W1_Pro

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....

First amp i ever bought, sometime in the early eighties. Two words to describe it: Shite, and shite.

So thats a single 15? Mine was the 2 12 version. I was never sure that it wasn't actually a guitar cab funnily enough, but it certainly did the business in terms of sound. It had electrovoice 12's in it iirc. Made in Buchanan, MI. They were the days.....😃

I used to have one of those Musicman boxes. Wonderful device. Got it from the Bass Centre in the late eighties. Came in a flightcase, ex Entwhistle apparently. Due to lack of space after a subsequernt flat move I had to sell both that and my 810 Trace box (made in Essex). Sorriest move I ever made. regret it to this day....

My experience FWIW. I flew to Spain last week. Bought a seat for the bass- an old Aria Precise- which was cheaper than putting it in the hold. £41 vs £50 and of course it stayed with me at all times. Shockingly straightforward, nobody batted an eyelid at security, on the plane, etc etc. There are instructions on how to book a seat for a guitar on the Ryanair website. I had no trouble with customs at all. There should be no need for a carnet with just a bass, as this comes under your 'personal belongings' allowance.