Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

Best and worst bass gear purchases for 2017?


Al Krow
 Share

Recommended Posts

Only purchase of the year: Acme Motown DI, which I love. Other than that I haven't needed anything else, v happy with my Tony Franklin P / Genz Shuttle.

Mild gas for Mustang PJ dissipated when I played one and found the upper register access was crap. Shame because it was perfect otherwise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='Chris2112' timestamp='1509420924' post='3398758']


That is very cool. Did you order direct from Wing Instruments in America?
[/quote]

Hi Chris, thanks, no I saw it on eBay, someone here bought it then I bought it from them! They kindly offered it to me after I mentioned I was keen on a thread about it somewhere, which was nice. TBH I was expecting to like it, but not as much as this. It sounds incredible, not a bit how I expected (thin, weedy and twangy). It has a very warm, thick sound with a really clear tone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='gs_triumph' timestamp='1509394755' post='3398623']
Best purchase : Cog Knightfall is just got today from tonyxtiger... Great drive pedal!
[/quote]

[quote name='Painy' timestamp='1509399690' post='3398679']
Worst purchase: A COG Knightfall. Such a cool looking little pedal and all the online demos I heard sounded amazing but unfortunately I couldn't get a usable sound of of it. On the plus side I managed to sell it on very quickly for exactly what I paid for it so shouldn't really complain.
[/quote]

Ok guys please 'fess up that one of you is completely into Motown but the other can't stand it; one of you would never slap a bass and the other does so all the time; one of you only plays their bass in passive mode and the other one swears by active; one of you thinks compression is pointless.... :D :D :D

One correction...
[quote name='Osiris' timestamp='1509382831' post='3398489']
[b]Best purchase:[/b][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif] Genzler Magellan 800. The best bass amp I have ever used or heard. Infinitely flexible, bags of heft. Seriously. [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/314013-genzler-magellan-800-and-350-bass-amplifiers/page__pid__3395611#entry3395611"]More of my thoughts on it here[/url]. [/font][/color]

[b]Most accountant like purchase[/b][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]: Genzler Magellan 350. Well I got one of these before so under the 'matching' concept seemed obvious that I didn't need to engage brain or even be a little tempted to try something else.[/font][/color]
[/quote]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Best Purchases:
Markbass evo1 - all the tones and power i'll ever need.
Barefaced sc - game changer. Light, loud, quality.

Worst Purchase:
EHX bass micro synth. Great sounds but sucked all the volume out of my core tone when used next to my b3, making it unuseable in our set list.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great thread

Best purchase: 1974/5 jazz bass. A thing of beauty

Worst : Cort Jeff Berlin 5 string. An awful bass in my hands. To make it worst, sold it through eBay to a muppet buyer, who didn't understand the meaning of collection only. A very awkward process from start to finish.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

best, a couple of Fender V2 cabs, 2 x 8 and 1 x 12, both weigh about 12KG and sound excellent with my Trace Elliot SMX GP12 AH 250 amp (I think I bought that last year so doesn't count), and the best bit? they only cost me £100 of ebay, must try to stop being so smug about it, and thanks to whoever gave me the heads up on them on here.
Worst, also a tip on here, an early 70's Japanese Columbus P bass, nothing wrong with it once I sorted out the awful intonation but I soon realised it was a pointless purchase it was never going to replace my MIA P bass.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Best purchase: Lakland USA 55 DJ - epic in almost every respect. Price wise represents a lesson in diminishing returns but you can see (and hear) what that extra gets you. After years of active basses with a sea of knobs this passive is a plug-and-play revelation.

Runner up: SansAmp RBI - a little bit of a faff to set up and expensive for what it does but makes a surprising difference to the PA sound.

Worst purchase: I can't think that I bought anything else. I've been reasonably restrained!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've only bought one piece of musical equipment this year, so:

Best (only) purchase: fretless Jaydee 'Stingray' neck from greenolive of this parish. It is a beautifully made piece of kit with a flawless ebony board, and I'm looking forward to putting it on my OLP 'Ray body and channeling my inner Pino B)

Best 'rediscovery': my Tanglewood Rosewood Reserve acoustic bass. I'd forgotten how utterly lovely it is, and it feels even better now I've restrung it with some of my old Elixir strings rather than the rough bronzes it was wearing. It now has a permanent home on a stand in the corner of the living room rather than being hidden away in its case.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looking back, I think I've only bought one bit of bass equipment this year: a DiMarzio Model One pickup to replace the stock mudbucker in my SG bass. I haven't had a chance to install it yet, so I can't really rate it as best/worst/good value just yet!

I have, however, invested in some better recording equipment this year. [b]Best purchase[/b] is probably the Focusrite 2i2, which connected to my Linux PC without any complaints, and has massively improved the basic sound quality of my home recordings.

[b]Best value[/b] were the two Behringer C-1s I bought to go with it. Even though they're cheap to buy new, I got a couple of good second-hand deals which threw in some peripheral bits, including a little phantom power unit, a shock mount and pop shield, and an XLR-XLR cable, all for about the same price as buying new. Most of the product reviews online said these were really good for the money, and I can't disagree - they've been excellent.

