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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!

Show us your Fenderbirds / Explorerbirds. Heres mine

I've owned a Sterling Ray 34. USA Stingray 3-band and still own a USA SUB. Honestly, there was minimal difference in sound between them . The 3 band USA and Ray 34 were slightly more hi-fi/sparkly/brittle but certainly nothing that couldn't be eq'd out or in. The 2 band USA SUB has a bit more of a fatter, punchier sound that gets my vote! Anyone of of these will get you the sound you're after and then some. 😀

In short no! However, they are small scale and Dave (Funk) used to organise sales and shipping himself. As for trying one before you buy, it'd be a case of seeing if any BCer were local (I'm NE). There are a couple for sale used on BC (550 and 750 but the 550 is way loud enough for pretty much anyone).

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

It was years ago now but I had no trouble whatsoever when I changed the strings. I didn't even need to tweak the neck. I'm playing the bass a lot these days as my band rehearses in a very small room, for financial reasons. My Thunderbird struggles to fit in the room. That said, the Hofner really does sound wonderful, and has such a happy tone to it.

I think this ought to go down a storm with the TalkBass members: given the number of them who reflex-post things like: 'there's no money above the 5th fret,' or 'But Jaco...'

Not sure if you were joking or not, but I love this! Not seen it before. Take off that extra string and I'd be very keen! Wouldn't mind seeing what's under that pickup cover too, the saucy minx. Reminds me of a Mustang but with a bit more charm.

For a PJ setup in soapbar housing check out the EMG 35P4 ad EMG 35J. For something different many people go with the EMG DC pickups.... http://www.emgpickups.com/bass/extended-series.html Both should work with the BT circuit you have. I'd try that first....

Upgrade the pickups to full active EMG soapbars (many choices) and the EMG BT circuit will come alive.... :)

Plenty of fair (and unfair) criticism in this topic. Figured I'd add my 2 cents as well... I think Fender, like most iconic brands, is doomed to be a victim of its own legacy. On one hand they've got the most successful and time-tested instruments of all time and are pretty much set for life. As long as "traditional" instruments stay in the world of music, I can never see basses like the Precision or the Jazz going away (as well as their guitar lines, obviously). On the other hand, with that reputation comes the fact that everyone wants to have a Precision or a Jazz and nothing else - they don't want weird Fenders, they want THE Fender bass. You wouldn't really go to a BMW stand to buy a family car, would you? You'd go to Volvo or Volkswagen...when you think of a BMW you mainly think of a luxurious sports car - that's their thing. HOWEVER, there are a couple of fair criticisms we can do here: 1) They keep rehashing the same production lines and only change the wording, the colors and more importantly THE PRICE. I think the "Player Series" was a step in the right direction - lightly increase the price but also improve the features, much like what Musicman did with their Stingray Specials. But these new "Vintera" basses are just the same as the Classic ones except with different colors and most likely a price increase. People keep paying more for the same stuff we had 10 or even 20 years ago. 2) They don't innovate when they could. Listen, I'm not saying that Fender needs to go all wild and do something really crazy because, as I said above, I think they're a victim of their own legacy. However, just do simple and small changes. Offer some little variations that will maybe captivate the player-base. Something like: a) a P/J configuration with a reverse P pickup; b) a Jazz Bass with a P style neck; c) a P/P or a M/J configuration (with the M pickup being able to be coil split and call it a Jazz Bass); Plenty of small changes that would perhaps make an interesting model sometimes. It'd still be a FENDER but it'd be something that would captivate longtime fans. That's just my opinion anyway. I think Fender ought to stick with their traditional models but also spice them up a bit sometimes. Keep the money flow steady but try to slowly do some changes in order be fresh and relevant. After all, isn't it a bit ironic that a company who advertises so much with young people & new music keeps relying on the same instruments that were made 70 years ago?

Dodgy deal done in a motorway service area today with Harry. It was a transcontinental epic trade of basses with Harry travelling about a million miles and myself settling for a lowly 100! Fabulous comms all the way through. Great guy and a total gent to boot - one for the Carlsberg Basschatters group :-) Enjoy the Stingray Harry!

Leeds is cool. I'm happy with this move. NORTH.

Well, nearly bought a Gypsy Rose medium scale P but it was in the states so the shipping and import duty made it too expensive for a 'look see'. Instead, I've just bought one of these in burst to see how I get on with medium scale. I don't actually have a bass guitar at present, just my upright, so I'm expecting some fun to be had anyway! Impending NBD thread sometime this week... https://retrovibe.co.uk/product/retrovibe-les-paul-junior-lpj-bass-32-medium-scale/

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

Roqsolid will make a cover to fit anything.

I love Fender but honestly, what's new here? Zzzzz . . . .

Thanks to the stupendous work of RichardH, I am pleased to announce that we have the final drawings for the complete design of this latest version. On page 1 of this thread you'll now find a PDF containing the technical drawing, exploded assembly view, wood cutting list, crossover circuit and crossover layout - everything, in fact, that you need to build one of these from scratch. LukeFRC, who's about to go on holiday for two weeks, has done a great job with the design for the logo and name, and has sourced and ordered badges for the grille, and stickers for the handle and input panel at a price that is difficult to believe. They'll be available when he gets back, and I think I should let him do the reveal. The CNC cabinet kits are progressing at a pace that is causing me to pull my hair out, but we should have one or two pre-production prototypes soon. I expect these to be perfect, but it would be foolish to order an entire batch without making sure. The first two will go to those in the queue who are close enough to the supplier to collect. Failing that, I'll offer them to those who placed their orders first.

The manual for the Plex pre-amp gives details of the frequencies affected by the filters. I don't know if they will be the exactly the same for the Legacy amps as they seem to be either on or off but will share them for reference.

When I had a 9 to 5 I had the horrendous cycle of no sleep, followed by a day at work literally flooding coffee into myself, followed by no sleep, followed by flooding coffee into myself, followed by.... Horrendous. Really affects you. However, once I went self employed and didn't need the pressure of getting up at 7am after being up until 4am I found a solution. It may sound daft, but hopefully it will help. And it's the oldest thing known to man. Instead of letting your brain run riot, what's the best way to stop it? Listen to something. As kids it was always bedtime stories or nursery rhymes. Now, for the last 4 years I've been listening to podcasts (karl pilkington / Joe Rogan etc) every night on headphones, and I'm off to sleep in no time. I believe it's simply because it stops my mind from thinking and starts my mind listening. Interestingly when I'm away and I've forgotten my podcasts or mp3 player, my mind goes into over drive and I'm up all night. I know lots of people who listen to podcasts or YouTube at night and it really works. Try it if nothing else works. You never know.

Oo. Option 2 looks a lot like the start of Dr Who! Can I have one of those and a sofa to hide behind as well please?

Fantastic bass. My Zoot was the bass I should never have sold. Love the neck, love the spot and block-free fretboard (never liked fret-markers). Enjoy, and thanks for sharing your thoughts.