Reverends and others

[Tripehound]

The great day is coming - just waiting for a couple of final sales to come good and then I'm in the market for another instrument! I'll have up to 750 bass vouchers burning a hole in my pocket. I'm looking for a gigging bass as I'm reluctant to take my current pair out to pubs that are noisy and crowded (at least until we start playing); one that has sentimental value and the other I just couldn't bear to see marked.

I'm seduced by some of the images of the Reverend basses - the Dub King, Decision (in their version of surf green) and the Mercalli 5. These are all in range of my budget bought new. It's a long time since I bought any gear new. Problem is though, that there's only the one UK dealer and they only carry a fraction of the range, certainly not the DK or the Mercalli, which means buying blind. I've done that once before and there was a happy ending, but I don't want to push my luck. I'm very interested then to hear of anyone's experience with these rare and exotic creatures.

Beyond the Reverends, I'm then into pre-loved territory for the basses that interest me and again, they don't feature in any shops I can name in the Midlands. Again, any comments, thoughts or advice gladly received! My shortlist runs a bit like this:[list]
[*]Reverend Dub King (short scale but very pretty and not a bit like)
[*]Reverend Mercalli 5 (big beautiful beast sounds as good as a bass can on YouTube)
[*]Reverend Decision (I'm a sucker for surf green - sorry 'oceanside blue' - and looks a funky alternative to....)
[*]One of the USA P-basses (a safe bet?)
[*]Lakland Skyline Darryl Jones
[*]Lakland Skyline Duck Dunn
[*]Lakland Joe Osbourne
[/list]
My current setup is a MIM Jazz Deluxe and a Gretsch Broadkaster played through a Fender Bassman TV 15 and the band mostly covers 70s and 80s stuff - Stones, Springsteen, Bowie, T.Rex and so on.

Care to help me blow my hard-won cash?

[Ben Jamin]

I haven't tried any of their basses, but the guitarist in my band has a Double Agent and it rocks. Very well put together, plays very well, sounds great, looks cool. Can't argue
A previous guitarist had a Warhawk and it was the same story there.
Reverend have an excellent reputation for good reason.

[discreet]

Decisions, Decisions...yes, the green one with the mint guard. Mmm...

Edit: Buying blind successfully has no bearing on how it will go a second time.

Edited October 19, 2013 by discreet

[FinnDave]

Vintage and Modern in Thame sell Reverend basses, they look interesting but I haven't risked playing one (really don't need another bass!).

[discreet]

[quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1382176716' post='2248886']
...(really don't need another bass!).
[/quote]

Ah g'wan, ya will!

[Happy Jack]

Given the basses you already own, the one thing that's "missing" is a P-bass.

You already play a Jazz, so a P-bass with a Jazz neck would be favourite.

Lakland Duck Dunn.

Replace the horrible white pickguard with a black one (looks unbelievably good against CAR), string it with La Bella FLs, that's the whole soul, Stax & Motown thang covered straight away, plus so much more.

Beautiful bass to play too.

Job done.

[BigRedX]

Unfortunately the current range of Reverend basses are not a patch on the original Rumblefish...

[cocco]

You want a Lakland