molan

[quote name='karlfer' timestamp='1482227413' post='3198550'] As ever Barrie is bang on right. I set my basses up like Sheehan does, there's always a little bit of buzz. When I (embarrassingly inevitably) move one on courtesy of the next shiny toy, I always set them back up to Fender spec. Even though that is really only considered a starting point. Always difficult for a shop BUT a little play before putting them on the wall might highlight any work and help sales. Not for box shifters though. [/quote] We always play everything - that's part of the fun of the job, lol Had a few horror stories but, luckily, not too many. No specific brand particularly bad. Had a couple of earlier Mex Fenders with nasty fretting but US always good.

[quote name='Mykesbass' timestamp='1482232047' post='3198602'] But if you felt the customer was a serious prospect would you not have accommodated them and given the set-up a quick tweak to their satisfaction? I never bough a bass from you guys, but Phil was very obliging when I bought an amp there. [/quote] Absolutely. I often changed the setup on a bass for a customer. The problem is/was that a lot of customers neither ask nor comment on the action in the store. They pick something up, try it, don't like it and walk away (and some then complain about the action on a bass forum, lol). Of course - this may not have been the case in the OP's example. Some basses do arrive with awful setups and need a bit of work. Some come in just perfect though. The brand that always got me was Sadowsky Metro - most of them would arrive from Tokyo in about 2 days and have a near perfect setup. Many of them were in tune too!

[quote name='Burrito' timestamp='1482228932' post='3198567'] Fender make mass produced products and they usually aren't set up well in the shops. A quick professional set up usually transforms any instrument. Also worth noting that new woods shift around so occasionally a new instrument takes time to settle down. [/quote] Time of year makes a huge difference too. Most retailers don't have the money (certainly in today's financial climate) to keep overnight temperatures reasonably close to daytime when the store is open. Changes in temperature and humidity can make a lot of difference to a guitar's action. We first discovered this when we moved location to a store with warm air heating - it played havoc with setup and tuning in the main display room. In general we'd go over the entire stock every spring and autumn to try and get things nicely set up but some things still moved around a fair bit. I remember a dual trussrod Alembic that was an absolute bitch to get just right and it always moved around with temp and humidity changes!

[quote name='Mykesbass' timestamp='1482220135' post='3198482'] When it comes to poor set up that really is the shop's responsibility. It amazes me that the one thing a bricks and mortar shop has over the likes of Thomann is that they can ensure every instrument from a beginner's cheapie, through to a custom shop Fender are absolutely perfect ( and still they don't)!! [/quote] It depends on what your idea of perfect is. I first discovered this when I set up a Fodera with a super low action. To me it was perfect, so easily playable that I could almost glide around the board with the lightest touch. Imagine my surprise when I saw a review here on BC from a player saying he couldn't understand what the fuss was about with Foderas. He'd tried it and found it unplayable - buzzy, clangy and not able to get a decent tone because of this. There is a middle ground set up to a set of Fender specifications for a bass. I've used that as a general start point but found that a lot of younger players say it's too high and complain about the action.

[quote name='PaulGibsonBass' timestamp='1482189527' post='3198406'] I think it's less about deriding people who are good at what they do, and more about some people's suspicion of anything that's perceived as being unauthentic or insincere. [/quote] Wouldn't that mean that no-one can play the blues any more?

Definitely one of my least favourite Alembics (although I prefer it to the Epic). Neither of them balance brilliantly and they don't really feel like 'proper' Alembic basses to me. If they didn't have the name on the headstock I'm not sure they'd fetch the kind of values they've risen up to now. Having said this, I realise I'm comparing them to other Alembic instruments costing near twice the price so the comparison is a bit unfair. Could be a good starter bass as an introduction to the brand but could leave you with major GAS for one of the more expensive ones, lol

[quote name='ians' timestamp='1482187084' post='3198371'] But they've already made billions...its hideous. [/quote] I never understand this point of view. It seems a very British thing to hate success and deride those people that are really very good at what they do.

[quote name='ians' timestamp='1482140947' post='3197866'] they've put out an album that will simply sell to the millions and make more millions....hugely dissapointing. [/quote] Wish I could be so dissapointing 😉

Their support team are good and very helpful - lucky really as, unfortunately, they get a lot of faults I've not seen one fail completely but every single one we've had in the store has had to have some work done on it. Usually just cracked and/or crackly knobs and we did get one with the send/return issue as well.

