ped

I play through headphones all the time at home (Roland VB99) and have been on the lookout for a portable battery powered equivalent for a while. Noting has worked so far; either they're HiFi and great quality but just clean bass (I'd like to have some comp and reverb too ideally) or they have tons of effects but don't sound great (Zoom B1on which actually sounds great but has a fair bit of noise even with everything off, behind the notes as they decay (digital artefact?)). Maybe I'm spoiled by my main rig but I'd like to think there's something or that someone will make one one day!!

Modify, absolutely. Some people might talk about resale value etc etc but at the en dog the day it could make it the ultimate bass for you, so what do you care! Especially as there's been some work on it already so it's not 100% original, which for some is a key sticking point.

I remain unconvinced that a B string needs to be over 34" to sound great.

Not something I’ve ever noticed, maybe it’s about how you rest on the string?

Nice. I’ve always wanted a Jazz Bass The Precision 1978

Yes and there is software support for that however I’m not sure it would be able to recognise current ‘£20 subbers’ or not. Will investigate.

Thanks folks. My original thinking was that I wanted to have a community where everyone felt welcome, without a 'rank' structure like you find on Talkbass with tiered membership. The concept being that more members = a better marketplace, which is fee paying to use. The more members use the forum (for free) = bigger audience + more people paying to list. I say all this but in actual fact the whole model has been incredibly stable and fruitful since it began so I don't necessarily see any need to change things hugely, but always interested in opinions. I still feel, hand on heart, that the marketplace here has unique benefits worthy of a tightly knit community for a reasonable fee which increases the quality of listings and members posting to a degree making it 'safer' than other, free sites.

Thanks yes we do have some ads but definitely don't want to add any more. I'm even toying with removing them completely. But for that to happen we might have to introduce a banner about paying to support which disappears when you have paid, or something. But then I see a squirrel.

Just to be clear i'm not trying to call anyone out - just wondering if there's a better way to 'frame' the fee so that it is seen also as a payment to help the site, not just to gain access to the Marketplatz. Without spamming people with needy emails.

Don't you think the £20 fee is reasonable if you think of how it supports the site too? I try to communicate that to members but it doesn't always make a difference.

How so? Claiming your money back for an item not arriving (backed up by tracking) or damaged (photos) PayPal always side with the buyer.

Unless it’s because you’d rather collect or play it beforehand, it doesn’t make any difference if the bass is from the UK or not, ime/imo. The seller takes all the risk - if it never arrives simply get your money back with PayPal. As long as proper insured shipping is used there’s zero risk to you as a buyer.

It just sounded like a generalisation, that's all.

..in your experience

Use PayPal and nothing can go wrong

Yes it’s difficult to have a feedback system with any value when it comes down to it - these transactions happen separately from the site and we get no detail about them and can only go on what we’re told. I feel a star rating would end up meaning the mods would constantly be roped into disputes and it’s also difficult to implement on a software level. The text based system is ok and can provide context when things didn’t go well but I agree it could be better integrated. Unfortunately I don’t think our software allows for that at this stage and coding it in ourselves would be very tricky! Loving the new job, thanks for asking. I’ll make an update on the thread. Two weeks in and I haven’t been sacked yet!! Cheers ped

Nothing has changed about the marketplace here and although that might not tally with your own experience it’s a bit of a stretch to say the marketplace isn’t what it used to be. In fact I don’t remember the last time I had to help in a dispute between members, and the statistics show more items being listed than ever before. Also we can only help with issues if they’re raised with us. Did you leave feedback for these guys who didn’t turn up?

We don't try and compete with the likes of FB and eBay but we like to think our strength is our community and safety which was only enhanced with the fee which saw any chancers take a hike. It's nice to know that most people try us first as a way of supporting the site also, even if they have eventual success elsewhere.

I have tried all the other coated strings but didn’t get on with them. To me, coating before winding basically means you’ve got an effectively dead string from the outset. Coating it after protects the string from anything infiltrating the windings. Elixir have patented the process so that’s why they’re the best imo. YMMV of course but DRs lasted about a month for me.