Kev

My initial keenness on this have died down somewhat for me. Seeing how you need to long press multiple switches to change presets killed it for me, means I could never consider using this live without a separate midi footswitch strip, which goes a long way to defeating the point of the smaller footprint and may even cost more than just having the full sized version. I've managed to mess up preset switching just pressing one 😅 Its looks great for use on a desk or midi driven rack, but otherwise I just don't think 4 switches is enough.

I think the whole bass synth thing is interesting. Remember, the Deep Impact, the former holy grail, ended up being a discontinued bargain bin buy because literally no-one was buying them. Interest is clearly higher now, but I'm sure a lot of it is hype, and without big/influential names using it (Chris Wolstenholm for the DI, Ian for the MXR) they're just not going to take off.

I mean in fairness, this isn't Bass Direct or similar, this is a big international store and I doubt the staff are paid anywhere near enough to care less about costing the company money in situations like this, easier life for them keeping the customer happy Did I pick up on you buying the used MXR Bass Synth too? I'd be very keen to hear a comparison between the two, largely from a sound quality and tracking perspective when it comes to the new comparable presets, when they arrive.

Mike grabbed a few bits and bobs from my spare draw, quick to pay and quick to confirm receipt, no complaints here, cheers mate!

I don't know the physics behind it, but for me a tapered string is much richer in harmonic content, which I suspect is because it has a much cleaner break over the witness point on the bridge. It'll otherwise have exactly the same, more or less, low end as any other string of the same gauge. At the end of the day, all strings are a thin core with wire wrapped around it, with tapered ends. I like both, depending on the bass. My stingray loves a tapered B, my Alpher doesn't. No idea why!

I can't say I've picked that vibe up from anyone in particular, but I'm glad and proud it was spotted, our emails appear to have had an impact and it looks to be heading towards a happy ending

Oh absolutely. Most stores tend to protect themselves by not covering return postage or not refunding postage paid, which is fairly standard unless its faulty goods, but its interesting the likes of Bax (I think?) make a big deal of offering a free "trial" period and cover all postage costs. I feel there must be a hidden fair usage policy, as otherwise people could run riot with it.

I don't think its about not wanting people to enjoy their basses, and more about insurance issues that may arise, should they go missing and potentially be viewed as counterfeit. A healthy discussion, I think? Literally wasn't something that occurred to me until reading this thread, and I'm wondering this this is why the many and several Ric copies and similar often ship with a blank TRC with a fake TRC in the case, to avoid counterfeit accusations? The risk here is the bass being confiscated if the Police need to get involved, rather than returned to Mark, but given insurance isn't involved here I think its unlikely there would be any opportunity for any complaint to be raised, and hopefully Parcelforce will just sort it out with a dash of compensation for the ridiculousness of it all.

This.

I mean IN fairness, this is more than likely incompetence more than anything else. I'm sure this parcel has ended up in the auction house pile in error as I'm sure they must hang on to it longer. Or they shipped the 2025 Q4 pile earlier than they should have. I think it's a bold conspiracy to suggest it was a deliberate act of the company, unless they wanted rid of it as it's effectively counterfeit and tried to get some money for it.