BaggyMan

The one i have hankered after since first seeing it in the 90's yet only seen a couple and always in photos, never in the flesh.. the Peavey b quad 4. Never played one but just wow...what a bass. Rare as heck, mad and unreliable electronics.....maybe its a never meet your hero's moment bass wise..

So, who out there bought into the signature bass market? and how did it work out. My stories 1. Billy Sheehan Guitar 1. A Yamaha ltd pacifica, budget friendly "single out with a guitar hum bucker at the neck" version. Needed a fret job to prevent blood loss, in the end. Swapped out the bucker for a real Dimarzio, good sounding bass. also added a d-tuner that never got used. Looked the part though. Guitar 2. A proper £1000+ Mk1 Billy Sheehan Pacifica. Huge in every way, sound neck. Beast of a bass. Conclusion: The proper one sounded great ...as long as you wanted 'that Billy' sound. seems like a dumb thing to expect it to be all things to all men...but its was brilliant at its job but nothing outside (cue: howls of Pacifica owner rage comments..) 2. Geddy Lee Bought in early to this and got a CIJ Jazz. What a bass..loved it.clanky and very Geddy like. Terrible machine heads... Conclusion: More like a Jazz than a 'Geddy only' bass. Great neck (marmite comment I know some people dont like thin necks). A mate of mine owned a twin neck Wal for a spell (he collected Wal's..) apparently the number 2 of 2 originally designed for Jonas Hellborg, midi, fretless huge. In the end a novelty coffee table sized bass. So who else...Macca hofner, the fella from the foo's p bass, more exotic one off's . Interested how people have get on trying to swim in the same pool as their hero's...Was it worth it?

Have owned a bunch over the years but cream of the crop have been Yamaha 425x Sire V3 (astonishing value for money). I have one for sale but even new they are in your price range Sire V7, secondhand they are a good buy Ibanez BTB - fancy woods big and chunky bass, monorail bridge. Nice all round bass

good chat folks.

the whole 'what wood from where' debate is another level of confusion. I asked a question about what companies were the most environmentally aware in a letter to bass player magazine years ago. The answers were really interesting. Yamaha were amazing in that they manage their own wood supply from land they own, any off cuts are used to generate power etc. other side of the coin Mr Peavey referred to me as a tree hugger and the last time he flew over the amazon there seemed to be a lot of trees....that aside its actually a really murky business as illegally logged tree look just like managed one when cut up into guitar shapes. Going back to the thread i do hope that things like roast maple is an alternative to quickly vanished tropical hardwoods and that we start valuing the latter more so than we do. (step down off high horse...and relax).

Maybe we will be seeing standard maple necks with roasted boards as well..

I have seen that Sire are already offering it on the v10 series and have seen a Chinese make that is on the up called Shijie and they aren't boutique prices (not cheap though so I guess prices are still going to come down..)

As a veteran of owning many basses, with Maple on maple, rosewood on maple, even ebony on mahogany necks...whats the deal with roasted maple, its right up there with the worlds new obsession with gin and IPA beer ( I challenge you to find a non Guinness stout in a supermarket...). Saw Ernie Ball mentioning that it crystallises the resin structure or the like. Is it a reaction to the lockdown on rosewood? Its was nowhere a couple of years ago and its blooming all over the place. And whilst we're at it why isn't mahogany controlled more tightly....it aint planted its just cut down, yet guitar company's are now selling models in their ranges which are mahogany bodied cheaper than the ash or whatever versions (sire v3 vs Sire v7 for example).