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Jon sent me a few pictures.

Finally it's back! I traded this beast away several years ago and always considered it to be 'one of those that got away'... I think we've all been there, trading a bass and then suffering instant regret! However... finally after 3 years of failed attempts to get this bass back, the right sequence of trades has now landed this monster back in my hands. It's a Warwick Thumb Single Cut 6, a horrendously expensive thing if you wanted to buy it new (price tag is a shade under €8000). Warwick only made 120 of these and now only make them to order. These are heavy, but they are exceptionally good basses. The tone is outstanding and slices through any mix, the construction is immaculate. Pommele Bubinga top with USA ash body, flame maple neck and thick ebony board. Solid brass 'invisible' frets, MEC active/passive pickups and preamp. This one is near mint, with the flight case and Warwick folder. Very glad to have it back!

Well I don’t know about anyone else but all I have ever really wanted from Fender is decent build quality and some interesting colours, not just black and sh*t-burst.....so on that note, well done Fender and yes please to this....

As part of my ongoing search for a decent Overdrive pedal (ie a warm, slightly overdriven sound rather than a dentist’s drill), I decided to pick up one of the new Fender Downtown Express Bass pedals incorporating and Overdrive, Eq and Compressor. Build-wise this thing is high quality and a really substantial bit of kit both size and weight wise. It was apparently designed in conjunction with Mr Aguilar and I can well believe it. At just under £150 the quality of the Compressor (analog) and the really meaty Overdrive (all the way from thick warm valvey sounds through some serious dirt) as well as a decent eq and a DI, it really seems to be very good value indeed. Granted I’m not a massive user of effects, but it really is a good (in essence) multi-effect pedal as one that is very intuitive and easy to set up. The LEDs are something else too!

The Q\Strip is very capable as an analog speaker sim if set correctly. I'm not familiar with the other pedals you mentioned. For a speaker sim, it's best to use after any distortion producing pedals. You should obviously have the LPF engaged. You need to make sure everything is gain staged correctly as you could be getting fizz from overloading the interface. If you're running a number of pedals in series you want to set the gain structures so you have unity gain. Here is a video showing the Q\Strip as a speaker sim in action.

I'm asking Rocco to fund my holiday to Crete

A new Fender range. "Vintage style for the modern modern era" 60s Jazz 70s Jazz 50s Precision 60s Mustang

A fellow Scot here, with a Sterling Sub Ray 4 in my arsenal. (No cheap shots, please, about tight Scotsmen, or I will hunt you down like a dog.) Like the OP, I wanted to test the MM waters, but I find the wide nut on EBMM basses to be too wide for my delicate little paws, being a Jazz Bass player by temperament. The Sub Ray 4 I nabbed may be cheap, but it really packs a punch, and sounds close enough to the real thing to me to be well worth considering, to get a sense of these things, which are very different to the Jazz. I got mine for 200 quid, and there are plenty around, so give one a whirl, I say. I will now duck into my previously prepared bunker, so as to avoid the inevitable incoming from those rightfully enraged by my maundering.. Carry on.

Always looking for a bargain...one day somebody will post an ad for something I want but missed. Hope that I'm doing the same for somebody else... That or I'm fuelling everybody's GAS...

I'd like to take some of the credit but I think at least 95% must go to @Andyjr1515..... As you say "amazing skills"..

...Handbox looks great, but sadly only 200W at 8ohms, otherwise I would have been very tempted myself! Mesa M6: definitely a bit of fan noise with this one (not noticeable at all as soon as you start playing). But does it just deliver the best tone of any amp I've come across to date? Yup

Thunderfunk all the way.

The Portamento basses has 30 “fret” boards

Every time you buy a cd with tracks you haven’t heard in the radio. Every film you’ve gone to see at the cinema, or bought as a preorder.

The basses are ‘no great shakes’, but some of the telecasters look quite tasty...

I've actually always wanted one of these. When you think about it they are ridiculous, having only 15 frets and the same range as a 4 string but I still want one but I like the odd balls from the 60s & 70s like these:

Brilliant, thank you

@cetera Oh Spector King - knowest thee what this is?

As an artist I think it is somewhat presumptuous and disrespectful to your (potential) audience to expect them to crowd fund your recording. It is my experience as a artist that if your music is worth releasing you will find a way to do it without resorting to begging. It is also my experience as a fan of bands who have used crowd funding to release their music that the incentives being offered aren't really that special. What I am primarily interested in is the music. I'll be able to buy that for £10 when the album comes out. Nearly all of the other stuff is irrelevant to me. And in this particular case $50,000 just seems to be far to much money to ask for with no explanation of exactly how it will be spent. Is it just for recording costs? Getting your music on-line with all the major download and streaming sites only costs $50 for an album, so unless he's going for a large volume physical release that seems like an awful lot of money. For that kind of money just for recording plus mixing and mastering I'd be looking at a couple of weeks lock in with a name producer and mixing engineer with the aim of producing a fantastic sounding album and turning at least one of my band's songs into a potential hit single. Getting your music recorded and released has never been cheaper. My last studio recording (made earlier this year) was charged at the same hourly rate (£6/h) as my first back in 1980 and while both were made in similar locations (converted garages) the quality and range of the equipment (as well as the acoustic treatment in the studio and control room) used for this year's session was vastly superior to 1980's semi-professional 4-track tape machine fed from a modified 12 channel PA desk and the sole effect available being reverb and echo from a spare 2-track tape machine. Maybe the way forward for crowd funding recordings would be instead of offering useless "special" incentives would be to give everyone funding the album a cut of the sales? I might be tempted to throw a couple of hundred pounds at my favourite bands in return for 1% of the sales of their next album.

