Made In Britain

[fleabag]

Apart from one of my basses that was built by Andy JR on Basschat, all other basses are foreign, + Genz amp, PJB cabs,  Far East pedals, etc etc etc.

Still got some Trace gear in bits, but a Trace 4x10 combo is not to be trifled with unless you're married to a chiropracter.

The Genz Shuttlemax i can balance on my head

[Dazed]

I get that there are U.K. manufacturers and some great ones as been mentioned already but how far do you go with it. As others have said - how much of the components are U.K. built? Companies like Wal, ACG, Enfield and many others that design and produce pickups preamps bridges, where are those parts made? 

[floFC]

39 minutes ago, Sibob said:

Do the materials those UK builders use need to be sourced and manufactured in the UK? 😉

Si

Oak basses anyone?

[casapete]

23 hours ago, Linus27 said:

I've got a right mixed bag at the moment. Hartke amp, Epifani cab and Fender basses so America for those items. I then have an Ashdown valve amp, cab and back up amp head so good old British. I then have two Kala Uku basses so American for them. I love my main rig but if I do replace it then I'll probably go Ashdown.

Check your Hartke - US company but probably made in Korea / elsewhere in Asia I believe.

Edited July 7, 2019 by casapete

[Davo-London]

Got Barefaced cab, but that's undone by Aguliar 500.  Is there an equivalent of this amp in the UK?

As for basses, all US supplied oops.  Though I cannot stand the look of Burns basses and I prefer vintage so ...

Bare Knuckle makes a decent pickup so any pickup replacements would be via them!!!

Davo

 

 

 

[Dem Jolie-blues]

  MaTamP,    still trucking in Yorkshire since the sixties,   no idea where all the materials come from though

[ped]

My setup is American, French, Japanese, Swiss, Danish and German. And probably largely Chinese!

[Lozz196]

I`m in the US instruments/British amplification camp.

[taunton-hobbit]

Another Matamp user here.......been using them on & off for 50 years (!)

massive amount of Heft (& weight)...............

😎

[BigRedX]

Apart form a couple of years when I was using a MiK Warwick StarBass and the Burns Barracuda I currently use with one of my bands, my main basses have all been made in the UK:

Burns, Overwater, Gus, Sei. Same with my guitars, Home-made, Fretking, Gus.

And when there are so many quality parts made all over the world, it seems pointless to "re-invent the wheel" just so that you can say everything on a bass was made in the same country. And where do you stop? Do you insist that all the raw materials used to make those parts come from the UK too?

Edited July 8, 2019 by BigRedX

[chris_b]

This is only a broad theoretical question. It isn't about nit-picking or right-wing nationalism. I understand how the global marketplace for components, raw materials and labour works. I'd find it hard to imagine that everything down to the last screw could be made in one country ever again, but if I was buying from a British company then maybe I'd be satisfied that I was helping British companies to prosper.

At home we specifically buy British meat and fruit and veg (when we can) so I was just wondering if anyone makes buying decisions based on nationality in the bass world. So far I haven't but when I started thinking about this, I'm not sure I could even if I wanted to!

This country makes some very high quality basses. I like my cabs (even though they contain US drivers which contain Chinese neodymium), but so far I haven't found a UK amp (that I can lift!) that makes me want to replace my US amps.

I would imagine that much of our US made gear has a large number of Far East components as well. About 20 years ago I noticed that most of the products for sale in the shopping mall I was in in Orlando were made in China, even the cowboy boots! The only exceptions I found were some shoes made in India and Levi's made in Columbia.  

I'm not sure how anyone could go totally British with any part of their lives. Even Volvo is now owned by the Chinese!

Anyway, keep the thoughts and ideas coming. 

 

 

 

Edited July 8, 2019 by chris_b

[ahpook]

I've got/owned some Trace Elliot stuff, but it's tickled me more that they were made in Essex (like me) than British per se.

 

Edited July 8, 2019 by ahpook

[BigRedX]

3 hours ago, Davo-London said:

As for basses, all US supplied oops.  Though I cannot stand the look of Burns basses and I prefer vintage so ...

There's a lot more to UK made basses than just Burns.

[chris_b]

26 minutes ago, ahpook said:

I've got/owned some Trace Elliot stuff, but it's tickled me more that they were made in Essex (like me) than British per se.

But isn't TE made abroad these days?

