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I will state that my first hand experience of these only goes to 1993 - Wal, 1998 - Alembic but I don't think that much has changed with the philosophies of either company in the meantime. Both are top quality instruments built to the highest standards and use mostly unique, purpose built hardware and electronics. to my mind, Alembic set the ball rolling with filter based preamps but Wal developed the concept to its optimum regarding variety of tones versus simplicity of use. ACG/ John East has since developed the Wal concept even further albeit the complexity is increasing again. A couple of things not mentioned in the original thread you referred to in my mind influence the sounds of these instruments as much as the pre amps - Construction and pickups. The Alembic sound is without doubt partially due to its complex, multi-laminate, through-neck construction, just as the Wal is similarly shaped by its bolt-on construction. That is partly I think, why the Epic basses seem to slightly fall short - they are set-neck construction, not through-neck. Apologies to all Epic owners - they are fine basses but that basic construction setup in a way changes the character of the sound. And again- pickups. The Alembic pickups are voiced to enhance the Alembic sound and as such are probably integral to the sound of those basses. Likewise, the Wal Multi Coil pickups are a huge part of the Wal sound. Do Alembic and Wal ( and Fodera, Sadowski etc. etc. ad infinitum) justify their high price tag? Well, factually they do - they're still in business after all these years and customers are still ordering new instruments from them so the price is justified in that respect certainly. But in relationship to general cost of living price indices, some of these makers have been able to push their prices far beyond inflation levels. According to an inflation calculator I looked at, the Alembic Essence 6 bass I ordered in 1998 at a cost of £2k should now cost about £3.5k But if I look at the Alembic price list, it starts at $8000. Only the individual can decide if anything is worth that sort of premium to them. I love my Wal. I love my Alembic. I love my ACG. I love my Antoria fretless Precision Copy! I just like basses and I like the little differences between different ones. Whilst the prices of the boutique builders can sometimes be hard to swallow, there is no doubt that at the mass market end of the bass spectrum, it has never been easier to afford a quality instrument.

Another lost cause saved from landfill. Roland PK5 Bass pedals, bought for £200 locally, non functioning. No battery pack, burn marks on battery leads. No PSU. Someone obviously tried plugging in the wrong one via the wrong input... Roland and Boss historically were a bit weird on their power delivery methods for pedals back in the day but a former owner has been even weirder. Proper 9V PSU obtained, new battery pack fitted, some minor track cleaning and repair, D1 diode replacement, fried (cracked) npn (Q3) to replace, hopefully nothing else downstream, caps all ok. can’t get a service manual (http://servicerepairmanuals.netlook like they are not functioning) so I am flying cautiously. And yes, the inductor tests ok. The (D3) 5v6 zener Is untroubled, I even read 9v up to the npn so I was cautiously hopeful the custom chip is ok. Parts arrived. Cleaned the board, made me a broken trace with clippings from the diode. Fitted a battery pack as well. worked first time Discovered to my great joy I can have multiple synths running, so a few classic old synth VSTs have all been chained to MIDI channel 2, (Taurus Plug-in seems to be fixed on 2) so tap into poly mode and *MASSIVE* sounds ensue... mellotron VST next...

Here is my latest build. The Brooks Telebird. It is my take on the legendary Fenderbird that was built by Peter Cook for John Entwistle. However I decided to combine the characteristics the Thunderbird body with a 51 P (aka Telecaster bass). The specs are as follows - Two piece Swamp Ash body - Allparts Maple 51 P neck. Bolt on - Vintage blonde finish - Jess Loureiro 51 P split coil pickup - 34" scale - Tusq nut - Wide travel Thunderbird bridge plus tailstop. Nickel - Matte black single ply pickguard - Gotoh GB528 lightweight tuners. Nickel - Allparts push/pull Volume pot - CTS Tone pot - Silver reflector cap knobs - Telecaster jack cup. Nickel - GHS Brite Flats 49-108 I'll post pics of the build process in several answers below.

