Shaggy

Thanks for the good words Misdee 👍. I reckon the late ‘70’s was a real golden era for basses; Kramer, BC Rich, Ovation, Wal, SD Curleee, Alembic, Travis Bean, Ibanez etc, and even some decent stuff from Gibson, Fender, and Rickenbacker - but it was when I started playing so I would say that! 😉 This bass now SOLD thanks, pending the usual.

Correction re weight quoted earlier; it’s 9 lb, NOT kg!

Thanks for the good words Hellzero 🙂. All I have to measure are the missus’s luggage scales - it’s reading 9kg which to me seems far too much; I’ll see if I can find a more accurate means of measurement. It’s no lightweight as it’s a fair old slab of wood, but certainly no heavyweight either. With the Warmoth neck on it balances perfectly neutrally on the strap; the long neck pocket on the body puts the strap button well towards the neck end compared to a standard T’bird Edit - Doh! Looking at wrong scale, that’s 9 lb not kg! 🤭

Thanks Piers - bass is an Enfield Fusion loaded body (since gone to Beedster) with wenge Warmoth neck (now on the Warmoth Thunderbird also listed) Honestly not all that heavy, and nothing moves air quite like a decent sized cab....

Ee, I used to dream of owning a Satellite, when I were hiding at back of t’stage wi’t shame of playing a......Columbus Jazz bass copy........🙁

Thanks binky_bass; as I’ve also got a few 19th C classical / parlour guitars I quite like the headstock shape, but I have seen it described as looking like a drooping part of a gentleman’s anatomy.......🤔

Lol - I’ve thought that about quite a few of yours Chris! 🙂. Hanging onto the ‘65 for a while yet though.....

Trace Elliot AH600SMX flightcased head with 115 and 210 cabs, all UK made. As I’m currently winding my bass playing down to a low level I’m putting some stuff up for sale, mostly my main gigging gear. AH600SMX head: Massively powerful and flexible amp, rack mounted in a shallow 3u flight-case. 600 Watts, effectively 2x300W amps that can be run bi-amped via an internal crossover or in parallel. SMX preamp with blendable valve and SS stages, dual band compression, signature Trace preshape switch, 12-band graphic EQ, and front panel UV lighting. In excellent nick and full working order. Plenty of specs online. Pretty much all the amp anyone would ever need; monster power, but a thing of utter beauty on stage with the UV lighting on...... Matching Trace 1x15 and 2x10 cabs, tolex covered, in pretty good nick. The owner before me replaced the original drivers with modern Eminence units, such that each cab is now rated 400W RMS / 8 ohm; to my ears they certainly sound tighter, more powerful, and with more “modern” clarity than I remember from my old Trace gear. The previous owner also fixed a removable dolly board under the 1x15 with heavy duty braked castors mounted, which makes the whole rig a cinch to move about, but I have the original plain rubber feet if preferred. Old school but totally practical for gigging, Trace stuff seems to have a reputation for being big and heavy but I’ve never found it unreasonably so. What Trace gear certainly is is fabulous sounding, bulletproof, reliable, and easy to fix if there ever is a problem. Looking for a piffling £450 on all this; I’d much prefer to sell as a complete rig, but if it doesn’t go then I’ll consider splitting. Collection only from South Wales, near Swansea - I can deliver to Bridgend services M4, or possibly further for fuel costs. Any questions or requests for specific pics; please message me.

Mesa Big Block Titan V12 Silverface, USA made. As I’m currently winding my bass playing down to a low level I’m putting some stuff up for sale. Often described as the Rolls-Royce of bass amplifiers, with good reason. Specs blurb here, so no need for me to waffle on about them: https://legacy.mesaboogie.com/support/out-of-production/titan.html In near mint condition, rack-mounted in a shallow SKB flightcase (4u, so 1u of free space above the amp). Very portable for an amp of this power. Complete with footswitch and manual. I bought this a few years ago from a top Basschatter, who had literally just had the amp serviced by Mesa Boogie in California. They’d done a couple of upgrades to improve cooling; fitting a more ventilated case to the chassis and adding an additional fan. Reason I bought it was the rock band I was with at the time was getting rather too loud for my Mesa Walkabout - however, this coincided with the band upgrading to a 2KW state of the art PA, so I did the sensible thing and DI’d straight into the desk, using the Walkabout as DI preamp and stage monitor. So tragically, this has never been gigged in my ownership! Asking £900. Collection from South Wales, near Swansea - I can deliver to Bridgend services M4, or possibly further for fuel costs. Any questions or requests for specific pics; please message me.

