MoJoKe

Yes, nailed it. However, I don't know how many millennials there are here in Basschat, probably not enough to affect this discussion anyway!

Shame you're in South Devon, and not East Devon... if it fitted I'd help you bar the exit while you grab their dosh...

I guess thats rather my point really. Even local people don't recognise the benefit of supporting their local businesses

Sadly too true..... 😫

you surely mean..... maybe time to play a Japanese bass, designed in the US, made in Indonesia, bought from a store in...... other than that I have no idea what your pointless point was, given that the UK has imported world produce for centuries. My point was simple. Our high streets continue to get decimated by offshore online retail like Thomann and Amazon, to the point where there is insufficient margin to pay the rates, let alone salaries, and god forbid, even think of making a profit and taking an income out of the business. If you want cheap, and want it to get even cheaper, then don't expect customer service, don't expect anyone to carry stock or be able to try gear out, and when it goes wrong have a way of getting it fixed... and thats before you even think about bagging a coffee while you're there, and maybe pick up a dep or your next full time gig while you're hanging with the other guys who share your passion. Also, I don't want to do that in London frankly. It's not the only place on the bloody map. I want to be able to do it in Bristol, Exeter, Worcester, Stoke, anywhere in the UK to be honest. Preferably somewhere near the theatre/club I am playing, so I can hang out, meet local musicians and pick up a spare pack of strings or whatever...

Very valid point. Buy it from an online retailer who pays zero tax in the UK and pretty much singlehandedly destroying UK based shops. Don't misunderstand me please though. My point is definitely NOT an anti EU one... (its far from perfect, but I definitely voted to stay - enough of my politics now). I'm all for globalism, but I'd like there to still be a high street to shop at, and I'd like to walk into a music shop and be able to try out the bass I want to buy, wherever it was made!

it said £8 on the Behringer desk.... some things are free, others clearly not....

Back on topic: Just been messaging Thomann... Chat below, but with agent name removed out of courtesy! The price is plus VAT (yeah, we knew this). The VAT and any other fees are paid to the courier before you can have the goods. Thomann cannot tell you how much the handling fees may be. that is down to the courier. If it were DPD for example, they charge £5 plus VAT, so for a random product example: Behringer Xenyx QX1832USB: £155 Shipping: £ 8 Fee: £ 5 Sub total: £168 Vat: £ 33.60 Total £201.60 What a faff... I can buy from Gear4Music for £190.50, and only pay one bill. And, what if it goes wrong? Do I pay shipping/duty on sending it back, do I get my VAT back, do I have to re-pay the duty/carriage? And do Thomann pay taxes in the UK... probably not... Other carriers are nowhere near as transparent with their charges as DPD... I'll stick with UK retailers from now on thanks, unless it is utterly impossible to get anywhere here...

Do people not care much about our UK based music shops? Sure Thomann, DV247 (no, they are not a UK store, they just have a call centre here), Bax and Kytary may provide great service/value for money (well for the timebeing anyway. May be a much different story post-brexit no deal), but we have some fantastic UK music shops which would love your loyalty, if they are able to stick it out until the C-word is a thing of the past. Some of them absolutely can (and have great bass specialist knowledge), but many of them just cannot begin to compete with the European monsters, and Amazon, but I for one still respect the benefits of local service, luthiery/repairs and good advice from a guy round the corner or across town. It ain't all about the cheapest price. Like all the best music venues, they haven't all disappeared... yet. But, please don't come on here moaning when it's too late.

The two notes is a really cracking box, absolutely no doubt, but not the same thing I've also tried one out. The Le Bass has midi, speaker sims and software, where the Vintage pre, with the exception of the digital output, is entirely analogue... it's a very different beast, but that said, they definitely each have their place. I just prefer the warm analogue simplicity these days! The MB Vintage and D2 heads are in a different class when compared to an LMIII, they call them the "Gold Line", and the Vintage Pre is right up there too, well worth the money.

I just bought the new Markbass Vintage preamp, it has exactly the same preamp as the Vintage head but no limiter knob, so the warmth and breakup is gorgeous! Trust me you'll want both!!! Imagine being able to rehearse with headphones and have exactly the same tones! Also, I've never really been into drives, but the Preamp has two different drives, one of which I can really see myself using.

