LeftyBassist.com

This is a 2023 gear-in review thread!
Feel free to post anything and everything bass-related that you bought in 2023!

Here is everything I bought this year:


Yep! That’s it from me! Just some replacement string jaws for my Steinberger since the D-string jaw broke. What can I say? I am pretty well set for what I need.

Here's a few things. Sire basses.. a Metallic red V7 and a Mild Green P-5.
The V7 got a new pickguard, that's all.
The P-5 got a new pickguard, an added Fender stacked noiseless Jazz bass bridge pickup, and a killer Audere three knob, four band preamp, a Gotoh battery box, an Electrosocket with a Pure Tone stereo input jack. This bass also got a set of Hipshot ultralight clover head tuners, and some cosmetic refinishing of the back and front of the headstock. I also installed some luminous side dots, which I make from scratch.

I can't think of any bass purchases this year. I did buy a guitar and a 1x12 guitar cab: I recently bought a very nice Cort Matt "Guitar" Murphy signature guitar from around 1999, and a Koch TS112 closed back cab that I got for just €50.

I bought two basses this year:

Fender Precision Player Plus


Harley Benton 25th Anniversary Enhanced


My primary focus this year was to get my bass/guitar synth equipment back up to working order, so I put a decent amount of money into repairing my Godin LGX-SA guitar synth (replaced the entire preamp system), and buying various synth-related pedals and gear. Thus, I also bought:

Boss GM-800 Guitar/bass synthesizer:


Electro Harmonix B9 pedal:


Source Audio C4 pedal:


My goal for 2024 will be to actually take the time to learn how to use all this crap and actually use it.

Where did you find the replacement jaws? I know Bill had machined some for me years ago.

$99 per jaw? Ouch.

Not much for bass gear this year. I bought a keyboard in October of 2022 and really threw myself into it. In 2023, I got a nice producer desk, which also serves as my home office.

There's a DI just left of the keyboard. It's an LMI Motor City Big Block. I bought that in May and like it a lot, but have hardly used it.

I also scored a Fender Japan Thinline, but haven't devoted much time to it.

This picture comes from the https://headlessusa.com/headless-parts website....

Yep. I ordered them directly from HeadlessUSA.com. I have had good experiences with them in the past. It's $350 for a set of 4, so a bit of a discount there, but still steep. The only others I found are here, for $75 each: https://edroman.com/guitars/steinberger/parts.htm.

I seem to recall that despite your moniker, you never played P/Js until recently, is that right?

I guess you've discovered what all the fuss is about

Great choices, btw.

Generally speaking, I still don't like PJ setups, but both the Fender Precision Player Plus and the Harley are active PJs (and the Harley has a reverse P, which is even better IMO), which means you can dial out some of those honky tones when the PUPs are used in combo.

Awesome find with that Thinline Tele, BTW.

Given the lack of options out there, I get it, and sometimes you just have to bite the bullet.

I got this:



and this:



I forgot how much I love Roland tech! It always sounds so good. Surprising they discontinued the Micro Cube Bass but I have to assume the second generation is on it's way.

The Casady is excellent as I knew it would be since it's been available as a righty since 1998 and is still popular (and unchanged). I thought it would sound more like a hollowbody - think Hofner - but it actually sounds more like a solidbody with acoustic overtones. Which makes sense actually since that's how semihollow guitars sound like.

My new addition to the stable