Baloney Balderdash

I once owned the 60W B15-S, 1969 version of this classic amp, really regret selling, loved how it sounded, and it was just loud enough to be used in a loud playing rock band. And got to be about the most cool looking amp ever made as well. Got it amazingly cheap in the mid 90's from a local 2nd hand music instrument and gear shop. Regret so much selling it. Unfortunately I can't help you though, since I have no idea which speaker unit my flip top cab was actually equipped with.

By one of my absolute favorite bands, Coil:

About 2mm at 12th fret for the low E string side (slightly more for 5 or 6 strings with low B), and slightly less for the highest/thinnest string side of the fretboard, seems to be a pretty standard medium/lower medium kind of string action. I have a feeling that that's about the consensus for what might be the most common kind of action for people to prefer on a bass, though the official Fender guide states slightly higher numbers (even if not really by that much though), and also depending on fretboard radius, the lower radius the higher action is recommended. When that is said though I have actually found that surprisingly small differences in string action height can have a surprisingly big impact on how it will feel to play, relatively speaking. Other than that, beside of course personal preferences for what feels and sounds right to each individual bass player, frets that haven't been perfectly leveled will require higher action to avoid fret buzz, as well as the higher tension the strings are under the lower they will go too, since the tension to some extend will limit the maximum vibration curve of the strings. My personal preferred setting actually happens to match pretty closely to what the general consensus of preferred string action seems to be too, I seem to prefer almost spot on, perhaps ever so slightly bellow, 2mm at 12th fret, low E string side (which is actually an F# at the moment, but that's really irrelevant for the point of this), and with my main bass that's actually pretty much the same measurement as for 17th fret, as the corresponding angle between the strings and the fretboard happens to be pretty flat on that one, for the thinnest/highest string on the opposite side the number is about 1,3mm or so (I think that might actually be a bit bigger difference between thick/low and thin/high string side than usually recommended, but I didn't actually measure anything when I set up the bass, just went by what felt right for me). I actually prefer pretty much the same kind of action for electrical guitar as well. Seems to give me just a slight hint of resistance, since I'd like to be able to actually feel when I fret a note, while still making it a pretty effortless action, and just exactly high enough for relatively heavy emphasized picking not too easily resulting in choking the picked string(s) against the frets, while still allowing for a certain degree of controlled fret clank. So, yes, a bit above 2mm low/thick string side at 12th fret is usually what the standard guides says, and then about 4mm or so lower for the high string side, I have a feeling though that most people actually go for slightly lower than those standard recommendations, but in the end it is really a very personal thing for the individual player, and even individual bass, some people would actually prefer what most would perceive as insanely way too high action, and other's what most would consider as insanely way too low action, without for that matter anyone really being wrong. Lower is not always better, what feels and sounds right to you, fits your way of playing and your particular bass the best, is the only thing that is truly just the absolutely perfect right string action. I guess one universal thing that will almost always be true though regarding string action is that ideally the action of the individual strings should follow a curve corresponding to the radius of the fretboard, but tilting ever so slightly towards the side of the fretboard with the highest/thinnest string. Edit!!!: Forgot to mention that neck relief will influence on how low action you can get as well, more relief will allow for the strings to vibrate more freely, usually allowing lower action without fret buzz, though more relief will also cause the action of the strings around the middle of the neck to feel higher. My main actually got a really minimal amount of relief, and as said pretty spot on 2mm action, perhaps even ever so slightly bellow, at 12th fret, low E string side, and about 1,3 mm high G string side, without causing any issues for me whatsoever, I could probably even go slightly lower, if that was what I truly wanted and how I liked it (though that doesn't actually happen to be the case), and that is a super cheap budget bass, an Ibanez GSRM20 Mikro Bass to be exact, and, believe it or not, but the fretwork on my 5 string Mikro is even more perfect, not to say actually absolutely dead on perfect, you would think they had pleked it at the factory, though I am quite sure that didn't happen, as I bought it from new and wasn't charged any extra money, if I wanted I could get insane low action on that one without any issues, guess they were just exceptionally lucky with the fret applying procedure on that neck. I guess I have just been lucky with those two basses though, quality control is usually all over (or rather more or less completely absent) with these kind of cheap budget basses, so you might get a truly great bass, that by cheer luck and accident got the best pieces of wood out of the random pile they happened to have in stock at the factory at that particular point and for that particular production, assembled by a guy who just happened to get particular lucky with doing a great job on this particular one, and for some reason payed particular extra attention to just that bass, and the fret applying procedure just by a strike of luck first shot turning out perfect, and miraculously staying that way too, or you might get the exact opposite, a piece of pure utter useless crap, which actually did happen to me as well, when I took the risk buying me a second brand new 4 string Mikro, one of the GSRM20B ones, with black hardware and in the Weathered Black finish, from Ebay, cause while it did in fact look awesome it was right out unplayable, there were buzz all over the neck, no matter how I adjusted it, unless I would have found it reasonable to live with a 10mm high string action at 12th fret or something totally ridiculous like that, makes me think it might not only had been that they had been terribly unlucky with applying the frets on that neck, but that there by all likelihood was something horribly wrong with the neck and/or fretboard it self in the first place, that one should definitely never had left the factory, and wouldn't if proper quality control had actually been a real thing with these basses. Ironically the factory setup on the two really great Mikro Basses I got was absolutely horrendously bad and ultimately completely useless, whereas had the horribly malfunctioning hack job one actually worked as it was supposed to the setup done on it from factory would actually had been surprisingly decent, which, when you begin to think the implications of that properly though, makes it not only ironic but also really really odd and hard to make any sense of whatsoever, though I guess it does support my point about the randomness of the production of these basses. Anyway, to round off this whole off topic escapade and derailing line of stray thoughts I somehow got myself intertwined with, actually most of the time when buying cheap budget instrument in fact you will most likely get a quite decent one, but once in a really rare while you can get exceptionally lucky and hit a truly great one, that could be turned into a genuinely awesome instrument with an upgrade of the pickups and perhaps some of the electronics and hardware as well, or you could get really unlucky and get a truly pure utter crap one that isn't even really capable of actually playing, and with no way of fixing it that will be worth even half the effort, just being an absolute ultimate waste of wood, time and money.

