Al Krow

Why not kick off with something like the Zoom B1-4? Very capable and ridiculously good value.

I personally would really miss not having a screen on a multifx to easily remind myself which patch I was on at any given time mid set.

Is it primarily geared at providing amp/cab sims though? Ie does it offer a full range of editable fx in the way that Helix Stomp and GT1000 Core do? If not we're not comparing like for like. There's mention of a "well-curated selection of 136 different FX settings taken from the legendary KEMPER PROFILER FX arsenal that features over 444 FX presets in total" which sounds promising, but no indication of what's available in the that selection.

I think Jaco has just displaced Carol K for a place in the top 10 😊

But have you managed to play lots of bass this year? If so, sounds like you've had a very good year! And there are hairshirt threads (aka "gear abstinence") for recovering Gear Chat addicts where you would be lauded as a hero...

But are you then saying that singers are not musicians and the voice is not a musical instrument? I think the ability to sing, write music, and play an instrument are all aspects of being a musician. And Macca, Geddy Lee and a handful of others could do all three to a very high standard. If, on the other hand, you're meaning the best bass player (which is what this list is about) then yes I'd agree that Macca wasn't technically anything like as good as some of the others and his pre Jamerson inspired 1965 and earlier stuff was very root/5th in approach.

In terms of best "musician", surely that accolade has to go to Macca, followed by Geddy Lee?

@chris_b is that now 15 of your top 3 you've now listed on this thread? 😂

Reminds me a little of the TC Spectradrive? What's the drive like on the NUX?

Ooof!! That does look tasty! Damn I knew this thread was going to be a bad idea 😂

I've had a pretty modest year on the bass gear front - ended up selling significantly more than I spent driven by clearing out my amps and cabs for PA related kit now that I'm no longer using backline. The bit of kit that's given me perhaps the most joy has been a pair of NU-X C-5RC 5.8 GHz wireless bugs which have excellent range, had no interference / drop out issues that I was getting with my 2.4 GHz kit and cost me <£100 used and come in a handy charging case with useful space for a couple of picks! My worst was entirely my own fault! Finally deciding to drag myself into this century, I bought a mic stand mounted tablet to use instead of a music stand and paper crib notes. Worked a treat, but when a mate had said she hoped we would "smash it!" referring to the gig on Saturday night, well clearly one of the inebriated audience took her literally knocking over the mic stand, shearing the tablet holder and cracking the tablet on its first outing. Ouch! Tbf - total schoolboy error on my part not putting a screen protector on before the gig. Anyway expensive(!) lesson learned! It's replacement is half the price and came already fitted with a screen protector 😅

Following on from the same topic we've successfully run since 2018 - a chance for some useful hints and tips with Black Friday and Xmas goodies still ahead, and, of course, nothing to stop us changing our minds between now and year end! As with previous years, the only "house rules" are that it's bass gear and something you bought (or at least arrived) in 2023. Here's the last thread in the series I posted in 2021 as a reminder of some of the goodies we bought then. (I think someone else kindly did the honours in 2022) And definitely post your GAS inducing pics please!

I'd have given that post a ❤️ if that was an option, Paul! It's just great hearing you and @Rich sharing such positive stories about your bands.

Sounds like the band has got itself to a really good place in terms of potential bookings - nice one! Whereabouts are you guys based? If some of you want to do (a lot) more than 10 gigs, could you consider getting a dep in to cover?

Thought we were going to be 100 BC'ers and done, but we've had another twenty add their votes since then 😊. These are the ones who have received more than 10 votes apiece from 120 of us :

Who would recommend dropping from the list (from the 5 or fewer votes crowd) next time around?

Btw great shout adding Rutger! Out of interest why this bass line rather than perhaps something like his awesome bass line to Dancing Queen? I kinda feel he's a spiritual successor to Carol Kaye - any merit in that thought?

Oooh...Macca has just slipped to third 😊

Yeah fair enough. Full price of a Helix Stomp XL is around £600. If that also comes with a USB cable, I'll concede the point.

Maybe wrong, but I'm not sure any of the Helix in the comparable price range to the SY-300 does though? Yours was a £1k+ product. I agree with @Woodinblack the more important thing is the right power supply - can't use it without one. For me, a USB cable costs a few quid and is not worth stressing about, particularly when you've just bagged a bargain? And the even more important thing is if the SY-300 is actually any good / going to be usable live?

But there's definitely some love - Les Claypool, MM and Flea have all got 7 votes apiece. I think most of us would take our hats off to pretty much everyone in that list of 30 even if they didn't quite make it into our top 3.

Interestingly Mixcraft has been described as being the "closest you will get to Garage Band on a Windows system". It's < £100 and allows video editing too. I take @Happy Jack's point. But I think we shouldn't devalue our time either, so if a particular daw is say £40 cheaper but its UI is much less intuitive and takes a lot more time/effort to get used to, then I'd want to take that into account when evaluating cost and value.

Sold Frank an octave pedal. It's always a pleasure dealing with him: top bloke and very smooth transaction.

With exactly 100 votes in, the BC verdict on our favourite bass players is as follows: