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As I went down the road to the SE Bass Bash in November I stopped off en route to purchase a bass for the hell of it, a Cort Curbow. I had always been really intrigued about them, what with their use of man made materials and I always thought they looked pretty neat in some finishes. I spied one for sale, a sunburst one and figured "what the hell?" So, I like how it looks, and I like how it feels to play. Unfortunately, whilst sounding fine in headphones, it was utter garbage live with the band. Where are my mids? This thing is so scooped by default that they're barely noticeable. I had to crank the mids on the preamp AND crank them on the amp just to be audible, seriously, it just disappeared. Well, I picked it up for a tasty low price so I figured it was worth modding. I procured a Bartolini Classic Bass soapbar of the appropriate size and shape (MK4CBC) (thanks @Bass Direct) and someone on here sold me a Glockenklang 3 band preamp for a decent price (cheers @Fettsman) and got to work on the mods. Fitting the pickup was a piece of cake, the only thing of note I had to do was accomodate 2 screws on one side instead of one. Then I replaced the stupid "slap switch" (which scoops an already inherently scooped bass some more - WHY?) with a much more useful parallel/single/series switch and fed the pickup into that. However, fiting the preamp was another matter. This body is thin, and to compound the issue, the knobs are sunk into the top. There was no effing way that Glock was going to fit in there as supplied. I mean, I was modding it anyway - don't need a blend control on a single pickup bass after all. First problem - the body of the push pull volume control was just too tall, even if the shakeproof washer was eschewed. So out with the drill and the forstner bit to remove some material from the cavity to sink it down enough so the lid will go down... Just made it! Not a lot of material left, but this luthite stuff seems sturdy so I think it'll be OK. Then onto the main board, which was way too tall. So, to scheming. Thankfully, while the control cavity in the Curbow may be shallow, it is thankfully quite wide. Lots of dead space above where the bass pot would go... So to cut a long story short, I turned it through 90 degrees. The pot legs wouldn't bend enough while it was mounted, so I had to desolder the pot, bend little 90 degree nubs on the ends of the terminals then resolder it thus: >>>>> Did a test fit (the small board attached to the mid pot was able to be bent sufficiently with the pot in situ)... Yas, the lid closed. So I soldered up the rest of the wires... Cheeky little single connector block thing for the myriad ground wires I had to connect together... Great success! It now has mids when the preamp is flat! I took it to a subsequent band rehearsal and praise be, I was able to hear myself with the preamp set flat. MIssion accomplished! I hope you enjoyed this shaggy dog story and if you only take away one thing from this, is that it's usually true what they say - where there's a will, there's a way...

That’s right that’s right that’s right that’s right …🙂

We have 50 in stock and they FLEW out the doors... More coming in the new year! This must be the product of the decade (or longer) for MXR Merry Christmas everyone!

A little video, not much good but it gives a good idea of what the bass might sound like in better hands!

Because you're worth it. Don't let that pesky imposter syndrome get in your way. And lose the "just". Even "just" doing pub gigs you are already in the rarefied air of musicians who actually make it out of the bedroom.

Best Buy It has to be this, the bass was bought on the rebound, I missed a Lakland i wanted. I wasn't looking for one of these but the spec's pulled me in. Light with the deepest bottom end passive. I don't need the active EQ on this. A great endorsement when you get something you didn't want or lust after, but find it to be just what you always needed.

Here you go ian goes through how it works as well as his rig.

Oh no it doesn't! 😁

Broadband duly restored, even if the wiring for it has all but been condemned (full fibre to be investigated), and now I have recovered from opening the case, here is my new Overwater headless Progress. Feels completely at home in my hands and is a joy to play. Martin nailed the neck profile I wanted and I do love a headless bass. Thanks to Martin Lee, Chris May and everyone else involved in the building of this marvellous instrument. We will be very happy together for a long time. Three piece ash body Three piece maple neck Lined ebony fingerboard Hipshot tuner/bridge John East Overwater preamp

I've just finished a theatre run for 'Come From Away'. We didn't have sight of the cast for the show, though the MD did. The MD cued all parts and counted in some sections for band where necessary. Their headset mic was mixed into our IEMs, of which we had full control ourselves in the pit (a god send) The guys at the top level could pretty much do a whole show with their eyes never leaving the pad - I was just happy to get through it as a previous non-reader! I found the experience very challenging but hugely rewarding.