I missed out on the TE heyday. The only time I remember using TE was when a valve 410 combo was provided for us at a festival. At the time I was using Musicman and Dynacord gear.

[EliasMooseblaster]

4 minutes ago, chris_b said:

But isn't TE made abroad these days?

Probably true of a lot of "British" amps though, surely? I know my Ashdowns are British designs built in China.

But if that counts, my amp choices have been quite consistently - if accidentally - British: two Ashdown bass heads, which have a succeeded three different Laney combos. I think the Berg cab is the only exception!

(And on guitar, a Blackstar which has replaced a Vox. We'll ignore the little Squier practice amp I had to begin with!)

[chris_b]

16 minutes ago, EliasMooseblaster said:

Probably true of a lot of "British" amps though, surely? I know my Ashdowns are British designs built in China.

I know. That's the dilemma, what is British these days. I guess that applies to many other countries as well.

Which Ashdown amps do you use?

[Dem Jolie-blues]

I take my Matamp head for a service, or currently (pun) a dry joint, Jeff the owner has lots of stories about the early days of Ashdown, hasn't stopped me from owning three of them compared to one M/amp though, i think my overweight  Bta300 was british built,  i know my Orange OBC115's are. perhaps like Chowny basses, they start with good intention in Britain but to compete, have to source abroad,  shame.  Is that us wanting everything for as little as poss ?

[ahpook]

29 minutes ago, chris_b said:

But isn't TE made abroad these days?

I missed out on the TE heyday. The only time I remember using TE was when a valve 410 combo was provided for us at a festival. At the time I was using Musicman and Dynacord gear.

I think it is, yes.

Mine's all been quite old and second-hand (I never had the money in the heyday !), so it was all made before they moved production overseas.

 

[EliasMooseblaster]

8 minutes ago, chris_b said:

I know. That's the dilemma, what is British these days. I guess that applies to many other countries as well.

Which Ashdown amps do you use?

I've a Little Bastard 30 (the original run, before they rebadged them as the CTM-30), and a CTM-100. Basically, I got bitten by the valve bug a few years ago, and haven't looked back. Though I am grateful that they're relatively light compared some of their competitors (the LB-30, especially)!

 

The most tenuously British bit of gear might be my Precision copy: it was a self-assembly kit which I bought from Brandoni Guitars, who are based in North London. But I think I'm right in saying that their supply of kits was a huge stock of surplus parts they'd acquired from Fender's Japanese factories.

So it's a set of Japanese parts licensed from an American parent company, sold to me by a British company! Made in Britain? Well, it was bolted together in my parents' garage in Surrey...

[fleabag]

1 hour ago, ahpook said:

I've got/owned some Trace Elliot stuff, but it's tickled me more that they were made in Essex (like me) than British per se.

 

Likewise.

My TE gear had the same Dagenham accent as me, which was a smidge spooky

[PatrickJ]

I like the idea of supporting British brands more (despite actual country of product manufactoring).

I have a Shuker bass being made for me at present (English elm drop top and John East pre-amp for a real English feel).  My straps were hand made in the south west by Heistercamp. I've also had GAS for an Ashdown amp for a while and quite fancy giving Barefaced cabs another go.  I can see me following this UK brand trend over the next few years.

For me this is not about nationalism but simple pride in our nations ingenuity and a desire to support our local economy. 

Edited July 8, 2019 by PJ-Bassist

[Mykesbass]

8 hours ago, chris_b said:

This is only a broad theoretical question. It isn't about nit-picking or right-wing nationalism.

I'm probably one of the more left leaning members on here, and very anti-patriotic, but buying from local shops and local companies seems the right thing to do, especially if they make good stuff!

[Ed_S]

I’ve got an ABM1000 that was built in Essex and is probably my favourite amp... but I rarely take it out because I’m normally using a shared cab in a smallish bar where it’d be overkill. When I do use my own cabs on bigger gigs, they’re gen-2 Barefaced... but the cab I actually use the most is a Markbass 4x10 that lives at our rehearsal studio. I have a Shuker that I could finish the whole arrangement off with, too... if it didn’t weigh 10lb 10oz, making it pretty much only playable whilst seated!

So, most of the time it’s a lightweight Polish or German bass through a tiny little Italian amp head into a random cab. Ah well, at least I bought those things from UK retailers!

[stingrayPete1977]

I had an early British built Ashdown bass rig, I was glad to see the back of it tbh.