Your best (and worst!) bass gear purchases of 2018?

[Woodinblack]

I had an SRFFmultiscale too and couldn't get on with it as the tone was just dull and flat. I had a 505, that was better but not that much character (quite a solid bass in other ways) Really nothing to do with the body though, the 1605 and 5005 have the same bodies and they are nothing like it, I think the difference is just down to the pickups.

I did almost put some nord singles into the SRFF, but they are £300 for a custom set for that size, so that didn't seem a good deal when I already have all the others.

[Twigman]

I have not bought a single bass related item this year!

That is a first in a very long time. My EBMM Sterling 4HH (2017 purchase) seems to have cured my GAS

[Al Krow]

14 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

I had an SRFFmultiscale too and couldn't get on with it as the tone was just dull and flat. I had a 505, that was better but not that much character (quite a solid bass in other ways) Really nothing to do with the body though, the 1605 and 5005 have the same bodies and they are nothing like it, I think the difference is just down to the pickups.

I did almost put some nord singles into the SRFF, but they are £300 for a custom set for that size, so that didn't seem a good deal when I already have all the others.

+1 ^^ Spot on.

Agreed nothing to do with the (tone) woods and everything to do with the pups.

Obviously there are plenty Ibby owners who find themselves very content with their Ibby Standard basses, but if there's one common theme running through folks' comments when they have not been 100% happy with Ibby SRs, it's that the cheaper Barts on the Standard range don't quite cut it.

Whereas the big single Nord pups in the SR Premium range seem to elicit adulation from most Ibby owners I've read comments from, with many even preferring the Nords to the bespoke (more expensive) Barts on the Prestige range.

Edited December 20, 2018 by Al Krow

[FinnDave]

56 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Whereas the big single Nord pups in the SR Premium range seem to elicit adulation from most Ibby owners I've read comments from, with many even preferring the Nords to the bespoke (more expensive) Barts on the Prestige range.

Yep, count me in on that.

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

Whereas the big single Nord pups in the SR Premium range seem to elicit adulation from most Ibby owners I've read comments from, with many even preferring the Nords to the bespoke (more expensive) Barts on the Prestige range.

Whereas I like the nords almost better than almost any other pickup, the pickups on the Prestige 5005 is very impressive. When I bought it I also got a nord big blade as I thought I didn't like the barts, but these barts are very different from the normal. And very different from each other, so the stayed. They really go from deep growl to soft and smooth. Much better than the barts on the previous prestiges, and the main ranges.

It would be hard to say now between the 5005 and 1605 which one I preferred the sound of, although it is nice the 1605 that it weighs half of the 5005!

[TolerancEJ]

I received 2 basses in 2018, both within the same week. I love them both!

• Fodera Emperor Standard 6 (received May 28)
• FBass VF6-PJ Fretless in Lake Placid Blue (received June 1).

I have 3 targets for 2019. Whether or not I actually attain them will be another story entirely.

[Fionn]

Best Purchase: Aria Pro II SB1000 ... 1981 Japanese classic awesomeness. Possibly my new favourite bass. Tooooo much love for this thing 🏆

Worst Purchase: Westfield Thumb Bass Copy ... bought as a cheapy. It was absolute murder to play, sounded gutless, and is now well gone ☠️

[dmccombe7]

Nice i had one of those Aria SB1000 around 1980. Wish i had kept it. Fantastic feel and loved the tones i could get from it. That was my Jack Bruce era.

Dave

[Al Krow]

13 hours ago, TolerancEJ said:

I have 3 targets for 2019. Whether or not I actually attain them will be another story entirely.

So you gonna keep us hanging on what these 3 target for 2019 are? 😁

57 minutes ago, Fionn said:

Best Purchase: Aria Pro II SB1000 ... 1981 Japanese classic awesomeness. Possibly my new favourite bass. Tooooo much love for this thing 🏆

 

35 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Nice i had one of those Aria SB1000 around 1980. Wish i had kept it. Fantastic feel and loved the tones i could get from it.

My first bass was an Aria Pro II, but at the cheaper end, but I guess it was indicative that I'd also end up being a Japanese bass fanboy having tried the obligatory Fender and a couple of not too shabby German brands (Sandberg and Warwick) which have all since been moved on. Although I do have a one US bass still in my fold (a Schecter)!

Without doubt, the SB 1000 set the bar in the early 80s and there will be a number of BC Aria lovers who will be a tinge envious that you have managed to land yourself one of these! 

Obligatory pic please!  

Edited December 21, 2018 by Al Krow

[Marvin]

Best: I bought a Fender neck (from a MIM Blacktop Precision) from @rubis on this very forum, and put it on my Squier VM P bass. I love this bass now, I really love it. I shouldn't because it's the wrong colour and stuff, but it just looks so good and sounds lurrrrrrrrrrvly. Despite having played the Squier at the my band's previous gig when it had the maple neck, my band thought I'd bought a brand new US Fender  

 

Worst: 2 pack of naff 9v batteries from a £ shop...it's been a quiet year for gear tbh. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Al Krow]

22 minutes ago, Marvin said:

...Despite having played the Squier at the my band's previous gig when it had the maple neck, my band thought I'd bought a brand new US Fender  

Bandmates so often just don't get us bass players and certainly not our gear! Thank goodness for BC eh?! 😂

I turned up to a rehearsal earlier in the year with a completely new bass and 2 hours into the rehearsal I asked my bandmates what was different about my bass?

After a little hesitation one of them noticed it was a 5er (me having only ever played 4 strings with them up to that point)!!

