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Another mans (or woman’s) meat etc.


Quilly
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I’ve been buying gear for 30 years and I’ve found that I’ve been really pleasantly surprised on numerous occasions by budget, non-premium gear and left scratching my head with expensive purchases thinking ‘where’s the legendary big deal I’ve been reading all about’ . Maybe I’m wrong but it seems there’s a little bit of ‘emperors new clothes’ at play with certain brands of gear 

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We have an ongoing 'race to the bottom' in my band.  What is the cheapest kit you can get away with.  £40 ~ 50 basses and guitars seem just fine these days.  Using quality amps etc helps. Free as in given to you is not allowed in this competition.

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I used to have a £1500 Warwick Thumb. I now have a £200 Traben, and I honestly prefer the Traben, both for playability and sound. I have a Bugera Veyron head which was about £250 new and is absolutely superb! Louder than I'll ever need, punchy as hell, and the tones it puts out are amazing. I also bought a couple of the Wharfedale cabs that Anderson's were knocking out cheap a few months ago and they're unbelievably good. 

It makes me wonder how much "better" the expensive stuff can possibly be, because the sound in getting on a budget is outstanding! 

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There’s one big American brand of guitars that I’ve never been impressed with . I’ve been disappointed every time . I know they ‘must’ have good stuff because of all the publicity they get ....maybe I’m getting the bad ones and am just unlucky or maybe I know jack 💩 Even the ones made in the US that I had were ‘meh’

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1 minute ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

I used to have a £1500 Warwick Thumb. I now have a £200 Traben, and I honestly prefer the Traben, both for playability and sound. I have a Bugera Veyron head which was about £250 new and is absolutely superb! Louder than I'll ever need, punchy as hell, and the tones it puts out are amazing. I also bought a couple of the Wharfedale cabs that Anderson's were knocking out cheap a few months ago and they're unbelievably good. 

It makes me wonder how much "better" the expensive stuff can possibly be, because the sound in getting on a budget is outstanding! 

I have to say I owned a German Warwick corvette many moons ago and thought it was superb.

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1 minute ago, Quilly said:

There’s one big American brand of guitars that I’ve never been impressed with . I’ve been disappointed every time . I know they ‘must’ have good stuff because of all the publicity they get ....maybe I’m getting the bad ones and am just unlucky or maybe I know jack 💩 Even the ones made in the US that I had were ‘meh’

I've always found them to be the emperor's new clothes. 

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The most disappointing basses I ever owned were a Warwick Thumb NT5 and a Modulus Flea bass. Both regarded as great basses and am sure that they are in the right hands but I thought that they were terrible in terms of playability and sound.

Conversely my Harley Benton Jazz is worth virtually nothing second hand but is one of, if not the best sounding and playing jazz bass I have ever owned

 

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Just now, Quilly said:

I have to say I owned a German Warwick corvette many moons ago and thought it was superb.

It was good, don't get me wrong. But at 6 times the price, it certainly wasn't 6 times better. I think even budget instruments these days are so well made, after you've spent about £300 you soon start to hit the law of diminishing returns. That threshold used to be much, much higher. 

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4 minutes ago, Delberthot said:

The most disappointing basses I ever owned were a Warwick Thumb NT5 and a Modulus Flea bass. Both regarded as great basses and am sure that they are in the right hands but I thought that they were terrible in terms of playability and sound.

Conversely my Harley Benton Jazz is worth virtually nothing second hand but is one of, if not the best sounding and playing jazz bass I have ever owned

 

Was looking at those ...they have a ‘deluxe’ range active MM style humbuckers. Very reasonable 

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HB's look superb for the money and are very highly rated in reviews. Vintage basses with Wilkinson hardware are ridiculously good and cheap as chips. I hate to say it but even budget Squier stuff is really good and definitely giggable. 

I have absolutely no problem with anyone spending thousands of their hard earned on a high end instrument of that's what they want to do. But in this day and age, there's absolutely no "need" to do so. 

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9 minutes ago, Delberthot said:

Conversely my Harley Benton Jazz is worth virtually nothing second hand but is one of, if not the best sounding and playing jazz bass I have ever owned

 

I bought a couple of deco only Harley Benton Jazzes a few years back for about a tenner and they were astonishingly good. The ones with the Wilkinson pups and tuners etc. Even had a great fit and finish too.

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2 minutes ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

HB's look superb for the money and are very highly rated in reviews. Vintage basses with Wilkinson hardware are ridiculously good and cheap as chips. I hate to say it but even budget Squier stuff is really good and definitely giggable. 