So I am pondering on replacing the stock 8 Ohm Fostex 25H273 tweeter horn (no idea how many watts it actually is) in my SWR Triad I 4 Ohm 400W bass cab with a small regular 4" speaker with good higher frequency reproduction, though still with a considerably lower roll off frequency than the current horn, like something like at about just past 10kHz, as while I really like having some higher frequency content above 5kHz, I don't really need anything much higher than 10kHz, and I don't like the way my current horn reacts to the higher frequencies of a distorted signal. I would think the mointing hole for the Fostex Tweeter in the Triad I cab could relatively easily be modded to fir a 4" regular speaker instead. Not to give you all the information I have on the Triad I cab, it is as said a 4 Ohm 400W bass cab, equipped with a 15" speaker unit that recieves the full frequency content of the signal it is fed with, then an internal crossover filter sees to that the 10" speaker unit in the cab only gets the frequency content of the fed signal that is between 100Hz and up to 5kHz, and then the high frequency speaker will get any frequency content of the fed signal that is above 5kHz, but with a build in attenuator that allows you to adjust the level of the part of the signal above 5kHz that the tweeter actually receives, and thereby the level of the tweeter and the treble of the cab. However I don't think my problem is the current tweeter being too loud, cause I like that way it is set with the attenuator now on my clean tone, however I seriously dislike how it at the same setting reacts with distortion (it kind of sounds like the horn it self overdrives, even if definitely not blown as it sounds perfect with clean tone however you set the attenuator, and you can hear a clear different in the treble content of the signal as you turn it up), and was thinking a speaker that is less sensitive to the highest frequency content area above 5kHz, as said maybe something that begins to roll off at about just past 10kHz or so, would solve this, and make for a better balanced distorted tone, while still reproducing enough high frequency content to make the clean tone sound the way I like it. I want to do as few modifications to the cab as possible, preferably just modding the mounting hole for the stock Fostex tweeter horn perfect for fitting something like a 4" regular speaker unit in it instead, seems to be pretty close to somewhat similar measurements/dimensions already. I was thinking something like the Eminence Alpha 4-8, which is a 4" 110W 8 Ohm speaker that has a fairly broad frequency range, but doesn't start to roll off seriously before about just past 10kHz, rated usable frequency range says 105 - 12000 Hz. The question is would that work for my purpose, would 110W be sufficient power for driving everything above 5kHz of a signal that should be able to handle up to 400W overall, would the stock 5kHz crossover of the cabinet make sense, even if I realize I will miss out on a lot of the speakers full potential frequency range, would the reflex box or whatever you call that (really not familiar with the correct term, but I mean the internal enclosure for that particular unit in the cabinet) made for the tweeter in the Triad I cabinet being of a fitting size for this speaker, used the way I plan it to be used, or are there any other obvious reasons why this wouldn't work, work poorly, or why it even might work perfectly great the way I have it imagined? Here's the link to the speaker in question on Eminence's homepage, with all sort of information, including a frequency response curve: https://www.eminence.com/speakers/speaker-detail/?model=Alpha_4_8 (I know the link says speaker pair, but I can get a single unit of those here: https://www.thomann.de/dk/eminence_alpha_4a.htm) Other suggestions on how to possibly solve this issue is very welcome, but I just really like the idea of relatively few modifications, and a small regular speaker replacing the tweeter horn, so preferably a solution where that would be the case, without messing with the cabs internal crossover filter either. Here's the frequency response charge from the Eminence Alpha 4-8 speaker: And here's how my cab looks (not my paticular one, but a better overlook picture of a SWR Triad I cab from Google): Also I should stress that I actually otherwise really like the tone this cab reproduces.

Well in defense of Steve Bailey, despite having the potentially most extended range instrument, and theoretically therefor the best possibilities for cutting it totally loose, it's not like Victor Wooten and Carol Kaye actually leaves him that much of a musical room to do so. Amazing jam though regardless, by 3 absolutely top world class bass players and musicians as such. Victor Wooten being among my personal Top 11 all time favorite bass players, despite most of his music not exactly being my cup of tea (though I still do love a few of his composition like for instance his massively impressive and astonishing beautiful melodic "The Lesson", and I always appreciate the masterly executed truly virtuous display of his bass playing, no matter what actual music he is then playing), and Carol Kaye, despite generally, in diametrically opposition to my impression of the very humble and kind hearted Mister Wooten, coming off to me as a bit of a bitter old jerk personality wise, shows she still got her chops down at absolutely full top functionality, got to give her credit for some truly amazing classic and by now legendary bass lines, as well as her superb bass chops, especially impressive at her age, being a jerk or not. Sticking to a lowly Ibanez as her main instrument, despite being a world class big time truly legendary player, earns Carol some extra credits in my book too, despite her sometimes coming off to me as a world class jerk as well in some of her official utterings.

So, I performed some pretty nasty satanic necromantic rituals, among other obscure artifacts, and a fair deal of hours after hours, what seemed to make up eternity it self, forbidden sacrilegious utter balderdash nonsense and pure baloney utterings of gloomy forlorn and esoteric mystic chanting, involving the heart blood of the last known to exist 3 horn unicorn and the private parts of an albino hermaphrodite satyr, sacrificed in a clearing of a cursed wood in the eternal emerald nightmare of the infant Antichrist's subconscious private hell, located at a top secret confidential location, allegedly said to be the headquarter of the Illuminati shadow government intelligence service, to raise this thread from eternal oblivion of Death it self, just to give my dearest bass abomination, going by the name "Dud Bottomfeeder" more truly deserved bright shining ever lasting spotlight exposure on this top modern information age marvel of technology, the so called "world wide inter webs". So here it is, my one and only, forever to be mine truly, chad bad boy Dud Bottomfeeder, for whom I shall forever repent not having treated with the care such a brilliancy of an instrument of God's true primordial will and might, yes, the pure primal force of creation it self, is entitled to: Seriously, this 28,6" scale Ibanez GSRM20 Mikro Bass, from the December 2010 production, mine since bought from new April 2011, since having received several, admittedly not all equally well executed or successful mod attempts, though to name the absolutely massively successful ones, having had a pair of P/J EMG Geezer Butler pickups installed, just quite recently replaced with a DiMarzio Model P wired directly to the output jack socket, with the old Geezer J pickup not connected anymore, and which I love the tone of, so full and punchy, yet greatly defined and articulately clear sounding, on this mahogany body, bolt on, extremely stable, maple neck, with a 22 medium fret rosewood fretboard, is my 2nd most favorite bass I ever owned, only beaten by just a hair by the Jerry Jones Longhorn bass, sort of a higher end, high quality, one might even call it boutique, version of the original Danelectro one, that I once owned, but unfortunately was stupid enough to sell, now discontinued and used to be made by a fairly legendary now retired guitar maker/company. But have grown very attached and fond of this little cheap budget wonder bass machine. Sounds so good and feels as a true joy and just like home to play for me. To me the short scale only has advantages. Currently tuned in regular E standard tuning and strung with D'Addario gauge 1.00 to .045 nickle roundwound strings, but soon to have a .095 D'Addario NYXL bass string, and 3 D'Addario NYXL guitar strings, of respectively the gauges .076 - .058 and .043, threaded through the cut off ball ends of bass strings in order to seat properly in the bass bridge holes, specifically picked for retaining about the same average string tension as with the current set in it's current E standard tuning, but with much improved tension balance across the strings, when tuned 2 half steps above E standard tuning, as in F#1 to D3, that I am going to use for this, my favorite bass, to be giving the lead role in a work in progress progressive psychedelic stoner rock, predominantly bass/drums and percussion/vocals (with some much more flavor oriented instrumentation and various ambient effects used for certain parts), solo project of mine, where the bass signal will also be run through an always on octave up effect, giving an effect similar to that of an 8 string "octave" bass, with pairs of respectively bass and octave strings, and with an always on fairly subtle high definition hall reverb effect in combination with some fairly subtle real spring reverb from my Peavey amp, generous use of heavy thick, ballsy and raunchy fuzz-esque distortion, consisting of a vintage Rat clone going into a Joyo California Sound (clone of the now discontinued Tech 21 California, analog Mesa Boogie type amp emulation preamp pedal), acting as distortion boosted overdrive and additional EQ, mixed with some clean signal via a parallel effects loop, using my Boss LS-2, a fair deal of parallel processed analog phaser/flanger effect, again using my Boss LS-2, as well as some additional use of digitally emulated Boss CE-1 chorus, and analog tremolo, and might possibly be some delay effects ends up getting incorporated as well.

