d paid £900 at auction, selling for £1500 would seem usurious, but it’s probably what it cost me.

Some things in life you know are bound to happen somewhere along the road, you just don't know where, or when. Today was that day for me. By sheer luck everything aligned: the instrument itself, locally for sale, within budget, generous tax return which sweetened the already more than fair deal, and a feeling of "If I don't do this, I'm going to regret it massively later". So, since today I became the proud 2nd owner guardian of a September 1966 P-bass. Fully original, including the case, except the missing bridge cover, and some filled holes where someone installed other tuners, but the ginormous Klusons 546's cover those up very nicely. In a very, very good condition (buckle-rash the size of a coin), frets at de-facto factory condition, slightly faded red, but still plenty present,... And that patina, that's something you can't fake (nor the smell). Rather lightweight, very resonant, a bit neckheavy due to those tuners and the very light body, it has that extremely pleasant 60's C-shape (wide, but thin). It has the newest additions that were introduced in 1966: Indian Rosewood fretboard, a 45° bevelled pickguard and the wide frets. Made by the same people that made the early 60's ones, using the same methods, and virtually identical materials... just under a different contract. It has seen some action, but it was also very well babied and cared for. And given it's a '66, it's an absolute growler. There's something about '66/'67 basses that gives them more raunchy punch compared to 1965 or 1968 onwards. And if it's good enough for James Jamerson, it's good enough for me! Going to install an old set of LaBella's tomorrow, see if I can reduce the action a bit. Also: going to thin out the heard a bit. Given I've now got "the original", the "American Original '60s" may leave the premises, my Jazz Bass as well, my 500/1 that hardly saw any use, maybe the EB3, although: that's so quirky I might just keep it. But with this, I kind of arrived at the end of the line.

Wait ... you can sell basses?

I am imagining all around the country there are bass players with a 2m length of black downpipe in their garage, with a little 6" piece sawn off the end

Knowledge is like good food and drink. It's best when shared. ☺️

First coats of satin nitro…..

Sometimes wish it wasn't! I remember once putting a wanted ad up for a Wolf Endpin for my double bass. Three days later, one arrived at my door after being sent by someone. That's the Basschat I like. Guy didn't even ask me to pay postage.

I believe instead of flipping, you’ve flopped.

There’s a guy in Bristol who runs an online guitar shop in Easton. His business model involves scouring Gumtree, Facebook and buying cheap stuff at Gardiner Houlgate. He may make a few quid in his job, but even better, he’s taking unloved instruments and making them playable and used again. Thats the kind of flipping I respect.

Let us know if you come across one. 🙂

Not against the rules, but certainly against the spirit to immediately repost for sale at a profit. My problem…I buy stuff but rarely move stuff on. I have purchased a few things here, always to use not flip, and if it’s not quite my thing I will re advertise here after a bit of use but at no more than I bought it for…then again others might say I’m a fool to myself 🙂 If I have had and used something for a while and do decide to move it on, and the market has moved that’s a different matter, but not as a buy and flip. Certainly don’t expect me to resell the Wal I’ve had for 40+ years for what I paid for it 🤣

I’ve encountered problems from both sides on this: One bassist took 20 minutes to put her lead and bass into her gig-bag. That’s 20 minutes out of the 15 minute changeover, putting me under pressure to get set up swiftly shall we say. On finishing a gig immediately the next bassist was up on stage unloading his gear. My rather frank “the sooner I can get to my effing gear the sooner I’ll be out of your effing way” was both effective and motivational.

I was looking for a second PBass to use alongside my Player II Nearly went Squier but decided to try out these new Standed series It’s a nice bass and fretwork and neck is lovely to play. Noticeable difference in tone from the ceramic pickups in as much as it’s brighter and clearer sounding, less warm and vintage and more modern Set up out of the box was decent apart from pickups were not set slanted to match neck profile etc Slight tweek on truss rod and she was playing sweetly Wasn’t sure about the Olympic White colour as it’s more cream than white but it quickly grew on me. I did own a polar white and I thought it was closer to that but I would say closer to cream Tuners are good and work well as does bridge etc For a £500 bass I think it’s a nice balance of quality, tone and cost. A workhorse gigging bass

Coincidentally I used my 8 with a TC Elf last night at rehearsal, I usually go straight to PA but I have a new drummer and we aren't locking in as well as Id like so I thought using back line would be more familiar than PA and monitors for him. The little 8 sounded really lovely straight out of the box and remarkably just like the PA sound. It kept up with the drummer nicely too. I had all the controls set flat and didn't need to adjust anything, I'd say its a good pairing.

