thodrik

I would happily buy a Fender over a 'boutique' bass if I found one that I really liked which played as well as a more expensive bass. The trick is actually finding the Fender that is 'the one' to you. If the OP finds a Fender, or any instrument at whatever price point that they really like, why not choose it over a more expensive custom job? The best advice is to go out and try as many basses as you can and see if what you like the best.

Old Trace Elliot or Ashdown ABM would do the job. In terms of 'modern' solid state stuff I do rate the Hartke LH500/1000 amps, the Aguilar SC500 and any one of bigger EBS heads (got a Fafner myself). Or you could go old school SWR or Gallien Krueger if you want something a bit more unusual/1980s influenced. Peavey Firebass is also a good shout. I also like the SVT Pro series amps, but not so keen on the SVT450. Basically just see what is available for the money you have set aside and get what you fancy.

G&L is hardly a radical departure from Musicman/Fender territory so I'm not sure you would get anything different other than another nice bass. Not keen on the Gibson EB bass ergonomically, the Fender Dimension looks like the same bass but better designed (to me anyway). Probably a decent bass. If you are looking for a 'cool' but 'different' Gibson bass, maybe also have a look for a Grabber or Ripper bass. Thunderbird. Very cool but generally very heavy and suffer from neck dive. Maybe look at the Mike Lull versions if you want to spend loads of money. Rickenbacker is an acquired taste. If you don't get on with them to be begin with why bother? All it will lead to is another 'I went to try this bass and didn't like it despite it being expensive' experience. Of those in the list I would get a Rick.

[url="http://vimeo.com/79092556"]http://vimeo.com/79092556[/url] Couldn't help but think of this thread when I watched this.

[quote name='action_panzer' timestamp='1385988045' post='2294302'] Of course you [i]can[/i], but I've rarely seen it done, Arch Enemy being the only band I can recall that drop their ricky to a low C, and they seem to keep the character of tone (until all the pointlessly heavy stuff bulldozes it anyway...) Here is why I ask - the 4003 is my dream bass, i love the sound, the look, how they play, and I will shortly have enough dosh to finally go out and get one. Yet everything I play at the moment is in a C tuning, and I remember from looking on TalkBass ages ago people saying Ricky's really don't like being dropped beyond a D. Opinions? It seems pointless to have my dream instrument to only practice and noodle on. P.S. silyl rickenbacker spelling is because I don't know if BC would be harrased by RIC to take the post down if I don't [/quote] Start listening to and watching stoner doom bands. A Rickenbacker bass tuned to C (or below) is semi-obligatory with a lot of those bands. Start with Sleep and Kyuss (Reeder era) and go from there. There is a Stoner/Doom thread on Talkbass and I bet that there is a bunch of guys who use Ricks. The guitarist in Arch Enemy has another band called Spiritual Beggars, and I'm pretty sure that the bass on all the early albums is on Rickenbacker as well.

USA Precision is a USA Precision. I would trade everything I own before I would part with mine.

Pretty sure that the Mark Hoppus sig was Jazz with Precision neck.

I'm fairly sure that the EBS amps all tend run off quite a lot of low frequencies as well. Their cabs do anyway.

I'm not one for comparing loudness of amps, all I can say is that I have tried an EBS 350 and it didn't feel any quieter than any of the other 300watt - 500 watt amps you find sitting on top of an Ampeg 8x10 in rehearsal studios (Ashdown, Aguilar, Hartke, Ampeg etc). With a smaller 8ohm cabs I tend to think the EBS amps sound a bit anaemic. I really don't see the point of comparing 'how loud is amp X?' questions though. I generally use a Walkabout as well and have never really struggled, even at the loudest gigs.

[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1383773280' post='2269043'] It's not just versatility, it's enormous versatility. At least thats what she said. [/quote] A Gibson EB3 has a 4 way pickup selector. As I have discovered, the fact that switches are there doesn't mean that they actually do anything! Still this could be a cool feature.

I really want to try one. I think that they look cool in a slightly ugly/design thrown together on a Friday afternoon way. Could be fun.

