lemmywinks

Crazy bit of kit isn't it? I've been living at my mum's recently as she's just had a hip replacement, I also had 30 songs to learn for a dep gig a foolishly agreed to do. Just stuck the Pocket Master case (has earbuds and a USB cable) in my bass gigbag and have a full, silent practice rig ready to go in a few seconds that doesn't involve aux or power cables. Just plug the bass/earbuds in and get going.

Here's the frequency centres for the Mki: The bass control actually mimics a USA Bart preamp (ie too low centre point and not enough around 100hz/120hz for me) but I don't think they sound that similar in person, the mids are voiced quite differently. On the Markbass MB-1 the lows are centred a bit higher and it sounds better IMO, check out Handsome Dan's review of the Cort C5 here to see how the MkI pups sound with it:

I've had a few basses with the licensed MkI stuff in, the pickups are ok and I've always half heartedly defended them on here because they're... well... ok. They aren't an upgrade over pretty much any in house pickup and are there as a cheap way for Cort to slap a high end brand on their spec sheet at a low cost which is something they've always liked doing! If I picked up a bass with MkI pickups in I might keep 'em, I might not. The MkI preamp is where most people should direct their anger though, hated that thing and if I was looking to improve a Cort/Ibanez with licensed Barts then that's the first thing that would go as the rest is sound. The Markbass pre (licensed again) they're using in some models now is a much better (but still not great) preamp choice IMO, as is the in house Vari-Mid used on a lot of the Ibanez range. The in-house (think it may have had a Fishman license slapped on it) preamp in my old Korean C5P was also much nicer IMO, while it worked at least. Horses for courses obviously, some people love them stock but most don't and people always seem to blame the pickups which actually sound decent enough if wired passive. Every bass with USA Barts in I've played has been excellent, nothing that I'd change on any of them. My main bass is currently a Cort GB Modern 5 which has USA Nordstrands, Babicz bridge, lic Hishot Ultralites and the lic Markbass preamp in it (which I'm going to change at some point), ended up costing me £460 used after I'd sold the hard case it came with. It sounds light years ahead of the last lic Bart equipped Cort I owned (a B5), most of Cort's licensing deals are a great way to add quality and value to a sensibly priced bass but that MkI preamp is just not for me really.

They do, it's a Z series so looks different to the regular Babicz bridge.

Tobias Classic is one of the ATG bass designs ever for me, it's fantastic that they're back and looking as good as they do regardless of who's building them. Given that they were always an odd acquisition for Gibson who never really knew what to do with the brand it's surprising they're being produced at all tbh.

Yeah it has the licensed Bart Mk pups and pre which aren't great which is why I allowed an extra £500 for the Tobias' USA Bart setup. I don't think the wood makes much difference to overall cost, the Space series use maple/purpleheart/walnut and it doesn't really add a premium so the Gibson tax does seem to be around £500. No idea if that Babicz bridge is an in-house licensed part or a USA Z series, they aren't cheap though. The A5 has (assume licensed) Hipshot tuners and bridge so basically equivalent hardware spec anyway.

Cort A5 coming in at around £800, Thomann have the Tobias Classic V at £1.8k so allowing £500 for the (not inconsiderable) spec upgrade it does look like you're paying £500 extra to Gibson. That trans black model though:

Had exactly the same issue and sold the 32" scale bass I briefly had, could never get used to it. I can go between 35", 34" and right down to 24.75" and just play normally, I sometimes play my daughter's 30" bass and am fine on that but 32" just completely threw me. Just felt weird.

There's a Warwick Gnome iPro on FB Marketplace for £110 right now, that's the 280w version of the Gnome micro head. Slightly bigger but more powerful.

@SimonK we need a shot of all your TE gear in one place, if your back can handle moving them all on the same day that is.

It's a shame Markbass stopped integrating a kickback feature in their cabs, both the Standard and Club series could be angled back.

Try their FB page, they seem to respond to that more reliably.

Bugera Veyron BV1001T might be up your street: https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Bugera-Veyron-BV1001T-2000W-Bass-Amp-Head/1WNW Actual power rating is around 700w or something like that.

Looks like Indonesian built but with US Bart pickups and pre. Given the use of Paulownia body wings (maple neck/core) and a Babicz bridge I'd lean towards Cort making them, my current main bass has Paulownia wings and the same bridge. Tbh I'd rather Cort made them than Gibson buggering things up. The original Tobias company was bought by Gibson many moons ago, the original team carried on building for a short while post buyout (with a Korean import line, dunno who built those but they were well put together) then after that the general consensus is that quality dropped off and the brand disappeared. They were brought back for some super cheap (but perfectly decent) import basses a while ago which bore a superficial resemblance to the original design, think they have the asymmetrical necks as well. Mike Tobias has been making basses under the MTD (Michael Tobias Design) brand for a while now, super high end USA built instruments with matching price tags and a top quality import line (originally Korean, now Chinese) which you can pick up used for around £600. So these are basically the shape and name with no connection to the original company but do retain some design elements like the neck profile (assuming it's the same) and the use of Barts.

I do, an original USA Tobias is one of the basses I used to lust after when I was starting out. They're big money now, really regret not buying one in a full touring case for well under £2k when I had the chance. Mike Tobias basses usually all have asymmetrical necks which feel great, hopefully whoever Gibson is contracting to build these does them justice.

Gotoh 404BO is my favourite bridge, all the features you want without any extra fuss and doesn't look out of place on any bass.

Mainly about looks for me. If I have an old looking J/P then a BBOT is fine, totally suits the bass. If I have a more modern looking bass (Fender shaped or otherwise) with fancy pickups and woods then I want a chunky, well designed bridge on there. Even on most of my more traditional basses I've had a standard Fender style bridge but with a solid block at the back like a Gotoh 201B. I always thought Badass bridges were pretty ugly though, plenty of nicer high mass designs out there.

I love Tobias basses but they're long gone as an entity, this is just a shape that Gibson owns. if I wanted a cheaper version I'd keep an eye out for a used Korean Toby Pro from back in the day and stick some high end electronics in there, or just get a K series MTD which is the real budget Tobias. These do look nice though, it's such a killer shape. This is £400 if anybody is in Edinburgh and wants to save some £ https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/684422607244565/

My mate has just won another prize in the instant win thing, 50p website credit. We're going out later to celebrate. That's his 4th or 5th win so far.

Do you have a pic of the rod they used? Might help other folk if the owner of the company is being difficult about repairs/replacements.

My mate only ever goes for the low ticket numbers where the tickets are reasonably priced rather than going for items he really wants. He does use the Marshall as his main amp now but didn't really need/want a new amp, just went for it because his odds were better.

A mate of mine has won a Marshall valve combo and a Squier CV Tele along with a few vouchers.

If this is a top end luthier (Shuker, ACG, Iceni/Zoot, Sei etc) or a popular brand then you may get decent resale value on it, otherwise prepare to be disappointed. Unfortunately the fastest way to lose money on a new bass is to order a custom instrument from a smaller builder, no matter how good the bass is people will always go for what logo is on the headstock. Even then resale value will plummet compared to the new cost, there's been top end custom basses sold in the Marketplace here for new MiM Fender prices.

My Korean Cort built Hohner JJ Pro also came with pretty much that exact style of neckplate, that was a 90s bass IIRC.