Al Krow

Nice tale with a happy ending! No flattery involved when it comes to VAT, btw. Folk would be very wise not to compete with you on that (willies or otherwise) or on the number of Mesa amps they have... 😁

In which case, I would happily recommend you checking out a couple of the 424 siblings: the 1024 (purely passive, also Series 2) and /or the 734A (active and passive, Series 3) which both have harmonically richer pups and a few further refinements to their build. There may or may not be several hundred posts about them both on the Yammy thread 😁

So a numpty question to may favourite VAT BC expert (and fellow Mesa fan): what's the thinking behind getting two of these and how are you planning on using them? It's not just for an extra 20% on top I hope?

No mods in Dublin, Luxembourg or Malta? You'll find their tax regimes very accommodating! In fact so much so, that Ireland fought tooth and nail an instruction from Brussels to charge some some small mobile fruit company an extra €14 billion in taxes...😂

Hardly. Perfectly legit to have an overseas branch. Millions of companies do. I recommend HazBeen rather than you though, Douglas. NL has a much more friendly tax regime than France 😂

Very easily solved. A couple of the mods just happen to live across the channel...

Tbf Marshall have pretty much fallen by the wayside in terms of bass gear.

Q: And can we split the basses for sale into 4, 5 and 6 string sections while we're at it please? A: Ped..."No" 😁

He also moved on from his classic Rick sound to being a Vigier man... Nice little interview with him here: Roger Glover Talks About Deep Purple, Ronnie James Dio and Ritchie Blackmore | GuitarInternational.com

Awww - you're just rubbing it in now!

Hah! Just jealous that you have TWO more 4001s than most of us! I'll likely be settling for one of these poor man's substitutes...

Well that's probably a "good" thing as far as the bank account is concerned then! PS I guess it's probably fair given the NE2 is only available as a 5 string to Joe Public (although I think the man himself also had a 6 string version?)

@lowdown - yeah "growl and grunt" always gets a thumbs up from me! Do you know what he was playing?

Super impressed by the pulling power of the Hooky & Yammy combination. Wonder if they will go on to launch a 5 string version...

@4000 classic Rickenbacker clank! And reminds, of course, of the hate-him-or-love him Geddy Lee (I'm in the love him camp!) Ritchie Blackmore, in his Rainbow incarnation, was the first gig I got to go to.

Totally agree for a 424. 425s are a little more, in line with 5 vs 4 strings, but I got my new (albeit with an end of line discount) for £280 a couple of years back before foolishly moving it on. Congrats! - Another BB PH owner, I think that makes your our 6th on this thread - it's definitely proving to be a real hit! I've included you on the 'wall of shame' on the OP Is this your first BB or do you have / previously had other models?

Was indeed interesting - thanks.

Ah fair. Get one of these then.... 😊

True...and if I bothered to check the "wall of shame" on the OP I would know that! Ok, in which case, given that you have a 414 why get a 424 when the only real difference is a laminated neck - the pups and electronics are identical, right?

And if you want "optimistic" pricing, check this out... Yamaha bb1025x 5 string Professional Bass Guitar | eBay

But other than laminated neck are you getting anything more for a 424 than a 414? There's a lovely 414 in the FS on for £160, almost half the asking price of that 424. Btw...

Just add the appropriate Tech 21 pedal and you'll be good to go

As with any profound change to tax and other arrangements there are going to be plusses (as touched on in my post) and minuses (as can be seen from the additional hassle in Newfoundfreedom's post).

Maybe only indirectly connected to our discussion on VAT, but if we had stayed in the Customs Union would VAT on private sales to/from the EU have been a non issue? Leaving the Customs Union means we now have the freedom to lower import duties from the rest of the world, which is a good thing for UK consumers. I must admit I was also unaware that 75% of customs duties the UK collected while it was part of the EU Customs Union were paid across to EU coffers. I guess I can see why the EU was pushing for us to remain in this - something new I've learned today! In theory, I presume we could rejoin the Customs Union at any point if we wanted to eg Turkey is a member, I believe, (although prevented from joining the EU, itself, by France who don't want the free movement implications). So if the costs of not being in the Customs Union outweigh the benefits, this should theoretically be relatively easily reversed down the line.

[Apparently Kloppmann...see below]