molan

The one that got me interested recently was seeing Lee Sklar live from a distance of about 3 metres. His Star Bass into a little Hartke head and a simple Ampeg 1x15 was simply one of the very best live bass sounds I've ever heard. I'd never have even considered a Star Bass until this but his was stunning!

It'll end up on a restaurant wall. . .

[quote name='Lw.' timestamp='1418237320' post='2628353'] Does anyone (molan) know if the new pro series will be dark wood necks German style or maple like the Korean ones? I might have to raid my savings if the bring out an affordable one with an ovankol (SP?) Neck... [/quote] As far as I know they will all have Ovangkol necks with Wenge boards (apart from fretless which are Tigerstripe ebony) except for the Star Bass which will be Maple with Ekanga veneer stripes. Is is just for the launch models. May change after that.

Andy Baxter is most definitely the man when it comes to vintage Fenders. His prices tend to start higher than others but his average quality count is a lot higher than anyone else out there. 70's Fenders vary in quality from tone to weight to fit & finish to paint flaws, trusted issues etc. etc. However, there are definitely some great ones out there. We sold a '78P recently that was just great, nice balance, not heavy, fantastic tone and superb playability. We also had a '73 that was one of the nicest we've ever had in and it went for a really low price. Both went to BassChatters which was nice to see A good 4-bolt neck J (which I prefer by a big margin over the 3 bolt models) is not going to be cheap though. It's one of the Fenders that seems to have risen in value a bit more than others recently as the '60's ones have been creeping up again. Any sort of cool custom colour can add a fair bit to price as well.

[quote name='Bo0tsy' timestamp='1418228533' post='2628201'] That's useful info - thanks Molan. Warwick also advertise a (Chinese made) Artist Line range, so am assuming these will slot somewhere in between the Rockbass' and 'New Pro-Series' ranges? [/quote] Ah, I always forget the Chinese Artist instruments! There's currently five of these available: Bootsy Trujillo P-Nut Bailey Bruce Some of these are quite a bit more than the 'everyday' Rockbass models - especially the Steve Bailey 6. I see you have a Warwick & a Washburn Bootsy bass. I used to have the Traben version, great fun but a bit unwieldy!

[quote name='40hz' timestamp='1418228679' post='2628204'] That's good to hear that the Pro models are being German made! Any reasoning why the range was so shortlived (in being made in Korea?) And also are they likely to be easy to find? [/quote] I don't know why they were discontinued I'm afraid. Having seen customer reactions in-store to anything made in the far east vs European made instruments my guess would be that having a 'made in Germany' badge will make them easier to sell and they won't depreciate as fast - this is purely personal supposition though! It does still surprise sometimes when people play a few instruments in the shop and say how much they like a particular one but then buy something different because of the name on the headstock or the country of manufacture. I can understand some of the reasons though - having spent most of my life working in big ad agencies I know a fair bit about the power of brands The new ones have quite a limited run to begin with but I'm hoping there will be some new retail outlets stocking them at launch next year

The Warwick brand will have three core variants in 2015. At the lower end is the Rockbass range made in China. The Pro Series was made in Korea but has been discontinued. Thomann are knocking out the remains of them at very cheap prices. The new Pro Series will be essentially made in Germany (over 90% German I believe and certainly enough to pass EU regs as being "made in Germany") and will be available in the UK from around April next year. At the higher end there's the Handcrafted in Germany range: Warwick series LTD Editions Signature series Also sitting in this bracket is the Custom Shop. Almost all of the Handcrafted, and Custom, range is built to order with a wait time of circa 8 weeks but can be as short as 4 weeks (damned efficient these Germans!). Any info on pricing or models feel free to PM me

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1418070271' post='2626576'] Not according to ebay. Not hitting £600 anymore. [/quote] I know someone who paid a fair bit more than £600 for an immaculate boxed one recently!

Carvin will send you one if it's the same as a current production model XB75

Had a bass in for repair because of 'major problems' recently. Strange popping noises and really didn't sound right. Owner had taken it to another dealer repair who'd taken it apart but were unable to fix it because they couldn't get a copy of the wiring diagram. Thought he'd see if we could uncover what was wrong. I put a new battery in - it's now 'fixed'

I saw George Duke live a few times, twice with Stanley Clarke and also twice with Anita Baker. Great live performer and always seems to just love being up on stage and playing!

Still in development but could be cool if they can get close to the classic sound. Prices of originals continue to rise and rise. . .

I quite enjoyed it. Didn't really learn anything new but it was a perfect Sunday afternoon diversion. The highlight for me was watching the Genius of Funk from the BBC vaults with my little 1 year old grandson. His side of the family are all into whiter than white pop music with the odd bit of modern American rock thrown in. Ever since he was born I've been joking that I was going to bring him up on soul, disco and funk and teach him all about The One from an early age. He sat watching the programme intently and was dancing away when George Clinton came on, really liked Kool & The Gang and seemed to love Stevie Wonder. Kept with it right up until the acid jazz came on and then went back to playing with his toy bus

The Osmonds have just been over - one of our very own BassChatters was on bass with them

So, I'm going to have some bias because we are Jimmy Coppolo's partner in the UK. In very general terms I think he simply makes the best vintage type J & P style basses ever. His real point of difference is that he can produce a 5 string that can compare with the very best vintage Fender you've ever heard but with an extra string We recently ran a test with a huge range of instruments and a seriously hot pro player and the AC just killed it. A lot of the others were very, very good but when it came down to it the bass we all wanted to take home was the Alleva. It was one of the most expensive but against very stiff competition it was just the best all round instrument in the room. . .

Nicest Infinity I've ever seen! Did you order it from the Custom Shop?

I'd be seriously tempted to go for a properly matched pair from a single manufacturer. I've had too many matching issues in the past to try for a mixed set. Most recent one was that a, quite expensive, set had a much weaker bridge pickup and it was no only overpowered by the P but the blend also totally failed to work. It was literally bridge only, neck only or both on full. Slightest tweak of the blend knob away from centre and the other pickup just disappeared from the mix I'm going to fit an aguilar set instead as I really like their P pickup sound

Really looking forward to these coming in. I've been gigging my AE210 for a while now and really like it. CN's are front ported and I generally prefer these to rear ported cabs.

I usually think a blocked Fender board without binding looks a bit odd but this one just seems to work somehow. Great colour too!

[quote name='Wolverinebass' timestamp='1417549369' post='2621648'] That looks fantastic. Just for the records, is the 6 driver attenuable like the optional tweeter? Just I don't see many back panel photos going on. [/quote] No attenuator for the 6. Personally I think the balance between the drivers really works well and cutting the 6 would adversely effect the tone. Obviously everyone's ears are different though

I've had a look at our shop actual selling prices and there's definitely not been a used bass price spike from our stock. The odd thing (given that we have to charge VAT, card fees and have relatively higher overheads to cover) is that EBay list prices are regularly higher than we're selling at. I've also seen used prices in other places as well that are almost as high as some new values. This is especially true of continental Europe pricing where new values (of anything not available for bulk purchase by Thomann) are sometimes a lot higher than UK.

I think it's a great little combo but if you're up against loud drummers and guitarists you might struggle unless you're using the DI into the PA as well. It's a while since I've tried one back to back with a 102P but I think the 102 would be louder. Adding the NY121 makes a huge difference, one of my favourite small rigs. Although it's more money, the Alain Caron combo goes a lot louder than the 121P. Discontinued now but some people (including the shop I work at) we heavily discounting the Alain C earlier this year.

They're not mutually exclusive either - try experimenting with both at the same time