ASW

No it's not. It's also "a bold step forward in tone, reliability, and performance". Are the Chinese built ones unreliable and do they sound bad then? I've only just bought one. 😬 I think it's good that they are being manufactured in the UK, but not clear on if this is replacing the Chinese ones or is just an option if you prefer to support UK manufacture.

Do they tell you it comes with a counterfeit logo when you buy it?

I play Classical guitar, so perhaps that's the same reason for me too. I haven't played for a few years, but have just restrung my Ramirez with the intention of getting back into it. I'll have to get used to the treble clef again!

I find it easier to use the notes on the G string if I'm reading music. I score out bass parts for the bands I'm in. None of them play particularly frequently, so it's so much easier and more time efficient for me to turn up to a rehearsal or gig and read the bass part rather than try to memorise a whole set again. If there are notes G or above (i.e. the same octave as the G string) it's easier for me to play those notes on the G String rather than jump up to a different position in a split second. It was the same when I had a 6 string bass with the C string, although that string was needed far less frequently.

Sonicake and Valeton are both part of the Hotone company so I wonder if it's more work less the same as the GP-50 but in a different box. I've got a GP-5 but not tried any Sonicake products.

Thanks for this. There seems quite a big price difference for a different finish. £1700 vs £2500 approximately. If that's the only difference, then I'm keeping my eye out for a used Artist Club Bass as very keen to buy one after trying a Club at Wunjo in London.

That seems the opposite of what I understood... which is very little, but I do know that there are more year specific models and they are considerably more expensive than the Artist models! I do use Google AI, but take what it says with a pinch of salt as it is often inaccurate. The benefit of a bass guitar forum is that I can get answers from a range of people, some of which will be experts in the field and can give sources of their info and be questioned further (usually with logical responses unlike AI). Thanks for responding though. I particularly like the Eggle bass in your profile pic (at least I think it is). I've never seen one in the wild but am a fan of their New York guitars.

Does anyone have an answer to this?

I've not read all of the posts, but the vast majority of them seem to be about things people do not like rather than prejudices. The definition of a prejudice is "opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience." Here's mine. Bass players have poor reading comprehension ...🫣

As I understand it "a) " doesn't guarantee they're not fake. They're not from D'addario, they're from Amazon i.e. It's from an Amazon warehouse, hence it states "Shipper/seller:Amazon". Also, if another seller has sent a batch of fake strings to Amazon, then they will be mingled with the real ones from D'addario. You are not guaranteed to get the ones that D'addario sent to the warehouse. Personally, I've not had any problems and the players code checks out, but it is probably safest to buy from a reputable musical instrument retailer as their stock will be the genuine article.

The RM800 unexpectedly arrived early today, so I've tried it out at very low home levels. I'm liking what I'm hearing so far through a Barefaced One10. The Compressor and drive are OK actually, but on low settings. Not sure about the sub yet! I'm looking forward to trying it out through my LFSys Monaco in the new year.

Thanks. As it's a separate signal from each board, no issues with phase, so the XLR summing box Stofferson mentioned above seems sensible. As the signals cannot have their levels set at the desk, you will need a way to set the levels from your pedal boards. Presumably there is a way to set the output level on one or both boards, but if not, the Sonicake Portal seems like a good option.

I've got an RM800 evo III on its way to me, so look forward to trying it. I've never owned an Ashdown amp (I had a 6x10 cab once though). I have used them before though and have a question. Does anyone actually use the drive, compressor and sub controls or are they just gimmicks best left turned off? I seem to recall that the ABMs I've used previously were much better with the compressor and sub completely off.

Can you give more info as to what your current setup is? I've got some ideas, but all dependent on what you're using.

Whatever "AGS" is, it's not on the Tone Hammer 500 I have and doesn't appear to be on the 350 either. There is a drive control.

I'm not sure I understand why Paul McCartney would be interested in buying Hofner. He's played the same one for the past 60 years has he not? It doesn't appear like he's a prolific buyer of Hofner basses, but I could be wrong.

Does anyone know the difference between the German Artist series basses and the other German basses. Looks like the vintage ones are a "relic" finish, but not sure what the differences between the other models are.

My festival experience this year has been different. I've played a few festivals and venues with its own back line and it's all been quite good. There was an Aguilar Tone Hammer and 4 x 10 at one festival. I liked the amp enough to buy one myself! I always carry a small pedal board with an Origin Effects Bass Rig so can DI from there if necessary. I'm sure that every gig I've played this year, we got a list of the back line and if we didn't we asked for it, so we knew what would be there to use. This enables us to ascertain whether the back line is suitable and can negotiate beforehand if we feel we needed to use our own equipment (we didn't). Admittedly, it doesn't help if the equipment doesn't work though, but still worthwhile. There will always be outliers, such as the time I played a gig years ago and their "bass amp" was some child's practice amp from the 80s with a blown 8" speaker. No proper foldback either so I couldn't hear anything I was playing and taking a preamp pedal would not have helped. That was before I learned to find out what the back line was!

The whole album has a great groove. All the players are amazing and Donny's voice is sublime. One of the best versions of What's Going On in my opinion. The album sounds good from a production perspective too. All the instruments can be heard clearly, yet you can also "hear" the room it was recorded in and the audience participation is electric. The bass playing is the icing on the cake. I'm going to have to listen to it today!