BillyBass

So what do you think? I like yellow basses, this seems a bit mustardy? But still looks good. Was this bought to mod or have you decided it needs it?

I had the black dots on a roasted maple neck/fretboard replaced with Luminlay dots. Bad idea; the luminlayr dots blend in to the neck, pretty much, so I bought some larger black stick on dots from Amazon, and these really stand out. Looks rubbish though.

This does have that but the neck is quite shallow so it doesn't feel big in your hand. It is a very comfy neck.

I'm going to sign up again for this. Last year was a difficult year, financially, this year should be a lot better but I really can't think of anything else I'll need.

I don't like detuning the E string on a 4 string bass, it just confuses me. I like to know where the 3rd, 5th , 7th, and octave are without having to think. Consequently, I feel more comfortable with a five string if I'm playing anything below E. I have also never detuned any of my 4 string basses to Eb standard, or D standard as I think the shifting of the notes on the fretboard would possibly confuse me, though I might try that one day. I play covers and the key of a song is dependant on the singer so I am, quite often, playing songs that were originally written/recorded in E, but we transpose to Eb or D. If the original bass line makes good use of the open E, for instance, the fingering becomes more difficult on a fiver as I will then have to fret the Eb on the B string. This may or may not be problematic, depending on the BPM of the song. You pays your money you takes your choice. I prefer to use the fiver, if I have to, warts and all, rather than de tune.

They look so wholesome don't they

I've often been tempted by one of these. Congrats.

Nice looking bit of wood the, congrats. I particularly like the cut away and the very sensible place to fit the truss rod adjustment wheel.

And use your ears. Loose connections in plugs etc cause arcing, which eventually will show signs of thermal damage, like in the plug above. You can, however, hear arcing if you are in a quiet environment. I can't describe it accurately but it will be an uneven, crackly sound, not a constant hum. If you hear this, investigate further or call an electrician. Yesterday, I was called out to an old customer's house, he had an issue with his lights and tried to sort it out himself but failed. I reconnected the disconnected conductor in the pendant and all was good but I noticed the light switch made a faint crackly sound. I binned it and fitted something else. Loose connections can sometimes be inside appliances, and in this case I wiggled the conductors and this altered the sound but the terminals themselves were tight.

I've read, more than once, that users have found the output from the Baby Sumo when paired with pre amp pedals was lower than they expected and the amps would run out of steam earlier than you would expect with the stated power output. It would appear you haven't had this experience then?

I like yellow basses, and this looks good but I would prefer a yellow or clear pickguard too.

Ibanez SG500 - sold Fender 2013 MIM P bass Fender 2019 MIM Jazz bass Yamaha BB434 - sold G&L Kiloton tribute - sold Balaguer Select series Goliath Charvel Pro Mod San Dimas PJ IV blue Charvel Pro Mod San Dimas JJ V Charvel Pro Mod San Dimas PJ IV lime green metallic Squier 40th anniversary P bass - sold Spector Pulse II Reverend Decision P Reverend Triad Reverend Mercalli V I can see myself selling the Balaguer and possibly one of the Fenders this year.

Another pic, showing off the scarlet 'wine red' flamed maple top.

I'm not a fan of brown basses but the 'Coffee burst' with gold hardware does look good doesn't it. Merchant City Music will pre order this for you for £1149, so the price has gone up.

My Christmas present arrived, a Reverend Mercalli fiver in wine red flamed maple, with a roasted maple fretboard and neck. The neck is wide but shallow (47mm at the nut and the string spacing is 19mm at the bridge, apparently). It needed a little tweak of the truss rod and the usual new bass set up stuff but after doing all that, I've had about 30 minutes on it. I am impressed. It weighs under 4kg, there is no neck dive, the neck feels lovely, though the width threw me off at first (my only other fiver has a narrower neck). The B string is much better than my other fiver (a Charvel Pro Mod JJ) and the weight and absence of neck dive means I think this will be my go to fiver. I'm guessing the 6 bolts connecting the neck to the body and the string through option are the reason for the improved B string, I'm not sure but the B string it came with is a 125, and it doesn't feel loose or sound flubby. I love Reverends! This is my third.