Al Krow

You were selling some spare 'Bass' logos a while (a few years?) back, Mick. Did you shift them all?

Looks good! £1,099 is still more than £1k in my neck of the woods😉

Here you go, let's save you a bit of time...I've linked to my post with a clip of the actual bass you were asking about embedded. Health warning: it weighs more than most minor planets...

It's the lot you aren't sure about whether you like their new design or not on the other thread...🙂

^^ This 100% Add in the ability to have a preset set up per song which you can scroll through (50 available on a B1-4 which is more than ample for any gig) and you also avoid the faff of tap dancing multiple pedals during a live set (guitarists are the worst for this!) which really helps live set "flow".

In no particular order: - Quality of sound / articulation; - RMS power handling (and whether 8 ohm or 4 ohm); - Speaker size (12" or 10" for me); - 1x12 or 2x12 (or 2x10); - Weight; - Price; - Build quality. Having tried a lot of cabs from budget to high-end over the past few years, my experience is that a cab is the part of my rig that seems to give me the single greatest return on investment, in a way that extra spending on an amp or bass generally can't match. As it's the bit of our signal chain that connects all our gear to the audience, the quality of your cab can make a big difference. I'd always recommend getting the very best one you can comfortably afford, whereas with a bass, a £500 used Yamaha BB 1025 (for example) can hold its own with basses costing several times as much. FWIW I've ended up with a BF BB2 and a Fearless F112, which I use by themselves - although I should maybe try pairing them some time as they are both 8ohm cabs: together they would then present a 4ohm load which would unleash the full wattage available from my amps!

Nathan Navarro, who tends make most gear sound good, giving the 4 and 5 strings a review. Decent sound clips of the 4 string PJ from 2.28 in:

@gobasserk I usually love your recordings and I'm also a big fan of some Tech 21 pedals (e.g. the VTDI). But honestly? I love the clean sound of your basses waaaaaaay more than with your DP-3X. YMMV etc. By way of comparison - these two clips with and without the Tech 21 YYZ were both great!

The Boss OC-5 has a 'range' setting, that allows you to set a threshold above which the octaver doesn't cut in. I'd actually prefer it the other way around as I don't particularly need an octave down for the very low notes as these are mostly sub-audio anyway and it would at a stroke eliminate any glitching concerns. But given what you're going to be using it for, just wondering whether this feature might let you achieve what you're trying to do, without bothering with the need for a parallel path, to allow you to get the OC-5's great tracking without the risk of parallel-path comb-filtering? The only issue is that OC-5s seem to be pretty much sold out everywhere right now!

+1^^ plus the several comments about getting a decent bass and rig that gives you a core sound that you're happy with. The attack that a pick delivers is a really nice contrast to the more rounded tone from fingers which is my default for most of our covers sets. (Amusingly, I've only just 'clocked' that my fav plec thickness that I've been using for the past couple of years is 0.73mm; I spotted a pack of six 0.73mm tucked away in my drawer which had been thrown in with some random other order a while back - nice start to the day! ) An often underrated area of our signal chain can be our cabs, which is the piece of kit that connects everything else to our audiences. I'm a big fan of getting the very best cab you can afford. Having been through a lot of different cabs over the past 5 years it's clear to me that the difference in quality between low / mid / high end cabs is much more noticeable than from a similar price range of basses or amps. I'm still mostly a bass --> amp & cab guy, with pedal boards for home creative fun, but I've recently been using an amazingly good value Zoom B1-4 as a stand alone pedal board and tuner. This gives me a great range of sounds (dirt, synth, chorus, tape echo, plus HPF & EQ etc) which I use sparingly and default to a "clean" patch in between.

