Ed_S

I owned multiple Ashdown cabs back in the day, but that was because I was experimenting with different speaker sizes before I knew better. It wasn't brand loyalty - it was just all you could buy in local shops. These days I own multiple Barefaced cabs based on the progression... Super 12 - Bought because everybody said it was the one cab to do pretty much any gig. It was. It still is. G2 Midget - Bought because it's half a Super 12 and sometimes that's all you need. Also vertical 3x12 potential. One10 #1 - Received as a birthday gift. One10 #2 - Bought to make a pair with the first one so it was any use to me. Two10 - Bought to give me the same sound as the pair of One10s in a one-hand-carry format. Also vertical 4x10 potential. I don't know whether it's brand loyalty as such - more just that they engineer light cabs that perform well and look acceptable in a utilitarian kind of way, and if something goes wrong they sort it out.

I believe it was pau ferro - nice looking board, too. I had the issue with ebony once before on a Jim Root sig Telecaster but this was the first time with any other wood.

I like the idea of Sandberg as a brand, and enough of the ones that aren't factory-damaged appeal visually, but having had four of them I can't see me getting another. Three were original cedar body superlight 4s (two TMs and a TT) which were great for my back problems but the recessed and un-filled fret slot ends felt weird, they all sounded somewhat lifeless in the same way, and the matt finish was stupidly easy to damage. My Maruszczyk Jake L4P+ wasn't far off the same weight, sounded lively, was finished in good strong gloss poly and had smooth fretboard edges, so it ended up winning. The last one was a Central 5, which ended up with the finish peeling off the edge of the fretboard so had to go back to be refinished. They did it perfectly well, but I'd not had it long enough before the issue appeared to really bond with it in any way, and by the time it came back from refinishing I'd kinda lost interest; played a couple of gigs with it and just couldn't get excited about it so moved it on.

Yeah, I guess if somebody was making a big thing of the fact that they'd had their bass fettled by a recognised luthier, could prove that to be the case, and the work done was exactly what I would be having done myself... maybe I'd offer or accept paying a few quid extra for that, provided I was totally confident that it was worth it to me. But to my mind, the thing about having the work done yourself is that at least you've seen the instrument in its original state, know who's done what and (perhaps most importantly) why, and you can have some input into the process, so I think I might still be more inclined to get a cheaper deal on one that's been left alone and take it to my own choice of professional.

If it's still possible to go out and get a new one that you'd expect to be perfect and not need the work, or if it's no longer available new but you'd expect the vast majority of second hand ones never to have needed the work, then no, I'd say that's on the seller for electing to keep and fix a b-stock, rather than swap out for a different one. Nothing against anyone who does that, btw.. as long as they realise that it's rarely an investment. I've done it myself - for example keeping an unusually light example of a bass with really attractive wood grain patterns but a knackered preamp because a swap could easily turn up as a boring-looking boat-anchor of an instrument, but with a functional preamp. I knew the money for a new preamp was never going to be recouped, and I was fine with that. I broadly agree with the 'what it owes me' comments, though I do use the phrase when talking generally about what a project has cost in total. If I ever use it when it's time to sell, I switch to a different version which involves completely writing-off the initial purchase price of anything I buy as a modding platform or fixer-upper, and then not spending any more on parts than I'm confident I can sell the whole thing for once completed, unless I'm willing to lose the additional outlay. That's perhaps just a me-thing, though!

Agreed. I put GB707s on all my Ibanez SRs. Never had a problem with the function of the stock ones myself, but I prefer the shape of the tuning keys and the wider string posts on the Gotohs, and they feel nicer. I also used them on my Harley and Fazley cheapo P copies, but that required a degree of bodgery to get the 18mm holes down to 14mm.

Aye, at least with those you can just replace the barrels if you really object to a whole different bridge, and if you don't then there are loads of drop-in replacements from the sublime to the ridiculous. Sadly this was the cheaper end of Ibanez, and I think they choose mounting screw locations by committee.

I doubt it, to be honest, but in the spirit of this thread I'll be sure to include it should I ever come to sell. I've actually just recently bought another Rockbass - a Streamer LX this time - and I've done a version (the pickups are passive J's, so no battery or switch needed) of the same thing with that so they're both nearing P-bass levels of 'nothing to go wrong', and I wired them up so I've only got myself to blame if anything does! I guess some would call what I've done a downgrade... I know my limits where the tinkering is concerned, but I bought both of these as end-of-line b-stock returns and was quietly confident that I'd be able to get them into shape. They were both Friday afternoon specials in the fit and finish department and the fret ends needed attention, but they've got good bones and they're now metal-gig-appropriate workhorses.

