Russ

One place where G&L have found a bit of a niche is amongst cash-strapped Tool fans. Out of the box, they probably have the closest thing to a Wal sound of any production bass. Obviously the electronics are very different, but they have a very similar character in the high mids. So a lot of Tool fans have been gravitating towards them as it gets them "close enough" to the Chancellor Wal tone.

The 5s are 17.5mm, whether it's a US or Tribute model. They're very similar - the Tributes have flatsawn maple necks compared to the quartersawn ones on the US models, they come in a much more limited range of finishes, and the body woods tend to be heavier, but, otherwise, they're practically identical. The pickups and electronics are the same. G&L Tributes are one of the best bargains out there, basically, and are criminally overlooked, considering their Leo Fender lineage.

Just another couple of names for the list - I seem to recall he was playing Canadian Lado basses for a while. I can't find a picture of him with it, but I'm pretty sure it was one of these: He also played an Ibanez Sabre-style bass that was a kinda flip blue/purple colour. EDIT: Joe Lado is now 80 years old and is still building guitars. They also have a FB page: https://www.facebook.com/ladoguitars

Actually been finding myself wanting a late-80s Longhorn (b*ner) Jazz as of late. They're over 30 years old so they're classed as "vintage" now and they're still quite affordable.

I'm still waiting for some consensus on their long-term reliability. I haven't heard nearly the amount of complaints that I've heard about the old Portaflex series and the SVT-7, but I have heard a few. Mostly about the lower-powered models, strangely.

Martin have a new short-scale acoustic bass, the 000C Junior. They're actually guitar scale (24.9"), but sound very full and play like an electric. No 5-string yet, although I am trying to persuade them. DISCLAIMER: I work for Martin. But I don't get anything extra for pimping their stuff on websites.

If you want something to play out of the box, definitely. HBs are ridiculously good value for money, and are testament to what a cheap Chinese factory can produce when there's proper quality control in place. If you're a tinkerer and are looking for a mod platform, you could do worse than go down the path of the Chinese custom builder on DHGate though. I think that's the point I was trying to make.

The brightest basses I've ever played... well, one would be my old GB (now owned by @meesterbassman)- Bernie makes a point of his basses having a very extended top end, he always called it the "high-tech sound". It was also all ash and maple, so it was a very bright, trebly bass to begin with. Others would be pretty much any Status - the top end you can dial in on those is crazy. And MTD - those custom Bartolinis they use are super-crisp, and they'll definitely shred some tweeters with the treble control dialled right up. Also, pretty much any bass fitted with a John East U-Retro or Uni-Pre- the high end boost you get when you pull up the treble control is very sharp. I've owned several Bongos, and still have one. They can go pretty high, but not "pingy" - their character is mostly in the high-mids rather than super-high treble.

The reason I'm not discounting it entirely is because an old work colleague of mine ordered a bass on there - it was a blatant copy of a Mayones Commodus, and it cost him £250. When it showed up about two months later, it was actually pretty bloody nice in terms of construction, woods, etc. Well balanced, not too heavy, and the maple top was a proper top, not just a veneer. The fretwork needed lots of attention, and the electronics were just cheap, noisy s**t. He replaced them with an EMG 40DC set (the bass was routed for exactly that pickup size), got a full setup and fret job done, and the thing ended up being the equal of any £1000+ bass for about half the money. I've also seen stories of people who bought the Faux-deras off there and did the same thing and they ended up being excellent instruments. They'll have no resale value whatsoever, but they're basses you'd buy to mod and play and not feel too guilty about, since they're not particularly expensive.

I never quite understood Jazzes back in the day. Loved the look, the balance. and that scooped sound for slap and pick work, and the bridge pickup for fingerstyle, but making them work in the mix in a band context (especially one with heavy guitars) was always a bit of a challenge. Two things fixed that - firstly, and most obviously, dial the bridge pickup down about 20% from maximum, or, if you have a pan, dial it a bit more towards the neck pickup. Instant barky mids. Different to the mids on a P, but just as punchy. Secondly, compression. Jazzes LOVE compression. Don't be afraid of adding loads, the amount of additional thickness you get is worth the small loss of dynamics. I don't play Jazzes any more, but that's what worked for me.

Used to go to a rehearsal room about 9/10 years ago that was kitted out with modern Carlsbro gear. It was OK. Nothing particularly special, but it did the job. An improvement on their 80s/90s gear, for sure, but still with a whiff of old Peavey about them. Unremarkable, but ubiquitous and relatively bulletproof. I notice, with this latest "Viper" range, they're doing what they did with Delta Bass all those years ago - keeping the word "Carlsbro" well away from public view!

Was watching some video of Sleep Token playing live the other day - the guitarists play 8-strings in double-low-E tuning (EAEADGBE). Their bass player uses a 4-string. He used to play a standard P as well, only recently getting a multiscale Aristides, but even they are just 34"-36", less extreme than a Dingwall. Just because a guitarist plays in drop-G doesn't mean you have to. Just use a tone that sits under the bottom end of the guitar, even if it's playing in the same octave. Might also be worth checking out a Digitech Drop pedal - they actually work pretty well on bass, as long as you're not looking to go stupidly low.

