molan

Was this Yolanda Charles' bass? I think it was up at £6,500 but was about to be withdrawn.

[quote name='drTStingray' timestamp='1350493912' post='1839692'] Forgive me for asking, but are you guys playing authentic 60s music on these - I could imagine the sound fitting a Beach Boys tribute or something, but NOT a Beatles one. I like the 71 - lovely wood - not so sure about the metalwork though but it's your bass etc. Is that one ash and the others alder? I also like the LPB. [/quote] No 60's music here, the only one I've played on a lot is the '63 and that's mostly been rock/funk type stuff Funnily enough I've never really thought about playing a particular bass for a style of music based on its age. Only time I can think of was for some Motown & Stax where an old '63P really nailed the core tone. The '63 & '65 are mine and the hardware on the '71 wouldn't be my first choice (although I'm actually warming to it, lol). Not sure about the body wood but it does look like it's probably ash. Given the age it would have been a trans white / blonde I think.

Should be able to add the Herbie Flowers Rep next week & can put my '78J in the ring as well. I've really got the sound of each bass firmly established in my head now. So much so that I heard something earlier & decided to play along and immediately knew that the '64 was going to sound best. I then tested each of them & I was right

[quote name='SoVeryTired' timestamp='1350473267' post='1839255'] I'm not one for the deliberately relic'd basses, but that LPB is sweeeet! [/quote] It's not deliberate - it really has been played a lot, lol

I've borrowed a couple of old Fenders to compare to my two and it's really interesting to play them back to back. Each has their own distinct sound & character & each feels slightly different to play. I have my personal favourites, based more upon tone than looks, but thought I'd ask the BC 'massive' which one they thinks looks the most attractive. . . Top line details are: '63 Sea Foam Green - old refinish showing wear, amazing neck, great snappy tone, really good for more agressive rock or slap - my 'reference' vintage J '64 Three Tone Sunburst - newer refinish, slightly faded 3TS, wider than standard frets, neck refin in gloss, bright and very full sound, goes deeper than the '63 but doesn't quite have the zing at the top end '65 Lake Placid Blue - another old refin and this one has seem some serious wear, all those dings are genuine & not a fake relic job, neck is also a refin but nicely worn and has a great profile, darkest sounding of the bunch, would probably work really well with flats '71 Cherry Sunburst - refinished a while ago and heavily modified, all hardware replaced but body, neck & pickups original, super thin neck re-profile with binding in natural maple and neck sanded smooth, really nice to play and the tightest, most focussed of the 4, relatively low output requires some bottom end boost to compete with the other 3

I reported it as fraudulent last night - hope no-one has paid up for it yet

The thing that would concern me is that the seller uses 'we' inferring it's from a dealer of some kind. If so they wouldn't let an original '58 run on an open auction like this. And then there's the issue of zero feedback for 2 years (and actually only 1 item in 2010, everything else is older than 2008) and all old feedback is for trainers, old nokia phones etc. It wouldn't have tempted me to open my wallet. . .

If you like the Wal filter based tone controls then am Alembic might work for you. Some of them can also be very heavy and/or oddly balanced but worth looking out for a nice one

If it didn't have the protective film it could get scratched in packing (I know how easily this can be done). Better to suffer the joys of peeling plastic than getting annoyed that your new bass has scratches on it

I moved to 5's when I was in a band with a female singer who kept dropping the keys on everything she sang to a point where I was 'falling off the end of the fretboard' (our male singer didn't have this issue and de-tuning my bass would have messed up quite a few things for me in covering his songs). I used various 5's for a while and really got to like them. I discovered that I much preferred narrower 17mm spacing though. When the female singer left I didn't really need the B any more and went back to 4's. Now I tend to use the skinniest necks possible on a 4 & 5's feel huge to me. Generally much happier with my 4's now - only vague thing tempting me to a 5 is a narrow spaced 33" scale E to C. This is, of course, something I'd hardly ever need or use but I like the 'idea' of them, lol.

