Moos3h

Played one of these today and have to say I wasn't particularly blown away. The single thing that irked me most about the build, however (and you could see this as a good thing, as I was being picky) is that ridiculous line between the glossy headstock and matte finished neck. That just looks poor, and feels weird to the touch too. I think if I were in the market for a 'ray, there's no way I'd get one of these when for a couple of hundred more (sometimes slightly less), a slightly battered 2nd hand example could be had. They aren't bad instruments, far from it, but they don't do enough to shine at the price they retail for in my opinion. Cheers, James

Thanks chaps, i'll take a butchers!

The one that is on there at the moment is a sort of 'High Mass' jobby, I'm not sure i'll drill through there that easily - plus i'd be worried about leaving sharp edges. Have tried ebay, but oddly not much about!

Hi chaps, Don't want to spend a fortune, but I'd like to convert a P bass I have to string through body and so I'll need a new bridge. It's a four string, Fender spacing and I'd like a bridge in Chrome. Any thoughts on where to try? So far I've looked at axesrus.com who don't seem to have much choice and also Bass Guitar Parts Direct who seemed very expensive! Thanks a lot in advance, James

...sadly not, I think it was an awful version of 'Addicted to Love' as it goes. Guess I could have made a joke about love giving me a burning sensation, but at the time I was more concerned with unplugging it and chucking it outside!

I was in this quandry a while ago, I read quite a lot about how the Marshalls have a few reliability issues and then bought the Ashdown. Three Ashdowns later, I gave up and bought something else. Moral of the story is buy what you like and give it a fair trial, there's a lot of stuff spake on the Intraweb, but not all of it will apply...I reckon either would do a good job for you, and at a least will have a year's warranty for you to put it through its paces. You can't argue with the pricing of the Ashdown stuff, some people have issues with the tone but I never have and know two other bassists with them, one who never had any trouble and the other with a couple of problems along the line. Make of that what you will!

The sounds in the SR-16 are getting on a bit, but it'll do most of what you need. There's bucketloads of drum samples etc on the net though, you could probably make yourself some nice practise patterns - or even download them as is for use as backing tracks?

Nice of you to say, thanks mate. Will leave some feedback for you as and when 'the package' (nudge nudge, wink wink) arrives. Cheers! James

I haven't any personal experience here, but will relay what I was told by bassdirect this week when I enquired that it's fairly unlikely in anything other than a small space with a sympathetic drummer that you will have enough headroom to be clearly and cleanly heard if playing rock music. For Jazz stuff etc then it would do the job nicely!

Those ProBasses are deffo from the same stable as SX basses, and that can only be a good thing. Each time I go to Dublin, I almost always come away with one...it's only the fear of Aer Lingus smashing it into a billion pieces that stops me!

I think that, at least between the Warwick and the 'Ray, you're looking to cover a LOT of ground and looking at very diverse basses. Can you get to a shop and really spend some time with them? I kind of think that a winner would emerge....but you need to give yourself time with them both. I've been there and don e this many times in the past and rushing into it, almost always, means you get the wrong thing!

Oh, I just realised....I had a Marshall Bluesbreaker combo that not only caught fire, but then set fire to the curtains in the pub we were playing in. Weird thing was, whilst it was on fire, there was still sound coming out of it!

I'm yet (oh god, here goes) to have it happen to BASS equipment at a gig, but I've had them go in rehearsal - two Ashdowns both gave up the ghost. Thankfully we rehearse at a studio so obtaining temporary gear was no issue. I have had guitar amps fail at gigs, and done the rest of the gig with a stompbox straight into the PA. It wasn't the last word in tone, but it got me through the gig. I've been meaning to purchase something similar for bass actually, just a basic preamp that would allow me to DI straight to the PA. Sods law says I won't need it, but that's an insurance policy worth having, I guess! Cheers. James