I have absolutely no problem with anyone spending thousands of their hard earned on a high end instrument of that's what they want to do. But in this day and age, there's absolutely no "need" to do so. 

I had one of those fretless ‘jaco’ Ones  and I agree the hardware was excellent but the wood work was just woeful. The wood they used would dent if you looked at it too hard 😂

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Cheaper gear may sound/play ok or even good, but the cheap materials will lead to issues down-the-line.

I've played many MIM and MIJ jazzes, never got on with any of them or more specifically the sound, have always enjoyed the P sound. I've just picked up a cheap Peavey milestone 3 recently, and I have to say I really like it. The balance, neck and sound from the stock pup's are all to my liking.

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15 minutes ago, Quilly said:

I have to say I owned a German Warwick corvette many moons ago and thought it was superb.

+1 I've got one too and love it, absolute player. Funnily enough, in my last funk and soul band I was struggling to get a suitable tone with my Sandbergs so took my corvette and it sounded immense. 

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I paid a fair bit for one of those Orange SP212 Cabs a good while back. I couldn’t get on with it. Sounded really muddy Picked up a Genz Benz budget focus 115 for about 1/2 the price of the Orange and all my bandmates said it sounded so much better .

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5 minutes ago, drTStingray said:

I have flats on two basses - both Stingrays - one is fretless and has EB Cobalt flats - largely to avoid wrecking the blank board, the other is a Classic Stingray with TIs.  That one I use occasionally when I'm looking to get 60s or 70s R and B or Bernard Edwards type sound. It works well, as well - however I often feel that compared with a Stingray with rounds (all my others have them), it's like playing with some sort of dynamic controller in place - especially if you want to play slap or anything with zing - a bit like driving a sports car with a speed limiter engaged (say at 50 mph)......

As for why people want to play P basses with flats - and through modern, clean amps? Who knows, but it's a little bit anathema to me as I was in my formative years when people were rejecting low fi sound systems to hear music, low fi basses and definitely low fi amps - everyone was striving for hi fi bass guitar sounds and better sounding amps, and decent stereo systems to listen to it through. Arguably, some of the best sounding bass came from the 70s and 80s.

Why would people want to emulate 60s style stuff which was pretty inaudible at the time. I guess fashion generally, and maybe nostalgia - in my view some of it is based on a very rose tinted spectacles retrospective. But if people like it, why not. Of course, with skill and technique you can achieve a thumpy sound with rounds on a more hi fi bass anyway - but try playing Level 42 on a Peavey T40 😯

I guess the modern clean amp thing is also fashion, but also bear in mind many people doing this are a bit old to be carrying old fashioned, weighty equipment around, and anyway, the new stuff probably doesn't colour the 'pure' sound of the bass and flats (unlike Jamerson and the 'Motown interface' he plugged into 😏😀)

Could never get on with flats TBH. I mean that’s what the tone control on your bass is for 😂😂

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10 minutes ago, E sharp said:

A few years ago , I bought a pair of second hand (but new) , Behringer powered 15" bins for the PA .

£400 the pair , and they've been nothing short of spectacular

We use all Behringer stuff. Power mixer, PA speakers and monitor, and I honestly can't fault any of it. 

Edited by Newfoundfreedom
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I remember buying a beringer/burgera 300w all valve SVT clone and it was a monster. I only sold it because it weighed 36kg 😂😂. Really solidly built . Heaps of low end. I think I only paid about £350 for it . Sorry I sold it but I was afraid it would go wrong and I’d be landed with a very heavy paper weight 

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1 hour ago, drTStingray said:

I have flats on two basses - both Stingrays - one is fretless and has EB Cobalt flats - largely to avoid wrecking the blank board, the other is a Classic Stingray with TIs....

Hey drT, think you meant to post here.. 😊

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4 minutes ago, Quilly said:

I remember buying a beringer/burgera 300w all valve SVT clone and it was a monster. I only sold it because it weighed 36kg 😂😂. Really solidly built . Heaps of low end. I think I only paid about £350 for it . Sorry I sold it but I was afraid it would go wrong and I’d be landed with a very heavy paper weight 

I've heard various stories about how unreliable Behringer stuff can be, but it's usually second hand information from someone who's never actually owned any. Mine has never been anything other than rock solid. 

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21 minutes ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

We use all Behringer stuff. Power mixer, PA speakers and monitor, and I honestly can't fault any of it. 

I’ve got quite a few amps, and I have a Behringer bx 3000T which I use in the studio sometimes,     you can pick them up for pennies,   they are built like a tank and when you push them they still produce a good tone , it’s never let me down 🙂

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