thodrik

A think that ‘thin and without volume’ would be the exact opposite description of my experience with a Mesa 6x10! Definitely an upper mid hump aggressive voicing but loads of low end extension, but that is with the ported Powerhouse cabs. Not tried the more vintage sealed cabs. Pretty much the most obnoxiously loud cab I have used. And bloody hell the weight…Completely over the top for any gig I can imagine. But a guy was selling one for £400 so I bought one about four years ago. I still gig with a 1x15 combo.

Nah, there is nothing wrong. There is barely any difference between the choke engaged or mudbucker on its own on my bass either. I think that is just a quirk/limitation of the design. New bridge looks great!

Nearly bought one when I was 15, ended up buying a Gibson EB3 instead. I really should have bought the Stingray! Funnily enough, I have never come close to buying one in the 21 years since. Iconic basses though.

Yes, there is no obligation for him to continue making instruments or expanding or coming up with licensing agreements that might devalue the name. I am lucky to own two. I would have loved to have put in an order for a GV Rock, but house renovations will dictate otherwise.

In my current position I would be more concerned about the following than the backline: A) why am I playing very large venues when the peak of my band's achievements was getting to number 18 on the Doom charts in February 2021? B) following on from A above, I would want confirmation that we are not liable for any losses suffered by the venue from lack of tickets sold. C) if the band are playing such large venues then why are drinking cheap lager? I would probably want a more premium lager. Probably my pedal board, a Sansamp and using my old Mesa Walkabout 1x15 combo for on stage monitoring (because I have played 'good' venues where the monitors were bloody awful). I did try a Helix but for my purposes a Sansamp is all I need for live use. Might buy a Helix but it would probably be more for recording than live use.

Bad artwork is generally a Megadeth trademark. I will check in to listen to it later. I think that I bought the last album but might have only listened to it twice. I quite liked The System Has Failed (think Chris Poland played on that), but that was a while ago!

Really cool, thanks for sharing!

https://www.godcityinstruments.com/products/bass-brutalist I had a pal make me one these. A really cool modded Rat. Works great on guitar too.

Honestly, I would probably just keep all of the cabs if space is not an issue. If pushed came to shove I would probably get rid of the Ashdown cabs. Nothing wrong with Ashdown cabs, but from experience in rehearsal rooms and gigs I really like the combination of Ashdown heads and Ampeg cabs. The Ampeg 2x12 just looks really cool so I would be wary of selling that especially if I owned the matching valve amp. At 600 watts it really should have more than enough volume for gigging.

I love that band. Gutted I missed them last time they played Scotland. Their new album is really good too.

As would a lot of us! On the guitar front I would really like to try a Badlander but the supply chain issues are horrible. Just an annoying part of the times we are currently in which will hopefully be sorted out sooner rather than later.

Yepp. First gig with a new band in 2012. I did the whole gig with blood seeping out of my head. Unfortunately our band was a gentle, non-heavy indie band rather than a metal act so it didn't work as cool stage effect. Cut took ages to heal as well because it was a gouging, jaggy cut. The bassist in the other band was very apologetic. I got him worried for a couple of seconds by saying that I was going to sue him for damages and compensation until he realised I was joking and then we have a good laugh. The bass that was launched was entirely undamaged which really speaks to the sturdiness of design of Fenders.

This might be a guess, but I think that the oversized tuners on Fenders were probably influenced by the large tuners of double basses when the original Precisions were being designed. By making the tuners essentially the same size as a double bass tuner it aimed to give upright players a degree of familiarity with the instrument with a view to encouraging more players to switch to electric bass. That link with upright bass wouldn't have been there if the tuners had been slightly larger than a standard guitar tuner. Definitely clunky though and larger than is practically necessary though. Also able to do some serious damage if the bassist on a support band throws their Jazz bass in the air and it lands machine head first on your head as you go on stage to set up.

Looks interesting. Looks like a smaller D800 which was already pretty small. 350 watts should be plenty for gigging. I’m interested in it as a back up amp to one of my larger heads. it should be less expensive than the D800 but it is still a made in USA amp so I’m guessing it will still cost about £700- £800 minimum and by then it is only a incremental amount to the D800. Although with European production issues we will probably have a long wait anyway to see one in stock anywhere.