A small update: As most of what I have written for this project so far can actually be played on 4 strings, and the one riff that ventures beyond that can be adapted to work on 4 strings, and as further more the update of my beloved battered old 4 string Ibanez Mikro Bass, with the P/J set of EMG Geezer Butler pickups swapped out with a single DiMarzio Model P P pickup, wired directly to the output jack socket sounds no less than awesome through my current rig, much better than my 5 string Mikro with it's 2 stock J pickups wired in series directly to the output jack socket, and that I just overall feel much more at home and comfortable with playing my old 4 string Mikro, beyond it's physical form, but simply as an instrument I have come to love dearly, almost as an old friend (even came up with a little flattering name for it, something I normally otherwise don't do with my instruments, "Dud Bottomfeeder"), I have decided to do a serious attempt to adapt my current songs in the working and setup for the "all I nil" project to work with my dear 4 string pal "Dud", and for that purpose have ordered a gauge .095 NYXL D'Addario bass string that is going to be tuned F#1, like the lowest string on my 5 string Mikro, 2 steps above standard E tuning, and 3 D'Addario NYXL guitar strings that I will thread through the cut off ball ends of old bass strings to not fall through the bridge, gauge .076 - .058 and .043, to be tuned respectively B1, E2 and A2, as the gauge 1.00 to .045 set on it now, tuned in E standard tuning is just not going to work well for the material I wrote, but the new strings, checked through D'Addario's String Tension Pro online app online app, is pretty much on an average going to match the tension of it's current strings in their current tuning, just with much improved tension balance across the strings. Probably have to do a proper shielding job on Dud Bottomfeeder at some point though, as the DiMarzio pickup's open housing and 4 minutious absolutely unshielded wires, unlike the absolutely and complete noiseless EMG pickup's totally sealed housings with the ground wires working as a braided shield all along around the hot wire on the pickups, that I was used to, makes it a bit noisy when not touching any metal parts on the bass grounding the electronics. Really in my opinion all pickup manufactures ought to do as EMG and shield their pickups internally, didn't even need a bridge ground connection, and even Ibanez decided to learn from them, my new 5 string Mikro from last years production being wired like that, despite being a cheap budget model, which after I wired it's 2 single coil J pickups in series made it utterly and completely noiseless as well. Really if it can be done on cheap budget instruments, surely one of the leading pickup manufactures of what is considered at pretty good quality pickups can do it too with their pickups. The noise is fairly tolerable though, and in every other aspect the DiMarzio Model P is an amazing sounding pickup, so full and punchy, but at the same time perfectly clear, well defined and articulated, just absolutely beautifully sounding on it's own, at least in my 4 string Mikro Bass wired directly to the output jack socket. And unlike the EMG Geezer P I didn't even have to make use of the Model P P pickups otherwise nice individual adjustable pole pieces feature to make the strings balance perfectly, something I had great dificulties with with the Geezer and only really could achieve when used in conjunction with the J pickup, adjusted carefully to even string balance working together. Here's the chad bad boy Dud Bottomfeeder himself, who has taken his fair share of abuse from me (.... ...Uhm.... ... Well.... That definitely kind of came out sounding all wrong...: ... .... You know... I am not really swinging that way ): And here's the rig I am going to do it with, pretty much with some minor updates planed: For one the high gain distortion setup, mixed with some slightly dirty "cleans" from one of the Joyo Orange Juice pedals, my Joyo California Sound has taken over from the American Sound as the medium gain kind of overdrive and additional EQ that is being fed with my Mosky Black Rat, Rat clone, set on the Vintage setting (classic, not LED Turbo Rat type) feed it's raunchy fuzz-esque high gain distortion stacked in front of it: My EHX Black Finger, tube driven optical compressor, as always delivering the secret tone gourmet sauce: And the smug looking pretty boy Mikro 5 has been removed from the construction site (at least for now, and if all works out as planed):

The bass is a bit boring, look like a standard P pass pretty much, and I have slight aversion for tortoise pickguards, but I wouldn't call it ugly by any means. I also prefer headstocks with the tuners balanced on each side, instead of in a long row, but other than that I actually think it looks truly beautiful, maybe it's a bit odd for exactly that kind of bass, but at least in it self it look great, whereas the rest of the bass just kind of looks mediocre.

Might seem like an odd choice to some, but this bass just feels so much home at this point, despite being a cheap budget 4 string 28,6" scale Ibanez GSRM20 Mikro Bass, and looking pretty messed and battered up by all the mods I impulsively haphazardly done, I am almost tempted to say against it, rather then to it, by now, not least the big blemish near the neck, that is a filled up failed attempt to drill an extra neck pickup cavity at some point. With a just all freshly installed all new DiMarzio Model P pickup wired directly to the output jack socket, the J pickup from the previous P/J EMG Geezer Butler set it had installed previously still sitting there, but not connected anymore, tuned in regular 4 string bass, E standard tuning, here equipped with gauge 1.00 to .045 D'Addario strings, though the plan is to have it strung up with a set of gauge 1.00 to .045 coated stainless steel Elixir strings soon, mahogany body and bolt on maple neck with a 22 medium fret rosewood fretboard: I tend to call him Dud Bottomfeeder. I do still have a great 34" scale white Aria Pro II Laser Electric Classic which was my main bass for many years, but I've gone almost exclusively to playing short scale now, just enjoy it much more, the effortless playability, and in my opinion with no disadvantages either, only advantages, beside that I never really liked it's white finish. Also own a much prettier black 5 string GSRM25 Mikro with a poplar body and a jatoba fretboard, but that I have stringed with .090 to .030 strings and tuned in F# standard tuning, as in 2 half steps above E standard tuning, F#1 to D3, and I still feel much more at home and safe on my good old abused 4 string Mikro.

