LukeFRC

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' timestamp='1412808430' post='2572400'] I can get anything anywhere in North America with satellite radio. Just sayin'. [/quote] I was in America last month, was mental, the FM radio on the hire car needed retuning every 5 miles. At one point We were driving through Shenandoah on the skyline drive and on the Richmond Side we got some rock station and the moment the road turned to the Shenandoah Valley side of the hill it was some christian praise station.... mental

My highly opinionated opinion.... Go pre 1993, and go neck through. Wenge necks and thinner than the "club" ones. The profiles tend to be thicker front back than fender would tend to use but you get used to it. Streamer stage 1 or 2, Thumb or dolphin.... Streamer stage one is quite versatile all-round bass - fairly forward and high mid focused. Thumb is the deep growly low middy punch, the dolphin and SS2 tend to be somewhere in between. The one exception to that is a corvette $$ which seem to be well loved. I've a 1991 SS1 and a 1985 Thumb, If I come down to visit your way I'll bring them with me. My guess would be a SS2 or thumb would suit. Go an play a load before splashing the cash, but if you know any german speakers who can write for you.... ebay.de and convince them to post to the UK isn't bad and how I picked up my '85 thumb at a wee bit cheaper than you would expect to get it for sale here.... [quote name='bagsieblue' timestamp='1412767208' post='2571756'] [font=Calibri][size=3][color=#000000]Out of all the Warwick’s I’ve had and played my favourite is my MIJ Dophin Pro 2 !![/color][/size][/font] [/quote] odd Warwickhunt seems to say similarly....

[quote name='Twincam' timestamp='1412795121' post='2572208'] is that the speakers are tuneable on the fly to a degree. Surely that would be worth a fair amount of attention. [/quote] how's that a positive? build a bass reflex cab... tune it.... and then have a driver you can change the tuning on? telescopic port tubes may be easier

If it's the difference between a bass getting gigged every night or sitting at home unplayed why not mod? It's a thing to be played. To be honest I found the overpriced other P bass he's got for sale more bemusing

Yamaha BB424 go to the shop, play a load of fenders, and a Yamaha BB.... you'll prob go for the BB - and if you don't then... well you still got a great bass.

[quote name='Chienmortbb' timestamp='1412627113' post='2570621'] If you add a new handle, make sure it is the same size as the original one. It can really screw up your sound if you mix sizes! [/quote] best post this year so far

[quote name='Reissueplayer' timestamp='1412534057' post='2569702'] You may well be right about that. It has stood up well against everything I have challenged it with. TC Electronic, Tecamp 410, Ampeg 410, Berg ER 112s, TKS 1126 have all failed to come close. I did have a small PJB stack that sounded really good, but didn't hold up in a band situation. I am not replacing the Berg ip. I just want two amp setups. [/quote] hmmm a ip310 then

[quote name='Reissueplayer' timestamp='1412528330' post='2569615'] I'm looking to get something close to what my Berg ip stack produces. [/quote] I doubt there's much better out there.... that's not much help is it?! I'm intrigued what improvement on the Berg IP you're looking for - one of the lightweight cab makers will be lighter (barefaced for example) - the ip would be my holy grail of bass amp!

probably most of us have played with one of "those" guitarists and been driven to despair with the awfulness that sometimes gets shown (or even worse the second-rate awfulness of people trying to be like "those" guitarists. I doubt that many of us have played in a band and got annoyed by one of "those" bassists

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' timestamp='1412426978' post='2568847'] That's normal. There is a difference in the ratio of even versus odd harmonics when different classes of amps are pushed to clipping. This in part explains why tube and SS sound different. [/quote] that's interesting (as far as I understand it)

