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Your best (and worst!) bass gear purchases of 2019?


Al Krow

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11 hours ago, Al Krow said:

@la bam and if you had it to pick one out of that august list, I'm guessing based purely on the number of photos the winner is........

 

 

 

...the Quilter BB800

Did I call that correctly? :) 

Whatever the post shows a tenuous grasp of the concepts best and worst 🙂

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As i dont think ill be buying anything else music related this year, i think my best has been the Helix HX Effects. Really happy with it and it makes me smile when i use it.

Worst is hard to say, i have drawer full of effects i used maybe once or twice and wont use again. None of them are bad though, i just dont need them.quite a lot of wasted money went in to buying them. Same with the 2 amps ive brought and sold this year. I just didn't like them but there was nothing i hated about them.

So although not bad in anyway, my biggest regretful purchase is my Yamaha BBP34. Wish i hadnt bothered, as it made life a bit more complicated, and although there is nothing wrong with it, i just cant settle 100% with it.

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Well, my Stomp arrived before New Year last year, so that doesn't count (even though it's very, very good), and my new Shuker isn't due till March next year, so that doesn't count, so I'm left with three things I've bought, all for very practical reasons...I may be getting boring:

Best

BB414 - exactly what I needed as a reasonable and cheap facsimile of my old white BB3000A for a one-off 30 year reunion gig. Still a great, simple PJ, and punches wayyyy above its price range.

Rumble 100 combo - for small acoustic gigs where the inears aren't a goer, it juuuust about copes with the louder end of those gigs. I might still line it and put a better speaker in there, but as far as simplicity and form factor is concerned, a winner.

Worst

BB1024X - not all that bad, but too heavy and too chunky in the neck for me, and doesn't sound any different to the much-cheaper 414 which replaced it...looked nice, tho...

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Must admit my BB425 is one of the highlights of the year. Amazed at the quality and playability at that price. Agree about them punching above their weight, although the low end market has made huge advances over the past few years.

I also got a Stomp this year, but the FX tops it for 'best'.

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Two shortscales: a Cort Action Junior and an active Chowny SWB-1. The Cort is a lovely bit of kit though the hardware was a bit lacking - swapped out the tuners and bridge for Hipshot products, and got an EMG 40TWX waiting to drop in though the stock pickup is pretty meaty. The Chowny is just totally awesome - I love everything about it, quality is exceptional for the money, and it plays beautifully with a sound (for me...) that is close to the growl of a Warwick Thumb - exactly what I wanted. Not going to abstain in 2020 because I really would like to get my hands on a fretless SWB-1...

Edited by anzoid
I can spell, honest...
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35 minutes ago, anzoid said:

The Chowny is just totally awesome - I love everything about it, quality is exceptional for the money, and it plays beautifully with a sound (for me...) that is close to the growl of a Warwick Thumb - exactly what I wanted. 

Your Chowny delivers a sound close to a Warwick Thumb growl? That is a seriously tasty prospect! Shame these guys only seem to make short scale and also mostly 4 string basses in their SWB and NT ranges.

Edited by Al Krow
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I have a surprisingly low-key year this. Don't get me wrong, I've bought plenty of stuff but not gone mad like I usually do.

Best purchase is easily my ACG Finn short scale. Alan's a genius and I now have a perfect bass for me.

Worst purchase, probably my Boss LS-2 which crapped out after about a month. That's right - a boss pedal actually broke, is this a first? T'was second hand but I thought Boss pedals were indestructible.

 

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I picked up a new Mike Lull P430 this year.

It's a lightweight, 30 inch, P bass (translucent black, swamp ash body with maple neck and fingerboard), loaded with flats, and I am absolutely converted, its one of the best (if not the best) in my collection now. And it's the lightest too.

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Best bass purchase- db Cabs elbee 10- pocket sized 110, 7 kg, perfect for pit work.

Also ran- Nordstrand mute- yes silly money for the actual item but the time I'd bought the parts, tools and acquired the dexterity skills to make a similar device a moot point.

Worst, well not worst but most unused. UA Apollo Twin- superb piece of kit, only had chance to plug it in for half an hour as day job/ night jobs are mental.

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After selling off all my rack kit in 2018, I bought a Darkglass AO head and a tuner.  (I think the order went in in late 2018, but there was a long lead time.)

A couple of months ago, I pulled the trigger on my first ever Spector, a Euro LT.  

Accessory wise, I put a Hipshot BT2 D-Tuner on one of my basses, bought a Planet Waves headstock tuner and one set of Fender flats (loving these!).

I'm happy with all this.

Now if only I could find a series one Hamer Cruisebass...

 

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On 11/12/2019 at 22:37, Al Krow said:

Your Chowny delivers a sound close to a Warwick Thumb growl? That is a seriously tasty prospect! Shame these guys only seem to make short scale and also mostly 4 string basses in their SWB and NT ranges.

I had a Warwick Korean Pro Series Thumb fretless that I bought at the beginning of the year and it was an awesome bass (same guts as the German Thumbs, but maple neck). And I fell in love with the sound but not the weight and the reach required when on a strap. (I was and hade been having shoulder problems...). I tried a fretless Chowny at a bass bash and was amazingly impressed. Set up with @Chownybass to reserve a pair (fretted and fretless) of SWB-1s when the next batch came in, but had to pull out as shoulder problems and some other stuff led to me downing bass for quite a while. He was very gracious. I finally pulled things together recently and saw Andertons had a white SWB-1 in stock (the last one), so pulled the trigger and now have a bass to love that has the character of the Warwick - most definitely the growl, but probably not going to be mistaken for a "real" Thumb as the sound also is kind of rounder - being short scale and all. I love it to bits. And want a fretless SWB-1 now :D

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I think I've been pretty lucky not to have made any bad bass purchases this year despite acquiring a fair amount of gear. 

So far I've gained a load of ashdown stuff (ABM610, ABM 48 Mini and 15 Mini and a little AAA Five Fifteen BBH head to use as a backup) and a couple of pedals (Tech 21 Vt Bass and Leeds). 

I think my favourite though would probably be the Ibanez SRMS805-DTW that I received just last week in a trade.

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11 hours ago, Painy said:

I think I've been pretty lucky not to have made any bad bass purchases this year despite acquiring a fair amount of gear. 

So far I've gained a load of ashdown stuff (ABM610, ABM 48 Mini and 15 Mini and a little AAA Five Fifteen BBH head to use as a backup) and a couple of pedals (Tech 21 Vt Bass and Leeds). 

I think my favourite though would probably be the Ibanez SRMS805-DTW that I received just last week in a trade.

Pics please! 

Have to fess to being a bit of an Ibby fanboy too! Now got more Ibbys in my herd than any other brand (briefly exceeded by Yammys earlier in the year). I managed to get my hands on the last "new old stock" GVB36 in Europe, I believe, a few months back, which I've strung E to E for a little personal project for next year. 

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1 hour ago, dave_bass5 said:

Ibby......

Seriously, buddy, you could far far worse than an Ibby SR! 

Used prices are very good value, too.

I'm with Woody in being a fan of the SR Premium range in particular.

Edited by Al Krow
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35 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Seriously, buddy, you could far far worse than an Ibby SR! 

Used prices are very good value, too.

I'm with Woody in being a fan of the SR Premium range in particular.

Bugger, i knew you would say that. Well I'd need to sell my P34 first, and delete all my posts in the gear abstaining  thread lol. 

I have played one of those fanned fretted Ibby's before, and really liked it, but at th time I wasn't in the market for a 5 string so never really had much interest in it other to compare it to my mates Dingwall. Though tit sounded much nicer than the Dingwall.

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