With what might be my absolute number one favorite guitarist Bill Frisell, though Skúli Sverrisson's bass here is fabulous too:

I thought it would make sense to have a more general thread dedicated to lovers of short scale basses, such as my self. So tell your story of how you got into short scale basses, show off your short scales, and tell their story. The scene is yours fellow short scale bass enthusiast! Inspired by this thread : I started out playing a regular 34" scale bass, a great old Aria Pro II Laser Electric Classic bass, which I by the way still own, but as I at some point got involved with a noise rock and hardcore influenced math rock band, called Menfolk, with 2 bass players, where I sort of a had a more lead bass oriented role, I began to wish for a bass with a shorter scale, since a lot of fairly fast complex runs and chording was involved in my bass play with this band, not knowing at that point that such basses indeed already existed, and being made fun of by the, by the way incredible skilled, drummer (multi instrumentalist and musician as such for that matter), who was sort of the unofficial band leader, of Menfolk, and by the way still is one of my friends, for voicing my opinion about such, he apparently not being aware of the existence of short scale basses either at that point. I eventually left that band, something I have regretted many times since, but I just wasn't all that psychologically well off at that time, and I felt like I was not able to give the band the full attention and dedication I felt it deserved, though that's another story, which by the way ended well, by them finding another great bass player, and truly nice guy too by the way, to take over my job, who actually used to be a fan of our band, and after that, among other things, they released their first full length album on a small independent record company some of our mutual friends owned at that point, where I helped compose a couple of the songs on it, though I didn't actually record anything for it (but while I was still in the band I had previously recorded a 2 track single and a 4 track EP with them, also released on the same label), and after that they got a gig at Scandinavian's biggest rock festival "The Roskilde Festival", which is one of the , but by far not the only, reasons I regret choosing to leave. Anyway a while after leaving Menfolk I discovered that short scale basses indeed was a thing and bought my first one, a Jerry Jones Longhorn, which is sort of a higher end, high quality, one might even call it boutique, now unfortunately discontinued, version of the original Danelectro one, from a now retired fairly legendary guitar builder/company. The best bass I have, not only ever owned, but ever had the pleasure to lay my hands on yet, especially with the setting it's stock pickup selector rotary switch offered that put it's 2 lipstick tube pickups in series connection, and going into my Ampeg B15-S, 60W tube amp from 1969, with a 1X 15" flip top cab (same amp I used with my Aria Pro II in Menfolk. And believe it or not, but it was plenty loud to, without any issues whatsoever, compete with a 50W massively distorted Hiwatt guitar tube amp (originally a 100W, modded to work at half power) with a 4x 12" Marshall cab, another bass player with a 100W Carlsbro tube amp and a 2x 15" cab, and a seriously hard hitting drummer, and even to fill up small venues without PA support. Though I am pretty sure it had to do with the kind of really upper mids heavy, overdriven, and very little bass heavy tone of my bass that I used for that band, utilizing the active HPF/LPF circuit of that particular bass's stock preamp, to actually cut some of the lowest bass frequency content out of the signal, before the amp, since as said, I had more of a lead bass role, while the other bass player mainly took care of a bit more traditional supporting bass role. And I did also push that 60W B15-S Ampeg tube amp with the 1X15" cab to it's absolute maximum), me being stupid enough though to later sell both amp and bass (the Jerry Jones one, still own my Aria Pro II), which I still to this day regret. A combo (my Jerry Jones Longhorn with it's 2 lipstick tube pickups in series + my Ampeg B15-S 60W tube amp with a 1x 15" flip top cab), that I otherwise also used in another band, that I joined a while after I had left Menfolk, but that I also eventually left, though this time without any regrets whatsoever, due to it taking a musical turn from originally being a quite noise rock influenced and somewhat experimentally minded band to a much more commercial minded direction, I just couldn't see myself in such a band, even if they did get a record deal and they too played at the Roskilde Festival after I had left, I still have or have had absolutely no regrets about that decision, the way their music eventually turned out just wasn't me at all. A funny story though from that band, after a quite jazzy bass solo I did on one of their tracks (I think one of the only times where I actually utilized the Longhorn's 24th fret), the lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist in jest began referring to me as Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, though also meant as a genuine compliment to my bass playing skills, and I guess partially as a comment on the kind of sound that semi hollow body Jerry Jones had, even with roundwound strings and it's pickups wired in series, as well, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, in case you don't know, being the name of an internationally famous Danish double bass jazz player. Anyway, that's where my love for short scale basses started, with that Jerry Jones Longhorn, which is also the most expensive bass I've ever owned (they costed 1200$ from new, I think about 20 years ago, when they were still in production, though I got a discount on mine, since it had been used as a display model). Unfortunately I got no pictures of it. Just love the effortless playability of short scales, and with the right one, to me at least, there is no disadvantages to the shorter scale, only advantages. So a while after having been stupid enough to sell my Jerry Jones Lomghorn bass the cravings eventually came back for owning and playing a short scale bass again, in the meantime mostly having focused on playing guitar, which was actually the original first instrument I started out learning how to play, even if bass then later becoming my main instrument of choice, and really had been for a while at that point too, just all the while continuing to play guitar on the sideline, and in shorter periods of time having guitar take back most of my focus from playing bass. So the first short scale I bought after that was a cheap Höfner Beatles/violin bass knockoff, forgot the brandname, West...something, I think, but never really liked it, so that was a relatively short acquaintance, even if it despite being a cheap budget knockoff actually was quite well constructed and pretty much sounded exactly like such a bass is supposed to, just discovered that that type of bass definitely isn't, or ever will be, for me, after that then I bought a used Ampeg Dan Armstrong Plexi Bass, that I actually got cheap, relatively compared to what the used prices usually are, and was at that point too, for those basses, which, even if being a considerable higher end bass than that cheap Höfner knockoff, and generally being a highly regarded instrument, wasn't to my liking either, neither liked how it felt in my hands and played or the tone of it, no matter which of the two slide in interchangeable pickups, that it came with when I bought it, I used, so hat became a fairly short acquaintance as well. And like with the Jerry Jones Longhorn I don't actually got any pictures of those 2 basses either. Eventually though I then decided to have a 28 5/8" scale bass made out of Warmoth baritone parts, with a Seymour Duncan Rickenbacker Neck replacement pickup placed in the neck position, and a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails guitar Strat humbucker pickup in the bridge. that one I loved, especially how it sounded, a very clear articulate tone, with a quite piano like quality to it. This one (designed the headstock myself, which admittedly I may have went a little over board with ), mahogany body, maple neck, and a 24 fret, rosewood, as far as I recall it, fretboard : Unfortunately I was stupid enough to sell that one too. But currently I am very happy with my two lowly but absolutely lovely Ibanez Mikro basses, one black 4 string GSRM20 Mikro Bass, my main, from the December 2010 production (owned since April 2011, bought new), that I baptized "Dud Bottomfeeder", with various visual mods, and with a just freshly installed all new DiMarzio Model P pickup wired directly to the output jack socket, the J pickup from the P/J EMG Geezer Butler set it had installed previously still sitting there, filling out the bridge pickup cavity, but lowered considerably and not being connected, or planed to be connected at any point, anymore, tuned in regular 4 string bass, E standard, tuning, here equipped with gauge 1.00 to .045 D'Addario nickle roundwound strings, though the plan is to have it strung up with a set of gauge .100 to .045 coated stainless steel Elixir strings soon, and then a black 5 string GSRM25 Mikro Bass, from last year's, January 2019, production (owned since September 2019, bought new), with various visual mods, it's two stock J pickups wired in series directly to the jack output socket, and strung up with the 5 thickets strings of an Ernie Ball set meant for Bass VI type instruments, gauge .090 to .030, tuned in F# standard, 2 half steps above E standard tuning, as in F#1 to D3 : 28,6" scale, 4 string, 22 medium fret, rosewood fretboard, on a bolt on maple neck, with a mahogany body : 28,6" scale, 5 string, 22 medium fret, jatoba fretboard, on a bolt on maple neck, with a poplar body : Both those 2 Mikro basses I have been very lucky with, very well made, especially the 4 string has an extremely stable neck that holds tuning remarkably well, and as good as never needs truss rod adjustments (unless of course the string tension changes significantly, by different tunings or string gauges), even seems quite resistant to seasonal changes, despite living in a country where there can be some fairly serious seasonal dependent weather changes, the 5 string neck being a bit more sensitive, but still more stable than most other necks of the instruments I have owned through time, and both got as good as perfect fretwork from factory, being able to get exactly as low string action as I prefer, without any fret buzz whatsoever, with the 5 string Mikro even having truly remarkably, not only for a cheap budget bass, but really for any mass produced instrument at any price class, absolutely perfectly completely leveled fretwork, to a degree where I would be able to get right out ridiculous low string action on it if I really wanted that, both truly great instruments, despite them being cheap budget ones. Though neither of those 2 basses quite beat the Jerry Jones Longhorn I once owned, but the 4 string Mikro is still one of my absolute favorite basses out of all the ones I've ever owned, in fact a clear, and actually pretty close, 2nd after that fabled Jerry Jones, and I have grown very attached to it and love it dearly, though I kind of would wish I had treated it less carelessly, not exactly a beauty, but damn does it sound great and feels as a true joy and just like home to play on for me. Even went as far as to name it, though that is something I otherwise never do with my instruments, to the, I guess little flattering, but quite punk rock-esque, and fitting for how it has turned out looking and it's status as a low end cheap budget bass, name: Dud Bottomfeeder. Edit!!! (04/09/22): My new main short scale bass, a Harley Benton GuitarBass (a take on the Fender Bass VI concept) : Edit 2!!! (09/03/23): Back on my Ibanez Mikro Bass as my main, which has undergone some changes since I first posted (the latter being the most recent shot, the former being the better) : Edit/Update 3!!! : (22/04/24) And my main instrument of choice currently is now my 5 string Ibanez GSRM25 Mikro Bass, which I named "Mr. Growley - The Noodlemancer" : You can read more about "Mr. Growley - The Noodlemance", and the mods I did to it, here :

