molan

Last time I saw Manring he was just phenomenal. To be honest I find a lot of his stuff difficult to listen to at home but he is an astonishing player to watch. I just checked out Alex B as well - some pretty amazing stuff going on there as well. God knows what it might sound like to hear these two playing together!

I'm not sure that "best bass maker" & "future collectibles" necessarily go together? A hell of a lot of collectible basses are in that position because the original maker is dead / gone bust / gave up making them any more etc. Some of these might actually be very good but others aren't so great in terms of playability, sound & build quality. . .

Always loved this song - real floor filler Went to see Teena Marie not that long ago and they had a great pair of DJ's playing beforehand. One of them played this & the whole room was full of people singing along. There's an instrumental version as well - useful for picking out the bass line:

Currently due to be flying to the Carib that day but not 100% confirmed yet. Would really like to be there if I can

Just my 2 cents but I think it'll be worth less in black - if you decide to refin then make sure it's a 'keeper'

[quote name='Platypus' post='952385' date='Sep 11 2010, 12:18 AM']Barrie, well I tried to tell you that, back in June, when I said "Perhaps the Staccato model would have suited you more.." [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=69137&hl=Staccato&st=222"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...cato&st=222[/url] [/quote] Lol - only problem was that they were a grand back then Much cheaper now - yay

[quote name='tonewheels' post='952252' date='Sep 10 2010, 08:59 PM']And isn't it annoying when having carted either the SVT or the Hammond and Leslie (and sometimes the SVT AND the Hammond) up a fire escape to a gig, the guitarist turns up with some POS tranny amp, because "the Twin Reverb was too heavy". sounds like the Dead. [/quote] I roadied for a guy with a twin reverb for a while - he has a point I've never really been able to fathom the Dead - maybe this is why, lol

[quote name='alexisonfire' post='952186' date='Sep 10 2010, 07:48 PM'][url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ampeg-Bass-Cabinet-PR1832HE-not-Ashdown-EBS-Marshall-/110584228512?pt=UK_ConElec_SpeakersPASystems_RL&hash=item19bf556aa0"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ampeg-Bass-Cabinet-P...=item19bf556aa0[/url] Pretty crazy imo![/quote] Pretty sure one of these came up for sale here on BC at some time in the past. Supposed to sound really cool but very, very heavy, lol.

Couple of additional reasons I know of that have hit Eden prices a little. I think one is that a lot of their cabs are seriously heavy, they started producing the much lighter Nemesis series but some the heads in this range have a nasty rep for randomly failing which has damaged the name a little. I think they have only one Neo cab in their range, a 1x12. Another thing that's a shade unfortunate was when they started making the World Tour series with switchable power options. Great idea because it meant you could use them pretty much anywhere in the world (hence the WT name). However this also meant you could pick one up whilst on holiday in states for way cheaper than UK prices and/or import them for well below UK dealer margins. As soon as some of these started hitting the used market I'm sure it hit some values.

Big Welcome from me, liking those influences a lot, If you can carry a real Hammond around then it comes as no surprise that you also own an SVT & an 8x10 Have you thought about merging your bands - an experimental, psychedelic Americana band sounds like a lot of fun. . .

Oops - one thing I hadn't noticed before was that the 'factory' setting for the pre-set volume is full on. (I tested this by using the full re-set option on my RH450). This means they want you to use this to turn individual pre-sets 'down' rather than 'up' in order to balance volumes. I realise this may be semantics but it does make quite a difference to how I'm now viewing this control. My RH450 was used when I got it and the pre-set volumes were all set either very low or off so I used them to boost volumes rather than cut. After WOT's comments I raised the boost a lot higher than previously but I'm definitely now going to have my lowest volume pre-set on maximum & work down from there with the others. Am I making any sense here or just rambling, lol. . .

