BillyBass

Nice one! If that was the one on sale here for £750, you've got a bargain there.

I played through @Merton's TE1200 and Barefaced 210s at the SE Bass Bash a couple of years ago. It was a sonic match made in heaven, the colour of the 10s just seemed to fit the TE1200. The best adjectives I could come up with to describe the sound are: rich and creamy. My rig is a GK Legacy through a Super Compact, quite a different sound but perfect for me, but if GK hadn't been invented, I'd be really keen on a TE1200 with, possibly, one of those new BF 310 cabs.

This sounds like a brilliant idea Eli, I would love to do something like this myself, however, for me, at least, there would be quite a steep (but enjoyable) learning curve. The Tony Levin era stuff has some brilliant bass bits, I prefer this to the Larks tongue in Aspic, Court of the Crimson King era stuff. You'll have to post some clips of yourselves when it starts working.

I have the Spectra Drive. The downloading different drives to the pedal from your phone stuff stopped working pretty quickly but as a signal booster, EQ shaper and DI out it does a reasonable job. The MXR has a smaller footprint and sweepable mids, instead of two different mid knobs, but, I thought the bass eq was centred a bit low, 40Hz, I believe? I haven't tried it though.

I don't have a great deal of gigging experience but the best amp I've tried by far is the GK Legacy 800, it allows my bass to be heard and is the amp I used the only time I have had my bass tone complimented (paired with a Super Compact) Honorable mentions to GK Fusion 1200s and TE Elf

I followed a band called Delta 5, back in the day. They were Leeds Uni students, influenced by the Gang of Four and 2 of them (Beth and Jules) had been girlfriends of members of the Mekons. Unfortunately Jules (singer, songwriter, occasional tele player) and Kelvin (drums) have passed away. I don't know what Beth (bass, vocals) and Alan (guitar) are doing now but the other bassist, Ros Allen, is a lecturer at the University of Sunderland; Animation is her thing I believe. Not punk, I know but there's an association.

Are you going to advertise for Toyah Wilcox to complete the line up?

We were lying in bed one Sunday morning, cups of tea and laptops to hand and I was perusing the Reverends on Merchant City Music's website. Mrs BillyBass announces she wants to go on a spa break, so I quickly google spa breaks near Glasgow and found somewhere in exotic East Kilbride. She liked the idea, not having ever visited Scotland and knowing nothing about the place (she's Turkish). I then came clean and told her my ulterior motive and we came to an agreement: I get a bass, she gets a spa break. So on the first day I visited Merchant City Music and GuitarGuitar and bought the Reverend, while she walked around Glasgow. Day 2: Stirling Castle. Day 3: Edinburgh. She also had some sort of pampering session at the East Kilbride spa hotel. Neither of us had ever visited Scotland, and I was the chauffeur and interpreter; she struggled with Scottish accents and I often had to help out.

Latest e-mail from Sire: Hello William. This is Mariano from Sire customer service. Sorry for the late reply. This is the information received from the factory technician. In the case of the Z series, the 4-string is 19mm and the 5-string is 17.5mm. Hope this helps. Thank you for choosing SIRE! That is a little bit disappointing, I was hoping for similar string spacing to their P5R models🙁

Nice collection there. A Duff McKagan PJ is a bass I'd love to add to my collection

On a Saturday morning, leaving at 8:30, it would take me about 1 hour to get to Andertons, arrive just before it opens and park in one of the spaces in front of their shop before they are grabbed by anyone else. Then I can try the basses out; fivers being much more prone to neck dive, weight and string spacing issues than a 4 string bass. Last year I had to bribe Mrs BillyBass with a spa break in East Kilbride so I could try out the Reverends in Merchant City Music. I think its worth driving for 3 hours if I'm definitely looking to buy and a particular shop has several options I'd like to try. But to try one bass only, maybe not

18mm works for me. 16-16.5mm doesn't. My only fiver has a 18.25mm spacing at the bridge and I'm hoping for something close, so that swapping basses is straightforward. The Z7s look like a great option, if they aren't too heavy and the string spacing is at least 18mm. Fingers crossed.

Let me guess, in about 5 years time the old version will be highly sought after 2nd hand, with people waxing lyrical about how much better it is than the future current model. I think I'll keep mine and flog it second hand in 2030 for £700.

Nice one! Does the J stand for Jazz or Japanese?

Latest correspondence, copied and pasted: Hello William. This is Mariano from Sire customer service. Since the Sire Z models are new and in the process of production, let me find out from our factory to make sure the string spacing and nut width. Once I receive the confirmation I will get back to you as soon as possible. Hope this helps. Thank you for choosing SIRE!

Good spot. 2nd email sent.

Sire's response, copied and pasted: Hello Bill. Thank you for contacting Sireguitars and for your inquiry. Sorry for the late response. Below is nut width and string spacing information. 4 String nut width: 38mm 5 String nut width: 46mm 4 String spacing: 20mm 5 String spacing: 18mm Hope this helps. Thank you for choosing SIRE!

I'm sure that is good advice. I have 10 basses, none of them cost over £1000. So this will be my most expensive bass related purchase. I believe making a good 5 string is much more difficult that making a good 4 string bass so I won't be buying anything before trying it out. I have my eye on a second hand one and I've messaged the owner to arrange a try out. So we'll see.

How do you find the B string with the neck pup? Do you need to dial in a bit of the bridge pup to add clarity, or perhaps fiddle around with the mid frequencies on the pre amp to improve it?

Do you think the quality of the B string is down to the position of the pup, the gauge of your chosen string or a bit of both? I've just replaced the 0.135 in my Charvel fiver with a tapered 0.145 and the difference is quite dramatic; it has given me the belief I can get a decent fiver with a 34" scale.

What size is your B string?

I'm probably going to get another fiver in the coming month or two. The Fender Precision 5 does seem to have a lot going for it. They are relatively light, by fiver standards, the American Professional IIs seem to have lightweight tuners, the string spacing is, I think, 19mm (I won't go below 18mm) and I like FSO. I've read that some people find the pup a bit muddy with the B string and there are those that believe Precisions should have 4 strings only and anything else is sacrilege. I'd be keen to hear from owners, or previous owners of your experience with a Fender P fiver. To quote Eric Idle...'What's it like?"

I had to nail my pick technique when I joined my previous (punk) band. Now I'm comfortable with both pick and fingers but with a slight preference for pick. I will admit, if the song requires speed, I default to pick. I think you have to use the pick you feel most comfortable with. I went through countless shapes and sizes before settling on Dunlop Gator Grip 1.5mm.

The Burgundy mist does look good. I tried a Sire jazz in that colour in Andertons and from memory the colour did look close to that in the photos. I'm guessing the natural finish will be lighter but we'll see. The Rosegold Z3 looks interesting as does the blue. I might nip over to Andertons when they arrive.