LeftyJ

The One Spot is a switching power supply, and various types of pedals (mostly time-based effects) may respond badly to it. I have a TC Polytune 3, EBS MultiComp, Darkglass B7K and EBS UniChorus hooked up to one with a daisy chain, and have zero issues - until I raise the gain on the compressor past 8 o' clock. Then it quickly gets noisy, especially with the drive on.

These are so cool! Haters will say it's not a true Steinberger ...but while the neck and the body wings may indeed be made of wood, the neck does have a carbon graphite U-shaped profile which the truss rod runs through and a phenolic fingerboard which add a touch of the rigidity, evenness and clarity the original composite Steinbergers are famed for. They're cool basses, and the range of tones of the EMG DC and the piezo bridge is huge, if mostly modern.

I'm in this WhatsApp group that was initiated by a few members of leftybassist.com, called "Lefty Bassists United", and if I thought that forum was bad for my GAS, that WhatsApp group is all kinds of worse! Turns out a few of these guys are buying and selling a LOT more than they show on the forum, and it's incredibly GAS-inducing on many ocassions. I've been able to withstand it so far, but this one guy who I've started calling Paulo the Enabler reached out to me privately last Saturday to tell me "I remember you saying there's this one bass you've been fancying for a while. I've got one that I've owned for maybe 3 months, but I keep playing my homemade shortscale more. Fancy a trade?" So naturally I did the right thing and quickly regained my composure, did not stray from the Holy Path of Gear Abstinence and definitely and defiantly did NOT succumb to temptation, and under no circumstances will there be a NBD thread in my near future. Nope.

As a lefty, I have frequently had to resort to buying a bass based on looks alone, simply because I had no way of trying it first Usually I did have some kind of expectation, and sometimes I had experience with the brand prior to buying. There have been two basses that stand out, and that I bought solely because I thought they looked stunning: In 2009 I ordered a brand new Rickenbacker 4003 in Mapleglo when the Pound was at a low. Of course I had an idea of what a Ric should sound like, based on listening to a lot of Yes, Spock's Beard, old Deep Purple and the Beatles, but I had no idea of I would get on with one. Short answer: I didn't. I loved the tone, absolutely adored the looks, but hated the ergonomics and playability. The neck on mine was somewhat square, and I didn't like the sharp angular sides of the body that dug into my lower arm. I played it for a while in a Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds-esque band, but sold it when I needed money to replace my totalled car and haven't looked back. The second one was my first Status S2 Classic: I fell in love with the bright white body, paired to the beautiful woven-graphite neck with the contrasting, extremely black phenolic fingerboard and roman numeral inlays. I had never laid hands on one or heard one up close. I emailed the seller (I think it was @whynot) but sadly got a reply that it had already been shipped to the US. It kept haunting me though, so I couldn't believe my luck when it popped up 11 years later in Israel. This time I got lucky, and a few weeks later it was delivered to my door, and I love it! I've been deeply impressed with the construction, the excellent playability and the huge range of tones. So much so, that I traded my Stingray 5 for @Bonin-in-the boneyard's 5-string shortly after. That one has been my main bass ever since.

I couldn't resist. It's happening, I'm trading my Ibanez Musician for this. I'm looking forward to it a LOT! It's going to take a little while, and going through Customs is going to cost me dearly, but I'm very eager to get my hands on it!

Anyone remember (or have any experience with) these unusual Yamaha's? I've often seen these (and the guitar version) nicknamed the iPOD bass It's the RBX5A2, and supposedly ultralight because of the unusual body construction: they're a sandwich of two hardwood panels, connected with "sound tubes", with very light center material inbetween. I've always been intrigued by the concept, but I haven't a clue if they're any good!

Same here, I've never seen one in the flesh. But I've had severe shortscale GAS for over a year now, and it's right up my alley. I love the Mustang-like looks and it's a shortscale with 16,5 mm string spacing at the bridge, but that's where the similarities end: it's a modern, Jazz Bass-like sounding active bass (but can be switched to passive with the bridge volume push/pull pot). If it was the version with the reverse P pickup I would have made my mind up already, but I'm in doubt now because I don't really need a mini Jazz. It looks like so much fun though! Edit: pics or it didn't happen.

I just got offered an Atelier Z Baby Z JJ in a trade for my 1981 Ibanez MC924 . It's in the USA though, so I need to think about it. I will be hit with a 21% VAT and up to 4% import duties, so it's not "just" a trade. But man, am I tempted! It's a natural ash model with a plexi pickguard and maple fingerboard with white block inlays and it looks like so much fun!

I share this obsession, and aside from backup purposes I also like to own both a 4 and a 5 string version of the same bass. My "twins" are / were: Ibanez MC924: I have both a 1981 and a 1983 model. Technically not twins, because other than their model designation they are very different; Ibanez ATK: I only have my ATK305 left, but I also used to own two ATK300's at the same time; Yamaha TRB5II: I had both an amber and a transparent blue one. Lovely basses, very sturdy workhorses and pretty too; Warwick: I have a Streamer LX and an LX5, both in a beautiful gloss finish; Status Graphite: I have both a 4-string and a 5-string S2 Classic bolt-on headless; Squier MIJ Stratocaster: I have both an E-series (1984-1987) and a Silver Series (1991) that feel and sound very similar.

They have it in more finishes though, just not in that Anniversary Edition. The model has been around since at least 2020 already, and there have been several finishes. There was a FSR (factory special run) in Satin Black, Midnight Satin, Burgundy Satin and Olive Satin that was promoted in the US as a "Sweetwater exclusive" run, but I've seen them pop up at European stores too and they can still be found brand new in several online stores. Personally I like the Pearl White and Shoreline Gold finishes best, but I've only seen those on the 4-string. The Olive Satin is the next best thing I guess, looks quite cool and also a bit gold-like.

