Ed_S

It was indeed! I liked the 600 but the 1000 just had what I could only describe as more 'immediacy' to it. I should go dig it out and see if it's as good as I remember now I've got completely different basses and cabs.

Interesting for sure, but I don't know about the predicted outcome - I had an ABM500 and an ABM1000, both based on the EVO3 preamp board, and I found them substantially different - power rating aside. Whether anyone else would agree, which one they might prefer and why, and whether any difference could be attributed solely to the class of the power stage is, of course, all open for discussion. I also briefly had an ABM600 that I felt was closer to the 1000 but still not quite as good in my opinion, so I sold the 600. That said, I know of at least one other BC member that had both and gave the 1000 honourable mention, but preferred and kept the 600.

When it comes to cheap bits like that bridge, I just head to eBay or Amazon and pick the cheapest supplier with new stock available. Of course if your bridge is mechanically sound, it will only be an aesthetic and possibly tactile (depending on where you rest your hand) 'upgrade' to fit something like the Wilkinson in place of the stock one. The bridge that came on mine had really loose grub screws which would rattle as I played and eventually end up with the saddles dropping to the deck, so it wasn't actually fit for purpose. I tried my pot of spare screws but I couldn't put a set together with the right thread pitch which would hold in place any better, so I just replaced the whole unit.

I bought a very similar PJ-5 HTR as a spare to leave at our rehearsal studio. It was a bit of a mess when it arrived, but most of the work to get it playable just involved sandpaper and files. The bridge was junk, though, so I replaced that with a cheap but stable Wilkinson WBBC5, and the pots were scratchy so I fully rewired with good quality parts, and shielded the control cavity while I was at it. When they were attached to a decent wiring loom, I actually thought the stock pickups sounded pretty good! I could justify £30ish in parts to make a £120 bass as solid and reliable as possible, but I wouldn't be splashing out on fancy pickups for it. Free advice is worth exactly what you pay for it, but if your HB is physically fine then mine would be to shield, rewire, restring and then just enjoy playing it for what it is.

I bought a job lot while they were on sale at G4M a few years back and used a few sets. Never had any breakages, no obvious defects or DoA, they don't stretch for miles, and they seem to stay sounding about the same for a reasonable length of time from new. To play, I think they sound on the slightly brighter side of generic, and they feel like a slightly rougher Slinky but didn't seem to cause any additional finger or fret damage for it. The process of putting them on is a bit like handling barbed wire because of the way the wrap trails off, but once they're on that's broadly irrelevant and there's actually plenty of length past the taper so if you have a standard scale bass with a longer or reverse headstock they're pretty handy. However, the wrap down the business section of the thicker strings is sufficiently open (and not due to twisting during cack-handed installation) that I found it grabbed and plucked any hair which made contact.. head, arm, dusting-paintbrush; all at risk! I'm not massively hirsute, but they had me enough times to make me think sod it and stop using them. Ultimately they were mostly used up during the ceremonial last cleans and setups of basses I was selling during the recent purge, so hopefully some sets got a bit of use before they went in the bin.

I think soapbars only came in on the 3rd iteration of the BBN4, but there were definitely some BBGx models around at the same time that had them. As we were back in the days when music shops would give you glossy printed catalogues to take away and make your choices, I remember spending a lot of time leafing through that Yamaha one. I was mainly wondering what on earth you'd need 5 and 6 strings for, and if I'd even be able to play 4 of them, but if you hooked me up to a polygraph I'd say that I remember the model number and also the sticker on the back of the headstock really clearly. 🙂 That's a cool colour for the N5.. and the guard is a clever addition - like it! My BB405 ended up with a pair of EMG-LJs in it, a Neutrik locking jack as I was fed up of the barrel ones failing, and chrome dome knobs. Think I might still have the original pickups and speed knobs in my bits box, but sadly they're all that remains of my formative Yamahas. I do still have what I think was my second (or maybe third..) bass. Very much not a Yamaha...

