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Gotta love Rick. He is absolutely spot on about the quality of the bass in the chorus:

One week ago I made a round trip of almost 600km in a snowstorm and came home with this. It's my third DB in 4 years and it's what I should have bought the first time right after I got home from the 2018 BC Double Bass Bash. This is a Shen SB100 laminate bass AND an Acoustic Image Coda combo with the Clarus Series 4 Plus amp, both are about 10 years old and in mint condition. I am loving this combination and the Spirocores and I'm getting used to the set up on the bass and having fun learning about the amp. I would highly recommend both of these. It is a bit of a silly purchase because we are in another lockdown since Christmas in Ontario and both of my bands have stopped rehearsing and we have no gigs on the horizon, basically all venues are shut down but I figured that at 75 I might as well get what I wanted and hope that when things finally start up again I will be ready to go with really good equipment. I play every day and am very pleased with this bass and amp...look out world! 👍😄

I disagree. I don’t see any issue with the title or first post. If you add up all of the comments in all the various threads concerning BD, it doesn’t make for good reading. It’s also not a ‘pile-on’ as far as I can see, as a lot of the members commenting here I have a lot of time for and value their opinions. For balance, I have bought from BD many times over the years and as recently as a couple of months ago for quite an expensive piece of kit, but I have never liked the website and have therefore not used it to buy anything online. For that reason I have always phoned and paid there and then if I wanted something. Again, for balance, I note that some negative comments have been from some people that haven’t physically visited and know how BD works. I know you shouldn’t have to have actually been there, but if you have then you’ll know. Yes, it should be like any other retailer, but it’s not in some regards. My advice, avoid web sales where you can. Ring where possible and pay over the phone. Accept mistakes can and may happen, but don’t expect any grovelling apologies because that ain’t gonna happen. Alternatively, shop somewhere else. Shops like BD are rare and the bass community in the UK would be worse without them.

I have recently built or rather reimagined an Ashdown 8" Combo and it sounds great, I also have recently heard @Phil Starr's 6" and both are absoluteky fine for practice and the acosutic gigs Phil does. In facr they are more that fine. However when I plug into my 12, it just sounds easy, it oozes the sound I want in my band. That does not mean there is anything wrong with, say a Phil Jones system but smaller speakers are really fighting physics. However for some people the compromise is wort it for the portability and if you are using public transport, I can understand it.

IME their customer service seems to blow hot and cold. I've only really dealt with Mark over the phone as it's a long way to just pop in... one time I bought a Genz rackmount kit over the phone and it couldn't have gone any better; another time when I put the phone down following a 'conversation' about something (I forget what) my first thought was "well if you're going to come at me with that attitude, you can stick your fecking shop sideways and without painkillers". Is he affected by phases of the moon or something? Absolutely. Attitude or not, we need shops like BD and Bass Gear and the Gallery.

I don't disagree entirely with what you've said - and usually I don't both writing such things. If it had been a case of me buying the pedal, saying nothing, and them contacting me the next day apologising and saying they didn't have it, then so be it. A little disappointing but OK. The specific gripe on mine is that I explained exactly why I was asking for clarification, I laid out the precise reason for my concern and they didn't look into it at all, the just said 'yeah we have it'. If they'd actually looked into the concern I outlined then they'd have known they didn't have it. The secondary gripe is them not even entertaining the idea of an alternative or potentially a minor discount if I bought a new version of that pedal. It was all very much "here's your money back, go away". What I didn't add to my initial post is that the day before this issue I spent a considerable amount of money with them buying a new amp, and only a few weeks ago I spent a considerable amount of money with them buying a new cab, (over £3000 in total) and even with those recent very expensive purchases there was absolutely no effort to make sure a sour taste (such as it it now) wasn't left in my mouth given my recent not insignificant custom. Bass Direct aren't the devil by any means, and they offer a great service (when it goes right!) The seemingly consistent point of issue is that when it goes wrong, you get treated poorly. Good customer service, like manners, doesn't cost much and it doesn't need to be that way.

