mr_russ

He bought my Barefacedbass compact - twas the perfect transaction, couldn't have been any easier. Cheers matey! Hope you're enjoying it Russ

There are some good ones out there, but more that aren't so good - SR5's and the various lakland 5 strings are far better instruments for similar money. Saying that, I had a Fender US deluxe J5 for about 3 years and loved it despite the slightly naff low B.

[quote name='OldGit' post='504287' date='Jun 2 2009, 10:13 PM']Life's too damn short to play anything other than the best bass you can afford.[/quote] This quote has to potential to be incredibly dangerous for my wallet ;D

[quote name='51m0n' post='484835' date='May 11 2009, 09:34 AM']Dunno what you all talkin' 'bout. Low action is where its at for me. Not such that it buzzes if I dig in, but I might get some fret noise, which I think is a really good sound. Having said that my digging in is where most people start.. High action just wastes energy, I dont like fighting my basses. I thought my old bass was sorted action wise till I got the Roscoe, but that has without doubt the best action I've ever played, its not just low, its incredibly consistent across the board. Personally I've been trying to play lightly and evenly for years now, and its pretty much just how I play. I do sometimes catch myself digging in a little more than I would like, but only if I'm not plugged in. I'm not in Gary WIllis' league on this and I dint use a ramp, but it just seems sensible to not waste energy or stress my hands any more than I have to (RSI is a real indicator that you are over doing it). I certainly dont have a weedy tone as a result though, its all in the fingers! As for slapping, well as long as the notes dont choke its fine. I've found that the lower the action the less welly you have to give it to get the same tone, and you can more easily bounce back with a low action than a high action, plus muted left hand slaps are easier, and sound more like muted right hand thumps if your action is low, which is a good thing in my book.[/quote] +1 That's exactly how I feel - I find the tone of many basses really opens up when the action is reasonably low. I don't go for a stupidly low action, but certainly lower than most. I spend most of my time at a desk typing so have put the effort into reducing the stress on my hands and wrists Another problem I find with a high action is that the string height isn't often at all consistent - varying quite a bit across the neck. The exception for me would be with a precision bass, I find myself setting the action higher on a P than most other basses in order to get the sound I like.