ezbass

36 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

as was the tour

You are not wrong.

Steven Wilson - To The Bone. It's a bit good (if you like this sort of thing of course).

Best bass I have tried, but never owned? Probably my friend’s Alembic Omega or a Wal I tried in a shop back in the 80s (anyone remember Allbang & Strumit?). To be honest, I don’t remember much about them as it was so long ago, although the hankering for a Wal has never left me.

Full disclosure here. Many, many years later, I tried a 4003s to check if my initial Ric experience still held true, it did not and I bought that one I tried and liked. It is heavy, to be sure, but it was well set up (even better now) and sounded great. It’s weird, had that first one not been so awful, I would have probably never tried one again.

Outside of the nasty, cheap instruments we started out with in the 70s, I'd say the worst bass I've ever tried is a Rickenbacker, many years ago at a guitar show. The action and relief were so high, you could've got your hand, or even arm, underneath without causing any pain to yourself. I didn't even bother to plug it in.

25 minutes ago, xgsjx said:

I've spied this too.

https://www.bax-shop.co.uk/right-handed-bass-guitar/sandberg-classic-special-5-string-bokote-top-fretless

Bax have some great prices!

Now, that really is the business, I really like the Classic shape with that Ric-alike top horn. So many basses, so little time.

44 minutes ago, CameronJ said:

The black one or the natural bubinga one? I’m gonna pour some fuel on that GAS fire of yours now:

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F273181547136

The natural one for me, although the black one isn’t horrible and I wouldn’t return it if someone gave it to me.

53 minutes ago, CameronJ said:

 

Looks like GuitarGuitar in Glasgow have a few nice ‘Bergs in stock right now actually: https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/sandberg/guitars/bass/solid-body/5-string-sb/

That Basic Ken Taylor is very nice! 😍

3 minutes ago, gary mac said:

I think some gentle filing around the opening in the guard is what you need to be doing. If you've managed to get the pick ups in there but they just a little tight, it should only need a small amount removed.

+1 I often have to 'ease' pick guards when I've new P/ups. Two sided nail files (coarse and fine) work well, aren't too aggressive and leave a good finish.

Given that you could get down to ACG with not too long a drive and talk face to face with Alan, I’d probably go that way. I’ve had an off the peg Sandberg Basic and I currently have 2 custom Maruszczyk Elwood Ls, all three are very fine instruments and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them. However, being able to be more ‘hands on’ (or at least eyes on) with a build would swing it for me. The instruments that Alan had at LBGS were stunning, I was there another BCer who has an off the peg Elwood L and a custom headless Maruszczyk Frog and he very nearly bought one of Alan’s creations as he was blown away by the build quality, feel, etc.

8 minutes ago, xgsjx said:

One for the owners...

How are you finding the build quality?

I’m looking for a new bass in the £2k region (or less). I’ve come up with a few great looking & well spec’d basses, but I read that some of the components such as screws are of poor quality. 

No issues with mine except a rough feeling 3 way rotary switch that I wanted and isn’t a standard feature and was sourced beyond their usual stock. After all that, I barely use that switch anyway and leave the pickup in series all the time. The quality of hardware (and build for that matter) seems to better than my Ric.

Great gig last night. It was our first time at this venue and it was packed with enthusiastic punters. Given that it was just round the corner from the school I used to work at, it's fair to say that I had a good sized rent-a-crowd there, although most of them had never seen me play (they seemed genuinely impressed). Very hot and sweaty and some interesting 'hot' notes on stage where the guitarist's and my lower notes were trying to create a sonic weapon (note to self, set up on the other side from his rig next time). Nice venue (just a pub though) in that it was a nice, long, straight room, with no awkward corners or recesses. Really looking forward to playing here again.

Rob Allen’s stuff is genuinely different. Even Mrs Ez, who normally claims all guitars and basses sound the same to her, recognises my MB2 is a different, great sounding beast and has forbidden me from selling it (woe is me  ). Congrats on your new purchase: enjoy.

1 hour ago, Christine said:

OK, lets have a go at uploading some piccies

Seems to have worked, old pictures sorry and forgive the album cover it was something daft I was posting on Talkbass

 

 

Marvellous, particularly the Fenderbird. 

 Now we need to some photos of your gear for us to drool over 

This was once mine and I parted with it as I’d gone all fivers at the time. If I’d known then I’d be back on four, I might still have it. Great P sound as I recall.

1 hour ago, Jimothey said:

I really like the shape as well but I can’t take any credit for it as it’s heavily influenced by the ACG recurve S type 

I had my heart on doing a walnut burr veneered top (this is the actual veneer I’m thinking of buying)

 

 

 

The range of colours in that walnut is stunning. That's what I'd have.

38 minutes ago, skankdelvar said:

There is a middle way which avoids confusion and visual incongruity: The Heartfakers - A Tribute to the Music of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers

This is exactly what we do.

I formed/joined a Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers tribute last year, a few months before TP passed away. I was all for chucking it in as I didn't want it to appear that we were cashing in on his demise. However, after some soul searching and some positive comments along the lines of, "No, you should still do it, Tom would approve," some of them on this esteemed forum, we decided to keep going. Only two gigs thus far, but we're going into the studio next week to record some promotional material (I'll share here when they're mixed). We don't try to look like TP & The HBs, but we do try to nail the songs correctly, either studio or live performances. We are, wait for it, The Heartfakers.

This thread is a good reminder to take a long hard look at what gear you have now. As with most BC members, I have almost permanent GAS for something, even when I don’t what it is. Just the sound of a good bass or rig (or both together - super dangerous) gets me trawling the internet for info on the kit in question and we know where that leads to, don’t we boys and girls? The most recent example of this is hearing Marc Van Wageningen with Tower of Power on Jools (extended version on Beeb 2 tonight) and then going on to investigate his Fodera and Aguilar gear (fortunately way too expensive to even contemplate).  However, I found a video of Joe Osborne talking about his Fodera and how to go about shopping for a new bass. That video plus this thread has had me playing and evaluating my custom Maruszczyks and you know what? I’m pretty much sorted really (bar maybe a pickup replacement) and my GAS is just ennui. I now just have to remember that I’ve made this public and fully expect folks to beat me with my own stick should I stray into any GAS driven purchases.

I’m glad to hear that your little one is finally coming home: happy days.

If you do decide to get a quality acoustic, check out Sigma guitars, I was blown away by how good they were in a recent try out, the J200 clone was easily as good as the Gibson real thing and at a fraction of the cost.

28 minutes ago, Tankdave said:

 

 

 

 

 

Look at it, just look at it! 😍 GAH! The top pic has a very clever subliminal word in the bottom RH corner  .

I run this very rig in black (dull) with just the standard Flightcase on top. If I were buying from scratch, this would be what I'd go for and in that colour.

GLWTS

Nigh on 2 hours of sublime funk

10 minutes ago, Japhet said:

Has to be Sweet Home Alabama for me. Music for toothless inbred rednecks.

Along with Alright Now. Actually decent songs, but ruined by excessive radio play, film/advert use and butchered by bad pub bands. Oh, and anything by The Doors.

44 minutes ago, therealting said:

What are the differences between the V3 and V7?

4  

Sorry, I’ll get my coat.