colleya

We use one of the old model Alto TS110 PA speakers. Singer and guitarist have that. Drummer and I use in ears. They seem pretty happy with it. Extra bonus is that it can double as an emergency top if one of our main speakers breaks.

We're an 80s band. Cheese is selection criteria #1.

Same with us. We all have a 'Good God no' style veto as well. However in the past we've played a vetoed song as a request and it's been ace, so we've learned to give most suggestions some rehearsal time regardless of first impressions. One of my sneaky tricks is to add potential newbies to the playlist that I put through the PA before & after gigs. It gives us a decent idea of crowd reaction to the tune.

I had a similar if much, much lower budget experience aged 14. On holiday in Ireland I bought a mars bar from the local shop, opened it and promptly won £100. Back home, some scouring of the local copy of Loot turned up a Westone Thunder 1A which I promptly bought. It was a serious step up from the battered, no name school bass with two strings (both A) that I'd started on. Stupidly sold the Westone a few years later to fund a fender jazz. No pics either.

Marty McFly?

We've had good experiences with Alto kit in terms of price vs performance for our monthly outings at the Dog & Doris. You can get a very respectable setup for circa £1k including stands/cables etc. Currently using TS 312 tops, 1604 Live desk (tried a digital desk but a combination of signal dropouts and not having a physical fader to tweak instantly made us go back to analogue). Used to have an Alto sub but we've just got an RCF 702 which is a significant improvement. Of course YMMV.

I've been using a PJB bighead for a few years. It's great. Plug in my phone with Spotify, my bass and away we go. Tone is really good, although I don't use FX. Charges quickly and is super small. They come up used periodically for about £100.

I haven't really had it with any of the other basses I've sold, but that Jake was pretty special. To be fair though, I do know why I sold it. Needed the money to pay for my new Stingray!

My old sunburst Jake. Still don't know why I sold it. So easy to play.

Reporting in following Saturday's gig. The RCF 702 replaced Alto TS 115a. Running it with Alto TS312 tops. Noticeably tighter and with more physical presence, especially with music form the iPad between sets. Actually got a bit of 'I can feel that' type bass that the Alto never produced. We don't put bass through the PA, just kick drum but I got the distinct impression that it would handle it just fine as long as you don't take the mick volume wise. The cover is also ace, as it has little zippable flaps, cowboy underwear style, meaning that you don't have to remove it at all. Plus it's 2/3 of the size and weight, which is the biggest positive for me as I've got to lug the thing around.

A pretty standard mid January pub gig. Quiet-ish. About 30 or so folk in a reasonably large room, all visibly enjoying themselves/singing along etc but not enough critical mass to get any proper dancing started. Until 11.45, when the doors opened and about another 30-40 people arrived and headed straight for the dancefloor. Turns out the original crowd had all been texting their mates telling them to come down as they were really enjoying the set! So we gave them a couple of extra tunes then left them wanting more. Think we need to start at about 11.30 next time we play there. Kit wise, my new sennheiser IEMs (courtesy of @knicknack) were a big improvement on my old LD unit. It was also the first outing for the new RCF 702 sub, upgraded from an Alto TS 115a. Noticably tighter and with more physical presence, especially with music form the iPad between sets. Actually got a bit of 'I can feel that' type bass that the Alto never produced. Plus it's 2/3 of the size and weight, which is the biggest positive for me as I've got to lug the thing around.

Currently loving my stealth black classic ray, but I'm a tart for a bit of sparkle!

Or aqua sparkle. I'm not picky!

Hmmm. So if I start a thread about a stingray 5 special in charcoal sparkle for £500 what are the chances......

⬆️ This.

Might take you up on that. My tastes are diversifying a bit. Never played a graphite neck.

One of the reasons I didn't go for the power jazz. I'd have come to try it out, but I'd really have been hankering after a go on the flea.

Sorry to hear about your grandmother Andy, hope the family is ok. The chase is often a big part of the fun. It's easy to build up in your head that a particular bass/amp/cab/whatever will be the one. I get sucked into that a lot. If we thought logically about it we'd spend the cash on lessons, but where's the fun in that? If the basses you have make you happy and you can afford to keep them all then keep them mate. Looks like you've got a great collection, don't over think it.

This is our attitude too. I really like it as it means I look forward to every gig, filling the diary is pretty straightforward and we can cherry pick the venues that we like to play.

Any excuse for a gratuitous repost!