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Your best (and worst!) bass gear purchases of 2018?


Al Krow

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My one and only bass purchase of 2018 has been an Ampeg PF-50T - definitely the best and not the worst, as it has brought a smile to my face and got me to play up the dusty end a bit more. Don't worry though - I know the money is in the first 5 frets!

45390743_706372613081831_515491674190564

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Best: ACG RetroB 5 - simply sublime bass that’s shown me that a 5 is the way to go. I simply can’t fault it in any way. Plus, I purchased it on holiday in the Dominican Republic which was actually my honeymoon (tho 6 years late - lol)

Worst: and it will come as a massive shock: Shuker Uberhorn Fretless. It has got me hooked on fretless, it’s amazing to look at, it sounds incredible and plays utterly beautifully, but it’s been a nightmare to live with - new electrics twice, and that neck break.. it’s so good that it’s faults have made it a heart-breaker

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Great thread, enjoying the worst purchases, especially.

Best: Fiesta Red Road Worn P. Astounding sound, playability and value.

Worst: La Bella Low Tension Flats, sucked the life out of any bass they went on, an unbalanced E, despite La Bella replacing it. TI Flats sorted it.

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9 hours ago, JapanAxe said:

My one and only bass purchase of 2018 has been an Ampeg PF-50T - definitely the best and not the worst, as it has brought a smile to my face and got me to play up the dusty end a bit more. Don't worry though - I know the money is in the first 5 frets!

45390743_706372613081831_515491674190564

I so want one of those Ampeg PF-50T heads. So missed the good deal Kenny's were doing. Your rig looks lovely.

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28 minutes ago, Hobbayne said:

This Yammy BB 5 string I bought from Chunky Monkey back in the summer.

I,m not really a 5 string player but I took it to a gig and my band loved it.

 

So a Yammy BB 5er is capable of "turning" a 4 string player? 😄 

Tbf this is a quality piece of kit with both passive and active electronics (a feature only just brought back in on Yamaha basses with their current line up). And you got it for a great price too.

Not surprised your band are loving it. 

But please don't mention the existence of this bass to @AndyTravis, because he's already committed to the BB1100S being his best bass purchase for 2018 😂

 

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6 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

So a Yammy BB 5er is capable of "turning" a 4 string player? 😄 

Tbf this is a quality piece of kit with both passive and active electronics (a feature only just brought back in on Yamaha basses with their current line up). And you got it for a great price too.

Not surprised your band are loving it. 

But please don't mention the existence of this bass to @AndyTravis, because he's already committed to the BB1100S being his best bass purchase for 2018 😂

 

Already had a 425x So this is currently safe.

not certain I could resist a 1024x in white

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21 hours ago, Al Krow said:

 

Sorry to hear about the Mbass - which model amp was it? Feels like a little bad luck - all the Mbass owners I know have found them to be incredibly reliable; I had a AC 121 Lite combo which didn't miss a heartbeat in 4 years of use and had all the headroom I could have ever wanted and for me is still one of the very best gigging combos available - would have no hesitation in recommending it.

It's a Little Mark Tube Anniversary 15. I have no problem with it breaking down, that happens from time to time with gear. It's MB not letting anyone repair it. I don't want to post it to a company I don't know who can charge me what they like then have it at the mercy of couriers again. I want my trusted amp tech to look after all my gear. 

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On 14/12/2018 at 15:18, Al Krow said:

** Update 16/12: if you're a Panda FI owner, then @Quatschmacher is currently producing some cool patches in his Quatsch-lab and if you ask him nicely... :)

Thanks, @Al Krow. I’ve uploaded these to the shared patch thread on TB for all to access. I’ll add to it as I create more.

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/future-impact-patch-sharing-thread.1199372/

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Best purchase of the year for me is an Ibanez GSR200B that was in the ex-demo clearance at my local. It's a very light 2.8kg, the fretwork is perfect and the board coloured up nicely with a bit of oil, the hardware that I expected to have to upgrade is all absolutely solid and the pickups and preamp that I expected to have to change sound so good I'm currently using it completely stock (with the exception of new strings) to record our next EP; my signal chain is pretty much just a Radial JDI straight into Pro Tools. Absolutely brilliant little bass for very little money!

