rasher80

I prob sound like a stuck record, and in fairness I've only played the one so far, but for the price at which they retail at, Harley Benton are hard to beat. Sure, there are better basses to be had, but some of their stuff retails at less than 3 figures off the shelf which is ridiculous in this day and age

I agree with WoT. Not to criticise the OP in any way but I was polite and found Adrian to be amenable throughout and even when I changed something after I paid the deposit he never charged me the €50 fee

Although I've never played one, usually when this kind of thread pops up, Sire is usually hands down the most recommended "budget" bass. Really can't justify getting one right now unfortunately to see what all the fuss is about - but it's an itch I'm going to have to scratch before long

Same here, mine arrived Saturday morning. Despite reading a few "sent it back, it does nothing" threads on other forums I picked one up from the classifieds here. Really pleased with it, does a good job and can't find any fault with it. Despite only using it at home I'd have no hesitation in using it live. I know it's fairly functional compared to most other compressors but I think it gets unfairly knocked. Probably because it says "BOSS" on it!

Just completed a transaction for a boss LMB3 with Simon. Communicative, purchase was a doddle and item was here in a fraction over 24hrs. Would buy/sell from Simon again without hesitation.

Didn't take long

That's odd, although there have been reports of the battery discharging due to contact with something inside the bass? I put a Duracell in mine when it arrived and it's fine almost 7 weeks later, which is as you'd expect I guess.

Got to stay away from Thomann at all costs!!!

Go on do it!! Do it NOW! 😁

Ahhh now that's interesting - assumed they would have been, I hold my hands up and admit I didn't look too closely. Worth a punt @oldslapper ?

Harley Benton PB50. For under a ton it's prob a no brainer and I really want to try it but I know it would do my head in. - Slab body - Baseball bat neck - Weight

Unfortunately, the 30" Talman isn't made for left handers, just the 34". I'm pretty sure @pineweasel has a lefty Harley Benton 30" P for sale, or at least he did. Might be worth considering for the OP perhaps? Might be an easy way into seeing whether SS basses are for you, and then pick up the Sire if it ticks your boxes?

The long scale Sires are well regarded around here so it's likely that the short scale models would be decent too. I'd buy one without hesitation. You've also got the choice of Hofner, Schecter, the Sire, Harley Benton, There are others. As for the Ibanez, I'm not sure how much they're worth. Your 3rd question depends on who you ask and is dependent on your bass... if it was me I'd buy a short scale set but I'm lazy 😉 Oh and welcome to the lefty bit of the forum

Really liked everything about mine apart from the weight. It's a decent price that. Just wish the default options for most lefty basses weren't burst/black/natural. Obvs Fender and Sire are pretty good with this but other manufacturers should diversify just a touch. Come on!

Saw this on Eastwood's site... every time I look at it I love and hate it in equal measure🤔 https://eastwoodguitars.com/collections/bass/products/eastwood-newport-bass-lh

Good luck with it! I always wanted one of these but as I'm strictly a home player these days I can't justify it. GAS is strong on this one though!

I saw a long forgotten mid-table indie band called Rialto at a festival in the late 90s who had 2 drummers. It looked like they were playing exactly the same thing which I couldn't get my head around

Its showing availability to order through GAK but I'm not sure that's confirmation of anything really 😁

Any Irish members of the forum will surely be familiar with this..

There was a rumour which turned out to be false (obviously)that Guy Pratt had played on it.

Couldn't agree with this more. The preamp in my old G&L L2000 was super hot, I found it hard to tame so just played the bass in passive mode. The HB preamp is much more mellow and I actually enjoy it more. I was tempted to drop a Glockenklang in it but once it got here and played it there's really no need

+1 to this. I got mine from here for not much money at all, reasoning if its a bit pants or I can't get used to the 5th string it hasn't cost me much more than a packet of decent strings. Lefty 5ers more than double in price (new) from this instrument upwards, so I didn't want to drop a load of money on a bass I can't get on with. Glad to say after a few days with my local tech and a string change, it plays really nicely, has a really usable sound and it's dead good fun to play. I can't compare it to any other 5 strings as it's the first one I've played but I absolutely can't fault it.

👏👏 Well done @pepsi-abi You've really put the hours in and it shows - I was still plunking away on the bottom string after 3 months. Keep at it, if you can pick that up after a few months you'll be hot on Julia's heels before long. Take a bow!!

I learned on a Squier P Special which has the J neck so it's what I gravitate towards normally. Tried a J but couldn't get on with the sound, P necks were ok but quite variable depending on the P - the last one I had was quite baseball bat like. I really shouldn't have got rid of that Squier but I detested the awful antique burst and cheap tort it came with.

A Stingray's the one itch (lefty wise) I'm still yet to scratch. I came close with a G&L L2000 Trib, sound was monster but the baseball bat neck and the weight drove me to part with it. I must admit even though I love my 32" P, my go to at the moment is a deko Harley Benton 5 that I picked up from the forum for 40 quid. It's so much fun to play, and having to engage my brain to do it is keeping me coming back to it. I wonder if a nice compromise might be the 5 string Sterling SUB that's just been released?