neepheid

I wouldn't record with it, but in the mix when the whole band is playing, I've found it tolerable. Definitely don't go more than 3 semitones down though in any circumstance, at least with the one I'm using - yes it technically does what you ask but it's not happy. Up seems to fair better.

As long as no-one strays into "5 string superiority complex" territory, we'll all get along just fine

Are you calling me a silly billy?

I just use a pitch shifter if the singist says "can we do this song x semitones up/down?" I'm not re-learning the positions! We have the technology! I don't care if anyone thinks it's "cheating".

Sounds legit. Serious business though - do you operate a swear jar in the middle of the board, and whoever lands on Free Parking gets the dosh?

You want to play Monopoly? You strange, strange person

Does it even matter? Just play what you want, and I'll do same.

Dinky!

Fit's 'at for, brakkin' shop windaes?

Oh, get with the times, gramps

Ringo? The best parking app in the world? He isn't even the best parking app in the app store...

OK, the rest of the money came through this morning. Bizarre! My invoice for my time/materials seems to have been blithely ignored. I don't know how much I can be bothered pushing it, this has been some slog! Sod it, I'm calling this whole saga done. It's been a right old faff, ngl. The first time something's gone seriously wrong for me with a Thomann order. The experience has not been good. Having said that, you have to put these things into perspective. This will probably not dissuade me from using them again - statistically it's a blip, I've been using them for 17+ years and it's the first time something's gone proper wrong.

Just pure FOMO, innit?

Right, I think they've got very confused. On further digging I figured out what the "random" part refund is - I used a gift voucher to partially pay for the bass, and the amount tallies up with the value of the gift voucher. But where's the rest of it?

Unbelievable. Store credit?! EFF OFF, I want a refund. No email either, apparently that happened yesterday, the only reason I knew anything had happened is that I've got a random amount of money in a bank transfer today from Thomann (my cheeky invoice maybe, but not the amount I invoiced them for?). What in the hell is going on? This is pretty bloody poor show. Bad comms. Away to chase them up again.

God knows why there's such a disparity in pricing, but all the usual suspects in the UK have this at £320, but it's £239 at Thomann.

That actually took longer than I expected, but expected it was.

Absolutes: not a Jazz, not a short scale, 4 string, must weigh at least 8lbs I have a vague, negotiable list of secondary characteristics which are preferences rather than absolutes - prefer a >40mm nut, prefer humbuckers, prefer an odd number of pickups etc. Beyond that, it's looks and what my gut tells me.

To be fair (let's be fair - it allows a retention of the high ground) - it looks like there's a slot for a zero fret, so the nut slots would be deeper and the nut's job is purely and simply as a string guide.

Thanks for the clarification. Yes, if you're paying for some of it then it's time to bow out. It's been a good run though. Mrs. Neepheid is a star, but she does not know that much about basses - she took me round the guitar shops, and when I found something I liked she said well, I'm getting you this. She knew I was "aff it" - I thought I was just going round having a look for the sake of having a look!

This was bought for you as a gift? Unsolicited (as in not a case of "go and buy this for me so I can get around the rules")? That's your get out clause then. During my successful year, Mrs. Neepheid bought me a bass (a Reverend too, from the same shop, oddly enough) as a spur of the moment, unsolicited gift.

No, you can't have it both ways - the deposit argument is to allow for arrivals in the following year. It goes from when the order is placed. I have something on back order, slated to arrive at the end of January next year. Because I have paid for it this year, that would goose me for this year (if I hadn't already KOed myself anyway back in May), but I will not be disqualified next year when it arrives.

Many of my 10 basses are stock and sound great: Epiphone Jack Casady G&L L-1000 G&L Tribute LB-100 Yamaha BB1200 Sire D5 Sire Z7 Does that make them all magic?

Wow, exactly 20 days, finally they have acknowledged that they have received the return. I wonder if they'll pay the "invoice" I sent them, or just ignore it...

I'm not a knob twiddler at the gig - I modify things at the pedal board - EQ, OD, synth, pitch shifting. That's "dramatic" changes to me. The knobs on the bass don't really make that much difference in the grand scheme of things as far as I'm concerned - I'm set and forget, as long as I've got some mids to play with, I'm a happy boy. I buy basses because they're pretty and match certain specifications, some of which are negotiable. But whether they're active or passive means very little to me. I only have one active bass right now, that's a Sire Z7, and I bought it because I liked the looks of it. That's just the way the cookie has crumbled right now, have owned many active basses in the past. I do think that every active bass (with passive pickups) should come with a passive "get out of jail free" mechanism, even if it's raw pickup output. I know it is our responsiblity as players to keep on top of batteries, but to err is human, and it's far better to be able to limp to the end of a song with the flick of a switch rather than just go silent IMO.