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I think the next 5 string might well be a Sire, but I cant get over those stocked knobs sticking out so far. This P looks great but much like the jazzes, i would love to see a passive version despite being a fan of active basses.....its just those controls!!!

I have this morning just replaced the diaphragm in my Aguilar cab. I feared it was something worse but for £10 I just bought a new diaphragm to see if that was the issue. Good news it was! I would guess you haven't bust the tweeter but blown the diaphragm and I would also guess you cab has the same Fostex type horn my GS cab has. If so go to bluearan website and look up replacement diaphragms, there are a few videos on YouTube on how to replace them too.

hmmm, yes your probably right, I just clocked the weight. I just saw solid state and thought it would be the same as the old AG. So it's probably a more powerful different EQ'd version of Tonehammer, oh well.....Still looks really nice.

Looks good, as much as I love my Tonehammer head I do like the idea of a solid state head and a lo-mid and hi-mid knob would be better for my poor brain than teh seeping mid control on the Tonehammer. Lets see what the price is like, probably very expensive....

I bought a fretless Jaco style jazz from HB and I can honestly say that it is brilliant. Every guitarist friend of mine I show it to think it's some expensive boutique bass and laugh like mad when I tell them it was £120 delivered from Germany. The neck pocket is incredibly well machined and the sunburst is one of the best I have ever seen. Ok there are some minor cosmetic things on the back of the neck but certainly nothing worth complaining about or sending it back over. Stupidly good basses for the money but maybe I got lucky and got a belter.

[quote name='DarkHeart' timestamp='1484518464' post='3216101'] Im quite impressed with my fan fret HB admittedly its not perfect but hey it was cheap and not nasty. [/quote] Is that the singlecut bass? Looks really good!!

Brilliant, of hanks for that, I will see if I can borrow a multimeter, in the meantime I have bought a new diaphragm as it was cheap to see if that fixes it.

Resurrecting an old thread here, but does anyone know how to actually test if it is just the tweeter diaphragm gone rather than the whole tweeter, or say a broken crossover? I have been googling most of the morning and they say you can test with a multimeter which are dirt cheap, but i don't know what I am looking for in the readings?

I have a Hiscox and although it is bomb-proof and incredibly well made, it has been a poor fit for virtually every bass I have owned. I know it is difficult to make a one size fits all case but I have ended up having to pack odd areas with towels/cloths so that the bass doesn't move around inside the case. Also on the odd occasion I have knocked the case I can hear the strings on the bass vibrate, which says to me the case isn't taking much of the impact. I loved my SKB case I had with my fender but the best I have had by far is my Mono M80 bag. I realise it isn't suited for everyone and not ideal if you stack your cases in a van full of PA kit, but it takes every knock and drop like a champ.

Another 5 star review for Andrew. I went to pick up an Aguilar cab which he did an amazing deal on for me, we had a good old natter about gear and basschat and he set up everything for when I arrived and let me test with his rather lovely Maruszczyk 5 string. Top chap, cheers Andrew.

I have really liked the Nordstarnd preamps and I think Carey Nordstrand will wire up pretty much whatever you need if you get in touch. Saying that I have never heard anyone say anything bad about John East and you could actually go and see him! So many pros use his kit and again there is a huge range of options not just J-Retro type circuits. Those would be my first two choices.

That's really bad luck, I had an item I was not happy with from them (it was the manufacturers issue not theirs) and I rang to say I wasn't happy. Got through to a really helpful guy who said they couldn't replace like for like as they didn't have the same colour in stock and would I take the item with a hefty discount? I said I wanted more of a discount as I could buy the same item somewhere else that day and they negotiated a little more off for me....brilliant result, money went back in my account in about 3 days. I think its bad luck and understandably it will impact on your decision not to use them again. They do have a massive showroom I think as well with some really nice kit.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1483531215' post='3207914'] Sorry mate, you can't have two No.1 rules. It just doesn't work. [/quote] I know, I couldn't decide which one was more important so decided to offer up my second rule as well despite not being asked for it.

My number one applies to every musician in general...... don't be a dickhead!! Its surprising how many musicians I have met in my life who cant even get this simple one through their heads. Second would be play in tune, again, very difficult for a lot of the musicians I have met over the years.