Lovely story about him on New Model Army's Joolz Denby's Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/share/1G7qSysD2w/

The Back in the Studio version of this is now out, and it shows just how well put together and executed the bassline is:

New pedal board and pedal day. Thunderstorm is a bargain at £33 and Stritch board £69 with built in power. I’m looking to get a lovely compressor for start of chain and maybe a Pork & Pickle for OD. But as it stands: Polytune Hot wax (hot tubes constantly on, wax for dirt) Thunderstorm battalion (dist always on and Pre EQ)

- I was getting into #4 - slapper thinking yeh that's me... then #5 *fell off chair laughing* 🤣

That's neat

Sorry, but I forgot all about Fender when I discovered they weren't the only company making jazz basses.. I went with this and it puts to shame everything Fender's making. I definitely want another one.

Dear agedhorse, Dan, tauzero and nekomatic, Thanks for your responses. This is what happend so far: I rang the Eich-office. This is what they told me: A few years ago, Neutrik has changed the design of some of their connectors/plugs and therefor the problems that I'm having in my cabs, are somewhat well known to Eich (and they are really pissed about this!). Therefor Eich offered to send me complete new back plates of the cabs (for free!) so that these bad connections belong to the past (for me). I find that very generous of Eich. As soon as I have changed the plates, I will notify you all on the outcome. For now; thanks for your involvement!

Expensive is so relative. The two basses I paid over my 'expensive' threshold, were both made possible because I completed large chunks of work. I've been through long periods where spending £50-100 could mean many months of saving. I am having to be careful now, as I need as many savings as possible to buy somewhere when dad's house is sold and split three ways. So those two big purchases (and my rig) were really special; both were cheaper alternatives to genuine vintage instruments I could never afford but give me a feeling of connection to music I love.

I expect the Chinese Hofner (Contemporary and Ignition) violin basses outsell the German built ones many, many times over, which couldn't have helped. As an example, out of curiosity I bought a couple of the cheapest Hofner Ignition violins to decide a) whether I liked violins at all, and b) which pickup positions I preferred. I chose the Ignition basses because their construction is a little closer to the hollow body originals, not having the full maple centre block of the Contemporaries. I then very briefly owned a genuine German violin bass, but to be honest, the Ignitions got pretty darn close sound, feel and weight-wise so the German went back and I still have the Ignition. It may get gigged when I need a featherweight shortscale in my old(er) age. It's a shame when anything "iconic" disappears, but such is commerce.

I wish to thank you for not saying "colourway".

Too complicated for me

I've cut the grill to size and used Gorilla tape on the outside of the frame just to keep it clean tidy. I've printed some riser blocks for the outside of the grill that fit in the corners of the cabinet. The ones in the picture are far too large, but they're to check things out and I'll print some better ones shortly. These will be glued to the front of the baffle (NoNails) and will have a M3 nut embedded in them. The hole for the nut is aligned to the holes in the grille. On top of the riser block will be some adhesive rubber, 1mm thick), to stop vibrations. More riser blocks may be needed, but the principle is set now. I have the "advantage" of not gigging at the moment, as there's only me and the drummer, so little chance or marauding fans rushing the stage sadly. It's very, very likely that I'll design some M3 handbolts to screw into the riser block. These will probably have the felt washers that are on the guitar strap buttons to further reduce vibration (or may not). I designed a lot of hand bolts for astrophotography, you can check them out here (https://starclamps.com/), these are all parameterised so I have lots of options. I also have some nice brass ones somewhere which might look nice. The red corner pieces have been redesigned so that they don't protrude as far into the baffle area as before, to give the grill some some space. The hand bolts should allow the grille to be taken off easily, Once I've painted the baffle board matt black, most of the riser elements will simply disappear, well that's the idea. Lets see how it works. but I'm off from tomorrow to London so nothing will be progressing. Have a good Xmas all Rob

