xgsjx

I've spied this too. https://www.bax-shop.co.uk/right-handed-bass-guitar/sandberg-classic-special-5-string-bokote-top-fretless Bax have some great prices!

With the ones I've tried, they usually pale in comparison to having a dedicated pedal for the job. Though I've never tried the RH450, so I've no idea if the overdrive on it is good or not. You make a point though. A guitarist friend has a Kempler & it sounds pretty good (though for the money, it damn well should do).

I had a Stingray Lead with a built in spring reverb. Looked something like this. I'd probably be wearing my rose tinted specs if I were to tell you how it sounded.

I don't think tacked on compressors or octavers are a good thing. An amp really should just have input & output gain & some tone controls. Leave the effects to dedicated units.

Sounds like a message to Skelf could be on the cards next month (I'm moving house first). @CameronJ, I'm up in Perth (not Oz, thankfully), but soon to move down to Falkirk, so ACG would be a little over an hour's drive away (about 70 miles). Though I'm not against the idea of a wee drive down to Warwick & London. If I wait until July/August, I'll hopefully have a lekky car, so no congestion charge. Guitar Guitar stock Sandberg, so a trip to Glasgow/Edinburgh is imminent too.

Some good suggestions. I never thought ACG or Shuker would be in my price range. I think I'll have to take another look at both. I like most of Skelf's designs & the Shuker Uberhorn with the infinity fretboard is rather tasty too (though I'm pretty sure that one's gonna be about £1k over budget at least!). Status basses are a good shout. & the Celinder does look the part (even for a F***er lookalike ).

I'm looking at getting a nice 5er in the next couple of months & looking for suggestions on what basses I should definitely try. I'm going to try as many basses as I can & then hopefully narrow it down. I'd really like a fretless, but it's not 100% (probably about 75% set on fretless). I've spent ages going over different ideas on the Maruszczyk configurator & the Sandberg one too. I'm not a fan of the traditional shapes (e.g. Fender clones), but it's not a dealbreaker. The Warwick Alien fretless 5 seems to tick a lot of boxes on paper, but I've not tried one (yet). I'm also a fan of Dingwall basses (having played one a decade ago in Vegas & kick myself to this day for not buying it! I had the money too). I've drooled over some of Skelf's instruments & I'd love to get a UK built bass, but I think they're a wee bit out my budget. I can go a little over £2k, but I'd rather be under & have spare pennies to maybe spend on a DI pedal. If you had about £2k to spend on a bass, what would you get?

Cheers guys. It sounds like you guys are pretty happy with your basses. I'm not a fan of the "F***er" shape of the Elwood & Jake, but I like the options & colours. The Frog is a better looking instrument (IMO of course), so I'm looking at that & some of the other models. Oh so many choices!

One for the owners... How are you finding the build quality? I’m looking for a new bass in the £2k region (or less). I’ve come up with a few great looking & well spec’d basses, but I read that some of the components such as screws are of poor quality.

Would the extra power to that 3rd cab be worth it? It's likely going to be a different volume to the other 2 cabs. What about putting it in the same loop as the other 2 cabs? I know it means the full watts aren't coming from the amp, but if it's loud, what does that matter? It'd certainly be kinder to the amp's circuitry than trying to get a 4Ω load.

Looking at the pics of basses above, it looks like the fumed oak could be anywhere between both. The first pic looks like your top pic & the last one looks the same as the lower pic. The other one (not my post, that's ebony) looks like it's in between.

I'm diggin silver & white.

Cheers. That's given me more to look at. As if choosing wasn't hard enough!

Oooh. I didn't know Sandberg had a configurator. Just had a play about & made this..> Anyone know if the prices include a 1/2 decent case?

That's a more sensible point. But a punchy amp through a punchy 1x15 is going to be more punchy than a punchy amp through my vintage sounding 4x10.

Speaker diameter doesn't come into it. I'm pretty sure that Super Twin (which is 2x12) is punchier than my EBS 4x10. It's more to do with the speaker voicing & cab design. There's a lot of good suggestions, though I thought the Orange Terror was not so good at "Clean"? Though having never played one, I wouldn't have a clue.

Cheers for the pointer. I'm gonna have a look. So far, my IEMs have been a pair of Apple earbuds.

That's a couple of rather nice basses. I do want a 5. I've found a few songs where I'd rather be going down that up with an octaver & there's quite a few songs in my repertoire that I play drop D. Oh, & I'm a flatwound convert. Doesn't matter if it's a fretless or not, it'll get strung with flats.

I’ve looked at the Sires a few times. Seem like good basses for the money. I might end up going for a fretted 5 for @ £1600 & get a sire fretless too. Worth a thought.

Thanks for the kind offer, but I’m a bit far from you. I’m up in Perth (other side of Edinburgh).

That's a nice bass, only if it had 1 more string & not in sunburst (I'm not a fan of sunburst).

If I go fretless, it's pretty much a fretless jazz bass. The majority of ones I've played in the past were Fender Jazz basses (though the Breedlove was rather nice too, hence considering the Warwick Alien). Don't get me wrong though, I do appreciate your input & advice. I'm still very much in 2 minds.

If I go custom fretless (or fretted), I know exactly what I'm wanting. I've already spec'd up the bass, from the woods right down to the neck radius, preamp & pick ups. I've done the same for the fretted. It's the choice of whether I go fretless or not.

As much as I love Ibbys, I want something a little different. I like the idea of a custom made bass, such as a Maruszczyck. I also really like the idea of a fretless electroacoustic for when I'm doing folk stuff (Warwick Alien looks great, as does the Gillett basses). I currently play in a rock band, but come July, I'll no longer be in that band. The next band won't be a rock band. I really can't stand the constant sound of distorted guitars anymore. I suggested for a song that the guitarist played clean at certain parts & his response was "I don't do clean". Anyway, next band will be anything but Rock. RnB, Electronica, Funk, Soul, Jazz, Folk, anything at all apart from Rock. No disrespect to those who love Rock. I did for years & still enjoy a bit of Black Crowes.

Every time I play a fretless in a shop, I love it. The feel, the tone, everything. For quite some time I've been considering getting myself a nice fretless 5er. Just now, my only gigging bass is my Ibby SR1000. It does sound fantastic & feels real comfortable. I've tried a few other basses over the years, but the Ibby does everything I want from a fretted 4. Now, question is... If I'm to spend about £2k on a new bass, do I go for the fretless 5 (I've been eyeing up some Maruszczick basses), or do I go for a nice fretted 5 (maybe a Sadowsky Metro Express) & get the Ibby defretted? My concern is that I get the fretless & it ends up not getting the use that I hoped it would. Those with a fretless, do you use it more than your fretted bass?