The Ray 34CA was another notch up from the regular model imo. They’ve been discontinued for a few years now and prices have crept up a fair bit I sold mine to get a Classic Stingray but in hindsight there was very little in it other than the better (prettier?) woods used. My CA had the surf green finish with a tinted maple neck and a lovely, warm and very musical sounding 2EQ circuit. It didn’t go really clicky on the top end which was something I always liked about it. As well as this, It also ticked the Jazz bass profile neck on a MusicMan which I like too.

Searching for picures of Alan Davey and he Rick, I found one wih a Fireglo Rick. However, i's no he one in he aucion as i has chrome, no gold, hardware, so his wouldn' be any good o use in a ribue band.

Had a rehearsal last week, so hastily hard to rebuild the "Big board" got a few new additions, so thought I'd get it on the Thread 😁 EBS Microbass 2 - A/B box/ Preamp/DI/ Overdrive/ headphone amp and Effects loop. Very very useful bit of kit and great quality sound. In the loop I have all of the effects, so I can use them through the Headphones. FEA Labs Optifet Compressor- Beautiful Warm and versatile comp BOSS LS2 - splits the signal after the comp, so all effects have compression beforehand. Has two seperate lines of FX thst I can switch between or run in parallel Loop A - general effects. Emma - Okto Nojs - Octaver and synthy Dynamic Fuzz in one pedal, can be used individualy or combined for Dirty Madness Cog Custom Grand Tarkin "Trooper fuzz" - based on the "Green Russian" but with a Filtered clean blend (only clean lows, mids and highs are fuzzed) and a handy mid control. It had me at the Stormtrooper Etching 😂 MXR - Bass Envelope Filter- my 4th! playing with it today, reminded me of what a perfect little thing it is. EBS Unichorus - Chorus/Flanger and pitch mod. Gorgeous Analog tones in a bombproof box EBS Dphaser - As above but a funky, swirly,fat and very cool Digital Phaser. I love this thing Donner Deluxe Mini tuner- kept losing the Headstock thing and got fed up of asking the the Keyboard player to give me an E 😂 Loop B - Synth Channel 3 Leaf Audio GR2 Envelope filter- very fat and resonant filter with a handy Effects loop, so anything in it, doesn't hit the input Detection stage, making for very dynamic synth sounds. This is set for a funky Downsweep, in the loop we have the following Iron Ether Subterranea - Octave/Synth- is a fantastic lofi sounding octaver, with two synth voices and 3 waveforms for each. Very dirty and Analog Synth sounding! I love it Iron Ether Frantabit - Bit Crush and Sample rate reducer- very funky/noisy/mental pedal that's actually really really musical and sounds fantastic. One of my favourite pedals 😂 I also have a Copilot Orbit (Modulated fuzz/VCO) and a Malekko mini filter, but no room. Currently deciding what to do with them.

Look what arrived today by Royal Mail. Box still intact and 2 days earlier than suggested. Well done Royal Mail! My gear years ago was An Ampeg head with SWR Goliath and Big Ben (the Bag end version) The SWR heads were lovely but too clean for me so I turned the other cheek. Probably missing the one piece of gear I should have had. I read somewhere the unit was under development in the earlier part of the 90’s so was probably released mid to late 90’s I can’t really find any live reviews on YouTube (just one that’s poorly recorded) but I’m reliably informed Jeff ament used one and that the track ‘Go’ from the album VS. Is a good representation of its extreme settings. I’ve had a search out on the fleabay for awhile now and this one pinged up a few days ago with a starting price of £200, I was expecting it to gain more interest (they have gone for silly money when they do pop up in the wild) but I got up Saturday morning and put a bid in and was successful so here we are. No pedals alas but I’ll source them eventually. There’s an on off pedal (overdrive on and off) and an expression pedal (adds in the amount of overdrive to taste as required.) I’m told SWR gear requires the specific pedals which was a bone of contention when they were released but I’m sure I’ll sort things out one way or another. I’ll let it warm to room temp before I attempt to turn it on (it was very cold being in trucks and warehouses while on route) no point in stressing the tubes by rushing things. Fingers crossed and all being well I’m in for an afternoon of overdriven shenanigans or (probably my luck) an afternoon of cursing and fiddling because it doesn’t work 🤣😂