The latest update from Gary at Upton Bass. I’m liking what I’m hearing from the additional sound holes 🤔 Here

That’s a beautiful colour scheme

I'm going to try to do gear abstinence next year, so I thought I'd have one final swatch at FB marketplace. I was instantly reminded how dangerous it is when this bad boy appeared for a very keen price (complete with a Hiscox Liteflite hard case) and on the right side of England for my purposes. I decided to carpe that diem. 9 hour round trip, but it was definitely worth it. Basically unusued, the only issues were that it was a bit dusty in places, and there was some goop on the headstock where a clearly disintegrating stand had been cradling. Managed to get that cleaned off - it hadn't stained the finish, yay! Gave it a fret polish and oiled the fingerboard and gave it a good old setup. So, how is the "Stingray killer"? Good, as far as I can tell in headphones. My favourite finish for these basses would be Soda Blue, but this natural one is growing on me in its elegant simplicity, and the black pickguard suits it very well. But that's it! No more! I will be striving to make 2026 a fallow year in the gear acquisition stakes, so I guess I was getting one final hit in before the lockdown. FYI - no Stingrays were harmed in the making of this. Merry Christmas to me (and everyone else!)

Any excuse to re-post this ...

I always find the “what bass is too expensive to play down the Dog & Duck?” question very hard to answer given that this was my regular wedding, club and pub gig set up in my function/party band days. They were the basses I most loved to play, so those were the ones I played - wherever. OK, I didn’t pay today’s ridiculous prices when I bought them in 1993 and 2000 respectively but their second hand prices in the mid 2000s was still substantial. The Sandberg I bought this year would probably be considered expensive by many but, again, I love playing it so I do! Here it is funking it out at our local jam night.

Merry Christmas guys x mwah 💋 😂

But one pedal looks.so.sad😢

For both of us...

I'm reminded of the old Arion effects that were all 'stereo'. Fine for the Chorus, but a stereo compressor? As far as I could see it split the signal into wet and dry channels. Wish I still had it, I used that pedal live for years. It was probably crap... But the point is the three easiest ways to make a mono source stereo: Use the pan control to position it on the sound stage. Use a true stereo effect to split it into two close but different signals in each channel. Use two microphones (or di and one mic) to record so one is close up and one is 'roomy' with more ambience.

For those who prefer an alternative slant of his on Christmas check out Joys of Christmas from Dancing with Strangers. And his slide work on That Girl of Mine. Great songwriter.

Not to be a stick in the mud guys , but this is the beginners guide to home recording this latest discussion may as well have been a dissertation on quantum physics for what I understood of it 😁

That, and all the other known stuff, and also someting I see mentioned few times: people's ears and pre-conceptions. The shop I worked in was up-market. We once organised a day of listening, and twas done so the listeners didn't get to know which gear they heard (dark stage, thin veil between gear and audience - lit from audience's side). People started bickering as they all heard different, often opposed, things. - "Way too scooped sound!" - "You're crazy! Way too little bass and treble!" - "Way to open! Tiring! It's that demn veil!" - "Way too compressed! It's that demn veil!" You get the drill. Twas the last day I was a fanatic. It's easy to point at a weakness the CS 505 has: it's harder to tweak than most more expensive decks. There's also the point that with a cheap Dual like that, there are more measurable differences between individual units. (We had a system for that, Ortofon perhaps, which tested the unit and printed a report.) Point remains: Put an Ortofon MC30 on the Dual and also on an SME on the GyroDec, and, to our ears, one could live very happily with the modest Dual. Oh, another story. We were to start selling Cabasse speakers. Listened to their most expensive model and were seriously underwhelmed. However, me listening concentrated, with closed eyes, I suddenly startled at a certain sound, and opened my eyes as I thought the importer was joking with us by playing a real instrument in the room. Of course the importer wasn't, and that "real instrument in the room" was actually the sound from those Cabasse speakers. Whoa! Also, during the 1812 Overture, I was obviously sitting in the wrong chair: the cannon shot right through my chest and I died on the spot. That's Hi-Fi! 😉