[quote name='Shockwave' timestamp='1350251415' post='1836498'] Hmm, I may have to make the trip! I reckon A Wal might do me good. As long as its not a club neck one. But the cost is enormous! Rob. [/quote] The Wals are really interesting to play but generally too heavy for me The dark horses, although certainly not shrinking violets (sorry on a bit of a metaphor kick this evening it seems!), are the Ritters. My personal #1 bass is a Ritter Cora 4 string. Solid flamed maple body, ebony board, super-slinky neck & 33.3" scale. When I first saw them I thought they looked cool but had no idea they would play / sound the way they do. As my sig may imply I'm currently selling basses en masse simply because the Ritter seems to have ousted almost everything else I've owned. There's still some passion for really nice vintage Fenders, my '63J is #2 bass at the moment but the only thing I have any sort of GAS for is possibly another Ritter but in different body woods to give some more sound options. They are serious money of course but, by flogging almost all my other gear, I feel i can justify the expense PS - The invite to Bg is not so I can flog you anything, it's genuinely meant as an offer for you to have a good blast on a few interesting basses without any hassle / pressure to buy

[quote name='Shockwave' timestamp='1350250190' post='1836454'] It was a 1987 Thumb. Lovely sound. Neck was too thin. I have also owned a Warwick LX4 and a NT Thumb 4 mid 90's ones. Sound was lacking in those two. [/quote] There's a monster wide necked Warwick 6 string Thumb at BG Towers too - I haven't tried to play it, it frightens me and I think it bites

Pick a day when I'm minding the store at BassGear and you can play all day if you want At the moment the interesting/different 5's in stock include: A pair of Wals Nordy VP5 Two very different Ritters Two bolt-on Wood & Tronics Laurus T900 Modulus Quantum Pedulla Pentabuzz Zon US Sonus Alembic fretless Fodera Anthony Jackson double cut bolt-on F Bass BN5 Probably some more but these are the ones I can actually remember. Phil the owner has a pair of Shuker P5's and there's a few 'reference' 4's like vintage Fenders, a Ricky, couple of interesting Musicmen etc an there's also some 6's and a 7 in stock too. You really would be welcome to play for as long as you like - if nothing else you might knock some brands off your list, lol.

USPS will route through Parcelforce who will charge you £8 admin costs. That's how much I get charged anyway, doesn't make any difference if the item is worth £10 or £1,000. They slow the process down a bit as well sometimes. Item hits UK, goes to local Parcelforce office and then they post you a notification and you pay the duties and their charge before they release it. Can sometimes add a week to the process

[quote name='tedgilley' timestamp='1350077252' post='1834459'] Thanks, Molan and Fretless, I have a 4-ohm 2x10, so I expect that'll do it. Our trio has no drummer, so volume is not usually the top priority. Thanks for your help. tg [/quote] Not sure what the difference in pricing is between the BX250 head and the BX500. The 500 is about 2" deeper & 4" wider but, into 4ohms it's delivering 500w and only costs about £359. Your Schroeder will take the extra power if you needed it and with 102db sensitivity it ought to go pretty loud

I saw Vic as the 'house bassist' backing Bootsy Collins (who only sang) at a gig about 2 years ago. No flashy stuff, no slap-fest just great solid funky grooves and a huge smile on his face throughout. I really like the fact that he always seems to be having the most fun whenever he plays & he seems like a really nice guy as well

I've tried both the Micro-Bass 1x15 and 2x10 combos at BassGear & thought they were pretty cool Pretty good value at around £470 too: [url="http://www.bassgear.co.uk/bass-amps/carvin-amps-cabs/"]http://www.bassgear....rvin-amps-cabs/[/url] My favourite for overal tone was the 1x15 but I liked the way the 2x10 was designed to stand with the speakers vertically - ideal for rehearsals and smaller gigs. They run at 200w into 8ohms & add the extra 50w into 4ohms. I reckon the 1x15 combo with the matching 1x15 extension cab would be a really nice small lightweight set up. They come in tweed & snakeskin too

[quote name='Blademan_98' timestamp='1349908957' post='1832271'] Not a lot of love for Muse on this forum........ I recently designed the power distribution system for their latest tour. I am really proud of it and wish them all the best [/quote] I'd much rather listen to the gentle hum of your sound distribution system than any of the noise the band might put through it