Coincidentally, immediately after reading this thread, I found this book on the shelf at work:

Same here. Sold most of my basses via BD. Good thing is that I drop off the bass(es) and that's that. I do not need to take photos (I do not have a good camera and only an old smart phone. Feel free to call me a dinosaur like my wife does too 😉) and BD takes excellent photos. I also do not have to write blabla to promote my bass and, most importantly, I do not have to deal with customer enquiries, including lowballers and scammers. Further, I do not have to worry about payment and shipping. So, with regard to the latter, no need to organise boxes, packing material, booking collection etc. Finally, I do not have to worry about the bass getting damaged in transit and buyers maybe wanting to return it. In sum, a lot of time-consuming hassle that I do not have to deal with and I am happy to pay BD 20% for it. YMMV.

Just be careful with the apostrophes. Steve Brownings Band Steve Brownings' Band Steve Browning's Band All would be technically correct, but still plenty of opportunity for disagreement over the band name. 😆

Today I fitted the dot inlays. Little bit of a nerve wracking job, got a couple of them wrong where I drilled a tiny bit too deep and had to drill them out and redo them. The third fret marker looks a bit hairy but I’m otherwise pretty happy. I think the mother of pearl contrasts and complements the dark look of the guitar nicely.

Had it done at a local auto body shop. 5 coats. Absolute bargain price. A fab job. Won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but it’s been in bits for a couple of years as I was getting around to getting it painted after getting it in a trade. The body was painted by Burley Banksy who has been painting murals and street art in the city for the past few years. Hope you approve

So finally finished my dialled down board. Previously using a Ruach board, beautiful wooden board, but it was just too big for me. Now on a metro 24, if I can find a smaller substitute for the microsynth I may go smaller! Signal chain is muff - superego - MXR - tu2 - mojomojo - microsynth - zoom - digbeth. Powered by a Harley Benton iso pro.....bunny for aesthetics only 🤣

It doesnt get better than a Maurad 6, congrats!

If its not good enough for Alan Davey its not good enough for me. He's good on QI though.

That's properly silly money It is a rare finish for a lefty I suppose (most lefties I've seen were white), and it's the earliest version with the old style tuners without bushings. But that's crazy! I remember all too well when a fellow lefty I know owned three (!!!) Musicmasters and one Mustang, and sold two of his Musicmasters for between €650 and €900. The cheaper one was a '73 that was (poorly) routed for a Wide Range humbucker, and it took him a while to sell. This was around 2015-2016!

It will be once you have learned to play it, yes!

Fixed

A few seconds in and I knew the riff immediately. It has been sampled by Wu-Tang Clan but I knew it from this. Always a moment when the source is revealed for a sound you have had in your head for years

So I sent the PNB14E and accompanying gigbag back for a refund as it's essentially a Deko instrument dressed up as B stock, Thomann were great but DHL much less so - the first drop off point refused to take the box and the second couldn't get the scanner to work on the label so had to book it for collection. Anyway I noticed one of the discontinued Artwood AVNB1E models on eBay in pretty much new condition and won it for £290 + shipping. Probably paid over the odds but it did come with a nice Hartwood gigbag which fits perfectly and is slightly rigid, think it's this one going off measurements if anybody is after one - no guarantees like as there's no product code or label!: https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Hartwood-3-4-Size-Acoustic-Guitar-Gig-Bag/2RUH Is summary it's miles better than the PNB14E, doesn't have that mid spike so not quite as much volume but as a result it sounds very even and the build feels superior, much less boxy and feels like a more expensive acoustic. Fit and finish is obviously better than the PNB14E, fretwork is spot on and the frets themselves are much smaller, overall it seems like this has had a lot more time spent on it with no flaws or rough spots.

There's an acoustic duo called Karen & Mike Fleming in the USA. Mrs Zero and I (also an acoustic duo) could team up with them and be Karen & Karen & Mike & Mike Fleming.

What's a lunch mob and where do I order? 😂

Tokai should've complained as well, as they don't make Rockinbetters!

You know there's not a prize at the end of this, right?

