Muzz

Went for £637 - I'd say the resale prices were pretty healthy...

A [i]fretless[/i] ZZB? Wow, never, ever seen one of those. Presumably defretted by Delberthot? Difficult to see the target audience for a pointy fretless, tho in EBay-speak this makes it ULTRA RARE!!!!! I had a ZZB Custom (the half-black half-white one) back in the day, and it was a lark, but a fretless one? Hmmmmm. Any pics?

I've mentioned this before, but my go-to bass these days (in my avatar pic) is a modded Chinese SX with a MM neck and Schaller bridge. Fantastic bass, stands me at about £200. My other kit (inc my MM Ray) stay on their stands. If I hadn't tried it, I would have laughed you out of the room for suggesting this situation a while ago. It's done wonders for my GAS.

Oh, and on the looks front - a mate of mine (non-musician) ruined the Corvette (and a few others) for me by pointing at the top horn the first time he saw it and saying (in front of a crowd): "That looks too much like a nob for me..."

The Roland Micro Bass DX combo does hatfuls of stuff, like mp3 in, headphones out. Plus it has lots of extras like metronome, slightly cheesy but useful drum patterns, effects (Chorus, Reverb, even T-Wah!), etc. It's a great practice tool.

Another Marmite thing, I think - I've never played a fretted one I ultimately liked (and I've had a few), tho the fretless Corvette Std I have is a fantastic bass, and the best fretless I've ever played: seems to be so much [i]nearer[/i] the wood than other fretlesses. It's an older one, neck will be Ovangkol, but I think the board's Ebony, Ash body. A keeper. The build quality of every one I've played has been, well, German: very, very well engineered. New prices are bananas compared to s/h, but then I guess that's true of a lot of kit these days (new Stingray for £1350, anyone?).

All of the above from NJE, except with my Schroeder 1515L, it's a single 40lb cab which, with a LMIII, will go stupidly loud - 500w into 4 ohms. It'll certainly swamp our drummer, who don't half hit 'em when he's in the mood. It's been a revelation, coming from biiiig old stacks in the past. So the answer from where I'm standing is a stack (but one smaller than most combos), and stuff the laws of physics...

Here's a thought - what about the Schroeder 1515L? Same size and weight as the 1212L, but more bottom end. Lots of low mid punch, but IME, shifts it down the frequency scale, too. Definitely a single cab solution - it'll go cataclysmically loud. Works for me. Depends on how set you are on 12s, tho. Oh, and there's no tweeter.

OK, I'll be the first mildly dissenting voice - I've had a lot of basses over the last few years since returning to playing more, and couple of boutique basses (Overwater and GB) in the lineup, and I've found that it really does depend on what works for you feel, response and soundwise. I found I could admire the workmanship and finish of the boutique basses as objects, but the sound in my head (which is, I'd venture, what we're ALL after from a bass/rig) I couldn't get from them. I've come in a huge circle back to basics, and what I want from an instrument means the bass I play more than any is a Frankenfender which stands me at £200. It makes me play better than the £2k+ basses I've played. But that's just what works for me - something else may work for you. I don't buy in to the 'a more expensive bass will raise your playing game' ethos, but I do believe a 'better' bass will make you raise your playing game. The definition of 'better' in this context is everything. I'd say that the whole question is entirely subjective, and the best thing the OP could do is, yes, save up an amount of money which might afford you a boutique bass, but in the meantime try EVERYTHING you can, even multiples of the same instrument if mass-produced - I know a bassist who's said to me "Oh, I don't like <insert bass name here> : I played one and it was dog" - which is IME piffle, what he didn't take into account is there are huge variations even at the high end of mass-production. Bottom line is, if you don't know exactly what works for you (and it took me YEARS to find out), keep looking - everywhere.

Betcha I can get 6 Alembics onto the top of the For Sale thread in ten minutes...

I love these pictures. I have used them several times to put my small collection into perspective with a cynical spouse...

Rare, broken, and £500. Can't believe this hasn't gone yet... [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MARKBASS-F1-ULTIMATE-BASS-AMP-500W-RARE-/170518655009?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_MusicalInstr_Amplifiers_RL&hash=item27b3b43021#ht_500wt_1154"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MARKBASS-F1-ULTIMATE...1#ht_500wt_1154[/url]

Jim Caviezel wasn't struck twice by lightning. He was struck once with an AD while sheltering under an umbrella. The AD was also struck month earlier. So, not even that bit's accurate... Why am I not surprised?

Yep, they're great for the money. I had one on a Jazz, and it was an improvement on the original IMO.

Amp (LMII) flat, Schroeder 1515L, Sansamp BDDI EQ flat with varying amounts of Drive. Maple Precision with EB Slinky rounds, tone open, or Maple Stingray with EB Slinky rounds, flat treble & mid, bit of bass. Played with a Dunlop .88 pick and enthusiasm. Lovely. GAS-free.

I think if the OP hadn't got it sorted in 14 months, then it was beyond sorting... check the dates...

If you like the basic tones from your Micro Cube, and all the bells and whistles it gives, then I'd say the best (if slightly unusual) solution in your budget could be to buy the Roland 115X powered cab currently on EBay (it's nowt to do with me, honest!) for, I think, £200. You could then run your Cube into it and turn it into a 300w 1x15" & tweeter rig. I've used one of these as an extension speaker when I had my D-Bass 115 combo, and it was great. The Roland stuff is seriously underrated, IMO. Ticks all the boxes, and worth a thought. Plus, there's comedy potential to be had from walking into a gig with the Micro Cube... Ah, just re-read your post and noticed "small and light". The 115X isn't massive or light-bendingly heavy, but the castors do come in handy...

Way to photograph a bass, tho - how close are some of those shots?

Well, I've got the Ash Standard (in the Ocean Blue), and it's got a lovely tone - very woody, and with rounds it absolutely sings. It's the only Warwick I've ever got on with, to be honest. It'll be a shame to sell it, but I think the day's coming, thanks to redundancy... Anyhoo, I can recommend the Ash one. Never tried the Bubinga personally.

[quote name='ironside1966' post='879828' date='Jun 28 2010, 01:22 PM']It has a 3 way switch, cut, bypass, and boost on the down position. I looked at the new preamps on the Status web site and they have surface mounted pots, this one has separated wired ones. I can’t find an internal volume screw. Anyone knows what to do with a status energy body? I had an accident with the neck[/quote] An accident with the neck? Ouch. Go on, tell us what happened - we're dying to know... M

Following on from the giddy thread about my rig, I thought I'd share some bass giddyness. After a lot of basses recently, I've ended up with a really unexpected go-to bass, which is a bitsa Precision based on an SX bought on here as a beater. I paid less than a hundred quid for it, so I wasn't expecting much, but with some touring gigs coming up, I wanted a cheap spare. The neck was a Tangoed nightmare as thick as my arm, but the body was nice and light, and the sound plugged in was really, really good. So, after a bit of pondering, I Ebayed a MM maple neck for £78, a Schaller 3D bridge and a black scratchguard, and had Steve at PMT in Salford set it up for me. Result: the best Precision I've played: tons of growl, tons of zing and lovely and light. There's a picture of it in my avatar (complete with chav decal). The Stingray is (and all the others are) now second fiddle to a bass which set me back about £220 all in. Funny how, after spending several grand on basses, the cheapest one of all ends up being the best for me...