As I commented in my OP I owned the plexi version of that bass for a short while, and personally I really hated how it felt in my hand and played, despite me being a big short scale bass fan, and that I know it is a fairly rare and sought after bass,. The one I bought even came with 2 different slide in pickups , but I didn't like the tone of that bass with neither of those 2 pickups either. One of the few basses that I don't feel the slightest remorse about letting go of, even if I sold it way to cheap. Seriously didn't like it, even if I wanted to and think it looked super cool, which is why I bought it in the first place. Just couldn't get along with it, and it just felt and sounded all wrong to me. Similar to how I hated the Rickenbacker 4001 bass that I once owned, even if I thought it looked amazing, which is also why I bought it originally, and even though I actually did like the tone of that one, just couldn't get along with how it felt in my hands and played at all. That one got stolen, but the only thing I really regret about that is the money I lost on a resale, I didn't miss it one tiny bit whatsoever. But hey, we all have different preferences, and the Dan Armstrong Bass no doubt is a seriously unique bass, and I do love the concept of easily interchangeable pickups, and as I said, I did really want to like it, because I think it is an amazing looking instrument, especially the transparent plexi version that I owned. Just to name one fairly famous bass player who uses the Dan Armstrong Bass as his main bass and loves it, and the same plexi version as the one I once owned, there's Jesse F. Keeler from the Death from Above 1979, bass and drums rock duo. I guess my lesson to learn with both the Dan Armstrong and Rickenbacker that I bought, mainly because I was in love with how they looked, is to not spend load of money on an instrument, just because it is generally highly regarded to be a great instrument, and because you think it looks amazingly awesome. If you hate to play it, because it feels all wrong in your hands, no matter how much in love you are with how amazing it looks, and no matter how much you really wish you would have liked it, then what's the point really. To me at least how an instrument feels in your hand and plays to you is almost a more important factor than how it sounds, cause it will be considerably harder to improve the feel of an instrument than it's tone, which often can be fixed, at least if we are talking electric guitars and basses and giving that they actually do sound good played acoustically, by changing some of the electronics, mainly the pickups, or even hardware and/or strings, as well as with how you process the signal coming from them, with different EQ'ing, preamps/amps, cabs e.t.c .

It's an amazing instrument, even if it wasn't even a high end one back when it was still in production (not exactly a cheap budget one either though). But as said, I have never laid my hand on a better electric guitar, high end or not. I would love to buy it from you, but I don't have the money currently unfortunately and kind of have other higher priorities too at the moment. But the plan is definitely to at some point in the future trying to find a similar used one and buy it. (also just noticed the one I posted a picture of had one pot knob missing, mine in fact did had all 4 original knobs, just like yours).

