Al Krow

But on the plus side, if it never arrives you don't forfeit your £fiver (see OP) 😁

+1 ^^ I'm sure Zons are excellent basses and maybe it's just my ignorance, but I've never heard folk refer to that distinctive "Zon sound" in the way they do all the time to a P bass or Stingray sound.

Congratulations! I thought you were after a 5er, didn't realise you are also a dab hand at 6s! Is it going to get live use (when such things start happening again) or mostly played at home?

Given that the NE2 is purely active, the electronics are definitely a very big part of the appeal and its USP, for me, is the Nathan East pre-amp with semi para mid cut. Tbf you can get the 'Nathan East' sound in a relatively inexpensive pedal format and I'm guessing you could add to your bass to get a pretty close approximation - I'm basing that on comments from Sadowsky pre-amp pedal owners who feel that their pedal gives them a big slice of the Sad sound when added to to their P or J basses. I'm guessing you'll need a pretty uncoloured set of pups and EQ for that to be the case, though.

Hmmm...can't comment on Tobias / MTD or Vigier. But I wouldn't put Smith in the same tonal ball park as the NE2 or Spector. It's very much more its own sound - but you've owned a couple yourself so you're in as good a position as anyone to comment on that. The craftsmanship and attention to design and build detail on a Smith is in a league above the NE2 or Spector IMO, which is saying something given the quality of the latter two.

What's the story behind Jon S having your Spector since 2016, is he doing a repair? Interesting that you have landed on the NE2 and a high end Spector - for me the NE2 makes more than passing design & tonal reference to Spector with its sculpted body shape, neck through design, and outrageously meaty low end. In fact, I feel that my Euro LX5 and NE2 have more in common with each other than the NE2 has to any of the other Yammy BBs that have passed through my hands. FWIW - I think the new price of the NE2 is exorbitant but a vgc used one, on the other hand, justifies being in its price bracket when compared to similarly spec'd basses.

You thinking of getting one?

Ooooh that is exciting. I hope they remember to release a BB1205S whilst they're at it!

Ah Mick, if you read the small print it says the club is open to all current and former owners of Yamaha BBs, so I think you have lifetime membership and will always be very welcome! Congrats on getting yours away, particularly during lockdown!

Tbh, the Wal isn't a looker even upside down (gets his coat)...But I bet it will sound great. Alembic for the best of both?

I thought it let you plug your guitarist into the tuner so that he played the right chords?

You really must stop thanking me now, once is fine 😁 Although tbf I guess it's pretty easy to confuse me with some other random bass player who actually knows what they're taking about...

Here you go - Mark from Talking Bass is my absolute favourite online bass tutor. So much so, I've actually paid (shock horror!) for a couple of his courses. Here's some of his free material aimed at beginners: https://www.talkingbass.net/beginner-lessons/

For those of you lamenting missing out on the £16.69 (inc. P&P) from Kenny's, there's another 10 from this site on eBay which is only another £3.30 on top (i.e. £20 all in), so still pretty bargain basement: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/YAMAHA-Headphone-Amplifier-SC-01-Session-Mixer-SESSIONCAKE-Red-/254565767588 And as Gav mentioned, you can get the posher blue one for £30 from either Amazon or fleabay.

Impressed! I've only ever managed one bass at a time.

Nah, fret not, there will be a bunch turning up in the FS for £9.49 plus P&P in a while 😉

Love to hear some sound samples with and without the SBP2 if you have recording capability? Also really like the little markers you've got for your default settings for the VTBDI - I may just have to filch that idea for mine and maybe see if I can get away with with two or even three sets of colour coded strips for different favourite settings. I s'pose I'd better get luminescent ones for gigs 😁

I was waiting for the delivery of a bass a few months back and was checking the progress of my ticket number online (I can't remember which courier now) and then got an email saying I'd not been in when they tried to deliver!! Like heck I wasn't! Managed to get through to the store pretty quickly who told me I'd have to rearrange delivery as the van had told her they were now on their way out of my neck of the woods. I pointed out that on the delivery T&Cs they were to call me on my mobile 30 mins before etc. Anyway she kindly got back onto them and they were back here within 10 mins. They said they had called but couldn't demonstrate any call log and were pretty sheepish. Anyway bit or a shaggy sheep dog story for a sunny lock down afternoon... Hopefully it will turn up soon or a refund provided.

Really annoying when that happens!

Yeah and it's very likely to be flatwound. Frank defo recommended starting on rounds.

More than just a great first bass. It's simply a great bass!

Hah! I didn't even know that was possible on YT (something I've hitherto done using Song Surgeon software). And it slows down tempo without changing pitch, which is key (excuse the pun). That's the most helpful tip I've had on BC in 2020, alongside @dave_bass5 recommending me getting a VT Bass DI, but this one's completely free! Thanks Chris!

Yeah that does make it a no brainer to all be on just one platform. Agreed that Reaper is a very popular DAW with BCers, I suspect partly 'cos it's such good value for money and has had widespread 'community validation'. Mixcraft is, from what I can tell, only recently starting to compete with the some of the better known brands and a couple of BC'ers I've asked had never come across it. Like Reaper, it's also at the budget end and has a very decent feature set including video editing and, on the surface, seems to have intuitive and easy to use work flow which for a beginner is going to be key. How did you come across it and what persuaded you to jump in and not swim with the prevailing Reaper tide?

Oooh that's very nice. Hmmm, I think I'm getting early onset Wal GAS 😂