Happy Jack

Can't believe no one has mentioned Gary Neville ...

Best find his 'Feedback' thread (there's a whole section for that) and re-post there.

Define "cheap". Pretty much any pre-amp pedal will do that if the EQ is set flat, just boost either the Gain or the Volume to the desired level. Come to that, most FX pedals with a Level control will do it too. Set the FX itself to be neutral and turn up the Level. My favourite work-around is the classic Boss LS-2 pedal. Run a patch cable from Channel A Output straight to Channel A Input (i.e. no actual pedal in the Channel A loop) and you have a very controllable boost pedal. Experiment with the pedals you already own, but which you are not currently using. You may be surprised ...

Surely the best deterrent is to play bass. God help the guitarists ...

My name's Jack and I live at the back of the Greta Garbo Home For Wayward Boys And Girls where I accumulate endless quantities of basses, amps & cabs, and associated equipment. Especially XLR leads. I don't see this as a problem. There is a place in modern society for obsessive behaviour.

FWIW, Shonky is the name of the most widely-used prophylactic in Ankh-Morpork ...

Bought Adam's Flanger (Boss BF3). He waited patiently while I sorted out my broken PayPal account, then sent the pedal nicely packaged.

There's a very 4th-Form woodwork class feel about it, things like that beautifully-sculpted headstock ( ), the 60's Futurama-style painted neck, and the [i]piece de resistance[/i] ... the mudbucker installed at a jaunty angle. One for the house band at the local blues jam, I feel.

Reverting to the OP, equally relevant is the fact that there is too much competition, too many over-priced devices on the market all claiming to do much the same thing. I have no problem with this at all, in fact I love it. But none of these businesses has a God-given right to remain profitable and successful ... capitalism is evolution in action. I couldn't tell you how many high-end bass pre-amps and pre-amp pedals there are on the market right now, but I bet if half of them left the market right now very few people would notice, and very few people would find it life-changing. If Thomann can sell this particular item very cheaply, for whatever reason and for whatever purpose, then as a consumer I am delighted. In the unlikely event that this leads to a manufacturer or supplier leaving the market, there'll be another one along in a minute. Harsh, but true.

[quote name='crez5150' timestamp='1405321873' post='2500633'] Although end users will think this is great.... its not good for the industry. [/quote] Not sure why. Unless Thomann are selling at a loss, they must be buying these from Aguilar at less than £335 each. Assuming that a mark-up of 20% for overhead & profit is reasonable, then they should sell at about £400. If 20% is too tight, then a 30% mark-up would give you £440-ish. That would imply that the eBay price (£529) is a rip-off, that Woodbrass & BassGear are looking for a relatively high profit margin on a piece of high-end (and slow-moving) stock), and Bass Direct for a rather lower one. Sounds like a market to me. If Tesco decide to (temporarily) sell baked beans at 10p per can less than Sainsburys and Aldi, no one suggests that this will be bad for the industry.