Hellzero

Try AER, Bergantino, Demeter, Glockenklang, Kemper, Vanderkley and the likes if you want to be in the high end amps. Look at Alembic, Elrick, F-Bass, Fodera, Ken Lawrence, Leduc, LeFay, Mike Lull, MTD, Overwater, Ritter, Roscoe, Sadowsky, Sei, STR, Wal, Warrior, Wyn, Xotic, Zon and the likes if you want to be in the top class basses. By the way, how many strings : 4, 5, 6, 7 or more, or less ? Fretted or fretless ? But be ready to spend a small fortune.

@Prosebass I tried the Q2.0 version, quite close, but not so clear and dynamic, but it was the medium output, not the high output. I still have my homemade sixer (now fretted) with the original Q-Tuner's : no need for a preamp even if the Musician Sound Design preamp I put in is very transparent.

Buy a second hand, you won't lose too much money, but try it before.

Very interesting result, indeed. We learn every day. Could we get pictures of the two basses please ?

@Prosebass Q-Tuner fan ?

Like anyone else, definitely the Eminence is certainly the best choice, especially the one with removable neck for portability and sound. I owned two Zeta's (4 and 5) : short scale and fretless sound. I owned a Stagg : awful, not a double bass sound and cheap making and sounding. Add the fact that good strings will cost you the price of second hand one. I owned a Wave (NXT) : again a fretless sound. I owned an NS Design CR4M (the full specs one made in Czech Republic) : played it for 2 to 3 years, can sound like a double bass, but won't feel like it. I owned an Ergo 6 (Jesse's personal one) : could come close to a double bass sound with some amp tweaking, but totally unreliable especially the piezo system. I'm owning now a Leduc Contr-U-Basse Moaï L-09 : 6 strings EUB made especially for me (7 years to have it finished), really terrific, but heavy and very expensive... I'm also owning a Berne Harpobasse which is a smaller bodied 34 inches double bass with a harp top design so the strings are pulling the top and not pushing it : close in sound, light, but still a bit of a doghouse. Try as many as you can and read this : https://www.gollihurmusic.com/product/3080-ELECTRIC_UPRIGHT_BASSES_WHICH_ONE_A_BUYER_S_GUIDE.html

They are always selling crap and since such a long time that it's indeed ridiculous.

I will not see Steven Wilson over here in Luxemburg next Saturday, the venue being too small it's been sold out in a snap, but my wife and I are going to see Gary Numan this Friday just ... 40 years too late, but a least, we'll have seen him once.

Seen him a few times, and I don't like slap at all, but it's really part of his sound and musical. The price tag is high simply because it's Ronnie Scott's.. Around £35 GBP over here in Luxemburg ! If you have the opportunity to see him, go you won't be disappointed. Overkill !

And I've checked : the preamps with a 48 Volts phantom power are quite rare. This Vintage Revolution Acoustic Box™ Live looks to be some kind of Swiss knife at an affordable price. Just let us know. That said I really love my AER BassCube first generation (updated for free by the AER service in Germany).

Try to find an AER BassCube first generation with 3 inputs totally mixable. Ok it'sa combo, not a preamp, but it's not that heavy, quite small and certainly the best combo ever, soyou won't need anything else. Period. And it's working great for electric bass as well.

Better change the title into "Pino PALLADINO's Fascinating Fretless".

Leduc U-Basse 5 strings fretless, yes fretless, with magnetics and piezo... Single coils punchy sound with the great Frédéric MONINO paying his due to a guy named Jaco. LISTEN to what a terrific fretless sound is !

Don't tell me there is no punch in Mick KARN's playing !?! Listen to the album "Bestial Cluster". Or this most improbable reunion :

Mick KARN here :

Terrific !

I discovered the instrument I wanted to play in the end of the 70's, early 80's listening to the music of that period like Japan, Brand X and the likes without knowing it was an instrument. I loved the sound and told myself I would play that instrument which I naively thought was a brand called : Fretless ! Then Paul YOUNG came with a guy called Pino PALLADINO and I realised it was an instrument by itself, not a brand... I bought my first bass when I raised enough money : a horrible fretted some kind of Maya Unprecision bass, but I didn't like it, sold it and got drunk with the money: hey a was a student... Then I noticed an Aria Diamond Violin bass for peanuts in a second hand shop, being a huge fan of the Beatles, I bought it. Then I went to my local luthier, a guy called Christophe LEDUC, to have it defretted. I followed his advise and had a pair of EMG humbuckers installed on it. Got it back some weeks later and IT was it. That was the end of the 80's and it became my one and only bass for years. I couldn't play anything than fretless, period. I even got it painted ... pearly yellow, great fun ! Then I started my long journey into fretless with my main influences : Mick KARN, Percy JONES and Pino PALLADINO. I have to admit that I've never been a big fan of Jaco, not what I was waiting for a fretless bass player, except when he is (was?) playing with Joni MITCHELL. So, I can say that I'm a fretless player owning today 6 fretlesses, including a double bass and a 6 strings LEDUC EUB, even if I've played some fretted over these three decades. Fretless addicted, that's what I am ... and proud of it.

The idea could be very good, but I had to check first that they named it right : electroluminescent, which means AC powering theorically at high voltage. So, will you tell me where is the point? Not the high voltage itself, but you'll induce a lot of hum because of the AC 50 or 60 Hz cycle. And it will be close to your pickups : have you ever tried to play in a 50 or 60 Hz polluted environment with single coils ? No, give it a try... But the idea was good, tat said. Keep on searching, it's the way to discover unsuspected ways to do things.

Like blue is always colder.

And then you'll have a stone in the stomach.

No, with kebab sauce, but I think only the two of us will understand.

Any UV lighting will do the job, like the sun for instance and most of the now found everywhere LED lights as they are not filtered except if there is a real glass panel between the source and the Luminlay's. Real glass being a natural UV filter. Ever tried to tan behind a window ?