Just home from my first gig with the Evo lll 500 (going in to two Rumble 2x10s) - wow, what a sound, I couldn't believe how big the rig sounded. Lots of compliments.
A good thing about fitting the Hosco saddles is that they keep the correct look of the bridge - i.e. twin saddles - and also utilise the stock bridge plate so no new holes in the body are required.
I'm a bit late to the party on this topic, but I've fitted the Hosco compensated saddles to my Musicmaster and have had a good ten years of 'no worries / great intonation' as a result.
Is a bass only "properly played " at a gig? If you choose to make music on a bass at home is that not "playing" it?
Solo practice at home, rehearsing with the band and playing a gig are all great to do - but they are three very different things. I try to play 'properly' whichever of these activities I'm doing, and thus each is equally satisfying in its own way.
I play any of my three basses at gigs, all three play equally well, so I choose on a whim (unless its a prestige gig then the number 1 always gets played).
That's why I own them, to play in a band. If I wasn't in a band I would probably sell them all as I don't particularly enjoy playing the bass just for the sake of it.
I've just bought an ABM 500W Evo iii - wow, it sounds amazing, why have I waited all these years.
I see I now have to wade through 46 pages of this thread to get up to speed....
Another problem which seems to be on the rise which reduces the number of venues offering live music (thus reducing the size of 'the game') is complaints by neighbours or locals about noise levels. I know of three cases in my area in the last two months, two of which have resulted in cancelled bookings for the band I'm in.
I'm just home from a gig, I'm 69 next week and I love it as much as I did when I first gigged age 21. We played to a full house today, the band played pretty well and getting the youngsters up dancing knows it has gone OK. Long may it last.
I'm just home for the Toby Lee gig in Faversham (conveniently just round the corner from home 🙃) wow, what a fine musician, good band, lovely songs, what's not to like.
memory lane - my first bass was an Eros jazz copy, from Greenhalgh's Music, Fore St., Exeter (in 1977) which I think was the shop before Manson's came on the scene.
Sad to see another shop go, but if you don't use it you'll lose it as they say.
Any local bands whose sound you think is good? How about (having agreed as a band) to ask their sound engineer to come to couple of gigs and mix for you to set a new template that you can then take forward? It would be worth paying someone good to help you overcome this hurdle.