IbanezGSR200b.jpg.a5ac19b0b6e13d308825557fd8666ebc.jpg

Picture: Rich Tone Music - hopefully they don't mind me using their picture since I bought the bass!

Worst is probably an EBS MicroBass II that maybe I've just not learned to get the best out of, but is currently just sounding a bit underwhelming. I'm sure there must be a reason people speak so highly of them...

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4 minutes ago, Ed_S said:

Best purchase of the year for me is an Ibanez GSR200B that was in the ex-demo clearance at my local. It's a very light 2.8kg, the fretwork is perfect and the board coloured up nicely with a bit of oil, the hardware that I expected to have to upgrade is all absolutely solid and the pickups and preamp that I expected to have to change sound so good I'm currently using it completely stock (with the exception of new strings) to record our next EP; my signal chain is pretty much just a Radial JDI straight into Pro Tools. Absolutely brilliant little bass for very little money!

IbanezGSR200b.jpg.a5ac19b0b6e13d308825557fd8666ebc.jpg

Picture: Rich Tone Music - hopefully they don't mind me using their picture since I bought the bass!

Worst is probably an EBS MicroBass II that maybe I've just not learned to get the best out of, but is currently just sounding a bit underwhelming. I'm sure there must be a reason people speak so highly of them...

Another Sheffielder! We are legion, it would seem. I recognised that carpet. 

Edited by Quatschmacher
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1 minute ago, Quatschmacher said:

Another Sheffielder! We are legion, it would seem. I recognised that carpet. 

Heh, aye, there's a few of us knocking about! Don't tell too many outsiders of the selling power of the RTM carpet - we can't have the competition finding out and all getting themselves a photogenic contract cord too 😉

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20 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Damn! That is one fine looking rig! And there was me previously thinking that the black grilled BF cabs were a touch ugly. They're clearly not! :) 

And the "form-factor" of your Schecter is just kinda spot on, isn't it?

I did finally yield to getting an 8 string a few months back, and yes it was a Schecter that I had been hankering since the start of the year and which came up used from a great chap in Scotland who has subsequently recently joined BC:

Schecter I.jpg

The only reason it's not made my short list of best bass gear I bought in 2018, is well errr...I've still no idea how I'm going to be using it in either of my bands' sets! 😂

All you need now is to trade in your Mesa D800+ for that rather splendid recently released Mesa WD-800 and you'd have me very envious indeed! 

 

Oh! That 8-string Stiletto is sexy! I've always been interested in an 8-string but I also know I would rarely use it... however, they do make a fine noise those things! The Stiletto shape is very attractive, however they seem to only make it with thinned necks, so I used that to convince myself that I should move on. :D

 

Black BF grill on BF cabs... It took me a little bit to get used to their peculiar design, well the Two10 in particular, with those two semicircles... and the label sideways... But once I played with them a couple of times I stopped caring. My quest for cabs stopped when I found the Two10. 

The WD800 looks VERY interesting, doesn't it? But the truth is I can't fault the D800+. So I made a point of never trying a WD800, just in case. I'm experiencing a rare period of bliss where I am not looking at new cabs or amplifiers... and I'm enjoying this situation. Long may it last! :D

 

 

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20 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Oh yes, you've totally reminded me, that's another BIG bug-bear of mine, pedals where you could potentially have several different settings for live use and then not be able to store presets. Had a MAJOR rant about that earlier in the year! 😂

 

For the Microsynth it really is a shame. You can get a handful of completely different kinds of sounds but you need to stick to one for live use... or become really good at tweaking sliders in between songs, but again that doesn't allow you to have two sounds in a single song. Still, what it does, it does really well, in my opinion, so I love it.

Presets and an assignable expression pedal, and I'd have to buy it. Hear me, EHX?

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1 hour ago, mcnach said:

 

For the Microsynth it really is a shame. You can get a handful of completely different kinds of sounds but you need to stick to one for live use... or become really good at tweaking sliders in between songs, but again that doesn't allow you to have two sounds in a single song. Still, what it does, it does really well, in my opinion, so I love it.