<waves>

If someone manages to sell a bass for more than I sold it to them, then more fool me. If I didn't get the market price right and someone else did then I have no issue with that.

I’ve done all 3 with items bought here and from other sources. Sold at a profit Sold at a loss Given stuff away My question is at what point does an item become “flipped”? One day, one week, one month?

Dovetail 🙂

You're still doing better than I am! Selling things even at a loss seems rather difficult.

It's never going to happen (I always aim to sell on here at mate's rates - maybe my mistake) but I would be inclined to do that myself. I know there are dealers on here and their pricing indicates who they are. I would be unlikely to want to sell to them.

I don`t see any issues in buying something at current market value, then selling it some years later at the then current market value. Similarly if lucky enough to pick up a bargain and selling it at market value, well the new buyer isn`t being ripped off as that`s what the item is selling for. Still looking for that `59 Les Paul up for a tenner at the local boot sale, it`s there somewhere......

There used to be a website called 'phat fingers' (or something) where you could punch in (for instance) 'Squier' and it would search eBay for near misses, like Squire, Squeer etc. Right, I'm off to search for a Febner Jizz Base.

This is a moral question which applies to any asset someone buys, then sells. They're buying with the express motive of making a little money. That's what some people find offensive - now, that's the interesting thing to dig into. Personally, I think any transaction is atomic - it's what happened, right there, right then. The seller agreed to sell. The fact they might find out they could have sold it for more when they see it listed and sell for more is actually irrelevant - and feeling aggrieved on their part as a third party seems pointless. We know some platforms will get more - basschat, reverb - and some less - (maybe) eBay (depending on who listed it - again, the person listing it has listed it at whatever for their own reasons!), Facebook, etc. People sell stuff for varying reasons - could be a distressed sale (can't make the rent, bills to pay, etc). All those are valid reasons why someone gets a bargain. That they decide to flip it, is entirely their business - they bought the bass, it's theirs to do with as they will. What makes more sense is to educate. Give people the confidence to research what a bass is worth - even if it's as trivial as knowing how to filter on eBay for sold items (I always do this before I sell anything) - you can get ideas of what you should be paying for something (or indeed, selling it for). Caveat.... everything, I guess! I know it sounds terribly dispassionate, detached, etc - but you're not going to alter the sociopaths by pointing at them and saying "but it's wrong" - better to starve them of their exploitable population. Which goes for a lot of stuff outside buying and selling at the moment.

Matinee gig at the Fiddlers Elbow in Camden - 1pm - 5pm. Confirmed my belief that there's a reason gigs usually start after 6pm. Also, was recovering from a bout of covid, so spent most of the afternoon wearing a mask and keeping my distance from everyone. Also, spent our set having to concentrate extra hard to remember my parts courtesy of covid brain. I brought my GK Fusion S 800 and my recently purchased GK 4ohm 4 x 10,which sounded immense. Other bands were lovely and we made a few fans. Overall, probably one to forget though.

I can't help myself, I looked at this and thought that you could print feet that would replace the rubber feet provided and also fit into the dovetail groove. I have to keep away from thoughts of 3d printing, the possibilities are endless.

Problems always occur in business, it's how you manage them that matters, and he seems to be scoring well. Best of luck to him I say.

If your amp has some method of screwing the dovetail into it, then its just a case of fiddling with the numbers to work out how to make it all fit. The design is easy to scale in each dimension. It also requires the base of it to be attached in a fairly rigid way to the cabinet. As I'm making the Basschat 8" cabs, I don't mind putting six screws in (which is two screws too many really) into the back of the cabinet. The other method would be to attach a little sledge like below, the front would go over the top of the cab, the amp would sit in the middle and the back would stop it slipping off. Immediate issues would be if you cab has a top handle, does the cab have a nice front edge you can use, would the back lip interfere with cables?

Not that I need any more basses but sounds ideal for me then, as I generally boost the highs a fair bit on my Precisions, even though I`m a pick player.