Yeah, it was beyond buzzing on the worst one - we're talking full choking-out and rattling within one song. Speaking of Warwick preamps, as you were, I had a Rockbass one fail last year and after a bit of back-and-forth they eventually sent a new preamp out to Thomann who forwarded it on to me to fit. They would have fitted it but I said I was happy to avoid the chance of loss or damage in shipping and just do it myself. Thing is, in the intervening time I'd actually grabbed some pots, a switch and a jack from my bits box and wired it up passive (well.. they're active pickups so still need power, but then into a passive volume/tone) and used the switch to allow me to split the twin-jazz pickup in the bridge. In the end I much preferred that to the preamp, so the new one it still in packaging.

Granted this isn't a 'fail to do after a while' - it's a manufacturing defect, but I've had bridges where the grub screws for adjusting the action were so loose that the vibration of the strings caused the screws to turn and the saddles to hit the deck. Tried new grub screws but it was the holes in the saddles that were too big or badly tapped, and replacement saddles weren't an option. I could have bodged them with thread-lock or PTFE or nail varnish etc. but in all cases it was just easier to get a new bridge that actually worked.

I like to find really cheap basses that just happen to have great necks, and then have fun replacing all the bits that were actively skimped on in order to have that standard of woodwork and fretwork at such a low price. In those cases I think the word 'upgrade' is more easily justified, but I do agree that it's important to make peace with the fact that a £200 bass with £200 of parts fitted and a load of time invested using expensive tools is still very often only worth £100. All the same, if such a bass falls out of use or favour down the road, I prefer to send it off as-is and stand to a degree of loss - partly in the hope that it makes the new owner happy and perhaps lets them have something they otherwise couldn't, but mostly because taking something that I've made as good as I think it can be and then spending even more time to rip it apart and make it worse (even if only subjectively), I find to be the complete opposite of fun.

Doesn't always work perfectly, but the quick calculation in my head is that I expect the offer when I sell current gear back to a shop to be about half the value of a new one, and that then represents two thirds of what they'll aim to sell it for. So if I'd bought a bass that retailed for £570 and wanted to move it on, I'd expect to be offered about £285 and then see it up for sale at £425-450 in the shop. Buying from a private seller, I'd be looking to split the difference between the shop buy-in and sale prices with them, probably two thirds in their favour, so if we take a mid-point of £435 that works out nicely to a difference of £150; an extra £100 for them, and £50 off for me. £385 would be my offer.

I ordered a bass from them on the 4th, it left their warehouse the same day, it was picked up over here on the 6th, and it was delivered on the 7th; actually several days sooner than I've become used to. As it arrived on a Friday I had the weekend to iron out its b-stock issues, which was a bonus. Not saying that they don't sometimes get it wrong, but they certainly can still get it right and even exceed expectations.

They're my local - I've been happily doing business with them since they opened the current shop and I've known some of the guys who work/ed there for years longer than that. I'd be willing to have a crack at answering any specific questions or concerns if I have relevant personal experience, but otherwise feel free to assume a general vote of confidence from somebody who doesn't even want to think about how much money he's put their way... 🙂

I had an Ibanez SR1305 the same as is featured in this video - which describes it as a workhorse bass. I only saw the video after I'd already bought it, but found that I agreed with pretty much all they said about the sound of it. I say 'had' rather than 'have' as unfortunately I found out that I just don't seem to like the feel of particularly open-grain hardwoods on the backs of necks. I'm sure most people wouldn't give that a single thought, and I wish I could have been one of them as it really was an exceptional sounding instrument, and in a markedly different way to my other Premium SRs (1105s with smooth maple necks) which are much more aggressive sounding.

The majority of my basses have been bought sight unseen as I wouldn't have been buying most of them had they not been bargains, and they wouldn't have been bargains had I spent the money to travel and check them out in person. I've never had a problem sending anything back that's needed to go, be that within the UK or further afield; I just pay with a credit card so there's some protection from that side, accept that going through the returns process was always a possibility and I might have to make a few calls or send a few emails to push it along, photograph everything for evidence and resign myself to the fact that money rarely comes back as fast as it went out. No experience with the specific basses you're looking at, though.. sorry!

