Marty Forrer

Genz Benz Streamliner 600 or 900. Fabulous.

P is a bitsa I assembled from parts in 90s. LaBella LTFs and USA Epic Custom pickup. Fat as a fat thing.

Aria Pro is modded with Hipshot Ultralites, 3 band eq (was passive) and an awesome B string.

Upright is 1989 German solid top with Duece bridge and Zac Victor piezo. I bought this new.

Genz Benz Streamliner 600 amp. The absolute best head I have ever played. All knobs except master at 12 o'clock and suits any room.

Ashdown Studio 15 cab converted from combo to just speaker cab, fitted with Eminence Deltalite neo 15".

The Barefaced One10 has built in colouration.

I sold my Streamliner a few years back and suffered instant regret. I've had my eyes out for another ever since, but here in New Zealand I think there was only ever a small handful brought in so they're few and far between. One just came up on our interweb auction site, so I grabbed it for less than I sold my first one for. Once again I'm in bass nirvana. I've played many other amps since, and they're all excellent, but only the Streamliner gives that creamy, tubey sound with the soft transient at the start of each note, all the while retaining punch and clarity. A tube amp in a 6lbs package.

Totally agree. My recently purchased Aria Pro II RSB618/5 (made in China) is now my go to. The best B string I've ever had, and so comfortable. I've had a lot of boutique basses over the years and this suits me perfectly.

I do it to every bass I own. I use a small fine file, and I round off the fret end while I'm on the job. I only do the treble side, my thumb never comes up over the bass side. I finish off with  two grades of sandpaper, then treat the board with fingerboard conditioner. Patience and common sense is all that is required.

Just stunning. His little melodies are so accessible. 

Sheets of pickguard material are very cheap from aliexpress, and come in every colour known to man. I've made quite a few, it's not difficult, just have to be methodical and patient. Also a previous poster's recommendation for the Puretone 4 contact output jack socket gets a big thumbs up from me.

My latest tinkerer toy is a cheap as chips Aria Pro II 313 Detroit. I bought it new solely to be a modder bass. It has a great roasted neck and rosewood board and is under 8lbs. Mods are: Hipshot Ultralite USA tuners, Dunlop straplocks, Seymour Duncan P pup, DiMarzio UltraJazz J pup, replaced 500k pots with 250k pots and black pearloid pickguard I made, although I've since gone back to the tortoiseshell original. I've also since gone to Ernie Ball Slinky Cobalt Flats. I also gave it a fret level (although it didn't really need it ) and rounded off the fret ends.

A GK MB200 head with a Barefaced 1x10 works for me. For big gigs a GK MB500 with a Barefaced 2x10 will handle anything, and still light as a light thing.

Got mine from Gollihur Bass about 6 years ago. Done a lot of gigs since, and still in pristine condition.

FWIW: I have tried all 3, and I found the Gnome best, Bam 2nd and I didn't like the Elf. The Elf had this built-in compression that increased as the volume came up. I ended up with a GK MB200, better even though it was used.

I have a Studiomaster 16 channel which has two aux outs, with two aux controls on each channel strip. My drummer has his own mix for his IEMs and the rest of us have a mix for conventional monitoring. Studiomaster is a UK brand, and the guys there are very helpful.

This thread has nothing to do with Jeff Berlin. It's about the Rhythmic V bass. How about getting back on track.

I bought a used first gen, and had none of the problems stated in previous posts. The frets were all good, fit and finish was spot on. The pickups were good, and I fitted a VTC preamp. However, the VTC was really a waste of money, the difference it made was minimal.

Yes, I did.

I had some parts laying around so why not. I put an Artist (el-cheapo chinese) 34" roasted 5 string neck on a 4 string alder SX P body using a chisel and a sanding block. The only "good" parts on this are Hipshot Ultralite tuners and Dunlop straplocks. The pickup and bridge are generic cheap chinese things. I had some CTS pots, a Sprague Orange Drop cap and Puretone 4 contact output socket in my stash so threw them in too. Well b****r me, it's great. The B string is awesome, better than most of the 35" scale high end basses I've had, and it has 18mm string spacing at the bridge, which is my ideal. Plus, it weighs 8.4 lbs.

6 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

IEM scare me to death for the potential for a system out of my control to blow out my ears with one mistake.

Me too. Plus the PA is mine, and I prefer to keep bass out of it.

After two gigs, and experimenting with the setup specs and strings, I've got the MTD Z5 playing and sounding awesome. The B string is now perfectly focussed and balanced with the other strings, and I've found the sweet spots for the pickups and eq. I can't see me needing to change the preamp after all.

Hi petebasssist. No, it's a 1989 Musima (East German) solid top.

My rig. I'm loving it.

I remember those conversions. I tried one once but way too narrow for me, even with my arthritic fingers, but a great idea for those that don't mind the spacing.