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I think you just summoned a demon.

Nice bass and interesting TEG website. I'm a great fan of having stuff custom-built - especially by a smallish builder you can visit. You can generally get just what you're looking for without spending an arm and a leg and you'll certainly avoid wasting time and money on trial and error. Here are my two beauties (in my eyes!) built by Andy Rogers, who is well known to followers of his Basschat Build Diaries. At the time I commissioned them, you couldn't really get anything like them off the shelf (s-s with 3 x p'ups 7-way switchable in any permutation)- and you still can't.

Well…back to an Ashdown MK500. Some more bits arriving tomorrow, I missed my old rack tuner and MK rig - the “Knight Rider” setup 😂

Look what just arrived from the wonderful @Andre_Passini Soon I will have 2 basses sporting Nova hardware

So having owned plenty of basses I've never had a yamaha, until now 😁. Thought I'd take a chance on this bb1025x as I've always wanted to try one. A fresh set of rounds later and I love it! Always been more of a jazz bass guy but figured I needed some sort of P in my life. This has got such a huge passive tone! The neck is a lovely satin finish and it plays great! It has definitely held its own against my other more expensive basses so happy days. I play my other basses in passive usually anyway however the simpleness of the bb's controls is so refreshing. Anyway, terrible picture incoming..

My custom shortscale arrived yesterday! Thank you Tony Edwards Guitars! https://tonyedwardsguitars.co.uk. Apology for the quality of the pic. It doesn’t do justice to the burl on the fretboard and the tone of the sunburst. It’s 30” scale, 40mm nut, Babicz bridge and Tony’s own hand wound pickups. All for less than a Fender Mustang (USA).

On balance I don't think I own a single bass that wouldn't be improved by a sparkle/metalflake pink refin.

Black and maple

Yup, I've been saying this since the launch day! I appreciate some folks want big cabs for big stages, but if I'm completely honest I don't know many who actually do. Two high powered 1x12 cabs, that aren't crazy heavy is probably the safest bet for most folks I would expect. Laney have made light cabs in the past, fingers crossed they add something to the Digbeth lineup... Eude

Gibson Cherry red , cherry burst on most but not all basses , black on most but not all basses. Most of all I love the dark metallic blue finish on my Washburn. 😎

Agree and quite also like telecaster bass butterscotch blonde

I love ABBA. Cheesy pop tunes disguising deep and disturbing lyrics, written by two couples being torn apart by bitterness and divorce. Which made people tap their feet and sing along, with absolutely no idea what they're really singing about. Genius! I'm looking forward to hearing this one.

Great songwriting is timeless and they really know how to write a tune. Good luck to them

Played an interesting gig this afternoon/evening with Frankin's Tower (Grateful Dead covers). Private party for the 70th birthday of an eminent Oxford chemistry professor held in the very spacious grounds of an Oxford college. We played outside, so the sound was good and we were well received. Not a paid gig (I didn't organise it!) but hopefully will lead to more that will pay.

Holy low end Robin, pass me the Bat-bass

My MIJ 57ri from the 90’s. Acquired off of Bagsieblue of this parish. Stunning instrument, very light and great thump. Usually stick pribora pickups in my P’s but this came loaded with a Fender 62 Original which just sounds great. Strung here with Fender flats as my usual Elites were a little TOO thumpy for this latest project. Seen here with an Ampeg SVT and 2x12 cab

Yet another rainy day in Osaka, stuck at home needing to do some housework and because of a happy vacuuming coincidence these four ended up having to be on the sofa for a little while. Seemed like a perfect opportunity... (L to R; early Roscoe LG3005, Wal powered self-build, Stingray/ Status, Zon Sonus 8-string)

Apparently ... I'm being taken to Cornwall for a weeks holiday, and we're going tomorrow. I thought we were gong next week! Holiday 🙂 cornwall 🙂 missing bass bash 😞 Shall miss seeing you all and your basses. But me and my Wals will be there next time. Enjoy

The four-string is here!

I have a similar thing with black basses with white pickguards. Doesn't mater if it's a vintage pre CBS precision in mint condition , it will still remind me of the Encores in the Argos catalogue when I was a kid.

Natural for me. I can live with a fine colour wash that still shows the grain. I can't stand anything painted. It always feels cheap to me. I know in reality the opposite is probably true. But I grew up playing really crap instruments that were always painted bright and shiny colours to make them look better than they were. I know that in reality, this has nothing to do with a good quality, well painted instrument. I just can't get over the ingrained feeling that paint = cheap and tacky.

I guess the latter is for night time only then? 😁

I heard the new songs earlier and to me they sound like they could have fitted in with the material from back in the day, which is a compliment btw, great band, great songs.