Yes, I've forgotten to thank Luke for his work on the badges - looking good.

What a negative thread! Give them some credit - they've made up a word!

Why do most bass strings have silk wraps, and why? Personally, I can't stand them but luckily for me I use D'Addario Nickels which don't have wraps, but on one of my basses I put Ernie Ball Flats on and they have a sickly purple wrap which I hate, although they do sound good. I find that after a while they start fraying and particles get everywhere especially at the bridge end. Is it just me that hates silk wrap on strings? 🤔

A modded Bond Electraglide ?

O_O Wait a second, are my eyes playing or is that a STEPPED FRETBOARD?? I'm so curious to try it! How does it sound? How does it work? Why? I need to know

Every day I’m more convinced Mick is employed by eBay

First thing is that I found none of them to be intuitive however , reaper has so many tutorials on you tube that it shouldn’t take long to get started , you will have plenty of head scratching as things go awry , but it will all come together before too long

Gallien Krueger 1001RB11 ? 700 (loud) watts + 50w horn bi amp. Affordable and only 22lbs in weight.

This would’ve done it. Don’t know why they did a Mexican version of the rascal bass, and a version of the cabronita that the custom shop did...but not the Lotto telecaster bass.

If it's any use, I have a TMB30 and it easily fits in the Fender Urban Short Scale Gig Bag.

One of each? I mean - you need a backup!

They were Hofner branded. The D and G strings had a bit more presence than the E and A at first but they have evened out now.

Lucky you - saw her a few years ago in Birmingham, she's still got it. Enjoy!

This. To me the best thing about the Stingray is the neck. It's just the best neck out there in my hands. Obviously the tone is massive and, despite what people say, it's a very versatile instrument with the active EQ. But that neck man...

I owned one of the early releases of the Ray4 alongside a US SUB and full fat US Stingray 4 and 5 strings. It more than held its own in terms of sounding like an Stingray. Where I felt it fell a little short (and I mean just a little) was that the pre-amp was a bit brittle sounding to my ears, although easily fixed with amp eq. The set up on mine wasn’t brilliant on receipt either (a raised fret) and it was quite heavy (even for an MM) but perfectly balanced. It would definitely give you the sound you’re wanting to try.

Can't see it being a problem. If you are buying on line it doesn't matter where the shop is, and I would image that most people prepared to drop several thousand pounds on a vintage bass won't have a problem travelling to Leeds to try it out.

When you get it, it will be worth it

I would add, if you're using spray mount glue, use rubber gloves. Unless you like furry hands.

I can't wait for the Fender marketing videos of lots insta-famous teenagers walking through the woods and/or city centres with the bass hanging over the shoulder without a case, never actually playing the bass, but instead providing a bunch of nauseating marketing speak such such as: 'I love the snap and zing of the finish' 'you know, it feels old, but it also kinda feels new?' 'it is so versatile, I can play it with my fingers or with a pick' 'for me, bass is the foundation of music, and the Fender Precision is the foundation of bass' I like the look of the seventies Jazz because it looks like a Fendeer Jazz bass and I like Fender Jazz basses.

I know presentation/looks is important, but are you sure you're not choosing that Markbass amp because it looks like a traditional valve amp? IMO sound should be first, second and third in any list when choosing an amp. Find the amp you prefer the sound of and then decide if the looks are going to put you off.

This vid is on here somewhere, but having gone looking today and being unable to find it, thought I'd post it again.

If the existing one fits OK, Jack's Instrument Services (Google them) in Manchester will make you one using it as a template. Not cheap, but good quality and swift service.

Because his head would fall off. Oh, you mean on the bass...

Well I suppose I could buy a couple of RPM’s, Palmer speaker sim, an AD200 and Avalon DI and recreate the sound, or use the excellent Tech21 gear to get close to what he has live but have my own twist as even with his settings dialled perfectly exactly the Same, i’ll Never sound exactly the same. Its like dUg products, by all means I could bi-amp, but they have been engineered brilliantly into small boxes. Studio as you know is a different kettle of fish, often not the same bass as Live etc. But to answer your question, if he is using his signature pre-amp live and playing songs from multiple albums........

Somebody asked about this bass so bumping it again... A horror story start with a happy ending..

I used Hell zero's link and ordered the tape from the US. I just received this..... Rob, re: Order #198237 1 K&K Double Sided Adhesive Strips for Contact Pickups This item is very small and will fit into a standard envelope. We can ship this to the UK for $3.25 via USPS First Class Letter International (you paid $14.00 for USPS First Class Parcel shipping). The shipping time should be about the same, but there is no tracking for letters. We will update your order for First Class Letter shipping and ship this out tomorrow (Tuesday, Aug. 13th). We will also refund the difference in shipping costs to your PayPal account after we ship this item. If you prefer to use First Class Parcel shipping please let me know before then, thanks! Ted Blue Blue Star Music 858-312-1174 (M-F, 9-5 Pacific time) 800-581-STAR (toll free within U.S.) http://www.bluestarmusic.com Kudos to these guy!!

That's how i feel about mine - unlike anything I have owned or played, the zoot feels like it comes alive when I play it. (Zoot Boudicca 5)