Linus27

Thanks for everyone's help, it has been super helpful and I do really appreciate it. As a side note, my daughter has taken up bass and as a first bass, I bought her the HB Mustang and I am super impressed with quality of it, it is a really good bass for the money, in fact way better for the money than expected. So I'm going to take the plungexand buy the HB MV-5PJ. For just over £200, I cant really go wrong as a tester into the world of 5 string bass.

Thanks @Geek99 that's really helpful. I think, my thoughts are to play what I play as comfortably and as natural as what I do on a fretted 4. If I then find I use the B string for anything of any significance or as an extra dynamic then all good and well but the main aim is is play my 4 string bass lines just as competently on the 5 string.

When I started playing bass, 38 years ago, my goal was always to be a fretless bassist, and for the last 16 years, that's what I've been doing thanks to my wife coming home with a Squier Fretless Jazz bass after I played one for a bit of fun in a music shop. She basically said I'd never buy it for myself so did it for me. Last year, I took on a new challenge and decided to get an EUB but it sort of back fired as after a week of buying it, I was out gigging it and have since done about 25 gigs on it. So for next year, I'm going for a new challenge and I'm going to get a cheap 5 string bass and if that works out ok, then I'll give 5 string fretless a shot. I've got two on my list so I'm basically after opinions on them if anyone has owned or tried one. I'm looking at the Harley Benton MV-5PJ or the Squier Affinity Active Jazz. Both are just over £200 and should be a good starting bass to try 5 string on. Any thoughts on either?

Yes, 100% and even more so playing fretless. For me, I am the most comfortable playing a Fender, mostly a Jazz but a Precision is fine and Japanese Fender's are my favourite as the gloss necks are my preferred finish and the build quality is incredible.

For me, it comes down to what I'm going to be using the bass for, how often and then what I can afford or justify spending. I love vintage Japanese Fender's so anything from the 1980's and pre 1990's. The only mod I have to do is upgrade the pickups but these are good enough for pub gigs, club gigs and all the way up to big venues including stadiums and can be had for under £1k. I'd also happily spend a little more and buy an American Vintage Fender which will again, do all of the above, be a little more unique but come in at around the £2k range. I wouldn't however buy a standard American Fender as they are no better than the vintage Japanese Fender's and for me in a lot of cases, poorer yet more expensive. If I was pro or doing a lot of paid work then my budget would probably be between £2k - £2.5k and I would settle on an Fender American Vintage. I do have a bass on my list to buy, a late 1970's fretless Fender Precision. My budget is around £2k, anything over that and I feel it's a waste.

I've got a gorgeous 1987 Fender Japan 62RI Jazz that my dad bought me brand new when I was just starting out. It's the best sounding and playing bass I've ever had and is my no.1. I've played this bass at thousands of gigs and pretty much on everything I've done, from tours, TV, 2x John Peel Sessions, Radio 1 roadshows and so much more. Its incredibly sentimental to me as my dad supported me all the way up to getting signed but passed away a few months before I signed. The bass has been fretless for the last 14 years and still gets played at gigs all year. However, I got asked to play Glastonbury this year and it was a fretted gig and I was so torn from putting the original fretted neck back on or use my Fender Japan Precision. I felt so bad for not playing Glastonbury with the bass my dad got me and have that extra bit of history sealed into that bass. In the end I did use my fretted Precision but I felt very guilty for not using my no.1 bass. What it does mean though is I'll never sell my Precision bass as that's the bass I played Glastonbury 🤣

That was super helpful, I hadn't seen it so thank you. I'm actually liking the AG more than the TH after watching that video. As for the AGS on the TH, I have no idea but I think everything was flat and it sounded very bright.

For anyone who's had or knows, what is the difference in tone between the Aguilar Tone Hammer heads and the Mark Bass Little Mark heads? I currently use a Little Mark IV and I generally find it clean, punchy, fairly versatile if perhaps a little sterile. I do like it though and have been happy with it if not perhaps finding it a little underwhelming. Lets say it does a solid job without too much fanfare. I recently played two of my basses through an Aguilar Tone Hammer 350 and I was pleasantly surprised at how clean and dynamic my basses sounded. They had a lot of sparkle and definition, and one bass in particular, a passive Fender PJ with fretless Status graphite neck and flats really came alive. I'd read previously, comments saying that a graphite neck can really show up poor technique or be quite noisy as it's very clean and accurate but I'd never found this in the past until I played through the Aquilar head. I had to really focus on my technique but what I was rewarded with was a gorgeous tone that just sung. Both basses which are fretless sung beautifully. My understanding was the Tone Hammer heads are generally warm sounding but the head I played through was super clean, punchy and sparkly. The head was connected to an Eich 1x10 so that may have also played a factor in the clean tone but either way, the tone was quite special and its piped my interest. So I'm interested if anyone can comment on comparisons between the Aguilar Tone Hammer heads and the Mark Bass Little Mark heads.

I have the very same head and I'm a big fan of it. I keep toying with the idea of moving it on but every time I gig with it, I'm super happy. Its punchy and the tone shaping is versatile but even running it flat sounds great. I've also tried the MarkBass Little Mark Tube 800 and that sounded really nice as well.

Looking awesome Mick, its gonna be stunning when its finished. Keep us updated with the updates.

Bought Paddy's MXR Bass Synth pedal from him and the transaction couldn't have been easier. Superb communication throughout, super quick delivery and brilliantly packed. Paddy is great to deal with and an absolute pleasure. Many thanks.

I've have always had a really strong ear which I guess is why I gravitated to fretless but I will still work out charts with my bass as reference the same way that Mohini did. Sometimes I will work the chords out on the first listen but I will hear the chord or note and know what it is through pitch and then go back and write it out after. I was just amazed at the other girl gushing over that technique when I do that all the time and just assumed thats what everybody did. I thought she was just trying to be dramatic and play up to the camera 🤣

You sir, are amazing, thank you so much

I don't understand why the other girl was so impressed with Mohini writing charts when working out a song. This is literally exactly what I do first time listening to a song. I have books and books of charts from bands I've played for, mostly original music where I've charted out the chords. I then work out the bass line based on the groove or what I'm hearing melodically. I thought this was the norm and everyone does it this way but there was nothing impressive or amazing to me what Mohini did in this video.