nickmew

Awesome, I'll have two. I'll call one Yin, and one Yang

Or slightly more likely a chinese copy. Though for the supposed parts and nice top wood could be worth a punt if you're in the US https://www.ebay.com/itm/Custom-Fretless-Bass-whit-preamp-Aguilar/193010359131?hash=item2cf0505b5b:g:UkAAAOSwoPBdLk6q

I'm lucky enough to live around the corner from Bassdirect where this was recorded, so fairly regularly go in for a noodle. In the hunt for 'the perfect bass" I've actually played at least half of these models, and recently a few of the ones in the video. I've also had amongst others an MTD, various Fenders, a couple of Rob Allen's, a Zon and currently my main (and only one of 2 as I can't afford to hoard) bass is my 3rd Dingwall, a Z3. What is interesting to me is that my perception of the sound on the video compared to how it was trying them out is quite different. The Dingwall Lee Sklar really doesn't do it for me on the video, yet it's effectively the same model and pickups as my Z3, the bass I bought having played for 5 minutes, after agonising for several months about whether I could afford a Roscoe that was a lot less expensive. The Zon sounds nice but in real life I found it lacking warmth, in common with other graphite neck basses I've tried. The Fodera J I didn't have plugged in when I tried it but the neck feels amazing. The Maruszczyk basses are fantastic to play and really well made, but as they do so many options in terms of electronics some sound great, some don't (to my ear). The Mayones Jabba sounds good but didn't fit my hand. The Roscoe sounds ok on the video but growls, burbles and sings in the real. Only the Sandberg Marlowe of all the ones I've tried sounds the same on video to me as it did in the shop. It also has a slinky worn in feel neck and is a bargain compared to some of the higher end ones. And that's even before you put it in a band context. It's really useful to get an idea of the variety of sounds you can get, and where your tastes may lie, but it's only a starting point On the flip side, it's a bloody great advert for the amazing range of basses you can get, and a good excuse to get your derrière down to a shop and just try them. What time do they open tomorrow? 😁

Feel utterly sickened for you and this sent chills down my spine. Read this thousands of miles from home having just found out that my parents had been burgled, having left among other things my unique custom Z3 and an irreplaceable 60s Gibson acoustic in their keeping so they weren't in an empty house for a month and a half. As it was the buggers 'only' took some jewellery - just the wife's engagement, eternity ring and a Cartier watch I gave her after a particularly tough time. You just know these sods have no clue how it makes people feel, even if things were replaceable. Glad the cats are ok (as are my parents), sincerely hope your pride and joys turn up.

Tim bought my Rob Allen MB-2 5 string which was then shipped over to him in Denmark. Very nice guy, totally reasonable and great communication through the whole process - and made a point of getting back and letting me know how much he loves the bass. Thoroughly recommended

No worries, as it happens it's saved me from myself as the boiler has just broken so no Rob Allen for me for a while ☹️

Bizarrely one of the worst (for me anyway) and best were stable-mates. Tried out a full monty german Hofner 500/1 a while back. Thunk thunk thunk. Change all the settings. Same thunk thunk thunk. Twiddle knobs on amp. Thunk thunk thunk. Just didn't get it. Tried out a fretless version last week at Bassdirect and it's bloody gorgeous. Close to a double-bass sound, on a par with a Rob Allen. Of course my taste may have changed inbetween, but when I tried the original I also tried the HCT version and genuinely thought they'd got the price tags the wrong way around.

Congratulations on this, I must admit I was looking at the same bass but my other sale didn't come through until after it had gone. Very jealous as I had a Mouse that I traded in for an MB2-5. Both gorgeous but I've found out that fretless 5s aren't for me. Definitely gonna get me another Rob Allen as nothing comes close to the tone, just a case of which 4 string one comes along.

I've had a couple of Ibanez SR series, and the skinny width necks are quite different to a lot of basses - and the Spector is pretty different. From memory trying out a Spector was like a baseball bat in comparison. Not a good or a bad thing, just different. Beautiful basses but if you don't get on with the neck profile not a lot of point. If you can't find a Spector to try, an old school Precision is probably not far off? (Someone else correct me if I'm wrong). Spector fans always rave about how comfortable the neck is so if it works for you, it really works.

