discreet

So you'd say it's about having too much spare time? The devil makes work for idle hands, and all that. It's true that when I'm playing, I'm not thinking about buying gear... So logically, we should probably play a lot more and spend less time on the bloody internet. Which could be condensed into 'More Carousing, Less Browsing'. Or something.

I know, I just forgot to add the '' to the end of that statement.

Why not? Who goes to church? Most people prefer the supermarket of a Sunday. Understandable, but more likely clever marketing and branding. After many decades I'm coming to realise that the best bass (for me) could well be one that cost £100 (with £100-worth of mods).

Do - he only uses top quality components (CTS, Switchcraft) and his build quality is second to none.

Some very interesting replies, thanks. I'm no stranger to the merry-go-round myself. One mistake I made was thinking that every purchase would result in a better instrument/amp than I had before - and logically would be an upgrade. Of course this is not true and results in huge (sometimes overwhelming) buyers' remorse, particularly if you've had to move on a current instrument/amp to fund a newer one. Yes! There is a point at which you have the perfect bass and the perfect amp (for YOU and YOUR purposes). it's just not always completely obvious where that point lies. For myself it was a Fender Road Worn Precision and a Fender Rumble 500 V3 combo. Fairly humble and relatively inexpensive, but absolutely 100% perfect for me and what I do. I have neither.

Good Lord, I couldn't be doing with changing my strings THAT often.

As far as electrics are concerned, the easiest way is to buy a pre-wired kit from KiOgon of this parish. You don't even need to be able to use a soldering iron. I can, but I find it a lot easier to simply drop in a Kiogon kit. Then you can forget about it - safe in the knowledge that it will do its thing perfectly for the rest of time. Wait, that white/black/maple looks kind of familiar...

GAS - Yes, But Why..? Plenty of threads about GAS on this here board, but what I want to know is... WHY? Let's see... you already have a really great bass, one that you lusted after and planned to get. You like it a lot, it suits the kind of work you're doing, it plays really well, it sounds really great, it looks really good, it's really comfortable to play, it suits the band, it sounds great recorded, it's well cool and everybody you meet says they love it, other bands compliment you on your great sound. It even photographs well! And of course, it's a 'keeper' and you'd never sell it! I can understand (for example) wanting a couple of basses to cover all bases (ahem), such as a P and a J for sonic variation, or a P with flats and a P with rounds... But why are you constantly looking for something else beyond this? Just exactly what is driving you to become a bass collector of sorts? You can only play one bass at a time. Is it fear of missing out? Do you really think after all this time and all your experience of playing basses that 'the one' is still out there waiting for you to discover it?? Why would you risk moving on your 'perfect' bass and buy what turns out to be a lesser bass, only to regret it later..? Enquiring and obviously not-occupied-enough minds need to know!

I'm getting me some Gold White Nylons! Never tried nylon tapes before. They seem to have a 'rounds''-type growl to them. Thanks for the comparison.

Yes, they are annoying... in fact it would be a good thing to have auto tone-changes for guitars, it might stop 'em from wasting time between songs. We have a multi-instrumentalist (banjo, balalaika, mandolin, guitar, violin... etc) who understandably takes time to change instruments between songs. Rather that though, than she play some kind of mad synth guitar with a modelling amp... wouldn't really nail the alt-hipster vibe...

I can see that might be useful. So does it depend on whether you're in a covers band or not? When I've been in covers bands I found a tone I liked and used it for everything, concentrating on getting the playing right... but I can see the attraction. How far down this road do you go, though? Will the guitarist, drummer and singer now be expected to somehow change and adapt what they're doing on a song-by-song basis? Would that even be desirable? What's the logical development of this technology? A modelling desk and PA that automatically changes the band's individual sounds per a pre-programmed setlist to an approximation of the original song's instrument sounds and mixes? Would this be very far away from just playing the original recordings, jukebox-style? If it happens everyone will need to be right on the money, as it would surely put everyone's playing under the microscope...

Oo-er, missus. I found that when I used a Zoom B1on as an always-on preamp, I gravitated towards one sound that I liked (consisting of a combination of amp sims, cab sims, SansAmp sim, compression and noise gate) and I used that for everything as it sounded truly great. Do you think the Stage will likely be used in the same way or will people bother to select and change sounds for different songs, or what? If the former, it would seem a bit crazy to have all that capability, find one sound you like, then use that sound exclusively. When this happens with a £40 stomp box it's not an issue, but when you're obviously buying into the Fender modelling-amp thing..? Edit: Re the modelling list, above: I can see myself using one or two of the amp and cab models, but as for Effects, Stompbox, Modulation, Reverb and Delay models? They would remain unused. Which begs the question, would it not be better (in my case) to go for a V3 Combo and (if necessary) use another B1on for anything else I wanted? I really like the baked-in 'tone' of the V3 combos... to buy a Fender modelling combo then select the 'Fender V3 Combo' sim would seem a bit silly. But then if you want the convenience of a light(ish) combo but the sound of a (for example) Ampeg SVT, then I can see the attracton - IF the Ampeg SVT model is convincing enough for the job. I await sound clips with bated trousers...

I'm sure it could, but if you're going down that road you may wonder why you chose a combo and not an Ampeg fridge. My feeling is that a combo should be judged on how it performs solely through its internal driver(s) and if you need to be regularly hauling extension cabs then you're defeating the main raison d'etre of a combo - ease of use - and should maybe consider a separate amp head and cab(s) for maximum flexibility. Having said that, I suppose it could be useful to turn up and plug in to a large backline cab (that you didn't have to carry) but that situation seems less likely than simply going FOH if it's a big room and using the combo for stage monitoring. Which logically makes you wonder if very powerful combos are even necessary. And having said that... I still want one.

Thanks for that. I find it a bit weird though. I can't imagine needing to use more than one 8 ohm extension cab at the very most, for a total load of 4ohms. I've never seen a combo with impedance switching before, nor yet have I ever met any bass combo users complaining that there is no such facility on their amps. So why did Fender deem it necessary to go to the expense of fitting this switch? It seems like the solution to a problem that no-one is experiencing. And does this mean you don't get the full 800w unless the amp is running at 2.67 ohms?

Agreed. There's that and the fact that Fender have at no time referred to them as V4.

Can anyone tell me what's going on with the switching at the extension cab socket? I haven't got my glasses on.

Well it IS a scratch plate. Arf! Arf!

I've only experienced one 'guest' singer and he was really excellent. I would have asked him to join the band but for the fact it would have caused, er... a little 'friction' ...and nil points...

I'm hoping the new Rumbles will lead to a glut of cheap old Rumbles on the second-hand market...

Marketing! As we know, output watts are no indication of perceived volume. I played some big rooms with my V3 500, no PA support or extension cab. Never got the master above 11 o'clock.

If it's anything like the V3 500 (350W without an extension cab) it'll be bum-hurtingly loud and won't need an extension. Unless you're playing very big rooms, of course. In any case, you'd think Fender would have matching extensions in the pipeline?