Al Krow

They are! Good question and not necessarily a straightforward answer! Some like their 434s as much as their P34s and some even prefer the more budget model. My comparison experience was holding onto my 1025 in preference to a P35. The P35 edged in on quality but the 1025 was a little bit lighter and in the end that was more important in the context of playing 2 x 1 hour sets. If it were me, I'd get a 434 to start with and then "try before you buy" with the P34.

Outstanding fretless! What a lovely retirement present! Any big plans for how you're going to be spending your new found freedom?

You're very welcome. As folk have rightly pointed out - we should see no difference when buying from EU VAT registered retailers e.g. Thomann The key issue is that from a UK perspective private purchases from EU - as Steve B (who is one of resident VAT experts) has confirmed, we need to treat purchases from the EU in the same way as we would from US or Jersey / Guernsey i.e. a Customs declaration plus VAT of 20%. This is the big change we need to be mindful of from 1 Jan. I suspect it will be the same the other way around for UK private sellers selling --> EU from 1 Jan, but I'll leave our EU based BC'ers to confirm that.

[S Browning comment moved to OP for ease of reference].

Summary from 1 Jan 2021 We should see no difference when buying from EU VAT registered retailers e.g. Thomann But private purchases from EU will require a Customs declaration (and handling charges) plus VAT of 20% i.e. the same as when buying from US or Jersey / Guernsey To prevent any of us UK based BC'ers coming in for a nasty surprise in 5 days' time: Prepare to import goods from the EU to Great Britain from 1 January 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk): "From 1 January 2021, you'll need to make customs declarations when you import goods from the EU. These rules currently apply to importing goods from the rest of the world..." "You need to pay VAT [and custom duty] on all imports." Steve - is a bit of an expert when it comes to VAT matters so worth heeding this! @ped I think it may be worth alerting folk with a notice on the Sales Forums that they may well have to pay 20% VAT on imports of goods from the EU from 1 Jan 2021, at least so that they are prepared / it does not come as a nasty surprise particularly if they are buying an already expensive bass!

Thanks Oliver - that's really helpful. I think you're therefore saying you sold a 6 y/o Thumb 5 NT for £1,200 in 2012 without a hard case and they are selling a 12 y/o Thumb NT for £1,650 with a hard case, so maybe the pricing of the one currently FS isn't too OTT.

Thanks for the thumbs up (excuse the pun!). How old was yours when you sold it, the BD is a 12 year old model and I've heard that 2000 to 2010 wasn't Warwick's purple patch?

Warwick Thumb NT 5 any good? There's one in BD currently but seems a little "full" on asking price.

Zoom (aka Roland) and Boss certainly have done so. The main other competition to Line6 in the 'mid range' price bracket seem to be Mooer with their GE models and Hotone with the Ampero. But I think they all know that the sales of their hardware will be dependent on the both the quality of the fx sims they make available as well as the hardware.

Good post BB. It's funny you mention Japanese (and Chinese) catching up with Line6 - I guess I think of them as being a Japanese brand, these days, following their acquisition by Yamaha back in 2013.

I believe Santa has a bit left over from his trip to @PatrickJ's...

@MrCrane - another big fan of LSD here! I love the originality of their covers. Bridget Kearney is a phenomenally talented bass player and song writer.

Did he spot you lurking on a gear abstinence thread earlier in the year? In which case, he was maybe just trying to be 'helpful' 😁

She is amazing isn't she? Had the privilege of being in the audience for that same song a couple of years back. More raw and visceral than on her appearance on Jools.

So has Santa tipped the scales for any of you?! 😊

I've got a sneaky suspicion the Ampero Stomp could be released at NAMM 2021. I've just managed to release some funds back into the gear pot so I'm very much looking forward to seeing whether it does and also what else crawls out the woodwork on the multifx front. HX Effects will be 3 years old shortly and just wondering whether Line 6 will be updating any of their hardware to react to some of the competition starting to snap at their heels?

That's a useful tip - just up the road from me!

Just rediscovered an older thread which covered a fair bit of the same ground: Where next after a Stagg...... - EUB and Double Bass - Basschat and, in particular, this excellent post from @Staggering on which I've taken the liberty of re-posting here.

Haha, most things on most basses are just fine! And of course there are refinements here and there eg lighter tuners, John East Retro preamps, less bland / sterile pups. Fortunately very few folk moan about the Yammy preamp or pups! Similarly, not all nuts are the same either. Yammy provide a better quality nut on their 1024/5 than they do on their 424/5 for example. The nut on my Ken Smith is superb with individual saddles cast in the metal. Do check out the brass Warwick Just a Nut III - that ability to raise and lower string height at the nut as well as the bridge is a very neat feature.

The Just a Nut is pretty neat. It would be an upgrade to most nuts.

Wonder if anyone has considered using a Warwick adjustable 'Just a Nut' on their Yammy basses (or whether they would even fit!)?

A term of endearment for us Yammy owners and lovers. A bit like Red Sox, right? 😁

Yeah and I've been having fun with my 41" scale this evening and not being moaning about the stretch at all (but it's only a 4 string) 😁