Paolo85

...now they are selling for 57 pounds it seems.. https://www.bax-shop.co.uk/right-handed-bass-guitar/fazley-fpb218sb-fr-fretless-electric-bass-guitar-sunburst?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=surfaces&gclid=Cj0KCQjw7aqkBhDPARIsAKGa0oIkoHFpWPv51lH3NbD7odS3xkD0gHAkqYzedTJ_2HVhE7PLMjWaZjsaAnRIEALw_wcB That's very annoying because the resale value of mine is then zero, while it is a fine bass for the budget range!

Fair enough. It's hard to say how to look at all that in terms of market positioning. Will people go "do I get better value from a Fender or from a Sadowsky?" or "do I get better value from a Squier or a Sadowsky?"? Probably they'd look at both and more I guess As said previously, I personally do not see these China-made Sadowsky as a great value-for-money proposition at least on paper. But then a Squier VM is the most expensive bass I have (not considering other basses cheaper to start with but now modded quite a bit). Obviously, it is possible that if I were to try one everything would make absolute sense as a bass could be more or less than the sum of its parts (to a point..)

I am not sure I get this. I am not aware of Fender Js made in China at this moment although I may be wrong. Squire J basses made in China go for either 220 pounds or 350 pounds (the Paranormal). If you put lightweight tuners, fender high mass bridge and Sadowsky preamp into a Paranormal (which by all accounts is a very fine bass) you are in the region of 640 pounds

I bought a GruvGear duo strap about a month ago here in the classfields... why aren't dual strap more of a thing? Why it seems GruvGear and a very basic one from D'Addario are the only options? I see people moving to short scale basses for weigh reasons, I see people, including me, only buying light basses and doing mods to reduce weigh. Well, these straps work great for all that! ...I mean, I get why the GruvGear is not that popular: it's weird, looks ugly, it's too short, and keeps the bass in a weird position. That's why I think more conpanies should jump in and offer alternatives. GruvGear says you should wrap the bass around the bass'horn as per the doctor picture On top of looking ugly, it contributes to making the strap too short. Also, your bass ends up being pulled toward your right. An interesting position because it's identical to when you play sitting down, but looks and feels odd when standing up. I just attached the second strap straight to the strap lock. Looks comparatively better, leaves the strap a bit longer, and allows to keep the bass where it would be with a normal strap. I also created the option to extend the strap further with an old belt and some rivets. As things stand, I am quite happy with it. I like to practice standing up most of the time and it makes a massive difference. Another plus is that the bass stays still, exactly where you put it, more than with any other strap I have tried

That's a very good point. I ended up thinking along those lines actually. The way I had it planned was plain stupid as with the Behringer after the aux in I guess the pedal would end up colouring the song I play along with as well. To be honest I do have a practice amp with headphones oit so I am temporarily using that as headphone amp. Just I am not 100% happy the practice amp is not transparent, and also I keep it in a corner of the living room I would rather not be stuck to. So yes, I am now looking for a headphone amp. I was considering a TC electronics amp. It's not cheap nor small, but then it could at some point be used as an actual amp... but that's GAS talking!

As implicit from my previous post, if you visit shops don't forget to try Squier Classic Vibe and Fender MIM (which used could fit your budget) with an open mind. You may find that despite a lot of people turning up their nose at them, brand is not the only reason why they are so popular. They just sound and work great. Other brands supposedly offer more value for money but the definition of value is subjective. If you want your neck to be roasted, your body to be of heavier alder instead of lighter poplar despite minimal to no changes to the sound, your fret edges don't just need to be good enough not to poke out, they need to be supersmooth to ensure zero friction as you move superfast up and down the neck while at the same time keeping your fingers in contact with the edge of the fretboard, and you want things to look and feel "premium", a Squier is certainly not for you. If you look at that from the angle of having a great sounding bass that plays well, then things may start to look the opposite unless you want a preamp.