Yeah agreed; dare I say it's a bit (BC) rich for our American cousins to be making that connection? 😁

I'm kinda gutted that the PJ set up is not also available as an option on the 5'er. And if they had a reverse-P with J or MM set up as they do on the MP-5EB that would have been perfect! Please define "need"? 😁

@pedvast improvement from your half-arsed first attempt below (the Stormy is no longer upside down and the Funk-u-lator is now nicely the right way up). You should defo get at least a B- now? The topic is of course post your "pedal board" so you have to lose a few marks for ignoring the title...😁

Being GAS free is a good thing! Wish my deflationary periods lasted more than a few weeks - hehe! I know you're a massive HB fan (and perhaps even the leading exponent of HB basses on BC?), so probably best to ignore Gregor's comment in his YT review at 1.24 where he says "HB usually are good but not that good, it also doesn't feel like a typical HB: the build quality is on a different level here..."

Ooof I can see that's a tough choice! They're both 24 frets with twin soap bar pups; MM humbuckers in the case of the M2, which I suspect will edge it. The M2 would be the 'safer' choice: more trad design, with passive / active option which is always a nice to have in case the battery dies mid gig, and a 3 band rather than the 2 band EQ in the HB, and it's only £30 more. I really like the quirky design and flame-maple top of the HB and the additional stability/rigidity and often attractive look of a laminate neck are wish-list items for me too. It often goes with the territory of starting a thread and being taken in by your own "patter". And finding something at B-stock prices can take a lot of the pain away 😁

Cheers buddy. Put them together with our Bugera Veyron 1001M amps and you've got the makings of an awesome budget rig! ... other than the fact that I love a quality cab and that does seem to be one area where noticeably premium quality still comes with a premium price tag!

I'm clearly part of a minority then in being comfortable with being told how much folks' basses weigh in lbs and also clearly deluded in thinking that our speed limits are still stated in mph, despite it apparently being an imperial measure which is not in "wide use in the UK" 😁

Well I've been sorely tempted to dip my toe and try out a HB for a while, as they seem to get consistent reviews as being fantastic value for money e.g. Harley Benton Enhanced MP-5EB which costs a fraction of a Sandberg VM5 and is one of the few other basses with a reverse-P set up on a 5 string bass. Weight has been the key deal breaker for me - the HB basses are on the heavy side (e.g. the 5EB in the clip is around 11lbs!) although I have managed to get hold of a decent wide strap this year which has made my heavier basses much more comfortable to play for longer periods but, personally, I'd still prefer basses ideally no heavier than 10 lbs. Thomann are pretty reluctant to confirm the weight of their basses for some reason - I did think about messaging them today, but rather than hang around and get another "sorry we can't confirm that for you" response, I thought it might be time to come off the fence and find out for myself! They had a B stock Marquess available for £233 (including VAT and shipping) and a 30 day return policy. I've spent that much (and more) on a single effects pedal but also on a used Yamaha BB 425, which is actually quite a high bar as basses go. I'll report back in a couple of weeks to allow time for delivery and when I've had a chance to put it through its paces.

Ah yes - that explains why the Marquess is such a good looker. I'm guessing that HB are actually paying tribute / acknowledging the Marleaux design heritage of their bass by using the same syllabic prefix to the name i.e. Mar-quess vs Mar-leaux? Or am I over thinking this? 😁

35" scale improved (silent according to the review) 2 band preamp 24 frets laminated 5 piece neck head turning design! Here's a review of the 5 string from their new Marquess model. HB are clearly heading further up-market with their basses and methinks they are going to continue winning new converts as they do so.

Shame they've not spotted the gap in the market like these guys, for £295 new, shipped:

Thanks both! Am I correct that there was no 5 string version of that bass - in fact there's never been a 5 string reverse-P Yamaha BB?

Couldn't help notice they were using a Yammy BB (latest series - guessing a P34) on the set of "A Star is Born":

Andy - what is that body of the bass? It has a reverse-P rather than the usual config.

Cool. There are some big DP-3X fans elsewhere on BC (and on Talkbass). Let's hear some recordings of it with your Yamaha BB!