Linus27

I've not really bought that much this year that jumps out as a wow, this is amazing. I've certainly played some things which have made me go wow which was the Fender Vintera II Telecaster bass, an Orange Crush 100w Combo and a Fender Rumble 500 Combo but I've not purchased any of them. What I did purchase was the following, 1. Squier 40th Anniversary Vintage Precision. Wonderful bass and plays and sounds brilliant. I bought it for a project which never happened and as I only really play fretless, I'm going to put it up for sale. 2. MarkBass Little Mark IV 500w Head. Lovely clean, transparent and uncoloured head that just works out of the box but doesn't really have much of a wow factor like I've had with other heads. 3. TC Electronic BC208 Bass Cab. This cab is the best thing I've bought this year. It's been matched with my Warwick Gnome 280w head and sounds phenomenal. It's so punchy and makes a brilliant lightweight portable rig. Plus it look awesome with the little Gnome on top.

I fitted rounds to one of my fretless basses the other week and it lost a lot of that mwah compared to the LaBella Low Tension flats and LaBella Black Nylon Tapes my other basses have. It doesn't sing or have as much mwah at the the flats. I was going to put the LaBella Black Nylon Tapes back on but its nice to have one of my fretless basses with rounds on for a bit of a change so I'll keep them on. I used to run rounds on this bass for about 10 years but the flats just sing and mwah way more.

For £200 I'd get the following, Ampeg Opto Compressor Pedal TC Electronic Spark Booster Pedal Set of LaBella Black Nylon Tapewound Strings

I think they did from about 15 years ago. I bought one of the Mexican Fender Classic 70's Jazz basses around 2010 I think and it was incredible. Beautifully made, sounded fabulous and one of the nicest necks I'd played. It was so much nicer than my two AVII 75 Jazz basses. Then along came the Flea and Mike Dirnt signature basses and both of these are superb. Then the Nate Mendal which is also superb. In a lot of cases these signature basses are better than the US models. Then in 2018 they released the 70's reissue 70's Precision and it is a piece of art. I played mine in Guitar Guitar and 30 minutes later I was walking out of the shop with it. US hardware, Custom Shop 62 pickups, Ash body and maple neck. It's an incredible bass. So yep, I think they upped there game some time ago and having been a huge Fender Japan fan, I think the Mexican basses now surpass them.

No Sting, John Giblin and John Taylor. Mine would probably be, James Jamerson Pino Palladino John Giblin However, Pino was only one of the bassists influencing me when I started along with Adam Clayton, John Taylor and Sting.

@Ed_S Thanks brilliant, thank you very much

@obbm I'm actually thinking of getting a Markbass Nano 300 as I like the clean Markbass tone. How do you find the Nano 300? Is it clean like most Markbass heads and is it fairly loud and punchy? Are you happy with it?

I have a Barefaced Two10 and run a Little Mark IV through it or a Warwick Gnome I Pro 280. Both are super loud, especially the Warwick with the Little Mark being cleaner and uncoloured and the Warwick being warmer, deeper out of the box. The Warwick is tiny in comparison.

I do both but I'm more side to side like a violin/cello as it's more natural for me. Snap on the fretless, mine is 37 years old and has an ebony board and only has a few mark's on it. Every now and then I use 000 grade steel wool and orange beeswax wood polish and conditioner and it comes up like glass.

Welcome aboard @badger from another Surrey bassist.

Just to quote my own post, I have now fitted a set of Rotosound rounds to my fretless Jazz and they sound really nice and definitely sing and give a very different expression over the flats that are on my two fretless Precision's. However, due to being tougher under the finger than the flats, you can't do as much vibrato or certainly not as easily. Not a huge issue so they will be staying on but its noticeable as I do a lot of vibrato in my playing.

I have LaBella Low Tension flats on one fretless, Rotosound flats on another fretless, LaBella Deep Talkin Flats on another fretless and LaBella Black Nylon Tapewound on two other fretless basses. I think my favourite is the Low Tension Flats to play and tonally the Rotosound's are my favourite.

This makes perfect sense and its worth remembering that, stopping now and having a break does not mean its the end. I certainly go through cycles and always come back after a break and love what I come back to. Its always worth remembering that playing music is a creative process so you do give a lot of energy, emotion, expression, time etc. which can be draining so its natural to step away, have a break and recharge. Even when I was in a band that was signed, with a singles and an album that was selling well, songs being played on the radio and in the press, when we stopped it was a huge relief and weight off our shoulders and day after, I thought, thank f**k for that. So a break to find yourself and recharge is never a bad thing, you will either come back with more energy than before or you will know it was the time to stop and have no regrets.