Natural as I love the look of wood.

I just about to do the same to my reverse 424. Just need to set the action and intonation, but it's already pretty good and sounds great.

I'm actually excited about it, remember watching them win the Eurovision song contest and I've been a fan since They were always quality and I hope the new stuff is too, they have resisted enormous financial temptation to re-unite, so I'm sure they are doing it for the right reasons, andwouldn't release it if it wasn't up to their standard

Correct again my friend - as a (six string) guitar tuning its to drop the low string often to allow the 2 lower notes below E and the one finger barre power chords. In Rock - tuning down a semi tone is very common, as is Drop D tuning - Drop C# does both...

This is brilliant news! Their hologram tour looks amazing from a YouTube feature. ABBA were, and still, are one of the biggest pop groups ever and I don't think they made a bad record. The first two new tracks are number 1 and 2 in the download chart (whatever that is) and blow all the current formulaic chart offerings out of the water. This 70 year old bass player is a very happy bunny to know they are back!

Just got my bass back from Tim Batchelar. He re-used the bridge Malcolm Healy fitted for me some 25 years ago (it's very good quality apparently and just needed re-fitting a bit) and fitted it with aluminium adjusters. £230 all told including the re-fitting to the bass's belly and the fitting of my new set of Eva Ps in place of the spiros; he also replaced the rubber thingy on the end of the spike. Including the £200 for the Evahs and petrol to Leicester and back (twice) that's over £450 I've just spent !!!! Ahhh people spend less than that on a whole bass. It does sound good though .. much more mellow than with the Spiros on it, scratch free bowable from the outset (and the Evahs should play in over the next few days). It shows up all the mistakes with astounding clarity as the bass now speaks so quickly! Also it was nice to get it checked over by an expert ... who said it was just fine. NB: Evah Pirazzi Mediums... on the advice of David at Bass Bags. He reckons they bow better than EP Weichs and are better suited to the "larger" bass (mine's 40" scale) and as I'll put the spiros back on for classical free periods, they don't need to be A1 for Pizz... also he had them in stock!! Wonder if I could tell the difference.

There's this assumption that drop-C# is all about the lowest string in the set (be it dropping from E or tuning up from a B); assuming that you're in standard tunings (C#/F#/B/E), you're going to have all sorts of tension issues either way. My input here would be (as it's only an audition) buy a cheap five string set and stick the low strings on, tune to BEAD and play off the second fret; if nothing this will give you a bit of an extended range, much like a drop-D tuner on a regular bass tuned EADG or the following: Assuming you get the gig, it might be useful to investigate custom string gauges to suit. Assuming you're playing using a fairly lightish stock set of strings (so a 5-string set may be 40/60/80/100/120), it's safe to assume that tuning up or down five steps accounts for c.0.02" in string diameter - if you're looking at a tuning roughly halfway between a low B and an E, you might be able to get away with a balanced set of 50-110. As mentioned here DR Strings DDTs or even a cheapie set of D'Addarios of the same gauge (£18) would do and you will probably get away without having to tweak truss rods or anything else.. It's all trial and error, as with regular strings you might need to try a few options until you hit paydirt.

…for now🤭😛

Has to be inferno red (with a buckeye burl top)

I thought Yamaha had made a bass called the Virgin for a moment... Lovely new bass, I played the humble 424x for a while - it really was the ultimate workhorse.

I've taken the plunge and ordered the 5 string. Should be here on the weekend (Saturday delivery now includes Sunday!) Looking forward to it.

Congrats! Having had several Yammy basses, the BB1025 (same model as yours but without the scratchplate and chrome knobs) is the one I've held on to; as you say, completely holds its own against many more expensive basses, so I'm not surprised at all you're loving it!

I didn’t know about this until I watched a documentary on sky arts one night, really interesting program, it’s worth watching 🙂

Fretboard came in the post. I got this with pre-cut fret slots. I do have access to a japanise razor saw, but better have these made by someone with actual tools for it. Also, this is the first time that the main pieces of wood are in the same room together

You're absolutely right (about the number of pedals at least 😁) - I was reading 'Tech 21' and 'YYZ' as being two separate pedals (as I've got a VTDI which is also a T21). I think it was the great bassplayer @bassfanwho said "Al Krow can't count". Probably exactly why I should be hanging up my work shoes and focussing on something more creative? I've just spent a few hours rewiring the larger board tonight as it felt a bit like a bomb-site after I'd filched key pedals off it to put onto the gigging board. Re-doing pedal boards is a strangely satisfying activity, lol! Weird thing is I'm now feeling very much happier with both boards than I was with either before this little rejig. Maybe 'cos they both have a clear purpose in my head now.