[b]Worst purchase[/b], I guess, was the acoustic guitar that didn't exist. As a couple of the mods already know, some ne'er-do-well has diddled me out a couple of hundred quid with a fake advert. We'll see if the police can offer any help on that one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've bought very little this year - actually been doing the opposite and selling off kit I'm not using.

Best purchase: An Allen and Heath Zed 10FX desk for my solo gigs (best as in I've already earned back a lot more than it cost me)
I've also just picked up a little Tanglewood travel size guitar which I'll hopefully put to good use.

Worst purchase: Luckily, I haven't bought anything that's a real dog this year, so lets hope I can keep that going until December!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='EliasMooseblaster' timestamp='1509445327' post='3398893']
[b]Worst purchase[/b], I guess, was the acoustic guitar that didn't exist. As a couple of the mods already know, some ne'er-do-well has diddled me out a couple of hundred quid with a fake advert. We'll see if the police can offer any help on that one.
[/quote]

That's a shocker! Really sorry to hear that. What details if any were the mods able to get off the guy when he paid his ad listing sub?

@Mods (if this has not already been discussed - and apologies if this is old ground) please have a think about getting insurance for the forum to cover such circumstances to protect both the reputation of the site and the 99.99% of members who are genuine? If folk know they can deal with certainty and are protected from harm on this site, it should pay for itself in terms of increased traffic? Even if it doesn't it would still be a good thing to do - agreed?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh, and my beat find - d'addario EXLs. (I think thats what theyre called). Finally, after 20 years ive found the string and tone i want. When i used to use rotosound swing bass EVERY combination of different basses and amps sounded exactly the same. Now i have real differences available when i switch equipment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='Al Krow' timestamp='1509449307' post='3398956']
That's a shocker! Really sorry to hear that. What details if any were the mods able to get off the guy when he paid his ad listing sub?

@Mods (if this has not already been discussed - and apologies if this is old ground) please have a think about getting insurance for the forum to cover such circumstances to protect both the reputation of the site and the 99.99% of members who are genuine? If folk know they can deal with certainty and are protected from harm on this site, it should pay for itself in terms of increased traffic? Even if it doesn't it would still be a good thing to do - agreed?
[/quote]

I should probably clarify that it wasn't strictly a BC'er! This chap joined BC specifically to drop me a message (as far as we can tell) and led me over to his Gumtree listing, where the deed was done. I contacted the mods as this chap had obviously made an account on here, and they were very helpful as far as they could be. Thankfully this guy hadn't been trying to shaft any other users in the meantime.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not been too many this year :)
A few best's, maybe the old Ibanez basses I seem to be attracted to, A fretless Musician and an ATK.

The worst by far, was the Ric copy I bought new, played really nicely till I decide to change strings amd put a bit of relife into the neck, it now has a woeful action, the neck bolts are loose and won't tighten, the shim that was there isn't doing it. It's a piece of junk (firewood) not sure if I should try get my luthier to rescue it and throw more money at it. Lesson learnt. I won't name and shame, but it was over 300 notes new!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='Osiris' timestamp='1509382831' post='3398489']
...[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]bags of heft...[/font][/color]
[/quote]

[b]SPLUTTER![/b]

[Wipes tea splattered screen with a snotty sleeve]

It can't be true because bags are not hefty enough to contain heft without risk of rupture. Now... if you'd said [i]skip-loads of heft[/i], I'd have believed you without question.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Best: The raffle ticket that I bought at East Mids BB4. It won me a set of five semi-flat D'Addario strings that I had, as yet, no bass for.
Runner-up: The Pitbull kit that I bought with the strings in mind. Lots of pleasure from both building it and playing it.

I haven't really got a worst, sorry. I'll try harder next year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1509455385' post='3399024']
[b]SPLUTTER![/b]

[Wipes tea splattered screen with a snotty sleeve]

It can't be true because bags are not hefty enough to contain heft without risk of rupture. Now... if you'd said [i]skip-loads of heft[/i], I'd have believed you without question.
[/quote]

They are big bags.
[i]Really [/i]big.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[b]Best:[/b] Bass Collection SB100 (from TheGreek) - now sports a KiOgon loom and SD Quarter Pounders (P/J) and is an absolute monster that plays beautifully.

[b]Worst:[/b] Steinberger Spirit XT-2 - absolute piece of junk with a bad paint job and poorly finished body and neck. Arrived one day, got shipped back (at my expense) the next day. The day after that I bought Paul S's Hohner B2B and I'm very happy with that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't really buy much bass gear as i am mostly a plug in and play kind of player but the worst purchase has to be the only pedal i brought this year which is a Digitech bass squeeze, lots of sounds, all of them crap, to add insult to injury it eats through batteries at an astounding rate, you need a sponsorship deal with Duracell to use one of these

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...