neepheid

Epiphone and Squier until I die!  I've never felt a need to put a bass's big brother's clothes on and steal his ID to try and go to the pub or something.  I was going somewhere with that metaphor, then I got lost.

My basses are what they are, what they were, and what they'll always be.  The only time I've replaced a decal it's either been like for like (when I restored an old Hagstrom), or gone down the comedy route (put "Fecker Imprecision Bass" on a bitsa).  Apart from that, it is what it is.

55 minutes ago, BassmanPaul said:

Just as a comment: I am surprised how many people don't understand a bass with more than four strings. To me it just gives me more choices in finger positions.

 

I did have three six string basses but on learning that my nephew plays bass, he's at Oxford, I sent him my newest six. He loves it. I now have just my original fretted six in white and my natural Koa wood fretless. I found that the standard J size pickups installed on the bass were a bit weak on the outer two strings so I replaced them all with EMG soap bars. That solved the problem.

 

When I ordered the fretless that vast expanse of Ebony called a fingerboard scared me a bit so I had fret lines installed. The whole instrument is a dream to play!

 

Just as a retort: I understand a bass with more than four strings, I just don't care about them, or personally see a need for them in my line of bass work.  I also think they look a bit wrong and for all the finger position choices they provide, on the other hand they also limit my choices in basses I can buy/play - sticking with four strings my cup runneth over.

Many ways to look at it.  My viewpoint is only one in a sea of opinions.

Just want to echo what's already been said - I had a fun afternoon and it was great to see you all!

4 minutes ago, woodyratm said:

Great plan. I was gonna see who in BrewDog would look like they played bass. 😂

 

Damn, is it that obvious?

Looking forward to seeing you in a few hours at the Union Square Brewdog.  A thought occurred that not everyone knows each other, so some kind of identifier/marker for the table might be an idea.  Therefore, this extremely quickly cobbled together homemade thing will be on our table - look for the clef!

See you soon!

Indeed, just a wee bump to say see you Sunday!

FYI, Brewdog is card only, nae cash.  Hope that's OK.

As long as I've not got a gig on...

#1 - Paul @NancyJohnson

#2 - Paul #2 @prowla

#3 - Martin @Merton

#4 - @Wombat

#5 - Andy @Wolverinebass

#6 - Stevie @stevie
#7 - Lozz @Lozz196

#8 - Matt @neepheid

2 minutes ago, AlanG said:

Many thanks for the advice and info. No offence meant to the seller and I have bought and sold a fair bit of guitars/amp/pedals etc over the years (don't all musicians have GAS tendancies...?).  Second hand is always a bit of a punt. I have sh stuff that I bought 15 years ago and still works perfectly, but then I bought a portable mixer for the church a while ago for 'off site gigs' that worked perfectly for a couple of months and is now very unreliable and too old to be serviceable.

It's often a balance between the costs/risks/benefits/good luck of sh, or the comfort of a warranty on new stuff.

I totally get what you're saying second hand vs. new.  I wasn't suggesting you had anything against the seller - just trying to put your mind at ease, that's all.

But if you'd like another data point for your investigations - my BH250 was also second hand.  Probably doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things, but just giving you all the info I can think of which is relevant.

The BQ250 does also look like a great shout, but it's always a compromise.  I did consider it when I was looking for a backup amp.  With the BQ you get a more controllable preamp gain (being a pot rather than a switch between two levels on the BH), a clip light, an extra band on the EQ and built in compression (which, arguably you can have on the BH if you load up the Spectracomp toneprint).  But you lose the built in tuner, the mute switch and the Toneprint of the BH.  For me, the features found in the BH were more important to me than those found on the BQ

Believe me, I was sceptical about the simple passive/active gain switch vs. a knob - but it works well for me in practice so I guess the two levels the switch works at were well chosen.

Both amps are probably great.

2 hours ago, AlanG said:

Thanks for that, I had already spotted this.  Looks fairly scuffed, which suggests that it's not been looked after for something so small that could have easily been protected. It's probably perfectly ok.

Also, no interest in faffing with the toneprint stuff, I could do that with the Spectradrive but have never bothered.

BH250 user here - I enjoy having my little beastie very much.  I use it as my backup at gigs, at rehearsals, for practice at home where it especially excels - so convenient with 3.5mm jacks for line in and headphones, built in tuner, and Toneprint (worth it for the Spectracomp alone).  And a blessed mute switch!

That one for sale in the marketplace may be scuffed, but the price is commensurate with the condition IMO.  I'd have bought it in a heartbeat if I didn't already own one!  I can't speak for previous owners, but the current owner/seller is a tip top chap who I know personally and vouch for, if that helps.