My bridge pick up volume also works as an on/off switch, as do the tone controls. I think that they might be just part of the design of the circuits! The Babicz bridge is a great investment for a playability standpoint and is so easy to install even I managed it. It does 'look' modern, but mine is hidden under pickup cover so isn't visible. However, the playability and intonation improvements outweigh vintage 'chic' in my view. My original bridge is sitting in Tech 21 Sansamp box!

Metal, slots are in the middle, no off setting. I wonder if running the strings at an angle was an attempt to lengthen the space between the end point of the bridge and the saddle so as to avoid the string silks running over the saddle? I can see no real benefit otherwise.

I have one of these basses from the exact same year. Same finish. Essentially the same condition except that I still have the pickup covers. I have had it since 2001. In terms of the bridge, the best thing you can do is get a Babicz full contact replacement. It technically 'devalues' the bass because it is not original, but as it is a drop replacement you can always put the original bridge back on if you sell it. The Babicz bridge cured the two things I utterly hated about the Gibson three point design: (i) the string silks going over the saddle and causing intonation problems; and (ii) the inability to set the action per string, as the three point tilt bridge is a horrible balancing act. The tone and volume controls on mine act more like 'on/off' switches than tapering circuits. There is also very minimal tonal variety as the mudbucker is dominant in both of the two pickup settings. Still, it looks cool, which is the key point.

No.

Awesome, I missed them the last time they played Glasgow, but they are meant to be very impressive live.

In real-world scenarios I have never experienced gear snobbery at a gig, apart from a couple of players who have moaned about me bringing a 1999 Trace Elliot combo as shared backline on the basis that they had better setups at home which for some reason or other they could not bring to the gig. I mean, yeah it wasn't the best kit but at the time (2008) it was the only kit I had!

Part of the reason I became a lawyer was from visiting Talkbass when I was a struggling 22 year old musician and finding that nearly every bassist who had a massive collection tended to either be a lawyer or a doctor rather than a gigging musician. As it is I have now been qualified for nearly seven years and bought precisely one bass in that time. I’m definitely doing the stereotype a disservice but having kids and buying a fixer-upper house will do that…

It is a shame. However there are far far more options for high level, boutique quality basses in 2022 compared to the 1980s. Younger players have far more options now compared to the past and the quality of budget basses like Squier, Sire etc are miles ahead of the budget basses that would have been available in the 1980s and 1990s. That leads me to another question, if there was a Wal bass in the £2000-£3,000 market (a licenced made in Korea etc version), would younger players actually want one? Or would they consider it to be clunky, heavy and a bit 'old fashioned' compared to modern designs like Dingwall, Sandberg, Spector, Mayones, ACG Vigier etc?

Waller's business model is from about 30-40 years ago and a lot has changed since then. Whoever owns the IP and the company has the right to do with it as they see fit. Expansion comes with risk and we are in fairly uncertain times. If Paul Herman is running Wal for a profit and is living a healthy and happy life then he is not obliged to (a) reduce his prices or (b) expand his operations by taking financial risks which might not ultimately pan out for what is still a pretty niche product.

If you specifically want a Wal, Alembic, Ritter, Fodera, Sadowsky NYC, custom shop Warwick etc, and no other brand or make will do then you have to pay the associated premium. If you want 'a really nice high quality bass' then there are plenty of less expensive options that are as equally well made and might (but probably won't) become highly valuable in the future. I have played a Wal Mk 1 and while it was very nice I wouldn't have traded my current basses at the time for it (which were a late 70s Precision and a Vigier Excess). I did consider putting an order in ten years ago but I ended up buying a used Vigier Arpege five string and used Sadowsky NYC five string for a combined sum that was less than half the cost of a new Wal. I am comfortable with my decision. I would like a Wal, but probably won't ever buy one. I could even technically afford one, but can't justify the price for a bass that would be 'different but not necessarily better' than basses I already own and don't play enough already.

As an owner of two Sadowskys (one NYC, one Metro) that is pretty much what I was thinking when I wrote my original post. It isn't meant as a slight on Warwick, who obviously make quality basses. But as soon as you go down a large scale licensing route it can be a slippery slope.