Mine was a Yamaha BBN4-ii in 'yellow natural satin'. When I went all-in on 5 strings the first time round, I traded it in (might have been against a BB405 in the same finish) and never really concerned myself with where it might end up. It was a really nice instrument, though, so I kinda hope that somebody else enjoyed and valued it after me.

I'm very much in the "probably shouldn't" zone myself, and am working on having had my current selection for a long time. It was a near-complete clearance and switch back to 5 strings, though, so we're only ranging between about 1 and 6 years together at the moment. Fortunately I've reached a point where if I decide I want something and then take a few hours agonising over specifications, finish, potential upgrades, who has the best deal etc. and then finally put it in my basket and sit there having made the decision to buy it... I can usually just remove it from the basket having had my fun. In the various recent Black-Friday/Winter/Xmas/January sales I reckon I've seriously chosen about three basses, a couple of amp heads, a guitar and a guitar cab, all of which I enjoyed shopping for, and none of which I actually bought.

I'd genuinely like one of those... if only they'd make it with parallel frets and pickups 🙂

I've played Markbass LM2 and LM800 heads through an Ashdown ABM410T, and I've played Ashdown ABM600, ABM1000, MiBass-550 and RM800 heads through a Markbass STD104HR. The 104HR maybe went a bit louder than the 410T before getting 'shouty', but aside from the weight I honestly didn't think there was all that much difference between them where it mattered. I also played Hartke, Mesa, GK, Orange, Peavey and Ampeg heads through that Markbass cab while I owned it, and to my ear they all sounded like what they were.

I think the Micromark 801 is a great little combo and sounds much 'bigger' than it is. Since the OP is all for ease of transport, I will mention that the strap handle is small to the point where I can get maybe three fingers under it, so I always put it in a bag to transport it. The old Minimark 802 was nice enough, but I didn't keep it as it was heavier and somehow more awkward to carry than my CMD121p, and the latter was cheaper, louder and more versatile. If I ever find or form another acoustic group to go round the showcases, coffee houses and cafés circuit with, I expect the 801 will be what I reach for.

Years ago we played an event with Control The Storm while she was with them, and around the same time another gig with a band I guess she was depping for. Both were only small gigs but I remember that she had great stage presence and really made the effort to put on a show, so it's great to see that having worked hard she's at home on much bigger stages now. The last Fate album I bought was '9', so it's been a while.. but whatever you think of them, you can't deny it's a pretty cool gig.

Many little metal bars only have a stage big enough for you to play your triangle.

I do like a good number of Finnish metal bands, but they tend to be on the more melodic end of the genre spectrum. I think the songs sung in Finnish sound great, but sadly, with the exception of a few rude words learned from Alexi Laiho interviews, I have very little idea what's being discussed. I've not noted any dodgy symbolism and they seem like nice enough sorts, so hopefully no objectionable politics in there. Last month was time to break out the Raskasta Joulua playlist - the only Christmas music I've ever had any time for.

From your list, I have an SR1305-SB and I'd say that the review video on Bass The World where they call it a workhorse with a solid, versatile tone that sits well in a mix is spot on and describes perfectly the bass I received. No quality issues out of the box, and it's thus far been very stable. Mine weighs almost exactly 4.0kg. Personally I prefer the CND / Nordstrand pickups to the licensed Barts in other Ibanez basses I've owned, which isn't to say the Barts are bad, but they just lack a bit of character for my money; I find them a bit bland.

Afraid I just returned it to stock config and chipped it in at Bass Direct about a year and a half ago, so I have no idea where it ended up after that. Sorry! It was a very nice bass, though - hopefully somebody is enjoying it.

I had a white one as my main bass for ages - only moved it on fairly recently when I decided to go fully 5-string again. Went with a BAII bridge and the catchily named Delano PMVC 4 FE/M2 pickup in mine. Fine as it was, don’t get me wrong, I just preferred the look.

