molan

I hear the range is coming to the UK and available for demos very soon. . .

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1410090273' post='2545962'] Thomann play with MB prices all the time. I keep a weekly watch on their prices across a number of key products and it's really interesting, from a retailer perspective, to watch their 'dynamic' pricing policy. [/quote] Spotted an example of this yesterday - Thomann put up their Aguilar prices by a huge amount after a summer of heavy discounting. The TH500 head had dropped right down to £475 last week and it rose to £630 yesterday! Same kind of price rise across the TH350 and SL112 cabs as well. They are now more expensive than many UK stockists on these. It'll be interesting to see what happens with MarkBass. It's a very different brand and a lot more stockists than Aguilar so they may try to hold these lower prices to force the market. . .

[quote name='M@23' timestamp='1410101632' post='2546095'] Sort of on topic, sort of not... where is a good place to buy from the UK at the moment then? I wouldn't mind picking up a Micromark for rehearsals! [/quote] Are you rehearsing with a drummer? I love the MicroMark but tried one at a full band rehearsal recently and it wasn't really loud enough. Just about ok as a personal monitor but not enough oomph for the rest of the band to hear properly and we wouldn't normally DI the bass at rehearsal (although that is an option for us). I also took it to a small acoustic gig and it works brilliantly. Easily loud enough for stage volume and was in the foh mix as well. Forgot to add earlier that the £635 price at Thomann is actually higher than it was this time last month (albeit only by a few quid!).

MarkBass pricing changes from month to month as MB and, I think, their distributors test the market to see what price things will sell at. There were some very good offers available to in July and August - some of these were passed on to customers whilst others were held as higher margin (also to offset against unsold stock purchased at higher prices). There's no obvious differentiation between Italian and Indonesian made stock. In fact a couple of the very best bargain offers recently were on Italian made items. There's a couple particular combos from higher up the MB range that have been available at great prices recently - I know of a couple of BassChatters that have taken advantage of these recently Thomann play with MB prices all the time. I keep a weekly watch on their prices across a number of key products and it's really interesting, from a retailer perspective, to watch their 'dynamic' pricing policy. They often take a lead, high selling, item from a manufacturer's range and discount it really heavily as a promotional item which helps to bring in new customers and can push people towards other, potentially higher margin, items as well. Euro to £ (and $) does have a significant effect. This is really helping on import pricing at the moment (although it's screwing exports so not always great for the market as a whole).

DR Ducks Ax-Wax is great for fretboards (plus the rest of a guitar too!).

[quote name='Highfox' timestamp='1409824973' post='2543619'] They are nice amps. It's always the old story that it may sound totally different in a live mix, where you might not need or hear all those highs. I have sometimes used a passive jazz with mine and never been found wanting more highs.. personal taste as you say. Enjoy the amp. [/quote] Another great Aguilar trait is that they always seem to sound great in a live band mix

Carvin flats are La Bellas without the fancy packaging.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1409586148' post='2541195'] My Av didn't like that link, Barrie, Deffo doesn't like it [/quote] That's happened before - it works fine on my iMac, Macbook, ipad & iPhone! Maybe it's optimised for Apple devices, lol.

What are you worried about the drive being unusable?

Based on the relative US price it ought to come into the UK at around £100 - circa 30% lower than a Vertigo.

I have to be honest and say that if I walked into a bar and heard those vocals I'd be turning right around and heading straight back out again

Paul Turner uses a TH500 (same pre amp as the 350) for all of his club gigs - he gets a fabulous slap sound

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1409426827' post='2539657'] It's become a bit of a tradition for me... [/quote] I haven't played at my own wedding but I did get to play a couple of songs with the band I booked for my daughter's wedding this year. They were stupidly good : http://www.swaytheband.com/

[quote name='njr911' timestamp='1409307166' post='2538480'] Re-issuing the originals a bit too faithfully ? [/quote] Funnily enough we had a '75 in at one point for a set up, neck shim & repair to a protruding truss rod and the luthier said he'd seen exactly the same issues on original late 70's Jazzes

[quote name='bakerster135' timestamp='1409301726' post='2538400'] Having played a lot of AVRI Fenders, I don't agree with this. The 64 Jazz basses I've played have been good, but they don't feel as nice as the previous 62 reissues do to me. [/quote] In very general terms I think some of the older '62's were better than the previous '64's but all of the latest '64's I've played have been in a differen league to both of the older models. Of course, Fender have been making reissue instruments for years (from early '80's I think) and Fender's QC over such an extended period has been all over the place. My thoughts about the latest ones being better than the previous ones are based simply on the upgraded models that came out last year vs the ones available directly before them. The 74's vs 75's also seem nicer to me and QC on these definitely seems a lot better. There are some very nice '75's out there but there are also some real dogs which nasty neck pockets and all sorts of truss rod issues

The latest reissue series is a quality step up from the previous models. Better finished, more of a vintage feel,,custom wound pickups etc.,etc. Definitely nicer and worth more than the earlier series

I traded basses with Henno & everything went incredibly smoothly - great guy and really nice to deal with. International currency stuff all sailed through very easily as well

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1408796094' post='2533536'] Phenowood 😊 thanks I'll get in touch with them see what they say ! [/quote] I've got Julian's details if you need them. He's more of a phone guy than email (mostly because he's usually working solidly all day and can't get to emails until evenings). I speak to him very regularly so happy to ask him for you if you need any help

[quote name='Sibob' timestamp='1408715802' post='2532896'] Maybe those [color=#000000][font=Calibri, sans-serif]guys in the ori[/font][/color][font="Calibri, sans-serif"][color="#000000"]ginal post would simply benefit from bein[/color][/font][color=#000000][font=Calibri, sans-serif]g told?! [/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=Calibri, sans-serif]Si[/font][/color] [/quote] I did tell the first guy that it was my bass and amp when he failed to understand how to un-mute a tuner pedal. Given how he didn't seem to have any interest in being a sympathetic player to the rest of his 'band' and couldn't be bothered to say thanks for letting him use my gear I didn't think he'd take any 'constructive criticism' of his playing very well

Is it a phenowood or pay ferro board? Composite neck Zons will have the former and wooden neck the latter. The phenowood definitely needs someone who's worked with it before. The Gallery is definitely a good call,if you're in London. Julian Mullen is the person we use at our shop west of London and he's very good as well.

I have an MB Blackline sitting next to me right now. I really like it as a low cost lightweight head. It won't fit in a bass gig bag pocket though. The GK is a great little amp and that will definitely fit in a lot of gig bag front pockets.

Totally agree with what Chris says. Both of these amps will outperform a lot of other models with similar power ratings. The Aguilar will have the greater headroom but it's more expensive - but only by maybe £125 if you shop around.