Chownybass

Tony Butler will be joining us on Sunday 22nd at the Chowny stand at the UK Guitar Show at 11:00 for a meet and greet if you're a Big Country or Tony Butler fan.

Then at 13:15-14:00 he will be doing a talk in the Tone Zone where he will talk about his new signature bass among other subjects (interviewed by Joel McIver from Bass Guitar Magazine)

Please come and say Hi.

17 minutes ago, funkyjimbob said:

Do people seriously go to a bass guitar show and get annoyed about the sound of other people playing bass guitars? 😂

It's ALL headphones ALL the time at Casa Chowny at the show. (I lie... we'll have Markbass Combos with headphones, so you can make noise if you want to). But you can also use headphones. Best of both worlds. 

HELPER NEEDED. I need an extra pair of hands on my stand in case I need to go pee or eat or suchlike. I can get you in the show (and you're free to wander around and go watch the artists) as long as you check in with me periodically. Ideally if you can hang around till the end of Sunday and watch my stuff while I go get the van that'd be good too. 

I'll buy you lunch and get you entry for both days. DM/PM me if you feel like doing it.

*** I LOVE BASSCHAT! I have a helper. Best community site EVER! Thanks

For what it's worth we'll be there too.

I think Bass Direct intend to be there too (don't quote me on that). 

I'm booked to do this show. It'll be very well attended.

Also they've got their review channel up and running "Bass Guitar Review" http://bassguitarreview.co.uk/ their first review is linked below.

They'll be doing one of my basses next week (Retrovibe Vantage Tony Butler Signature) *SHAMELESS PLUG*

It can only be a good thing this show. We tend to see the same faces year on year and the bass guitar show in London. So to get to another major bass only show in another part of the country is exciting.

Look forward to seeing you at both events!

On 25/06/2019 at 19:16, Mattmit said:

I didn't enjoy my retrovibe,  it was functional but no personality at all and in band rehearsals it didn't cut through anything. It has all the parts of a bass but there doesn't seem to be any science in the sound. 

I wouldn't have complained about it in public if it wasn't that the manufacturer said he wanted first refusal if I decided to sell, but when I let him know I wasn't getting along with it he didn't want to know.   

I had a similar experience with chowny, got the hollow body and the neck was bowed to hell and could only be made playable by filing the frets down to almost fretless level. So now its playable with good action but nowhere to go from here.  I left it way too long to be able to return it. Absolutely my own fault, but I approached them to see if they were interested in a PX for a good one, because I liked the bass in many ways. At first they were open to talk about it, then they asked for my name, address, and the model of my bass, they stopped replying exactly after I sent an email with those details. I prodded them with a couple more follow up emails but no replys. This made me feel like they knew the bass they sent me was not up to standard. That's conjecture on my part but certainly a thought that stuck with me.  I still want a good chowny HB but if I'm going to pay twice I may go for the jack cassidey instead.  

 

Sorry if you enjoy your chownys and retrovibes. This was just my experience. 

Just spotted this. To add a little context - although it's not an excuse as such - you caught me on an exceedingly bad year, with my wife going through chemotherapy and me trying to run the company single handed I just could not keep on top of admin, especially when it fell outside the usual workflow. Yours is not the only case of this, I just didn't cope with keeping on top of this stuff.

We are also REALLY struggling with backorders/stock so it'd be very difficult to switch it out without having anything physically in our hands to switch it out for. Our rep is rightfully taking a bit of a hit for this, with some orders having had to wait as long as from August 2018 ... Left handed bassists! Grrr 😉

Hopefully we'll see you back for a bass in the future, although if not - I'd totally understand.

I've given them a nudge today to say that there are "no announced artist rumblings", which as an exhibitor doesn't thrill me either. 

Response was : 

"We will be beginning artist announcements at the end of this week, hopefully the names we will be getting will sway any negative comments the other way."

*puff of smoke.

You summoned me master?

1 hour ago, Hobbayne said:

So is this aliexpress making copies of trademarked brands and selling them as unplayable crap??

Maybe playable. Maybe not. You have no right to recourse if it isn't. 

I'm quite philosophical about the copies of my stuff floating around. I know my basses are better. I know they're copies of the old chinese versions of my basses, although the factory I used to use swears they are nothing to do with it. I can't stop it - so I don't get excited about it.

I also know since we moved production our basses are SO much better than the ones we were getting out of China - even before they started knocking them out with cheaper parts etc.

Also Aliexpress is just a marketplace. Like Ebay. They don't actually make anything. They just facilitate the sale.

If that’s what you want to call it. 

