Al Krow

Ok just had a quick rig set up: signal chain - Ibby SR Premium (quite a bright sounding bass) --> DG AO900 (set flat) --> BB2 Points to note: 1. The dial is not a tweeter control and there is no tweeter hiss to speak of at all! Which I guess you would expect as there's a hf horn rather than a tweeter. 2. From the BF website - what the dial is doing is adjusting the "complex crossover takes you from old school bass cab smoothness to uncompromising studio monitor accuracy" - to my ears it sounds a little flatter aka more vintage with the dial on 0/10 It was very good to have it set up for a little blast again - so thanks for the excuse. It sounded great!

Here you go: The control goes from 10/10 (max) clockwise to 0/10 (bottom pic). I tend to have it on at about 8/10. Will need to set up with an amp to remind myself what dialling down to 0/10 does...

Seems to tick all the boxes the OP was looking for! And being a Mooer, it won't break the bank!

If I had to choose between my BB2 and my SC, I'd keep the BB2 no question. The SC is amazingly portable at just 21 lbs and I love that about it, but topping out at 4kHz means it loses some of the upper range harmonic richness which is present in the BB2. It's probably true that no one would notice the difference in a band mix other than me, but hey - that still counts!

Stunning! Who says black basses are boring?!

The fairer comparison on price would be the US NS2 then?

It is a punchy price, but a USA made Spector will set you back double that! And also need to factor in the £: € exchange rate is 15% less than it was 3 years back, when the older stock were being made and sourced. Tbf I really don't think a European or Brit is going to be any less capable of making a great bass than his US counterpart? Having said all that, if you can get a decent one used that's gotta be a plan!

TC Spark? 26dB of boost and some tone shaping thrown in for free. Btw - the Spark mini version doesn't have the same tone shaping options and is a smaller footprint, but the full fat one is currently on offer for less than the mini.

@acidbass in case it's of interest, I ran a similar poll on TB a couple of years back, with nearly 700 responses: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/do-you-use-a-compressor-the-2018-poll.1347040/ I think the final split was broadly in line with what we're already starting to see on your poll.

Ah ok fair enough. Sounding "unique" matters very little to me - but then I play in covers bands! Sounding and playing great, on the other hand, ticks a lot of boxes. My SR Premiums have never failed to deliver on that score. And probably why the P-Bass is so ubiquitous amongst pro players - I don't think any of them give a fig whether their basses are "boring": they let their fingers do the talking.

A P-bass would have sat better in the mix. ...ok that's terrible.

If they're going to make this work, they should maybe book some more relevant acts. I mean Gary Numan - what the heck has he got to do with Cars?

If Precisions are boring, then rock is boring. Folk are welcome to take up knitting.

Live Nation are doing a series of 300-car gigs this summer at Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Liverpool and London. A bunch of B-listers have been signed up: Ash, Dizzee Rascal, The Lightning Seeds and Gary Numan, The Streets and Tony Hadley, I guess 'cos ticket sales and budgets are limited. Concert-goers will be able to stand outside their vehicles in allocated spaces, or sit in their own fold-out chairs, but banned from bringing their own food! If this is the future; it's bleak. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-53090354

Yeah but not a white one 😉

Nah - Ibanez SR Premiums with their immensely playable necks, balanced and comfortable weight and very decent 3 band EQ with selectable mid centre points and meaty growl delivered from their big Nord singles are wonderful basses! I get a lot of unsolicited compliments about how great my Ibby looks and sounds from punters and musicians alike. ABM!

At least you're not an accountant...

Basses aren't boring. Bass players can be.

And there was I thinking you were just wanting to see who else had one for curiosity. But it goes deeper than that and your Smith journey seems to be continuing apace! Good luck with the hunt!

Hi Richard - just pulling your query onto this thread, as there are lots of folk with considerable experience of BB basses, so hopefully one or more of them will be able to address your query! Personally I would go for a BB 1024 every time, but then I'm particularly enamoured with that bass (I have the 5 string version)! And for significantly less than the cost of a BB 1100 you could get a BB414 or 424 which are both excellent value used.

Hey hang in there. Sometimes a break is a good thing, not least when we're all having to fly solo for 3+ months - it's not easy to keep enthusiasm going. In my case I'm definitely missing having gigs and a full band to play alongside. I also had pretty much a full month off when I was barely touching my basses; in fact only started picking them up again in earnest over the past couple of days. Fortunately I'd not forgotten which way up to hold the thing...although I did manage to leave a Smoothhound connected up to one of my active basses during the period and found the 9V battery was completely flat!

@Paulhauser thanks for sharing those tracks - enjoyed them both, particularly Roll Out. Bronski Beat meets Whitesnake! And fantastic that you guys have a recording contract.

Aaaand...order is finally restored to the Force. Phew! That was a mighty big disturbance had you briefly there caused young master T!

Yup, no two-timing allowed on this thread! Besides it's generally not regarded as a good thing apart from on Basschat, of course, where monogomy is positively frowned upon!

If you spent half the time, that me and Andy do, hanging around on the Yammy thread, you wouldn't be quite so surprised - I'm not! 😊