goblin

That can only be Noel

If it helps, my mate runs a Marcus Miller V7, and I loaned him my standard Hiscox and I believe it fit absolutely fine. When it's got my Jazz Elite V in, I have about 1cm of head room there.

I'd be interested to see thoughts on the Encore too. I'm in the market for a new set of moulds - currently running Sennheiser IE80s on the theatre tour I'm on, but they simply ain't good enough. They sound great, but they're just too uncomfortable! I've been in pretty hefty conversation with ACS over it, they recommend the Encore to me, being a bassist (I still have my Mesa Powerhouse rig behind me to shift the air), but I'm torn on the whole live thing. Just to have them live 'ready', it's £50 to have them with the microphones in there. Doesn't seem so bad right? Then I saw the price of the live pack, and I just can't justify that cost I don't think!

The Warwick Alien is a sublime contender for an acoustic bass. Can't vouch for the Rockbasses, but the German ones are absolutely lovely! Very well made and sound great.

If you're good with a soldering iron (and a good soldering iron at that!) and have access to good materials, make them yourself. I'm in the process of making a batch of leads for various people, similar to what OBBM does with specific length and specialist leads such as wireless pack leads etc. I'm using Sommer Spirit cable and Neutrik connectors and won't touch anything less. I imagine the leads will be lasting people a long time if they look after them, and I'm going to be using them myself too which is always a safe starting point. Otherwise, go to OBBM. His prices are very fair and he's got a great response on here!

I once had two double basses, trace 1x15 and head and a bass in a Hiscox in a Polo... that was a bit tight!

And unlike may other gig bags, they only get better with age

I reckon the Harvest has just as good protection, if not better than the Mono. Even if it may not look like it, they're VERY well padded. Mine seems to have some sort of board in the back of it as well to keep things rigid.

I've got a Harvest one and it's awesome. The guy who runs the company is a top guy too! My guitarist was doing a couple of gigs over in Germany and was asking me about decent straps, so I suggested Harvest as I was looking at getting one too. He rang them up to say he'll be over that way and if there are any retailers he can look at. In the end, Hermann suggested that they meet up and do a deal directly. So we chose what we wanted, and let Hermann know, and then my mate ended up being picked up in a brand new McLaren, taken for a spin to the office I believe and the deal was done at an absolutely cracking rate, and he also gave me a free set of Fodera strings to try too - turns out he's a bassist. Top company in my eyes! Oh, and the quality of my bag is second to none!

So I'm just under two weeks in, and it's all settled now and will be having a set of Elixirs put on it. So, how is it? Absolutely incredible. I've never really been a Fender fan, I only bought my first Fender in Nov '15 as a whole "I've got various studio jobs in, I could do with a P / throw around bass", I wasn't really looking though and stumbled across my '96 MIJ 50th Anniversary CAR P for £345... I couldn't not do it! But other than that, I hadn't really thought much about Fender and thought they were a tad overpriced etc. And let's face it, there are still a lot of people who understandably have that thought too. This thing has really stepped up to the mark though, and I'm reliably informed that Fender USA have really upped the game across the board, and I'm inclined to believe it. Now it's settled, there are still no rattles and everything's very even. The preamp is wonderful, when you choose to use it! The passive sound is THAT good, I've sometimes forgotten that it was in passive mode. It sounds just like a good friend's 70's Jazz. It's a very bright sounding bass, I was on a big theatre gig last week, and running on IEMs, the techy didn't want to put a high cut on the bass in the mix, despite my turning down all the HF on the preamp, which helped a lot, but when he wants a Pre Fade DI out of the amp, you're a bit limited in what you can do there! ... He got the message when I set the preamp flat! A set of nickels will also help that along though, it's currently on SS strings and you can tell. It's not necessarily a bad thing, it's all down to personal preference. The range of tones you've got at your fingertips really is incredible! My only real gripe is that it's not the best thing to tune, but I reckon that's how it's been strung. Tunes up fine, if you're going down (I always purposely overshoot and go back up anyway). I've found I've had to pull the strings and then tune up. Time will tell with that one, it may end up getting a better set of heads on it. It's a professional working bass for me at the end of the day, so I don't mind if I have to make some tweaks. It's to be expected! I like how it turns heads on the gigs I've taken it on too, it really does look good. I'm very happy overall

