Your best (and worst!) bass gear purchases of 2021?

[SteveXFR]

1 hour ago, Saul Panzer said:

Worst thing I could say about it is that Sire headstock shape isn't really to my taste, round off that pointy bit and it'd be perfect imho.

 

I don't mind the headstock. I thought it sounded a bit weak but thinking about it now, I didn't change any amp settings between the Sire and my Stingray which has quite hot pickups. If I took the time to adjust the eq and gain etc I might have liked it more. To be honest, it could have been the best bass in the world and I'd still tell him it sucks

[Al Krow]

1 hour ago, toneknob said:

Off the top of my head, and in no particular order, mostly from the BC Effects For Sale area...

 

Source Audio Ultrawave Bass

Banananana Matryoshka

Tech 21 Geddy Lee

Red Panda Tensor

EHX Mel9

Earthquaker Afterneath v3

Emma Electronics Discumbobulator v2

couple of Dunlop DVP4 mini

some patch cables

 

Nice haul, but that's a very @Lozz196response (please see page 1 of the thread plus @neepheid's entirely correct reply)! 😁

 

Which would come top? (My money is on the SA Ultrawave for those long winter nights with two gazillion parameters to tweak and nativity 'scenes' to create...)

[toneknob]

29 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

 

Nice haul, but that's a very @Lozz196response (please see page 1 of the thread plus @neepheid's entirely correct reply)! 😁

 

Which would come top? (My money is on the SA Ultrawave for those long winter nights with two gazillion parameters to tweak and nativity 'scenes' to create...)

 

If pushed I'd say the UW has most mileage, but the Tensor is most out there of the bunch. At the other end, Mel9 has some excellent sounds and exactly what I wanted from it, but a few that don't work as well on bass.

[LeftyJ]

2 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

Oooh I had one of them.... Maybe it's my old one? PJ pups, maple body?

Don't think so, I bought it here in the Netherlands and the previous owner has had it for quite some time. It's this red one:

 

[Lozz196]

Have now reconsidered:

 

After a set up over a few days to my preference and a new set of Elixir steel rounds I’ve now decided that my best purchase of the year is a Fender 2015 US Precision in black/white/rosewood.

 

Worst purchase was a Hipshot BT7 bought for a Mex Precision and which didn’t fit (and they’re advertised as being made for Mex Fenders).

[Mudpup]

I don't have a candidate for 'worst' but my second hand Mesa BB750 Big Block amp bought a few months back is probably the best purchase in the last 10 years. It's an absolute monster of a head....Weighs a fair old chunk but the sheer slam and depth it has is totally worth it!  

 

 

[Al Krow]

2 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

Have now reconsidered:

 

After a set up over a few days to my preference and a new set of Elixir steel rounds I’ve now decided that my best purchase of the year is a Fender 2015 US Precision in black/white/rosewood.

 

Worst purchase was a Hipshot BT7 bought for a Mex Precision and which didn’t fit (and they’re advertised as being made for Mex Fenders).

See, that wasn't too hard 😁

 

35 minutes ago, Mudpup said:

I don't have a candidate for 'worst' but my second hand Mesa BB750 Big Block amp bought a few months back is probably the best purchase in the last 10 years. It's an absolute monster of a head....Weighs a fair old chunk but the sheer slam and depth it has is totally worth it!  

 

 

 

Go on chaps, treat us to some pics of your lovely bass / rig! 

[Mudpup]

28 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

See, that wasn't too hard 😁

 

 

Go on chaps, treat us to some pics of your lovely bass / rig! 

There you go - sat on top of one Big Baby in the house and there's another one to add at gigs

[DawnPatroller]

My best purchase of 2021 was a second hand Zoom B14 pedal off @Al Krow which has provided lots of fun messing around with stupid effects that do not match the music I'm trying to play in any way, shape or form.

There is not a contender for most boring purchase although there was a vaguely entertaining period during the summer which kept me on my toes, as I bought and returned several cables to Planet Waves which were faulty/suspected faulty/not faulty at all just me being a wally really. Thankfully, @bassfanhad the good sense to step in and recommend a Van Damme cable which is dead slinky and I love it.

