bassbiscuits

Aye good cabs. I only sold mine cos my two smaller Markbss cabs fitted more easily in my Ford Fiesta.

Aye. My old Aguilar GS410 cab sounded divine but weighed 44kg. Insanely heavy and it put me right off ever taking it out.

I expect so. If I recall correctly the MK500 is 500w at 4ohms, and the 2x10 part of the combo will most likely be 8ohms. Look at the back of the amp - there’s likely to be an external speaker connector for adding another cab. If so, that’s your answer.

New Model Army - Thunder and Consolation. The band was a trio at the time (with a violin player coming in on a few of the album tracks) but the interplay between bass and drums is exceptional. Sounds like a P bass with a pick cranked up loud, locked in with a really “busy but good” drummer. Try “Family” and “The Ballad of Bodmin Pill” for starters. Inspirational stuff.

Gigged a Mustang bass for ages until I sold it (stupidly) last year.

That’s lovely. What a find and at the perfect moment too by the sound of it. Then again, bass is all about the timing, right. Nice one.

Prior to the pandemic the band I was with had got quite sniffy about how much we felt we should be getting paid for gigs etc. But when lockdown allowed it, me and a few mates put together a classic rock cover band and did some free gigs primarily to help some struggling local venues. Made me realise how much of it is actually about the human contact, not just money.

I'm coming up for 52, and I sometimes regret not having gone further with music in my life (whatever that actually means in a practical sense I don't know). But lately I've realised that actually not being obliged to do it for a living is what has kept it still being fun. It's my little thing, my way of regulating my emotions, meeting some cool people, having little musical adventures and friendships etc. It hasn't had all the joy beaten out of it. And that's what keeps me in the game. I still find it interesting, I'm still learning new things and being curious. If this had been my job, I doubt I'd still be getting much enjoyment out of it. I'd probably be some bitter old bloke. Instead, I have a lifelong companion as long as I've got an instrument to hand, and doing that with other like-minded people is a great feeling.

My oldest lad has a nylon strung 3/4 size which he learned on before moving up to electric. Been in its case for ages. But we took it camping in the summer as it’s nice and small and it was perfect for campfire noodling.

What would Willie Nelson do?

BEST: Mine was a Simon and Patrick SP6 acoustic guitar which I bought at the start of the summer and which I’ve used at every solo gig since. It’s the best sounding guitar I own and paired with a Seymour Duncan Woody soundhole pickup it’s ended my search for a great acoustic sound. Second to that, is rather boringly a Cioks DC5 isolated power supply for my acoustic pedal board. After a series of problems with buzzing, signal noise etc I bit the bullet and got one and have enjoyed noiseless performance since. Winner 🏆 Both pictured below. Update - an honourable mention also for the Tonerider Classic P pickup I dropped into my project bitsa P Bass. Brought it to life. WORST: None really but probably the least dramatic was a pair of Meinl Bongos. I’d always fancied myself as a percussion player since my teens and finally got around to treating myself on a whim. Needless to say after an overexcited week or so they’ve been parked, unplayed, in the corner.

I’d go for “yes you need a P bass”. I play a P bass with flats and two identical active Yamahas with rounds on. The Yamahas are more dynamic, powerful, easier to play etc. But I keep eventually coming back to the simplicity of the P bass. For me the sound just fits in perfectly with a band. Can sound basic and dare i say “a bit cr@p” on its own, but in a mix it shines. And also, given such a rudimentary design, I think that cheap and cheerful P basses can often nail the sound and vibe pretty well without spending a fortune. So yeah - the limitations and simplicity of a P bass are also its strengths I reckon.