NickA

My pjb flightcase ( plus pb300 for larger spaces) is great for uncoloured double bass and has a good high input impedance. It just makes the bass louder really. The two four is probably just too small. My rig totals 10x 5" and 400W. I presume a pjb head would be equally clean and work well into into a neutral sounding cab. Likewise I've found the small Mark bass combos good for dB ( turn off all that vfm vpf nonsense) so surprised the op isn't happy with it, maybe the nano isn't as good as the larger amps? In fact (amost) all amps have an hpf built in ( even the fender rumbles) it's just not adjustable. Only a few exotica ( Mesa d800+ for instance) seem to have tweakable high pass. It's there to protect the speaker but being set around 40Hz ( usually) and quite a steep roll off, also controls boominess. Whatever, for jazz in pubs etc ( which is what I do) I've not needed an external HPF but have sometimes turned the low bass EQ knob down to deal with room acoustics.

that does indeed apply to my acg-eq-01 jazz with it's 8 pots ( volume & blend, LP filter & filter gain for each pu plus variable frequency and gain high frequency pass through). Easy to get lost in there! Not to the Wal tho ( a mere 4 pots and three pull switches) on which 90% of settings are good!

Several reasons to stay active: 1. Buffering ..it's not just a long lead that eats sound. Some amps have a relatively low input impedance and when matched to high impedance ( lots of windings) pickups plus resistive volume and tone controls a lot of high frequency content is lost. Also if you have two pickups or humbuckers the individual windings load eachother. Now if you like that warmer sound passive is good ..but it's easier to cut high frequencies than put them back. 2. On bass EQ... I don't really see the point, the amp can do it, but sometimes the builder puts in eq that's specially matched to the bass. 3. Active filtering....is a better tone control than a resistor and a capacitor; you can make the roll off steeper and/or add a little boost at some frequencies. 4. Low output pickups ( fewer windings) have lower inductance and less intertwinding capacitance so can have a wider frequency response ...if you want those high frequencies..but then need a signal boost. 5. Possibility of separate filtering for separate pickups...you can't do that on an amp ( not without stereo wiring and two channels) 6. The tone doesn't change when you adjust the volume, with resistor volume and tone controls, it does. I agree tho that passive is nice and simple and that you sometimes get a sound you like without needing any of the above 🙂 . Eg The classic fender jazz sound relies on that inter pickup loading I think

Really, who watches that shite...and why is the licence money wasted on commissioning more of it.

Just put jazz in the garden on ..after a solo home practice session with iReal What impresses me is that Stan's in time and in tune, sometimes playing in perfect unison with a complicated piano melody, but also exercises great restraint, playing the same apparently simple bass line over and over without straying into unnecessary complexity. It's very skilled and "grown up" playing. I fear my own playing fails on both counts! Too many notes and not at the right time! Also listened to VSOP today and remembered how good Ron Carter can be.

Light as a feather .. have it on cassette tape, played to extinction in the mid 80s. That and Hejira my gateways into Jazz from prog.

"Jazz in the garden". Stan Clark trio. Lots of Hiromi but Stan on double bass throughout. He's one of the greatest double bass players of our time...gets lost beneath his funky slappy alembic antics.

Yes. check the spec for an amp and it will usually say what's in the signal chain. Pjb and Mark bass both use fixed frequency high pass filters (24dB/octave below 40Hz for my pjb flightcade) Some Mesaboogie and other high end amps have adjustable high pass filters. My old trace had "the red slider" on the EQ for attenuating the bottom end of a 5er. Even the humble fender rumble has a ( no details given ) HPF before the power amp stage. They put them in to prevent damage to the speaker mostly, I think. If you want total control then one of those EBS Stan Clarke pres would be good ...at a price. but I've not found a need for it with 5er or double bass; not yet anyway, it would be a fun toy to have.

people pay extra for the relic look 😉 not me, send it back. pretty shocking that it would be sent out in that state.

decent amps have them built in; certainly don't need one with my PJB kit.

I'm spoiled. I have a MK2 Wal. Spent an afternoon in the gallery trying stingrays and liked them a lot, but the B was still "different" to the other strings; maybe careful setup and amp tweaking will do the trick ...certainly Tony Levin sounds ok on one 😂. Warwicks and Dingwalls good down there ..and a Sandberg Cali vm5 pretty good too..tho a bit bland compared to rays and wals. Appreciate this kind of exotica is not what the OP wants (yet) ..but doubt a £130 bass will really hack low B terribly well. Could be wrong...habeen before 😁

I may be ( and have been!) labelled a gear snob.... But personally, having tried a load of 5ers before taking the plunge, I'd say push the boat out and get something better, and try before you buy, like a used sire maybe; apart from being nicer to play it would retain some resale / trade in value too. I found the bottom B on most 5ers ( including fenders and stingrays!) is rather weak compared to the other strings and is not going to be better on a cheap one. Even a cheapy gives you the option, but if you need those low notes often you might need a fancier bass in the longer term ( or a 18" cab like tony levin's! 🤔) Meanwhile You'll probably find the neck rather wide. Needs decent technique to provide mobility and avoid rsi. No hooking thumb round neck as you'll not reach the B. "Proper" 5er playing is where you base your hand with 2nd finger on E on the B string then only go back to 1st position for notes below Eflat. Then you can play an E major scale all the way to D on the G string without changing position... and it's less of a stretch between notes too. However my particular 5er sounds better in 1st position..... String damping is suddenly an issue as you don't have enough left hand fingers to damp all the strings. Right hand damping is needed and learning floating thumb is a good way to do that. Having played 4 string instruments for 50 years. I still get lost on ocassion, eg finger the A string and pluck the E ( grrr!) takes practice to build familiarity. Good luck!

Another option is https://www.musicalchairs.info/sales all kinds of instruments for sale there; mostly clasical. ...although, I've singularly failed to sell a cello and some cello bows there; I guess that's because you need to try out such things and people don't want a journey to try just the one..unless it's something very special or very cheap. Reverb also ok .. pretty secure ( buyer pays reverb, seller ships, buyer receives, reverb pays seller ) ....whereas BC does rely on trust / reputation.

Made on Denmark St? I used to hang around there endlessly in the mid 80s and the only place making anything was Andy's Guitar workshop. I guess the "Andy" was Andy Preston, business partner of Mr May ( says google) They put a very nice ebony board on my self- fretlessed fake fender jazz. Unfortunately, they glued it on with araldite and when the truss rod failed no bugger could get the board off. New neck time. I had no idea my fake fender once had an overwater fingerboard.

Don't think of the dB as a solo instrument really. Not even keen on bass solos in jazz tbh. I did once see Eberhardt Weber live; it was brill. But does very clever use of a looper, chorus and reverb on an eub count as solo double bass? Cello on the other hand, well ....Bach 6 suites, Britten, Kodaly... ..off to widen my horizons, and thanks for the tips👍 Ps: I got a bollocking at school for messing with the music depts new synth... Despite being a kid who'd been bought an instrument and given lessons to play it ( dad was a cellist). Its just that some school teachers were ( are?) in it to be fontrol freaky with smaller people.