Your best (and worst!) bass gear purchases of 2024?

[stewblack]

My worse was also my best. 

Confused? Don't be. I'll explain.

Bought a bass here which turned out to be an absolute piece of firewood. Well, two pieces really, as the neck and body didn't go together at all. 

I also paid what was for me a lot of money for it.

So - clearly the worst. 

 

But it has entirely cured me of GAS. I just think about it every time I see a bass that looks lovely. And I keep my money.

So it's actually my best purchase.

[mikegatward]

Not sure if it counts but best purchase was spending £70 getting both my HX Stomp (L/Mono output not working) and Morningstar MC6 ( switches sticking) repaired.

[mikegatward]

On 30/10/2024 at 22:39, SimonK said:

Best: £75 in total for the head and both cabs (OK had to replace a transistor on the head but now it works just fine)!

 

 

Worst, not really this year, currently still like everything!

I envy your wallet, but not your back 😀

[Al Krow]

2 minutes ago, mikegatward said:

Not sure if it counts but best purchase was spending £70 getting both my HX Stomp (L/Mono output not working) and Morningstar MC6 ( switches sticking) repaired.

 

Two great pieces of kit back into full use? Sounds like a win to me! 😊

[Norris]

I bought a Retrovibe Stinger '77 preamp that transformed my Sterling Sub Ray5.

 

That's the only bass-related gear I bought this year apart from a new set of strings. I've been pretty much GAS free for the last 2 years since I bought my Sire

[Obrienp]

Late entry for my worst is a Digitech Drop pedal. It didn’t do what it said on the tin at all. Very disappointing as I had read reasonable reviews of it elsewhere. Fortunately, Merchant City Music took it back without quibbling and refunded the money promptly. Great after sales service IMO and I will certainly consider buying from them again.

[SimonK]

14 hours ago, mikegatward said:

I envy your wallet, but not your back 😀

 

Rather than buy lighter and more moveable cabs I've just gone for the option of scattering them liberally wherever I play - I now have three TE rigs (all picked up at similarly low prices) and simply leave one at home, one in the practice space and one at church - no one is strong enough to steal them!

[Bagman]

Very quiet purchasing year 

 

Warwick Fortress Flashback 5 string ( which I'm still working on getting used to playing) is a very well made instrument that looks very flash ... maybe to flash for me. 

[franzbassist]

As usual, I have bought and sold way more than I should have this year!

 

My Boss Katana 500 amp would have won the best award until this arrived last week; my new Franz Merak.

 

 

This is my third bass made by Xaver at Franzbassguitars and it's just as good as the others.  Lovely thing.

 

As to worst, honestly nothing really jumps out at me, so I would probably go with the Boss SYB synth pedal I bought and moved on as I just couldn't get a decent sound from it.

 

 

[Merton]

44 minutes ago, franzbassist said:

As usual, I have bought and sold way more than I should have this year!

 

My Boss Katana 500 amp would have won the best award until this arrived last week; my new Franz Merak.

 

 

This is my third bass made by Xaver at Franzbassguitars and it's just as good as the others.  Lovely thing.

 

As to worst, honestly nothing really jumps out at me, so I would probably go with the Boss SYB synth pedal I bought and moved on as I just couldn't get a decent sound from it.

 

 

That is a sexy bass, I can see why you’re chuffed!

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

Instead of my Black Friday purchase being delivered in jan 2025 ...it arrived yesterday via the Amazon !

Squier mini p bass £118.15 . Worth every penny . So I guess this is my best bass gear purchase  of 2024. Condition immaculate , with no adjustment required .

I can't hear any buzzing etc , but I am playing it low in the front room on my Roland Micro cube RX . 
I'm seriously thinking of ditchiing the long scales , and getting a short scale . A great little bass ..

[mikegatward]

On 11/12/2024 at 13:07, SimonK said:

 

Rather than buy lighter and more moveable cabs I've just gone for the option of scattering them liberally wherever I play - I now have three TE rigs (all picked up at similarly low prices) and simply leave one at home, one in the practice space and one at church - no one is strong enough to steal them!

If you lived near me, I’d buy you a pint for that answer 😀

[bnt]

I've only purchased pedals this year, so:

 

Worst: NuX Sculpture Compressor, It was OK while it worked, if a bit mild, but has stopped working. Which might be my fault, since I connected the wrong voltage to the PSU that was powering my pedals and popped a cap in that. I'm not certain of the timing, though, and it's still responding to the switch - just no output.

 

Best : IK Multimedia Tonex One. Despite the software being horrid, and a (fixed) problem I had with its license just vanishing from the IK Product Manager, it's worth it because using The Fridge really feels like playing through an Ampeg SVT. It does that thing that makes me sound more professional than I am.

