three

Looks lovely - great antidote to the rubbish that Fender (especially CS) puts out

The finest pre I’ve ever used (and I’ve tried, tested and used a lot - it’s a bit of an obsession). These are beautifully designed, heavily over-engineered and sound amazing. Super clean and accurate but with an impressive warmth. There’s a kind of subtle but immensely musical compression - a liquidity in which each note is held perfectly and abutted to the next without any degradation of attack. Almost impossible to find now - the Thomann stock sold fast! If I was to choose just one pre, it would be this (by a very large margin)

Thanks all for the very kind words re: my post above - the WA is extraordinarily impressive - it can certainly do everything that the Noble can and much more besides. It's been a bit of a revelation. The form factor isn't as convenient as the Noble but the review accolades appear to be richly deserved. I think that the WA could make pretty much everything sound good/better

I can strongly recommend the Warm Audio - a superb Pultec clone - it’s displaced the Noble for now

I'm sure that Si will reply more fully but for me, in very simple terms, it's (a) originality of all parts, (b) unmolested condition of those parts, and (c) condition of the finish. Thus for me, the bass in the question meets the basic criteria

I've always liked the look of this one - pity Wals don't suit me at all (and I've spent a long time trying)

Excellent pre, extraordinary bargain (in my opinion, of course)

The cab’s a CVA with a B&C coax 8” driver - I think it’s a high-end pro install unit found in clubs and venues. It works beautifully as a full range small bass cab with excellent resolution (a bit like a good studio monitor). I suspect you’re right re the soldering iron - a £50 buffer unit would probably do the job but might not look as pretty. I was alerted to actives/buffers and passive basses by Chris May - I have one of his PJs with an internal Overwater designed East buffer. Beautiful and difficult to return to straight passive after using it. The ASC just appears to give ‘more’ of the character tone of any given passive bass. Not like taking a duvet off the speakers but maybe a chiffon scarf

Apologies, it’s an Alembic Active Super Cable as seen here: https://www.station-musicshop.de/epages/64398533.mobile/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/64398533/Products/3694&Locale=en_GB It works! Though I suspect there’s a cheaper way of achieving similar!

As with all of Martin's work, just beautiful - such an elegant and refined realisation of an updated classic

Absolutely lovely - as an Overwater player, I can strongly recommend. Some very expensive options on this, including the MOP inlay - I had this on an Overwater a few years ago and it was beautifully executed. This looks like an outrageous bargain to me - good luck with the sale!

hahaha, not sure I'd go that far, though I doubt there'd be much problem in arranging a sale (they really are as lovely as their reputation and price would suggest, and the form factor is brilliant for both stage and studio)

Baby rig in my studio/office - the little ASC-20 gets more use than the Noble (frankly the ASC is an amazing bit of kit but there's probably a much cheaper way of achieving the same - though the ASC's box is lovely)

I actually rather like the cut of this man's jib - takes me back to the '70s - and I haven't seen a Flyte for yonks (wonder how they balance?) Edit: I've just seen the asking price for these - wow!

I'm not the biggest fan of relic jobs but love the look of this one. Think I'd be saving up for Spitfire plate (I really don't know how the CS can justify the stuff they're currently knocking out - I've had a few and always replace the plates)