BillyBass

I suppose if your experience of, for example, Chinese made kit is all positive then I would understand your point of view. My experience of Chinese built stuff isn't all positive. I have never visited a factory where bass kit is made, I know very little about quality control in any place of manufacture and, no doubt, every different factory in China will have different quality control standards. I perceive, rightly or wrongly, that stuff checked, made, assembled, or a combination of those, in the west will likely be better. So I am happy to pay a premium. 20% extra for something I feel condfident isn't going to fail the day after the warranty expires isn't bad value.

Congrats on your luck! Every now and again Thomann sell off stuff at a huge discount, which, I'm sure, makes economic sense to the company. My Fusion 1200 was 2nd hand from here, bought originally from Polar Audio and my Legacy 800 was new from Polar audio. I'm well happy I bought the stuff cheap but I probably would still pay Andertons prices if I had to because I love the GK sound.

From your first post I take it you like the sound of GK kit. I am biased but I have to agree, GK has a particular sound, not loved by all but it suits the music I play perfectly. I own a GK Legacy 800 and a Fusion 1200. Great heads.

@Wolverinebass, if you got a GK Fusion 1200 for a little over £900 the you got it heavily discounted, probably from Polar Audio. New from Andertons, these have a price tag comparable to the Mesa kit. Though I do accept the 350 watt Mesa doesn’t seem good value compared the higher powered kit. For me personally, that kit is made In the U.S. or the U.K. is a plus point. I know the parts will have been sourced from a variety of countries but if a good percentage is not from China and the product has been assembled and tested in the U.S. or U.K. I would be happy to pay a premium. But that is just me.

I think I’d better run that past my accountant first.

This is a witch hunt. This is like communism or fascism. Crooked @jimmyb625 is out to get me. You see this in banana republics but not on bass chat. I started a great company, great cash, great everything.

Although I work for myself, technically, I’m the director of a company and, therefore, an employee. So, if I create a new policy that any employee who works for 13 years (I incorporated 13 years ago) gets a new bass, that would, correct me if I’m wrong, enable me to acquire a new bass but still keep my 2024 gear abstinence intact. if you disagree, it’s solicitors at dawn!

I've blown a fair bit of cash in the last couple of years in search of kit that suits me and I think I've found out what I like now, so I should be alright.

Yes ok, I'll join the club. How will I survive? I've only got 10 basses, 3 heads, 4 cabs and a load of pedals.

I didn't bother putting my name down for this as I thought it would be pointless, but...No purchases this year yet and as my side hustle business needs about £30-35k of investment this year, which I will have to borrow, I think I'll have to make do with what I have.

Awful news mate. Deepest sympathies.

When the Pro-Mod JJ 5 string basses came out a couple of years ago Charvel's website stated they had a 35" scale length. This was found to be inaccurate, the basses (one of which I own) have a 34" scale length. The website has since been altered. I would be surprised if this wasn't a 34" scale bass.

Agree on the gold hardware. Mercahnt City Music have this on pre order, but for £999, as opposed to £879 for the usual Decision P. £120 extra for a gold pick guard! Unless there are some other 'upgrades' to it that I haven't noticed. Edit: Sweetwiter are selling this new Decision P at the same price as the other Decision Ps. It looks like whoever does Merchant City Music's website has got the entry for this bass mixed up with a guitar costing £999.

Congrats Dave, lovely looking bass that. I love my Decision P.

A licence to print money. Every time I go to see the Spurs I squeeze through throngs of fans queuing up to buy beer and burgers and walk to my seat and sit with the other 60k fans, many with replica shirts, and watch Spurs play (often badly). And at the next match it all happens again. EBMM (and Fender) can produce overpriced bass after overpriced bass and people will buy them. I'm not interested in the basses, but I wouldn't mind a few shares in the company.

Evri are very cheap but that comes with its drawbacks. I sold an MXR Vintage Octave to someone on here and it went missing in transit. I am almost certain it was stolen from the corner shop that was the drop off point and I took photos of how the shop leaves all the parcels in a pile in the middle of the shop but I found no facility to leave the photos on their website and gave up. I do still sometimes use Evri, for less valuable stuff, but I don't use that particular drop off shop.

I presume then, from this post, that you have been successful in your search for a new singer?

I disagree, partly. I have to look at a bass and think, "Wow". It also does need to be well made and have good materials but if its appearance doesn't interest me, I won't buy it.

I regularly replace dimmer switches that are either faulty or, with LED bulbs, just don't work very well. Simple on-off rocker switches normally last for decades. I also regularly replace dimmer switches designed for use with halogen or tungsten filament bulbs as nowadays you can pretty much only buy LED bulbs in your local supermarket and most people aren't aware that they won't work well with their existing dimmer switch. If you google 'leading edge and trailing edge dimmers' you will get an understanding why. Even so, trailing edge dimmers will not dim an LED anywhere near as well as the old leading edge dimmers could dim a halogen bulb. A diode is a gate, it is either on or off but technology has provided us with dimmers for them; perhaps in a few years time we will have dimmers that actually work well with them, as in dim from 100% down to 0% with no strobing. If there was a fan club for lovers of on-off rocker light switches, I would join.

There are some great tribute band names on here. Keep 'em coming

The 350s come up 2nd hand every now and again; usually for about £300 give or take. You don't see many 800s coming up for sale 2nd hand. I got mine off eBay, sold it on here. I would say they are worth £500 new, if you want that sound. They are well made, the feature set is excellent and they go below 4 ohms. But £500 is a lot of money.

Following @BassAdder60's suggestion... the Magellan 350 would be cheaper, smaller and still relatively uncoloured and neutral. I had one for a few weeks in 2023, I got it from eBay and sold it via the for sale section quite quickly. Its a perfectly good and neutral amp, with a couple of filters if you don't like it too neutral.

You could always try the latest Fusion range. Andertons stocks them and they have knocked £150 off the price of the Fusion 800S, it's now a mere snip at £1149, just in case you have a kidney you aren't using at the moment. I have a legacy 800 and a Fusion 1200S. I love them both but the Fusion S through Barefaced 10s sounds lush and warm but still retains the GK toppy bite.

I think it is quite brave to spend £4k on a bass without seeing it and playing it first.

I have a Legacy 800. Noise when playing certain basses has occurred, but after shielding said basses all was good. I am an electrician and as a consequence of my work experience, there are no dimmer switches in my house. Overall, I am very impressed with my GK amps; they are well made and sound great.