Happy Jack

Ahem Mick ... his nephew used it as his main gigging bass for two years. Of course, that means there's always the possibility that he originally found it in his uncle's loft.

At £180 Buy-It-Now it's still WAY below market price for a Mexican Fender. This may be a clueless vendor, or the listing may be a scam. If I was in Yorkshire, I think I'd go and take a look.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1406558706' post='2512420'] Nice ad and cool web page ... [/quote] This is humour (US = humor) right? The website, such as it is, appears to be designed to be as offensive as possible in a half-built, unfinished sort of way. And any band whose 'Next Gig' is in May 2014 needs to take a serious look at themselves. And surely [i][b]someone [/b][/i]in Milwaukee knows how to spell Garibaldi correctly. He was actually quite famous, you know ...

All the above is true. If you're used to Class D solid-state 500W amps, then you will be utterly staggered at how loud a 200W all-valve can go. And you will utterly stagger along under the weight of the damned thing, typically over 25Kg and sometimes much more. Form follows function ... where will you be playing? If you're mainly looking at pub & club gigs, then don't buy anything until you've tried an Orange Terror Bass 500. It's very much a one-trick pony, but that trick is almost exactly what you've described as your target. Run one through a Barefaced Compact (no tweeter) and you have a rig that's a one-handed lift from the carpark but will do at least 90% of what you want. If you're as obsessed with old-school tone as I am, try a Demeter pre-amp into a clean power amp (maybe a PA power amp). The VTBP-201 is ideal for this, really warm and smooth. A Barefaced might be a bit too 'transparent' with that rig. If you're absolutely determined to go all-valve, then be prepared to throw some serious money around. The ideal solution might be an Orange AD200 into an Orange 410, plus the cost of the roadies you'll need to move it, and a supply of ear-plugs to your audience at the Dog & Duck.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Right-Handed-Precision-Bass-Guitar-BEAUTIFUL-INSTRUMENT-/321471181893?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item4ad92cf445

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Boilophone-its-not-a-kettle-its-a-sound-machine-drone-synth-circuit-bent-/151361044808?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Pro_Audio_Synthesisers_CV&hash=item233dd24148

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/flight-case-/111414457872?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Rack_Cases_MJ&hash=item19f0d1b610"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item19f0d1b610[/url] Re-listed as http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=111420927128

I don't do impressions ... sorry.

On the smoking thing, I gave up 10 years ago and I am in no way judgemental or hypocritical on this subject. But when every bloody set starts five bloody minutes late because the bloody drummer is having one more bloody roll-up it can be BLOODY irritating. I also know of one major music star who travels everywhere (when on tour) in a mobile home, which gets parked behind whichever hotel the rest of the band is staying in. He's a lifelong chain-smoker, not about to change, and no hotel wants him as a guest.

Don't be silly ... whoever used the volume controls on a bass!

Can't believe no one has mentioned Gary Neville ...

Best find his 'Feedback' thread (there's a whole section for that) and re-post there.

Define "cheap". Pretty much any pre-amp pedal will do that if the EQ is set flat, just boost either the Gain or the Volume to the desired level. Come to that, most FX pedals with a Level control will do it too. Set the FX itself to be neutral and turn up the Level. My favourite work-around is the classic Boss LS-2 pedal. Run a patch cable from Channel A Output straight to Channel A Input (i.e. no actual pedal in the Channel A loop) and you have a very controllable boost pedal. Experiment with the pedals you already own, but which you are not currently using. You may be surprised ...

Surely the best deterrent is to play bass. God help the guitarists ...

My name's Jack and I live at the back of the Greta Garbo Home For Wayward Boys And Girls where I accumulate endless quantities of basses, amps & cabs, and associated equipment. Especially XLR leads. I don't see this as a problem. There is a place in modern society for obsessive behaviour.

FWIW, Shonky is the name of the most widely-used prophylactic in Ankh-Morpork ...