scrumpymike

... and the 4-stringer for me please!

Hah! Little does SM know that I'm about to steal his market with my superior invention. It's a large helium-filled balloon tied to the headstock. It'll be out as soon as I've decided on a name. Head Zeppelin is favourite so far but I'm open to other suggestions.

It's all down to the relative weights of the parts of the bass that are on each side of the body-waist pivot point. The problem with a bass compared with a 6-string guitar is the longer/heavier neck assembly and the exaggerated leverage that out-lying weight applies to the centre of gravity. The imbalance could possibly be designed out, but I think that a) increasing the overall mass by adding counterbalancing weight wouldn't be acceptable to most players and b) trying to move the pivot point would result in a pretty weird-looking bass.

I had a GSRM20 for a while. Nice little bass but I realised that for me anything with a sub-30" scale was just too short.

This balance thing only became an issue for me in recent times. For years my go-to bass was a Gibson SG with worse neck dive than the SWB-1 and I loved it! When physical wear and tear became an issue I decided that every aspect of my basses had to be optimised to extend my gigging life. Thing with me is that when I decide to do something I tend to get a bit obsessive! Don't let me put you off the SWB-1! Scott and then Chowny have sold a fair number of these - presumably to players who get on fine with them, as they don't often come up FS. It's also worth mentioning that Chowny moved production from China to India, where the bodies are made from slightly denser and therefore heavier wood, which helps redress the balance. Then, if needed, there's always the lightweight tuner swap that makes a big difference in my experience.

Now that IS nice! New one on me, never heard of them. I'd love a 30"-scale version of that.

I like it! Should be decent quality.

Agreed, the neck on my s-s Berg is absolutely superb. Having spent a lot of time playing the bass now, I'm really liking the punchy Black Label P pickup too.

Just to clarify my earlier criticism of Maruszczyk quality, the issues were on one bass and Adrian resolved it to my satisfaction.

Off the shelf prices for fairly standard Elwood (J) and Jake (P) basses are in the 1300-1500 Euros range including German VAT at 19%. Under new trading rules that should be removed for sales to the UK and replaced by our 20% VAT at time of import. I noticed recently that the Thomann UK website quotes all £sterling prices ex-VAT. They are showing my Cali VS4 s-s at £843 and I calculated that the Maru price for their equivalent s-s Jake is pretty much the same at £926.50 ex-VAT. The 2 Maru basses I bought new were before they hiked their prices by 15-20% 18 months ago (to match Sandberg maybe?) and at that point they were really good value.

I've had 6 Maru basses and agree that it certainly is. However, in my experience the quality of their basses was somewhat variable. They might have decorative screws but some of the ones on my basses were made of a material similar to cheese - and screwed in freehand by someone with a gap in their hand/eye coordination where perpendicular should be.

The 400+-inspired Boogie Channel on the TT800 does it big time.

Cripes, I'm finally famous then! Shame it's only for talking about playing rather than actually doing it.