I’m not a fan myself, but any band that can write a hit song about the classic Indian dish chicken tikka has to be good.

So here's the review I wrote for De Bassist (please excuse any errors or Americanisms, I translated it pretty quickly): Sadowsky is a big and most of all expensive name in the bass world. American master luthier Roger Sadowsky has been building amazing basses (mainly Jazz-like models) in his workshop since the 1980s. To make the brand more available for people without deep pockets, a few years ago the Metro range was introduced, which was produced in Japan. In 2020 Sadowsky started to work with the German brand Warwick: since then Warwick has been building the MetroLine in Germany, and an even more affordable line of basses was introdced: the MetroExpress. These basses are being built in China under supervision of Warwick and according to instructions by the master himself. For under 1000 euros you can be the owner of a “real” Sadowsky: are they worth the money and can you be convinced in the already pretty full world of Jazz Basses? Sadowsky styling If you look at the MetroExpress you immediately see the real Sadowsky shape. The slim body, straight cut retboard and the shape of the headstock tell you immediately from which family these basses are from. The bass I have here is “sage green”, a metallica kind of froggish green which I, especially combined with the maple fretboard, find very charming. The slim body has to big advantages: the playability is absolutely excellent and the weight is very low. This low weight is also caused by the body wood: Warwick uses okume wood for the MetroExpress series, a wood that resembles mahogany but is a lot lighter. On Warwick’s web page they say their basses are always under 9.5 lbs and this bass absolutely fulfills that criterium – in fact, I think it’s well under 9 lbs and that’s very important to many bass players. It’s pretty difficult to find a good five string Jazz that sounds great ánd has a solid B string. I’ll get back to that sound in a bit, but this bass certainly is light. The technical stuff Fortunately you can find knobs on this MetroExpress that you can also find on a regular Sadowsky: volume, balance, active bass and treble (boost only) and the treble knob is a push-pull with which you can switch to passive mode, where it’s good to know that in passive mode you have no passive tone control. It’s all very intuitive, except for one thing: the balance knob is, as on many Sadowskys, reversed. If you turn it clockwise and expect to hear your neck pickup you’re gonna be surprised: it switches to its bridge pickup. Pretty unpractial, but not the end of the world and playing this bass for an hour or so is enough to get used to it. Other than that, the hardware, finish and overall construction are pretty much impeccable and there’s no way to immediately see you’re playing a sub-€1000 bass. Feel and sound It seems pretty easy to build a good Jazz-like bass, considering the enormous amount of brands that have one in their model range. However, it’s pretty difficult to design one that has a sound of its own, its own place in the big market. A bass you buy because it’s this particular bass, not because you just need “a” good Jazz-ish bass. I can’t really determine what it is about this Sadowsky, but I get that particular feeling. I’ve played and owned dozens of Jazz-like basses over the last decades and this one has, like a good Jazz Bass should, something special and unique. I’m not a huge fan of preamps in basses, especially when they lack subtility. The MetroExpress, however, is subtle. You have lots of control over the amount of bass you add, without immediately ripping your trouser legs apart. The same thing goes for the treble knob, but this bass is pretty clear of its own so I couldn’t add much more treble without the sound getting a bit too harsh for me. So, should you buy this bass? If you get a compliment about your sound from the rest of the band, you know there’s something seriously good about your bass. I took this bass to a gig and everybody was surprised about how good this bass sounds. It sounds great through an amp, but also through the PA and my in-ear monitoring, without getting too treble-ish (something that happens a lot with bass when playing on in-ear monitors). Closer investigation on the internet tells me that the first batches of the MetroExpress basses had some initial problems with setup and buzzing electronics, but none of that is an issue on this bass. The MetroExpress is an amazingly well built bass and if you’re looking for a good Jazz for under €1000 it’s definitely worth checking out these instruments. A simple preamp, good sound, comfortable weight, amazing B-string and excellent setup make the MetroExpress a serious contender in this market.

They were cool when I was at school, when they first started. I remember watching them winning Eurovision and thinking they were brilliant. Maybe that ages me.😂 Even when they became uncool later on I still loved them and was quite happy to say so. I never really gave a stinky poo whether something was considered cool or not, I always thought that was the worst possible reason to like something, because more often than not it’s based on someone else’s opinion.

So. My original Bb350f arrived and is now wearing all gold hardware and a fretted neck (frets are gold too 😜)

Lies! That only has four strings! 😁

Finally got to use my new rig at a rehearsal. Had to turn the gain down a bit to suit the material, all tone controls more or less at 12 O'clock. Volume never went past 8 o'clock, ample power just ticking over. The band kept saying how cool it looked and awesome it sounded 🙂