LukeFRC

I would be interested in how well something like the variax works live for bass... does the pa eq need to change for every song?

In sound or looks or both?

If it helps you.... you can't without modelling like the Verix thing... Much of the sound is down to the pickup placement.... There's not space to put a P and a MM on the same body. The MM and the back pup of a Jazz also clash. Delano hybrid system is designed to do Jazz and MM sounds (look at Clover basses) ... but the MM pickup will be in the right place for a jazz tone, or a right place for a MM tone. My 55-94 gets kinda close ish... but it's precision, MM and jazz ballpark more than anything else... the preamp also makes a difference. Live it might get close enough to a P tone to get away with it, but not recording.

How versatile do you need? and if you are going for a known sound, how close does it need to be? a couple of years back I scratched an itch and built myself a versatile bass, two pickups, one in MM spot, the other kinda as close to the p spot, series/single/paralell on each pup, loads of switching options for blend and then a 2 band MM preamp... it was great and could do most things... but versatility got in the way for simplicity of playing for me. I would probably tend more towards having at least two basses, or if you don’t need super accurate something like the Lakland 55-94 I’ve got gets in the ballpark of a fair few sounds and weighs a lot less than the T40 I used to have

What have we told you about spending too much time on Talkbass!

Slap is often the quickest way to display your lack of musicality. The difference between those who can play slap musically and those who can't is a lot bigger than finger style or pick playing

I was wondering - you couldn’t do different effects per string but a piezo equipped bass though eq, multi band compression and/or an IR - I wonder how close you could get

How complex is the modelling on them out of interest?

F bass?

Skyline and Sandberg both decent. TBH there’s aren’t very many people making really bad basses. I would have a look through the for sale forums on here and find a few things that look nice and then ask for a balanced review or comparison of them- the most important consideration really isn’t the instrument but the music you’re going to play on it- if you are wanting to play funk the “best bass” advice might be a bit different from trad jazz or djent to try and sum up the argument above... more expensive basses are generally better. But not as much better than one would like if you’ve self justified spending loads on one. The other point of view is similar to if you’re just starting out driving you want a shiney Ferrari with go faster stripes and track suspension... actually to get to your average wage work and put the dogs in the back at the weekend a Honda jazz might be a better buy.

@TJ1 - what kinda music will you be playing? On the basis it's a first bass that needs to work in a lot of possible musical scenarios, it might not be your main or first instrument, and you don't know yet how much you would be playing it... buy secondhand. a Fender precision or Jazz bass is kinda the standard for the last 80 years of music. You're not going to go wrong turning up at an audition with one of them. Neither is better than the other, pick your top ten bands you want to sound like and see what they are mostly playing... Squier are the budget range and really very good. If you don't want a Fender I wouldn't stray far from the design. Yamaha make some amazing basses, G&L and Sandberg too. Sire do some decent Jazz copies. A secondhand Yamaha BB for 250-300 would be more than adequate. Musicman make some basses that are also very good and have their own sound. Ultimately secondhand £1000- 15000 gets you into a price range that you're going into specialist basses. You could buy a secondhand Sadowsky metro, Rickenbacker, or some custom that someone's had built. I've no doubt they will be great basses but how do you know that's specialism is what you want? If you're buying new even less reason to risk your money. If you see a bass that looks good, at a decent price for sale here on bass chat then you typically might be able to pick up something really really nice - just don't be blinded by shiny things! for additional info, I've been playing a while and bought secondhand... I've got 4 basses at the moment, Sadowsky metro, Lakland USA, early G&L and a early Warwick - I hate think what they would cost to buy new today (over £10k?!) - I've also got my friends Mexican Fender at the moment as it needed a new jack fitted... set up properly with nice new strings it plays no worse and is no less an instrument than any of the others.

How similar to a Pedulla Rapture shape do you find the Shuker Uberhorn or horn shapes? Or Sei Bass Original . They are in the same ballpark to my eyes. Sei is in London, and Shuker in the north Peak District. Both good Luthiers and people someone you can trust too in terms of being an established luthiers who knows their stuff. I'm sure you've read the threads on here and Talkbass where people have got their dream custom build and had it made and it hasn't been what they expected. Sticking with established maker's and variants of their designs hopefully could cut down on the risk of it not working out. Of course if you want a 50 inch fan fret with strings on both sides of the neck or something they are less likely to be interested, but it doesn't sound like what you've planned is super crazy?

that teal one is nice

the copy from the website @DiMarco doesn't meantion Japan at all though...

I started off as I has spent a silly amount on a fuzz pedal that I didn't ever use and wanted to sell it. Figured that I should post a few time for politeness sake... Then I realised that if I sold my spare bass for £X and added a little more money to it I could afford @warwickhunt's blue Streamer.... years and dozens of basses later I guess thanks basschat for the journey and the great people who I could trust to buy and sell too... I guess I did the thing most of us have done, where we go down a rabbit hole of GAS and wanting the latest shiny thing, and then back out again to the point you realise you're just happy with what you've got, and gear the player does not make. Shout outs to: @stevie for designing an amazing bass cab, @EBS_freak for helping me find some IEM that work, @Rick's Fine '52 for the JV Squier chat years back, @Bassassin for his japanese bass knowledge @owen for his love of intricate differences between preamps that you can defiantly tell in the mix, and probably a load more folk that I've enjoyed talking to that I can't think of right now.

Or used a drum machine!

I quite like it, it forces you to think about the basses role as providing the rythem more than usual

That’s cool @TrevorR our lot havent tried anything like that yet. I helped my mate from my old church with the design for the titles for this which is quite cool

Really? in the midst of lockdown you found a gig and they said love your playing, but we need a fretless 70s precision?

The latest update was supposed to have the 8 blocks wasn't it. I wonder if they rushed out the latest updated with the compressor for everyone stuck at home and moved the "more blocks" to the next one.

I think I would get to the point where I would probably just get a P bass though

Always wanted to try one of them