Al Krow

I think a trip to Wunjos on Denmark St could be called for! Can't really justifying dropping £1k+ on a bass that might be a bridge (or more precisely fretboard) too far. And I'll try to remember to take my pocket scales with me 😊 One of the fantastic things about the SR Premiums is how light they are - literally make light work of 2 x 1 hour sets (remember those?) Might, anyway, be time to trade in my SR 1825 - I've loved the 'bite' from the Nords on the SR Premiums as has been mentioned by lots of others on this thread, but recently finding I like even more the punch of the EMG 40s on my Spector EuroLX5. So for the very first time, I've recently been feeling that the Nords may be a little too top end bright. No idea how the Aggie's on the BTB will compare.

Anyone know what the LW stands for on the BTB1905LW model? Are the BTB series a fair bit heavier than their SR siblings? I do love the neck through design, 3 band EQ and 24 frets - and having got used to a 35" on a Spector I'm also kinda now tempted by the BTB. However the Spector 5er has pretty narrow string spacing (17.0mm) which is a lot closer to the SR 5ers (16.5mm) and certainly helps in terms of hand stretch. I suspect the combination of 19mm spacing plus 35" scale on the BTB could be a stretch too far!

Hah - good point! I'd completely missed that the OP was leaning towards a jazz bass. But I guess putting a PJ in the mix to think about, is no bad thing - you've got a lot of bases covered (excuse the pun) with that config!

A cheaper bass is generally unlikely to be better than a high-end bass - but it'll often be plenty good enough! I'm still not entirely sure what the OP's concern is? He's spent a long time over many years getting some lovely basses and has previously said he can hear and appreciate the difference in tone. That's fantastic and a great position to be in. My advice would be to simply enjoy playing them and not angst about something that's not a problem.

Sounds good - could you record a clip for us? What are the individual effects in the Voodoo Bass patch effect chain?

Which model is it? A 425? 415?

The only issue for me with the Rat is that it's better at sucking out low end than a vampire rodent! Definitely need to get some decent clean blend mixed in and a bit of bass EQ boost to restore that low end punch you're loving from your 424!

No question it was a truly excellent post - even if you say so yourself 😂 Should you update it, though, to add a "Curiosity killed the cat" category to cover Paul S's well put point? And a "Think they need it 'cos they've started a new project" category to include krispn's observation?

Cool. Be good to see some more Laney love out there - been tempted to get one of their SL heads which look pretty feature loaded, but the lack of bridging means that this '1000W' amp actually only delivers 250W through a single 8 ohm cab, which is a shame. You got a Laney valve head per chance? I'm currently getting much of my dirt out of a tin can (Zoom B1-4) which includes a half decent Rat sim! Doesn't get much less refined than that 😁

Now you've got me totally intrigued as to what the rest of your 'unrefined' signal chain (amp, cab & fx) is! 😁 PS you're certainly not alone on this thread of folk who prefer a 424 over the 1024, btw!

Tbf we can equally buy gear simply 'cos we're curious and going in with eyes open that it may not be "the one" or not even better than stuff we already have. Provided we're buying used and look after the kit while it's in our hands, we shouldn't lose too much on it. A lot of us thought @Paul S nailed that point with his post, early on in this thread.

Time the Yamaha fanboys jumped in and made our presence felt 😊 A used Yamaha BB 424 or the slightly older BB 414 should be available in your price range and are very well made basses. Feel free to pop over to Yamaha BB thread - there are plenty of very happy owners on there who will be able to provide you with advice and often spot bargains available on the net and which occasionally get snapped up by fellow BCers. Having said that if you decide on a Sire, I suspect you won't be disappointed either!

As @TheGreek said the quality of less expensive basses these days can be really good. Whether you can come to terms with playing cheap basses is a question only you can answer - what is your motivation for only playing expensive basses? The amount of fun I get from a gig bears zero correlation to the cost of the bass I'm playing at the time. It's irrelevant. If we're playing tight and the audience are loving the set - that makes for fun. Will you be regularly gigging again post lockdown? If so, why don't you try it and see if playing a cheaper bass spoils your fun. If it doesn't you'll have your answer!