[SimonK]

18 hours ago, mikegatward said:

If you lived near me, I’d buy you a pint for that answer 😀

 

...I'm suspicious you are hoping I'd leave a bass cab with you as well!

 

I actually did pick up a TE 2103x cab from up Yorkshire way a few years back while up there with work, I forget where that one was eventually deposited!

[chriswareham]

Very few purchases this year, but best is an HH V-S Bassamp, an old solid state amp head from the late 1970s. Desperately needed a lightweight head for a gig where cabs were provided and transport was a problem. The only thing available locally, and my only memory of them was from teenage years when reharsal studios were full of knackered HH kit that had been absolutely thrashed. This one had been serviced with new power transistors and even the backlit display works perfectly. Tried it at a rehearsal and was amazed - it's very loud, very clean and even the "Valve Sound" proved useful on a song where I play double stops and root-fifth power chordy things high up the neck. Switching the V-S on made me sound remarkably like Lemmy!

 

Worst purchase was several Korg clip on tuners. Actually great bits of kit, but the singer insists we remove them during shows. So I've now mislaid two of them after checking my tuning and then leaving them on the top of house amps, from where they've probably fallen down the back thanks to the vibration.

[casapete]

18 minutes ago, chriswareham said:

Worst purchase was several Korg clip on tuners. Actually great bits of kit, but the singer insists we remove them during shows

Blimey, that’s a bit harsh? Surely the whole point of clip on ( any?) tuners is being able to easily correct any

tuning anomalies on the fly during the set. I know there is some dislike for clip on tuners out there, but 

didn’t realise it was such an issue. 

[neepheid]

38 minutes ago, chriswareham said:

Worst purchase was several Korg clip on tuners. Actually great bits of kit, but the singer insists we remove them during shows. So I've now mislaid two of them after checking my tuning and then leaving them on the top of house amps, from where they've probably fallen down the back thanks to the vibration.

 

Get poked!  Singer tells me how to bass and I'll stick the bass up them sideways.  What a cheek!

[Obrienp]

3 hours ago, casapete said:

Blimey, that’s a bit harsh? Surely the whole point of clip on ( any?) tuners is being able to easily correct any

tuning anomalies on the fly during the set. I know there is some dislike for clip on tuners out there, but 

didn’t realise it was such an issue. 

I don’t think they work that well with bass anyway. A stomp is much better IMO but maybe not the Boos Tu-3 which I find a bit disappointing, despite so many positive reviews. However, I agree with @neepheid, it’s none of the vocalist’s business how you tune your bass.

Edited December 14 by Obrienp

[Jackroadkill]

4 hours ago, chriswareham said:

but the singer insists we remove them during shows

 

Turn them around so they're behind the headstock.

 

Or tell your singer to mind his own, if you like.

[Lozz196]

I’ve got the TC Polyclip tuner, I put it on the headstock with the clip at the front and the tuner bit at the back, unless I’m standing with my back to the audience they won’t see it unless really looking hard - and what audience members focus on the headstocks of basses/guitars?

[chriswareham]

34 minutes ago, Obrienp said:

I don’t think they work that well with bass anyway. A stomp is much better IMO but maybe not the Boos Tu-3 which I find a bit disappointing, despite so many positive reviews. However, I agree with @neepheid, it’s none of the vocalist’s business how you tune your bass.

 

The Korg one seems to work very well on bass, better than the Snark ones I've used before (they would also break quite quickly - the little tabs that hold the display to the stalk are very fragile). The "no clip on tuners while we're playing" thing is an aesthetic choice - we're heavily influenced by new wave and post punk music, so we make an effort to look like those bands did. So our equipment is either old 70s and early 80s stuff or indistinguishable from it.

[MrDinsdale]

Best purchase was the Quad Cortex by far. 

 

Worst was the Walrus Audio Canvas tuner. Great tuner but bought it just before the QC which rendered it mostly useless. 

[Buddster]

After an expensive year last year, this year has been quiet on the purchasing front. 

But last week I bought the Boss GT-B1. 

First gig with it tonight and I'm really happy with it. I've programmed 6 different patches to match different tracks and they all sounded great. 

We're silent stage/IEM, so direct into the desk. 

Plus it fits into the front pouch on the gig back, so one less thing to carry. 

[fergs40]

5 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

what audience members focus on the headstocks of basses/guitars?

The bass players!

[Stub Mandrel]

On 14/12/2024 at 16:41, chriswareham said:

the singer insists we remove them during shows.

 

Well played that man.