Newfoundfreedom

Self moderation.

Never heard of DH Gate. I'm assuming it's another Chinese Alibaba clone? So before the usual kick off about actually daring to suggest buying a copy of something, I've never bought an instrument through Alibaba but I did often used to buy mobile phones. The biggest problem is you never know how much you're going to get stung for when it hits customs. If it slips through you could get a perfectly useable bass that looks something like your desired shape for a bargain price. If it gets stopped and taxed you could end up with a relatively expensive pile of poo. It's too much of a lottery.

I like Band Mule. It's almost perfect, I just wish it had live notifications for the chat / messenger function. I messaged the developers about this and they said they had sorted it out in the latest update but it still doesn't work for me.

How did you even find this? Very random website.

It's just a load of meaningless noise that goes on for far too long and sounds way too pretentious. It must be a Jazz advert.

I'm happy to get free beer.

I live abroad in a relatively small ex pat community so everyone kind of knows everyone (or at least knows of them anyway). So the being known for being in a band thing is kind of irrelevant. Although our first official gig is fast approaching, so I live in hope.

Sweet Jesus! His recruitment ads are even more tedious than his YouTube videos. I'm out! (To be fair I don't have a Bachelor's degree in kissing derrière so I was never in the running anyway)

They missed a trick there. It should have been a cooler box for beer. 😁

Can you have a word with my wife.

True. But then if you were spending the same sort of money on a guitar you'd probably want to see it in person too. I certainly wouldn't be throwing a few grand at something I'd never seen. I also wouldn't sell something in that basis either. I'd insist the buyer saw it in person so they knew exactly what they were getting. Much less hassle that way. If we're taking a couple of hundred quid then fair play. Have a punt. But I wouldn't be giving the seller the third degree either. Insisting they add you on social media before you will buy is borderline stalker behaviour. I'd run a mile from anyone trying to buy on that basis.

That's the name of my mate's band.

I don't think a short video demonstrating the instrument is a particularly unreasonable request, but I'd run a mile from anyone demanding proof of ID and social media acceptance just to buy an instrument, or anything else for that matter. I've sold cars worth thousands of pounds with nowhere near that amount of hassle. I'm not being funny but I wouldn't sell an instrument to you in a million years. You sound like you'd be a nightmare to deal with and life's too short. I'd rather lose the sale and sell it to someone else, or even keep it before sharing personal details (other than what is necessary) with a potential buyer.

To be fair you can't go wrong with pretty much anything from Thomann. Their customer service and returns policy is superb. I looked at "The Box" gear but for a few quid extra you can get the Beringer's. I got 2x15's and they're ridiculously good for the money. I previously had Peavey 15's and the Beringer's wee wee all over them. As for not using 15's for vocals, I've never heard that before in my life. We run all our vocals though 15 and it sounds great. In fact just about every pub / club band I've ever seen uses 15" PA speakers.

Here's a picture of mine to keep you ticking over. 😉

Superb! I've had a hankering for a Trace rig since I was 15 years old and I've never owned one. The money they go for now is a no brained. I could even live with the weight. If only I was still in the UK. 😟

I would like to like this twice. 👍 👍

Well I've just watched it and I don't see what all the fuss is about. It didn't sound too bad to me at all. Considering even the recorded version was a screechy, whiney vocal in the first place, I think it was a reasonable reproduction for a live performance.

No you are absolutely correct. Fighting the good fight was just a quip in response to the phrase conceding defeat in the original post. Actually avoiding Fenders is the easiest thing in the world. Why would I be interested in buying something I have no desire for? I'm not disputing their place in musical history. They're just not for me.

Oh yeah. I'd completely forgotten about that one.

Isn't that one of those little furry things that turn into gremlins if you feed them after midnight?

I'm genuinely surprised. I didn't think Fenders could get any uglier. I was wrong. 😂

Stay, was an absolutely epic song. Other than that I couldn't name a single track. I actually thought that they were just a one off collaboration for that song. I didn't even know they'd done others.

I have the Vintage Modified Jaguar (full scale) which I call the ugly wife, because it's ok in the house but I wouldn't be seen dead with it in public. I bought it for a song from an online advertising site after several too many vodkas because I thought it looked pretty. As often happens with these things, I instantly regretted it in the morning once the vodka had worn off. To be fair it plays and sounds superb! The neck is a dream, I even quite like the body shape, but damn that standard Fender shape headstock is ugly, with it's tuners like Jodrell Bank. It's like putting the elephant man's head on Claudia Schiffer. I'll never understand how Fenders caught on outside dark caves or schools for the blind.

I have more trouble trying to stop myself from buying basses at £200. That's about the same as I paid for my first bass back in aground 1989, which was a hell of a lot of money back then and it was an absolute pile of junk. Now you can buy an absolute superb and extremely playable bass for that money. As others have suggested, just try to figure out what suits you best then look at the classifieds on here and the second hand stuff on eBay, there are some real bargains to be had. You can even get an extremely respectable new instrument for£200 now. Harley Benton, and Vintage are extremely well rated in reviews, to name just a couple. If you find you prefer short scale you can pick up a second hand Gretsch Junior Jet II for that money, I have one and they're absolutely superb, also in that price range and short scale is the Squire Jaguar, another superb little bass. Good luck. Have fun choosing. The world's your lobster.