Al Krow

Aha - sounds like the one posted by @sykilz a little while back? No need for wood dye IMO, looks great as it is!

I actually prefer the natural wood HS on P35 to a midnight blue one, so I guess it's squarely aimed at the more middle-aged-spread (MAS) gent like myself 😂

And a better toupee as well by the looks of it 😆

Something like this, right?! Luverly! And has the MHS (see earlier post on previous page for list of 3 letter abbreviations!) common to the 414 series. Can't really go wrong with vintage white IMO, other than thinking that VW is much more associated with a cheating diesel German car maker...😂

Dan - you and @bassfan make a very persuasive argument for the B|Amp and I've also been keeping an eye on the Forte HP which is due for release in the UK right about now. Although it's £100 dearer than the Mesa WD-800, the Forte HP pricing somehow seems less of a p*ss take than what Westside Distribution are doing in marking up the US price of the Mesa $999 to £1,299 in the UK; the comparable prices are $1,399 US and £1,399 UK for the Forte HP, which is much more what we might expect allowing for transport, import duties and VAT. There have been some comments that the Forte HP has a responsiveness pretty much on a par with the Aguilar DB751. If that's correct, that is high praise indeed! The B|Amp is a few years old now (I think it came out in 2015) so is anyway due for a refresh; and whilst 350W into my 8ohm Fearless F112 or 8ohm BF SC should be okay, a little more headroom (particularly with the Fearless) would certainly be welcome. The B|Amp and Forte share the same ICE power module. With the upgraded 600W 8ohm power module now available on the Forte HP, it seems to me that it won't be a big stretch for Jim B to similarly share the power module with the B|Amp to come up with a B|Amp HP which he will maybe announce at NAMM Jan 2020? In which case I'll maybe hold on for another half year until the B|Amp HP comes out. Now that really will be one truly awesome amp.

It's all relative. You spent £2k on your bass, so I make that price differential to a Squier about 200 years' worth of potential savings on slightly cheaper strings! But you've almost certainly got a much nicer bass to play (and more comfortable to wear) though for the rest of the 21st century...😂

Welcome It's always perplexed me that string spacing seems to be measured at the bridge. I'd have thought that the 5th or 7th fret would have been the more obvious place and would also then better take account of both the bridge and nut string spacing?

Yes it is! It's a normal bass size, which it didn't need to be given the shorter scale. Weighs in at a not inconsiderable 10.3 lbs on my scales.

Thanks - like you I'll be sticking to rounds on my recently acquired Squier Bass VI, rather than switching to flats. I've become a recent convert to D'Addario EXL nickels for my 5 strings and will maybe give them a try out here too. Does anyone know off hand what the guages of the stock strings provided on the Squier are? Seems to me that the cheapest solution might simply be to replace the low E string with something with a thicker guage!

What replacement strings are you using on your Squier?

Just measured: 72 mm from the mid point of the B string to the mid point of the G string at the bridge (=18 mm spacing). 35 mm for the same measurements at the nut.

Mine's a boring black (pics posted earlier in the thread). Although I did manage to buy a spare grille, from another BCer, which is in garish yellow to remind me of my former Markbass glory days! 😂

One thing I should have mentioned about the NE is that it delivers thunderous, bone rattling LOWS!! Very probably the deepest, meatiest low end of any bass I've come across. Great review, Dan...and don't worry about forgetting to mention the B string - I think I've covered that off in my comment immediately above! 😂

The flip side with steels, being harder than nickel, is that you're going to get greater fret and fret board wear, so it's a bit of a trade off. Having said that, the bespoke KS steels on my KS do sound fantastic!

@mcnach - great post above, thanks! Just picking up one point in your final para: As you've probably guessed from my recent posts on this thread, I think I have found exactly that single 112 in the shape of the Fearless F112. This review by Ed Friedland sums it up really well: His conclusion at 10.15+ completely summarises where I'm currently landing! "This thing will take on a gig that you would never dream you could do with a single 12"...This is top quality stuff. It's not cheap but, man, it's worth it! This is the last cabinet you may ever need."

Zvex Mastotron? (There's one in the FS at the moment on at a very fair price). Also worth checking out this thread, which seems to cover similar territory:

Great stuff Lozz! Who are the main song writers in your band? How much of your material doesn't make it onto your albums?

Ah I've just seen the two BF threads making reference to peeling tolex, so I now know what you're referring to! Hope you manage to get yours sorted satisfactorily (and that I don't face anything similar on my BF SC down the line!) Must admit I've been very tempted by TKS cabs, given their excellent reputation; but their power handling / output suggested that I would likely need two 112s in a full band situation to punch through, and I've enjoyed the convenience of a one cab solution. Dunno if that is a fair shout regarding the TKS 112s?

Where from?

Berg CN212 vs Fearless F112 (brief shootout comparison) Set up my Berg CN212 and Fearless112 for a direct head to head comparison using an AB/Y pedal connected up to my Mesa M6 amp. Amp EQ set flat, gain at 9am and master volume at 10am. Comparison done using my passive Yamaha BB P35. First (expected!) difference is that a 2x12 4ohm cab is a fair bit louder at the same amp settings than a 1x12 8ohm cab. Adjusting the master vol to 1pm for the F112 equalised the volume - bear in mind that the Mesa M6 is pretty non linear in terms of its volume output. With the volumes equalised the Fearless was actually surprisingly similar to the Berg, which for me is a massive compliment to the F112 given how good I feel the Berg is! In terms of nuances the Berg was a tiny bit more mid-scooped compared to the Fearless and the F112 had a touch more mid punch and clarity - which is something that the F112 is perhaps already 'famous for' and facilitated by a dedicated mid focused 5" speaker. The Fearless seems to be jumping through home use hurdles fairly effortlessly. Given its quality in terms of mid punch range, I can't see it being anything other than excellent in a band mix - will report back once I've had a chance to put it through its paces with a full rock band.

It really is an excellent cab, I agree, Chris. Right up there for me in terms of the cabs I've played through. As mentioned above it surpassed my former VK 210LNT in terms of fullness of tone / clarity and articulation. The only other cab that has gone toe to toe with it in terms of sheer sound quality was my Mesa PH 212, but that really was simply too heavy for my back to ever contemplate lugging. However ... ...

My BB P35 came with D'Addario EXL170-5 nickels 45 to 130 guage. They're excellent and not outrageous in terms of price (around £25) - highly recommend. I'll certainly be sticking with them for my Yammy BBs and Ibby SRs (fretted).

Haha. Ok that explains a few things...

And you know that exactly, how? 🤣