BigRedX

Actually the low B should be the least of your worries as, it will be the lowest tension string on your bass.

If you liked the 130 B then get another. IMO unless you have the lightest of light touches when playing you'll find anything less far too floppy in feel and sound.

Is anyone capable of putting up their backdrop without having nasty looking creases in it? One of the reasons my band gave up using ours (apart from the fact that we lost half the stand at a gig) was that it was near impossible to keep crease free, and if we didn't it looked rubbish when we put it up.

According to info in another thread, no.

Yes please!

Weirdly you only get a warning if you follow the link from Baschat. If you do it from the YouTube page it appears to be fine.

Is that the person who made this album ;-)

In that case you are probably going to want something large and modular so it can be adapted to fit venues of differing sizes. The band I was in during the 90s had something like this made up of 3 panels each 9' x 9' black with the band logo/symbol (a stylised asterix/star) painted on in silver. This was supported on a home-made frame constructed out of tent poles. Depending on the size of the venue, we would put up the appropriate number of panels which would block out 90% of the clutter on the walls behind the band. The logo was positioned at the top of each panel and the frame was height adjustable so it would be visible no matter what the venue ceiling height was. However it was a lot of hassle to set up and it had to go up before any of the other band equipment could be put in place, and consequently it didn't get used at half the gigs we played. Eventually several key components got left behind at a venue where there hadn't been time to put it up, and were lost forever. After that we had enough parts to put up a single panel, which did't really look that good so we stopped using it.

Ideally I'd want my instruments buried with me in my Egyptian style hidden tomb. ;-) In the real world I really don't care what happens to them when I'm dead. None of my family is sufficiently interested enough to want to have them once I'm no longer using them. Maybe by the time that happens some of them will be sought-after desirable instruments with a value to reflect this. maybe they won't. However unless my circumstances change in a way that I haven't yet anticipated they won't be sold within my lifetime. And that's what counts.

In which case I probably wouldn't bother with a backdrop at all. Unless it goes up in seconds, takes negligible room in the band transport, and it's on-stage position doesn't compromise in any way the setting up of the band.

To me it is certainly very noticeable when anyone buys or commissions a build of something unusual (for that read something that doesn't look like a Fender P or J). IMO if you buy or have something made for you with an eye on the potential resale value, you are very unlikely to end up with an instrument that you want to keep.

Really? I still own my very first bass, and the main 4 basses I use these days (two Gus G3s, a Warwick StarBass, and a Sei Flamboyant) are the 4 perfect basses for me and I have no need or desire to sell them or replace them with something else.

I'm afraid I have to agree with jazzmanb here. All those windows back the background look cluttered and district from the band. Unfortunately that tiny backdrop only adds to the clutter. However I can also see the attraction of not having too many things to set up - especially things that don't contribute to the music/sound. IME if you simply want to get the band name about, putting out flyers on the tables is probably more effective than having a backdrop.

But how much of that is contributing to the sound you are hearing from your TV? The broadcast signal path is probably Bass Guitar > DI > Digital Mixer > Multi-band Compressor.

I've never understood the obsession with resale value. Maybe because I've never bought any instrument with an eye to selling it on at some point. I've always bought because I have an actual need for the instrument at that particular moment in time. If I can afford it and it's something I'm going to use then I'll buy it. At the time I rarely think I'll be selling it later. If at some point I no longer need it I'll probably sell it or if I think I might use it again in the future it will go into storage. When I sell stuff sometimes I make money compared with what I originally paid for it, and sometimes I lose money. If I loose money, I look at the that amount as the rental value of the instrument for the time I was using it. TBH the amount I've spent on guitars and basses in real terms is small beans compared with what I was spending on synthesisers in the 80s.

IME the most important thing is that you have a way of being able to put it up that doesn't rely on being able to gaffa tape it to the wall behind the band. Also that it can be put up high enough to be completely visible over the drummer and backline.

I play a Warwick too. It's a MiK pro Series StarBass, so maybe not quite on a par with a more "traditional" MiG Warwick, but... It's the only Warwick I've played that I didn't think was completely horrible (and that includes a couple of very expensive MiG StarBasses) and with a slight adjustment in playing technique and a quick EQ tweak it sounds just like my Gus in the context of a live or recorded band mix.

Very much so. I wouldn't even think about picking up any instrument to try if I didn't like the way it looks. Looks come first, playability second and I'll worry about the sound if it looks good and feels comfortable to play.

You'd also have to test first whether simply taking the neck off the bass and replacing it made any difference to the sound.

You can find the current Grassroots range here. As NancyJohnson says, they are budget brand of ESP Japan.

I've got one. It's fine so long as you can cope with the very narrow yet chunky 70s Fender Stratocaster style neck on an instrument fitted with strings designed to be tuned an octave lower than a guitar. The problem I have is that the neck is even narrower than my standard 6-string guitars, and consequently is far too narrow for me. I've seen another band whose bassist used one exclusively and if I hadn't seen that he was playing a BassVI I certainly wouldn't have guessed it from the sound.

All basses sound different when played on their own. And they all sound like bass guitars in the band mix.

Interesting, but the on-line store either doesn't work or all the products have been discontinued.

Are there any still working? Back then in order to hit the appropriate price point the build quality was seriously cheap and nasty. They might have sounded good, but they looked and felt cheap. The examples I've encountered had a substantial amount of flexibility to the front panel. That can't have been doing the circuitry inside any good.

Completely and utterly subjective. And when does an instrument become vintage? My main basses - a pair of Gus G3s - are very much "modern" instruments, but the newest one is already 15 years old and the other one almost 20. When I started playing in the early 70s even a 15 year old electric bass was already a potentially desirable vintage instrument.