Shaggy

To illustrate the point - pic of my first bass rig put together after a couple of bass-less decades raising kids, moving between jobs etc. Fender Bassman 135 with no-name 1x15 PA cab. More overhang than a Bingo Granny's muffin-top.......

Day Tripper - Les Beatles

Tangerine - Led Zep

Give me everything - Magazine

Einstein a go-go - Landscape

I think everyone on here belongs to the Peavey BW115 ex-owners club! Mine fell out of a moving van and still worked fine. Mesa RR 115 EV is still my go-to cab, along with matching RR 210 EV. Heavy yes, but pretty compact even by modern standards.

Smooth - Santana

Ignoring my bitsas (as the missus tries to....), my longest keeper bass was also my cheapest - I think I paid £200 around 20 years ago. Factory fretless Ovation Magnum 1. It probably wouldn't be seen as a budget bass now, but nobody wanted them then. I'm lucky enough to also own a Wal mk 1 custom fretless and Kramer 450B fretless, but if I had to go down to one - it would be the Ovation staying.

Wasn’t she the hottie in the fabulous “Faster pussycat, kill, kill!” ? Anyway - ‘Twas on the good ship Venus - anon. rugby song

Mesa’s are lovely; either the Powerhouse or (my choice) the older EV-loaded Diesels. Not light though.

Ticket to the moon - ELO

Rip her to shreds - Blondie

The needle and the damage done - Neil Young

Thanks Cosmo - it was actually your post on the “Basses you see and want” thread that induced me to post on here - when I saw the pic in your post, just for a split sec I thought “Hey - that’s my bass............oh - no it’s not” All Alembics are incredible instruments, but for me the original series 1 & 2’s are the classiest. I dithered and lost on a Distillate with flamed koa top FS on here a couple of years back - still kick myself

Suicide is painless - Theme from M*A*S*H

Girls in their summer clothes - Bruce Springsteen

King of rock n’ roll - Prefab Sprout

We all stand together - Macca and the frog chorus

The Changing Man - Paul Weller

Songs from the wood - Jethro Tull

Looking for the heart of Saturday night - Tom Waits

Black Man Ray - China Crisis

Lol, not so far - I'm just at the southern border of Powys. Worth a trip to God's country just for the mountain air and a pint or two of Felinfoel!

Life from a window - The Jam

When I was at the Electric Wood workshop a few years back I was amazed at how tiny an operation it was - really just a small workshop. I didn't see Paul and the guys there driving Rollers or Ferraris (unless they were parked hidden behind the lockup.....) so I don't think they're making a fortune in the bass business. Undoubtedly keeping it small is what preserves the desirability and cachet of the brand, and I'm sure it's deliberate policy not to expand or outsource and so devalue the image. I think a good few pros and players do still use their basses for what they were intended (Bilbo and myself for two), but yes; unfortunately they seem to have attained the same mystique as pre-CBS Fenders - rightly or wrongly - and increasingly will tend to go straight from the workshop into a bank vault, unsullied by a mere musicians fingers...... If you fancy a spin down to S Wales post lockdown Andy, you'd be more than welcome to try out my pair of Mk 1 Customs ( fretted '82 and fretless '85). Hopefully there'll be another BC-er closer though!