BigRedX

That looks great, although I suspect the string spacing will be too tight for me.

I had another look to see if I really could find a 10 continuous span when there was plenty of music I liked, and have come up with 1977 to 1986 and it ends up being these years rather than 1976 to 1985 simply because one of my all-time favourite albums (The Wrong People by Furniture) was released in 1986 which gives it the edge over 1976...

IIRC that's just for solid state amps. Valve amps need to matched exactly to the correct impedance. The valve guitar amps I've owned have all had multiple speaker outputs marked for different speaker impedances.

But if the reduced tension of the strings was the problem we'd be seeing an obvious back bow of the neck. This sort of thing can be quite difficult to sort out on an internet forum, where despite the large number of knowledgeable musicians available, there's is not substitute for actually having the bass in your hands. I thought from your OP that you bought the new string because you didn't like the pervious ones fitted. Whatever the case then you should get this bass sorted out for the strings you like. That might mean a trip to a reputable luthier in your area. Where abouts are you?

Probably time to start working your way through the numerous FRFR threads. But before that, ask yourself "what do you need your amplification for?" Having had some sort of backline for everything except when I was playing synths in an electronic band in the 80s, I went the Helix and FRFR route a about 5 years ago. Since then the FRFR part of my rig has been getting less and less use. In one band we have ditched personal on-stage amps completely and everything goes straight into the PA - easy when you instrumentation is Synthesisers, Drum Machine Bass VI and Vocals. Since the stage is now silent apart from vocals even when the foldback is less than brilliant we can still hear ourselves well enough to play from the FoH. For the other more conventional line-up band the FRFR is only used for rehearsals, and on-stage monitoring at gigs where the quality of the foldback is not particularly good. Then it is usually placed firing sideways across the stage for me and the rest of the band to hear, and the audience gets the bass sound from the PA. For the bigger gigs I don't even bother bringing it as the on-stage monitors will probably be even better than my RFC745. Since I stopped using a "conventional" rig I only had to do two gigs where the FRFR was needed to supply bass guitar FoH because the PA was strictly vocals only, and on both occasions due to its superior dispersion characteristics, I was able to be only slightly louder on stage than I would normally, as opposed to so loud I could barely hear the rest of the band in order to be loud enough out front. For home use I have decent set of headphones or my "studio monitors". TBH unless I'm actual working on sounds for the bands I usually practice acoustically at home. So what I am saying is that if you are using your MOD Dwarf for your "sound" then you are best off with amplification that imposes the least amount of additional colour to this, but depending on whether you gig, and if so what kind of gigs you do, you may not need any kind of personal amplification at all.

I'm sure there's loads but I'm dyslexic so I'll never see it unless someone points it out.

Stick those knobs on a boutique effects pedal and people will be raving about their looks.

There are hundred (if not thousands) of bands that would give anything to have an opportunity for a gig like that. If Royal Blood can't make the most of it, then they should probably pack it all in and give those opportunities to bands that will.

There's no should about it. UK law states that if you are supplying electrical equipment to the UK it MUST come with a lead fitted with a UK mains plug, or at the very least an adaptor that fits completely over the non-UK plug with no possibility of the user being able to touch the contacts of the wrong plug. Any retailer that is not prepared to fulfil these legal obligations should be be selling electrical equipment to the UK. If I was the OP I'd be reminding Bas of their legal obligations, if necessary by social media so that the rest of the world can see how poor they are.

For me it's impossible to find a 10 year period when there was lots of great music released every year. Almost every decade (or any continuous 10 year period) has a couple of years when the majority of new releases were decidedly dull - in the 70s from the end of glam rock until punk properly took off; the 80s between the end of synth pop and start of acid house. And then from the mid 90s onwards when house/EDM got mainstream and boring, and while there was some decent music being released I really couldn't get behind bands that had all the personality and looks of a bunch of quantity surveyors on casual Friday. I'd have to say for me the best 10 year slot is 10 years counting back from today, simply because now genre, "the charts" and mainstream media options no longer matter, and while as always there's a ton of stuff being released that I find vapid and dull, or worse "worthy"; there's also plenty of great music being released by people who simply don't care about what is supposed to be fashionable".

