lemmywinks

Because the only two stores that had the 5 string version of this bass at the clearance price were Edinburgh and Newcastle, neither of which are close to my house. So let's say I made the 8hr round trip to Edinburgh and found out the bass had dodgy binding, then the next day make the 6hr round trip to Newcastle and find the second bass isn't actually new and is in well used condition. I've spent two days and a decent chunk of diesel money yet have nothing to show for it and the store has no obligation to make sure I get the bass in the condition it was advertised, whereas at the moment I've enjoyed my free time and the customer service at guitar guitar are making the effort to reach a suitable outcome. Which is hopefully me having a nice shiny new bass with Nordstrands in it. My way makes more sense IMO.

Had a phone call from what I assume to be the Newcastle store, very apologetic and seemed pretty shocked that it went out, especially after the replacement was supposed to be checked over. Said he will try and find me a boxed new item and has been ringing around which is a positive response I think so hopefully it will be third time lucky! The 2nd bass is being picked up tomorrow.

Yeah there's no QC issues with it. It's just a well used 3yr old bass sold as new. With the strings being older it sounds pretty lifeless unplugged, the other one sounded great which is always a good first impression. Starting to pine for that dodgy binding now!

My only local good shop is Promenade Music who are ace but have a limited selection, unfortunately GuitarGuitar were the only place selling the 5 string version of these off at clearance prices. other places had discounted them by the same amount but only had the 4. As I don't need another bass the reduced price was what pushed me over the edge!

100%, the first one was better!

Exactly and this is where their reputation has nosedived for me. The first one I wasn't bothered about as it was a new bass (or a customer return with zero use) that had factory QC issues, if it was new they couldn't have known about it but if it was a return then that's slightly more dodgy, there's no way anybody could miss the binding and that's why it would have been sent back. Either way you just accept those things happen and get a replacement, no bother. The second is 100% in scam territory as it was supposed to have been checked over and is obviously a well used 3yr old bass being sold as new. No QC issues like my previous one and the A5 spacecowboy mentioned, just a shop doing dodgy stuff at the expense of the customer. What seemed like a good deal at first is actually me being ripped off, these go for £550-£600 used and I've just paid £749.

Some more pics of what is apparently a new bass.

Oh and the serial number on this bass starts with IE21 so it would be 3 years old AFAIK. The first bass was IE23.

Got my replacement bass just now, ugh again. It ain't new, looks like a customer return at least if not just a used instrument. Scuffing on the back of the neck and headstock, can actually feel it as you move your hands over the neck. Weird cluster of iron filings on the neck pickup magnets. Small ding on the end of the headstock although this may have happened in shipping as the gigbag wasn't properly zipped up. At first I thought the scuffs were just dirt but tried wiping them off and no joy, all over the binding as well. Strings are also old with pitting and rough spots. Perhaps worse is there's something loose in what seems to be the rear pickup, when I rock the bass back and forth you can hear it so who knows if that even works. There's loads more small and hard to photograph (but noticeable) marks which make it clear that this is not a new bass. So don't buy from Guitar Guitar at the moment, they'll send you any old 5h1t3.

Given you can get very compact, lightweight combos and rigs that are reasonably priced and good enough for gig backline/rehearsals the low volume ~£300 combos just don't seem like a good deal any more. In truth it's a bit of an outdated progression route from the days where a giggable bass rig meant huge, heavy boxes and is now a step most people skip. We've never had it so good really and if buying used just £300 can get you some serious kit these days.

I bought an Ibanez acoustic parlour bass as B stock, it arrived with multiple small cosmetic issues (mainly sloppy application of stain, bleeding onto the binding etc) and the worst fret job I've ever seen on a bass making it impossible to play without buzzing. All their B stock items have been through an extra in-house QC processnand someone had signed off on mine so I guess that isn't worth the paper its written on. Returns went ok but make sure your local drop off point can accept large items, mine didn't and eventually Thomann had to book a courier to my door. Customer service was good throughout.