There's still plenty of metal out there for us older guys. I'm in a band doing original metal, and we're all in our 40s and 50s. It's not 80s-style either, it's quite contemporary. It's a case of getting the right mix of personalities and aspirations. Personally, my big aspiration in music was to play the London Astoria. I never did, and now it no longer exists, so I've had to recalibrate. Basically, I enjoy getting in a rehearsal room with my mates and making lots of loud noise, and occasionally going out there and playing it for other people. Plus I still love the bass, the sound of the instrument and what you can do with it. That hasn't gone anywhere in the past 33 years. If you want to get into sub-genres - doom, goth, thrash, death, prog and power metal are full of us not-as-young-as-we-were types. A lot of the time, as long as you've got someone reasonably talented and photogenic on vocals, nobody cares what age the people behind them are!

From the ones I've seen, woodwork and finishing are fine, if not great. Neck and fingerboard are usually OK, although they go a little heavy with the lacquer sometimes, and there might be some sharp fret ends. Tuners, bridge, electronics - utter rubbish.

JMB seems to be the go-to these days. Gumtree used to be reasonably good too, but I think people have gone off it in recent years. I do kinda miss the days when the one and only place you ever needed to look was Loot.

Still seriously contemplating getting one. I figure I can create a NAM model of my current main tone from my Zoom gear as a starting point, and go from there! What would be a good, small expression pedal to use with one of these? Something that would go well with the unit's small footprint?

Something like this is best suited for someone who plays live, with features for people who play through an amp, but other features for those who do the "silent stage" thing and go direct with IEMs, like routing one signal with just a preamp and effects to an amp output, and another with amp simulation/IR to an XLR to the desk, but who also wants a recording and production tool so they can get those exact sounds into their DAW of choice without using plugins. If it's purely for live use, there's cheaper solutions to get the sounds you want, from more basic multi-FX to common-or-garden stompboxes.

If the hardware supports it (ie, if it actually contains a Bluetooth radio), then somewhere on the case it'll have the Bluetooth glyph and probably the FCC logo. Can anyone who's got one already confirm? It could well be that it might need a Bluetooth "kludge" to be put into the USB port to enable the functionality, like on my Zoom B6 (which has a dedicated port for it).

Line 6 haven't updated the Helix hardware in years. It's starting to look a bit... tired. I thought they'd be chomping at the bit to release an upgraded version after the Quad Cortex took off, but no. I want to see an upgraded version of the POD Go - just stuff the guts of the HX Stomp in there and you've got a solid, compact single-box gigging solution, complete with expression pedal and built-in wireless. The current POD Go is a bit underpowered compared to the Helix or even the HX Stomp. A few more bass-oriented models wouldn't go amiss either, especially preamps.

Texas has a bit of an "exceptionalism" thing going on - in most places in the US, you see the American flag flying outside peoples' houses. In Texas, you're more likely to see the "lone star" state flag. They regularly threaten secession from the union and think they're better than the rest of the US. They're kinda the "Brexit Britain" of the US. Austin is a cool city - been there a few times. One of my favourite places over here. And it's very different from the Texas stereotype - young, progressive, geek-friendly, music everywhere, people bike and use public transport (they have a decent light rail system), and so on. Great food too - proper authentic Mexican food, Texas BBQ, good steaks, and surprisingly good Indian food! As a Brit in the US, it's also nice because they have a good football team (Austin FC), Nando's and a decent British pub (run by Brits) that does a Full English and a good Sunday lunch! But you don't have to go far out of Austin to be reminded where you are - miles and miles of nothing, megachurches, people in the biggest, most jacked-up pickup trucks you've ever seen (all the big car manufacturers make special Texas-only models!), people carrying guns, and so on.

Well, there goes my only criticism then. I should have RTFM!

Looks amazing. Small too, so very gig bag-friendly (looks way smaller than a QC). I'd love to try one out. Only thing it appears to be missing is an expression pedal, or even a connection for an external one. Not a dealbreaker though.

We're planning on moving back to the UK from the US later this year. Been keeping an eye on what the approximate equity in our house will be worth when we convert it back to £ - basically, it's worth about £8,000 less since all this f**kery started.

Minnesota. Same difference though. I hung out a bit with Ian last year. Nice bloke, knows his s**t, grooves hard and knows his HX Stomp like the back of his hand! He's also huge - I'm 6'1, and he was a good couple of inches bigger than me! He's a big fan of Mike Lull basses, which aren't a million miles away from the Sadowsky template - souped-up Jazzes, basically. I guess it's a case of picking what feels right in your hands. (that's the Minnesota state flag on his hat, by the way...)

Saw them at a "secret" gig at The Marquee back in January '93. That was an insane gig. Nearly tripped over Dimebag's pedalboard when stagediving. Subsequently saw them several more times. They were amazing live. But I've no interest in seeing the new version - not because of it "not being Pantera" (I'm fine with the idea of Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante being in the band), but entirely because of Phil Anselmo and his bigotry, and buying a ticket would be a tacit endorsement of that.