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I remember seeing the St Petersburg Philharmonic playing the Ballet 'Romeo and Juliet' by Prokofiev. 112 musicians all sat there staring at music stands. Bored rigid, I was. No eye contact; nothing. Walked out after two and a half hours.

I've been gassing for a 4 string Forty Eight for a while now, for me they are a total modern classic and the black with creme stripes and the matching headstock is just what I wanted to fill the "rock bass" slot. It's not just down to the looks, I was after some good playability and quality and I liked the sound of the sound of these. I saw a couple on here but without the matching headstock, then this one came up at Classic and Cool Guitars and as a bonus it has an ebony board and block inlays. I had to trade my Stingray 5HH (stealth black, also a looker) for it, but somehow I never gelled with the 'ray so that wasn't too tough a decision. The only thing I wasn't 100% sure abour was the white pickguard, so I've ordered a black one with creme stripe. First impressions are good. Very very good. Looks amazing to me, I wouldn't have had one of the "hard core aged" ones but this is just right. It plays really nicely too, lovely neck, sits nicely on the strap and it's nice and light. I like the pickup covers as well, I play floating thumb when I do fingerstyle so they are good for something to rest on when I'm on the E string. After a brief blast through a few different amp models the tone is just spot on, it sounds great on everything I try it on. I always seemed to be struggling to get the 'ray to sound how I wanted, and this just does straight out of the box. It's not over bright either, even with new strings on, I won't get into trying to describe it but it's right where I wanted it anyway. Mark at Classic and Cool was super easy to deal with, and I'm a very happy customer.

Three mid/late '70s and a 1969

Is this one of those little known reactions to the vaccine that we’ve been reading about?

After 10 years of playing bass (a little) and buying and selling (a lot, 40+) I think I may have actually run out of gas, or me little pilot light's gone out, or whatever. I can honestly say I now visit the Basses for Sale pages as an occasional thought rather than hourly. I've had my Revelation unlined since July 19 and the Ibanez Portamento since last summer. Even Sire posts no longer stimulate me to further serial buys. I still hold a feeble flame for the Cabs n Heads section but unless someone throws up a Phil Jones D400 in orange for silly money that lust too may be just a dull glowing ember.

For me, groove doesn't get much better than this. He's not from this planet. And yeah, he got the note about the dress code... but nobody dresses MonoNeon in just green.

I string it up to see how it looked and felt. I’m glad I extended the fingerboard as I think it looks great! I need to lower the nut slots, and level a few ‘frets’ as there is a bit too much mwah in one place. But other than that it really sings acoustically. One you was right in saying it looks like an acoustic!

I've spent the last couple of days sorting out the oak, cutting the maple neck splices and getting all of the mating surfaces flat and straight: And on order from David Dyke are the two walnut splices, a purpleheart splice for the middle, some more purpleheart to use as the back/top demarcation and a 5-string AAA ebony fretboard blank

@lownote12 Same for me, for now. GAS indicator is very very low. That said, I have owned so many basses and amps that I almost can say that I have tried everything and the ones I didn't try have absolutely no bass appeal. My last GAS was 2 Trace Elliot combos (BLX 130 SM and 1210 fridge) bought for very silly money and sold back immediately because there's nothing decent (to me as a fretless player) coming out of these really way too heavy boxes. That said, I keep watching the ads, but there's nothing I fancy. I have SES (Selling Everything Syndrome) now, just keeping what I like and use, but certainly not wanting to start another collection. And I'm really HAPPY !

You could try Viagra

Took the plunge on an additional Modulus FU4; hope you all enjoy looking at this one! Imported from the US of A. 2019 model in a matte black finish.

Currently got one too many, so no chance of one more coming in. Unless it’s my old, FB4, or first Stingray, or even my old Sabre, perhaps that moded Musicmaster, or the LPB CS Jazz my wife wishes I still had ... oh sh’t that went well 🤔

oh thanks everyone for shedding a light on this. never expected it to be a serious factor. sounds right as i just start playing when i get home after about 10-12 hrs of work outside and my ears are already tired and when the clarity goes away it never comes back no matter what. thanks again

I have to admit I cannot be @rzed to read all 7 pages, but moving around or not does not make you a boring bass player. It may make you a boring stage presence, but boring bass player not so much. Playing all root notes all the time does, but even that can be viewed “cool” in the right context. I must be growing old, all the shallowness on YT confuses me.