I only got mine this year and it has the one piece handle

Just spotted a TGI Extreme on FB Marketplace, for £25 in Goole.

The C8 Lite I have is the neo version so 18.6kg, the C4 are 13.1kg each. Plus the C8 cabs have a trolley handle and wheels so the amount of carrying you have to do is very minimal! I also love the fast response of the PJB gear, normally I find cab/combo reviews a bit useless but you can really hear how snappy they are in the video Sam posted above. The reason I don't like the idea of adding more cabs is that I'm lazy and only want to carry one, preferably pulling it behind me on wheels with my amp on the top.

If you're near Cardiff or can travel I'd get this: And this: Cheaper than those combos only smaller, lighter and much more useful if he wants to rehearse with other musicians or gig later on. Just add a 1/4" jack to Speakon cable.

I have the C8L and it can do big lows on a 5 string with no issues, not much experience of the smaller stuff at any sort of volume although the C8 is still a small cab. I'm not really on board with the PJB ethos of adding more cabs for more volume as part of a modular setup, I'd much rather have just one compact box that can handle what I need.

Btw @Woodinblack I have a bag of clip on zips somewhere, happy to stick a couple in the post to prolong the life of your old gigbag. I got them to temporarily fix my daughters' old schoolbag and they worked fine.

General rule of thumb over on TB regarding the PJB 5" drivers is that 4 of them will match a very good 1x10 and 8 of them will match a very good 2x10. Seeing as you'd probably need to add a C2 to the Cub Pro to play with a relatively quiet drummer you might as well just go for a used BG400 or even better the new BG450 if you don't need the two channel preamp. You can still get them in red which is the best colour. I don't think they offer the neo speakers in standalone cabs any more which is a shame as they do save a fair bit of weight.

The C2 and C4 are both 8ohm cabs, the C8 is/was available in 4 or 8 ohm variants. C series all use the 5" drivers, mine is the 4ohm C8L with the neo speakers and can very loud, like I said quite power hungry though.

Some people on here analysed the response of the Bam200 and Warwick Gnome (200w version), they're pretty flat with the bass and treble rolled back a bit and the mids boosted so they may be suitable for doubling on electric and upright, especially if you stich a Fishman or something in front of it. The Bam200 was also quite popular for jazz guitarists as a clean micro amp, when I was looking at them a while ago there were quite a few threads on jazz guitar forums! The smaller PJB combos are usually used for very quiet gigs, home practice and teaching. I think for gigging you'd be looking at a C4 cab (or a pair of C2) at least. A BG-400 would probably be a more suitable dual channel, low volume gigging combo, 18kg so not superlight though.

The front pocket on the TGI is quite large but pretty flat, just measured the depth and it can take items around 3cm thick. Depends on the dimensions of your tablet holder really, mine is quite bulky so I just leave it premanently attached to my bass stand. The best gigbag for storage would be the Gator Pro Go which has a very spacious front pocket with a padded compartment for a tablet or small laptop. Also has a large pocket in front of the headstock, can get my Fishman DI and my IEM pack in here. More rigid than the TGI with much better padding, also more than twice the price though.

The more capable PJB stuff isn't particularly light, especially for its size and output. The only one that floated my boat was the C8 Lite as it's light enough (18.5kg), very easy to move (wheels and a trolley handle built in) and can handle a low B at high volume. Can't speak for the other cabs but it's not particularly sensitive and likes a lot of power, my TC BH250 was running out of steam with it so I bought a BH800. The newer Rumble combos are very light (16.6kg for thr 500w combo) so if you like the sounds of them but want lighter/more powerful then maybe that would be a good option?

Battery charger for an IEM pack is a great idea, will be stealing that and having two sets of batteries on rotation!

Keep an eye out for a used Warwick Streamer LX. Try a modern Streamer in a shop first to see if you get on with the necks. Warwicks, Laklands and Ibanez basses all sound/play very different to each other so best going to a shop and trying a few first.