Mesa Boogie Diesel cabs, EV loaded, USA made. As I’m currently winding my bass playing down to a low level I’m putting some stuff up for sale. Mesa Boogie 1516 (now SOLD) cab; Sir Macca apparently uses 2 of them on stage (or used to, anyway....). This is the third one I’ve had. Designed as a full range stand-alone cab, with a 1x15” driver in the lower section; 1x10” and 2x6” drivers and a high range horn in the upper section. The two sections have separate inputs to enable them to be run individually or in stereo at 8 ohms each, and there’s also a single “master” input to run both sections together at 4 ohms. All drivers are the original superb ElectroVoice units. Tolex covered, which has a few scuffs and scrapes mainly on the back, but generally in decent nick. The guy I bought it off said he was the second owner, and when he bought it the original owner told him that he’d ordered it from Mesa with the factory upgrade option of a higher performance EV “Black Shadow” 15” driver. These aren’t unduly big cabs considering the arsenal of drivers they carry (see pic with bass included for scale), it’s slightly shorter than the Mesa 2x15 I used to own, which itself is quite a compact cab. They do have a justified reputation for being heavy however, and they’re heavy because they’re built to cope with a life of pro use on the road. But the removable heavy duty castors on the bottom make it a cinch to move around, and it easily tilts and slides backwards into the boot of a car. I gigged my previous ones for years quite happily; the only time you really notice the weight is when you have to lug it up or down stairs, and then you find out if your band-mates are also your true friends! As a studio or rehearsal space cab though, it’s without equal. Comes with a brand spanking new Roqsolid cover that cost me around £70. I’d bought this at the same time as the Mesa Titan amp I’ve also listed, with the plan of upgrading to a big rig, but plan scuppered by the band changing the PA so I ended up DI-ing. A piffling £300 for a whole lotta cab..... 1x15 and 2x10 “Road Ready” cabs These are more of a feeler, as I spent a long time sourcing them as a matched, pair - they’ve been the mainstay of my gigging rig for a long time now, and I’m not going to find cabs of this quality again. The “Road Ready” Mesa Diesels are built into an integral flightcase - again the design brief was for high performance cabs that can survive pro use on the road long term. Compact but weighty, but being small very much more portable than the bigger Diesel cabs. The nice thing about having 2 separate small cabs is flexibility; each is easily powerful enough as a stand-alone cab for most gigs, but when you do need a bigger rig you take them both. The 1x15 is in excellent condition, complete with the clip-on front lid for transport which usually gets lost with these. It also has the very useful slide-in removable castors underneath, which are great for moving the whole rig around on stage or when loading / unloading. Original EV driver, rated at 400W / 8 ohm; I’m fairly sure the 2x10 is too. The 2x10 is definitely scruffier, with some applied logos and a small crack in the shell on one side, though fully functional. I suspect it’s been a rental cab at some stage of its life. I checked the drivers when I acquired it, and although both were working fine I found that one was a non-original Eden unit. I replaced this with a new (and very expensive) EV10M driver, which is the modern closest equivalent to the original EV10L (no longer made), and the two 10’s now sound fine as a matched pair. £300 on the 1x15, £200 on the 2x10, or £450 for both. Collection from South Wales, near Swansea - I can deliver to Bridgend services M4, or possibly further for fuel costs. Any questions or requests for specific pics; please message me.

As I’m currently winding my bass playing down to a low level I’m putting some stuff up for sale, mostly my main gigging gear. I suspect this will probably end up as a commission sale at one of the vintage bass shops, but I’ll give it a go here first. This is a rare bird; I believe only 800 ever made; USA made of course. Martin are a very long established and respected US company well known for their high quality acoustic guitars and mandolins. This was part of their most serious foray into the world of solid bodied electric instruments in the late 1970’s. It combined Martin’s top-notch craftsmanship and tonewoods with the best US-made components of the time; Grover, DiMarzio and Badass - but it proved not to be particularly successful, probably too expensive and not different enough to other instruments available then. Solid maple body with the then fashionable Alembic-inspired faux “body-thru” walnut stringers, in natural blond finish which has aged to a lovely pale honey hue. Mahogany set neck (long 34” scale) with dark (Brazilian?) rosewood board and headstock facing, brass nut. Stauffer styled headstock shape, a nod to Martin’s German/Austrian 19th century origins. Very nice thin satin lacquer finish on body & neck, not at all the thick gloss poly “toffee apple” finish typical of the era. Grover Titan tuners, chrome finish. DiMarzio model G pickup (same as their Model One but housed in a separate mounting ring with height adjustment), with coil phase switching. Passive circuit with volume and single tone controls. Badass 1 (original model) solid brass bridge, chrome finish. A really nice and unusual bass; the core tone is unsurprisingly quite Precision-like albeit with rather more sustain, but switching the pickup coils out of phase creates a more nasal and scooped Jazz bass type tone that’s very usable. 100% original, complete with the original very protective fitted hard shell case. These hardly ever come up for sale, and are almost invariably over £1K when they do. Asking £800 on this (which is less than I paid many years ago). Collection from South Wales, near Swansea - I can deliver to Bridgend services M4, or possibly further for fuel costs. Postage a potential option, but I’m putting 4 basses up for sale and only have one box! No offers or trades please, it’s priced to sell and I’m just as happy to keep it. Any questions or requests for specific pics; please message me.