Got this from Bassbros Its the first P bass I have ever bonded with , so I could finally be a convert after 35 years of mostly active J type basses . A great service by Will at Bassbros couldn’t be happier at the moment . Feels like a Fender Custom shop I once tried at over 3 x the price in a shop . The chunkier neck takes a bit of getting used to for me , but it has temporarily put a stop to my mindless dusty end noodling 😁

The tape measure thumb rest spoils it.

Well, I've been resisting buying any effects pedals for a while now as I am weak and I know it will be an expensive dark hole of obsession, but I finally gave in and bought the Nano Q-Tron. Andertons were showing one in stock, pulled the trigger but then got an email saying it was on display and had a minor scratch. Cancelled that, ordered from Juno via eBay at 1800 hours and arrived before 1000 the next day! Quick question, the actually button to turn the pedal on/off requires a firm press to engage with a clearly audible click, more so than other pedals I've used. I assume this is normal? Appreciate that's subjective! No idea what I'm doing with it, twisting knobs and looking for some quack!

I recently made a jack-speakon lead for @JohnDaBassfor his combo but personally, I would not buy an amp with a jack speaker output. Jacks were never designed for speakers, they are too easy to short out*, and many cannot take more that 0.5 amps. That is 2 watts for an 8 ohm speaker and 1 watt for a 4 ohm speaker. There are jacks (sockets) that will take more from Neutrik, Cliff and Switchcraft (I think). The jack sockets in Neutrik combo SpeakOns are rated at 10 amps. *A manufacturer, that I will not name, once told me that shorted jack cables were the biggest single cause of solid state amplifiers blowing.

For a single speaker solution, although I'd love it, I've yet to find a single 10" cab that can deliver enough volume, by itself, to keep up with a full rock band as backline. Plenty of 12" cabs that easily can. So a single 12" seems to be the cut-off for me.

He's actually Boris...... and was unaware of any fraud taking place, particularly involving himself....

I've built 2 easy builds, a mk2 basschat cab and am now finishing a mk3 - they're great designs (stevie and phil are great contributors to this forum and very helpful) I'm going "solo" on this one. I have the speaker and i'm going to see what I can get from it. 😄 Speaker cabinet building seems to be my "catnip".... i'm addicted!

Perhaps rather than reporting fraud, we should tell the police that Mason-Smeghurst has been speeding and has a gun. They'd be instantly down on him like a ton of bricks.

ET: 'Shall I put some music on?' Mrs ET: 'OK, but not Captain Beefheart.'

I've used oak for necks and fretboard, a bit unforgiving to work with and very variable in density but worth it. Fretboards in oak look great and the oak necks I've made seem to be solid and stable with a good feel. The resulting instruments have no loss of brightness or sustain. I suspect that the course grain and variable density is why it's not more common. My current build features an oak fretboard.

Watch this soon-to-be empty space …shhh!

Something like the Zoom B1 Four would be ideal. It's a small, cheap multi effects floor unit with line in and headphone out. It has various drum patterns and some fairly usable effects. I bought a used one locally recently for £30, just because I couldn't not buy it really at that price. It will run off batteries or a dedicated power supply or even a USB power supply. https://www.thomann.de/ie/zoom_b1four_bass_multi_effect.htm As for which headphones, that's probably one of the more contentious topics on here... Everyone has an opinion, and nobody is trying to give you bad advice. There's just so much choice. For my tuppence worth I'd recommend Beyer Dynamic DT880 Pros, or you could try models by AKG (such as the K701 or K702) or any Sennheiser or various other brands. If you're trying to either exclude external noise or eliminate the sound of your playing from annoying others then buy closed back headphones rather than open back. My DT880s (which are open) don't leak much sound but I have some other open back headphones where you may just as well have your head between two speakers. Avoid bluetooth.

One thing I will share is the oak for the fretboard - rather looking forward to seeing this with finish:

I'll be honest and say I've bought a good few things from them before (basses, cabs, amps etc.) in fact GR Dual 1400 arrived today with no issue. But... and the big but here... is that if nothing goes wrong, its fine, but if something goes wrong it seems that the service stops dead. I've long maintained that the mark of a good business is how they act when something goes sideways. At some point something will always goes sideways, but if it's dealt with well then its not an issue.