pmjos

Get an AER bass amp and tell them its a transistor radio... :-)

Here is my take. In my time I have owned lots of different basses. The best one is the one you like playing and feel comfortable with. It doesn't matter at this stage if anyone on here thinks its good or its crap. Chances are that you aren't at a stage in your playing where the particular pro's or cons of a given instrument are going to be on your radar. You are on a journey and you just need the instrument for where you are now. Buying 2nd hand on here in a given range will get you an instrument which has depreciated and therefore if you don't get on with it you can just sell it and get another with negligible losses. You are not going to know what you like until you have lived with it for a while and many bass players compromise on one aspect or another of an instrument. It goes play ability over tone or the other way round usually. So look in here, see which of the instruments change hands regularly and for sensible money. These are your best bets. If you have hands like shovels neck width won't bother you but string spacing will if you have small hands then you will commonly favour a slimmer neck. Personally I don't think you will go far wrong with a Musicman Sub, a Mexican Fender J or if you can find one a Bass Collection. Yamaha and Peavy tend to be marmite, warwick can be overpriced for newish players. Get a Fender or an MM sub. If it doesn't work it will sell and quickly and you can try something else. Please don;t forget - what ever you buy get it set up - a set up makes all the difference. Wishing you all the best.

Just for the sake of comment I emailed Laurus twice. They did not bother to reply. I showed explicit interest in commissioning......... crap really.

I have decided never again to put myself through the suffering of playing to ungrateful monkeys for cash. I have created my 'dis-function band'. We play what we like, don't do it for money, punters can go fk themselves if the don't like it. On the other hand they do like it. How odd.

Love incognito, always have always will.............superb groove.

Brother Strut at Ronnie Scots 6th August - can't wait!

Over the past 35 years I have had endless experiences with drummers. Virtually every one I ever worked with was a a screw up. Why..... WHY? what is going on......? are they mad. Don't answer that. I even had a guy who had to meditate in his pyramid before going on stage and then walked off stage mid gig to listen to how it sounded without him. What is its with drummers...... I just don't understand.

I have a pair of Amp 3's I use now as my main rig. (One new one 2nd hand) Same controls as Amp 1 and a bit fiddly TBH but the bass power you get in a tiny box is earth shattering. I tend to keep the controls close to the middle, use bass boost button and keep that compressor light. Works for me. Kicks the crap out of anything else.

Ah..... Scooby sold one on here. Messaged him.

Thanks guys. I have spoken to Phil at Bass Gear and they have given up the dealership! Not for any negative reason. On the contrary, Phil said that they are outstanding basses and the asymmetric neck makes them really comfortable to play. He said that the sixer he had was one of the best he has played, more comfortable than many a four! . The problem was that people in the UK are very conventional and to paraphrase him the looks are 'marmite' The paddle head seems to put lots of players off. Aesthetically there are lots of awful and dull designs out there but Luthiers need to earn money and if all we will buy are Fender copies then I guess Laurus won't sell here. On the other hand I happen to like marmite so I'm going to follow my gut instinct and see where it leads me. I've written to Laurus and I'll see if they come back! in the meantime I'm going to do some more hunting.

That's a no then........

I keep getting the urge to try out a Laurus and wondered if any of you guys have one. There seems very few about.

Mine is a 1979 Ibanez roadster, dark version. I remember it being great and selling it to but my first jazz bass. I don't; know if that was rose tinted glasses because my best mate in my band is sadly no longer with us. Don't know if its nostalgia or if it was as good as I remember. I think Binky Bass has one - might be my old one!

Played a Jazz night last night, completely overawed by one of the best young jazz bassists I have ever heard who was on just before me. I then proceeded to play like a one fingered, tone deaf chimpanzee. Oh the shame................Gotta laugh about it though.

Thing is with Mark bass its gonna look like trace Elliot Gear to everyone in a few years. Its looks - as distinctive as they are - will guarantee its future life in a thousand garages. Once it isn't trendy any more to have an amp that looks like Wasp synth from the 70's they'll be history.

I don't understand why so many people don't get this product. I don't personally see any use for it this for me, but Ashdown is trying to broaden out into a market which really isn't being served well. They have a name for Bass gear and they are using that reputation (like it or not) to expand their business. Its not a backline bass amp it is a tabletop music platform. British names are very marketable and if they can get a boutique product out there and make more cash then why not. I really don't think anyone who hasn't tried one should give them bad press and I think we should all be careful about being negative about a British manufacturer. If this product fails for them perhaps it might do them a real disservice and that would be regrettable. On the other hand if the market it as a viable bass amp for the bedroom or otherwise and it doesn't cut they only have themselves to blame.

I have seen a few early Warwicks up for sale and I was wondering if they would become collectable as well as being the very usable instruments that they are. Will they ever be seriously sought after?

My AER Amp Three Mini Rig.........Huge sound madness! Stacked or stereo. Works so well and one trip carry from the car.

This is my new toy 2 x AER amp three ( all 2nd hand) stacked for a mini biamped or stereo portable rig. It is fekin monstrous. Low and to kill a pig and awesome. Works so well and stupidly portable.

I think we are all too close in to this time wise. We are, on this forum, mainly within the birth of the modern guitar and bass. I'm over 50 and so I only need to think back a further 10 years and there was the birth of modern music. I dare say that Mr Stradivari's grandchildren practiced their scales on Grandad's old sh*tt*r. We are today only in the after flush of the start of custom luthiers. I think we will never know the value of what we are playing, however, something from the 60's full stop will always have kudos and value. I think values have gone down and if you shop around you can get a bargain. We will all spend 4 grand on a knackered Corsa or Focus and loose all of that value in 3 years. A tidy 65p will be worth at least another 2 grand in 4 years. I'd lay odds that you wound buy a 66 J bass for under 9K in just 5 years from now. That's an investment and you get to play something and enjoy it. Where do you hear people saying hell I can't take my 5 years old VW Polo to Tesco Its worth 6 grand! i'll walk! I think its all relative. The one thing I can guarantee is the reissue you buy today will be worth 30% of what you paid for it in 5 years.