40hz

I only see adverts at the top of the page, integrated into it as opposed to being a pop up. I have zero problem whatsoever with that. Although I'm a supporting member, this wonderful site, which has been a daily part of my life for 13-14 years has to be paid for somehow!

There's only one I truly regret and wish I could get back - that being my first 'proper' Bass I ever bought. It was a 1998 Yamaha TRB4II in that horrid orange colour. I went to Coda Music in Stevenage after saving £400 all summer (2003) long (as a scruffy 17 year old oik) to be able to buy it. I was stoked beyond belief and it felt like a spaceship compared to my Squier and Aria beginners instruments. I absolutely loved this thing and it's dearly sentimental to me. It's popped up for sale a couple of times since at silly prices (and in worse condition and sporting some truly rank gold knobs and crappy aftermarket bridge), but I never had the funds. Last one from 2 years ago. https://reverb.com/uk/item/37224639-yamaha-trb-4-ii-1998-amber-transparent 8FK2166(?) Where are you now!

I would if it was a neck made of carbon, or aluminium or something a bit different. If it's just bog standard wood, you'd just got to Warmoth.

Having looked at the sales/launch bumf, it seems only the Rio colourway is limited to 82 pieces? And that the seafoam, white and black ones will be general production? (Unless I'm mistaken).

I travel to Bristol every other week (will be there next weekend) and could get the bass up to South Birmingham/ Warwick M40 if needs be?

I've seen some overpriced basses in my time, but this is definitely up there. Laughable. This is a £300-350 bass all day long.

I don't disagree at all. Maybe this prolonged period of wage suppression has a lot to do with it too.

I maintain the Bass/Guitar market is heading for an 'event' (I stop short of saying 'crash'). Prices were already rising very sharply, year on year, before COVID (and that's just accelerated it). My concern, that I often gripe about, is given these rises year on year, if it continues at this rate, as I'm sure it will, we can't be more than 3-4 years away from the average person being unable to afford/justify all but the cheapest options. Musicman stingrays are at 3k. Fender USA Standards at 2k, Warwick Teambuilt at 2-3k (just as examples). We have import lines now breaching the £1000 mark. I just don't see how this is all sustainable.

I was in the same boat recently and bought the Digitech Drop. I played it for about 30 seconds and it went back in its box to be sent back. The tracking was really poor and it was quite glitchy. It was borderline unusable (for me, anyway).

I posted something worse than this a few years ago, a graphic eq where every band was maxed or dropped to the lowest setting - absolutely all over the shop - and sounded like it. I got flamed for posting it, even though it was clearly, absolutely insane! I just want to know, in what situation would an EQ like that ever make sense 🤣.

I'm GAS'ing for a Triad too. Very glad I took a punt on a Reverend. They fly under the radar a bit, but absolutely on par, quality wise with anything I've owned, from Spector, Musicman, Warwick. And, purely from a narcissist point of view, I've never had so many band members AND audience comment positively on a look of a bass, at a gig!

I ordered it online! I was close to pulling the trigger on the Triad, but by all accounts the Mercalli has a bit more going on, on the bottom end in comparison, so appealed to me a bit more.

Merchant City in Glasgow.

How weird this topic should come back up. I just purchased a Mercalli 4 (in Gunmetal) on Friday and Gigged it Saturday. It's genuinely one of the nicest sounding and playing basses I've ever owned. The proprietary pickups are *excellent* I'd go as far as to say probably the best I've used on a bass. It has this ability to sound both very clear and refined and very 'deep' - with real body to each plucked note, but with zero mud. It's a very strong sounding instrument that doesn't crap out the harder you play, it just gets louder (or quieter) depending on your playing style. A lot of the Rev demos and marketing seem to pitch it to rock and indie styles (fair enough given the retro-future styling), but I play in a couple of soul/funk bands and it absolutely excels at this type of music.

The irony is, with the belief that a fast neck is narrow and shallow, that I played faster on my old baseball bat neck, 50s P-Bass than any other bass I've owned! It was super comfortable. When they're too narrow/thin, I find you can actually trip over yourself a bit.

Same here. I've never had that happen with 30+ basses, or even heard of that until today. I don't understand how a tightly drilled (fnar!) bolt *can* move. Happy to have that explained though!

This also brings to mind the oft-quoted statement when referring to Fender bass/guitar place of manufacture (I'm paraphrasing slightly) ; "You can have a Fender made in Mexico by Mexicans, or a Fender made in the USA by Mexicans"

The basic finishing and set up will be human. The rest of the construction process, automated. Let's not ignore the fact the Mexican factory has pumped out some stonkingly good quality basses and guitars for the best part of a decade now. So, imo, specifically being from Mexico has very little do with this.

Not sure how all of this affects the CNC machines they use in the Fender factory in Mexico, as they use the same ones in the USA, China, Indonesia and Japan. Where people are from would make little to no difference to the end product given the high level of machine automation in a Fender product.

These were a smidge under £1000 less than 2 years ago. That's quite a hike.

How did these ever get signed off, QC-wise. Didn't someone at some point go " maybe we should recall all of these, to prevent reputational damage?" Maybe they just don't/didn't care and assume/d people will buy them and not complain or notice? Pretty poor, either way you spin it, from Fender's point of view.

I agree. While an instrument is only worth what someone will pay for it, I think we can all agree that most, if not all, instruments have a rough market value (you're not going to sell a Wal for £200, although I think some poor chaps probably did do that in the 90's). You'd think given money is tighter for most, you'd see basses actually going for more competitive prices, as there's less willingness, perhaps, to part with large sums as people tighten their belts - but I don't see this at all ATM outside of Basschat. What I'm seeing a lot of late is a propensity to go well above that value on other selling sites, which is fine, if the market will bear it and people will buy at those prices, but they often don't, and you see the same instruments knocking around for ages, before they invariably accept an offer, or price it more in line with the rough market value. Maybe Basschat tends to be better in that we're (mostly) well versed in buying and selling all sorts of stuff, and are quite exposed to what things will actually go for, etc. I'd also add, that in my experience, the brand of bass goes a long way. Some brands just aren't that popular with the wider bass playing populace, regardless of how much it cost the original owner, your potential market to sell to is much smaller than Fender and the like, so you're going to take a hit, more often than not.

This really is the best place to buy and sell basses on the net. The pricing of instruments on here, seems to reflect the real market value a lot better (most of the time). I've been looking for a particular type of bass recently, and have been scouring Reverb, eBay, FB Marketplace daily for it, and the prices are mental across the board - this is the only place where it seems to be *right*