Kev

Can I just quickly ask, what's the main reason you're looking to switch to 5 string?

When I first saw the pic, I thought it had been refinished because of how that forearm "contour" looked, but saw close up it's still the textured finish, and thought it unlikely! Mine definitely didn't have any kind of rounding there, very much the slab body, not that it ever bothered me. Only a Ric's binding does that to me...

Oh absolutely, no mistaking that bit of ebony figuring on the board! 😍 I thank your past self for its decision to move her on 😎 she's in safe hands!

This week I welcomed this absolute stunner to the stable! A 2016 PDN StingRay, key features of this one being the stunning Starry Night finish, roasted Birdseye Maple neck and an unmarked Ebony fingerboard, apparently the first run of 'Rays to not have inlays! I've wanted one of these since they were released, I grabbed a Charcoal Sparkle a couple of years ago but it just wasn't the same. It's a beauty, and transforms depending on what light is on it! HUGE thanks to Mick (@MM Stingray 62) for his patience with me over this, kept him waiting for two months whilst I scrambled the cash, all without a grumble. Cheers buddy!

Looks just like my first "proper" bass, I had the tort guard on mine as well, basically learned to play bass on it. Great instruments!

But that's just it though, its capture only, with a very limited selection of onboard effects (no compressor!), so all you can do is capture stuff yourself, limited to one capture in any preset, or sift through all the junk on the cloud and try and find something that works. No multiple rows, no clever signal chains, nothing. I thought it would be a plugin player, but its not compatible with them either. At the price point, why would you buy this over something like the HX Stomp, a fully useable multi fx/amp modeler? Again, I'm sure they've done their research and their targeting Kemper and Tonex and their offerings in this area, but I'm just struggling to "get" it.

I'm not the target market, and clearly the market is there, but from watching vids etc, I don't really understand who is...

That's appalling. Its an exchange for a bass with rubbish finishing, and they send that out? What is the point in dealing with shops like this anymore, avoiding this kinda thing is what they're there for, other than just turning a profit. Better off by used from Bassbros, you know its been checked out thoroughly then.

As riveting as this is...

Wild contrast on the neck for sure. I've noticed that cheaper basses seem to have the overly dark neck when advertised as "Roasted Maple", I figure its just to emphasise that feature over a the cheaper model (I'm going to assume that the Z3 is not roasted?). It does look a bit silly. I'm surprised to hear these issues, I always had Sire down as being an excellent value for money builder, perhaps they're getting a little too successful to still excel at their price point?

Haven't heard of her before, seems a solid player, signature model worthy? Not sure. Looked her up and found out two things, one of which was a bit of an "ohhh" moment, and the other was shock. 1. She's a TikTok star, one of those who made Covid their career boost, so fair enough. 2. That isn't a stage name, she's actually called that The bass sounds nice enough, love a sparkle finish!

🙃

Yup. And her not openly speaking out/refuting it is in line with what you'd expect as well, given how they appear to treat deserters...

To be fair, Billy Sheehan didn't replace someone who committed suicide following mental illness, which is a big factor here, given scientologist beliefs. Which is why Im sure they would have made ABSOLUTELY sure she wasn't part of that cult.

Its difficult, I know Mark is a bit of a marmite character but I like and have a lot of time for him, all my interactions have been good and he is passionate as anyone about bass gear and finding the best gear for bassists. Its the staff that seem to get so many complaints, that mostly seem to center around not really caring about the job, which is a shame.

Yeah, I mean that alone ends the argument of whether it was the right response or not...

Nothing has been verified either way on this. Most popular consensus is her parents were and she was born into it, but has later rejected it. She may have taken the bull by the horns with it, as the lyrics to the new single could literally be about Scientology. One thing's for sure, Linkin Park would have looked into this in a hell of a lot of detail, as if she was the person some are trying to claim she is, it would destroy what's left of the band.

It saddens me a little to be honest, as there's certain points in that song where my mind suddenly flicks to Chester singing it Hybrid Theory and LP was a big part of my teen years and his death really hit me harder than expected. But the fact it makes me feel that way means she absolutely fits, so I really am looking forward to the new stuff. I think they've just really got to think about what old stuff they should include in the live sets going forward, as they need a lot of work for me and i'm not sure it'll ever really work well enough.

Actually disagree quite strongly with that. I think if Chester was replaced with another male, he would have almost zero chance of ever being accepted. She feels like more of a new singer than a replacement, I don't think a male could pull that off unless he had a totally different singing style.

Wow, this thread jumped straight in with the toxic. Gotta love the internet, and it's not even just young people it seems. Ugh. But, to briefly touch on that, I am sure the business Linkin Park have explored this to death and are satisfied with the outcome, it would be naive for anyone to think otherwise. On to the music, i'm mixed on her. I really didn't enjoy her performance of the early stuff, and asking the crowd to sing when she was obv struggling was an interesting move. But I really like her voice when she isn't trying to imitate Chester, and the new single is ace. Excited to hear the album!