I gave it a quick listen in the car and thought it was ok and rather liked Mick's voice. Will try and give it another go on decent speakers today if I get time

How about Smoke on the Water?

I really don't like the J-Retro circuits either. I've bought a few basses that came with J-Retros fitted and I've removed each one pretty quickly. I always find them too over the top. To me a good onboard circuit should be genuinely usable. I want to be able to use the full travel of a control to subtly adjust my tone. With the J-Retro I have to be so careful because the level of boost and cut is so extreme. Twist one a bit too far live and it can be way too excessive. I also find them too 'active' and a bit artificial sounding and not as 'organic' as some other pre-amps out there. I guess if you want to sit at home and use the pre-amp to set up a core tone that you're going to use live and not adjust it then it could work. Of course - this is just me, I know lots of people love them, lol

This happened to me this year. My bank could not get the money back and the police have passed it around between different divisions but have essentially said they aren't going to bother doing anything. They have the name of the person and their bank account details too. In my case I appearednti be buying from a very knowledgable guy but it turned out to be a scamming young girl. I found evidence of him/her all over the place getting money from at least 7-8 other people. Really quite professional too. Never selling the same item twice and categories as diverse as guitars, bicycles, golf clubs, fishing gear, car parts etc. Even with all this evidence the police weren't interested. I wrote to my MP too. Got a nice letter back saying he couldn't be arsed to do anything either. . .

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1481967048' post='3196574'] I wasn't much interested in meeting Bill. It was the girl on the cover of Sunburst Finish that I wanted to meet. [/quote] That would have put you ahead of Bill - he wasn't allowed to attend the photo shoot. Partly the wishes of the model for a closed set but also because his wife wouldn't let him 😁

I spoke to Bill a couple times earlier this year. Such a nice guy and very humble. He seemed impressed / surprised that I might even know who he was!

As a retailer I've been involved in the sale of a huge number of cabs from people including: Aguilar Bergantino Hartke Carvin tks Engineering MarkBass Bag End ATS Gallien Krueger Phil Jones Warwick Mesa Genzler Plus lots of other pre-owned cabs The designs have been hugely varied with porting front & rear and fully enclosed cabs. Prices have ranged from as low as about £50 up to £1,300. In all this time, across all these products and all these price points and cabinet designs I can only ever remember one returned with a blown driver. Maybe our customers don't push their cabs hard or maybe, with modern designs and construction, this isn't really much of an issue any more. . .

I have three at the moment: Aguilar TLC Diamond Bass Comp Demeter Compulator I'd say the Diamond is the most 'musical' of the three. The Demeter is the easiest to set up and also sounds quite organic. However it's the TLC that goes out gigging. I can set it to just round things out whilst still being transparent. I find it especially good for getting my D & G strings closer to matching volume of the E & A. Especially up around frets 2-5. I'm sure it's just my crappy technique but I often find that area of the neck sounding a bit thin and the TLC just seems to work live to give them a bit more punch I find this repeatedly with Aguilar pedals (in fact with most of their gear) - they just work really well in a live gigging situation.

I've listened to a lot of Indonesian MB amps & cabs and can't tell the difference. I do know that the incidence of repair and warranty claims is way lower since moving away from Italian construction. In terms of weight there were some early cabs that came in a bit heavier, mostly 210's I think, but that was soon sorted and everything went back to previous weights. Personally the improved build quality, and lower warranty issues, would make me choose Indonesian over Italian made MB products.

Kanye. . .

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1481560142' post='3193290'] All Rosewood? That's about 90% of the basses that have ever been made! Travelling bass players had better have maple or graphite fretboard basses just for touring. [/quote] Yep - all rosewood, age doesn't matter. Requires a certificate to ship across international borders. Touring musicians with personal instruments may be exempt. Could depend on just how many basses someone might have. Certainly a single bass per person ought to be ok. Most news reports so far are from a US perspective and, from what I've seen, it's unclear how 'Europe' will be treated. It's possible that moving across the EU may be OK. Obviously, post Brexit we'll be outside the EU so would have to get certs to sell or import to EU markets. Last time I had to apply for a CITES cert from US it cost $100 plus maybe $25 for admin. UK VAT and duties then get added on top so that could be £125 on the cost of a bass. . .