NickA

A new Wal will cost the best of £6000 and they are made in an ex cow shed outside Leatherhead. So it isn't only location! Smiths aren't cheap either, nor Alembics These are lovingly hand made basses constructed to customer order and using very fancy wood, pickups and electronics. In the case of the Wals even the pickups are specially hand made in house. Doubtless, Fodera make lovely basses. But the current prices are surely in part down to a couple of famous and brilliant bass players who have chosen to use them. However, old Fender Precisions are also silly expensive for such basic things (http://andybaxterbass.com/details.php?id=1424). With that budget to spend, I'd much rather have a Fodera (but a Shuker or an ACG would likely provide the same quality for a fraction of the price).

My pjb combo (4Meg Ohm input) is fine with a double bass without any pre-amp ... but I guess it's dependent on the pickup ( mines a realist sound clamp). the bass Tutor at our local jazz sessions uses a markbass mini ( only 500kOhm) with a realist copperhead pickup and no pre .. also sounds great.

Those guitarsoundsystem things look unbelievably good value. What's the catch?

The GK amps are good; i've used the mb112 in a practice studio and quite liked it. the old mb150 is a classic used by loads of pro dB players. PJB are better still but the cub will be too small. I have a pjb flight case which is just loud enough for the double bass and sounds great (transparent). Not much punch for electric bass though. Try Markbass micromark or markbass mini too if you can find one ( I couldn't, hence the pjb ).

What a lovely bass. Looking good for 120 yrs old. Hawkes should never have gotten together with that Boosey fellow it was all down hill from there. Enjoy.

Reckon I could fix that for you. I've some carbon twill weave tube and epoxy resin in the garage. If you want it done, pm me for an address. No charge beyond postage .. fixing carbon things is something I enjoy doing for fun. It won't look quote the same mind, but who's going to be looking down there.

Ouchh ! Missed that bit of the thread. Well I also vouch for Owen being a thoroughly good bloke and will bring my Wal regardless ... So please brush up your Mick Karn riffs 🙂 ..and hopefully eboclive will relent and bring his 5-stringers too ( though, my mere 4-string is closer to Mick's 😉 )

A cellist can help with bowing ( but almost nothing else ). I speak as a cellist who learned double bass by trial, error and simandl. Bowing is the only thing that's much the same! Ps: big fan of carbon bows, but mine was £800. Best cheaper bows and very best bows ( regardless of expense ) still seem to be wooden. Carbon has the advantage of being weatherproof, near indestructible and possibly less attractive to dogs ... my border collie puppy decided my cello bow was a nice stick; luckily Pernambuco is very hard and following a re-hair and re-varnish it survives with the addition of tooth marks.

Hope to come this year. Doveridge not far away. Potential lift from Derby if anyone transport short or coming by train. I'll bring my fretless Wal 4-string ... If it means I can get a go on a fretted 5! Amps? Double basses?

Anyone tried these on line bass lessons? https://courses.discoverdoublebass.com/ Eg https://courses.discoverdoublebass.com/p/creating-walking-bass-lines 90usd, but then. Face to face lessons are going to be £30/hr or more. I guess the problem is sticking with it if you don't have the impetus of a lesson coming up!

Sold for £1660. Someone got a nice neck and a bag of spare wal bits for the price of a neck. Not so bad.

One pickup, no electronics and the body is a slab of stained ash not the full, shaped and laminated hardwood sandwich. Then again a MK1 would be over £3500. Put my full blown Wal on front pickup only and wound the filtering off to see what a passive Pro might sound like. Not something I'd normally do. Certainly not the full Wal experience but not bad, especially if played near the bridge. Plus, Wal necks are nice and that alone would cost £1600 new; but there are Better basses at this kind of money I think. ..this for instance (lusted after one of these in the 1980s) https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ibanez-Musician-MC900-bass-guitar-excellent/302831220965?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D20160323102634%26meid%3D14d8e8bc047c4c04b38f6ee857da6953%26pid%3D100623%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D123037422806%26itm%3D302831220965&_trksid=p2047675.c100623.m-1 .

I've sometimes seen 1/2 and 3/4 bows but go full size. Mine are around 72cm long. There's no advantage in short ones unless you're a child with short arms.

Might be fixable, carbon fibre repairs are not hard if you have the materials (I do, as it happens). Photo?

Go French, simply because there are more of us using that type to offer advice! I think they are easier too. This will do fine. There are cheaper "composite" bows, but I wouldn't go there. https://www.bassbags.co.uk/product/double-bass-bow-french-pattern/ Well worth finding a classical bass player to give you a few starting tips. Where are you based?

No stalking required :¬) .... your old ad is still listed in the basschat market place and pops up on a search for "streamer"; which is a fine way of finding how much things really do (or don't) sell for. Nice bass at a fair price I thought. There is also a near identical 5-string stage 1 currently listed, located in Poland - started off at £2000 now £1600. Interesting that 4-string streamers command a higher price than 5s (not so Dolphins). Once I've struggled with one for a few months I may realise why 😀 Thanks for the advice anyway.

Says someone who recently sold a 4-string version for £1350 (or thereabouts) 🙂 . Happen a. You're right b. He's rejecting sensible offers.

Gut core I can imagine won't like alcohol, but steel? ? I wonder what the mechanism would be ... shall ask the metallurgist at work. Or maybe d'Addario do a nice line in profitable cleaning agents ....

Mine was £820 in 1999, seemed an expensive luxury at the time!

This https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Warwick-Streamer-Stage-1-NT-5-String-Bass-Guitar-/132890079611?nav=SEARCH Has been on eBay for weeks and weeks. It runs for a week, fails to sell and is then immediately relisted. A shipping option was added, then the buy now price went up,(!) But still it never sells. I've seen several steamers come and go for the same price or more whilst this one languishes. What's wrong with it?

And the stripped back Wal body sans pickups, bridge, tronics ( and painted finish) that was on eBay the other week. Buying a Wal AND a CT only to trash one and damage the other seems an expensive waste of time to !e.

Vodka. Works fine. But someone here advised me to keep it off the fingerboard ( dries the wood out apparently), proper turpentine or lemon oil less risky if drying out is a concern.

Good points. Ta. I guess the other thing is that the EQ on a particular bass should be matched to that bass's characteristics, whereas the amp EQ maybe a bit too generic ... ... my old Trace GP12SMX aside, which had treble boost, bass boost, two pre-shapes, two compressors and 12 channels of EQ ... causing many wasted hours pushing knobs and sliders around. There is much to be said for having only the controls you need and messing with as few of them as possible!

Why's that? Unless you have separate EQs or filters for each pickup ... can't you just do all the tone adjustment on the amp? Or turn down the bass and treble and increase the volume on the bass? Or do you find you are changing the amount of mids whilst playing? I only ask as none of my basses have a mid EQ (though 2 of 3 have a filter per pickup) - I do find I'm biasing the pickup balance towards the bridge more (which maybe also boosts mids) as the evening goes on and people play louder .... and I still want to hear what I'm playing! ... and don't some Rays also have a piezo pickup?

" fret clatter and every other unwanted noise" ........indeed I actually meant to say I have Elixir (nanoweb) acoustic bass strings (not Elites). I'm not that enamored with them tbh, the nanowebby stuff comes off in little tendrils and the sound is (whilst better than the bronze things that came on the bass) not exactly subtle or very loud. But there is not much available unless you go to electric bass strings instead and I wondered if the tension in those might break the guitar. I guess there is a limit to what you can get out of an acoustic bass guitar (especially a factory made one) so probably shouldn't get that hopeful!