😁 Half a ditto. It was a Roscoe LG Custom 5 at Bassdirect which I dithered about due to price. Then they got a Dingwall Z3 in which was even more, I compared the two and went home with the Z3.

I will add this is actually the latest incarnation of my guitar pedalboard (Heresy!), my bass one is smaller but I use the same brick when I switch bands & instruments

A little late to the conversation but if you want to go plug free and save a little, I use a multi purpose power brick for my board - a Poweradd Pilot Pro 2 that can be had for £75 on amazon. As long as you don't need multiple voltages it'll supply dozens on a single daisy, is v low profile and lasts a good few sessions between charges. Powers this for me Can also power your laptop to noodle about on in the green room 😁 IMPORTANT NOTE Also before you try your pedals you do need an inverter adaptor to get the polarity right using this brick

I have to compartmentalise mine into Bass gear - 5 basses, big rig, practice amp and pedals; around mhhm Guitar gear - 5 electrics, 4 acoustics, 3 amps, dozens of pedals; about ahem.. mumble mumble Studio gear - 2 digital desks, a couple of dozen mics, three keyboards, various outboard, a gazillion software plugins and miles of cable; squints slightly and and glazes over... To be fair it's been built up over 30 years, I've had a lucrative other career and I always work on utility value - do I actually use it? If not it's sold or traded. I also have often gone on the upgrade path trading. My current main bass - a Dingwall Z3 , was arrived by a set of incremental trading steps from a Jazz, to a Combustion, an Afterburner and then the Z3, each of which didn't cost the earth. At the end of the day, is it useful or does it give you joy? If either of those is true you're good. If both even better.

Absolutely the way to go. Have played quite a few 'live rehearsals' and the next gig is all the better for it. Sometimes a poor audience showing works out well. We played on 2nd March where, if you remember, there was a tiny bit of a weather issue. Had to source some new monitors last minute the night before, collect various bits of PA and then get to the venue all whilst Jack Frost was chucking whatever he could at us and the weatherman was saying "don't travel, danger of death and blood". As we sat in the empty room wondering if anyone would bother, we got a rare chance to have an extended chat as a whole group about what we wanted to do rather than just panicked practice for the next gig. As a bonus we also got to get to know the headline act who is a genuinely nice chap. In the end we did get about 30-40 people which were mostly his dedicated fans who were staying in a hotel around the corner, but more than we were expecting. Spent the evening mercilessly taking the p*ss out of Paul Weller for cancelling at the NEC down the road just because of a little bit of snow, and we're all doing it again next month with free tickets for those who bothered the first time.

[quote name='bassmayhem' timestamp='1497650736' post='3319875'] Here are my babies gathered for a family photo shoot: The purple Sklar looks black; it is a pain in the you-know-where to capture that colour in lamp light. [/quote] That's a very attractive family you have there. Good genes obviously Having shifted all I can to get the Z3, I'm basically down to that (such a trial having to play it ) and my Rob Allen MB2-5 [attachment=247440:RA1.jpg] Can't complain really

