neepheid

I had one of those bar type retainers pull out of the face of the headstock before - I won't use them again.

That's not a universal fact - some had alder bodies which were a whole lot lighter than the maple ones...

Never say never. Basses (especially higher value ones) are the first things to go if you get yourself in a financial pickle. There are basses I never intended or wanted to sell, but had to. It sucks, but so does being homeless. I'm not sure that's what the OP was getting at anyway, because I thought about listing some basses I currently have and hope never to have to sell. But I was thinking it was more along the lines of "stuff you've had for ages that you keep because it works well enough that you've never thought about replacing, even though it has been superceded at least once by a shinier model with go-faster stripes".

Can we please get back to discussing how people's gigs where they were playing at went? This thread has gone a bit off the rails recently with discussions about upcoming gigs (there's a different thread for that) and other extraneous stuff about gigs people have attended.

That's not weird at all. I also have a rough idea what I like and don't like based upon those kind of criteria, and Jazz basses can get in the effin' bin as far as I'm concerned. I'm you, basically

I've never felt any need to replace my Boss TU-2 tuner. Had it since I started playing. It's accurate enough, and I don't feel the need to get into a piddling contest about plus or minus cents with anyone.

Aye aye, min!

I know talking about the control mechanisms on a bass can be difficult to do without childish innuendo, but honestly, this seems deliberate to me...

Fnar, anyone?

That's micro USB, and yes, the worst of the bunch. Mini USB is pretty robust in my experience, but way too chonky for people's tastes at the time when micro USB became prevalent. Why did it take them so long to come up with USB-C?

I didn't say that...

We usually play sorta in a semi circle, drummer in the middle and the Zoom is in the middle, facing the drummer, at the opposite side of the room. Experiment and find out what works best for you - the room you're in might be a factor also. The guiding principle for me was to try to put some physical distance between the drums and the Zoom. Just remember to check the manual gain wheel before you start that it's at minimum, if your drummer is anything like mine

I use mine in MS (mid/side) mode, max separation (+6/150 degrees), low cut off, auto gain off.

Sorry mate, not rich enough to own both so can't help you! I have a distrust of bridge pickups, so I bought a Z7 to hedge my bets. Also wanted an ebony board, so it had to be a Z7 for me at launch time. They probably sound a bit different with all controls zeroed, but I suspect they can be made to sound similar if you tweak the controls on the Z7 enough, as it has the mid sweep and a passive tone control that the Z3 does not.

I'll be the first to mention Brian Pillans (earlplianz on eBay) then

Managed to avoid upsetting some ham radio enthusiast down the pub thus far - yes, I know I have a cavalier attitude towards this...

A second hand Sire P5(R), perhaps? Doesn't come up as often, but a second hand G&L Tribute LB-100 might just come in to that budget. Heh, OP, sell you mine if you like.

I dunno where you got the idea that UHF can be problematic for interference - I got the WS-70 *because* it was UHF to minimise interference by staying the hell out of the 2.4GHz band. I've been using mine for almost a year now and had zero dropouts unless I go on a wander and go too far, like round a corner of a thick wall or something - but it'll handle your average pub no problem.

Unless you're replacing a broken pickup, then aye, I think you're out. Wow, three in a day, I don't think I've ever seen that before.

Sounds ok to me, nothing to see here, carry on...

You can have @AndyTravis's one, he won it last year

I'm not getting personal, I'm making a comment on your opinion, not you personally! I broadly agree with you - I prefer old school BBs too and it's not some knee jerk reaction - I tried to like the BB434 I had but just couldn't get into it. I've owned a BB300, 350F, 450, 614 and 434, and I currently have a BB1200, so you can see that I tack very much in the old school direction. I'm merely pointing out that the use of dot inlays versus the ovals (or their modern reworking) to differentiate product tiers has been going on pretty much since the BB was created. That a BB234 has dot inlays is not in the least bit surprising to me. But your post has given me some pause for thought and having thought about it, I *am* a little surprised that the 434 has dots whereas previous 4 tier instruments had the ovals (424/414). I'll give you that - that's a disappointing shift of the tipping point where Yamaha sees the lines between their BB basses. Fancy (well, fancier) inlays won't make me like the new BBs any more though - they feel like they've gone on a diet, been streamlined or something I can't quite put my finger on. Some people might love that and think that old school BBs are obese, blobby and clunky, each to their own and all that.

So, you're just going to sidestep the main point of what I was saying - that it's nothing new under the sun for Yamaha to put the simple dot inlays on some BBs?