lemmywinks

Sire V7 is a great first (and second, third, fourth...) 5 string and that one is especially pretty, they do tend to be on the heavier side although obviously this varies. I sold mine after fracturing my left clavicle but was otherwise perfectly happy with it and it was a fantastic live bass. It was a whopping 11.6lb which was heavy even for a Gen 1 Alder V7, usually they're in the 9-10lb region. A used Sadowsky Metro Express (the Chinese ones) might be a good alternative if weight is an issue, possibly one of the higher end Cort GB series as well if you can find a used one.

One of the GB Modern's I briefly owned had a similar issue with Cort's (I think they make these in house) Markbass preamp - intermittent sound with a constantly draining battery leading to low volume and distortion. No visible shorts anywhere so assumed it was the preamp at fault. It's a very good pre when you get a working one with a sensible freq point for the bass control, I was originally intending to swap it out but kept it in there.

I always thought the US CS was more seldom used and just for one time artist orders whereas the Japanese CS did the small high end product runs as well as artist stuff. Odd that it doesn't say where these are made.

Assume these are Japan Custom Shop builds? If so the price is nothing out of the ordinary, that's where their top artists' instruments are built.

There's currently a bass I sold on FB Marketplace (that old charity shop Hondo, think you had one) being flipped for double what I listed it for, not only has he used my pictures but also copy/pasted the description, right down to the bits where I detailed the work I'd done on it and the new parts I'd fitted, all recounted in first person. Wouldn't even mind but the pictures I took were awful as my phone at the time had a rubbish camera! It's been on there for ages probably because my original price was the market value and the flipped price is about £100 too much.

Some fine strewtherie there.

Not specific to the Joyo but reports on the PJB X4 (which this seems to be a loose clone of and is similarly capable) suggest that it can sit in with one or two acoustic guitars but pretty much runs out of headroom to get there. Maybe Joyo will make an affordable version of the Double Four? There's definitely a market for people who want this form factor but don't want to pay PJB money.

Would also have to see it on a strap, some basses which look pretty awful on a stand actually look good when being played. That's all that matters really.

A surprising amount of expertly built basses which strive for individuality end up looking jarring and wonky, almost like the person who can craft a seriously high end instrument isn't neccessarily the same person who can come up with a visually appealing design. Off the top of my head Shuker and Iceni can do both but a lot of luthiers would benefit from getting someone else in to design a body shape and cohesive theme.

Still boggles my mind that body shapes designed from the ground up for headless still have the tuners sticking out like that.

Different logo to most of them, assume it's an older one? Another one like yours here with better pics: https://reverb.com/uk/item/45374901-secondhand-tanglewood-rebel-4-string-bass-trans-purple My old guitarist had one of these and it weighed a ton for the size of the thing, actually made it quite unwieldy so count yourself lucky you got a light one!

Tanglewood Rebel? Think you can see part of the logo on the body beneath the sticker.

I do use a small rig at home, pretty much all my learning is done with headphones but for general playing it's more convenient for me to use a little amp. Since getting a Double Four my 1x10 rig is in storage and about to be listed for sale, I imagine one of these or an X4 would be even more convenient.