Marty Forrer

These are probably closer to a Jazz bass than humbuckers, but they are dead quiet.

My hot-rodded 2002 Yamaha BB605. Delano pickups, Aguilar preamp.

My BB605, born 2002, to which I fitted Delano pickups, Aguilar OBP-3 preamp with active/passive and mid-shift, Dunlop flushmount straplocks and TI Jazz flats. I have been able to get the action incredibly low (3/64" on G string, 24th fret) and it plays and sounds incredible.

A Genzler Magellan 350 is my choice. Fantastic tone and grunt to Africa.

I found Velvet Garbo E and A worked well with both guts and Superior Dirty Guts.

BTW: when I got it, it had the typical rotating, crackling barrel socket. I got a new barrel socket from a music shop and found a big star washer that fits over the barrel. The star washer keeps the nut from working loose and holds the barrel solid, even without a rubber ring under the flange. Perfect! This may help anyone that's still having problems.

One point to consider which no-one seems to have mentioned. BF cabs throw the sound out, probably more than any cab I've ever come across, including the mighty Ampeg 8x10! I have zero experience with TF, but plenty with BF. The sound the audience hears from a BF cab is almost always louder than the bass player hears. I discovered this after watching videos of my band's live performances. I was horrified to hear how much the bass was too loud, throwing the band balance out. Next gig I used a wireless to go to the back of the venue and set the balance. Back on stage I was amazed how much quieter I could be. I have no idea whether TF have this same ability, but it's worth considering for a bass player trying to bring stage volume down. Sorry O/P, this has no relevance to your question.

I have a TRB-II 4 amber burst built in 1998. I do not like the preamp much, so I removed it and converted it to standard Fender Jazz bass wiring, with 250K CTS pots and Sprague Orange Drop capacitor. Vast improvement (for my taste anyway). The Yamaha pickups are quite trebly so the passive tone roll-off works really well. The white wire from the dummy coils I ran to earth and the two empty holes in the body I put old dummy pots in. Works great, nice tone and no more battery. This may or may not be of use to anyone wanting to convert to passive.

In the 90s I had a 4 string with no G problem at all. Then I had a 5 string and the G was weak. I tried different pickup heights, different strings and different pre. Made no difference. Sold it in disgust and bought another 5. Exactly the same problem. I gave up then and have never bothered with Stingrays since.

It's not a terribly difficult repair. I had a similar incident happen, and cleaned up the joints, glued and clamped them, and it's been like that for 27 years now. The only thing you have to really watch is that you install the neck straight (centre line of neck lines up with centre line of body). I used aliphatic resin (pva) which is not really the proper thing to do, but the repair cost me nothing.

Laura Lee of Khruangbin plays an SX Jazz. And, she has never changed strings, according to an interview with her recently. Sounds pretty darn good to me.

I've had Elf, TC 250 and 550, Rumble 500, MiniMax, GK MB200, 500 and 800, but my Genzler Magellan 350 is THE ONE! Every venue I've ever played with it I have the eq set flat and only ever tweak the contour control. I have an Acoustic Image 650w for my double bass, and this is also the one. These two amps I will never sell. I keep the Elf in my gear bag as a backup but have never used it, in fact it has never been switched on.

I'm in New Zealand. Japan is easier (cheaper) than Europe for me.

I sing lead vocals and play 5 and 6 string, plus double bass. If the bass lines are straight forward I'll just do it, but if they involve tricky timing or syncopated lines, I'll try and learn the bass parts to the point of playing automatically so I can concentrate on the singing. Jazz standards can be a challenge because of concentrating on intonation on the double bass. One drop can be awkward for me too, so I leave the vocals to others. This weeks challenge was Black Water by the Doobie Brothers. I had to play the bass line over and over for about half an hour to 'get it planted firmly in my head before I looked at the vocals.

I have a WL534 Global active in Olympic white winging it's way from Japan, or maybe chugging on a very slow freighter. The clear pickguard will be replaced with a pearloid black one, and I have in my spares bin a set of Hipshot Ultralite tuners and if needed, an Audere 3 band pre. A few years ago I had a Bacchus HJB-5, and it was amazing. I had to sell it to fund an emergency so I'm real happy to have another Bacchus in my sights.

I've just purchased a Bacchus Woodline WL534 Global active (same as that blue one) in Olympic White from BassJapanDirect. I'm waiting in anticipation for it to arrive. I've got a sheet of black pearl pickguard material so I'll be making a new pickguard for it. I also have a set of Hipshot UltraLite tuners to go on and an Audere preamp if needed. I had a Bacchus HJB5 a few years ago and had to sell it to free up some funds, so I'm stoked to have another one coming.

I had a pair of One10s, sold them and bought Super Midgets. to mind, and ears, there is nothing better.

Depends entirely on two things, the sound you want to hear, and what your amplification is. For example, when I had SWR I had to boost the lows and reduce the highs. With my current (and forever) rig of Quilter BassBlock and Barefaced cabs, I leave everything dead flat.

My Super Midget has so much bass response I run the bass knob flat or even rolled back a bit.

Seems to me all you people wanting Alex to include this whistle and that bell are forgetting the two most important items of all. There is not one single amp on the market that makes a good espresso, and there is not one single amp on the market that has a built-in beer-holder. C'mon guys... priorities!

I had two Barefaced One10 cabs, but wasn't fully satisfied. Sold them and now have a Gen3 Barefaced Super Midget. This is a fabulous cabinet. I also have a Greenboy 12/6 cab (like the Tricky ones) but the Super Midget has more detail in the sound, and is smaller and lighter . The One 10s are coloured, the SM is transparent. What you put in is what you get out. If you power with GK you get a coloured sound. If you power with Acoustic Image you get transparent sound. It depends on what you want to hear.

People don't seem to realise that buying an instrument is only part of the expense. Any instrument, but in particular a double bass, ALWAYS needs a setup to suit the purchaser's playing style/requirements. If it's a German flatback, then it's worth spending money on. Double bass is not an instrument for those faint of heart or light of pocket. Just finding the strings that suit best can do serious damage to the credit card. Go ahead, get the luthier to fit a new board, don't cheap out on it. You will regret it in the long haul. Be aware that not all ebony is equal, there is good and there is not so good.

I just joined the Quilter BassBlock 800 club, by ordering one from Reverb.com. Waiting with anticipation.

"gets big pretty quick"..... this is purely and simply a marketing gimmick. Manufacturers that do this use a non-linear master volume pot so that a customer trying the amp out in a shop turns the knob up a little way and thinks "wow, this thing is loud!" In fact you might get to full power by 1 or 2 o'clock. Quality makers like Acoustic Image use linear pots and you don't get full power until the knob is right up.

I have a three crumbling vertebrae and herniated disc. A Barefaced Super Midget works for most gigs, and another one for big outdoor gigs. The choice of a GK MB500 or an AI Clarus Series 4 rounds it out.