NickA

Great review. I'm a big PJB fan myself with one of the combos and a powered extension. Starting to wonder if I should go the more modern way of a nice big cab and a tiny little amp. Chose cabs to suit occassions without changing amps and modern amps are really light. Glad to hear the BP800 is so good; the BP400 is effectively what I have across the two combos (same pre, pluys a 150W and a 250W class D power amp) and it's a bit on the quiet side. Shame about the loss of the compressor, it's pretty good (tho IMO not quite as good a the two band one in the old trace heads). BP800 may be the way to go (that or a mesa d800 .... at a price!)

5 years for a Wal.... Then £6k+ to pay. Makes this a bargain for sure.

I better not fit one then 😁

As nice a fender p as they come. Never heard of Mr Okamoto but a quick Google shows he normally plays a heavily triangulated precision called a katana (signature models in three colours) and that fender also do this one in Olympic white. So several signature models to choose from. NB: Does anyone ever use those finger rests anymore? Okamoto doesn't... So why spec it?

sounds ok with Joe darts fingers and all his effects.... sadly those aren't included in the price!🥴

By and large, yes indeed. But it depends on the amp... My 1980 carlsboro cobra was unlistenable to except for playing a bass through, the Trace that replaced it, almost Hifi if carefully tweaked, my pjb kit sounds a lot like my hifi .. Hardly "coloured" at all. Not to everyone's taste for sure. Sure I read somewhere that Marshall made their amps more aggressive sounding by using cheap Russian valves. But the consensus does indeed seem to be that it makes no odds ( and they're almost all Russian anyway 🙂 ). I guess a lot can be done in a class d amp by tweaking the software that drives the pwm ... Surprised none of them have a "valve" button!

I voted stingray, because .... I like the sound of stingrays. But the BB is clear second and being less biased ( and on grounds of flexibility ) should perhaps come first. Better still if th P were reversed 😉

My old trace gp12smx had a blended valve input.. I used to crank up the valve sound as I thought it made me sound " more Jaco ". Then someone pointed out that Jaco's Acoustic amps were solid state ( he was just turning up the built in fuzz- box .... and later running two amps with a delay line and chorus, but that's another whole thread!)). I guess it depends what aspect of a tube sound you want; the compression, the clipping, the octave doubling..... There's a talk bass thread on valve amps Vs "tube emulators" which mentions what seems a good compromise in a little valve pre amp: https://shift-line.com/olympic you can use it as a DI box or plug it into a super clean class D amp and sound like you have a big valve amp. But doesnt the sound depend on the type of valve used? There are some HiFi valve amps that are quite clean / linear and stuff like marshall guitar amps that would sound awful as hifi but amazing with a Les Paul played through them. So how that olympic gizmo sounds must depend on the valve inside it??

Nice. I had a bb2000 for a few years. Funk monster. I sold it for £200 in 1998. Bad move. I'd buy another if I saw one. Reverse P is the only P worth having; if only more makers realised that. Through neck for a crisp sound and endless sustain. Marvellous.

My ebony boarded Wal got that ... after heavy use over 25 years, mostly with super hard rotosound or elite stainless strings on. A bit of wear actually improved the sound, but eventually it started to buzz and I got Electric Wood to plane it flat again .. no biggie. Go rounds IMO, but some flats (EB Cobalt, Thomastic Jazz) work pretty well.

PS: re strings and mwah. Yes rounds probably work best, but it's partly setup and playing method. My DIY sortof Jazz Bass does it in spades with those EB Cobalt Flats on. I tried the same strings on the Wal too, but their sound is a bit too distinctive if you want your wal to sound like a wal .. raterh than "a bass with cobalt flats on" https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipPJ_c2In-e7JCvPELaoAyCs726J5P2vgtJuVpKR

Ebony and rosewood will be unavailable before long ... like elephant ivory. Anyone tried that "ebonium" stuff ( made from compressed and cooked paper fibres I think).

Electric wood are busy making super tidy perfectly finished basses with optional gold dodahs, mother of pearl inlays and fancy wood stains. Some people love that. I don't think exact replication of the sound will damage their business too much!