 

 

[machinehead]

My best buy is my brand new (I rarely buy new) MIJ Traditional 51 Precision.  I put D'Addario chrome flats on it, gave it a minor setup and it plays a dream and sounds massive.  And it's quite lightweight compared to the one I gave to my son - maybe around the 3.8kg.

 

I don't really have a worse buy but I guess I could nominate an acoustic six string guitar I bought to teach my granddaughter to play on, on the basis that it wasn't for me.

Frank.

[Jack_Stroud_Bass]

Best purchase of the year for me would be my Markbass rig - pic below. 

 

Really nice sounding rig, complete with touring case for shows with the band so very convenient. 

 

Cons - bit on the heavy side when cased, but band members don't seem to annoyed by it... 

 

Fortunately don't seem to have made a bad purchase this year  

[Al Krow]

14 hours ago, DawnPatroller said:

My best purchase of 2021 was a second hand Zoom B14 pedal off @Al Krow which has provided lots of fun messing around with stupid effects that do not match the music I'm trying to play in any way, shape or form.

There is not a contender for most boring purchase although there was a vaguely entertaining period during the summer which kept me on my toes, as I bought and returned several cables to Planet Waves which were faulty/suspected faulty/not faulty at all just me being a wally really. Thankfully, @bassfanhad the good sense to step in and recommend a Van Damme cable which is dead slinky and I love it.

Awww come on, surely that Darkglass B7K sim is perfectly suited to your metal-head?! 😁

[javi_bassist]

My best, without any doubt, my HX Stomp. My Yamaha BB605 was a pretty cool purchase too.

 

 

[Jack_Stroud_Bass]

On 03/11/2021 at 11:09, Saul Panzer said:

Best Purchase:
My Sire P7 by far.

Lovely - been having GAS for months about a fretless one of these. Only thing stopping me is Anderton's are out of stock at the moment! 

[DawnPatroller]

1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

Awww come on, surely that Darkglass B7K sim is perfectly suited to your metal-head?! 😁

 

I was speaking generally! Some of those effects don't half remind me of the slappy stuff you like to play 😆

(and why wouldn't they, it was yours first)

 

That Darkglass patch is alright but it's not quite perfect to my ear ... I think I require more ....

Edited November 4, 2021 by DawnPatroller

[Al Krow]

10 minutes ago, DawnPatroller said:

I was speaking generally! Some of those effects don't half remind me of the slappy stuff you like to play 😆

 

That Darkglass patch is alright but it's not quite perfect to my ear ... I think I require more ....

For sure you're not going to get a perfect sim of a £200 pedal from a £50 multifx, tuner, headphone amp, drum machine, looper...

If it's given you a taste for the actual dedicated pedal you might want to get, fantastic. If it sets you off on down the rabbit hole of exploring pedals, my apologies! But if you can get decent quality used kit you won't be too much out of pocket when you come out the other side of that long but fun tunnel... 

🐇

Edited November 4, 2021 by Al Krow

[DawnPatroller]

I hope no bunnies were harmed during the creation of that effect.

[SimonEdward]

On 02/11/2021 at 10:37, Al Krow said:

Following on from the same topic we've successfully run since 2018 - a chance for some useful hints and tips with Black Friday and Xmas goodies still ahead, and, of course, nothing to stop us changing our minds between now and year end! 

As with previous years, the only "house rules" are that it's bass gear and something you bought (or at least arrived) in 2021. 

 

Here's last year's thread as a reminder of some of the goodies we bought then.

 

And definitely post your GAS inducing pics please!

 

 

Well! I surprised myself with how much I'd actually brought in last year (without selling anything).. so, I thought I'd do the same again this year: -

 

Looking down my list of 2021 purchases, they are: - in no particular order... all pre-loved and boxed etc

 

1. Modtone tremolo Pedal (I collect Tremolo pedal's; for use on Bass - for some insane reason)

2. TC Electronic Polytune 3 Noir - with buffer

3. Chase Bliss Audio "MOOD" - delay, looper

4. Alexander Neo Series "Radical" Delay

5. One Control Mosquite Wet/Dry FX Blender - with buffer

6. Eventide H9 Multi FX - my Xmas present to self - kid's mum already gift wrapped it up!!

7. Pedaltrain Novo 18 Pedal board - 5 rails - with soft case

 

Also have my eye on a Schecter Stiletto Bass - black cherry finish - either 4 or 5 string; maybe next year! 