[quote name='bassmayhem' timestamp='1497650585' post='3319872'] This sure is a beauty. Please, post some pic's "all around" so we can see the details... [/quote] Will get a few more of my own up when I actually manage to put the thing down and stop playing it. A few months back I was looking around for something with some different tones to my AB1, played around the Bass Direct 'top shelf' and the only thing that felt any better than my AB1 (to me anyway - always personal choice) was a Roscoe LG Custom. When I tried the Z3 three yesterday (and I tried the Roscoe again), the Roscoe just felt ordinary by comparison - and that was already a fantastic bass. The Z3 also does pretty much any tonal variation you could want. Stunning piece of kit. So looking forward to gigging it today I woke up at 5:30 and went straight downstairs to play it! Meanwhile here's Bass Direct's pictures [attachment=247436:DW1.jpg] [attachment=247437:DW2.jpg] [attachment=247438:DW3.jpg] [attachment=247439:DW4.jpg] and specs[list] [*] [color=#584D4D][font=Helvetica-Light, Helvetica][size=4][color=#000000]SPECIFICATIONS:[/color][/size][/font][/color] [*][color=#3D3D3D][font=Helvetica-Light, Helvetica][size=4][color=#B71A15][font=ArialMS, Arial, sans-serif]•[/font][/color]Maple neck[/size][/font][/color] [*][color=#3D3D3D][font=Helvetica-Light, Helvetica][size=4][color=#B71A15][font=ArialMS, Arial, sans-serif]•[/font][/color]Fingerboard - Ziracote with Ziracote through top [/size][/font][/color] [*][color=#3D3D3D][font=Helvetica-Light, Helvetica][size=4][color=#B71A15][font=ArialMS, Arial, sans-serif]•[/font][/color]Luminlay blue side dots[/size][/font][/color] [*][color=#3D3D3D][font=Helvetica-Light, Helvetica][size=4][color=#B71A15][font=ArialMS, Arial, sans-serif]•[/font][/color]24 frets[/size][/font][/color] [*][color=#3D3D3D][font=Helvetica-Light, Helvetica][size=4][color=#B71A15][font=ArialMS, Arial, sans-serif]•[/font][/color]Matching headstock veneer[/size][/font][/color] [*][color=#3D3D3D][font=Helvetica-Light, Helvetica][size=4][color=#B71A15][font=ArialMS, Arial, sans-serif]•[/font][/color]Flamed Maple Blocks [/size][/font][/color] [*][color=#3D3D3D][font=Helvetica-Light, Helvetica][size=4][color=#B71A15][font=ArialMS, Arial, sans-serif]•[/font][/color]Body - Dual density swamp ash with highlighted grain[/size][/font][/color] [*][color=#3D3D3D][font=Helvetica-Light, Helvetica][size=4][color=#B71A15][font=ArialMS, Arial, sans-serif]•[/font][/color]Top: 5A Flamed maple [/size][/font][/color] [*][color=#3D3D3D][font=Helvetica-Light, Helvetica][size=4][color=#B71A15][font=ArialMS, Arial, sans-serif]•[/font][/color]Laminate under top [/size][/font][/color] [*][color=#3D3D3D][font=Helvetica-Light, Helvetica][size=4][color=#B71A15][font=ArialMS, Arial, sans-serif]•[/font][/color]Finish - Natural Gloss[/size][/font][/color] [*][color=#3D3D3D][font=Helvetica-Light, Helvetica][size=4][color=#B71A15][font=ArialMS, Arial, sans-serif]•[/font][/color]Neodymium pickups[/size][/font][/color] [*][color=#3D3D3D][font=Helvetica-Light, Helvetica][size=4][color=#B71A15][font=ArialMS, Arial, sans-serif]•[/font][/color]Rotary pickups selector[/size][/font][/color] [*][color=#3D3D3D][font=Helvetica-Light, Helvetica][size=4][color=#B71A15][font=ArialMS, Arial, sans-serif]•[/font][/color]2 x series/parallel switches, 1 x mid range switch[/size][/font][/color] [*][color=#3D3D3D][font=Helvetica-Light, Helvetica][size=4][color=#B71A15][font=ArialMS, Arial, sans-serif]•[/font][/color]Active Glockenklang bass/mid/treble with active/passive switching, (the treble works as a passive tone in passive mode) and switchable mid range[/size][/font][/color] [*][color=#3D3D3D][font=Helvetica-Light, Helvetica][size=4][color=#B71A15][font=ArialMS, Arial, sans-serif]•[/font][/color]Magnetic battery compartment cover[/size][/font][/color] [*][color=#3D3D3D][font=Helvetica-Light, Helvetica][size=4][color=#B71A15][font=ArialMS, Arial, sans-serif]•[/font][/color]Case - NEW Dingwall logo gig bag[/size][/font][/color] [*][color=#333333][font=Helvetica-Light, Helvetica][size=4][color=#B71A15]•[/color]Black Hipshot Ultralight[/size][/font][/color] [*][color=#333333][font=Helvetica-Light, Helvetica][size=4][color=#B71A15]•[/color]Custom Dingwall Bridge (Black finish), 18mm string spacing[/size][/font][/color] [*][color=#333333][font=Helvetica-Light, Helvetica][size=4][color=#B71A15]•[/color]Weight - 9lb lb/4kg[/size][/font][/color] [/list]