So - little addendum to my TC Electronics thoughts. Having got close to a sound I wanted out of my RH450 when rehearsing I was still coming up a bit short on my old favourite '80's mid-scoop sound. Still lacking that top end zing I've always liked. Went out and read lots of reviews & comparisons on the Staccato '51 and decided to take the plunge and bought one to test back to back with the RH450. I have to say I'm amazed at how different they sound 'out of the box'. I knew the frequency centres had all been changed & the top end had been opened up but the core sound of the amp seems different to me as well. Feels like there's some compression dialled in even when it's set flat & maybe a little more drive through the TubeTone as well. I'm very happy to say that the base sound with everything set flat is pretty much exactly what I was after - couldn't believe just how 'right' it sounded to me. I knew I'd like some of the top end but was worried it might be a bit too bottom heavy for me having read about this in some reviews but it's just great! The factory setting wasn't actually with everything set flat, it had the compression & the tube tone at 12:00 and this sounded very nice too, touch too much compression (although this was quite dependent on which bass was running through it). I then had a go at replicating a 'stock' RH450 tone, got vaguely close but still hearing more top end, may need to play with that a bit. Of course the big clincher is the colour - I haven't seen a single pic that really does the bright metallic red finish any sort of justice Anyone else here got/tried a Staccato - I haven't spotted any yet?

I can just picture the scene now. . . Jason (partner & general manager of the business side of Fodera) strolls over to see Joey & Vinny in the bass building area. "Hey guys, I realise that our reputation has really improved, quality control is now second to none, you two are amongst the very best bass luthiers in the world, some very highly regarded musicians are playing your basses regularly, we've got people queuing up to buy your basses & orders stacked up for the next two years and Bass Player magazine has just given our NYC range a fantastic review - I think we need to reduce our prices considerably though because not enough people can afford them - whaddya think?" . . .

[quote name='Clarky' post='950351' date='Sep 9 2010, 10:23 AM']Top of the range Alembics are typically in the $10-15,000 range (see link here for Bass Central's inventory [url="http://www.basscentral.com/alembicbass/mark_king.shtml#6strings)"]http://www.basscentral.com/alembicbass/mar...shtml#6strings)[/url]. Alembic only emplys 26 people and virtually everything is custom-made but they don't run anywhere near the high end of Fodera pricing.[/quote] Apologies for the poor cut & paste job but this is the current Alembic Base price list: Model 4-string 5-string 6-string ----------------------------------------------------------- Excel 5500 6300 7100 Epic 5500 6300 7100 Orion 5500 6300 7100 Essence 6400 7200 8000 Rogue 7500 8300 9100 Signature Std 8000 8800 9600 Europa 8400 9200 10000 Signature Dlx 10400 11200 12000 Brown Bass 9700 -- -- Spyder Limited 14800 16100 (8-string) Dragon Wing 10500 11300 -- Dragon Wing Dlx 14200 15000 -- Series I 14800 15600 16400 Series II 19500 20300 21100 Classico 18900 19900 21300 Classico Dlx 22700 23800 24100 I don't see a huge difference here to Fodera pricing? Monarch & Emperor ranges from $6,249 to $9,499, Emperor II, Imperial & Imperial II all top out at $9,499 for the neck through 6 sting variant. That puts the most expensive of their core range around the Signature mark. That leaves 4 Fodera Signature priced over $10K vs about 5 fairly distinct Alembics (I'm counting Dlx as upgrades but the SII as a distinct model). The difference in pricing from Bass Central is that they have a few Alembics that have been in stock for quite some time that they simply don't seem to be able to sell. However they are effectively selling 'futures' in Fodera stock by offering stuff for sale that's not even been built yet. Both Fodera & Alembic obviously offer their retailers discounts but it simply looks like Fodera are more in demand than Alembic and their 'street' prices are higher at the moment?

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='947769' date='Sep 6 2010, 10:49 PM']Now if you put the J pups in the P body and change the colour, you'd have my perfect individual bass... Ah that's very close to Clarky's bass! Very nice Barrie, wish we lived a whole lot closer so that I could try some of the cracking basses that you have. [/quote] I have already been scouting out prices of routing the P for a J pickup in the bridge but so far it sounds much nicer than I thought it would just with the P in there. My scales say they both weigh 8.5 lbs too. . . I am a little bit out in the middle of nowhere, only a few bass playing compadres around here (although one lives less than a mile away!)

[quote name='7string' post='947745' date='Sep 6 2010, 10:35 PM']Looks like today was a good day [/quote] It really was a complete fluke that they arrived together! Been playing them a little back to back tonight. The P has an outrageous amount of output, most powerful active circuit I've ever come across.

Surely the courier must have some sort of tracking system to work out where it was last? If it helps I once had a bass shipped to Spain & bounced all around Barcelona for about 10 days before finally turning up at the right place. When it did arrive it was in perfect condition