Yeah, sure - we're nowt massive, but feel free to have a listen. https://open.spotify.com/artist/1v8GrV7HeGZn8UgQFrmnbj

Last night was our first round heat in the M2TM competition to play at Bloodstock this year, which always tends to be a fun evening of small gear stores, tight stage turnaround times, punchy set lengths and unceremonious disco load-outs. We're serial semi-finalists so we know the format, but this heat was in a slightly more spacious venue than usual which made everything a bit easier logistically. The only problem was that for a 'heat' it was like a walk-in fridge and my fingers didn't warm up all night, so I made a good few minor mistakes.. but also made a conscious decision to just think sod it and move on, which I'm getting much better at doing. I have one of those Zippo power bank / hand warmer thingies but a] I left it in my other gigging bag, and b] it's not that great at the best of times, so I need to have a look round and see what else is available that isn't gloves. Quite a mixed show within the genre anyway (we're operatic power metal, and the other bands were metalcore, alt-rock and technical death metal) so the voting was probably all over the place, but maybe we were everyone's second choice vote after the band they'd gone to see, because we got through to the semis again and kept the dream alive that maybe this year will be our time. Decided to go back to where it all started and play the same bass I used on our very first gig back in 2009 (sadly not the actual bass, but the same model I re-bought a year or so ago for reasons of nostalgia) along with my newly put-together pedalboard, and it all behaved very well together which is always welcome. So, for the gear-afflicted: Warwick RB Vampyre 5 -> [G30 wireless -> TU3 tuner -> Thumpinator -> Boss BC-1X compressor -> Tech 21 VT Bass v2 -> SansAmp BDDI v2] -> Markbass Nano 2 -> Blackstar Unity Elite house cab (115C?) Tuner once again operated using a pair of Skechers Industrial Workshire boots, and jeans held up (just..) by a Skopes belt that really needs taking in a notch now we're post-xmas.

Oh aye, I'll never forget the first time I tried to drag the provided 2x15 BW with 400 series head on it across our rehearsal room.. it wasn't going anywhere without a fight, so I can only imagine what the 3620 must have been like to shift!

They look absolutely excellent. The cab wouldn't be practical for me, but I'd have the amp head right now.

Pretty sure it was Def Leppard - Animal. It's also the first and only song that I've ever 'learned' using tab instead of just figuring out my own line by ear. The only reason it was that song is that the title starts with 'A', so it was the first one in the list that I knew and there was a bass tab available for. It's not a particular favourite or even a song that I've ever played live in the years since, but it got me started.

I only sell or trade to shops because I work on the basis that dealing with somebody who is absolutely upfront about their sole intent being to profit from my loss, and will even tell me the minimum margin that they're willing to make, is actually a lot less annoying than any of the possible negative private sale experiences that people report on here. That's just what works best for me, and I know that many will think differently - it's absolutely fine. Anyway, my list says I've moved on about 80 items (basses, amps, pedals, parts etc.) that way since I started to clear house in 2022, and I work on a reasonable offer from a shop being two-thirds of the average eBay or Reverb price for the same thing in the same condition. I'm usually able to get that, though recently I've noticed one or two shops that I could previously rely on for reasonable (sometimes even good) offers have started to offer much less - about half of the lowest price they can find, irrespective of condition. I'm fairly lucky that Rich Tone is my local and still makes reasonable offers for most things, taking the condition into account. If I were a betting man, I reckon they'd go to the Reverb price guide, take the £1900 recommendation and offer you £1250... so that local £1600 cash offer might be quite generous, and the PMT offer maybe isn't that scandalous.

Completely agree with that - I've got/had a fair selection, both rack and pedal, and the BDDI v2 is the one I'd currently recommend to anyone.

I've got both and, as far as I can tell, If you take the VTDI, put the blend on full and engage the 'bite' (and engage the 'speaker sim' if you're aiming for the original VT Bass where you couldn't turn it off) then the rest of the knobs are essentially the VT Bass. Personally I prefer the sound of the BDDI v2 set quite clean for an always-on tone, so use the VT Bass v2 in front of that for just a bit more drive when appropriate. I can't make the VT work as my basic tone, so I think the VTDI will probably end up leaving.

That's really the aim. And to be able to deliver that sound to the desk, direct from the board, so that I can do whatever I need to with the rig on stage. The last few gigs in decent size venues, I've found that the sound tech has asked me to play, got the level, given it the "that's alright, actually" face and moved on to the next victim. Other bassists on the same multi-band nights have been stood there plonking away for a while to get something useable, so I think I'm about where I want to be.