A male hen by the name Richard (my uncle's name is not Richard, but if the naughty filter insists his babtized real name being an offence, so be it, though he might find that interpretation of it insulting) Willy Johnson. Why don't you just introduce a filter that changes all the words you write to something completely different, that sure could be fun, though I realize that would kind of obscure communication quite a bit? You do realize that consequently changing people's real names by insisting on interpreting them as an insult in fact would be a personal insult against said people, right?

Absolutely, the only way I ever used mine, in my opinion more suited for a bit more traditional rock style tone than any other pickup combination the Longhorn is capable of. Though the Jerry Jones that I owned likely did have higher quality pickups than the ones the Danelectro models are equipped with, at least one would think so, as the Jerry Jones Longhorn basses used to be priced at around 1200$ from new, and that was like over 10 years ago, a good deal above what the Danelectro ones go for, even now.

As the tittle says, list the instruments you at some point were stupid enough to part with, but later regret selling, and still to this day blames yourself for letting go of, preferably including pictures, and eventual including a short story about the instrument and how it happened. The first instrument that I was stupid enough to let go of was actually not a bass, but a guitar, a Westbury Standard guitar, that was only produced between '79 and '81, and from stock had a DiMarzio PAF humbucker installed in the neck position and a DiMarzio Super Distortion humbucker installed in the bridge. Served me well for about 10 years, and I loved it dearly, best damn guitar I have, not only ever owned, but ever have had the pleasure to lay my hands on. Loved the tone of it, and absolutely loved the way it felt and played. I don't have any pictures of my particular one, but here's one looking exactly alike (Edit! : well except the fact that mine had all it's 4 original pot knobs, didn't notice that): Next stupid thing I did was selling my now discontinued 24 fret short scale Jerry Jones Longhorn bass, which was sort of a high quality, higher end, one might even call it boutique, version of the original Danelectro one, from a now retired fairly legendary guitar maker/company. Best bass I ever have had the pleasure to play, loved how it felt in my hands and played, and with the stock option the pickup selector offered of having it's 2 lipstick tube pickups wired in series it was capable of some pretty solid rock tones as well, especially paired with another of my big regrets, though that is kind of another topic, the 60W Ampeg B15-S tube amp from 1969, that I also was stupid enough to part with at some point. Again I don't have any pictures of the exact one I owned, but looked just like this one: Well, except mine was the version with only 2 knobs, a master volume control, and then a 4 position rotary pickup selector switch, with the options: -/- bridge -/- neck -/- bridge + neck parallel -/- bridge + neck series -/-, like this one: Finally there was the 28 5/8" scale bass I had made out of Warmoth baritone parts, with a headstock of my own design (though it is arguable that I might have went over the top with that part ), equipped with a bass Seymour Duncan Rickenbacker Neck replacement pickup in the neck position and a guitar Seymour Duncan Hot Rails humbucker Strat pickup in the bridge position, mahogany body and bolt on maple neck with a 24 fret rosewood fretboard. That one I do actually got a picture of, and it sounded absolutely amazing, with this astonishing clarity and quite piano like quality to it's tone : One fairly rare instrument that I don't regret letting go of the slightest was the short scale Ampeg Dan Armstrong Plexi Bass, that I was the owner of for a fairly short while before I passed in onwards, I hated how it felt in my hands and played, and didn't like the tone of it either regardless of which of the 2 slide in interchangeable pickups it came with I used. That one became a fairly short and not particular memorable acquaintance.

Thanks for pointing that out. I am kind of tired, not having been able to sleep properly last night, and therefor not exactly thinking all that perfectly clear. Sometimes writing things through helps me think clearer, but guess I didn't possessed the attention at this point to notice myself. To your suggestion for the only solution to how I will know with 100% certainty, as @Jakester also pointed out, I guess you are right, I'll just have to order it and hope it works for me, and then go through the inconvenience of returning it in case it doesn't. Luckily my preferred online music instrument/gear shop has a fully covered 30 days free return and money back policy with the shipping costs covered for the return and all.

I don't see how I possibly could. And you would have known that if you had actually bothered reading my plea for guidance through, instead of just ascertain that it contained too many words for you to care, and therefor instead chose to post a snide remark letting me know that this was in fact the case. Not even what I asked for whatsoever.