If you like to work on instruments I do not think shielding is a lot of work although I have yet to try myself. Of you are in the mindset of doing that that would give you more options. There could be a number of reasons that make you unenthusiastic about the pickups. I found that I was never excited by the celebrated Yamaha BBs. Then I figured out it's because I like precision basses and the BB appear to have the P pickup slightly closer to the neck than a Precision, with significant change in sound. It may turn out that's the issue you are having. Or that your bass has ceramic pickups and you like alnico or viceversa. Or that what maybe you would be happier with a bass with two humbuckers or two single coils, or an active MM style bass (all options would give you versatility harsh-to-warm, just in different ways) I guess what I am trying to say with that is that it is very hard to give you an answer that goes beyond listing basses with supposedly good value-for-money. Sires for example, much like the BBs I tried, did not work out for me. They tend to sound harsher than similar basses from Squire, and to be heavier. And I do not use preamps much. Note that your bass has a reputstion of being light (and with great balance!) and I think has 40mm nut width. Maybe, and that's a guess, you take these factors as a given but long term you'd be bothered by a bass that is very different in that sense. It could be worth going to shops to try basses out and watch loads of youtube videos (eg LowendLobster's channel)

Uhm.. on second thought, these small passive mixers have a 3.5mm jack out as well. I guess I may just buy an adapter but I had plenty of issies with adapters..

...maybe I'll give this mixer a chance https://amzn.eu/d/hCH0pmZ

Thanks! They both would do the job! The Yamaha admittedly well above my budget and I was hoping something even cheaper than the mixer although that could be ok in absence of alternatives. The audio comes from my phone so I was also hoping something with 3.5mm jack ...I am open to odd ideas (eg buying another Zoom just for the aux in, echept a cheaper smaller pedal!)

Hi all, do you know what is the cheapest and smallest pedal I can get for aux in, and only that (ok if it does more but likely I am not interested and does not make it worth more money). I would like to use a looper to (temporarily) record myself when I play along with songs and see how bad it was. At the moment I have three pedals: looper -> Behringer BDI21 (no aux in, no stereo out) -> Zoom B1 4 -> headphones The Zoom does not do anything, just sends the dry signal out, but has to be at the end of the chain because of the stereo out. But annoyingly it is also the only pedal with aux in, so if I play along with a song, the looper records my bass but not the song. I'd like to put something with aux in that is small and supercheap before the looper. Not interested in solutions than involve laptops Thanks EDIT: obviously, if the pedal does something else as well, I must be able to bypass that and still get the aux in!

I still cannot see it😅 ...probably for the best so I do not buy!

What's that? I had problems opening the link..

Another couple of questions Is it light as people say? Is it neck heavy/a neck diver? Would you be happy to report back here in a while on neck/tuning stability? Thanks!

How was the stock pickup?

Have not tried that! I have a feeling that the sunburst one is going to be the next bass I buy. Hopefully not anytime soon!

I see. I personally I was referring to the onboard preamp with contol plate that for example here https://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/Sadowsky_Preamp.html states that pickups connect with solderless connection (not sure about the ground for the bridge but I imagine that could just go in the earth of the J pickup?). So what I meant is: if I buy a Sadowsky preamp for £150 and I put it in my passive Squire VM J which sounds and play great as is, I get the preamp AND the tone control - if I understand correctly. If I buy the Sadowsky ME made in China for what I imagine will be north of £700 (pure guess, given they sell the ones with the old logo for £650) I do not get the tone control. One can buy and install the tone control for another 100 (assuming one has a soldering iron) but then brings the total to maybe £800. Now, the Sadowsky offers more than just the preamp, with lightweight tuners, high mass bridge and likely very good pickups. But then it is maybe £700 without tone control and £800 after buying it, so not cheap. I suppose whether the bass will be worth it or not will all go down to overall quality, and how the various parts fit together. Plus obviously subjective taste