[Al Krow]

38 minutes ago, DawnPatroller said:

I hope no bunnies were harmed during the creation of that effect.

 

I'm afraid I can neither confirm nor deny that...

[Al Krow]

10 minutes ago, SimonEdward said:

Well! I surprised myself with how much I'd actually brought in last year (without selling anything).. so, I thought I'd do the same again this year: -

 

Looking down my list of 2021 purchases, they are: - in no particular order... all pre-loved and boxed etc

 

1. Modtone tremolo Pedal (I collect Tremolo pedal's; for use on Bass - for some insane reason)

2. TC Electronic Polytune 3 Noir - with buffer

3. Chase Bliss Audio "MOOD" - delay, looper

4. Alexander Neo Series "Radical" Delay

5. One Control Mosquite Wet/Dry FX Blender - with buffer

6. Eventide H9 Multi FX - my Xmas present to self - kid's mum already gift wrapped it up!!

7. Pedaltrain Novo 18 Pedal board - 5 rails - with soft case

 

Also have my eye on a Schecter Stiletto Bass - black cherry finish - either 4 or 5 string; maybe next year! 

 

You get the same comment as Lozz and toneknob got: so which would you rate as your best purchase?! Lozz managed to 'fess up in the end after much collective BC pressure. My money is on the Eventide H9...no contest, right?!

 

PS a Schecter Stiletto would be awesome, you'll love it - what rig would you be playing it through? But treat yourself to the 5 string rather than the 4 string - comes with a free thumb rest. (I've got the 8 string which has four free thumb rests 😁)

[SteveXFR]

2 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Awww come on, surely that Darkglass B7K sim is perfectly suited to your metal-head?! 😁

 

Darkglass effects seem to suit a very specific metal sound. They're bloody awful if you're playing doom, death or even stuff like Megadeath & Metallica. 

[Al Krow]

58 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

 

Darkglass effects seem to suit a very specific metal sound. They're bloody awful if you're playing doom, death or even stuff like Megadeath & Metallica. 

What would you recommend for that stuff? Just asking for a friend. 

 

 

 

No really, I am just asking for a friend. 

[SteveXFR]

2 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

What would you recommend for that stuff? Just asking for a friend. 

 

 

 

No really, I am just asking for a friend. 

 

I really like a Proco Rat for fuzz tones and just a high gain valve amp for a nice bit of drive. I've tried a few overdrive pedals and nothing seems to sound quite as good as a dirty amp. Having said that, I'm quite tempted by the Tech 21 Geddy Lee preamp. 

[Al Krow]

6 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

 

I really like a Proco Rat for fuzz tones and just a high gain valve amp for a nice bit of drive. I've tried a few overdrive pedals and nothing seems to sound quite as good as a dirty amp. Having said that, I'm quite tempted by the Tech 21 Geddy Lee preamp. 

Yes I agree that the Rat is iconic - nothing quite cuts through like a screaming 🐀! You just need to have a plan B for the low-end suck they're notorious for, if they don't come with a clean blend.

 

FWIW I've settled on a Pigtronix Octava for my dirt / fuzz and I've yet to find anything better (including high-end stuff like Damnation Audio's MBD2, Two Notes le Bass, Tech 21 RR, DG AO, and plenty others...). Obviously choice of dirt is very personal at the end of the day and one person's Pigtronix gem is another's pig in the poke... 

[SteveXFR]

1 minute ago, Al Krow said:

Yes I agree that the Rat is iconic - nothing quite cuts through like a screaming 🐀! You just need to have a plan B for the low-end suck they're notorious for, if they don't come with a clean blend.

 

FWIW I've settled on a Pigtronix Octava for my dirt / fuzz and I've yet to find anything better (including high-end stuff like Damnation Audio's MBD2, Two Notes le Bass, Tech 21 RR, DG AO, and plenty others...). Obviously choice of dirt is very personal at the end of the day and one person's Pigtronix gem is another's pig in the poke... 

 

You could use a Boss ABY to blend in some clean tone. 

I've got an Orange Fur Coat which I think is similar to the Pigtronix Octava although with a useless (for bass) octave blend. I do use a Le Bass and quite like it with both channels in the cold fusion setting. I'm making a bar to connect the two foot switches to make it easier to switch both together.