Dan Dare

True, but Aguilar is not an entry level brand. It's expensive stuff, not least because it's made in the US. Plenty of us weekend warriors are prepared to pay the price of admission (I run an AG700). Aguilar seems to be trying for a vintage vibe with this combo. Personally, I like it, but I appreciate it isn't for everyone. There are many hobbies where the stuff can cost as much as a crap car. When I tot up what I've spent on fishing tackle in recent years, it's more like the price of quite a reasonable car. I realise I'm fortunate to be able to do so. You pays yer money and takes yer choice.

To give Aguilar their due, they use genuine ICEPower modules in their amps, so claimed wattages are accurate. 300W, done right, is plenty for small to medium venues unless you are playing detuned doom or similar. Until class D came along, we were quite happily using 100W (maybe 200W at a push) amps and nobody worried whether they'd be loud enough.

If you have the money to spare and can afford to indulge your GAS, there's really only one answer... It will certainly be a massive improvement on your old Rumble. In my experience, you can't get a bad sound out of MB gear, especially if you lean towards more old school tones. The 802 N 300 has an effects send, so you could, if you need more volume, run an add-on amp and cab with it if it proves not to be loud enough.

Same here. A lot of bass players make the mistake, imho obviously, of pushing too much LF. If you let the kick drum supply the oomph and concentrate on providing the notes on the bass, the result is much tighter and more musical. It does depend, of course, on the bass and kick drum being in sync.

Lovely stuff. What a band. And Martha, as well as being a great singer, was a bit gorgeous, wasn't she?

Motown.

This is one of those "how long is a piece of string?" questions. It might do the job, but then again, it might not. The only way to find out is to try it, but that would mean buying one. Two 8s in a small cabinet are only going to shift so much air. May be fine in certain bands/styles, but if you play music that requires you to push the bottom end a bit and venue acoustics are less than ideal, perhaps not. I've used a MB 1x12 combo in similar circumstances to those you describe and it worked surprisingly well, although it didn't shake the room (as you would expect) and it was in a soul band, so volume was not very high. I wouldn't imagine the difference between the older and current version is that great. MB gear is surprising in that it projects well and sounds good in the room, however. Any chance you could hire one and try it out at a gig? That would give you a better idea.

The usual suspects will all have a dog in the fight. Don't buy on recommendation. Go somewhere like Bass Direct and try some out. It's your decision which you prefer.

Flem

This. I reckon a 5 needs a longer scale length for the B to work well, too. The best sounding 5 for not too much money I've come across was a Lakland Skyline. Lakland 5s have a 35" scale, which does seem to make a difference. They can be had used for less than a grand. I'd save up a bit more, rather than going for something at the moment when you don't have a lot of spare cash.

I ate a Tesco burger last week. It disagreed with me, but fortunately, I'm in a stable condition.

Fair comments and some interesting points. It doesn't alter my contention that Tesco et al are profiting from donations made by customers if customers buy items at full price. Stores actually benefit financially from donating food that is at use-by or best-before dates, because they don't have to pay for disposal (commercial waste collection is charged for). Those dates are very conservative, because stores don't want to risk being sued by people who don't observe them. The first place I head for in any supermarket is the yellow sticker aisle. Some of the stuff I buy doesn't actually get eaten until well after the date and I'm not dead yet. Just follow the "Does it smell OK and/or is there green fur on it?" rule. Surely the nature of any out of date items put in boxes by the public is important. Use-by and best-before dates are a legal requirement in the UK. On things such as dry pasta and canned goods, they are pretty arbitrary. I have eaten things that, according to the label, are months or even years out of date with no ill effects. If the food distribution model in the UK is fundamentally broken, a good proportion of the blame should be laid at the feet of the mega-supermarkets.

Depends on whether we think a change is needed or even whether, in our humble opinion, a change improves a song. The average pop song is not a work of great literature. It isn't sacrosanct. If changing it in some way improves it for your purposes, go for it.

Tell me about it. Those donation boxes in Tesco and others, where you are asked to deposit food you've paid for to be given to charity, always annoy me. So Tesco et al get paid full price, including their mark-up, for stuff, which they then pass on to local charities. Do they offer you stuff at cost if you put it in the charity box? Do they say "Thank you to our generous customers" (or even name-check them) when passing on stuff they've sold at full price/a profit? Er, no. So they get extra sales, plus a pat on the back and publicity for their "generosity". Makes you sick.

This is it in a nutshell. In my band, three of us are comfortably retired - kids off our hands, mortgagees paid off, etc - and not short of money. The other two still work, have family responsibilities and are less able to be so generous with their time. It would be unfair to expect (or even ask, because it could be awkward for them to say no) them to do so.