Leaderboard

Today's rig Drums included for scale

The most I’ve spent on a new bass is just shy of £3600, I’d come into a little money and decided it was my last chance to acquire the Status bass I’d been lusting after. Going forward, on gigging basses, I’ll top out around the £1500 mark.

I did bring up muting later in the discussion. Both questions have been answered. I've got some good tips and have been trying some of the techniques suggested to see what works for me.

Here's a once over of my new Saint bass by Ashdown. Quick, and odd, back story to this. Ashdown showed this bass on their Facebook photos of their Christmas open weekend. It was stated as being a prototype of a new short scale for release in April. The prototypes used for that weekend were for sale through Reverb for the very good price of £299, compared to the usual pricing of their basses at around £850. Trigger pulled. The bass I received is definitely the one in their Facebook picture as there are a few tell tale things which together are too much of a coincidence to be another bass. This one is 34" scale, not a shorty. Now I must stress that the advert didn't specify a scale length, I just put the facebook comments by Mark Gooday together with the Reverb listing. We'll see if the new release in April is shortscale or not. This would appear to be a standard 'The Saint' bass in a new colour. No problem, I like 34".🙂 I must also stress that this was sold as a prototype bass so any issues I've found can't really be held against Ashdown, but if it was used as a demo at their open day I'd have thought they'd want their best on display and this one looks like it was rushed to be finished. And like I say, I'm convinced this is the bass as there are tell tale marks on it that are also on the one pictured at the open day. So the bass. It's a bass of two halves, good and bad, and hopefully the bad is down to being a prototype/demo. The colour is fantastic, metallic shell pink, kind of a pearlescent silver shimmer to it in the light and a nice amount of sparkle, really nice. As is the finish itself. The neck is also lovely. Smooth satin roasted maple neck and fretboard. 40mm nut which is cut and fitted nicely, no sharp edges. Slim neck profile and well finished frets, again no sharp edges. It plays really well. The neck pocket is nice and tight although the paint edges there could be better, but I am being fussy. Headstock logo looks great under the lacquer. Now the not quite so good, the pickguard is fairly rough around the edges, the curves are a bit like a 50 pence piece, but I'll whip it off and smooth them out. I'm assuming the cavities are shielded with the black carbon paint as I can see it all around the edge of the control cavity cover, again just needs a tidy up. The control pots are loose, particularly the bridge PU one, just winds itself up on the wires inside, but it has been used by allsorts at the open day, but still. The tuner ferrules aren't pressed in properly, particularly the D which is sticking out 3 or 4mm. Again is it's a prototype/demo but they don't just slide out over a few days. The proper Saints have Hipshot Ultralite tuners but mine is fairly generic open gear Fender-a-likes, quite possibly Wilkinson as the bridge is Wilkinson as well, quite possibly the pickups too. The pickups are fairly bland, nothing really wrong with them but nothing outstanding. The tone control is terrible, all your adjustment is in the first 5% of the sweep, after that it's just wide open, may as well be an on/off switch, volumes seem better but they're spinning on their fixings so it's hard to tell. So overall, I do like it, I don't mind sorting a few niggles, which is all they are. The actual bass itself is great, just the putting it together seems rushed. But, I like it for the price I paid. If I'd paid full price I be bitterly disappointed. But again I must stress this may not be representative of a proper one, who knows? I do know though, I'd have had my best example at an open day, not this one. With an hour or twos work this will be a lovely bass but I'm not sure it's any better quality than a good Harley Benton. It's an odd one really as I'm not a sure who they're aimed at. I love Ashdown amps but I'm confused by their basses.

My rigs. Most gigs I'll use the two 210's or a lone 212 cab, but outdoor gigs I'll bring the bigger stuff.

I'm with 2 bands, recording and gigging on a rather relaxed schedule though... I don't think I can justify more than £2k these days, new or used! With that in mind, I rather buy 2nd hand, there's great stuff if you wait enough. My AO Precision 60s was around 1500, my MM SR 4HH Special even less (banging deal) and now I've got a Ricky 4003 Ruby red inbound for 1800£ - and I feel a bit guilty about that one, but missus insisted for xmas... Ander.

Lakland 55-94 ('98) fretless. On request, Lakland sent me a pickguard without screw holes which is a perfect fit, and gives an appearance akin to my fretless '79 Musicman Stingray

My first board. Compared with all yours mine seems very “old school”. It’s functional though, I don’t need much. Rob

Merry Christmas all. This rather fabulous book by Stuart Clayton.

Actually, I think this 2001 Basslab L-Bow was the only music gear I bought this year, but even in any other year it would surely have come first as it has one of the finest and most entertaining basses I've ever played.

(In The Middle Of The Night) The River of Dreams - Billy Joel

P*ss factory. Path Smith

Bought 2 ('73 P Bass for big 5-0 birthday next year and a Harley Benton Short scale that I had absolutely no need for) Sold 0 +2

No need to apologise and I would certainly recommend learning the basics. How you do so is another thing and as we have seen from this thread, some of those who set themselves up as teachers are not necessarily the best people to do so. Obviously, things have changed since we were kids. There was no YouTube, Basschat or Scott's Bass Lessons but there were more gigs and opportunities to play in bands. I don't know about you, but from the age of thirteen to my mid-thirties I used to regularly just hang out in music shops, talking to friends, staff and more experienced musicians. Unfortunately you don't really get that anymore. A lot of the stuff I learnt was from impromptu lessons in music shops, not to mention pretty useful advice from guys who been playing a lot longer than me!