Here's what I posted on the 'New Mesa Subway Head' topic. Not too much of substance on there but the TT800 topic on Talkbass is well worth a look if you've got a couple of weeks to spare - it's massive and includes a huge number of extremely informative posts by designer Andy ('Agedhorse') "When choosing a bass amp, there’s always an element of compromise. As a gigging musician, I have to look (well, listen mainly) for one that has a broad enough palette of tonal colours for the different kinds of music I play in diverse bands. That’s the practical side of things, but it’s not all. Like most bass players, I also carry within me that ‘holy grail’ sound that lives somewhere in the magic triangle between my head, my heart and my soul and grew from a seed that was planted in my teenage years. This personal ‘gold standard’ is an emotional rather than practical aspect – but it’s an equally important requirement that has to be adequately addressed by my amp of choice. In my case, I guess you would describe it as warm and round but at the same time punchy and coherent enough to cut through the live mix. So, that’s the starting point for my subjective review of the TT-800. The amp I sold to make space for the TT-800 was a Subway D800+, which in turn replaced a D800. Both of these were extremely capable, much loved, and tough acts to follow. However, the respect I have for Mesa Engineering after gigging those two amps together with the glowing reports from Talkbass forum members led me to expect even more from the TT-800. Another factor for me was my liking for the GK MB800 Fusion that served as back-up for my earlier Subways. I loved it for its punchy delivery and valve flavour but it was just too lively for me. My reasoning was that the addition of valve goodness to Mesa’s signature voicing would be just what I needed – and so it has turned out to be. The design brief for the TT-800 was for a two-channel amp that combined the best of the D800+ (the Subway channel) with the much-loved tones of yesteryear’s Boogie 400+. Sounds like a great trick if you can do it! So did Mesa manage to pull it off? I’ll start with what I’m familiar with, namely the D800+-inspired Subway channel. The short answer is yes! On this channel, you get all of the D800+ positives enhanced with that subtle valve colouring. The features that were game-changers on the ‘plus’ upgrade of the D800 are also present and correct on the TT, namely: the high-pass filter and the high and low boost switches. You truly would have to work hard to get bad sounds out of this channel. The Boogie channel is new to me, never having heard the classic 400+. My initial feeling is that this is a great rock amp offering authentic classic valve tones with all the usable sweet overdrive that I will ever need – and then some. For my purposes, it is the ideal partner to the Subway channel. I could go on about some of the more subtle features of this amp (and probably will do at a later date) but don’t want to comment further until I have used it at gig volumes – or even at actual gigs! We and our adoring public remain hopeful. Last of all, I can’t sign off without mentioning a couple of arguably trivial aspects of my TT-800 purchasing experience. My amp arrived 6 months after I placed my order with Andertons Music and had obviously spent much of that time outside Mesa’s control. I must say I was expecting the worst (it’s called the covid mindset) and was pleasantly surprised when the carton arrived looking like it left the factory the day before. Top marks to Mesa for their packaging. Inside the box, there was clear evidence that this is a company that cares. The wire wraps used to close the internal packets had been carefully – almost decoratively – tied in a way that would do credit to Harrods’ gift-wrapping department. Inside them I found a headphone adapter socket, a set of thick felt insulation pads to go between the amp’s rubber feet and your cab’s, the best user manual I have ever come across – and a wonderful black card hand-signed in white marker by no less than 14 members of the assembly and inspection teams. I can’t derive names from all the signatures but you all know who you are and, in case you ever read this, I salute you. We all know it’s often the little things that tell the true story." FYI, my background amp wise is: TE for many years, then more recently Ashdown, Eden, TC Elec, G-K, G-B, Darkglass, Ampeg then various Mesa amps as described above.

Since my earlier posts I'm still with BF. That's not because I haven't found anything better - the BF stuff is so good for me that I just haven't bothered looking! Finally decided I preferred the uncoloured sound of the 12" SC3 cabs so sold my pair of Two10S cabs and will be adding a 3rd SC. My One10/Eden WTX264 mini rig continues to delight for home use and unplugged-type gigs though. As a footnote, the search for my 'holy grail' amp is over too since I got my Mesa Subway TT800. I just can't wait to run it through the SC3s at gig volumes 😊

As already posted, I'm in danger of turning into a Sandberg fan-boy. Must say I don't find their website too easy to navigate though. As far as I can see (which isn't very far nowadays), no mention anywhere of a short-scale bass, even though I've got one!! A strange omission as it's one of the best shorties I've ever played. A super-light cedar-bodied s-s would be something. You'd have to hold on tight at outdoor gigs to stop it blowing away.

Well done Frank my old mate! As the saying goes (almost), you're obviously "Happy as a dog with three knobs!" Must say I'm equally happy with my short-scale Sandy, even though I've only got two knobs (!!). Looking forward to seeing yours at the S-W Bash... ooh-err, better stop now before the mod's shut this down 🤐

Correct! I'll get my coat...

I think mis-use of apostrophe's (!?) should result in instant excommunication. 😉

Thanks Rich. For me Basschat is one of the real and constant joys in life. Membership of this forum and looking forward to the next S-W Bash have helped me keep chipper throughout covid (OK, regular shots of GAS have helped too). See you on 19th September 🙂

IIRC, this one has a sub-30" scale, so more like the USS club, where U = ultra. Given that it's also headless, you should be able to slip it into your pocket.

Early days yet but feels like Sandberg are unexpectedly moving from zero to hero in my world. I just love discovering new stuff!

Congratulations Bernard! As expected, that is a thing of great beauty and I know from experience how good Alan’s work is. Shame I didn’t know about him when we lived up in the Borders. I think I would have been a regular visitor.