Yeah, I have - thank god. Bought in 2011 as a treat to myself for a messy breakup. Sold in 2013 to get married to childhood sweetheart. Who bought it back for me in 2017. A very special CS 1 of 1 (weird neck profile) 64 jazz bass relic.

We've reached the ten cabs target. 🤩 Anyone who wants one now will have to go on the waiting list - if we do any more in the future. Thanks to those ten early adopters!

A harmonica mounting clip

One.

Yeah, realistically it was bound to happen. There’s only about 4mm of plastic left over when making the rebate for the pickup. it snapped on the last cut. Serendipitously, within a gnats chuff of where the original basses pickguard is snapped. so...I’m going to leave it as is. And maybe I will age things up a bit more.

No, but I've sold two back to their previous owners Nothing expensive, mind.

I acquired my first Spector last week (courtesy of our own Psycoandy) - a very fine NS200/4. I'm very impressed, especially with the lovely narrow string spacing at the bridge which is very much my bag. Very comfortable to play, if a tad weightier than I'm used to, but a wider strap is helping that somewhat.

If you like the Stingray sound and feel then a USA built SUB would be a great budget option. This model was made on the same production line as the "real" Stingray but some economies were made. The most noticeable ones being a painted neck (many owners sand this off and use oil to refinish), no body shaping, and different paint finish on the body. Oh yes, and an ugly scratchguard which is an easy change if you don't like it. It has the same hardware and electrics as the Stingray. They were made from 2003 to 2005. (I stand to be corrected here.) They change hands for under your budget and they deliver far more than the cost. I've owned mine for a long time and gig it occasionally and I'm always impressed. Frank.

Today is my birthday and I just had the dispatch note to say the book will be delivered today! Thank you Geddy for pulling whatever strings you did for me

The gerlitz stuff is fantastic! They do "smudge off" which is great for hardware and guitar honey for the fingerboard. I've used it for years 😁

Don't suppose anybody could clean my car? I mean, I could do it myself.... but why should I?

Did some shielding for the pickup cavity and the control cavity. And I stringed the bass to check if everything was in place ;-) Oh yeah, this was the sketch that I drew before I started the build

I do, but not in the way you're asking. The shame never entirely fades...not really - you just learn to live with it. 😢

About 40 if it's Napalm Death

I've never even heard of this unit, but I expect it's in a similar class to the Helix? Anyway it's just had a bunch of bass stuff added including 3 amps and 8 distortions: https://www.musicradar.com/news/boss-adds-gt-1000-bass-guitar-support-new-footswitch-modes-and-more-in-v3-update

Leave it looks great Now get ageing that wood like I told ya!

Way too cryptic for little ol' me? Here's a clue: A limited edition 4-string from a US manufacturer that's not Fender. Not in the shops quite yet.

I really like that. Then again, if they cant answer simple questions, probably get Andy or Jabba to make one. They answer questions

Not much time today. Got a headstart on the control cavity extension.

Fence sitting over. Have PMed Stevie.

@Basvarken Robert P Kearns is so underrated / overlooked in my opinion. His bass lines are right up there with Andy Fraser, Tim Bogert and Jack Bruce if you ask me. I don't post an awful lot here. But I do nose around quite frequently 😉 Couldn't agree more. Can you remember the website where we were chatting many years ago, Rob ? Is it still alive ?