Vibe ... By "up and down" I meant like a double base IE up and down the string. E basses being on their side I guess my terminology was wrong! 😂 Having learned cello first and then fretless bass I use the same up and down the string on all my instruments ( cello double bass fretless and yes even my 2 fretted basses ..). May be wrong but saves fingerboard wear.

Not going to be loud or have much bass projection. You probably can push 200W out of it but from such small speakers I doubt it will push much bass very far. Folks said this about the old 2x 5" briefcase combos ( tho they are only 100W) I use a 150W pjb flightcase with 4x5" drivers which is ok for rehearsals and tiny pub gigs. Anything bigger if just doesn't shift enough air. Kind of lacks thump. I'd go up to the C4 I think. But if you try the C2, please feed back.

...and anyway he already bought ..from PMT, indicating UK. Tried deleting my worthless post but it wouldn't die.

...but you'll still get a better bass for your money 2nd hand...from here!

Side to side or up and down vibrato? Worth learning up and down on a fretless ( if you're not already .... which you likely are!) My main fretless is 37 years old. It's always had rounds on. It got scored enough to buzz a few years ago so I had the board planed flat; it's quite thin now ( may have been done once before I got it in 1998).... but it will see me out! Treated well and no side to side vibe, an ebony board can last 50 years of rounds. Then you get a new board! I put eb cobalt flats on my other fretless ... the other flats i tried sounded dull and thuddy. They're ok. Feel nice, still a bit of tone in them.

I like the transparency and modularity of my pjb stuff ... but it's not loud and it is heavy "per decibel. Tried a friend's TC bg208 this week and for the price and portability it's pretty good and louder than my little flight case.... the sound is a bit muffled compared to the flghtcase though, it's not "up there" with AER, PJB, AI and he is thinking of trading up to a Markbass. Maybe we're being a bit precious..... saw Roy Babbngton with soft machine a few years back, playing through a cheap line six combo (sounded fine) and someone on here a while back ( gypsyjazzer?) Said they'd given up fussing about amps and bought a fender rumble...weighs nothing, sounds ok..audience don't care 😂. Loads of options these days with tiny class d amps and super light cabs.....wouldn't know where to start!

I've not been to the new "shop" yet...sad that they left Derby; glad they did you alright. Never go there without time to spare as I always end up chatting..and usually buying stuff! My gig bag, bow, rosin, strings, end pin and pickup are all from there 😂.

Don't think Stradivarius has access to plywood or ever made a double bass... so what it's a copy of is a mystery! What's the damage from the strings on soundpost out incident? I don't see any damage in the photos. If it just needs a sound post then someone will fit one for (probably) £100 -£200 or so. I was charged £30 for putting one back up. I have the tool to DIY now, but it's tricky and making a soundpost is quite hard as the ends need shaping and the length has to be exact. If the front ( table) is cracked then it's a right off. £1500 just to get the front off and any luthier will tell you it's not worth it as you'd be spending £2000 + on a bass that would then be worth < £1000 when fixed. I've been through this with my orchestras bass. One luthier refused to touch it and the other needed his arm twisted to do any work as he reckoned he could sell us a replacement for less than the repair cost. That bass is now playable, but we did have the original sound post and the table didn't have to come off. It still needs a new bridge (£200 odd) and ideally a new fingerboard ...new neck even...not going to happen on my watch; even tho it's fully carved with a decent table. Bass bags, my local bass shop, reckon they skip loads of laminate basses...simply because a new laminate made by Chinese slaves is cheaper for the insurers than even minor repairs by a UK luthier ☹️ awful situation.

Higher tension strings are more blistery I guess... But the two main things are how often you play and how hard you pluck. Could it be that in playing more Arco you're playing less pizz? Don't drop the pizz practise. Might also be laying in harder with the quieter strings? Ease off and turn up the amp. I went to hear Alec Dankworth once; he played hard and fast for 2hrs; I asked him why his fingers weren't bleeding. He said that he does get blisters after his annual two week break, but once his fingers had hardened up, the trick is to turn the amp up and play more gently. Sharing duty between index and second finger helps too.

Much easier to know where you are on a double bass due to that nice neck joint. Also perhaps a small matter of history in that double bass players are looking at music so can't see their hands so good technique developed to ensure you don't need to. I almost never look at my left hand on dB but often have a quick check on that long long ebass neck. ( No lines on the necks of my fretless bases, dots though)