So I discovered the relatively new MXR M281 Thump bass preamp, more or less by complete accident, browsing randomly through pedals in my prefered online music grear web shop Thomann's product catalog, a bass preamp that allegedly should be a take of the, in the world of guitarists at least, legendary FET based Echoplex preamp, that originally was the preamp serction of an old tape echo delay, but since has been used as the secret tone sauce by countless of guitarists in various versions and shapes, but the Thump being a more bass oriented and specific variation of it, basically featuring the same EQ section as their M81 Bass Preamp. At first I was pretty convinced on ordering one of these pedals as my go to preamp, after watching all of the, relatively few though. YouTube demos featuring it, and really liking what I heard from it. To me it seemed like it had a very unique coloration that seemed to somewhat interact with the EQ, instead of just being a pistinely clean and sterily neutral preamp, just reproducing the signal you feed it dutifully and flawlessly, exactly and strictly according to how you dialed in the EQ section, but giving you no form of extra service, beside just exactly what you asked of it, leaving no trace of anything that could reminiscent some sort of unique soul or adding any kind of impression of an interesting character, just like someone doing the service they get paid for while mind-numbingly giving it or you no sort of personal care, thought or special attention, absent-mindedly seemingly performing their duty alone by reflex, just like someone who really hate their job, but still have enough sense of duty and responsibility to at least fulfill what their job description dictates as requirements for their position, would. However I found out that, out of those people who had tried out this pedal them self, the actually seemingly surprisingly few who had bothered voicing their opinion about and impression of it anywhere on the internet, either seemed to absolutely love it, declaring it their new favorite tone shaping and always on pedals, or, which seemed to make up about the the other half of those few people, seemed to absolutely hate it, the most common complains seemed to concern serious unpleasant clipping issues and a thin basic tone. So I am kind of confused which to believe, I kind of got a feeling that neither camp is really lying, but that they might just have very different tonal preferences, and that there might very well be some truth to the pedal having a tendency to clip if fed with a too hot signal, despite MXR actually marketing it as sort of outboard alternative for passive basses to obtain tones similar to that of basses with active onboard preamps, and that it, as far as I understood it, is adviced to be use it as the first pedal in the signal chain, right after your bass, so might just be that the people complaining about clipping issues didn't really bother following the general recommendations of how to use it, and somewhat might have misunderstood the intended concept behind this preamp. Judging alone from the YouTube demos I have been able to find featuring it to me it sounds great, but then the complains, from about the other half of the fairly few people I have been able to find, who have first hand experience with it, and bothered voicing their opinion about and impression of it, seemingly thinking it is a straight out awful pedal, makes me hesitate pulling the trigger. The guy in the first video I link to below is one of those people who absolutely love it, even if he does point out the need of turning the bass control of the pedal up relatively high when using it to get a low end that matches that of the bypassed signal. But like him I personally don't really see the problem with that, as long as it is still capable of giving you a tone that you feel is an improvement compared to not using the pedal, I mean surely the controls are there to be used, and personal I would only need to get one absolutely great tone out of it. and don't really expect it to be capable of every possible tone variation in existence, and am not really interested in massively thunderous lows from my bass anyway. This guy seems to have a good understanding of what this pedal is capable of, and why some might consider it a better option as a tone shaping device than a perfectly neutral pristinely clean preamp, and even if fairly subtle, I think he actually manage to get his point through of this difference with audible examples, comparing it to the MXR 81 Bass Preamp, as the Thump does seem to add an extra layer of depth or dimension to the tone that makes the pristinely clean and perfectly neutral MXR M81 Bass Preamp sound somewhat dull in comparison. Yes, I know we are talking subtleties, and I am aware that the YouTube sound format, listening through headphones through a computer, properly isn't the best media for revealing such subtleties, and that I guess the other quite prominent effects he runs on his bass doesn't make that issue any better, but I at least can clearly hear the characteristic influence the Thump has on the tone, compared to the MXR 81 Bass Preamp. And like him, I am not actually intending to use it as my main and only tone shaping tool, but more as an instrument to perfect the tone I already got. Here's the video I talk about: And here's a couple of other demos where it's the only pedal being used, in case some people find the above video confusing audioatively speaking (because of his choice of having other rather prominent effects affecting his bass tone simultaneously with demoing the Thump), especially fond of the sort of punchy tone at the start of the first video bellow(even if I am not particularly fond of slapping in general): Now this might look like I started his thread to convince people that the MXR Thump really is a great pedal, but that is not actually my intention at all, my intention was to hopefully get some clarification of my hopeless confusion about all the people who hates it, which seems to be just about half of all the people I have been able to find bothering to voice their opinion about it, out of the fairly few I have been able to find overall. So all I have to go by is a few YouTube demos that makes it sound great, and the opinion of a few people who absolutely love it, and think it is an amazing pedal, and then an equally few amount of people who absolutely hates it, and think it is utter garbage. I suppose it would have been easier for me to get a more realistic picture of the pedals capabilities and general quality if it had been on the market for a longer period of time than is the case, having had more opinions from people who actually tried it them self to make sense of what specifically seems to be the pedals strength and weaknesses, and what and why more specifically people love or hate it for. So yeah, I hope someone will be able to at least make me a bit less confused about what to make of this pedal, and I hope that perhaps someone might even be able to make it more clear for me in which cases/settings/scenarios I should expect to get good results from this pedals and in which cases/settings/scenarios I would probably be better off getting something else to put the finishing subtle touch on my tone to perfect it. If it will be of any help with helping me determine if this pedal might indeed be useful for me, I intend to use it for my 28,6" scale 5 string Ibanez GSRM25 Mikro Bass, that I have string with gauge .090 to .030 strings, and tuned 2 half steps above regular 4 string, E standard, tuning, as in F#1 to D3, with it's 2 stock J pickups wired in series directly to the output jack socket of the bass (though, while not 100% entirely sure, I don't actually think it got a specifically hot output, kind of not significantly low. but in no way significantly hot either, I guess kind of a pretty common regular medium kind of output for a passive bass).

Edit/Updare!!!: New picture of my pedal setup according to the update I made to it, and following new signal chain description : This is my current bass pedal effects setup (I know, not much of an actual pedal board really, but I assume the purpose of this thread really is for people to see what effects other people use and how they do it): That then going into this as the very last pedal in my pedal effects setup, sitting on top of my amp: Making my entire signal chain look like this explained in written form: 4 string Ibanez GSRM20 Mikro Bass (strung with gauge .095 to .040 strings, and tuned in F# standard, 2 half steps above regular 4 string, E standard, tuning, as in F#1 to A2, and having a Di'Marzio Model P pickup wired directly to the output jack socket) ->-> TC Electronic Sub'N'Up Mini (always on polyphonic octaver, pitching the bass signal 1 octave up, mixed with the unaffected bass signal, giving an effect similar to that of an 8 string "octave" bass, with pairs of respectively bass and octave strings) -> Boss LS-2 [A+B Mix <-> Bypass] (parallel effect loops mixer/switch) -> ={ [Loop A Send] -> Monarch MFL-22 (flanger, almost always used mixed with phaser in parallel effects [Loop B]) -> Joyo Orange Juice (clanky grinding medium gain overdrive, always mixed with {bass+octave up} signal from parallel effects [Loop B], either clean, or sometimes going through the {Black Rat + California Sound} distortion) -> [Loop A Return] >||< [Loop B Send] -> Xvive Phaser King (used with an almost maxed out feedback setting, almost always used mixed with flanger in parallel effects [Loop A]) -> { Mosky Black Rat (Rat clone, [Vintage] mode, quite raunchy high gain distortion, always used stacked with the California Sound overdrive in front of it, and always mixed with {bass+octave up} signal from parallel effects [Loop A], either clean, or more often going through the Orange Juice overdrive) -> Joyo California Sound (relabeled as Harley Benton, relatively dark sounding medium gain overdrive, always used with the Black Rat distortion stacked behind it, and always mixed with {bass+octave up} signal from parallel effects [Loop A] , either clean, or more often going through the Orange Juice overdrive) } -> [Loop B Return] ([Loop A] + [Loop B] mixed at an about 50/50 ratio) }=> / [Bypass Output] -> { Xvive V16 Undulator (tremolo, sometimes combined with the chorus in front of it, and always used in conjunction with the Artec equalizer in front of it to tame a quite prominent volume and low frequency boost when engaged) -> Artec SE-EQ8 Graphic EQ (always used in conjunction with the tremolo behind it, primarily to cut the volume of the tremolo slightly, using the level [Gain] control, but additional used to fine tune the tone of the tremolo, mainly cutting some low frequency content ever so slightly) } -> Zoom MS-70CDR Multi Stomp (exclusively used as chorus) -> Nux Tape Core Deluxe (Roland Space Echo tape delay emulation, with build in tap tempo function) ->-> EHX Black Finger (always on tube driven optical compressor, used as much as a fairly moderate compressor effect as as a tube preamp stage) -> Peavey Solo Special 112 (160W solid state combo amp, with it's passive EQ controls set as follows, [Low] at about 1 o'clock [6], [Mid] at about 01:30 o'clock [6.5], and finally [High] at noon [5] ("flat"), it's active [Presence] control set flat as well, and the build in spring reverb fairly subtly added, with the amp's [Reverb] control set at about 11 o'clock [4], the build in 12" guitar speaker unit disconnected, and the amp instead hooked up to a bass cab) -> SWR Triad I (400W bass cab equipped with, respectively: a 15" speaker unit, receiving the full frequency range of the signal from the amp's speaker output, a 10" unit, only receiving the frequency content of the signal between 100Hz and up to 5kHz, and finally a high frequency tweeter unit, that only receives any frequency content above 5kHz, the output level of the latter being adjustable via a tweakable attenuator build into the cab, currently set to the minimum position) The near future planed updates to the above setup is as follows : Planing is to get some kind of preamp, I have been pondering on either the MXR M281 Thump, the MXR M81 Bass Preamp, the TC Electroic Spectra Drive or the cheap Harley Benton Custom Line Bass DI-Expander, next then a Mooer Radar cab simulator pedal, that allows for 3rd party IR's to be used, together with the preamp allowing me to be able to play, rehearse and perform without needing my quite heavy amp and cab setup, and then finally I will get a proper pedal board to mount my effect pedals setup on, together with a power supply with multiple isolated outputs.