[quote name='Prime_BASS' timestamp='1382814843' post='2256948'] Played forever on EB super slinkies but never really liked them but when I started I didn't realise there was as much choice as there was. Played with Dr and I like the sound but the tensions per string were just too un-even for me and after a few too many sets with dead strings I gave up on them. Found the best string to be D'addario nickel wounds, when I got my Sandberg from Oli on here. Now I'm using the balanced tension sets as they are even more even and are still under £20 which I think is cheap for quality bass strings. been meaning to try a P-bass with a set on as I've hated all previous tries with other strings on. Coincidently the guitarist uses D'ardarrio too. [/quote] I use a 1970s Precision with the balanced tension 120-50 set. Really pleased with the results.

A few weeks ago I saw the EBS announcement of the release of the FuzzMo pedal. I am not quite as up date as usual on all gear releases, but I always keep an eye on EBS. I can honestly admit that I had not heard anything about this pedal until it was apparently released. Nothing appeared on the usual Namm etc conventions. No 'this is in development' announcement, no video demos, no ubiquitous endorsements from well-known players, just a 'this is out now' announcement. Although looking at the website they at least have some sound samples up now. Has anybody actually seen/used/heard this pedal? I was just wondering whether the absence of any fanfare is due to the pedal not being any good, which would be unusual for an EBS product.

I love my Walkabout, but not sure I would get one at current price levels. I got the 1x15 combo when it was in £1300 territory, now it seems to be £1500 just for the head! Prices have gone up for everything though over the years, so its not just a Mesa thing. The Walkabout is a very gritty head, it sounds more like a conventional valve amp (grit) than my all valve Trace V6. Most of this is down to headroom, or lackthereof. I am going to go out on a limb and state that I think that the new Prodigy and Strategy amps are pretty ugly cosmetically. They no doubt sound awesome however. I would probably still wait about for a 400+ or get a second hand Big Block.

Trace Elliot V6 has been pretty good for me. Only had it for 9 months but it survived a trip from the Netherlands okay.

D'addario half-rounds, I like D'addario strings but these were just not the right strings for me.

The 'inbetween' standard and low B tuning is where a properly set up bass in that tuning is as useful as a fiver set up in standard. Still the fiver gives you the flexibility to play all those songs without having to downtune whatsoever.I used a fiver for a while, but ended up just setting up a four string for downtuning. I found it easier to just tune to C# standard rather than having to transpose everything. I have enough basses to set up for different tunings when I need them. If i just needed a 'do it all' bass a fiver would probably be the sensible choice.

Its all relative and for most people 'overpriced' will just equate to a high end bass that they don't actually like.

I'm not a massive fan but you can't deny that they are such a huge entity (ie not a band, but a big massive business) that it is difficult to compare them to any of their contemporaries. In terms of popularity and levels of wealth, Metallica are closer to being Madonna or U2 than they are Megadeth. They did originally grow out of the thrash movement though and I am pretty sure that Lars is aware of that

I used the 1518 by itself and it was fine. It does do highs, it just doesn't have a tweeter. In my opinion, Trace Elliot erroneously have stuck to theory that bigger speakers always have low end and less high end. In fact, the more technically minded folk on here would suggest that mixing large and small speakers is a bad idea anyway.

Very flexible amps. I have the Fafner and it can anything from heavy rock/metal through pop to funk. Generally the amps and cabs don't have a massive amount of bottom end/subs compared to an Ampeg/Mesa, but thet generally cut through a mix fairly well. They are capable of obtaining a lot of glassy high end but I usually dial that back.

I probably wouldn't sell the V8. Save up some cash for an 'additional' amp rather than a replacement. In terms of something that 'feels' like a valve amp that isn't, I really like the Mesa Walkabout. It was something I bought instead of a valve amp when I had the money.

For me I prefer the LH series by a distance. HA amps are great and flexible for tone shaping but the LH series are just great for plug in and play.

[quote name='Graham' timestamp='1378573896' post='2202029'] Isn't the Jaguar a shorter scale? I could be way out here but thought that was the case, if so that's a bit counter-intuative for the low tunings Mastodon use [/quote] The Jaguars are 34 inch scale. A lot of Mastodon's stuff is in D standard so it isn't exactly earth shatteringly low. Troy also has different basses set up for every tuning he uses (drop C and drop A generally). I would guess that these basses will just be set up in standard, since the Biffy series of instruments were as well, and Biffy play most of their stuff in drop D/ Drop C-type tunings.