Al Krow

Out of interest which model Bugera have you got?

Not even close. Must try harder if you're gonna fail. (see post #6)

How about I loan you my midi thing for free?

You can definitely join this club, lol! I have to confess that's exactly the same amount of use I managed to put all THREE FIs I've ever owned! 😁 Fortunately for you, there is now a very clever BCer in the shape of @Quatschmacherwho is managing to get some great synth patches created, which he is kindly sharing with those of us luddites who find our square waves constantly getting confused with our VCOs...

Sounds like you were never "out" as far as 2020 goes and perfectly entitled to join the trainee hairshirt monk brigade!

Damn, he makes a BB NE2 sound a lot better than I ever could 😁

The pups in true 'sweet spot' position really are fugly aren't they and makes total sense that they are going to interfere with each other being in such close proximity, so no equivalent of the P+J that the a lot of us like on the Yammy. The Schecters I was making reference to are out of production (and turn out to be just 20 frets). Hmmm...maybe after all of that it's safe to conclude that if you want a Stingray get a Stingray and that Yammy got something very right with their PJ configuration. Although the Yammy modded Ray "Travis" could yet get a cult following

That makes complete sense in the context of slap. If you want something at the budget end, get a Zoom B1-4 multifx (or the B1X-4 with expression pedal for a little more fun). This has a dedicated DualComp effect which allows for separate compression of low and high frequencies. You can obviously do a whole lot more besides compression with the Zoom B1-4. No metering, but if we guesstimate a cost of circa £0.50 for each of the 60 effects on the B1-4 (and the balance of monies for the hardware) you can't really complain!

Lol, can't believe I'm spending the entire day in agreement with you Mr T. Getting decidedly dull... 😄 That Schecter did look like it's worth checking out, though, maybe the closest I've spotted to a P/MM that is going to be delivering on both P and MM, with some seriously decent pups. And let's be honest, the Diamond series are a pretty tasty looking bass too.

Further to our earlier chat, think I've stumbled across the P/MM that could well hit the spot for me: the Schecter Diamond P Plus sporting Seymour Duncan quarter pounders, with push pull to go from series to parallel on both the P and the MM. Feels like it could be the "Berg I've been after" with meaty pups instead of the polite Delanos that often come as standard (really my only gripe with Sandberg), and at Ibanez rather than 'Berg prices. It's seriously active though, which might be a deal breaker for some, but I'm good with that. As you said, Yammy are not going to be introducing a P/MM any time soon...

Aha, yes if you were using a normal cable and not a TRS, your expression pedal is not going to work. Problem solved (fingers crossed)!

I think I'm landing in the opposite zone! An amp delivering a (i) decent "full" clean with (ii) a versatile EQ and (iii) plenty of headroom ie 500W+ at 4ohms and (iv) a reputation for quality ticks a lot of boxes! Add in (v) a valve in the preamp to deliver valve warmth and (vi) the portability of a D class, pretty much ticks the rest. (vii) an hpf on the amp would be super nice to have but there aren't many amps with this that also deliver on all the rest, and this is the easiest of wish list to bottle up in pedal format. Having an on board limiter is pretty cool. These days I'd prefer to have the flexibility of choosing my own flavour of drive; being limited to an amp's preamp drive is a bit of a lottery as to whether its going to give you "your" drive sound; more likely that it won't, so you typically end up using the drive on the amp to "warm up the clean" in a manner emulating a hybrid. Might as well get a hybrid in the first place. I'm getting pretty tempted by this head...

@AndyTravisyou and are I very much on the same page with regard to so much of the sentiment you've eloquently expressed above!

They're expensive and seem to have mixed reviews on how they sound.

My Sandberg TM4 was shown the door in favour of Ibanez and Yamaha basses 18 months back. I'm a Berg free zone for the foreseeable future. Used 735A is not a bad shout. I'd not bother putting a reverse P in as that would be a visual mess, but the MM split coil is definitely doable. And worth leaving that thought on the table for anyone wanting a BB with an MM pup. I've actually got split coil J/MM on both pups on my Spector which has kinda scratched that particular itch for me. And I have to fess to being ridiculously content with my BB 1025, so I'm kinda sorted

My experience of multifx is that they have been improving leaps and bounds over the past few years. Not sure when the ME50B was originally released? As the available chip processing power has increased so has the quality and realism of the effects patches. The Zoom B3N was a revelation in terms of a relatively budget multifx 3 years back and has recently been re-packaged into the smaller form and even more value for money B1-4. It's pretty good, but never made me think I could replace dedicated pedals at the 'harder' modelling end: synth, filter, drive and octave up & down. Helix has taken it to the next level, although at a considerable price premium to the Zoom pedals, and a lot of folk have dispensed with their entire pedal board. It doesn't have a synth engine and can't compete with my Boss SY-1 for example, but otherwise it's pretty close to being a one stop shop for me.

But the single J is sooooo good! What's needed is a split coil MM with a selector switch so you can toggle between a J and an MM. And might as well go for a reverse P while you're at it. Dammit, it's turning into a Sandberg... 😄 Now if you could get a Sandberg VM5 pup configuration in a BB with the excellent BB Alnico pups and 3 band EQ for the price of a 735A, we'll you'd be talking!

Dunno about back in the game, more like back on the game (and that's a reference to you, Dave, and not your third wife, for the avoidance of doubt!) 😁

The gig bag (strings or pedal board) would have been fine, it's just everything else that tripped you up as far this thread is concerned...😄 @bassfan did try to argue that a swanky new amp and TKS cab were required "to get the most out of his basses", but he would have been better off buying a really swanky set of strings with a free bass thrown in. Missed a trick there.

A Yammy BB user and pedals mainly for creative home use rather than gigging. That's a pattern of behaviour I can relate to!

Well folks - looks like a full 2 months under our belts and 17 / 24 of us are still standing! This thread has actually been very helpful in avoiding new gear so far; I'm sure without it I would be snapping up that mint GM800 amp head in the FS right now!

It would be interesting to see if they ever go down that route. I think for a lot of us we associate the BB brand as being PJ, or just P for older models. The notable exception being the NE2, which really isn't a BB at all!

Sidetrack: my regret is that Orange have taken the fear out of Terror and now only do 500W at 4 ohm, heads.