LeftyJ

I play in a band that plays melodic doom metal, with three guitarists. As far as gear is concerned, they're very different. One doesn't really care about gear and has stuck with the same Ibanez 7-string and Engl Fireball halfstack for well over 10 years because it just works for him. He uses just a few pedals, most importantly a digital reverb with a blend knob so he can dial out the dry signal entirely. One uses a 7-string through a Hotone Ampero II and a Friedman FRFR speaker as a monitor, and it's brilliant. Compact, lightweight and sounds great. The third guitarist plays a Jazzmaster through some analog pedals to shape his tone, and will just plug into the input of any clean amp that's available to him. During rehearsals that would be my small 20 watt 1x12 Koch Studiotone combo, and for gigs we'll often bring that along too.

Me too, but the element of surprise had lost its effect by the time I reached the 5th post

I like to use relatively thin B strings. Someone once recommended I try a 0.125 and I haven't looked back. It has a faster attack than a fatter string, it feels less rigid, and intonation improved across the board because of the reduced rigidity. It still sounds plenty tight as long as the neck of the bass is rigid enough - I get the best low B from my graphite-necked Status, with Status' own taperwound stainless steel Hotwire strings. I use non-tapered strings on all my other basses. None of my 5-strings are currently passive though, but I'm not sure how that would make a difference. One of them has an active/passive-switch and sounds equally good in both settings. The Status always has the EQ engaged, and my Warwick only has an EQ bypass but has active pickups so it's never truly passive.

That's OK, they take up little space.

No nicknames for me, I usually just call them by their model name - my Jazz, my Musician, and so on. With the colour or the number of strings added if I have more than one.

I like when big manufacturers build something out of the ordinary for an artist, rather than just make a version of a bog standard model that just has a different finish or some subtle difference. For example, the Fender Roscoe Beck or the first Stu Hamm Urge (when it was still medium-scale) are really cool and unique twists that are familiarly Fender-shaped enough, but still the RB is not quite a Jazz and the Urge is not quite a Precision 😎. That said, I really like some more conventional models too that were based on the artist's actual favourite, like the JMJ or the Miller Jazz.

Yep! I briefly owned a PB57-50 which was basswood, and I have a JB75-90US with an ash body that can double as a boat anchor. Really fine bass, but it weighs a ton. Normally, if you're not sure (when they're a solid finish, for example), you can easily tell them apart by their hardware. The entry level models with basswood bodies will usually have smaller Gotoh GB-1 tuners and bridges with barrel saddles. The ones with alder and ash bodies will usually have more period-correct hardware for the model they're intended to reissue, with larger tuner base plates and threaded saddles. These limited editions are no exception, and also use the Gotoh GB-1's and barrel saddles.

Gibson did, back in 2011. It was a limited edition of only 400, but with a set neck rather than neck-through and without the trademark thinner body wings glued to a thicker core. https://reverb.com/item/65918329-gibson-limited-edition-thunderbird-short-scale-bass-03-06-2011-satin-ebony

There is though. The current issue Player Plus Jazz and Precision both have a mini toggle switch between the last two knobs to switch to passive. To echo your comment about the lack of subtlety: the passive mode is a lot quieter than the active mode. It really boosts and colours the tone a lot, even set to neutral.

I'm inclined to agree! It's definitely more elegantly styled, and the all-white Larry Graham style finish looks really luxurious.

That last one reminds me of Nathan East's headless Yamaha 6-string

Oh, that's lovely! It's got one nasty dent but otherwise looks great.

Cool Aria Pro II RSB Deluxe on Gumtree: https://www.gumtree.com/p/guitar-instrument/aria-rsb-ii-deluxe-left-handed-bass/1458155979

Can't find it! Got a link?

I have to agree here. I have an OBP-3 in one of my basses and "in your face" is fairly accurate. The bass control gets boomy quickly, the treble control is voiced too high to my liking and mostly adds finger noise, and the mid control (with, in my case, a push-pull to switch between 400 or 800 Hz) is all or nothing: at the 400 Hz setting it gives a really ugly and nasal hump which is too much at even the lowest setting. At the 800 Hz setting nothing happens until the pot is maxed, at which point it adds a lot of brightness and a Rickenbacker-ish high mid growl which is just too much and leaves nothing of the original character of the bass. I run it at 18V, I don't know if it makes a difference in the boost level versus 9V. It was wired like that when I got it. I never gave it much thought, but now this thread made me want to experiment more with that bass! I've found that I like my controls simple. Of all my basses, my Jazz Bass has the control layout that suits me best: volume, volume, passive tone and a rotary switch that adds a 6dB active bass boost. It just works, and that bass control gives it a solid but subtle kick. Especially when you're using the bridge pickup soloed.

"Are you in?" by Incubus. Lovely groove, just puts a smile to my face everytime

I guess the last sentence of the article says it all: There's FOUR people in that pic. We can only guess which one of them is not a pal of the other three

Edit - double post.

I think he played that MC824 at Live Aid. It was later auctioned for charity, he only used it briefly - but it stuck with me too!

That's no Gotoh but a Hipshot style B. The Gotoh 201B and the Fender Hi-Mass bridge don't have the top loading feature, you need to feed the strings all the way through. I much prefer the Hipshot! It's a fair bit more expensive than the other two though. I had this bridge on 3 Carvin basses, and there's a custom version with 16.5mm spacing on my Atelier Z Baby Z.

I don't own one anymore, but sometimes I still kinda miss it. It was such a lovely workhorse, with a great neck. I never really bonded with it tonally, and never quite got it to sound right in my bands, but I always enjoyed playing it. It also had quite a spectacular finish, the rare Autumn Redburst sparkle finish. I traded it for a Status S2 Classic with Rob @Bonin-in-the boneyard and haven't looked back, that one is my main bass now and I'm still madly in love. Rob has since sold it, but bought another out of seller's remorse This SR5 was previously owned by Phil Barker of IONA. I bought it from him off eBay, and when IONA played a gig local to me he got me on the guest list to come pick it up after their gig. Awesome guy!

Very valid points indeed.

Not exactly. On the Verso, the pickup doesn't necessarily have to be below the strings. You can also use it as a handheld pickup to do volume swells (OK, maybe more useful on guitar than on bass). I think they're incredibly cool, and would love to own the guitar version.

Excellent point. It was hosted here in the Netherlands in 2021, and it didn't help. And our presenters were all (quite literally) overshadowed by Nikkie de Jager - who is awesome, and put the other three to shame with her English pronounciation.

Just get a good sized strap and you're sorted. Tuning will be awkward though.