Ahh, Trace - to me still some of the best gear out there (love the classic Trace tone) and at the prices that these go for now, it’s a no brainer. Always know there’s going to a great bass tone when I walk into a venue and see a Trace stack

I'm not convinced that DSP can add much to what we have already. We're starting off with very good quality drivers – the Faital in particular has a very smooth response. Our crossover already equalises the frequency response of the drivers in the cabinet and integrates them in a phase-coherent fashion. An active crossover isn't going to offer any improvement IMO and would need a second power amp. I think a new thread on the amp would be ideal. Luke, we're now up to eight cabs. As soon as we reach ten, I'm closing the book because ten is about the maximum number I can conveniently handle at one time. I've only got a certain amount of space and there's going to be quite a bit of packing up and organising to do. I want to make sure that when the kits arrive with their builders, everything is as it should be. I'm going back to the CNC company to get the back panel routed and the input panel drilled on the two pre-production models I have here. Then I'll do a proper assembly (with glue), paint the box and fit all the components. As the cabinet is slightly larger than my prototype model, I'll also need to adjust the tuning (rather than just calculating it). I need to do this to iron out any problems that we haven't foreseen. So please bear with me on this. For example, the two pre-production samples relied on the technical information provided by the component suppliers. The Faital driver and the horn were a perfect fit - but the holes for the top handle and the port were too small, even though they were cut exactly as per the suppliers' technical drawings.

Also on the marketplace at just shy of your £500 max budget, a very nice and super versatile MiM PJ...

I want to know if we’re up to ten yet! if not and you’re sitting on the fence- do it!

A quick trawl through the FS section revealed this being sold by @eubassix...

String life depends upon various factors - how you play, and also your finger sweat!! I've got DR hi- Beams on my white basses, the Jazz has had the same strings on for about a year and a half, and still sound great - nice and glassy, with the classic solid bass fundamental. However, when Guy Pratt used that very same bass, with a fresh set of Hi-beams on it, the strings were completely gubbed after two weeks. Sounded like someone kicking a cardboard box down the road! Hahaha. My brother (who is a guitarist), can turn unwound stings completely black within the space of a single gig!! All due to his acidic sweat. Yuck. (I've attached a pic of Guy sound checking with the bass when he first borrowed it).

Just added custom pick guard and matching control plate

If you check out booking.com for the best price , then phone the hotel and ask them , as booking.com take a commission, the hotel would rather split the difference and thus they get more for the room, and you get it for less. not always successful, but on the 2 recent occasions I used booking.com , I subsequently booked more rooms directly, far cheaper than I could on-line

Dunlop 65. Not very frequently!!

This might help. https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/338662-making-a-pickguard-scratchplate/

😂

Call the Stage Door of any Theatres in the City/Town of the gig you are playing. They usually have lists and recommended Hotel/Digs numbers from touring acts and musicians. This Facebook page sometimes comes in handy. https://www.facebook.com/groups/6902586146/

Alice Merton, No Roots. Chosen by our drummer - the deeply demoralising thing is that at the moment he can play the bassline and drums at the same time better than I can play just the bassline. It crucially depends on that off-beat, I just need to stay stuck into it and sooner or later I'll get it. Needs to be sooner rather than later as we're gigging it next week...

As already said, don't think of fretless as a different instrument to a fretted. Its exactly the same but just has a different voice and tonal expression due to having no frets. Play exactly the same stuff as you would a fretted but use your ear to hear if your technique is slightly off and adjust. If your technique is strong, transitioning from a fretless to a fretless will be a breeze. Just gets tricky up at the dusty end as intonation is much harder.

I appear to own this, I like !

I've been using ACS moulded plugs for over 10 years and speaking as someone who has buggered their hearing over the previous 40 years I can say I dearly wish I'd found them earlier. They work. My poor damaged hearing has been protected for that time. First I had ER15's and now Pro 17's. If I lost them I'd replace them immediately with more ACS moulded plugs. You're sticking filters in your ears, so of course they make everything sound different. Apparently the one big thing about going deaf is the isolation you experience, so I don't rate any changes to what I hear through the plugs in a band situation as particularly bad. Basically it goes with the territory. As I found out to my cost, hearing can be fine one day and damaged the next! My ACS plugs have minimised the damage and I can still hear everything from a stage whisper to a heavy-hitting drum solo.

Marleaux Signature NT-4FL (lined) :-