Al Krow

And then what about the gig bag for the board?

A 1024 (or 1024x with scratchplate and added chrome) would be the obvious choice for me, but as you will gather from very contented 414 and 424 (which is the same thing as the 414, but with a laminate neck and body through stringing) owners on here, not all folk agree with me (or Yamaha) that a 1024 is a step up 😄 If you want to go seriously posh then you are into P34 or 2024 territory. PS I've added you to the "wall of shame" of BB bass owners on the OP

Well first dibs on whichever you let go of then please 😁 I get what you're saying about gear though - been through a similar journey with my pedal collection in 2020. I moved on a shed load of pedals (15?) and have now got a little board with "just" 7 units on (tbf including a budget multifx), but which are getting used to something like their potential now and I couldn't be happier. Not missing the stuff I never got around to using, one bit!

Any obvious significant +/- to either of them in comparison to the other?

You gents just don't realise how cathartic it is to be hearing that the pain threshold I experienced in trying to program my SR-18 wasn't unique! Although we're completely agreed on this point, if someone did ask us what a drum machine is - a fair response might be "a box with a programmable computer chip inside"... It's key redeeming feature is that it doesn't look or feel like our laptops! 😁

Lol! I've now got drum machine GAS for a replacement TR-8S, once I've got up to speed on the basics on my RD-8. Ah well, at least a decent incentive eh? Drum machine GAS, is that even a thing? 😁

Exactly this! I thought I was being a bit Neanderthal in thinking this, but apparently not

All good points. But you're looking at more than double the price of Behringer RD-8 by the time you get into Roland TR-8S territory.

Good shout, but if @Beedster is looking for something relatively simple wondering if the TR-6S might be a good option?

Completely agree with the above comments about the Alesis SR16 / 18 models being atrocious to program!! So whatever you get you're likely to find life easier on that score. See my short review (Feb 7th 2020) above of the RD-8 and this is indeed a Roland TR 808 clone.

@Beedster - what do you think of Behringer RD-8 that a couple of us have picked up on this thread? I previously had the SR-18 and can vouch for the fact that the RD-8 is a step up from that in terms of ease of programming your own drum lines - just based on my initial getting to grips with it. It's on my 2021 "to do" to be spending a bit more time with it, but I've found my little Zoom B1-4 actually has a pretty decent set of presets for practising along at home to which has kinda taken away a bit of the incentive on the RD-8 front! Worth noting that the RD-8 is a fair bit bigger than the SR-18.

Picking up a 5 string bass has easily been the best bass thing that's happened to me since, well, err...first picking up a 4 string bass 😁

Ah yes...very poorly compared to NZ. In fact most European nations are doing abysmally compared to NZ. So the better question is surely this - is the NZ solution one that Europe can easily and readily apply, given its geography and population size as compared to NZ?

Not even close to a NZ solution though is it and lasted a few days. How is France doing compared to NZ?

I don't think any European state (let alone ones that have 10x the population of NZ) has come close to applying a NZ solution. Please correct me if I am wrong and name them? Seriously if it was / is that easy to do why isn't it being done right now by the UK or the EU? How long has NZ put the rest of the world in quarantine? What is the longest any European nation has done the same? Tbh you wouldn't get any objections from me to putting the rest of the planet in quarantine, if it were feasible and worked. - Not sure how any air-travel abroad can currently really be described as "essential" other than to be returning to / from home countries on a long term basis. - But you then have the issue of trade and road hauliers etc.

£20 for the Mod 3?!! I thought it was usually nearer £70 - no wonder you snapped that up! Tres3.1 board and softcase currently £80 inc P&P which is pretty much exactly the same as the PT Classic Jr.

And it's really good to have your wisdom on board for sure, chappie. Don't think we have too much in the way of that level of bass playing expertise EBS although there are a few medics (including Cuzzie) and others who are very involved with the NHS (e.g. my missus is having to deal with massive fall-out from Covid as a child psychiatrist).

You raise an interesting and very good point. Be good to remind us exactly what NZ did to deliver their success? It's definitely a nice soundbite, but is it practically do-able? In particular I wonder whether it would have been possible to do the same here and in mainland Europe, bearing in mind (i) that NZ is literally the last stop on journeys as opposed to being a through-fare and (ii) that NZ has just 1% of the population of the UK and EU combined which together were covered by the freedom of movement rules until 31 Dec. Obviously the UK is no longer constrained by the FoM rules post 1 Jan 2021 so potentially has more ability to implement a NZ style solution, but the UK is still part of the common travel area with Eire (which interestingly has the approx. same population as NZ but has also not adopted the NZ solution) and we are therefore indirectly part of the wider EU travel area still. Just wondering if theirs was such an easy and obvious solution why has no one here (or in the EU) still thought about adopting the NZ model?

I'll pm you. Allegedly.

Currently have a Metro 24 and wishing that it had just a bit more clearance to fit anything but the flattest of power units underneath. Saw @Kev's Warwick RockboardTres3.1 recently and thought it looked really good - although not sure I would want to fork out for the Mod 3 unit and it might look a little odd without it in place. What else is out there that folk are using and can highly recommend that have moved things on from the PT Classic Jr rail format?

It's about as much fun as you can legally have with a Boss sized pedal. Allegedly.

From detailed analysis of ONS figures: Looking at 2nd wave deaths in the UK (taking week 45 = Nov 2nd as approximate base line): 85.1% of deaths have occurred in the 70+ age group. Lockdown 1 without a vaccine took 3.5 months from March 23rd to July 4th to get the rolling average weekly death rate from Covid-19 to around 50 or less. Most of the 70+ age group should be vaccinated over the next 3 to 4 months, if not sooner, and combined with current lockdown measures and moving out of winter should, together, make a very big difference. Whilst it's anecdotal / "best guess" territory, folk who have to put substantial sums of their savings on the line and will have done a fair bit of homework, are not shying away from investing in pubs right now. Check the Mitchells & Butlers' share price since the beginning of Nov if you're interested. The above is the basis for my optimism / "educated best guess" (which I will happily admit it obviously can't be anything more than, at this stage) for the end of May pub / live music reopening. Let's hope for the sake of the music and hospitality industry, both of which I am very much deeply involved in, that optimism proves to be nearer the mark than some of the doom on this thread. Time will, of course, tell.

Calling @Woodinblack...

Yeah thanks - it's that sort of comment by manufacturers (who should know their onions, provided it's not just marketing spin!) that I have had at the back of mind.

But that's still tiny compared to 240v mains. This is where my lack of engineering nous on valves and voltage starts to show though!