Rayman

Done.

Limp Bizkit in Manchester. I hate the AO arena, it’s just too big, but the gig was ace. Good support acts too. Great sound surprisingly, plenty loud enough and a very enthusiastic crowd which is always good.

I agree. Fender was the blue collar, bolt together utility guitar originally. Bins full of parts, manufactured at different times, assembled and shipped to ordinary folk. The folk that couldn’t afford a Gibson probably. 
 

My only Fender now, is a Mexican Player Plus Meteora. It’s absolutely outstanding to me, and I have absolutely zero aspiration to own its Ultra big brother. 

She’s ace. I haven’t seen her live since Bassday Manchester some years ago, fabulous player. 

Absolutely fabulous bass, and Paul is an absolutely stellar chap. This is an outstanding deal for someone, silly cheap, total bargain. 

It’s the word I probably hate more than any other when searching for a new bass……. “Upgraded”. The seller “upgraded” the tuners, pickups, bridge or whatever….. it’s a massive turn off to me, and usually turns me away from the sale. I want the bass to be as original as possible, so that I  can decide wether or not the bass needs any customisation to suit me, not the previous owner. 
 

Always keep the original parts, and put them back on when selling (imo). “Upgrades” hardly ever equal higher value instrument from the original stock bass, and you can re-sell those “better” (subjective) parts separately, and possibly for better gain.

Just my opinion, but I do like to see unaltered instruments (where possible) when I’m buying. 

Never heard of them? But that’s a stunning looking bass.

I’m absolutely sure that the 1005 is a way more superior bass to the GWB35, but I can remember when I had one, I was really unimpressed with it. Generally feeling a bit cheap and overpriced. Half the fret lines popped out of the ebanol, and I had to get a luthier to re-glue them all back in. That’s my only experience of the stuff. 

Absolutely right.

Just to back that up, and bear in mind, there are multiple other more expensive basses gathering dust here, the other bass that is currently rocking my world, is a Hohner Professional JJ bass. It’s absolutely fantastic too, and my current go to 4 string. Fantastic build quality, Cort factory in Korea , early 90s I think.

What can I tell you?

The Sire was £70 from a woman who needed the money.

The Hohner was £50 from the bay. Both needed work, both are now absolutely bang on. 
 

Both of them kick the rear end of basses that cost an awful lot more.

I’ve literally been searching all online resources for a new (used) bass, in and around my budget, and there’s literally nothing that tempts me. The Sire ticks all the boxes already. I think I’ll save my money until something irresistible comes along. 

Yep….. my absolute fantasy bass

Rich tone in my experience of buying, selling and trading with them have been great to deal with. I would recommend them personally. 

6 hours ago, dudewheresmybass said:

This bass only cost me £100 on ebay, but it plays wonderfully and sounds great. It's my main home bass.

Gigging wise I use my Riches, Aria SB700, Squier 51P, Thunderbird, Dean Demonator, Fender Modern player Jag - All dependant on the particular band I'm playing with.

For Recordings, the Blue Aria has had some use along with the Thunderbird and an old Kramer, but my first call is my 04 Usa P

 

Aria IGB 50? I have an IGB68 5er, great bass.

1 hour ago, Terry M. said:

Went to a gig once and the bassist was rocking a Sire. He told me afterwards he's never buying another expensive bass again. In fact he said he's sold all his "high end" stuff. And believe me this guy could PLAY!!!

Absolutely don’t doubt it at all. I can’t believe that a (used) £1500 Sandberg for example, is going to be so incredibly better than this V7. I’m sure it would be better…. but is it worth the expense? I’m thinking not right now.

Nope. It’s also me and Mrs Raymans 5th anniversary, so a romantic dinner it is instead. 
 

So I’m reaching a landmark year this year, and I decided to treat myself to a new bass? Well of course I did! 
 

I have an amount of money, and my budget could stretch to something nice, to mark the occasion. I’ve been window shopping for a couple of weeks, probably for a 5 string….. possibly another Gibson Thunderbird, maybe Sandberg, Musicman, Shuker …. there’s a bunch of stuff in my watch lists….

But there’s a fly in the ointment 

A f*****g Sire V7 5 string, that I can’t put down. It does everything, it can sound like anything, it plays beautifully…… I got it for peanuts, and quite frankly I cannot fault it in any way.

It’s ruined everything! Now I can’t justify buying anything else, because I can’t believe that anything else is going to be that much better?!? 
 

😠

Well…… not really ……. simply because I decided to put a Hipshot BT7 onto my Fender Meteora instead….. so technically I still don’t know the answer to the original question!

Sorted thanks 

Any idea which model of D tuner will work for this?

I had one, it was absolutely awesome. Great basses. 

Very cool, I remember them from back in the day. Ibanez factory I believe? Same as Cimar and others….. 

It’s a fabulous bass. Gigging with that and a Kramer era N2, via a Markbass rig, at the time I was like a pig in s@#*. 

1 hour ago, Kiwi said:

Is it possible it might be this bass?  I know the previous owner bought it from a member called Homerplaysbass because Homer let me try it at the BC Bash up in Northhampton.  

That’s it! Alan (Homerplaysbass) and I traded a lot gear between us. I remember that bash, and I remember you being there along with some of the original Bassworld members. 

What do the experts ( @cetera ) think of the Ethos series? Made by Cort in Korea…. they look really nice, but are they “Proper” Spectors? I’m considering one…..

2 minutes ago, Kiwi said:

Yes! 

 

The best sounding bass I have ever owned and close to the best sounding double humbucker  bass I have ever heard.  It was a Basschat mule for a while, had multiple owners over the course of four years.  I played it at a BC bash and had an 'aha' moment, then missed out on it when it came up for sale.  Then 9 months later it came up for sale again and I jumped on it for 600 quid.  It made three Smith basses redundant.  

There were minor neck warp issues but Jon Shuker steamed the neck back into shape and now it has all the qualities of a Smith bass but with extra definition.  Super tight and authorative B string, loads of midrange growl and the top end is sweet and bell like.  Absolute killer bass and a keeper - so I installed coil splits and switches.  Wouldn't mind trying some multi coils and a DLPF out in it at some point.

I had an identical one….. maybe 20yrs ago? Fabulous thing it was. I had that and an N2. Stupid to move either of them on.