CameronJ

As @dmccombe7 says, the black labels have twin pole pieces per string. The pups in the photo above are definitely Sandberg’s “standard” models, hence the little Sandberg logo (4 dots) on the corner of each pickup. Black labels look like this:

This sounds incredibly cool, and combined with a loop switcher like a Boss ES8 or Gig Rig G2 could give players serious control. Definitely following this!

Oddly, that’s been up for sale for several weeks now. I’d be fine with 16mm spacing - my first ever 5er had 17mm spacing and I found it really comfortable for fingerstyle. Which is perhaps a bit strange since I have huge hands!

You mentioned Yamaha. The basses you’ll want to be looking at are the BB series. There are quite a few of us here on Basschat who have a soft spot for them. Here are a few options that should fall within your £500 price range: New Yamaha BB434 - Part of Yamaha’s most recent range. Passive electronics. Volume, blend, tone. Quite a nice selection of colours available. Used Yamaha BB734a - Again, part of the new range of BBs. There’s currently one for sale here in your budget, which is a really good price for one of these. Has both active and passive modes. Really versatile, well thought out EQ controls. Or just switch it into passive mode and forget about the active preamp completely. Only available in tobacco burst or matte black. Used Yamaha BB1024 or 1024X (the “X” just means it has a pickguard) - the previous BB model range. Passive electronics, but with a pickup selector switch instead of a blend knob. I really like the simplicity of the selector switch but it’s not for everyone. Fairly small selection of colours available. There are plenty of BB models which have been rolled out over the years, pretty much all of them are excellent. I’ve owned or played all three of the above and can confidently say you’ll be pleased with any of them. I’ve said it before and I'll say it again - Yamaha don’t know how to make a bad instrument!

Ah, makes sense! Was gonna offer you my adapter (I’m sure I have it lying around in a case somewhere after selling my Smooth Hound) but no need

A polarity inverting adapter cable can have your Smooth Hound powered off the IsoBrick as well, giving you a spare socket on your extension cable for emergencies.

Agreed! Even with customs charges that’s a good deal

Gator make some good quality mixer bags/cases in a wide variety of sizes. One of them could potentially work and would be far less bulky than a hard flight case.

Guilty as charged.

Hm. Curious. But easily changed!

Strung with three tapewounds and one flatwound? Or so it appears at least?

It’s a lot of pages to read but worth it for the wealth of information IMO. Hope it helps

Hey man, I’d strongly suggest taking a look at this thread if you haven’t already: Should answer most, if not all, of your questions! Some incredibly helpful folk willing to offer advice too so feel free to ask anything.

That’s a great link!

Totally agree.

Just because a bass is being sold for a high price doesn’t mean the seller isn’t trying to sell it - just means they have a price they would accept for it which they aren’t willing to go below. Not all sale ads are urgent and therefore some people are willing to hold out for the right price. Members are free to PM the seller and attempt to negotiate on price if they wish. Again, it’s up to the seller if they’re willing to go down or not. Also, the value of something in the UK doesn’t always translate directly to the value of something in mainland Europe, for example. Sometimes the exchange rate is a factor. As far as I’m aware, there are no laws dictating what a “realistic” price is for an instrument. If the seller has paid their subscription fee then they have just as much right to sell a bass as anyone else, regardless of price. Surely to strip them of an ad that they’ve paid for would be unfair.

I’ve gazed upon that very model with a lustful eye myself a few times.

But who would that benefit? It doesn’t benefit the seller if the item is actually still for sale, and it doesn’t benefit a potential buyer who might log in 7 months after the ad was posted and never see it because it was auto-deleted. If a seller wants an item to sell, it’s surely in their own best interests to bump the thread every couple of days. If they don’t, it goes to the bottom of the pile and doesn’t get seen by any but the most tenacious (read: willing to use the search function, or scroll through many pages) buyers.

Been toying with doing the Shuker course myself of late - this thread has done little to extinguish my desire! @GarethFlatlands The finished bass looks great.

I hadn’t even noticed the altered shape - looks like they’ve kind of given it the signature Dingwall elbow/shelf/curve thingy. Pretty cool.

I even like the “painted on” pickguards!

Saw that on Facebook yesterday. Looks very cool and it confirmed my suspicion that it was only a matter of time before Darkglass started adding distortion circuits to their on board preamps! I’m just patiently waiting for the D-Bird Standard in 5 strings. I can almost guarantee it’ll happen at some point, it’s just a matter of when. I can easily see myself being a 2 bass man - My Super P5 and a D-Bird Standard 5

There’s a BB5000a for sale on one of the Facebook Bass market groups. It’s been sitting there for weeks unsold!