Edited December 21, 2018 by Al Krow

[rubis]

A very Merry Christmas to you Marvin, lovely to see that neck put to good use 

Merry Christmas to everyone else too

[TolerancEJ]

20 hours ago, Al Krow said:

So you gonna keep us hanging on what these 3 target for 2019 are? 😁

...

The 3 targets would come from New York state. Spector, Sadowsky and one more I will keep private unless/until I actually send a deposit.

[foxyFuze]

I only tend to contribute if I think it will be of use to someone, which this may well do, so....

Best: Fender Bassman 100T.   It's bulky and heavy but I don't care; it's great.  The EQ and blend etc takes some getting used to but I do rather like it. The 25W and silent modes are most useful and it's going through a Barefaced Two10, which is a good match I think.

Worst:  Olympic Shift Line Mk3 preamp.   It sounds excellent in the videos, I just couldn't get it to come alive as a lone pedal without something else driving it.  Maybe I was expecting too much of it going straight to a PA,  but I found the GK Plex for me is a better piece of kit - far more versatile and a digital fuzz tone when the gain is set high. 

[kevin_lindsay]

Best bass purchase: my NS Design CR5 upright bass - Love it!!!! 

Worst bass purchase: Dunlop Super Bright bass strings. Dear goodness! At first they're all top and zingy, but without a solid bass fundamental to the tone. Then, as they bed in, they start to settle down. And then one day, overnight, the sound goes from zingy to sounding like someone is kicking a cardboard box down the street. Bloody awful strings!! (in my humble opinion) 

 

Edited December 22, 2018 by kevin_lindsay

[Leonard Smalls]

Only bass related purchases were amp stuff...

I got a Crown 1502 power amp with 6u rack and rack power distribution to replace my 28 year old Marshall.

It weighs about 1/2 of the Marshall, puts out 1500W against the Marshall's 300W.

And the difference is that I get much more bass weight, even when using sub octaves - the whole thing is clean right down to 20Hz rather than the slightly indistinct bass-amp tone I used to get.

Now I dial tones/effects in via pedalboard and rack BBE pre and know that I'm getting exactly the same sound from my Precision Devices/Markbass speakers as I'm sending to the desk.

Anyone want to buy a Marshall Jubilee?

[Bob Lord]

I’m over the moon about everything I’ve bought this year. Nothing was bad:

mexican ‘player’ precision - can’t belive how well built Mexican fenders are nowadays

ampeg svt-cl and svt-810e. Both USA made ones. Yup, pretty happy with this

2009 music man stingray. 3 band. Love it

ashdown abm evo iv 600 + klystron 410 & klystron 115. Can’t find fault with this

[Al Krow]

And the one you would save in a fire would be the... 

20 minutes ago, Bob Lord said:

2009 music man stingray. 3 band. Love it

?? 

Come on, it's got a 3 band EQ, so what's not to like? 

[Bob Lord]

1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

And the one you would save in a fire would be the... 

?? 

Come on, it's got a 3 band EQ, so what's not to like? 

I'd probably burn to death trying to save the SVT rig

[zranyard]

Best bass purchase - Lakland skyline 55-02. It''s the first bass I've bought in a few years, and it's really wonderful. Superb build quality, really lightweight and has a great sound, it sits really well in the mix for everything I've used it for so far. Very happy with it and it's making me consider getting a skyline precision now of some sort too...

Worst bass Purchase - Haven't actually bought anything else in a while, and definitely not something that I wasn't pleased with.  Possibly a set of TI flats, which to be honest I didn't dislike them, liked the feel of them but in the end just decided I preferred the La Bellas that I already had.

Here's a photo of the beauty, took the day I got it back in April.

[Al Krow]

Nice - very similar set up to the Sandberg TM5 (I had the TM4) with a J / MM pup arrangement, but with a 3 band EQ (oh dear I seem to have got myself into stuck record mode...btw that's a phrase few folk under the age of 35 seem to comprehend these days! 😂)

[Bobthedog]

I have not bought a lot this year but my Darkglass Hyper Luminal compressor has really impressed me.

Nothing really bad bought so I will just say my wurst purchase was the sausage making machine.  

[LeftyJ]

I don't recall any bass-related purchases this year. I did buy a bassier guitar! (7-string, tuned to B) 

[Al Krow]

A few of you have mentioned that you've made very few bass purchases; I'm kinda hoping to join you 'disciplined' lot in 2019 by spending more time getting the most of the gear I've already got. Well that's the plan anyway...  

I did start 2018 with the good intention of trying to stick to "one in one out" when it came to gear and I thought it might be good to see how well I managed to stick to that goal.

Basses and six string guitars. Net increase NIL 👍 (Two guitars and three basses out the door and five basses in).

Amps and cabs. Net decrease of 1 👍 👍 (A cab and a combo out and two cabs in - and in my books a combo counts as an amp and a cab!)

Pedals - ok totally failed here: 30 in and 19 out so +11 pedals / boards / PSUs over the course of the year; which is kinda amusing given that pedals for me are so far just fun at home creating sonic landscapes. Band rehearsals and gigs have all been just bass --> amp & cab. Plain and simple. 

But I guess the nice thing about pedals is that if you buy used, look after them while you have them then you generally don't make much of a loss when you move them on; it's a bit like free rental. Completely different to the £500 loss from buying a new Sandberg a while back and then deciding to move it on this year 🙁 

 

Edited December 22, 2018 by Al Krow

[LeftyJ]

20 hours ago, kevin_lindsay said:

Best bass purchase: my NS Design CR5 upright bass - Love it!!!! 

Do these no longer come with magnetic pickups? The CR used to have single-string EMG pickups in addition to the Polar piezos.