Wilco

For me;- 1) Artificially reliced finishes - no, just bloody no….. 2) Solid colour bodies 3) Non matching headstock 4) The 3TSB / Rosewood fingerboard / torte pickguard combination 5) Spring spacing less than 18mm 6) Pointy designs 7) More than 5 strings Think that’s about it. 🤔

Generally look a huge amount of bass for the money. Would’ve left the pick guard off though, instead as an option for the buyer to put on or not depending on personal taste. Not a fan of Luminlay’s either. You would have to buy with the full intention of it being a ‘keeper’ too - depreciation on these will be steep, probably unfairly so.

My non-Westone’s were bought in the same price bracket circa £1000 -£1300. Two new, two used. The Westone’s we’re much cheaper, but are equally as good as the others without a doubt. That was a sobering realisation…. 😆 Extremely happy with them all mind.

So I’ve recently bought some PA gear, & had to free up some space at home to store it in. One of the ‘casualties’ of making that space was my Thunder 1A. It was a very nice example & it had a proper but worn Westone case. I only listed it a couple of weeks ago & I first put it on the usual FB Groups with every intention of putting on here too. However I was gobsmacked by the amount of likes & positive comments received on those FB group posts. There was loads in a short space of time & they kept on coming. The bass was ‘on hold’ within a day & I had 7 other solid “can I buy it” messages come in. They only stopped when I edited the ad to ‘on hold’. The price I put it up for & got was £295, but I think if I’d gone £350 - £400 it would’ve easily sold judging by the demand. Hindsight is a wonderful thing 😆. Anyways long story short, the Westone name is a bit ‘cult’ obviously, but great to see that the brand still appears to have such a strong following - and by players younger than the brands 80’s heyday too!! (I still have two Thunder III’s & they are going no-where!!)

Awesome - good to know. Many thanks 🙂

I’m looking to invest in a PA & was looking at these. Do you DI into it using no other backline, or do you have to support it with your normal amps / cabs etc? Appreciate that might depend on the type of venue, but in general terms. I wouldn’t be able to get that & my backline at the same time in my motor!! 😆

Due to relative lack of use thanks to the sodding pandemic, I’m rotating my basses for rehearsals at the moment. The Thunder 1A was the choice tonight;- Obviously not as tonally wide as the Thunder 3 above, but it still got great comments. Both those have DR Sunbeams on & through that rig, they genuinely sound well beyond their respective price points. Bargains!

Fair to say solid colour basses don’t really do it for me anymore… Current roster;-

PM’d!

No, not all immediately recent - obtained over the last year in various ways. First one was the Thunder 3 fretted, acquired locally about a year ago. It was the classic been under the bed for 20 years job, but had a failed pickup, green frets & was a bit sad looking generally. I could see it was fundamentally sound though and just needed a lot of TLC, which I gave it & got the pick up fixed by Kent Armstrong via my local (most excellent) music store, Kempsters. Second one was the Thunder 1A, picked up off of here about 6 months ago. Paid probably top dollar for this one, but it did come with an original case. Also needed some TLC but not as much as my first one did. My first ‘proper’ bass as a teenager in the ‘80’s was a Thunder 1A. By now I was smitten with my more recently acquired Westone’s, & the 1A sounded even better than I remembered when played through my modern decent backline. So when a mint Thunder 3 fretless came up for sale about three months ago at Bass Direct, I was in like a shot! No second thoughts. Due to a talent shortfall on my part, the fretless will probably stay a home player lol. The fretted 3 & 1A have both been out on rehearsal duty already & sounded brilliant. I’d never owned a Thunder 3 before and after playing bass for 40 years or so, I’d say the one I have is one of the nicest basses I have ever heard. Very happy with this trio, it has to be said 🙂.

First rehearsal with a new band. 70’s Disco covers so plenty of notes to get through! Thunder 3 performed superbly well. It drew some very positive comments about looks & sound. Would gig this bass very happily without any second thoughts at all. 🙂

Top stuff. Taking my Thunder 3 to rehearsal tomorrow night.

My first ‘proper’ bass was a Thunder 1A back in the mid eighties. In the last year I have purchased two III’s & a 1A. Yes they have their ‘issues’ - balance on a strap, weight, & the treble side of the pre-amp is not great. However, I can get very, very useable sounds out of each, the materials used are top notch, the construction is high quality, & playability is a breeze. I love all three. I’ve probably spent about £1k on them in total. A couple of my other basses I spent that on each one. Those are superb basses too, but the Westone’s have kinda questioned my sanity on expensive bass purchases it has to be said…..

Very much so in conjunction with the actual weight obviously. A few years ago at the same time I had a Steinberger Synapse & a very ‘heavy’ mark 1 Sire Jazz. The Synapse felt like a feather in comparison on a strap. Turned out they were both the same weight…..