Al Krow

And so it beings 😂

@Bilbo sorry to hear about the heart attack - hope you've had a successful recovery and feeling mended. That sort of thing must always come as a shock. Quite a stilted year for me - a couple of bandmates moved away in both of my bands and our key lead vocalist was down with tonsillitis at start of last year, meant we did 26 in total, 21 of which were in the second half of the year. 75% of our gigs are functions these days but our regular pub gig has been a key foundation for building up the bands, and is still a lot of fun. As much as I would love to be as busy as some of my esteemed BCer's above, not sure that Mrs Krow would be too happy, so maybe 35 to 40 including some mid week gigs is a realistic number for me to be shooting for in 2020.

Unlike me

Day 3 and no one's fallen off the wagon. Yet.

PS anyone seen how many basses Geddy Lee has in his collection? Just sayin... 😉

Wise words indeed. I knew I was doing something wrong and finally now I know: I really must stop trying to play two basses at once. Besides my bandmates have often said they looked silly strewn across my diminutive frame, necks clattering. One bass at a time it will be from now on!

So are you now a bass GAS-free zone?

And what's wrong with that? A bit of window shopping never hurt! Besides we need to know what we're saving up for in 2021! 😁

Not all NT basses cost the earth. You'll be gobsmacked at the price of this one:

And great in real life on the SR Premium range too!

@Paulhauser - thanks for that. Seems to me that your experience is the Euro 5LX stack up pretty well, in general, against the US NS models. But you've found a particular gem amongst them.

He's a seriously capable youngster! But I think has re-confirmed to me that it's going to have to be Nords rather than the Barts.

Yeah - I found buying a Spector has resulted in a lot bass GAS gone! Very helpful for GAC 2020. All about timing, right? 😁

Average White Dirt

You've just been on a stand up comedy course haven't you? 😁 The point of this thread is surely not the winning, but the taking part? And then failing spectacularly in about July.

But you do have a fantastic bass collection! I dread to think what the total spend on your current collection is, but I'm guessing it starts with a "2"... Yup, given that strings are an allowed 'consumable' (aka nicotine patch) this could be the year we become world experts on different types of string - haha!

Day 2. Anyone else breaking into a cold sweat and suffering shakes? 😁

What are folks' thoughts on the difference between the Euro LX vs US NS models? Are these essentially the same? Any real differences? Just seen this thread from a decade ago. Dunno if views have moved on since? One of the posters commented "My NS quality wise IS worth twice the money to me. Sound wise there not that much in it though." Given just how lovely I'm finding my Euro 5LX, must admit I'm struggling to work out how Spector improve on that to provide something worth twice the money!

Fair enough. But would you consider £899 for this one? I suspect will come down in price over the course of the year and maybe one or two used ones might start finding their way into the FS by then also.

Ibanez have gotta be in the top 3 design innovators of basses in the past decade. It no longer surprises me that they are coming up something new and fresh each year. Or that they outnumber any of the other brands in my herd currently! Btw I have no idea who would take the other 2 top slots for design innovation - Schecter plus another maybe?

You're gonna have to spill the beans! What is it about Strandberg basses that don't cut it?

I like the sound of the Nords on the 1500 range a lot, particularly if it does deliver the promised hybrid P/J tone. From their website: Nordstrand™ Big Split custom pickups The single-coil Nordstrand™ Big Split pickups feature split coils with hum cancelling construction for less noise. Its tone character is a hybrid P/J style and provides a rich and strong, yet well-balanced tone, which fits well with various kinds of playing styles. Shame that I prefer the simpler white / black finish of the 1000 range!

Been a long time since Ibanez could be fairly accused of churning out Fender clones! They seem to be switching from Nords to Barts BH2 and Aggie pups with their more recent line ups. Was it a different model of the Bart pups that got a bad rep in the older SR Standard range?

PS first dibs on yours please when you move it on... you know I'll show up in person at Gatwick at the prescribed time 😁)

I look forward to your in depth review Mark! (Although I suspect it's not going to be "helpful"! 😄)