[quote name='paulears' timestamp='1412349316' post='2568130'] I'm really sorry - but I have never understood how this works? Antique dealers of it to add (illegal) extra value, because people think distressed condition equates to age, and age in an antique equates to extra value. In a guitar, unless the instrument has a history, then a good condition old guitar always outsells a wrecked one. So it's down to image? Is it cooler to play a really worn guitar? I guess it might be. What I do note is an excellent distressing job, that looks very real - so I can appreciate the effort put in. I'd just rather play a new looking one myself. [/quote] I went through a jazz bass stage where I bought and sold about 4-5 jazz basses trying to find one I liked. It turned out I loved the look and how they sounded on record, but not actually how I made them sound... anyway back to my point.... the basses ranged from £1000 second-hand FSR Fender, that amazing Valenti that Richardd has for sale at the moment and a few others.... the Valenti was by far the "best" of the bunch - but it was so pristine I didn't enjoy playing it. The 1975 Cimar 1905ash Jazz bass that I found for £40.... that was great fun to play and I regret moving that one on, it went to a good place to a friend as his first bass and he plays it regularly.... but still....

[quote name='skej21' timestamp='1412203009' post='2566817'] I met Drew a while back now and he seemed like a classy, knowledgable guy and was great to chat bass with for a while. I would not have pictured him as the type that resorts to having a petty dig at competitors with more exclusive, imported brands just because of a different outlook on their business model. The music retail industry is small enough without the few bass shops trying to fight against each other too! Just accept you have different philosophies and sell yourself rather than trying to belittle others. The biggest problem I see is that when I (or any bassist) want to spend a lot of money on a custom instrument, and decide to go British, it's not difficult to pick up the phone or jump in the car and consult/see their goods easily with the builder in their workshop. I don't really need a shop to do that for me. If I want a custom bass importing on my behalf or to try something that's not easily accessible in the UK before committing to ordering, it becomes much more important to have a shop where I can do that. It's a nice idea to go for a 'British-centric' store but not sure if its too niche within an already VERY niche section of a shrinking area of retail... You just have to look at how many Fender and Gibson dealers are shrinking/vanishing to see where it's headed. Good luck Drew! [/quote] It's a hard thing to explain without using comparisons though. There are certain US based brands that have an exceedingly good reputation and sell at prices that reflect that reputation. They have a load of musicians in their city and country wide using their products, they have talkbass where generally people on it are very supportive of US made things, and their country is massive. We're on a small island, are dour and tend towards being just slightly critical of some of our UK builders, we don't have many manufacturers linked closely with a recording/pro circuit like the US does and until the last 5 years or so we had a stupidly strong pound meaning home built things were expensive comparatively. Now the pound isn't as strong and I was surprised a while back when I had half an idea to get a bass built and approached overwater, ACG, Alpher and Status and all of them got back to me and were talking about custom basses with a starting price lower (status was a wee bit higher) than a mass produced new USA Fender.... I think you're right, maybe the wording wasn't the wisest but "you can get top top quality basses, crafted in the UK, for comparatively lower prices than the equivalent US based makers" is something worth saying. [quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1412367552' post='2568395'] Y'know...Not naming names at all, but one of those companies owes one of the others some money for the supply of facing wood. They know who they are and I hope they see this message, feel a little guilty and do the right thing. [/quote] wow. a bit OT and don't know how I'm supposed to respond to that one, theres a story there, but prob best not told.....

[quote name='John_P' timestamp='1412375582' post='2568497'] Thanks for the replies, but the bh500 and aguilar 350, iamp800 aren't up to gigging? I'm only talkng pubs really but I don't want to buy twice if you know what I mean. [/quote] depends on the cabs..... Plug that aggy 350 into a lower end 112 and probably not - plug it into a 810 and you'd be fine.

If I were you I would look for a good cab or two first - cost that up and then look for the amp with whatever is left over.

good basses - I had one - made in japan and will be better than a lot of basses. when you're looking at yamaha, esp the japanese ones they do tend to be cheap..... if you double or triple the price you get about where they are compared to other makes secondhand....

Get another cab....

so did I... bit out of my price range though!