I’ve noted a few discussions lately on the Squier Classic Vibe 50’s P-bass, so I thought I’d post my mods to one that I did a while back - at least a couple of years ago. I’ve always had a fascination about Chris Squire’s modded Telecaster bass - since seeing that picture on the little booklet that came with the Fragile album. When the Squier CV’s first came out I thought to myself - hmmm, you could do a nice “Squire” modded version to one of those. So, the first thing I was going to do was to add another pickup at the bridge position - then things went a little bit crazy. Seeing as it is an “inspired by” rather than a clone I thought - what about a humbucker in the neck position ? A mudbucker would take up too much space, what about something alternative - how about a Ricky, given the Squire connection. After a bit of rummaging around the internet I came across Creamery pickups in Manchester. As it turned out, as well as a toaster, I ended getting a set of 52-Pbass pickups too - Alnico 2 for the middle and an alnico 5 for the bridge. A three hole telecaster control plate was bought which needed a little bit more routing of the existing cavity so that the concentric pots fitted. A Jazz Bass pickup cover was used to cover the bridge pickup. In a final bout of madness I got the luthier who did the work to add the “Squire” decal. How does it sound ? Well, the middle pickup has a lot of that early 50’s sound - great attack and definition. Maybe not as much weight as a 57-Pbass but has some nicely judged mids. The bridge, having alnico 5’s is quite aggressive but not thin and nasty. I think if you like Jean Jacques Burnel’s sound you’d like this bass. The toaster has less mids than the P-bass pickups but has a bigger bottom. With all three turned on it sounds almost active ! So, all in all very pleased with the way it turned out. Going forward I might be tempted to sand down the back of the neck for a more satin feel and get a bone nut installed. I really do like the smaller body shape on these basses - very comfortable. Sorry for my ramblings - hope you enjoy !

Had the 5 string version in the gold leaf finish, always had a bit of a soft spot for them. Really nice design, mine looked like this:

Back to the OP, I think an expensive bass is where there is a bass i want, but immediately think that perhaps I should wait and see if I can pick one up used, rather than just buying it new. This was me when I wanted a Rob Allen. As to the actual level of money, this will always vary from person to person and we shouldn’t judge others by what they consider expensive/cheap. That aside, upper level instruments seem to be outstripping inflation by some measure. My first ever custom bass is coming up 10 years old, so I dug out the invoice, did the inflation calculation and it should now cost roughly £250 more than I paid for it. Even the basic, off the shelf, version is way beyond that. If I go back to the aforementioned Rob Allen, these have doubled in cost over a 15 year period and I mentioned my surprise at the cost EBMM basses earlier in the thread. Manufacturers seem to having a laugh with their premium instruments.

I don't EQ front of house other than to get a flat response with pink noise before I start (actually it isn't flat but check out Michael Curtis on Youtube for a good curve) I eq each channel. I have eqs preset for most things and don;t normally eq mic'd amps, bass di or synths. All resets are a starter for ten. It's just vocals, anything with a microphone and acoustics. I try to sort out the eq in the mixing not once mixed in FoH. I don't send eq or compressed signals to monitors and rarely send reverbs to stage (feedback beckons if you do). I have some favourite presets - maybe that's another thread. - I found Attaway Audio on you tube made excellent eq suggestions. Seems the US churches run more live music events than anyone else; don't be put off, they have great experience. i do tweak eqs on individual channels and polish compression and gates too during a gig. I run instrument groups together using DCAs. Generally don't use buses except monitoring and fx. 'Verbs are normally eq'd to trim the top and bottom frequencies so they sound like a natural space. I've found the best way to polish FoH is a multi-band compressor. It's almost the most fun you can have doing sound after all the heavy lifting and herding cats at sound check. You can get the vocals to float over guitars and then have a lead player come to the fore, all by what's loudest in the mids and upper mids range. Add some brilliance to the cymbals etc in the high band. Tame the flub n mud in the lower mids. You can even out the overall kick and bass volume if you like to sound full and punchy and consistent. I run Behringer and Midas mixers and these have a good multiband called a combinator. The stereo one seems to work great. Again there are some good youtube guides Cheers

