TRBboy

Well, that was a good day out! Managed not to spend some money, although probably would've if there'd actually been some decent deals on the Line 6 stuff.... A lot of really nice gear there, but as usual I was somewhat underwhelmed by a lot of things 😅 I fell in love with an Ibanez EHB1005SMS at Fairdeal Music, which was on a STUNNING show deal, but I don't really have the money, and if I'm honest I don't really like the aesthetics of them. The feel was incredible though, and I managed to get a wide range of tones out of it. Slightly let down by crappy knobs, but they're easily changed. Had a go on the Cort Space, which was beautifully made for the money and felt good, although felt a bit cumbersome in comparison to the Ibanez, and the horrible strings on it sullied the experience a bit. Very nice instrument for the money though! @skelf's basses looked incredible, that blue one is even more stunning in the flesh! Didn't ask for a go as I don't have the funds to even contemplate one of his glorious creations 😅. There was a reasonable selection of Sandbergs, although the 'show prices' seemed like more than usual 😅 I liked the blackout MXR bass pedals, they looked really cool! What I really fell for though (quite surprisingly) was the HX Stomp.... I tried that and the HX One, and although they both sounded great, the 'live' functionality of the Stomp is much better, and it has all the connection options I'd want (how does the HX One not even have a headphone socket?!). As I said, if they'd actually had a decent snow deal on, I probably would've walked away with one today. Very impressed though, and although I'm not a huge effects user, I think I could get a lot out of it. Reflecting on the EHB driving home, I'm seriously considering building myself a headed bass with the same scale length... So that may well be my next project! 😏

Gorgeous Mike, congrats! 😍👌 @fretmeister completely with your on the stock strings, I've never gotten on with them either. Been using (not so) super Brights on my Sandbergs for years (40-120 Nickels).

Anyone know if Bass Direct have a stand there?

No tips really, just have a mooch around and try out stuff that grabs your attention. I really like it for discovering things I hadn't seen before, and some smaller brands I didn't know about. You can get around the whole show in a relatively short time. I definitely want to check out the Sandberg, Ibanez, Cort and ACG stands.

Really looking forward to it, hope to bump into you tomorrow! 😎👌

I'm happy to play a 4, but I just prefer 5's. I'm just so used to having and using that B string. I often say that for me, playing a 4 string is like a 4 string player being given a 3 string bass to play! 😅

I don't know, but a Hiscox STD-EBS should fit. They used to do a Yamaha branded one, don't know if they still do. I've got one

Thank you for the concise answer 😅 I'm quite tempted to pick up one of the MM 5 string models as a project, with a view to moving the pickup forwards, but I'm comfortable with making a pickguard, it just takes time and elbow grease 😅

Very very nice Stu! I kept seeing this one pop up on FB! Looks beautiful now after your work. 😍🤌

Are the stock pickups on the HB's okay? Also, do standard aftermarket J/P/MM pickguards fit them?

That's super cool! There really are some fantastic budget instruments around these days. I quite fancy an inexpensive ray style bass and keep looking at the HBs....

Definitely, I run the 40-120's on my 5, and despite them being light gauge and low tension, they sound huge!

I had a 435 because I prefer passive basses these days, and personally I thought the pickups were superb and don't need changing at all. A big improvement on the 41x/42x series pickups in my opinion.

That slightly lower tension than most strings just makes them feel super easy to play 👌

I completely agree, it's a really stupid bit of branding! 😅 I find the initial brightness dulls fairly quickly, and then they just sound sweet and consistent for AGES.

Funnily enough, I've been looking at that a lot over the past month or so. I couldn't find much that would actually give me more room though, not without throwing a lot of money at it. Obviously it would save the space of the extension and power supplies though. I think probably the best option for me would be to build one I guess, could completely customise it to suit then. 😊

A very valid point! It's taken a lot of faffing around to get everything squeezed on, and I'm not crazy about the B3 being sideways and the comp being upside down, but it works. Just wondered if I could save some space to have a bit more room to get everything to fit better. I did have the extension outside of the pedalboard before, but that came with it's own problems. Maybe I just go back to doing that if I want more space.

I fully appreciate what you're saying. If I had expensive pedals, I absolutely get it, but mine aren't and I've had most of them for many years. My current daisy chain PSU was a cheap one, and it works just fine. It's just not worth me throwing a load of money at to save a little space.

Lots to think about, thanks guys. If I'm gonna spend £100+ though, I'm tempted to save the money towards an HX Stomp or something instead though 😅

Thanks for all the info guys, very helpful. I think I'm going to struggle to get one for reasonable money that'll do everything on my board, as most have a bunch of 100mA sockets, one 500mA and then a 12 and 18v socket. The zoom PSU is 500mA and the Smooth Hound wireless is 250mA.... It's not worth me doing if I can't power it all off one block. EDIT: Actually, there's a cheap one on Amazon with great reviews which has 2x 500mA sockets 😏

They look really good! I know they had a very glowing review on Bass The World recently. They don't do a 5 currently unfortunately, otherwise I'd be seriously considering one! I know you've had a V7 before, but the Sire V5 would be a very strong contender in this price band too.

Hey folks! I've always used either individual power supplies, or the daisy chain type ones. My extension and the PSUs take up quite a bit of space on my board, so I'm curious about these power supply blocks that everyone seems to use these days. Can anyone educate me much about them? Pros/cons, do's/dont's, etc? What should I be looking for in one? Are there any cheap ones that are good? I see there's a whole load on Amazon, eBay etc, which seem to get great reviews. Any recommendations? Thanks for the help 😊

Very cool! The black hardware and PG suit it well 😎🤌

The masterpiece ones are usually heaviest aged, with a little more detail especially around colouration and fretboard wear. The only way to be completely sure I believe is to check the serial number with Sandberg. How did you contact them? I'd suggest trying the service department as they seem most responsive. [email protected] Do you have a photo?