@DiMarco That's a lot of fretboard time and no doubt you've become a very good bass player and had some fun along the way? At the end of the day, that should really be all that matters. Expensive or cheap, play what you can and want to afford and enjoy it. A player with 30 years experience should really be able to make any well set up bass sound good.

You and I recently discussed this very point! 😊 You replied: But if you now swap "cheap Squier Jazz" and "young lad with lots of talent" for "Yamaha BB" and "Kinga Glyk", you could now be writing my earlier post! But it's absolutely not wrong to want to have and to get some great bass gear. I posted this comment on another thread about GAS earlier today which is where I've come to on my own little bass journey: "Folk are perfectly entitled to spend their money how they like and if bass gear gives them pleasure, because bass is their passion, then that's totally cool. If it becomes an addiction that you can't control and it's causing you financial problems, we'll that's an entirely different matter. Equally it's unquestionably true that improving our bass playing comes mostly from hard work practising and not from more fancy gear: great bass players will make basic gear sound awesome and a beginner is going to be a beginner even on the most high end kit." TLDR: enjoy your gear with a clear conscience; but if you want to be a better bass player there's no substitute for time spent on the fretboard.

I'll have to confess I've not come across that issue on BC. Maybe because we don't have the same amount of college costs for our kids as you guys do in the USA and student loans are freely available. But obviously if folk are struggling with money issues, their mates should not be encouraging them to spend money they don't have. If they do, they're not really true mates. I can't fault you at all for trying to put their deeper interests at heart in such circumstances. But, at the end of the day, they need to be willing to listen - you shouldn't blame yourself if they don't.

Let's make that 3 in a row then for WL-20 fans then! Using mine right now 😊 On a separate note sorry to hear you've got problems with your SH. I've used a couple over several years prior to switching to the WL-20s and was very happy with them. One unit (an earlier model) had noise issues, but Chris at Smoothoound, sorted that out for free for me even though I had bought it used. If you drop Chris a line, he may be able to sort yours out also? Have to admit that the WL-20s are just ridiculously handy to use and very compact, and for both those reasons I'm happy I made the switch. But bear in mind that the WL-20s don't work for some basses with jack inputs on their front e.g. I can't use my WL-20s with my Ibanez basses and need to revert back to a normal old fashioned lead.

I think £5 difference is a lucky confluence of the stars and may not happen again until Halley's comet next appears. Taking the 5 string versions for comparison as they're the ones I've had: the 425 gives a tonally "flatter" thud, with SERIOUS punch; the 1025 is more complex harmonically /more refined. I'd say 80% of that is down to the different pups used. For me, there's pretty little difference between the 1025 and the current flagship P35 model - and that's pretty high praise. So what you were hearing on the YT clips seems to be pretty much what I'm reporting with regard to tonal complexity - a bit like a fine red wine!

Well that didn't hang about for long (can't think why 😁) but has directly resulted in this becoming available, if anyone is interested in an almost as new condition RD-8: Behringer RD-8 - Accessories & Other Musically Related Items For Sale - Basschat

Bit like clothes: you can only wear one outfit at a time, so just one will suffice right? 😁 Ok let's caveat that - maybe three outfits, to allow for one being in the wash and the other hung out to dry. But you get the gist...

But what a wonderful and fantastic "flawed" species!! In fact, I really can't think of another species I'd want to be. I mean, apart from the King of the swingers crew**, who else has invented rock n' roll? Ok so it would be super cool to be able to soar like an eagle, but didn't someone just invent a portable jet pack? 😁

Now you've got me totally intrigued as to exactly what Miss RB calls it? 😁

So I've read every post on this thread and it's not clear to me what exactly is the point you're trying to make? GAS for bass gear is no more a "sickness" than buying a season ticket to watch football or taking a fancy foreign holiday every year. Folk are perfectly entitled to spend their money how they like. And if bass gear gives them pleasure, because bass is their passion then that's totally cool. If it becomes an addiction that you can't control and it's causing you financial problems, we'll that's an entirely different matter. Equally it's unquestionably true that improving our bass playing comes mostly from hard work practising and not from more fancy gear: great bass players will make basic gear sound awesome and a beginner is going to be a beginner even on the most high end kit. None of this is new or rocket science.

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