BassTractor

Neighbours' cats are called Limp and Bizkit. No resonance though, or music-related theme. 😉

Both my Ps were '50s ones, built roughly 15 years ago. I hear today's CVs might be of slightly lower quality, but I myself am not knowledgeable on the subject, and others can probably help a lot better.

+1 My Squier Classic Vibes (two Ps and two Js) have consistently impressed bass players more than my EBMM StingRays and Bongos (San Luis Obispo ones) have. That of course was also related to their price point.

IMO, rolling eyes are an aggressive form of communication devoid of facts or analysis, and the person using them tends to remain free from responsibility. IMO, rolling eyes are the tool of the coward. Also, @BigAlonBass's words "they deserve nothing less" tell a lot more about him than about these people. Who are you, BigAlonBass, to judge what people deserve? All I know of you is that you consistently have trouble understanding simple humour in the Funny Memes thread, and that you consistently cry out loud, demanding that people dumb down their humour so that even you can understand it. Do you REALLY think that YOU are the person to judge what other people deserve? My stomach turns.

Yup. Very, very unlikely to be a MIDI pedalboard. Just a typical brand-specific or semi-brand-specific pedal set. Those came with a wide variety of plugs and systems, though I don't remember the specifics. One of mine for example had a 27 pin connector.

Oh, there's also a phenomenon I can't explain, but I believe it's real enough. When I listen to my crappy tv speakers, while browsing BassChat on my laptop for example, I often look up in surprise, as, when someone in a film plays music over their Hi-Fi, it's easy to hear whether their Hi-Fi is any good. I often comment-in-my-head: "Oh, that's a good system .... but how the Hull can I hear that?" Good+crappy > crappy+crappy, and markedly so.

That, and all the other known stuff, and also someting I see mentioned few times: people's ears and pre-conceptions. The shop I worked in was up-market. We once organised a day of listening, and twas done so the listeners didn't get to know which gear they heard (dark stage, thin veil between gear and audience - lit from audience's side). People started bickering as they all heard different, often opposed, things. - "Way too scooped sound!" - "You're crazy! Way too little bass and treble!" - "Way to open! Tiring! It's that demn veil!" - "Way too compressed! It's that demn veil!" You get the drill. Twas the last day I was a fanatic. It's easy to point at a weakness the CS 505 has: it's harder to tweak than most more expensive decks. There's also the point that with a cheap Dual like that, there are more measurable differences between individual units. (We had a system for that, Ortofon perhaps, which tested the unit and printed a report.) Point remains: Put an Ortofon MC30 on the Dual and also on an SME on the GyroDec, and, to our ears, one could live very happily with the modest Dual. Oh, another story. We were to start selling Cabasse speakers. Listened to their most expensive model and were seriously underwhelmed. However, me listening concentrated, with closed eyes, I suddenly startled at a certain sound, and opened my eyes as I thought the importer was joking with us by playing a real instrument in the room. Of course the importer wasn't, and that "real instrument in the room" was actually the sound from those Cabasse speakers. Whoa! Also, during the 1812 Overture, I was obviously sitting in the wrong chair: the cannon shot right through my chest and I died on the spot. That's Hi-Fi! 😉

Maybe I should've worded more carefully. I do not know how it would rate compared to newer players like the Projects. All I know is that in the eighties, when I worked in a Hi-Fi shop, we compared it with expensive players like the Michell GyroDec, and the differences were minimal. From that perspective, I see no reason to ditch a 505 in 2025; one wouldn't ditch a GyroDec either, I presume.

Whatever you choose, @bass_dinger, do not underestimate the modest CS505. It's both a magnificent player and a keeper. Mine's from 1982 or so, and probably needs a new belt now. Different models exist with different heads, and I can't be very specific, but if yours is the model with the dedicated cartridges under a non-standard head, it's relatively easy to change the head so it can take standard cartridges. Me, I eventually went for a moving coil (and the arm in that case needed some extra counter-weight), and also exchanged the rubber platter cover with a thicker, softer one.

... and a very prog Xmas to you! (Yeah, that thing's a classic already, and the thread title did indeed nearly give it away. A prog Xmas can only be this or Rick Wakeman in Santa's cape, and I prefer this.)

Just ordered an MPC Key 37, and I blame you guys. Demn you all. I had no idea about this type of product, but I get the idea there's a lot of fun built into that thing, and that it integrates well with a DAW. Also, with limited width and weight, for travelling, right now it looks handier than my four-octave keyboard + desktop synth. Now wary of the above mentioned paralysis and unintuitivity, but I'll try and treat those as much needed training for the grey cell. Thanks, guys! Bert

Demn you, @Leonard Smalls! I'm too poor to read your posts!

Yes: The Fish My life ain't complete without it, and no list of bass instrumentals is either. 🙂

I seemed to remember playing through an Ohm with two footswitches in a plastic housing, but I needed Google to help me. Here's what its AI Overview opined: "One user on an online forum did recall a specific, otherwise generic-looking bass amp that inexplicably had a built-in flanger, which might be the one you are thinking of." Righto! We have our answer!