uncle psychosis

[quote name='jonnythenotes' timestamp='1428420396' post='2741108'] All I am trying to say, is when you buy certain musical instruments, unless you play for your own pleasure, it usually means involving other instruments, amps PA's etc for it to do its job. An expensive watch, a vintage bottle of wine, a super car, an ocean going yatch or even a private aircraft are all stand alone, and can be used or enjoyed independently from other watches, cars, yatchs etc. With a lot of musical instruments, and particularly the bass, they have to rely on other instruments and players for them to sound their best. Once you introduce these other 'elements' to get the best out of your bass, can be where control is lost in how it sounds to an audience. Its like being the strongest link in an unpredictable chain. I am certain the Fodera sound wonderful, and streaks ahead of most £1000ish basses, if you were just testing bass against bass, but add a few more musicians to the mix, and wind it up to gig volume levels,and that margin would soon shrink, not because of the bass, but because of everything else going on round it. [/quote] You're still thinking of it in practical terms, like "the sound" is the only thing that matters. Its also, for many, about the look, the feel, being in a fairly exclusive club and also just the simple act of owning a thing thats been made by a master craftsman. Once you get up to that end of the price scale the instruments are as much a piece of art as they are a practical thing.

[quote name='jonnythenotes' timestamp='1428415526' post='2741059'] . After you get your new wonder bass, do you then have to upgrade your amp and cab. No good putting aa £11000 bass through a Laney combo. Then are you going to find a new band, where all their gear is as good as yours....don't want to lose all that quality in a mess of lesser instruments. Then there is the PA.... That will have to be pretty good to show off the full potential of the bass. Also, make sure you have a top notch engineer... You cant mix something like that without a bit of expertise... you don't want it sounding like a run of the mill Fender. What about boomy stages, funny shaped rooms, and stuff that changes the sound you want that you have no control over. Then there is living in the fear of theft or damage. These mega basses sound great on there own, but once you introduce all the other countless things that make up a band, and the things that make a bands sound, your £11000 investment won't sound too different to instruments at a fraction of that cost. I use a Yamaha Bb2024....cost £1400 new... Not everyone's cup of tea, but It's a great bass that can take a few knocks, built like a tank, and out Fenders most new build Fenders in terms of sound. If you have the cash or desire...why not buy a super bass,, but don't forget that it won't sound like it did in the shop when you start gigging it. . [/quote] Some people like to buy luxury items just because they derive pleasure from having nice things. Its not always about practicality. People buy supercars but they still have to drive on the same roads and at the same speeds as the rest of us. The user above you likes expensive watches but they won't keep time significantly better than something that costs £10. Some people like to buy designer trainers for £££ even though they aren't much different to the ones you can buy in Schuh for £50. People spend £thousands on paintings---literally just paint on a canvas. Why not spend similar money on a bass? Disclaimer: I think people who spend Fodera money on basses are nuts. But thats cool, they can be nuts about Fodera and I'll keep being nuts about my own luxury purchases

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1428405718' post='2740923'] Do we really see posts from 5 stringers saying they are superior? Or that 4 strings are inferior? I must have missed that bit. [/quote] Its implicit in the endless repetition of "anything you can do on a four you can do on a five, plus more besides".

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1428401441' post='2740852'] It is a boring debate because it is never a debate. A 4 stringer usually kicks off with "Why bother with 5 strings". A thread of negativity from 4 stringers usually follows with 5 stringers explaining why 5 works for them [i]and why 4 strings is inferior[/i]. A 4 stringer then usually accuses the 5 stringers of getting touchy [i]and a 5 stringer tells the 4 stringers that they're wrong to prefer 4 strings[/i] and it all fizzles out only to start up and follow the same script a few months later [i]except this time its a 5 stringer saying "why doesn't everyone play 5 strings"[/i]?. [/quote] Fixed that to add the bits you missed out Other than that I very much agree with you. The "cheap vs expensive" thing is equally dull. Personally I think some people are mental to spend £thousands on a bass but they probably think I'm mental for spending ££ on comic books. So long as families are being fed and clothed getting wound up about how other people spend their money is really odd.

