Hi Toby,
First…Happy 45th anniversery 
What a very long time 
(we still have 20 to go from this summer for the 45)… and I wish you many many more years together…
And of course…Happy N.BG`s.D…They look beautiful … too bad you started about the missing strings yourself ,…there was already a long story in my head to tap you 
… 
Greetings
Congrats on your anniversary and double Bass Guitars! 
Sounds great. The B450 sounds a fair bit brighter.
It’s quite dark so I couldn’t tell from the video if you were using pick or fingers, but it sounded like fingers.
If you are going to use fingers, it’s good to practice your technique there. There’s, basically, two approaches: strictly alternating (which is easier to learn) and taking (which tends to be more efficient).
You can also use pick. It’s perfectly valid: check out Bobby Vega. Learning to use both is a good plan.
I can’t see very well from the video, but your fretting hand seems a bit wrong. For bass it’s generally best to have a more classic thumb-behind position as you don’t, normally, have thumb-over fretting or big bends to contend with. Getting the right hand position will allow you to stretch to reach the frets easier
Rock on!
Cheers,
Keith
Hi Toby
Congratulations on 45th wedding anniversary. Happy New Guitarz day too. Think you have enough on your plate with the blue one, best send that gorgeous looking B450 to me and I’ll see if I can get it going for you 
Thanks for the advice Keith. Yes the vid was a bit dark, as there’s a passing storm but I was fingering and will most likely keep to that technique. But in the scheme of never say never I will look at picking as well. Advice about the thumb is very helpful but boy do I feel like a newb again. Some thing to be aware when switching. I’ll check Vega out as well. Cheers.
Thank you Rogier, time as they say is relative. But I think that’s the time it takes to kick unwanted relatives out of the house ! As to more we’ll take as many as we can. On the missing strings and knowing folk here, as pre-emptive strike was called for !!
Cheers
@grayal Thanks Al
@BurnsRhythm you wouldn’t like it honest. It really is an awful colour in the light honest. Did I say honest ? It would take years to get there, there’ll be mega import duty and it looks terrible. I’ll keep it safe for you just in case. 
Another thing I just thought of is, because the frets are further apart, bass players don’t tend to do the “one finger per fret” thing rigidly, unless they have big hands.
Shifting position even to play scales is very common, which is another reason to have good fretting hand position to make moving up and down the neck easier.
Cheers,
Keith
Cheers,
Keith
Thanks for sharing the samples, Toby. Both sounded good.
I agree with Keith that the B450 sounded a little brighter, more clarity, punchier … who knows what the correct adjectives to what I am hearing are.
I know effects a matter of taste and sound you are looking for plus this was a quick sample. That said, perhaps a little heavy on the reverb? I know precious little about guitar tone and even less about bass tone, but given that it is in the low end, perhaps one needs to play with HP and LP filters to get the best value with a reverb? Perhaps those in the know will educate me and I guess you too.
@Majik Thanks Keith all good info. Just watch a couple of Vega vids but the more the merrier. Having messed around last night on a few “riffs” I can well understand the more fluid approach. With my smallish hands reckon I’ll be bouncing all over the place,
Thanks David, not had a chance to actually listen to them to compare properly. Just dialled up a Fender Bassman model on the Mustang (ok yeah its a gtr amp model !) but thought the reverb was off ? Something to think on but Keith had suggested the basic Studio Preamp but it sounded a bit weak. Recording was a rush job for audio samples but as I say lots to learn.
The Bassman is actually a bass amp, that happens to sound great with guitars and so is very popular with guitar players. So it’s a good choice.
Cheers,
Keith
Well that gives me no excuse then !
Beardy dude playing bass in the dark. Endureth is back…
Wait, no! This is madness- or am I just seeing double? 
No time lost getting stuck in there, Toby and already sounding good.
Between your new toys, your diaries and ‘noodles’ (vibes for those, I won’t go back and comment separately), organising the OM, your ride-on-mowers, your dog-walking and your hog just to mention a few, you may have just demonstrated the secret of long marriage:
Keep out of her hair!
Thank you kind sir. May I refer you to Dr Denis Leary, Lock n Load - My Kids circa 14:30 and the secrets of martial success. As for the doobla N’Dureth I am working on the barnet as well !! Alas, though all that you list is fair comment, the Harley has been out for a soul 10 minutes for fuel this year, while my wife recuperates our Sophie is my constant companion. And its next to impossible to get a GSD to ride pillion !
Be well frère des barbes.
Very nice. They’re both beautiful basses. I would probably go for the blue one as I like my basses big and woody. In the videos the the red one sounded crisper but I suspect it has a pre-amp with tone controls and the blue one is passive? If so, run the blue one through a pre-amp for a better comparison.
I’m baffled to how much a ton sterling is.
Love that. That would be great! A partner in the truest sense!
Thanks for sharing, can’t wait to hear what you and your wife come up with 
I’m sure it’s gonna be fun.
John my man !! Good to see you. On today FX rate it would be about $315 for the brace.
Here’s the specs which I am sure our resident bass man will appreciate !
Mr Blue
https://harleybenton.com/product/jb-20-mb/
Mr Black (and mapley !)
https://harleybenton.com/product/b-450-qtb/
Quite right Big Blue is the passive beast just volx2 and tone. The QTB has a preamp so its balance/bass/treble/vol knob wise. So bass to max treble to zero I guess ? Nice feature is the volume on the QTB is a push/pull active/passive. But shoot both feel great !
The sound test was not scientific whatsoever. It was a case of powering up the Mustang III selecting the Fender Bassman as the Studio Preamp was waaaaay toooo quiet. Turning up the volume on each one and laying down a bit of “Alvin” and not a Chipmonk to be seen !!
So when all the Open Mic org dust settles and I map out my next lick grouping impro, I’ll sit down with these mothers and see what all the knobs do or don’t do. Then I’ll take a huge step back on the progress ladder and start Bass Room 101 from the bottom rung.
Now wherever my missus steps up to the plate or maybe mic, is another matter. She may have been saying that so I didn’t send them back. Think she’s much happier with knitting needles than picking fat 105s but never say never.
Take care big guy, hope the band are still on a roll !
I wouldn’t lower the treble! Bobby Vega wouldn’t have sounded like he did in the video in this thread without it. My personal preamp settings for bass, mids and highs are 6-9-6. I only have one guitarist to cut through who is usually living in the highs so I got a lot sonic space to fill in the mids.
Not a fan of chorus pedals though my guitarist has introduced me to delay pedals and I like those.
I wish you luck on your bass journey. It’s an entirely different place in the space of songs and there’s a lot of fun to be had in those lower registers. Buy a metronome if you don’t have one already, groove is all about time and bass is all about groove.
Have fun!
John thanks for the amp EQ reference. Guess I’ll experiment to find my own tone. The tongue in cheek setting were regarding the B450s pre-amp but in reality I’ll start with them in the mid point, same as the JB20 and focus on a consistent amp setting on the Mustang for starters. The Fender Bassman model does seem a safe place to start.
In respect of space. Yes I am finding that interesting as I had been watching some Stu Hamm tutorials while the gear was in the post. Allowing room for others and synchronising with the drums were all mentioned, so my understanding of how everything fits together is improving. Hey that might help future project mixing as well.
Looking forward to some fun grooving and a bonus to improve my guitar rhythm from what I learn dealing with these monsters. And push me to other chord voicings!