Presets and an assignable expression pedal, and I'd have to buy it. Hear me, EHX?

Even though I sold mine I still think it isn’t a bad pedal. It’s very quick to dial in useable sounds. The onboard voices weren’t as pleasing as in other pedals (there are nicer sounding octave up and down voices out there) but the concept is great and I’ve struggled to find other pedals that use a triggered envelope (with a couple of recent exceptions (FI and Enzo). It could definitely be improved if the sweep were able to go in both directions within any given setting rather than just either up or down. Presets would also be a boon. In fact, EHX currently have a slider-based pedal which does indeed have presets so maybe...

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Almost all of my kit has changed in 2018.

Honourable mentions to my x2 basses (vintage v4s) pretty much do what any precision does, and the revelation of flatwounds (rotosound 77s), 

The best buys have to be my VTbass Rackmount -- incredibly lucky find. Love it to bits. And another lucky find in my Markbass 610 sealed cab. So easy to move around as its on tilt back wheels, and only 34kg, also it has so much power its unbelievable.

A couple of things i liked, but werent practical for me where the behringer bd21 and spectracomp. Great in the own right, but i wanted a really easy set up, not patch cables, external power supplies etc. I also sold my zoom b3 which i loved for this reason.

Worst buy probably the QSC 140rmx power amp i bought. Great amp, sounded brilliant, but a near 20kg just for an amp with no preamp or speaker cab, and just for a spare, it was a bit of a stupid idea!

Going in to 2019 with the idea of a vt bass deluxe pedal into a trace elf into a 2x12 and using the behringer p2 monitor and zs10 in ears for a tiny quick set up.

 

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My bass related purchases haven't been many this year, but I've been happy with them all.  First my old double bass pickup broke, and I replaced it with a KNA DB-1, which has got to be one of the better bridge piezos I've heard. 

I changed over to TI Jazz Flatwounds on my electric bass, and those are still doing it for me. They have the mid-forward character I used to like about Sadowsky Black Label flats but a nice slinky, supple feel like a light set of rounds, and a clear sounding low B. 

I picked up a Schalltechnik HPF/LPF pedal in kit form that hasn't had a whole lot of use yet, but it's neat, quiet and does what it's meant to. 

But I'd say the most fun thing was my Ampeg pf-50t, on the special deal from Kenny's.  I had some teething troubles with the valves, but it's a good sounding amp and not too much bother to move around.  I've had a few different vintage valve amps from 40 to 100 watts, but the flexible EQ and DI outputs make this a fair bit more useful for me. 

 

 

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I can’t think of a good piece of bass gear I have bought this year! I ordered a HoffNine 15 inch custom cab though, which may turn up before the end of the year and easily be the best! 

The worst has to be my Ampeg Scrambler pedal that I thought might replace my blown MXR Bass Soul Food  however, it’s conpletely different and not in a good way. When I tried it in the shop it was through a completely different amp and it sounded glorious.  I gave it too long to try and prove itself so now I am likely to sell it. When I do I’ll be getting another bass soul food! 

 

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This year I sold off and replaced almost all of my gear.

Best purchase has to be my Sandberg VT4, I love everything about that bass, it's light weight, supremely playable and sounds awesome.  Honourable mentions for the Markbass Little Mark Tube head, EB cobalt flat strings and the Way Huge Pork & Pickle OD/Fuzz pedal.

Worst purchase was a Barefaced Super Compact 12" cabinet.  Super lightweight, ridiculously loud but I just could not get a sound out of it I liked. a personal preference thing, I shouldn't have bought it without playing through it first.

Edited by PJ-Bassist
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Nothing wrong with what I bought, just my lack of knowledge!

i wanted to go wireless for my in-ears, so I bought a  (admittedly fairly budget level) Bluetooth transmitter and 'phones.  

Worked fine in itself, but I didn’t know that Bluetooth wasn’t instant, having a delay of about half a beat.  Not ideal for a bass player!

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