Date depending, of course, but I'd be interested, aye.

I had a decent play of it last night (as in through a "proper" amp - TC Electronic BH250) but still in headphones.  What an interesting experience!  I found a very useable tone control - almost like an active control in the sense that to my ears the "home" position is about half way - this is where the bass does its best P-bass impression.  You can still turn it to zero for some dubby goodness, but if you turn it to 10, it unleashes some borderline obnoxious mids, which I'm betting will cut through great live.

In a world where the vast majority of time I've got a passive tone control wide open, this is an unusual but welcome development which I have not encountered before.  Their choice of 500k pots in this might be part of the reason why this is happening (I would guess 250k is typical on your average P bass?)

Anyway, TL:DR, it sounds gud and I can't wait to give it a proper razz in a band context.

9 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

I really, was, totally joking 

I know, min, it's all good. Banter++

OK boys, simmer doon!

This is why I won't spend six grand on a bass - because I can spend about 1/20th of that on this kind of thing instead.  1998 DeArmond Jet Star "Spel", Gumby, Dali, melty - whatever you want to call it.  It just made me laugh so much I had to buy it.  This example is in good nick, the only issue is that the knobs have disintegrated a little and the silver "D" discs in the top are long gone.  Anecdotally, this was a common issue - seen a bunch of them online with replaced knobs.

This is the long scale (34") bolt on version.  The short scale one is fancier (two pickups, set neck) but I don't dig shorties so it had to be this one.  Honestly I'd have loved a green one, but they're rare as hell, so a cherry red one is an acceptable alternative.

Hard to photograph with the phone camera - the cherry red is much deeper than this and you can see the wood grain through it - phone just doesn't have a clue and goes "duh, it's red".  Nevertheless, here it is.

I've only played it in headphones and my office amp (Laney 30W HCM30B) so far, with whatever scabby strings it arrive with.  But even with that stacked against it, it sounded pretty good - the split P pickup being more towards the bridge makes for an interesting sound, not completely devoid of bottom end and P-esque, but just a bit twangier or something.  I've since given it the once over - a good clean, lemon oiled the fretboard (it was so dry!), restringed and setup fettled with.

Here it is when it first arrived next to one of my T-birds.  Welcome to the wonky family!

I'm sure I've got a redundant pedal or two to contribute...

I'm not angry, I just think it's stupidly overpriced.  You may disagree, and that's OK.  I'm entitled to my opinion, and if I feel moved enough to do so I will share it.

But I took one look at the email that guitarguitar sent through and I said "HOW EFFIN' MUCH?!", out loud.

More power to you if you buy one.  If I had six grand hanging around to spend on basses, I'd buy five or six excellent basses.  This kind of fetish object is an enigma to me.

1 minute ago, Bass Direct said:

Things change, prices go up, these aren't much more than a StingRay Retro  

 

I'm not blaming you - I just have a different idea of what I'm prepared to pay for any bass, and these surpass that level by a fair order of magnitude.

It's absolutely nuts.  Bonkers price.  Hard pass.

When I saw the title, I thought/hoped you meant one of these:

Shoulda known better!

4 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

I know it was a joke, I was just suggesting someone would need your unique taste to feel the same way about a triple pup Greco 

That, I cannot argue with.

1 minute ago, woodyratm said:

Initially it was “sorry - prices are needing to go up. You know what it’s like”. 

Everywhere I’ve seen so far has been about 40-60 - which id have been happy with paying. 125 for the same service seems bit of a kick. 

Classic Aberdeen mentality, thinking it can charge "London prices" for things

Just now, Geek99 said:

Only in some parallel universe where “uniquely personal taste” is celebrated beyond all reason

It was a joke... does not stand up to scrutiny - what absurdity based jokes do?

I'm a big advocate of self-sufficiency, at least up to a level of doing basic setup (relief/intonation/action) work.  Setup is personal - and it's really not difficult.  Of course when you get into territory like what is being discussed here, it's player's choice if they want to stretch themselves and learn these other skills.  Me personally I do all my setups, I'm OK with the electronics if it's not too taxing, replacing hardware is fine, and I'm currently at the grinding back ratty fret ends/knocking down proud frets kinda stage.  Mostly using improvised tools, because I'm a cheapskate.

3 minutes ago, woodyratm said:

Ramjam. I like them, but feels a bit much. 
 

 

I don't have much data to go on when it comes to Ramjam - the only time I engaged their technical services was over 2 years ago for a full rewire of a bass, which cost £50, which I thought was pretty reasonable at the time.  But who knows what it would cost me today, sorry.

If you don't mind naming names - which local establishment have you been going to at which you have noted the price rise?