Killerfridge

I think (think) the name comes from a portmanteau of "Simulator" and "Amplifier", rather than the word "simplify"

I suspect you're likely right. There was an email chain posted on TB where Ken pretty much stated he had nothing to do with Brubaker right in the middle of the contract. I doubt that went down with Kevin Brubaker, and is probably just a glimpse into their relationship

I'm just relying on the fact the defaults on the Atlas are all very good and useable

I would feel pretty bad learning my Ken Smith is built by someone else, but at the same price. Not that Brubaker couldn't make it just as well as KS, but that's why I would be paying the premium. Kinda like if Warwick built Sadowskys just cost the same as the ones built by Roger

I was about to say that Ken Smith and his workshop don't even make the basses anymore (it was subcontracted to Brubaker guitars), but apparently they've taken back production. Still it's a crazy price right?

About £3-4k

Mark very kindly sent me a picture from his Instagram to help me get a feel for the shape. I think it's quite good, it's definitely grown on me

Yeah I think that maybe going too far to say a passive fender naturally gets lost in a mix

I don't think that's controversial at all; I think certain basses fall into general sound categories: F bass and Sadowsky are both Jazz sounds; Fodera (personally) sounds fairly uninspiring and generic (not bad by any stretch, but I would never think "aha, that's a Fodera"). I'm surprised at how right you are about the Sadowsky Moderns sounding like Ken Smiths. I've never liked the Modern, and I really like the Smiths, but hearing them next to each other I wouldn't be able to tell you which one was which. It's funny how much visual bias plays into your hearing!

I mean the pudgy Mark Jones version!

I've actually come around to the slightly pudgy KS look, I quite like it now!

More like "fusion"

From my reading since seeing this thread, it sounds like he already got in hot water from KS, and has since altered his designs enough that they are no longer interested. I could be wrong though, as it sounds like "heard from a guy who heard from a guy". He's also posted photos on insta to show the lack of neck dive, which I can't say I'm 100% convinced by, but it has a least got me slightly interested

The more I look at them, the more they are growing on me...

That "fatness" is the Fodera Imperial influences (I think anyway)

I've only just come around to the look of Ken Smiths, and these look like they've got a bit of Fodera Imperial in their blood too. I'm not sure I like the combination, but I wonder if given time I couldn't be convinced

Holy moly, that is a good looking copy! Like, really good; if it plays a quarter as good as it looks, you've got a great bass

I love his tone and playing, and the little line of fills from around 1:52 are some of my absolute favourites, especially in terms of articulation:

Also I don't know if it's a new thing, but I'm really enjoying the BD YouTube channel

The Gojira plugin has been a surprise success for me. I got it just because I thought it would be fun for the octave effects (and for guitar obviously), but it's got some great bass sounds too

Not a huge fan of the guy, but JHS pedals did a video recently on the costs of bringing a pedal to market, and he pointed out that original designs taken much less R&D than inspired by/clones of other pedals. Just thought it was interesting

You just need to do one

Wowzers!

As someone not familiar with it, can we see a photo of the full thing?

I love the VTC, I think it's one of the best onboard preamps around. It just gives "more" i.e. when people say "jazz bass on steroids", the VTC is the steroids. It boosts just in the right places to emphasizes that jazz bass two-pickup-scoop sound