Nice to see them collaborating with Elrick again. Earlier, they did a Josh Paul signature model (JP5, later named RB5) which was also a licensed Elrick copy. I'm not a huge fan of the new GB shape, I liked the previous model better.

I love the finish, but I hate the non-reversed look and the Strat-style jack!

Point taken, I assume. I would personally always try to get a deal outside of Reverb or via the seller's own shop (but only if they're a business, it could be unsafe to do this with a private seller). Reverb sell rates are very high, and you can easily save 10% or more when buying from the seller directly. This Aria is an exception though, it is listed at their own site at exactly the same price: https://www.gasstationguitars.com/product-page/aria-diamond-series-dmb-380-bass-scarce-hot-pink-finish

Seems they're rescaled, and all are clipped at the 12th fret. Except for the Wal, which has no frets 😉

Maruszczyk = Mensinger The Cazpar is a shortscale bass, maybe their shortscale strings come from a different supplier? I see they sell both longscale and shortscale strings under their own brand, but who knows where they're made.

That looks incredible! I love your choice of woods, and the contrasting layers between the core and the top really make it pop. Beautiful!

This can mean different things to different people, but here's what I would consider: I would go very basic, and go for passive Jazz Bass pickups and a simple 2-band EQ plus a passive tone control to roll off sharp highs. I would look closely at the center frequencies of the EQ controls though. Something like an Aguilar OBP-1 has the bass pot centered at 40 Hz and I hate it, because it only boosts the sub lows and adds low-end rumble but also a lot of mud. I have an OBP-3 in a custom 5-string and it's a great pre, but I rarely touch the bass control for that reason. I quite like the MEC preamp in my Warwicks because the bass control is centered at 100 Hz with a fairly broad range, and also adds a slight bit of low mids and punch. It works well to add warmth and punch for a great slap tone. That bass boost plus a treble roll off gives a huge range of tones, and will get you all the traditional Jazz Bass tones plus a modern active slap tone and everything in between. I have owned two TRB5II's by the way, so I know these basses well and they are indeed very good! I loved the neck profile, the tones and the looks, but I didn't love the feel of a 35" scale. The stock preamp was good and flexible, but the EQ controls were fairly subtle to my ear.

Why? What is it that you don't like about the tone that makes you want to change the pickups and electronics? What type of tone are you looking for? From your post, I gather you don't really seem to know yet.

I don't really care whether a bass is active or passive, as long as the neutral tone is good. I used to be a real knob fiddler (I'm sure I will come to regret this choice of words ) but over time I've come to appreciate simple controls that I need to touch as little as possible. I don't like having to tinker with controls to get the basic sound I'm after: I want my passive basses to sound good with everything wide open, and will only use the controls for small adjustments. Same goes for my active basses: I want them to sound good with everything set to neutral / flat, and will sometimes slightly boost the lows and cut the highs to taste, but I don't want to have to fiddle with knobs to find my go-to tone. It just has to be "there" without having to search for it. A filter preamp like what Alembic or ACG makes probably wouldn't be for me.

And make sure you know your titles I was in a band that wrote its own original music, but until the songs had a lyric and an actual title, we would number them. All good, until the singer made the setlists and only put titles on it. I was completely lost, after having worked on these songs for such a long time and only ever using the number to refer to them. I've since learned all titles by heart but we also kept putting both the number and the title on the list. Still, I'm sure there must also have been some fans who have been extremely puzzled when they took home a handwritten setlist that only said 17 - 24 - 21 - 5 - 23 in sharpie

Brian Bromberg is an interesting one. Basically, he appears to have trademarked "his" signature shape so he was able to take his signature bass model from one manufacturer to the next. Same thing happened with Eddie van Halen, who wasn't happy with Music Man when they continued producing the EVH signature guitar als the "Axis". So he trademarked the Peavey Wolfgang design including the headstock, and took it with him when he went to Fender who created the EVH brand for him. Peavey B-Quad (with a graphite Modulus neck I think?): Dean B2: Carvin / Kiesel B2:

Awesome find! I hope it's as good as you remember it I had a B2A for a short while, only sold it because a gear on one of the cam axles of my previous car broke, and I had to finance another car. It was a great bass, I liked the Select by EMG pickups a lot more than I expected I would and the preamp was super agressive. Lovely bass, very punchy. Weird ergonomics, I bet the Jack is even nicer playability-wise!

I have used them on all my basses except my Status headless basses (I use Status Hotwire double ball strings on those) for the last 15 years and love them. They feel really slick and smooth, and retain their brightness and clarity for a really long time. They don't sound overly bright when new. I love them. Only comparison I've had in the meantime were D'Addario nickels (on my Carvin LB75 - sounds fine, but the low B died real quickly -within three weeks of non-frequent use- and the rest followed suit after two months). Depending on how much use my basses get, my Elixirs last between one and two years. When I regularly gigged, and rehearsed weekly, they would last about 6 months before I found them lacking clarity and attack.

Lefty Peavey T40 (doesn't exist) Lefty Fender Mustang (rare as hen's teeth because Fender won't make new ones, and therefore ridiculously expensive) Lefty Kubicki ExFactor (only one known example, but it has a righty neck with the D-tuner at the bottom - and Philip Kubicki has sadly passed)

This, for me too. Nearly everything I currently own was bought used. My most expensive bass purchase was a brand new Rickenbacker 4003 in Mapleglo from Guitar Guitar, which cost me £1516 + £35 shipping back in 2009, but it was nowhere near my "best".