Bigwan

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1443681110' post='2876763'] Some excellent ideas here, thanks. I've thought quite seriously about the conversion idea, but I suspect there'd be worms everywhere. In particular I'd be worried about the tension on the neck, and about the pickup choice. Trouble is, it wouldn't really be possible to do a cheap "recce". By the time you've sourced & fitted extra tuners, replaced the nut, found a suitable bridge, and anchored the extra strings in the body, there's a pretty substantial investment gone into a mere experiment. On balance, buying a cheap bass that was designed and built as an 8 and then trying to improve it must make more sense. [/quote] All true... Doesn't stop me thinking about converting the Tokai Thunderbird I have hanging on the wall that I bought for peanuts. Big old neck on it, wide at the nut and with a strong truss rod (previous owner had STUPIDLY heavy strings on it - so much so they bent the baseplate of the bridge!). Only real issue is the frets are pretty knackered. Could be a goer though...

What about a conversion (as previously mentioned)? Something like the Ibanez on the other site: http://www.talkbass.com/threads/the-official-8-string-octave-courses-bass-club.456609/page-33

Eagerly keeping an eye open for a PB50 to appear again...

I was 7. Music meant absolutely nothing to me then - my folks were listening to Irish Country music mostly, which was, without exception, awful! Only really took an interest in music later in the 80's when "Appetite for Destruction" appeared. Special tune from the early 80's that stuck out for me was probably Paul Young "Wherever I Lay My Hat"... born bass player me... Couldn't have told you what was making "that" sound at the time though! Not a huge fan of Simply Red but my wife's mad about good old Mick. I was forced to watch them live from Montreaux on Sky Arts a few weeks ago (she's a Rugby widow at the minute so I wasn't too put out). Some of the "tunes" are just directionless dirge. A few highlights like "Stars" (to which my wife always cries cos it reminds her of the Richard E. Grant flick Jack and Sarah), but on the whole a pretty dreary affair. Tune in question isn't the worst by a LONG way...

[quote name='dmccombe7' timestamp='1443557390' post='2875824'] [url="http://s7.postimg.org/9tj4hu1i3/Dingwall_NG2_5.jpg"]http://s7.postimg.or...gwall_NG2_5.jpg[/url] As suggested by Moderators till my normal upload is sorted. Hope this works Dave [/quote] That's a sexy bass!

[quote name='Beedster' timestamp='1443543893' post='2875696'] You might want to check it's working properly Jack, I can't turn mine up very far before I start to feel my ears reacting? Plenty loud enough for me for sure, especially using the Aux in. [/quote] Echoes my experience too. Plenty loud enough for me. Could it have something to do with the impedance of your headphones?

[quote name='Romeo2' timestamp='1443546185' post='2875722'] Nope, can't tell a difference really; those who say they can hear it, hmm, I wonder if you still said that if the files were merged into one with no pause in between, and OP just saying, hey listen to this great drummer I just jammed with last weekend ... [/quote] Probably not!

Fender first then Jake I think. Second sounds more "modern" to me by a hair. Not much in it!

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1443525806' post='2875485'] Aren't they MIM...? [/quote] The P-bass Deluxe Special IS MIM. This looks extremely similar... If I were the OP I'd be having a wee word with Mark at Bass Direct...

[quote name='walbassist' timestamp='1443525390' post='2875477'] Looks like a [url="http://www.gak.co.uk/en/fender-active-p-bass-special-chrome-red-maple/15792"]Deluxe Active Precision Special[/url] to me, with upgraded bridge and pups. [/quote] I sold one of these recently. Other than the upgrades that's exactly what it looks like.

Sire Marcus Miller V7. Best money I've spent in a long long time. Hadn't heard much bad about them before, and now I have one I know why. A great bass at ANY money, but a total steal at the price. Like mine more and more every time I pick it up.

I just bought a brand new Ashdown CTM30 for 300 quid delivered. A lucky find - listed on eBay Italy as B stock but had never been out of the box. This has no bearing on this thread, I just had to tell somebody! I notice the same seller has another listed...

I would usually agree about CC, but last time I was in the Belfast store they had an SWR Triad for £135... They also had a Workingmans 15 combo for a pretty reasonable £199.

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1442602711' post='2868216'] Last night I played a gig at a new venue in town, where the backline is provided. For bass they had a Bass Terror 500 head into a 410 (don't know the model). It sounded pretty good! Pretty pretty pretty good! I wish I had had the chance to properly try it, its range, etc... but it's now on my radar. However when looking for reviews etc, I got the feeling there is (or was?) a reliability issue with them. Or some of them. It looks like there's a lot of love for these amps. It didn't give me the impression that it was shy on volume, although clean volume might be another matter (I do like a bit of dirt, and I mean a bit, just a hair)... Has anybody had the chance to compare the 500 to the 1000? Are they similar tonally? And volume-wise, is there much between them? [/quote] I've owned 2 of the 500 variety and can't imagine anybody needing more volume! Tonally it is a one trick pony with little variation available from the eq, but it's such a good trick I had no problem using it on both heavy metal and wedding gigs. I never bothered with the valve change, just ran the gain around 9 o'clock all the time for a bit of hair on the note. If I were gigging at the minute I'd have another in a heartbeat.

My rig in my metal band was an Orange Terror 500 (set quite clean - gain about 9 o'clock) into a Tech Soundsystems 4x12. Never had a better sounding rig. Used the same setup (albeit with a different bass) for a wedding/function band for a while without PA support and it covered the gig no problems, and in MUCH larger rooms than I would have played with the metal band. STUPID loud when required, even with the gain so low. I wouldn't necessarily say that you would want your sound squeaky clean for a heavy band - a little bit of grit can work wonders in helping bring the bass to the front in my experience (I've heard Nashville great Michael Rhodes describe it as a bit of fur around the note!) - but I wouldn't recommend full blown distortion except for effect.

€799 and €1199 respectively from a quick google trawl. A bit pricey I think. Surprised they didn't go for a 100w version too, but I suppose you're into V4 territory then... Agree on the preamp - if they want to go old-school why not do it properly?

[quote name='Merton' timestamp='1442233820' post='2865318'] What have you ordered? PM if you'd prefer to avoid derailing this further haha [/quote] PM incoming!

[quote name='Merton' timestamp='1442230767' post='2865277'] Funnily enough my exact thought process when I saw it... [/quote] Cheaper than what I sold my LB30 for actually. Really looking forward to owning one again. We seem to tread a lot of the same ground, gear-wise! Still have your old ACG Recurve as it happens, but it'll have to go to pay for the new one I've just ordered!

[quote name='Merton' timestamp='1442230269' post='2865267'] Hahaha! From Italy perchance? Same shop I bought mine from Enjoy it, I love mine! [/quote] Indeed it was! Couldn't pass it up at the price!

[quote name='Merton' timestamp='1442086633' post='2864383'] Ashdown CTM30 with two Barefaced Super Compacts - much louder than you'd credit and frankly glorious [/quote] Like that rig a lot! Loved the LB30 I used to have... Might have to keep an eye out for another one! Edit: Merton, I'm holding you entirely responsible... Just ordered a b-stock ctm30 off eBay! Time to shred the credit card I think...