As I’m currently winding my bass playing down to a low level I’m putting some stuff up for sale. I rather feel quite a pang about this one, as I acquired it in a trade about this time last year to satisfy a 40-year old itch of wanting one, and very lovely bass though it is, its acquisition coincided with my starting to intensely focus on playing my other non-bass instruments. This is a Thunder II, I believe from 1983, and is exactly the same spec as the P/J version of the Thunder III other than having the earlier pre-Eagle headstock logo, and with creme pickup covers and TRC rather than black. Matsumoku (Japan) built. Neck-through construction, solid Canadian ash body wings with the darker “walnut” finish, rock maple neck with walnut stringers, ebony fingerboard with real mother-of-pearl “snowflake” fret marker inlays, chunky solid brass nut and bridge/tailpiece. Switchable passive or 18V active operation, controls explained here: http://www.westone.info/manual/index.html In very decent nick for a 40 year old bass, with a few small dings and scratches, and some light tarnishing to the bridge where the lacquer has worn off the brass. All original as far as I’m aware, bar the truss rod cover which I had custom made in the USA to replace the missing one. Lots of love for these from bass players, and decent condition II and III models are getting increasingly scarce. Looking for just £550 on this; you’ll see them going for £1K+ on evilBay. Collection from South Wales, near Swansea - I can deliver to Bridgend services M4, or possibly further for fuel costs. Postage a potential option, but I’m putting 4 basses up for sale and only have one box! Any questions or requests for specific pics; please message me. Edit: price drop: £475

As I’m currently winding my bass playing down to a low level I’m putting some stuff up for sale, mostly my main gigging gear. Next up; a 1998 German made Warwick FNA bass (Corvette body shape, though it was never designated a Corvette). Lightweight swamp ash body with carved flame maple top, ebony pinstripe “binding” line in between. Amber “antique violin” finish, which seems to be a thin satin lacquer. Fully recessed Warwick straplocks (strap ends also supplied), gold plated hardware. Preamp (original factory fitted): Seymour Duncan 3-band 9V active circuit voiced specifically for MusicMan Stingray, with “slap bias” switching on vol control. Neck: Long (34’) scale 24-fret in ovangkol, with wenge board and JAN adjustable nut. Regularly waxed, so beautifully smooth. 2 mods to this bass: Original ceramic MEC pickup replaced with Aguilar AG 4M (Alnico V) MusicMan pickup; based on the original 1970’s MusicMan Stingray pickup. I personally much prefer the tone on this to the MEC; it’s slightly more scooped with prominent low mids, more growl and punch yet also more clarity. Original pickup included. Original neck swapped with one from a 2001 German made Warwick Streamer LX Jazzman. This was only because I preferred a slightly slimmer neck on the Streamer, and a slightly wider P profile neck on this bass. This has been my “go to” gigging bass over the last 6 years or so, simply because it’s so comfortable and ergonomic to play, and just always sounds good. I’ve never played another single-pickup bass so responsive to changes in right hand technique, whether with pick or fingers. A brief funky live clip (thru Mesa Walkabout & Mesa 2x10) https//en-gb.facebook.com/SouLotionSwansea/videos/1815503435163445/ Looking for merely £550 on this. Collection from South Wales, near Swansea - I can deliver to Bridgend services M4, or possibly further for fuel costs. Postage a potential option, but I’m putting 4 basses up for sale and only have one box! Edit: Near-new Warwick gig-bag included in price; lots of padding, weatherproof, shoulder-straps, plenty of pocket space. Any questions or requests for specific pics; please message me.