[quote name='largo' timestamp='1428390007' post='2740719'] I don't get it. What can you do on a 4 string that you can't on a 5? [/quote] Buy cheaper strings (and typically from a wider selection), worry less about muting unwanted notes, have a smaller neck on your bass, and choose from a wider selection of instruments. And four strings weigh less than the equivalent five string. Only little things, admittedly, but they are real! Five string basses are all well and good but only if you actually need that fifth string.When I owned a five string bass I found that the only time I touched the B string was to mute it. Being able to play two octaves in a single position is useful, but I didn't ever need to do that. Four strings are perfectly usable for massive swathes of music and not all of us are interested in the stuff that needs more. I get really bored of this whole "debate" to be honest. The "who needs five strings, four is enough" people are just as tedious and predictable as the "five strings are like four strings but much much better and everyone should get one" people. Fours work for some people, fives for others. Just buy what works for you and let other people do what works for them!

Cool bass, glad you like it. I'd be a bit careful about the venues I gigged it in though - could well be a magnet for idiots to hassle you.

It might take a while but eventually the world will realise that the price of something does not necessarily need to correlate with the cost of the parts and labour used to create it.

Interesting buy. I know Behringer don't have a great rep quality wise but I've never had anything Behringer fail on me whereas yesterday a Hartke HA3500 failed on me during a recording session!

Of those two burgundy, but if it were me it would be shell pink or sonic blue.

[quote name='dmccombe7' timestamp='1428132596' post='2738278'] Wasn't aware of that. ? cheers Dave [/quote] Clarity card is excellent for any kind of foreign currency transaction. You can even use it to withdraw cash from an atm whilst on holiday without incurring fees. Other banks also so similar things, I think moneysupermarket has a guide.

Beginning of the signal chain is where the signal starts - at your bass.

I've gigged with one of those quite a few times and I'm amazed at how high you have the bass control, especially with the sub-harmonic control maxed out too. Try turning the bass down and adjust from there.

Set the amp up for the output from the passive bass and then turn the volume down on the active one so the levels match?

[quote name='dmccombe7' timestamp='1428044232' post='2737297'] the exchange rate or using your Visa card will mean additional costs that they don't cover. Keep that in mind when buying from Europe. [/quote] Only if you use the wrong payment method. Not all Visa cards charge you and not all banks sting you on the exchange rate. I've got a Halifax Clarity Card. No fees on foreign currency transactions, get the bank exchange rate. About as good as it gets for foreign currency purchases.

I only ever accept cash on collection on Gumtree. If I was going to accept PayPal or trust the thing to a courier I'd sell on eBay to a wider market.

A few years ago one of my ears got blocked up with wax and it was a few weeks before a Doctor managed to syringe it out. Losing hearing was absolutely terrifiying. I wore earplugs before that incident but it really rammed it home to me how important it was. I've got some er-20s which are nice but I keep thinking about splashing out for customs.

They don't have to like your music but they have to understand it.

I pretty much always tap my feet. It really helps me keep time. Flute is my first instrument and so head nodding was never really an option!

Never "got" the stones. I suspect that being born long after their heyday doesn't help. Its hard to see a band as a revolutionary when the revolution was twenty-five years before you were aware of rock n' roll! They've always been part of the musical establishment for me! Hope you enjoy it though, Blue. Seeing your idols is always special

I get my RAT fix using a standard Proco RAT and a Boss LS-2. Sounds awesome. Sound guys love it because the bass doesn't disappear, and if you buy second hand the pair of pedals can be had for about the same as one of the Boutique RAT types, but with the added bonus of having an LS-2 which is useful for lots of things.

[quote name='timmo' timestamp='1427829802' post='2734854'] Why do people buy signature basses and change the bridge and pickups? I thought the whole point was you got the same bass. Does it devalue it if you change bits? [/quote] You're assuming that people buy a signature bass because they want to sound exactly like the artist or have an exact replica of their instrument. Loads of people buy signatures just the same as they buy non-signature models. They're just a bass with a spec they like.

If you think about it, (nearly) all that a "good" bass is is a collection of good parts that have had some care and attention applied to them. Now, you can either have these good parts and attention to detail applied in the factory, or you can apply them yourself. The main problem with doing the latter, so long as you have the correct technical skills to do the work properly, is that the resale is (generally) terrible. Of course, some people will (probably rightly) argue that you get a better instrument if you aim for the best right from the beginning of its life but for lots of the simpler basses---fender styles, for example---there's no reason why you can't get[i] most of the way[/i] to "top" instrument status by `pimping' it.

[quote name='UglyDog' timestamp='1426696630' post='2720949'] While the first bit may be true, the second & third bits are entirely subjective really. 100 people would tell you 100 different things. [/quote] Ask 100 bass players what the best bass ever is and you'll get 200 different answers!

Sounds like Ken Smith but cheaper? Buy one of my new asian knock offs. I'm trading under the name Ben Fifth.