I just came across your status update and replied there, but I'll repeat it here too (and I'll share the pic you posted there): For what it's worth, this doesn't appear to be a factory fretless (RS940) but a defretted RS924. A 940 would have no fretlines, and only tiny dot inlays near the edge of the fingerboard where the fretlines would have been, rather than inbetween fretlines. Maybe this helps lower the boundaries to have this neck refretted instead . Being a lacquered fingerboard there will be some extra work involved to do a tidy and invisible job. These are fabulous basses, I really enjoyed mine a lot when I had it, so definitely worth the effort! It was prohibitively heavy though, and nowadays I favour a narrower nut width.

I’m finding it very close in quality to the Mex player series It’s brighter sounding with the ceramic pickup which is a benefit to me as my fingerstyle tone was never bright enough with other basses. Fitted Schaller strap locks now too and got a Fender gig bag FB610 to go with it

😁

Being able to play a number of different instruments - albeit mostly badly - and the fact that I have in the past spent considerable time trying to make synths sound like other instruments and using other instruments to try and control synths or produce synth-like sounds, means that now I can see that the easiest and most efficient way of producing various sounds is to use the instrument that produces them in the easiest and most efficient way. Also in a live situation being able to reproduce those sounds exactly every time becomes very important. Back in the 80s when I first started seriously dabbling with controlling synths from my guitar or bass or trying to make my guitar and bass produce more synth-like sounds I quickly discovered that for me the learning curve for developing enough keyboard technique to be able to play the parts I wanted was far shallower than the one required to modify my playing technique to get the synth sounds to trigger accurately and more importantly in a way that could be replicated every time I plugged in my instruments. I've also found that for all the good guitar and bass synth demos that are on YouTube, if you couldn't see that a guitar or bass is being used to trigger the sounds you wouldn't know that they weren't being produced by a keyboard player. Notwithstanding the fact that most of these demos require a huge number of takes in order to get a performance that is suitably glitch-free for public consumption. That for me completely negates the point of using a guitar or bass to control a synth or produce synth-like sounds. It's not easy/good enough to be repeatable, and for me the things that make plucked stringed instruments so expressive are all the things that simply don't translate when trying to do pitch to synth and instead produce unwanted glitches in the sound or pitch instability. I would definitely be using a keyboard synth for some songs in my current band were it not for the fact that at the moment we are concentrating on keeping the equipment we use at gigs as simple and easy/quick to set up as possible. Until we regularly get more than 30 minutes for setup and sound check those songs that will have to wait and the songs we play live will be those that we can do with the existing instrumentation.

I think there are two distinct differences scenarios that are being confused a little And both do need to be thought of differently Option A. Bass was advertised on basschat sold , and is now back on basschat for a higher price , for whatever reason. Option B Bass was bought locally in a smaller market for a different price and is now being sold on basschat for a higher or perhaps /more realistic price. A usually makes me suspicious of the bass either having an issue or that something distasteful going on, but you had the chance to get that previous price and didn't so it's perhaps only slightly sour grapes that now when you can buy it's a different price. B .. is basically what car dealers do for a living .. the difference is you don't know any better about the history .. unless the buyer had a lengthy post about there amazing Facebook marketplace find in west nowhereslip .

Superb. Obviously hope the guys Mum is ok which is the main thing here but well done for carrying on as an acoustic duo. Dave