In, Kimbara Ripper copy 90s Encore P copy Yamaha BEX4 HB Telecaster + Retrovibe neck (for a bass project) Eastwood Hooky Pro 6 Yamaha BB734A Yamaha BB1100S fretless Warwick Rockbass Starbass Ashdown Saint Out, Yamaha BB1024X 9 - 1 = 8 (there, are you happy now 😉) I am looking to sell some next year, honest. 😏

Where The Sheets Have No Name ～ U2

Today Santa brought me snow. Its like a "Winter Wonderland" today.

That’s nothing compared to the detour into the definition of sanity.

My 2018 Spector Forte 4 that used to belong to @Eldon Tyrell Followed closely by the Spector Pulse II 5 string I bought a month ago ☺️

Haven’t been on in awhile, recovering a shoulder injury that went a bit Pete tong. Anyway I can now play bass again so I put together what I like to call my ‘clover’ build. watch this space it may be for sale shortly 🥳

Yellow Submarine. The department of the bleeding’ obvious

I haven't been too impressed by the look of Ashdown's basses, but I am a sucker for a pink bass! The neck looks particularly sweet.

Aguilar tone hammer 500 amp

Skiff. Tele Savalas

Ferries Wear Boots ～ Black Sabbath

🤣 I wonder what Reverend think of the body shape? At the money, it’s a good score and at least it’s little things that can be easily fixed.

Evenflow - Pearl Jam

Ditto. They are also the most comfortable basses I’ve ever played. For me £1200 on a bass that isn’t quite right it’s a waste of £1200. £1800 on something that’s perfect is money well spent. If I can’t afford 1800 then I’m 1200 better off. Bought my Ultras when they were around the 1800 Mark. At the time people thought I was throwing money away. That’s changed and now everything is too expensive the Ultra has been getting a lot of love on the internet.

In the main yes but there's plenty of original and successful bass designs out there, just most people seem glued to the same old shapes which is a bit frustrating. RE the Ashdown basses I just don't see the point in bringing out a range of basses so similar to what the market is already flooded with. Even with the Gibson 335 copy there's already several similar basses (Epi JC, Warwick Star, Chowny etc) to satisfy that limited market and none of those have the wonky look that the Ashdown one does.

I bought 6 basses and sold 11. So, I am ending the year at -5 basses. I guess that makes me the winner 😉

I prefer it without the plate, but wonderful looking Lakkie regardless! Si

I love my Valeton Aquaflow Vintage Chorus, which to my knowledge is just about the only budget pedal ever made based on the legendary Boss CE-1 chorus circuit. It sounds amazing, but unfortunately is was discontinued a couple of years back, but you might still be lucky to find a used one for cheap. Otherwise the EHX Bass Clone is pretty amazing as well, or if you don't need a super lush wobbly chorus, it's hard to beat the amazing, but relatively subtle, aethereal shimmering chorus effect of the Boss DC-2w, or if on a budget the great TC Electronic Third Dimension Chorus clone of it. The Valeton Boss CE-1 based chorus kind of sit in between those two, it can get super lush, but don't really get super wobbly like the Bass Clone does on more prominent chorus settings, but rather maintain some of that aethereal shimmering quality of the DC-2 and the TC Electronic clone, even on more prominent settings.

When I first started playing bass, it seemed as if my music collection grew massively overnight as I became far more aware of the bass on the recordings. Have a listen to yours and hear what the bass is doing, especially rhythmically, it’s not a bad way to learn your new role. Add to that the techniques available as mentioned in the online resources mentioned by @lownote and you should be well away.

So when we re-read SteveXFR's original post again we see he didn't mention muting at all. We all just added that ourselves! Maybe non of us have actually answered his original question (apologies to those that have) . Happy boxing day Steve I do pretty much the same as you. As it is the plucking hand I also press the thumb firmly against the forefinger squeezing the quill for a firm grip pulling slightly backward releases the feather from the skin best. It is also better to do this while the bird is still warm for best results. If done correctly you should have a naked bird in your hands in no time. Ahh those were the days.

Soldier's Things - Tom Waits

The Ibanez EHB1265MS with Aguilar DCB pickups I bought earlier this year. Good to play and incredible clarity of sound.

Oh no. One last dance with danger. Trip to Glasgow, 28th December. I could stay out of Guitar Guitar, but what fun would that be?

My better half bought me a Christmas Elf. Not had much time with it today for obvious reasons, but what time I did have was very interesting. How can such a tiny thing be sooo loud? It’s not just that, it has great tone too. It’s going to be my main amp, with the One10, for the jazz band I’m rehearsing with. Rob

I’m at home surrounded by family, kids and grandchild. For the first year ever, I haven’t got a single card or present (maybe they’re teasing me 😂) but you know what? I’m not bothered and I couldn’t be happier. I consider myself a very lucky man and truly feel for those not as fortunate. A new Precision would have been nice though 😀 Happy Christmas to you all!

Very pretty! But looks quite fragile.

And together with the Jaydee... Had a brief play on it today, the weight is excellent, i think it's actually quite a bit lighter then the claimed 3.9kg. The playability is also excellent and i was able to get the action super low although now will need a fret dressing at the bass gallery. Tone is great but i have no idea what the switch does, in the down position it seems to engage the bass and treble controls but when i flick it up does this put it in passive mode?

So, thanks to this thread I have today pulled the trigger on a pair of KRK Rokit RP5 G4 monitors. I’ve gone for these based on the published frequency range, the front ports, and the relative shallow depth. My desk is pushed up against the wall so depth is my enemy and these seemed to be the best compromise.