stewblack

We regularly do a cheap and cheerful gig at a cheap and slightly scary pub. The owners of the venue also own a nice hotel which they've invited us to play this NYE. Nice paycheck, food and drink and accommodation thrown in. Being the only sober member of the band they have even reserved me a single room with everyone else sharing so I can get to bed while they get wasted and I don't get woken up by their amusing drunken banter. I call that a win.

30 beautiful sounding basses. Obviously a great musician will sound great on any instrument. I would have them all! Yep even the horrendous ugly ones that looked like the designs were chosen from the least successful drawings in a competition of blind 5 year olds working with crayons on a roller-coaster. Drunk.

It's difficult to say what was my best or favourite purchase. This is because I'm old and can't remember what I've bought. I suspect it will turn out to be the Yamaha BB. A seriously good bass.

I wanna red one!!

I can't afford to indulge in resolutions. I have to do the right thing now not promise myself that I will do it in the future. Experience teaches me that I'm the kind who replaces action with intention. Different for others I know, having said that I do hope to get back on my push bike as soon as possible

My parents generation would scoff at Made In Hong Kong on a label. We used to hear 'Jap Crap' now Crafted In Japan is a badge of honour and everything is made in China. Once our economy is finally destroyed completely Asian manufacturers will probably outsource to the UK to exploit the cheap labour and lack of employment law and produce Brit Sh|t or some such.

As above. Its a great piece of kit, works just fine with my zoom

Well, I basically spent the entire afternoon and evening playing my latest Harley Benton. Very very pleased with it and will definitely gig it on Thursday.

Anyway, call it what you will, I loved it the moment I saw it, it plays beautifully, and I don't regard it as a cheap instrument - except in terms of it's price. I have moved on 'better' basses over the decades which were not as good. Not nearly.

So ... not really a CB then ...

I try to stay away from off topic for most of the time.

So far so good. Action is how I like it now, plays fine - proof of pudding is in the gigging. Boxing day it will get its first outing.

Now, if you told me on the other hand, that this was a fugly pos I would firstly, compliment your use of the modern vernacular and secondly, heartily agree.

OK so I Googled this Ric bridge which seems to be exercising some of you (having no idea what it looked like) and while I see a passing resemblance (and am happy to assume Ric bridges are made of, um, better metal, or finished more carefully or something), I can't really see how the bridge on the HB is exciting so much ire. They're similar but different. This isn't a Rickenbacker. The bridge looks and works just fine. I absolutely promise to come on this very thread and report the moment it folds in half or spotaneously combusts but remember while the design of the HB clearly doffs it's cap to its more illustrious predecessor it is emphatically not a Ric, nor a copy of a Ric and as such it doesn't make much sense to me to compare it to a Ric. Why not ask how it stands up against other £150 basses? EDIT (mind you i don't own any so I couldn't answer if you did)

No the pots are fine 😶

Happy Wednesday to you too mate 😉

How's that for polite internet disagreement?!

You function with a definition of character different from my own.

There's three I would never sell. Two for sentimental reasons as much as for their inherent quality. The BT sig joined this elite group simply because it is an extraordinarily good instrument.

I FOUND A FAULT! There you go, for anyone who really doesn't want this bass to be any good. One of the five allen bolts used to raise and lower the bridge takes a different size allen key than do all the others. How's that for cheap crap!

I like it a lot. But you know, we all like different looks. Some people play basses (out of choice) which make me want to take up the oboe.

Absolutely, it does Ric very well! And if I had it all gnarley through an overdriven valve amp I'd be rattling away happily, but it needs taming a little for my taste that's all.

OK so, first impressions are almost all positive. I buy B-Stock whenever i can so I don't worry about the first ding, it's already done for me! In this case it's a small mark to the back of the neck. Not a problem, I'll soon add more to keep it company. It balances beautifully, as has been said above, both standing and sitting. The neck goes all the way from the bottom from to the top which I always like in a bass. Seriously though the double cutaway makes the neck look like a landing strip. It's only 22 frets but looks way longer somehow, Extremely comfy to ply up the dusty end which i like a lot. This was bought for it's looks, that's subjective so no point going into how utterly gorgeous it is, those who disagree will only get shirty with me. Neck is straight, plays very nicely. Pick ups are pretty punchy. Not up there with my BB or my Bruce Thomas but those are freakishly powerful pups. Bidge pick up pleasantly pokey (I usually dislike them - often too weedy) and the tone pots actually have a noticeable effect throughout their travel - not just on/off like some. Bridge seems solid and easy to adjust, pick cover not in my way but that's either going to clash with your playing style or it isn't and it's only a couple of screws if you hate it. No buzzes or hums, tuners firm and responsive and accurate. No sharp fret ends, no buzzy frets, no dead spots, intonation is good. Downsides? Well it came set up and in tune (those crazy Germans) but the action is set way too low for me and the strings are zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzingy rounds which I dislike. I get why it's set up to within a half a thou of the fretboard - many people like a low action and often give a positive review of a bass, based partly on how low that can be. Makes sense to ship it really low and have everyone saying Wow the action was great straight out the box rather than I had do a bunch of work to get it right which is off putting for those who can't adjust stuff themselves. But that is literally all I can fault it on. I prefer a higher action and less lively strings - not exactly damning criticism is it? Oh - is it chambered? Well I rapped my knuckles on it and frankly that highly scientific test was inconclusive.

Beautiful bass mate - I took the plunge too. So far my Aria has held up, great to actually gig it in comfort at last.

Ah OK, that is unusual for Thomann to give a misleading description. I will find out how it balances by the end of the day