This was mine. First my mini rig which is a Warwick Gnome I Pro 280 and TC Electronic 208 cab. Next is my larger rig which is a Mark Bass Little Mark IV and a Barefaced Two10.

I've just bought a TC 208 cab which I really really like. It has a really tight punchy sound. I'm super tempted to try a BH550 with it or maybe just the BH250. Ideally I'd love a RH750 or RH450 as I loved the one I tried but they do seem to be hard to find and getting on a bit now.

That sounds awesome but yeah, a huge shame you've not got it still. I started watching F1 when I was about 10 in 1980 thanks to my mum and dad and I can say that I have never missed a race. I've even been on tour once and got the tour manager to stop somewhere in Liverpool at a pub so I could watch the race 😂 I used to also collect races on VHS and then DVD so I have entire seasons dating back to the 80's as well as a lot of races from the 70's. It's in my blood to ever give it up.

Hopefully a bit of inspiration for you from our spare room 😁

I'm playing tomorrow night in Guildford with The Tim Shez Band at The Britannia Pub for the GT Live Showcase sessions. We are on at 8pm and playing for about 25 minutes along with 3 other acts. These sessions are fantastic, super popular, very intimate in a great venue. Plus I'm playing fretless as always through my new mini rig consisting of a Warwick Gnome I Pro 280 and a TC Electronic BS208. So can't wait 😁

I also have Rotosound 77 flats on one Precision and LaBella 760FL's on another and yes definitely the Rotosound flats are high tension. I also think they sound better so I tend to just use them for recording.

The way you have described the Two10 is exactly how mine sounds and how you describe the LFSys is how I wish my Two10 sounds for the music I'm playing at the moment. So I really do need to try out a LFSys cab at some point. Plus, being an F1 nut and proposing to my wife who is also an F1 nut on Michael Schumacher's grid slot after the Monza F1 race and then honeymooning the year after at the Monaco F1 race, the naming of these cabs is pretty much perfect for me. We just need a Spa and Suzuka cab in the line up at some point @stevie 😁

Great stuff everyone and please keep the photos coming.

I thinking generally, I don't have any heavy regrets as overall, I've had a fantastic career in music, more than most people get to achieve and many fantastic memories, experiences and opportunities. If I dropped down dead tomorrow, then I wouldn't have any regrets and made the best of it generally. However, there has to be some right so I think if I could, I wish I still had my 1973 Fender Telecaster bass. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and it was a bit of a pig of a bass but it would be worth a tidy penny now. Also, possibly my fretless Warwick Streamer Jazzman. I think also, looking back, I wish I was more disciplined and opened my eyes to other opportunities rather than thinking I'm in this band and this is where it's at. If there's one thing I would change, that I wished I knew back then that I realise now, then it would have been to learn to read. This would have opened up a lot more opportunities to me but again, hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Would love to but I'm not Yorkshire or Midlands based. Great gig though and super fun to play.

My Fender Japan 62RI Fretless Precision

Absolutely and my family home was full of music 24/7. My dad's hifi was his pride and joy and boy were we not allowed to touch it. We were however allowed to listen to it with his supervision. He would listen to Big Band Swing Jazz, Frank Sinatra, Ted Heath Orchestra and a lot of organ music like the old organs you'd find in cinema's. My mum was more into singers like The Carpenters, Barry Manilow, Val Doonican, Nana Mouskouri as well as some classical music. I remember listening to a lot of The Carpenters and loving the Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft song. My two older sisters however were the real gems (although I thank my dad massively for my love of Jazz and my mum for The Carpenters) and were listening to everything from the late 70's and the 80's. My oldest sister was massively into The Police, Duran Duran, Thompson Twins, Paul Young, Spandau Ballet and Culture Club. My other sister was massively into Level 42, Depeche Mode, Michael Jackson, Tears For Fears, Adam and the Ants, Inxs and ABBA but between them they had everything and would listen to the top 40 religiously every Sunday. They were 7 and 5 years older than me so had started Saturday jobs and were buying records every week as well as getting them for birthdays and Christmas. So I was literally a sponge, absorbing everything that was being played to eventually getting to a point of sneaking into my sisters bedrooms when they were out and playing their records and getting caught and told off. I particularly remember loving Talk Talk, The Thompson Twins, Duran Duran, Michael Jackson but it was early Madonna that I fell in love with. Then Live Aid happened and I saw Adam Clayton strutting around stage looking super cool and I knew that's what I wanted to do and the rest as they say is history.