Now, for disclosure, many here know I'm a long term Markbass user (my main rig is currently a Casa head into 2 x STD121HR cabs) and I do the odd bit of work for MSL, the UK distributor, but as we haven't had many guitar shows to do, thats been a bit sparse this year... 😞 However, they sent me one of the new Vintage preamps to have a look at before it went to Bass Guitar Review for them to look at. Anyway BGR are not going to get their grubby little hands on this one because I've only been and gone and bloody bought it!! Its got some pretty clever tricks, which set it aside from other preamp/drive pedals. The preamp is based on the Little Mark Vintage head, so it has Gain, Master, 4 x tone knobs set with the same frequencies as the head and, instead of filters, a three way flat/scooped/old switch, which works along with the tone controls to give huge tonal variety. There's no clip light, so loading in a boot full of gain doesn't cause any issues, it just introduces a lovely warm tube gain. It also has a boost switch, giving +6dB headroom. Pressing and holding the drive button for 2 secs switches between two different drives, one modern rocky, the other a more organic old school drive, which can be blended with the clean tone. I've never used drive pedals, but I can definitely see myself using the old school drive, both can be ferocious or very very subtle. It has input/output, a transformer DI out and an effects loop. Then it gets clever... It has a Digital out, both RCA and Toslink, s/pdif switchable between 44.10, 48 and 96KHz. This evening I have been playing with it using an optical cable, directly into my Audient ID44, and it sounds fabulous. The aux in and headphone jacks are sensibly on the top of the box, making it a great practice amp, its going to work well for silent stage, in-ear gigs, and I'm looking forward to doing some recording with it. I'm a happy bunny and gonna enjoy my early Christmas present to myself, because I'm not gigging until NYE, and even that is looking less likely by the minute.

Yeah! That one is a bit odd, because I think the flats actually feel very soft to the touch, but maybe it means they are just not as bendy!

I've used and recorded with all types, with the exception of the Balanced strings... They are referring to the feel of the strings. Although they use exactly the same type of wire, the Ultimates and Advanced are wound differently and that gives them a softer and more bendy feel under the fingers compared to the Energy/Groove, which are great strings but more like yer average steels and nickels. Sorry, thats not very scientific, but I'm not sure I can explain any better!

...and each to their own on this one. I love the music but I'm happy to park the church bit... but just so you know, most of the current young upcoming bass players and musicians I work with have either come through gospel or see the form as a fundamental root and influence to their playing style, so you're pretty much gonna be guaranteed disappointed with what they can come up with!

Yeah, I'd say that was really quite harsh. Nobody is selling his music or talent for you to even think about putting your hands in your pockets and spending your precious money yet as far as I know, so let's not just slap it down, shall we? While he'd definitely be advised to reign in the gurning a bit, he is clearly a very talented youngster who will hopefully stick with learning the bass and become an exceedingly talented adult player. I bloody love that thought. And, in case you didn't notice, we live in a Youtube/Tiktok age. Kids don't watch much, if any conventional TV these days. I don't like it much either but for goodness sake deal with it! I am (and I suspect you are too) of an age where we strove to get ourselves seen and get into bands and get a deal so that we could be famous, sell records and make our fortune. It didn't work for most, but at least there was a known pathway. In case the largely +50 demographic here hasn't actually noticed yet, it don't work like that any more. Releasing albums and singles won't pay the rent, with Spotify and the like needing tens of thousands of listens to even cover minimum wage. I suspect most young bass players who visit this site to do anything other than look at ads for second hand gear see posts like yours and think there's not much to be learned from this forum. I personally find that deeply disappointing. 😩

He can keep up with the grown ups too.... (yes there is another bass player on stage, but check out at 8.50.....)

This little dude is already a Markbass endorsee!!

me too!

Make sure you are linking them with a speaker cable, not a guitar cable. Set all EQs at 12 o'clock and filters off, turn the gain up slowly until the clip light starts to flash when you dig in, then back it off until it rarely flashes. Turn up the volume, and you will now sound awesome! Most Markbass users will not move the tone controls much more than +/- 1 or 2, preferring to use a combination of the VLE (vintage loudspeaker emulation, knocks the high frequencies back to sound more old school) and VPF (variable preshape filter, scoops the mids and boosts the bass/top to give a more modern tone) to get the perfect tone...

I regularly gig 4 basses, Elixir usually give me 7-8 months with the way I play and amount of gigs, so that could be 6 packs of strings a year... happy I might save £60....

Me too re- Elixir I've used them exclusively on all my basses for years now, except for a 5 minute trial of some NYXL coated, which I hated... True that, re-longevity. Mind you, for around a tenner less for a set, its potentially less of an issue... proof is in the pudding!

why do you say that? why should they?