Terry M.

I tried a "full fat" Elrick NJS5 in Bass Direct a while ago and while there was nothing wrong with it I would stick with your one,they even share the same preamp circuit. Anyway to answer your actual question if I can bear the heat today I plan to head to The Bass Gallery here in London to try this out https://thebassgallery.com/collections/bass/products/untitled-jun30_17-55 I'll report back if I do.

I thought the LTD 133 Rays were only available in red blue or black. I don't remember seeing any white ones.

I have a strange relationship with Rays. I don't have one,I want one. I have one,I don't want it.

Oh no. Because of this revelation or?...

Probably a genuine mistake. Poplar is often preferred under solid colours by certain companies as it's said the grain isn't overly attractive. Squier even did it with the CV 70s Jazz Bass,the solid black option is poplar-bodied whereas the natural finish is maple-bodied.

The Bass Gallery sold one a while back for a similar price also. If it's any consolation you'll get your money back if you decide to offload it.

You're killing me today 🤣🤣

If you bought it used then unfortunately you might have done. I've seen them on the used market for the same price as the "regular" Rays.

Which he may love even more? Only one way to find out.

It's taking hero-worship too far in my world. I met Pino briefly once and he's a really cool guy and a monster player but I find it hard to accept the £6k price-tag just because of his association. He's human like the rest of us. Reasonable is not how I would describe that figure but to each their own I guess 😊

You made me check them on Thomann out of curiosity. Yep indeed. Saw they have a short scale one for £85 made from it.

This right here. You saved me saying it. Somewhere in the chain there's at least one element that's not normal and driven by sheer profit and greed therefore distorting reality and sadly prices.

We don't have to agree that £3.4k for a US bass is normal. Something isn't normal just because it's become the norm. If consumers boycotted non-essential items like basses we don't actually need it would affect the market a great deal. Luckily for me I play 5s exclusively so even if these were at a price I liked I still wouldn't be interested.

In 2016 I paid £1,333 for a Fender American Standard Jazz V. The equivalent now is £2k so in less than 10 years it's jumped not too far off £700. That's quite a bit of change left over from an "equivalent" Sire that's more than capable of doing the same job. Just a thought.

Who's the American guy who looks just like Pino and happens to play like him also? 😄

I over-simplified things on purpose as I didn't want to delve too deep. It still amounts to over-priced products which is all my wallet cares about.

Yes I've seen this article before in a previous thread. It speaks the truth. Nothing aimed at @Bass Direct but it's capitalism and greed gone crazy. We're essentially talking about two pieces of wood bolted together with a few screws.

So does petrol but it's still overpriced 🤭

This all day every day.

Those are also over-priced 😄

I remember Bass Direct had some limited edition Stingrays some years back and they were priced lower than regular Stingrays. From memory it was because they only came in red or blue (possibly black also),had a gig-bag rather than the usual hardcase, had a 2-band eq and...was poplar-bodied! I have no personal issue with poplar but find it interesting it was used on a cut-price Stingray and now on this Pino re-issue. I wonder if his original was made of it. I've owned poplar basses and it's never bothered me tonally I might add. Ok Google just helped me out,the Stingrays I mentioned were known as "Limited Edition 133" . Bass Direct had a couple back in roughly 2014 and they well under a grand,about £850 or so.

Love his work with the Mizell Brothers production duo. In particular the Gears album by Johnny Hammond from 1975.

You may already know that Chuck Rainey was asked by Steely Dan NOT to slap on "Peg" so during recording he turned his back and did it anyway. They ended up loving it 😊

What are your thoughts with regards to the Sadowsky outboard preamp pedal? It keeps things real simple. Edit: you said you don't want to fiddle with pedals so ignore.

Another vote for the Sadowsky outboard premp pedal. You have the bonus of the bass's tone control in both active and passive a la VTC and you don't have to perform any surgery on the bass should you desire to move it on as-is. It will sell as it left the factory no problem as a lot of users want them all-passive. Then sell the pedal on also if needed.