It's taken me a while to get around to posting this as I've been mad busy with gigs. But, I've taken on a new big gig which will have me playing even more than I currently am (bearing in mind I play solely for my living), and the size of the Infinity was going to get in the way with first fret being a trek away. So after much deliberation, research, trying basses on extended test drives. I finally settled on the new Fender American Elite. Two provisos, it had to be a 5 stringer, and it had to be in Tobacco Sunburst... which is turns out is an absolute nightmare to get hold of at the minute! So after a day of phone calls and several days of internet searches, my local Fender rep did some digging and found out where the last one was ordered to, and put me in touch. So, a 270 mile round trip, a tyre blow out thanks to a pot hole and a large amount of money, here she is! I'll let the pics do the talking for now. [url="http://s88.photobucket.com/user/goblin92/media/Basses/24CE5A48-1192-4BBF-8E0D-8BA48C97235C_zpsawx5mc0c.jpg.html"][/url] [url="http://s88.photobucket.com/user/goblin92/media/Basses/0A55F355-E239-4443-8741-488E0D9CCBAF_zpst54ni7zu.jpg.html"][/url] [url="http://s88.photobucket.com/user/goblin92/media/Basses/F5C4BCC9-96CB-425C-9EF5-8AF0F1A0A17E_zpsaham7yms.jpg.html"][/url] [URL=http://s88.photobucket.com/user/goblin92/media/Basses/2985A317-4A32-413B-B827-B18F95A16892_zpsa1bumgxi.jpg.html][IMG]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k195/goblin92/Basses/2985A317-4A32-413B-B827-B18F95A16892_zpsa1bumgxi.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s88.photobucket.com/user/goblin92/media/Basses/843C8862-0C27-4A6E-AB47-A57E82581CDB_zps64yrpdmp.jpg.html][IMG]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k195/goblin92/Basses/843C8862-0C27-4A6E-AB47-A57E82581CDB_zps64yrpdmp.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s88.photobucket.com/user/goblin92/media/Basses/843C8862-0C27-4A6E-AB47-A57E82581CDB_zps64yrpdmp.jpg.html][IMG]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k195/goblin92/Basses/843C8862-0C27-4A6E-AB47-A57E82581CDB_zps64yrpdmp.jpg[/IMG][/URL] I borrowed a newish Jazz Deluxe before buying to see how I got on with the feel of a Jazz, and the quality of this in comparison surpasses the Deluxe, which was hardly a poor quality product. It sounds incredible in every situation I've had it in so far, and the attention to detail is second to none. This one seems like a keeper!

What colour do you need? I might have a spare gold one in my bits tin you can have for the cost of postage.

Update, in the morning I'm off to Newcastle to pick up my brand spanker Fender Jazz Elite V - I don't think I'll be sleeping much tonight!

I've had a fair chunk of 5 string basses. My first was a Peavey Grind, which to be honest, for the money was an absolutely superb bass! I had a short stint with a bastardised 6 with a Jim Cairnes neck and what was apparently an Overwater body, with an Easy pre fitted, but back to 5s. Had a German Corvette standard, which was okay and sort of what you'd expect for the price point, which was eventually traded for a USA G&L L2500. I do miss that bass and would have it back in a shot, though I struggled to get on with the controls - I prefer to blend pickups, not switch them! In hindsight, something could have perhaps been done on the electronics front! I had another Warwick, it was a Streamer Bolt On 5 (just before the LX came out), it was a blue oil finish, gold hardware and it was absolutely lovely. Again, that ended up being sold not long after my 2013 Streamer Stage 1 in Greyburst came along. That was a special bass, but it was just far too heavy! Sold that back in summer 2015 and it moved over to the States, and my main hack is another Warwick, but an Infinity NT5, with a gloss finish done by the one and only Brian Eastwood. It's superb and I love it, but I'm a bit of a short arse at 5'6, and it doesn't fit me that well - first fret is just that little bit too far away. So I've got a 5 string Fender Jazz Deluxe coming on loan tomorrow to see how I can live with it in rehearsals, sessions, gigs etc etc before I bite the bullet and get a Jazz Elite V. That's high up on the shopping list! Backup 5, I've also got a lovely Corvette FNA Jazzman 5, which I restored a year ago. Again, a truly wonderful bass, but it ain't really getting played much, and it's a bit weird how my backup is more premium than some people's main workhorses! So I reckon a big rejig of the tools is in order!