As I’m currently winding my bass playing down to a low level I’m putting some stuff up for sale, mostly my main gigging gear. First up; a unique and very lovely Custom Thunderbird bass, that I originally acquired here on BC as a Fenderbird with P/J pickups. However I gradually converted it to a more conventional Thunderbird format, as it’s probably my all-time favourite bass design plus I also wanted a bass to gig with that sounded and played as good as my 1965 Gibson T’bird IV, but that I wouldn’t have to be too precious about. Anyway, specs: Body: made by Warmoth in one-piece lightweight mahogany, with beautiful 2-piece book-matched Cocobolo facings (NB: a proper top, NOT a veneer) with ebony pinstripe in between; the pics don’t at all do it justice, I’ll take some better ones if the sun ever decides to come out in darkest Wales..... Glass smooth gloss poly finish. I’m pretty sure that Gibson stopped Warmoth making Thunderbird bodies a long time ago. Neck pocket dimensions are specifically to take a standard bolt-on Fender type neck, so it would be very easy indeed to turn this back into a Fenderbird if so wanted. Only bad point: the routing for the original neck P pickup was very slightly wider than the mounting for the Thunderbucker I replaced it with, so there is a small 1mm gap on one edge (just visible on pic). I was going to fill it with a sliver of matching hardwood, but never got around to it. Pickups: Dual Thunderbucker Ranch ‘66 pickups, imported from the US at a cost not much less than I’m asking for the whole bass. Again, I believe that these aren’t made any more. They’re “reverse engineered” from original 1960’s Gibson Thunderbird humbuckers, and I have to say sound every bit as good as my original ‘65 T’bird - which has the best tone of any passive bass I know of. Beautifully constructed, with solid nickel-silver covers (not plated). Bridge: separate bridge / tailpiece like the 1960’s design, in chunky chrome plated solid brass. Also imported this from the US. Controls: conventional passive V / V / T, chrome dome control knobs. Neck: YOUR choice of: Neck 1: this is the neck I’ve mainly had on it for its time with me, long scale (34”) Epiphone Thunderbird neck in maple, mahogany tint gloss poly finish, with rosewood board; slim Jazz bass type profile. I believe it’s an older Korean made one - great quality anyway. The chrome tuners are genuine Gibson logo Schallers, which being in-line probably came from a 1980’s Gibson Victory bass. Currently with a Gibson logo truss rod cover, but I have the original Epiphone one with logo removed. Only bad point: The Epi neck is very slightly narrower at the heel end than a Fender neck, so there is a roughly 1mm gap on either side of the pocket, but it’s rock solid when screwed down. Or..... Neck 2: Warmoth custom long scale (34”) neck in solid wenge, wax finish, with slab rosewood board and headstock facing, and a chunky solid brass nut. 3 + 1 type headstock, with “elephant ear” Hipshot Ultralite chrome tuners. Really lovely quality neck; I think the very individual headstock really complements the body shape, and makes for a unique all-Warmoth custom that’s not overly derivative of the original design. Slightly chunkier profile compared to the Epi neck, more like a Precision, and being Fender-fit the heel fits the body neck pocket like a glove. With well-padded Thomann Thunderbird soft case. Looking for £550 on this with either neck; the Warmoth neck is clearly a more expensive and higher quality one than the Epi one, but the vintage Gibson tuners on the Epi neck are ultra rare and easily worth £100+ alone. Collection from South Wales, near Swansea - I can deliver to Bridgend services M4, or possibly further for fuel costs. Postage a potential option, but I’m putting 4 basses up for sale and only have one box! Any questions or requests for specific pics; please message me.

gypsyjazzer looking for one of these:

This used to be mine; at least the loaded body was; I only moved it on as I’m winding my bass gigging right down, or it wouldn’t have been going anywhere. It’s both a truly astonishing design and a beautifully crafted instrument - the tonal range possibilities are almost infinite and at first seem slightly bewildering, but it’s really simply to use straight away as just about the nicest P bass you’ve ever heard, or the nicest J bass, and then start exploring the possibilities. I think whilst you could still order an Avenger 2 bass from Sims they were around £2K, but this body was ordered with several factory upgrade options: in 2-piece swamp ash (stock: mahogany), satin natural finish (stock: painted) and 3-band Glockenklang preamp (stock: 2 band) that would have taken it to £2.4K as a full bass. And of course, the seller is something of a Basschat legend that you can buy from with total confidence 🙂

Lovely bass 👍 - it looks to me like the facings are stained flame maple, not walnut, but the sticker inside the control cavity cover will confirm (I could be wrong)! Don’t think this’ll be around for sale long.....

Lush 👍. I used to have an ‘80 MM Sabre that was this finish before it was stripped.... Wasn’t it officially “Root beer”? (aka Walnut)