I've used Gator and SKB (roto-rack) shallow cases for LM heads before and they fit just fine. Consider buying the 3U or 4U instead of the 2U, though. It's not that much heavier or massively more expensive, but... if you go for the Gator you'll get proper bar handles, there's more room for air circulation (vented rack blanks for the front look pretty slick), there's room to store cables if you want, you don't have to take the feet off the amp and inevitably lose them, and when the case is stood on its end it'll be harder to knock over.

Clearly a minority opinion, but if she's a passable backing vocalist who knows the set, doesn't mind that you sometimes gig without her, has the stones to cover lead in the event of sudden illness or incapacitation, and you all get on alright to the point where it's not fallen apart in the last couple of years, then I see some value in that. The softest-touch approach might be to say that having had the opportunity to watch the videos she posted, you think that for the sake of keeping the band sound and image consistent you really don't want to book any more gigs when male lead vox is unavailable. That gives her the opportunity to stay on (and maybe even step up and save the gig for you one day) but in a clearly defined backing role.

The E on my USA Jazz 5 is at about 2.25mm, but on my Stingray 5 is closer to 3.5mm. Both feel perfectly reasonable to me so I'd say 3mm isn't necessarily too high - it's just personal preference.

Fair question - the slot for the B on my Jazz V looked very much like whoever cut it only had files for a 4 string on their bench, so just used the E file as best they could. Bit of a mess with daylight under the string until I'd sorted it, and there was plenty of material left in order to sort it. USA Fenders come (or at least they used to) with a T-handled, ball-ended 3/16" hex wrench as part of the 'case candy'.

I was never much of a fan of that type of bridge on my 4 string USA Standard P, but it set up alright with the 40-100s that I was using back then. When I got a matching 5, though, I found it unworkable as the B saddle ended up grounded out with the action still too high even though the neck relief was set absolutely fine. Intonation was also a significant problem. I considered tapered strings and other possible fixes, but in the end I just moved the bass on. When I got a good deal on a USA Pro I Jazz V a couple of years ago which had the same bridge and the same problem, I'd already decided on a drop-in replacement Hipshot 'A style' bridge for it using some of the money I was saving. I find it a substantially nicer piece of engineering to work with, and it completely deals with the issue for me. If the neck turns out to be alright, it might be an option to consider if the deal is good enough to make it worth a try.

Having witnessed a few different versions of what goes on when an instrument fails mid-gig and not liked any of them, and also having had a near miss myself when I only had one bass with me (a passive P - nothing fancy), I now take two basses whenever it's feasible. Since making that decision, I've somewhat predictably never needed the spare and always just left it in the bag. It's either a cheapo that would just get me through rather than being any kind of pleasure to play, or it's essentially the same as the one I'm playing just in a different colour, so ultimately there's been either no desire or no benefit respectively to swap them over. When I used to take two basses to some gigs because one was in a different tuning with heavy strings on it, changing instruments always broke the flow of a relatively fast-paced set regardless of how well it was done. We eventually all switched to using Drop pedals because whilst they didn't sound quite as good (especially on bass) as a dedicated instrument for the lower tuning, the instant switch and very slight loss of quality was infinitely better for the performance and maintaining the attention of the audience than faffing about changing instruments. We always tried to keep it to a single physical change, too - swap to the alternate tuning and finish the set in it - so the pedals also allowed us to put those songs anywhere in the set. Personally, if I was considering swapping back and forth multiple times per set for reasons of tone, I'd first be spending some quality time with an EQ pedal seeing if I could get both instruments to sound close enough to the other that I didn't have to.

Yeah, the neck would annoy me if I could feel the ding. The fretboard scuff probably wouldn't worry me as much, but as a very general rule, if my immediate reaction was disappointment I'd put it straight back in the box and try again. I actually had similar issues with an SR1825 around this time a couple of years ago. It was supposedly 'brand new in box' but had a chunk out of the neck, dings in the body and even a piece of veneer snapped off. That went back, no discussion.

Yup, they tend not to make junk. I would definitely spend the two hundred on a new Pacifica 112. Mainly because about 23 years ago, that’s exactly what I did and it served me extremely well.