W1_Pro

Lots of good points made already. As others have said it's really a 'horses for courses' type question. I would add two things: When I used to do monitors for a living, prior to getting kicked upstairs, I found IEM's were incredibly helpful if the turn had a weak singer (no doubt the singer found it incredibly helpful too, but I'm being selfish😂). Also, in terms of monitor systems, I think from memory all of the acts which I did used IEM's as an add on to their 'conventional' monitor systems. Most specs I see nowadays seem to ask for both. I don't recall ever seeing a spec for a silent stage, but I guess this is what Metallica do, so who knows? Speaking as a player, and one who preffers wedges to IEM's, the big revelation for me came in the form of our drummer starting to use a triggered kit. All of a sudden there was no need to keep up with an acoustic drum kit. The on stage volume at shows and rehearsals is very much more civilised, and the complete lack of the aural 'slosh' (for want of a better word) you get onstage from live cymbals and hi hats makes a huge difference for the better in terms of listening fatigue. Our monitor system now comprises 4 Eon 110 speakers with an added 12" sub for the drummer. Works a treat. Having said all that we still have to carry all of this. IEM's win hands down for portability.

IMHO, of course.....😆

The pricing makes no sense. And I know, I know, the market etc etc, but there was a '65 P bass there today that was lovely, and cheaper than all of the Wals. They (Wal's) are fantastic basses and I'd love one, but price wise at lease, if the south sea bubble was a bass, it would be a Wal.

I popped into the Gallery today to collect a bass that was having a new scratch place fitted. Whilst I was there I noted no less than eight Wal basses (all four string, Mark ones or Pro Basses, fretted and fretless). The ticket prices ranged from a breathtaking £5900 to a very breathtaking £14K odd (although I imagine that last one once belonged to someone famous). I have never seen anything near this number of Wal's anywhere, ever. Which leads me to my question, have we finally reached peak pricing for these doubtlessly wonderful basses ? Discuss.....

I notice that a few folks on this thread own Manson Explorers. If anyone is looking to move one on then I am interested. Pleasedrop me a message.

Excellent! What does the selector swith do in the middle?

I've been after one of these since I saw a review in 'In Tune' magazine in 1984. It is a lovely and very well made bass. This particular example, having been in storage for about thirty years is immaculate. The Gordy brand is one of those fascinating little side roads in British guitar building that seemed to proliferate in the eighties. The neck profile on this bass is particularly praiseworthy. Its like a very fast jazz. The two humbuckers (Gordon Withams own make I think) sound nice and fat and the hardware is all very high quality. The woodwork is of a very high quality. All in all, I'm pretty happy to have finally anded one after a mere forty years....

Here's mine. Epiphone body, Fender licenced Mighy Mite neck, Steve Soar pickups, hipshot lightweight tuners which really do help with the neck dive.

Maybe the one I saw was black then? Uness they had two Manson explorers in of course. Which might be the case. They had a lot of very high end stuff I seem to remember. It was a great shop.

The dots ring a bell...I seem to remember that the one in Livewire had similar dots on the (red) finish. I might be imaginging that of course...

Great pic....I've never played one of those Schecters but they do look very nice, I must say.

And I missed it. Utterly typical....

Many, many years ago, at a music shop in Cardiff called Livewire (I believe it was on Pen y Lan road, but it was a very long time ago) I played a (red) Manson Explorer Bass. I was utterly blown away by the thing, but I didnt have the cash to buy it. I have never seen one since either in the flesh or advertised for sale. Does anyone on here posess such a machine? Are they as good as I remember?

Congrats, looks like a really lovely little rig. I'm very happy with mine, small, light (for a valve amp) and (at least into the Ashdown 212 I use mine with), loud anough for a gig, albeit with a relatively restrained Americana band. Sounds lovely too. Really nice break up when you push it.

Thanks for all the thoughts and advice folks. Very helpful. I'm going to be in the smoke for a few days next week, so I'll try and audition a few of these suggestions from the many helpful local pedal retailers therein.

I've got a Boss pedal that I use 'always on' to get a little bit of breakup into the tone. I need this OD for one specific song where I do a little riff at the top. Sounds nice ehough clean, but I just want to lift it a bit...

Hello folks, I'm looking for a distortion pedal to do a nice warm bluesy drive sound. Any thoughts? I've also been looking for a Cali compressor pedal. They seem to be quite expensive secondhand atm, so I was thinking of maybe a rack mounted DBX 160A. In fact for the same money that one of the secondhand Cali's is going for, I could buy a DBX 165, which is a lot of compressor.....Thoughts?

Anyone used this chap? https://www.richardmeyrickguitars.co.uk

It is indeed a wonderful machine. Very versatile and very, very loud...

Please. Its a SMALL coffee house and we're the third band on....🤣

Trying to decide what to use this weekend....