A band-member, as opposed to a band, but I feel like Frank Beard deserves an honourable mention.

This guy nails it

I’ll save Daniel the pain of typing it. That’ll be the one I have 😎

My first thought is you might be blowing up your hearing with excess volume.

I've got some isolated vocal tracks from them. Interesting.... well riveting really.

Thanks for the comments all. Few more photos for you guys....

Slightly unorthodox setup and my technical supervisor/cushion odoriser

I just recently bought this Sterling Ray4 as a backup which, I have to say, are not at all bad for the money. I like the mint green but I knew I just had to change the plain white pickguard for a white pearl guard. (It's my thing!). That said, I also didn't mind the look of the bass without any guard (guess I could go for a clear see-through job at some point). But, for me, the white pearl just sets it off nicely. So I thought, let's see what the BC collective think. The original white? The white pearl? Or no guard? (Pics below and poll attached).

This build is my first and was 12 years in the making. I started on carving the body blank with my dad, and after he died I lost the nerve to complete it. It has been knocking about my garage ever since. Lockdown inspired me to finish it. Pleased with how it turned out. Only the wiring and a setup to do and it's finally done, all these years later.

It should be noted that Segovia was at the (small c) conservative end of the spectrum when it came to performances. One time, he raised an eyebrow while onstage and women in the audience fainted from shock. At the other end of the spectrum is Paganini who embraced a 'physical' approach to his stage appearances and sometimes even deliberately weakened his strings so that they would break in mid-performance, this to demonstrate his virtuoso ability to rock out on three, then two, then finally one string. True, this. Nigel Kennedy sits somewhere in between but he is a twonk and therefore outwith the scope of our analysis.

I must admit I am feeling the same. I know what I like, own them all and have tried pretty much all the others. Im sorted for amps ( Valves ), cabs ( big stacks and powered ), pedals and have a Stomp and the amazing Noble pre, I mean what else do you need. I take a fleeting look at the sale pages but admittedly I am selling rather than buying at the minute and nothing screams out buy me. Maybe Ive reached bass gear Utopia?

F*ck me!... that's some night out! 😆

As long as he wanted. Probably THE most important classical guitarist in history and if it's tedious it's because you don't appreciate classical guitar rather than because he has no stage presence. I suppose you would prefer it if he was more like Bobby Crush?

I finished doing the contouring and gave it a quick wipe of danish oil to see how much sanding I've missed........ 👍🏻

When I booked Alice in chains for my 40th Birthday / bondage party, it turned out they were a bunch of dudes with guitars and stuff.

It doesn't has to be better or worse. It's just different, there's room for both.

Likewise, a foot tap is almost flamboyant for me.

Never been into performance, always the music. I do however tap a foot and on some occasions indulge in a little nodding of the head.

Now you're confusing Fodera and fedora again. We've warned you before about that. ...

Thought provoking video. There’s always room to do something on stage. I’d put the crimes in order top one worst. 1. Staring at music stand 2. Shoegazing 3. Fretboard gazing 4. Bass player overplaying Often I’ve been to see a band and wondered what the hell I was listening to while the crowd went mad, and conversely where I’ve seen a band comprised of incredible players being totally ignored by the audience. Like it or not, every member of the band needs to be engaging and have stage presence if you want to be successful. If you could bottle stage presence you’d be a rich person. Some people will never have it and some people just don’t like being on stage.

