Staggering on

That's a great idea! Mine go into my gig bag in a small fabric bag with a drawstring along with a usb cable and adaptors so I can plug in and charge if necessary. The WL 20 is great, I have used it for practice, rehearsals and gigs for years with no problems.

Hmmmmm, what is the date today? 😊

To make it even better (or worse depending on your point of view) I play tenor banjo in a trad jazz band and in the bluegrass band I play bass but get to listen to our excellent 5 string banjo player...best of both worlds.😄 Edit: I had to remove the ' that somehow slipped into the original post...I am getting old I guess.🙄

Steady now, there are some banjo players on here, I'm one of them.....😊

Same way I feel, I'll be 78 in two months and love gigging with my DB and I've got a show, jazz gigs, some jams and three bluegrass festivals coming up this spring and summer and I'm taking weekly lessons and will be helping out my teacher's youth orchestra's bass section in a concert in May. I'm not sitting around because I know the clock is ticking and consider myself to be extremely lucky to be able to do this now.

Don't be silly, part of the joy of owning a DB is that you can brag/complain/compare about all the money you have spent, it's just part of the bargain when you play the best instrument and the one that is the most fun and most frustrating to play. Just today I spent CD $360 for a new set of strings for my "backup bass" that I have used at precisely three gigs in the four years that I have owned it. I have also had a new bridge fitted with adjusters, bought a better bow and had some set up work done on it and bought two pick ups and this is a beat up 50 year old ply bass.🙄 I hope to use it for some bluegrass festivals this summer and maybe recoup some money but it is fun to play and lets me save my "good bass" for jazz gigs. Crazy according to some but we all have to suffer for our art.😉

I like to play but I live in a very rural area with the nearest large town (50,000) an hour away and so that is where most rehearsals and jazz gigs are although we travel another hour or two for some gigs. At 77 I want to play as much as I can because time is passing quickly, this summer I have a jazz gig or two an hour away and 5-6 days of rehearsal and performances for a stage show at the same distance. I somehow got into a bluegrass band 18 months ago and we have three weekend festivals booked and another possible one. The closest is 2 hours away and the farthest is about 6 hours and the others 4 hours but I will make a weekend of it and have a little holiday while playing at the festivals. I will be playing DB at all of these gigs. My weekly DB lesson is also an hour away. At this point in my life I want to play all I can while I am still able to drive and play and the driving is the price I have to pay for living in my little part of paradise, I've been here for 45 years now and still love it.😊

Gollihur now handles the NUX system, it apparently avoids the impedance problem that some wireless systems have and Mark explains it in the product description.

I hated the wires too so about 5 years ago I bought a Boss WL20 to use with my EUB (Yamaha SLB 200) and DB (Shen SB100) and love it. Very simple to set up and I have used it hundreds of times for practice at home and for rehearsals, jams and gigs and never had a problem. it is easy to charge with a simple usb with no base needed and you can charge each unit separately or plugged in together. I used it with my DB for two gigs last week and for home practice too. I go from the bass pickup (Realist Lifeline) to a Schatten Design volume control unit that I mount on my music stand or mic stand with a bracket I made and from there it goes by cable to an amp or PA and I have never had it run out of power even at long gigs. It has been flawless for jazz, orchestra, bluegrass and I would buy another one if I ever have a problem with this one. I have also used it straight into the amp at some gigs or rehearsals where the amp is close enough to use the controls on the amp. There are similar units available but this one has worked for me and I know another DB player that uses the same system and loves it, highly recommended by me.

Me too, a lot louder. Realist Lifeline on my Shen SB100.

Two gigs with the seven piece swing/trad band. Last Tuesday was a Jazz at the Junction gig at a Legion hall where we have played several times, the place was full and they were right into the music, no dancing though, the place is too small. I was in some sort of weird place mentally(age and/or long Covid fog ?) but as front man I managed to say what I needed to say and played reasonably well if the recording was accurate. I came home frustrated and depressed with the whole night's performance even though the audience liked it. On Sunday we played a charity gig at a large (for our part of the world) church to raise money for roof repairs. Lots of stairs and twisty corridors to navigate for load in and out but great acoustics once the audience of about 300 came in and we played well and I was back in the real world and was happy with my performance. It was a strange set up with the band on several levels with a large immovable altar right in the middle and the band spread out with the Bose PA set up behind us, and since only the bass and keyboard use the PA it was hard to hear the horns on "stage" but it was great for the audience and they loved it. My bass teacher and another DB player were in the audience and that made me a bit nervous but after the concert he was complimentary, I'll find out what he really thinks at my lesson on Friday.

If you do opt for a new bridge I would recommend having adjusters installed. It means you can make changes without a luthier and also makes it possible to use some very good pickups like the Realist Lifeline and others that install at the adjusters. Nothing wrong with having two DB's, I have a Shen SB 100 with a Lifeline for jazz gigs and for any bowing and a beater Czech bass with a Vic's Model B (or similar) pickup for bluegrass and some outdoor work. Confession: I also have an EUB, Yamaha SLB 200 and all three instruments get played regularly. I have huge amount of GAS for a good hybrid or carved DB but at almost 78 I will get by with what I have now....I think.😉

You're lucky, in my part of the world crowds are small and many venues have closed or only have live music one or two nights a week. I do agree that some bands don't make an effort to be entertaining but I think cost is a large part of the reason that there are fewer live shows and also Covid kept people home listening to streamed music and they have become used to that and it's cheap. Some over here will pay huge sums to see a really big star or attend a big name country or pop music festival but the small venues are dying.

That's true but what struck me was the huge number...4 trillion, who would have guessed? To me it is another explanation why people don't go out to listen to live music very much any more.

I think the best thing to do is to get a bass player or luthier to look at and play your bass, even a bassist who is not a pro will be able to tell if it is you or your bass and you can move on from there. The type of music you play and whether you are using a bow or playing pizz are important things to consider as well. It would be well worth your money to get a pro set up and possibly different strings. I am not an expert but I went through the same thing when I started upright and wasted time and energy on a bad bass. I'm sure there must be some teachers and luthiers in your area and I'm sure you will get some suggestions and contacts from others on here. Good luck!