My point was that anything on aliexpress is not ours  

They are built by us. All the basses we make are our own designs. We use production facilities in India. 

We do not sell anything on Aliexpress. Although I believe there are some fakes of our stuff around now. 

We sell on our own website, and via some retailers in the UK (Bass Direct, Bass Gallery, Andertons and Gear4Music)

We at Chowny make the Vantage basses but that’s as close as you’ll get to a 4005 with us. 

David @ Retrovibe does make small numbers of these in China from time to time. But not through us. 

Hope that all makes sense. 

10 hours ago, prowla said:

On the noise front, I went to the Bristol guitar show last weekend and never once even considered putting in my earplugs.

It was pretty tame for the most part.

9 hours ago, TheGreek said:

Still no artists announced...I thought that they'd woken up from their slumber..😉😉

They sent me an invoice, so stuff must be happening! I'll have a moan at them about the marketing. They really should be ramping it up already.

Making samples as we speak

Another great bash. Rather enjoyed myself.

Thanks and kudos for all the hard work organising and making food! See you all next year

42 minutes ago, Twanger said:

I tried one recently at the Bass Gallery and liked it a lot. Good sound and playability. Well made. The two things I didn't like were the strings it shipped with (not a deal breaker) and, unfortunately, the frets which were pretty wide and 70s'ish. Slightly narrower frets would really work on that bass. Think Starfire.

I gotta say - you're the first person to complain about the frets. Proof that I can never please everybody. They're medium jumbo frets (which are pretty common across most basses) - what do you prefer? 

36 minutes ago, Muppet said:

I have one of the early emerald green ones and it's lovely. I've currently lent it to a friend who also loves it. He's in a wheelchair and finds it very comfortable to play, especially as it's not too heavy at all.   I use it with 45-105 flats and they really bring out the sound. 

I thought you sold it.  One of the first 12 made. A piece of Chowny history.

On 31/03/2019 at 22:22, thebuckets said:

Im waiting on an order for a chb1 in same blue. Ordered direct from stock 11 days ago but now having buyers remorse😱 thinking I may have been wiser going for the swb1 how have you found it?

Happy to switch it round for you if you want.   I have a few SWBs in tobacco burst.

I've also got some clearance left handed Vantage basses. Wasn't gonna bring them - but if there are any lefty players attending that are interested let me know.

- Stephen

14 hours ago, thebuckets said:

what tinkering has been done? are they different to standard?

Real shame I'm so far away, just ordered a chb1 but would love to try the swb-1 too and TB is a right bonus. (credit card sighs with relief!)

They're 2018 Chinese Made ones that I've messed with the tailpieces etc etc on.

Just had a chat with Tony Butler (of Big Country fame) and he will be joining me at the bass bash to hang out and chat and geek out about gear. Sure he’d be happy to sign stuff etc. 

2 hours ago, Rich said:

My bud Witters has an Eden 1x12, I've asked him if he fancies bringing it along. I've also got an SWR Bass Monitor 12 which I could throw in the boot.

Right. Things I'll be bringing for people to have a play.

• Chowny NT4 bass
• Chowny NT5 bass
• Chowny CHB-1 bass
• Retrovibe Volante bass
• Retrovibe Vantage bass
• Retrovibe EVO bass
• Chowny SWB-1 bass
• Chowny SWB-1 fretless bass
• All three of my current pedals (Fuzzster, Pitchcraft, Bassmosphere)

I've got a bunch of Bassmosphere Chorus/Reverb Stock so will be discounting these if you want one on the day. I've also got some CHB stock from 2018 that have been tinkered with and will makes these available super cheap if anybody is looking for a semi-hollow. Maybe a few other bargains. Don't worry though .. I won't get salesy! You can come over and have a play regardless. ..... I'll have my credit card machine though 😜

Unfortunately I've got no SWB Pro stock at the moment. If somebody attending owns one it'd be great if you dragged it along.

16 minutes ago, foxyFuze said:

Anyone travelling from Bristol that would be able to offer a lift in exchange for fuel money and/or excellent conversation?

If nobody else pipes up - I can sort you out. 

No need to pay for fuel. 

Also good for spotting West Country bassists who could (and want to) potentially do videos for me 😉So my visit down there is not entirely selfless. 

2 minutes ago, scrumpymike said:

Any chance of some Markbass stuff for the raffle? 🙂

I'll bring some Chowny bits for the raffle (not basses I'm afraid). Quite looking forward to this. 

I didn't see this at the post at the time. We import from India tariff free under an EU trade agreement. So yeah - Brexit sucks for me.