EliasMooseblaster

I'm going to hazard a guess that this might make more a difference than the number of speakers in each cab! The voicing of a ported cab is going to be very different from that of a sealed one, and the horn is going to mean a lot more treble thrown out of one cab but not the other (though you may be able to disable that). If both cabs were sealed, I'd have thought the difference in tone between a 6 and an 8 would be negligible (ignoring the difference in volume from the extra two cones), but if you have a ported, horn-loaded cab on one side of your rig, and a sealed cab on the other, you might find your perceived tone changes quite drastically as you move around it onstage!

It's a contentious one. I have been in the fortunate position to A/B two otherwise identical basses with different fretboard woods, and the difference was audible, but subtle. Basically, the one with the maple board had a bit more a trebly "snap" to it, the rosewood board, a bit more of a dark growl. But to be honest, it's the kind of subtle difference that would quickly disappear in a band mix - or possibly even with a twist of a passive tone control!

"Now when I talked to God, I knew he'd understand, He said, 'sit by me, and I'll be your guiding hand, but don't ask me what I think of you, I might not give the answer that you want me to...'" (Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac; Oh Well, Part 1)

This would be the same corporation that banned The Who's My Generation back in 1965, because they were worried it would incite young people to riot. (I'm sure over on Guitarchat, they'll be suggesting it was banned because of the bass solos...)

I've not tried Hofner's own rounds, but I can vouch for - in order of my own preference* - Rotosound Swing Bass RS66 (nickel, then steel); Warwick Reds; Dunlop stainless steel. *translation: half the forum will tell me I'm talking cobblers

It would make sense, given the name! I seem to remember the VM Jazz Fretless being sans pickguard, so I did wonder whether it had been designed with a nod to Jaco's best-known instrument - i.e., a modified '70s Jazz. (Any idea what this meaty pickup was that they put into the VM Precision, incidentally?)

I believe with the CV series, it was an attempt to recreate a replica of a bass correct to a certain era on a limited budget - so the choice of parts, colours, pickup placements, etc, would be in keeping with a '50s, '60s or '70s Fender. There have been rumours that they were using Tonerider pickups in the CV series (as opposed to using Squier or Fender-licensed equivalents), which sounded very impressive: I came within a gnat's whisker of pulling the trigger on a '60 CV Precision years ago. VM, I'm less sure about the specifics - particularly as they didn't seem to be associating the basses with a particular era in the same way. I thought their fretless P and J were both very good, though I was completely new to fretless when I tried them. Interesting to note that they used ebanol fingerboards on those (wasn't a fan at the time, but imagine I'd be warmer towards it these days); I don't know whether this was also true of the fretted options.

The manufactureres of Tetrion claim it sets strong enough to mount shelves and hang pictures...time to see if it will cope with a set of bass strings?

The expensive answer might be a different bass: "dark" makes me think Thunderbird. I've heard them described as a P-bass on steroids - a lot of the same characteristics but with more thickness, and less brightness. The less expensive answer is that you're probably right about the strings. Not a Clash expert, but I'm fairly sure Paul Simonon played a Precision with rounds. I'd have thought you could get pretty close to that tone by popping said rounds on, soloing the P pickup, and maybe playing with the tone control to suit taste. Rounds are often characterised as being all "clank" and "growl" whilst flats are more of a "thump" - and it sounds like "growl" is what you're after.

This sounds like a call for me to drop in and say... Schecter Model T? Not the easiest things to track down these days, but they don't cost much more than a Mexican Fender, and they play as nicely as most of the American Fenders I've tried. Seymour Duncan P/J in the passive ones, EMGs in the active version, and generally very well-regarded basses. Nice slender neck as well - more like a Jazz in its profile.

Completely missed the low-hanging fruit there, didn't I?

Maybe he was aiming for a 12 - then realised there wasn't enough wood left to drill two more holes!

^ you see? I turned up at @Merton's house and TOOK HIS FAVOURITE AMP AWAY FROM HIM. (Granted, he was flogging it, but still...)

I own two Ashdown heads - a Little Bastard and a CTM-100 - and both are wonderful. Sorry to be the exception to your rule: I'm a frightful ar$e.

Christ on a bike. Failed attempt at an 8-string mod? I count more than six holes on that poor old headstock...

Must have been a guitarist...

But what if Mooseblaster really was my mother's maiden name?

Funnily enough I recently found myself on the other end of the problem. We don't have a car (living close to London and all that jazz), so we contacted a number of people in a similar position to you - got a sofa to shift, free as long as you pick it up - and told them that we'd arrange a man-and-van to come and collect it and a time that was convenient to them. A rather alarming people seemed to take fright at this idea, and I received a curt: "No, sorry, collection in person only." I don't understand the objection - we're saving them the hassle and expense of transporting the thing, the only difference is that the derrière that sits in the driver's seat won't be the same one that sits on the sofa. And surely, it's not as if your average car owner has a big enough vehicle to take a three-seater sofa bed as it is?

So basically, "give us your Streamer, and in return I'll etch a permanent reminder that I've pretty much mugged you onto your skin"?

If you wanted to have a punt on a few different models, you could pick up* a Tonerider, a Wilkinson and/or a second-hand Duncan or Fender and still come in under that budget. I have personally been impressed with all of the aforementioned! *no pun intended

They were obviously being widely stocked at one point - I'm sure Anderton's has (had) a video in which they compared the Studio (passive) and Session (active) models, and Westside (Denmark St) were touting the passive Model T as their alternative to a Fender Precision back when I bought mine. But yeah, Schecter's heart doesn't really seem to be in it compared with how they promote some of their other models, which seems like a missed opportunity, if you ask me.

The secret might well be in the Mid-Shift button! I gave this a prod while playing around with the EQ and found it did exactly what I wanted it to with the mids. I think I'm right in saying it raises the centre frequency (it certainly sounds like it); in any case it gave me a much clearer tone. Nowadays I tend to have the bass around 9 o'clock, and the mids and treble at noon. I've started going easier on the input gain and pushing the master volume instead, but then I've typically been plugging in Gibson-style basses (T-bird, Epi EB-3) with big humbuckers; a bass more akin to a Precision or Jazz might warrant a bit more gain to maintain similar levels of oomph and heft.

Update: GORN.

Ah! I stand corrected, then - I was always under the impression that it was, first and foremost, a music festival. I certainly wasn't aware of the full title. My mistake!

I'll stand up for some of the smaller festivals, as the ones that are run well have been among Cherry White's better gig experiences: Togfest in 2014 stands out in my memory (people on hand helping us to load-in, and a proper soundcheck...plus the crowd bought every CD we'd brought with us), as do Walthamstow's StowFest (literally a p!55-up in a brewery, as we played at Wild Card), and three good years on the trot at Dereham Blues Festival (including one late set played on a train platform, and the lesson learned that it was madness to try and play three sets at different locations in one day and drive back the same night). Maybe the difference is what you're used to normally: as our usual fare was short sets on multiple-band bills around Central London, these festivals seemed like a breath of fresh air by comparison - certainly one of the main plus points was that they had a ready-made crowd of punters who were up for some new music and a good time.