I was reminded of this thread and thought I'd do an experiment over the last few days. A side by side of the OC2 and OC5, focusing on the -1 octave solo'd (does anyone use any other part of this pedal!), both at home via a small combo, and in the rehearsal room with a powerful rig, and both solo'd and in a mix. To start, I should point out that my OC2 has the -2 octave disconnected, which boosts the output volume to the pedal. Side by side with an unmodded version, there is zero tonal shift to my ear, but importantly this makes the -1 octave volume absolutely identical to the OC5, overcoming the usual volume dip these pedals suffer. Having them at the same volume really helped this experiment. I should also note that this is a made in Taiwan OC2, that needs the ACA adapter (12v, which is then knocked down to 9v in the pedal) - Note on this at the end. Also note that the OC5 was set to Bass and Vintage modes (which replicates the OC2). I'd like to give special mention to the fact that in poly mode, with the -1 octave solo'd and the Range knob set to 'lowest', the OC5 is a useful tool for some sub frequencies if you play it as though it was a mono octave pedal still, for those who don't want to destroy the building with a Dod Meatbox. The rest of poly mode is, IMO, very meh, but that one trick is a nice addition. So, the comparison... Here is what I did. 1. Side by side solo'd at home via Markbass MicroMark combo - focused on tone and noticeable latency. 2. As above, but into multi effects - OD, fuzz, envelope filter etc. to test how they played with other pedals. 3. Both of the above steps in the studio via a Markbass SD800 and Schroeder 1212L (LOUD). First without the tweeter, then with the tweeter dialled up - solo'd with three other musicians forced to close their eyes, listen and give me feedback. One of them was a drummer, so you can disregard their thoughts 4. As per the previous step, but in the context of a track with drums and keys/synths. 5. Absolutely everything above, in both active and passive mode on my bass. Here are my/our findings.... Latency - Absolutely no difference at all. In fact, I sat and played a few lines with my eyes closed and had others change the pedals so I didn't know which was which... and feeling wise I couldn't tell them apart (again, remembering that I am talking only about vintage mode on the OC2... in poly mode, yes, I can feel the latency). Tracking - Identical. I've seen lots of folk say the OC5 tracks better, but under a microscope and with clean playing, there is no difference at all. If the OC5 does track better, then my playing style doesn't allow me to highlight it. Both track down to an A on the E string without too much issue, and can track lower if you're very careful and don't mind the additional artefacts in the sound. Tone - When solo'd and studying the sounds very closely, the OC2 has a 'tiny' bit more breakup on the lower notes/E string when you dig in. It's so minor that I had to check over and over to be sure I was hearing it. Aside that, neither I, nor the other folk could tell a difference between the two, with a focus on my playing style, I was able to circumvent that extra breakup. Also note that without the tweeter on the cab, this difference was inaudible. I should note that it's not a pretty overdrive, it's just digital clipping and not something I'd ever 'want' to replicate. Now we're talking ears, not a frequency analyser - and that's what matters - what we all hear. I like to think I have decent ears (former mastering engineer), but I am in no way an authority. To me, however, it was impossible to tell them apart aside that very close study Literally identical on the A-C strings (I play a 5, strung E-C). Active vs Passive - compared to each other, the OC2 and OC5 sound and respond identically to the passive setting. In active mode, the very slight breakup we mentioned about the OC2 on the low E kicks in with a slightly softer playing. I play soft any way, so I had to force it to make this happen. I usually use the bass in active mode and nothing about this test would make me want to change it. In fact, I'd say the active output form the bass actually helps the tracking of both pedals a bit. With other pedals - The response and combining of them with other pedals was identical, it even made noticing the OC2 tiny low end breakup impossible when it was run into any kind of drive, filter etc. The feedback above was unanimous from all (only I can comment on latency), no one could hear a difference at all and in fact, I'm the only person claiming there was a touch more breakup in the sound on the E string. After a few hours of this questionably pointless experiment, here are my pros for both... OC5 Easy to find at a reasonable price. Nails the OC2 sound with zero latency. Has other options, even though you'll likely never use them, but maybe for that one song. Still under warranty if you have an issue. OC2 People think you're cool because you use an OC2. Extra bonus test - I also tried running the OC2 at 9v, even though it needs 12 via a power supply (these ACA ones still use a 9v battery or can run on a 9v if you daisy chain it from another pedal, which is odd). I did this because I know many people out there do this without realising that the ACA version needed 12v and have come to voltage starve their pedal for many years. Aside the dimmer LED and drop in volume, which many folk thought was just the way the OC2 was, this introduces much more noise and breakup into the tone. Being honest, it's still totally usable, and for anyone that accidentally got used to using an ACA OC2 this way, the difference in tone between that and an OC5 is quite notable (and wouldn’t surprise me if this was the cause of some claims of the two being audibly different!). While the voltage starved OC2 doesn't sound great to me, it does 'add something' which is very artificial, which I can see people liking it in its own right. That is, of course, not the point of this comparison though. So, which one stays on my board? The OC5, but only because it's easier to replace if someone spills beer on it. I could happy pop either on there and no one would know the difference. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

For years I just had a board on a hop-up and tools in a stacking crate. I'd set them up in the kitchen then pack away at the side of the fridge when done 🙂 For spraying some tomato plant grow tent was used.