Another good one gone. One of those artists who we all took for granted, but now he's no longer with us I can't think of any equivalent singer-songwriter to replace him. I remember hearing an interview with Chris Rea once where he spoke about wanting to be like Joni Mitchell, where each album was a progression of his style regardless of commercial appeal or fashion trends. Well, I think he achieved that, so rest peacefully Chris.

Well it would seem I've answered my own question... I ordered a Precision today - the American Professional Classic in faded Sherwood Green Metallic. There's been one in the Gallery in Camden that I've looked at several times, and today I pulled the trigger, so it'll be here in a few days - probably after Xmas. I went for the new model, as [from what I've heard] the new 'Coastline' pickup (apparently derived from the 'Pure Vintage' series pickups) sounds very warm at the bottom, but has clear highs without the nasty nasal honk. Basically quite similar sounding to my previous Am.Professional I. We'll see how it plays after I've set it up...

Expensive is, to my mind, linked to the concept of a thing being more than it's worth. A Warmoth Precision with woodwork coming in at around £600 with perhaps another £400 on high quality components, gives me a FCS level instrument at £1000, and IME I'd have to spend upwards of £3000 to get anything better from Fender. So, if I'm buying a Precision, anything over £1000 is not only expensive, but unnecessary expense

Often overlooked when folk come to talking about top slide players, but Chris had both great chops and tone. Stainsby Girl is the standout track for me. Sad day.

My Thumb NT cost £900 in 1988, which apparently is the equivalent of £2750 in today's money. The equivalent would be a Masterbuilt, €8900 plus shipping. That's wildly outstripping inflation, and shoots past "too f*cking expensive" into "you've got to be f*cking kidding" territory.

The latest iteration of my gigging board while I was experimenting with adding a noise gate yesterday. I bought that Donner to prove out the concept and it does the job. I'm not sure what a high-end bass-specific noise gate would give me but am willing to learn. The big change with this board is the addition of a second compressor. I play about 50% of the set with a pick, the other 50% fingerstyle and previously was only ever happy with the compressor for one or the other. I also tried comp off for fingers, comp on for pick and just couldn't get a setting I was happy with. I then mocked up a dual comp patch in the HX Stomp and reached a point where I was happy switching between pick and fingers. If you use 2 comps, you quickly learn that the two "stack" so you need to think about ratio settings. Signal path: Spector with EMGs and LHZ Haz-clone into: Front End: 1. Korg Pitch Black Bass Tuner. Brilliant, accurate like nothing else I've got. 2. [sfx] Microthumpinator v2 I've had one of these on/under my board for about 15 years. 3. Origin Effects Cali76 Bass Compressor (Pick Attack) Switched on for when I'm using a pick. 4. Origin Effects DCX Bass (Sparkle) A tone/EQ-shaper that I've got really attached to. It works nicely with the Spector/LHZ and is always on. The filters on these are very good and allow you to keep your low end intact. 5. Origin Effects DCX Bass (Overdrive) Dirt. These boxes are so good and have such a nice range of drive sounds that it made sense to snap up a bargain when it presented and get another. I love these as dirt pedals, so versatile giving warmth and breakup right through to smooth fuzz that reminds me of the SansAmp DP-3x. Effects Loop 6. Aguilar Chorusaurus v2 (Shimmer) I've been through a lot of Chorus pedals over the last 20 years. This one is the winner. You can see that I use quite a subtle chorus. I use it a lot. 7. Origin Effects Cali76 Bass Compressor (Always On) An utterly marvelous compressor. 8. Noise Gate We'll keep an eye on this and see how it performs in the wild. The board is a D'Addario expanding one and I use a Pedalsnake to run power and signals through the loops. A future addition could be an Emma Discumbobulator v3. We'll see how the set list evolves.