Warning long reply. @Phil Starr the blown module from his Behringer active monitor some weeks ago and I have to say it was well put together and extremely well engineered. I have salvaged the Switch Mode power supply for use on another project. All these active speakers from te low/mid priced systems seem to use the same basic systems, chip based class D amp(usu ally from the TDA89XX series) to drive the Woofer and a class A/B chip amp to drive the tweeter (either TDA7493/7494 or LM3876/3886 series). This is true of Behringer, Mackie (Thump range) and EV to my knowlledge and I have seen the LM 3886 in cheapo Gemini type active speakers. Despite things like the Mackie and EV speakers being claimed 1000W speakers, the reality is that the most you can get from those chip amps (TDA8954) is 320-340W bridged into an 8 ohm load. Add 80watts from the treble amps and the reality is that these speakers will struggle to get to 500 watts (at 1% THD plus noise) , unless superb cooling systems are deployed. So can you use these for "activating" the BC112 MK3? Yes and No. There are few good implementations of these chips available to buy that will allow them to used at anywhere near 300W. The Ebay/AliExpress/Banggood ones costing betqeen £15-£30 are 5H1T. Some will blow at well belpw the rated voltage (so you cannot get the power out) and others will overheat due to the lack of cooling if they don't blow sooner. Are there any good implementatiosn of these chips available? Yes, Connex Electronics do both an amplifier and a complete unit with power supply included. Funnily enoough they say it can output 360w at 8 ohms at 1%. That would drive a single BC112 Mk3 nicely. However you will still need to add improved cooling. Connex say " For proper operation the board must be installed on a heatsink or an aluminium baseplate which will serve as heatsink." https://connexelectronic.com/product/tda8954smps/ Plate Amps On to plate amps. As mentioned most prebuilt amps are for subwoofers only and useless for us bassists. The frequencies they ampilfy are the very ones we need to tame usually. the exception to this are the Hypex plate amps. These are exteremely well engineered and the Fusion Model 252 would do very well in this application, except that the power into 4R is reduced to 400W when bridged. It will give 2 x 250W into 8R or 1 x 500W into 8R so would suit but then the price (£462 excluding postage from Wilmslow Audio https://www.wilmslowaudio.co.uk/hypex-fusion-fa252-2824-p.asp ) makes it an expensive option. These do include a limited form of DSP to allow digital crossovers to be tailored. The other option is MiniDSP's PWR-ICE units that include ICEPower modules alongside extensive DSP. these will do 450W* into 4R. These will also set you back close to £400 including duty and shipping. https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/amplifier-boards/minidsp-pwr-ice125-asx2-amplifier-module-450w-4-ohms-dsp-p-9530.html?search_query=PWR&fast_search=fs Both these options have built in power supplies though unlike the cheaper Chinese amps. *As with many amplifiers, manufacturers quote their power ratings in a favourable light. Firtly many will quote assuming that normal listening is at 1/8 or even 1/10 full power. Another "trick" is to quote at a high distortion figure. Some will quote at 10% distortion. Both these options have built in power supplies though unlike the cheaper Chinese amps. Of course you could buy an ICEPower 125ASX2 module BUT the distributor prices are high, approx £240 inc VAT and delivery from Profusion https://www.profusionplc.com/parts/icepower125asx2, You will need to add about £15 for the cables and you will have to supply your own metalwork. you will also need a bridging converter and regulator board as the 125ASX2 is a stereo amp and you need to bridge it to get the full 450 watts into 4 ohms. The 125ASX2 are available on Ebay from China and all indications are that these are genuine models however some on here have had problems with EBAY boards. See the comments to the contrary below from @agedhorse So what is the best solution. Not for me to decide but I have been trying out the Connex IRS500SMPS. 500 watts into 4 ohms and 300 watts into 8 ohms. It has a connector to wire in a volume control and does not need any other circuitry. However, as with the other modules mentioned, it will need extra heatsinking. More later.

Wonderstuff Dizzy. Pretty sure a large number of people who know that don't even know Size of a Cow.

Were they the ones with Tadpole Tudor guesting on BV’s?

ah do play the blues, s'true

I've just read through this whole thread. It's encouraging for me as someone who picked a bass up for the first time 3 years ago to read about all you seasoned players struggling with a pick. I feel comfortable with fingers, I have so much more control but some of the songs my band covers I can't play fast enough or just don't sound right with my fingers so I'm obliged to nail the picking technique. Consequently I try to get in at least 15 minutes pick practice per day, mainly by practising songs. I'm determined, so I will nail it eventually but the confidence isn't there yet.

I could be not the most observant person, but in 20 something years of playing with a bow, 10 of them teaching daily, I’ve never noticed rosin on the carpet or clothes, unless you bang up against the string. Arco is definitely worth doing, if for no other reason than to build hand strength and intonation. Just playing long, 4 beat notes at 60bpm, forces your left hand to hold the string down the entire length of the note. It’s weight training for fingers.😀

I admit it, running the fretboard all the way was a good choice. And curved against the oval pickup looks superb. 👍

Ah the Spice Girls. I was such a fan! Had a bunch of their posters on the wall. Didn't know they made music.

I’ve seen a few of these 30 minute ‘profiles’ and not seen one yet that’s worth recommending. Filler.

1. You are bat guano crazy 2. You missed a record. The real thing is a great record but Patton shouldn't have sung it so nasal. Chuck was amazing on Introduce yourself and We care a Lot, like a different band as it were.

Which surely mean this has to get posted. Love it. 😄

time to drop this old nugget in....