stewblack

OK, thank you everyone. I feel guilty now for the total thread hijack. Sorry @ClassicVibes. Back to the build...

OK so it's solderless, but what does it do differently from the stuff already in the bass?

Ah, well that explains it. I just need to know what 'it' means in this particular context.

Can anyone explain the Line Selector on this little box of tricks? I have read the manual and it didn't seem to shed any useful light on it.

I also read this. But cannot agree. Nothing wrong with it at all. However I am a passive bass kind of guy so if the preamp made it too hot or zingy I would have disliked it. Don't be fooled by talk if starter or back up basses. Harley Bentons are only cheap in one area. The price tag.

Never played the 5er but the 4 string is utterly faultless to my fingers and ears.

I often hear of these "Ki0gon solderless wiring" looms, but have always been to shy to ask what they are, why they're desirable and how do you know you need them.

Looking forward to this. Lots of pics of the wiring please!

I'm in.

I use a fungicidal cream

Oh you're expecting too? Congrats, I think mine might be twins.

It's not just neck dive, it's the way a bass tilts away from the body worries me

Folk on Basschat are famous for using an IKEA laptop stand for just this purpose. I bet someone will come along with a picture of it holding an amp. a link to help you out. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GMM74T0/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_-8-5EbKS0T0YW

Remember it like it was yesterday. Still using the RCFs too.

SG shape is on my ever expanding bucket list. Thing is @Dood could play a badminton raquet and make it sound better than any bass I ever played. Even having said that I liked the tones he was getting. My question is simple. With the strap button at the heel - how does it hang?

Been happily revisiting Basschat's dusty end this evening. Threads like this one in particular being very close to my heart. In a couple of days I will be rejoining the BF C/M club. I bought this superb set up from @Happy Jack a couple of years back. I loved it And who wouldn't? Then, a little way down the road, I spent the last of my pennies on an SVT. Can't sit an SVT on top of a Compact /Midget stack. Not unless you enjoy the precarious overhang of a 25 cwt head wobbling on top of a couple of cabs weighing no more than 2 polystyrene ceiling tiles. But lay the compact on its side, and presto! The world's loudest coffee table. So, being out of cash I offered my Midget (settle down at the back) in trade for a second Compact. Score! Basschat came through for me. Did the deal and the SVT was upon a throne worthy of such a piece of bass history. But I never ever stopped hankering for that Midget. I used to sit my Orange Terror on it, wait for the rest of the band to finish laughing at it, then turn them to blast shadows on the rehearsal room wall. I have my ultimate set up, with my Ashdown gear and my two Compacts. I don't need this. I have the flexibility I need for all the different bands I work with. But either on its own, or paired as the good Lord Alex intended, with its 15" pal, this, to me is one of the greatest boxes I've ever owned. Colour me excited.

Back on topic. The TCE Combo is a great option. I have the one with 2 x 8" speakers. Do they do a 15? I don't know but I have gigged (7 piece band, full kit, but not rock music) with the 208 and it just about hung in there. Fie rehearsals and home use it's a great, lightweight and compact solution.

God damn you had to remind me of her didn't you?

I thank God I won't have to do this for real. I will never be parted from my Aria. I've had it forever. Its been through 3 marriages, 4 children and countless bands and day jobs with me. But I have another Aria. A later, semi acoustic model. No Matsumoko cachét, not particularly valuable. But my dad bought it for me, knowing it would be our final Christmas together. I can still feel my sense of shock (we're not a grand gesture gift family. A paperback and a bottle of beer was more our mark.) as I opened it, still see the tears in my father's eyes. Not a happy choice for me, I lose not just an awesome bass, but a lot of history when I leave that Pro 2 behind.

Until a few years back I still had my first bass, a Kay ⚓. Unfortunately all my old guitars and basses, at some point became props for some insanity or other and got destroyed. I had the head of an acoustic mounted by a friend on a block like a trophy. He'd retrieved the smouldering remnant after a beach party where I had decided it would entertain those present if I was to strip naked and play the guitar having first set it on fire. Luckily we always took a bottle of petrol to facilitate a quicker start to the fire, so I had the necessary accelerant. And people still ask me why I stopped drinking. Anyway thanks to all this and other shameful tales, my longest owned is my Aria Pro ll. 1983, bought from Guitar Workshop up St Michael's Hill in Bristol. Still a fine instrument, if somewhat ravaged by the passing of time.

I've never relic'd anything, but I confess I find the whole thing fascinating. I used to be in the 'why would you?' camp, until it dawned on me that it's an art form all of its own. I love the creativity. @Cuzzie 's paint cracks and crazing is superb. As with all art you don't have to like every single example to appreciate it. Thanks for sharing your work.

When I was switching between the two I just had both turned up full I think.