Two things: 1. the fuse in a mains lead is there to protect the lead only, not the equipment it connects to. 2. Any retailer supplying electrical goods to the UK market are legally obliged to supply a mains lead with a UK plug on it. Get in touch with the shop that sold it to and remind them of their legal obligation.

But not everyone wants/needs "the funk".

If these were your previous strings then your replacements are a much lighter gauge and probably exerting a lot less pull on the neck. You might need to slacken off the truss rod slightly. Hold down the E and G strings at the first and last frets. Are they touching any of the other frets in between?

With it being passive transformers it should have very little effect on the sound. Of course ultimately it will depend on the quality of the transformers inside, but it should be more transparent than an active DI at the same price point.

What strings did you have fitted before? Were they the same make and gauge?

As others have said output power of your amp is no real measure of loudness. You'll probably get better results by having better designed cabs with more efficient drivers in them.

If I didn't use my expensive basses at gigs there would be no point in having them.

No. For me the whole point of practicing is so that I can play the songs at a gig. Therefore I use the bass I'm going to be playing on stage. Otherwise IMO it's not practicing, it's just noodling. Edit: in the days when I only had two quite different 5-string basses - one which my main bass and one which was a spare in case I broke a string at a gig, I would try and do a rehearsal every month where I only played the spare bass, just to make sure I play all the songs properly on it, and I hadn't written a bass line that was only playable on my main bass.

Poor old Ashdown still thinking that these kinds of rigs actually contribute to anything the musicians or the audience hears.

IME 99% of the factory presets are useless for any real-world band situation and at best simply starting points for a sound that actually works with the rest of your gear and the overall sound of your band. When I get a new multi-effects unit the first thing I do is to wipe the first patch location and load it up with my default effects selection - usually EQ, drive, chorus and delay. I'll adjust each of those until I have sound I like, and then take the device to the next rehearsal where the sounds are further adjusted to suit the general band mix. This is then my "default" patch for that particular band and all other sounds that I need will use this patch as a starting point. All final adjustments are made when we are rehearsing the songs when they can be appreciated within the overall band sound. This is why technical rehearsals are important if your sound is any more complicated than simply plugging your instruments into you amps.

If it's just for backup and you like the sound of your main amp, why not get another one the same? Anything else will sound different even with the same cabs, and you'll probably be disappointed. For me the whole point of a backup is that is tis a like-for-like replacement for whatever I currently use and doesn't require any adjustment in order to get the sound I want.

In my other band both guitarists use multi-effects pedals going into amps, and IMO are constantly fighting against the sound of the amp imposing self on the patches they have carefully set up at home on their multi-effects. Plus every time we do an equipment share gig and they have to use someone else's amp the relative volumes of the patches can be all over the place if the amp they are using doesn't replicate the same clean valve saturation of their usual combos. I've been trying for ages to get them to ditch the amps as it would result in a more consistent sound and would be less gear to have to carry to gigs, but they seem too stuck in their ways plus I get the impression they don't fancy having the tweak all their patches to make up for the lack of amp.

One of the reasons why I got rid of all my big traditional guitar and bass rigs and got a Helix plus FRFR is that the same single setup is suitable for both guitar and bass duties. I'd be looking whatever Line6 unit with amp and cab sims fits within your price range. One thing to watch though is if you use feedback or speaker-driven sustain you will need a traditional amp on stage. Your little Vox might be just the thing - run from a separate output on whatever multi-effects you get and NOT mic'd up - if you can find somewhere suitable;le to put it where it won't mess up the on-stage or FoH sound.

But as EBS_freak has mentioned, your brain along with the fact that you have two ears for direction and distance location is very good at compensating for latency/delay caused by sound coming from a physical distance. It's not so good at compensating for sound being delayed by other means and even less good when that sound is being piped directly into your ears with either no ambience or artificial ambience.

IIRC if the body has any depth to it, it will be hollow, so probably relatively lightweight. However it will be "changeling" to play. There used to be a rather battered Wandré guitar hanging up in one of the music shops in Croydon. This was in the days before there was any easily found information about them on line. Unfortunately it had gone by time I was able to go back with the intention of making a cheeky offer for it.