I find myself in the odd position of playing in a pub/bar band fairly often, however the last thing I would do in my spare time is go and see a band in a pub. I don't really drink alcohol, and when I do I do it at home as pubs are too expensive. Also I hate to say it, but almost all of the bands I have ever seen in pubs have been basically awful! (my band is pretty crap to be fair). I don't care for rock covers bands playing the kind of material you get on a 'classic rock hits album for dads' they sell for fathers day, and unfortunately that is what a lot of pub bands play. Also the thought of some over emotional singer/songwriter with an acoustic guitar at an open mic night fills me with dread, my brain just says its time to leave. There are obviously exceptions and I am just going on my experience, I know some of you might have sh*t-hot funk/soul type bands that play in your area, but they are rare in my experience. I have seen some amazing folk acts in pubs, but generally I have seen much better quality bands/musicians at private events where they are paid a huge amount more. With the best will in the world, no pub will pay a band £700-£1100 a night.

I think you will be fine switching if you have already been through that stage of just forcing yourself to play a 5. My advice to anyone who wants to try a 5 is to give up the four so you can't go back to what is comfortable. I have flicked back and forth but only really have a 4 string fretless as I don't need a 5 string one.

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1482243772' post='3198763'] I think I have one lurking in the loft. I'll have a hint later [/quote] God I wish I had a bass that nice in my house let alone sat in the attic Nice bass though and I completely understand the MusicMan GAS, I have had two and I need to go back to one ASAP.

As much as I love the look of the road worn flea, I agree completely! A jazz with MM pickup would be an interesting move from Fender and it would be nice to see a signature bass from Fender with some real unique features.

If you follow Fender custom shop on Instagram you will see some of the custom basses they are making flea with active eq and MM pickup on a jazz body. It long ago they posted a relic pink one and there is the well known sparkle silver one.

I used to own a Stingray 5 and now have a Lakland 55-02 and both are great. The stingray had an incredibly aggressive in your face sound that I struggled to tame a lot of the time, but for a lot of pop type stuff I was playing it was great. I sold it because the string spacing did my head in, way to cramped in every way for me. The Lakland is super solid, great build and very flexible. It does a fair representation of P/J/MM but doesn't have the up front aggressive sound of a stingray. My friend is a full time composer/writer/session player and uses one for everything, he calls it the Swiss army bass, it can do most things, I agree with that. As much as I love the Lakland, mine is most likely going to get sold as I really want a nice 4 string (probably a Stingray 😄) but I think it's about as close to the perfect 5 string I have come so far.

Ah balls....I was on the verge of selling all my kit to get a Stingray and this has just about tipped me over the edge.

I have been through a few 5 strings now and would say that my top two would be a Lakland 55-02 and then my old MusicMan Stingray 5. I loved the sound of the stingray but the string spacing was way too tight for me. The Lakland has been super reliable and consistent for me, good B string definition and the EQ on board I find very subtle, and musical and I only ever need to cut or boost a small amount.

I know its easy for us to talk about what Fender should and shouldn't be doing but did no one in Fender think to take some test pieces out into the public domain, bass shows or something and get opinions on these instruments?? The same old sh*tty colours and some new sh*tty additions, why not throw in some of the cool vintage colours from the past that aren't being used on other models? Another thing with the US standard/pro instruments that has always done my head in, is the router hump by the neck joint, why in gods name cant they sort that out and grade it in and finish the instrument properly? I have had 3 Squiers that don't have it and they play fine and the necks never fell off or anything drastic like that. I have a huge in-explainable sort spot for Fender, the RW and vintage USA stuff seems to be well received, but they seem to be losing the plot IMO. To think what superb quality instrument you could buy for £1500.......the mind boggles as to why anyone would buy a new USA fender.

Does the reissued old smoothie actually have a pickup cover stuck together with tape? I saw some pictures online that seems to show tape. It's fun I guess but would seriously bloody annoy me if so.

Like someone said above, there are a lot of types of blues so an idea of what your playing would be useful. Joe Bonamassa's band is great and lots of good audio on youtube to listen to. Willie Weeks does some great stuff with Eric Clapton or have a listen to some Stevie Ray Vaughan, cant remember his bass player but there is a class live concert of his on youtube as well. Oteil Burbridge is pretty great too..