Well, all I own that SWR made is one bass cab, but what cab though! So here's my SWR Triad I bass cab, with a Peavey Solo Special 122 160W solid state guitar combo amp, that had it's build in 12" Scorpion guitar speaker disconected, with the Peavey instead hooked up to the SWR bass cab, which 4 Ohm impedance happens to match the speaker output of the Peavey amp, and believe me, while it might not be the most practical setup the Peavey Special guitar amp actually sounds amazing hooked up to a bass cab and used as a bass amp, in the front is my 28,6" scale 5 string Ibanez GSRM25 Mikro Bass, that is strung up with gauge .090 to .030 strings, and tuned 2 half steps above standard E tuning, as in F#1 to D3, and it's 2 stock J pickups wired in series. Truly love the way this 3 way bass cab sounds, with the output of the high frequency tweeter being adjustable:

It's out of production, though they do regular pop up on the used market, don't know if it will be anything that fits your needs and personal taste though, but here's a partially copy/paste from the recent topic I started in the "Gear Porn" sub forum about tube pedals, with some new additional notes added: Here's a picture of my beloved and very precious EHX Black Finger tube driven optical compressor, that has the ability to double as a tube preamp/tube overdrive pedal as well : And while the controls might appear as somewhat limiting, combined they actually offer a pretty wide variety of, actually substantial different and very useful, settings, the Pre Gain control, which essentially is adjusting the input gain, and which beside having the capability of being used for dialing in various degrees of tube coloration, as the input tube is gradually pressed harder and harder as the input gain is increased, or even overdriving the input tube, ranging from all to just a slight touch of subtle edge of breakup hair and grid, all the way up to a sort of an upper medium gain type of overdrive (though the latter only really being achievable with the Sqush/Norm selector switch set to normal mode), it also sort of works like a threshold control for the compression, somewhat interacting with the Compress control, which, as far as I understood it, sort of works as a combined threshold and compression rate control, and then finally the 4 possible combinations the 2 2 way switches, respectively being a Lamp/Led optical compression circuit source selector, and a Sqsh/Norm selector, offering control over various attack time and compression rate settings, depending on how they are combined, as well as those different combinations partially will effect the EQ of the compression, as in how much compression is applied to which frequencies, the Post Gain control really just adjusting the overall output volume, functioning as a fairly standard master volume/make up gain control, and how high you need to turn it up of course depending on the Pre Gain and other general compression settings, though it will be capable of boosting the pedals overall volume level well above unity gain (though again exactly how much will be determined by the other settings of the pedal's controls), but unlike the Input Gain, it will stay clean the whole way up to its maximum boost capacity, and never at any point reaching a breakup point, regardless of what other settings are used. Might be my number one single most favorite and important pedal that I own, so I seriously ponder on finding a used one to keep as a spare, in case something beyond repair should happen to my current one, as I consider it a quite essential part of both my guitar and bass rig, used as an always on pedal, placed as the very last pedal in my effects chain, right before the amp, where it usually sits on top of, and really having the function for me as much as my tube preamp stage as an actual compressor, I have actually previously even used it more exclusively as primarily a tube preamp, or even at one point as my tube overdrive in my guitar setup, in those cases having had the compression circuit more or less entirely dialed out of the equation, as this pedal, a bit roughly speaking, but basically and in principal really is a tube preamp with an optical compressor circuit build in, placed between the preamp's input stage and it's output stage. As a compressor it has a range of compression going from extremely mild and very subtle, barely detectable, up to pretty heavy, very noticeable, and prominent, and just about everything in between, but it will color your tone no matter what, though in my opinion only for the better, and to some extend you will still have a reasonable control over to what degree that is, though the fact that it is powered by 2 preamp tubes run at proper high 300V voltage definitely will set it's unmistakably imprint on everything you run though it, at least to some degree, no matter how you chose to dial in it's controls. Here's a professional bass player that uses the EHX Black Finger primarily as his always on tube preamp stage (he mentions it briefly and demonstrates it shortly around the 04:37 to 05:44 time stamp of the video):

To stick to the topic here comes my personal Top 3 electric bass GAS list, though I suppose it might seem pretty modest. In no particular order: - Yet another Ibanez Mikro Bass, but this time the GSRM20B model, with black hardware and in Weathered Black finish, as my second 4 string Mikro Bass (already got an older 4 string black one (2010 or 2011 production, as far as I recall), as well as a fairly new 5 string one (out of last year's production, 2019)). - A Harley Benton GuitarBass, strongly inspired by the Fender VI Bass, but without a tremolo system and instead a TOM style bridge, or perhaps, if I should get the patience and discipline required to save up a little, a 28" scale Eastwood Sidejack Baritone, the one with fixed TOM style bridge, in black with gold hardware, and then possibly ending up with stringing and tuning it like a Bass VI. - Either the 24 fret 28,5" scale ESP LTD B-4 JR that recently went into production again, after having been discontinued for several years, or the all new 28,6" scale, heavily inspired by the fairly short lived and somewhat rare Fender Precision Bass Jr, Mini P Bass from Squier, that just has been released, though it could also be a Danelectro Longhorn, which is also a bass that I really want to get at some point, I guess as a poor substitute for the amazing Jerry Jones Longhorn I once owned, but was stupid enough to sell at some point, which I still regret to this day (an out of production sort of high quality, higher end, I guess you might even could call it boutique, version of the original Danelectro one from a now retired fairly legendary guitar maker/company, that might be my single most favorite bass I ever owned of all times, especially set to the pickup selector's stock option that made the 2 lipstick tube pickups be wired in series). A qualified guess though, even if I said in no particular order, is that I will properly end up getting myself yet another 4 string Ibanez Mikro Bass first.