Happy Jack

This is a big, BIG topic and I would move forward slowly and carefully, if I was you. If you're not putting the whole band through the PA, then forget about putting the kick through it and buy something lightweight that will be good for the vocals. If you're starting to play pubs, why do you need monitors? What do the band members need to hear that they won't be able to hear in a pub? If you're not weight-lifters, consider buying a power amp and a pair of lightweight passive speakers ... why would you want to lift a pair of power amps above shoulder height at every gig? Above all, go and see some Basschatters local to you play some gigs, check out what they're doing, ask what works for them and what doesn't. My signature contains links to both my bands and all their gigs; if you're anywhere near one of those, come along and talk to me or @Silvia Bluejay and we'll tell you what we can.

Noble are based in California and have a long wait-list. Their product is tiny and will disappear into pretty much any piece of luggage. If you book a flight to California several months in advance, the flight is much cheaper. Currently, the cost of such a flight is about £150 more than the cost of importation. Just saying ...

It's just another waffle opportunity, a bit like a really low-profile Twitter account.

No no no ... to see a profile, you just have to look at a Member side-on.

Sorry Billy, but I think Stew may be right on this. With just four years under your belt, I'd suggest you get involved with one or more other bands at the same time as this one. Not only will your bass playing improve faster and stretch out more, but the more musos you play with the more you'll get to see that most of them are pretty much like this. And there ain't no law against being in more than one band at a time, especially if they're not gigging anyway. Doesn't necessarily improve your temper, but you'll likely end up thinking less that the grass will be greener with a different crew.

Or you could source a simple BBOT and cantilever it off the back end of the body by 10cm. There is a precedent y'know ... 😉

Well I would play 10,000 hours, and I would play 10,000 more ...

Granted that we're all on some sort of spectrum, and I'm far nearer the control-freak get-it-done-now-and-get-it-right end of that spectrum myself, but I'm forever astonished at how many of the people I've played with over the last 15 years have either had substance issues (usually booze or dope or both, of course) or self-worth issues or were just perfectly feckless in how they lived their lives. I'm only talking about people I've actually played with here, so a sample size of perhaps a hundred musos. If I were to include all the musos I've met but haven't played with (i.e. a group largely comprising flakes and fantasists) my sample size gets quite respectable. To me it's clear that a "career in music" (bwahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!) frequently attracts a certain personality type - along with plenty of perfectly sensible, hard-working folk of course - and that a lot of them work really hard to live down to the image of what a rock musician is supposed to be. One of the saddest things I ever hear is when some desperate Keef Richard wannabe sees me doing something he wouldn't do, and says "not very rock'n'roll, is it?" like there's a rule book which he memorised as a 14-year-old and can't let go of.

Use of the word 'plateaus' is of course complete bolleaux. 😉

It's been designed like that to suit people with enormous sausage fingers.

I suspect that the '10,000 hours' is only one component of achieving mastery, Grasshopper.

Concise and accurate ...

Dammit Daz! You beat me to it.

He is very versatile, I'll grant you ...

Whatever you think works best will be fine for me, Andy. I am not 'aiming' for a particular sound or feel ... this will be a wholly new and unique bass. 🙂

I had forgotten the very existence of the Singer Chamois. Pretty soon, someone will start referencing Sunbeams and Simcas and then there'll be no coming back from that ...

Correctamundo ... a heavily pimped Hillman Imp.

An occupational hazard when playing a decent car show is the never-ending drive-past / parade happening in front of the band. However, like the consummate professionals we are (oh alright then, semi-pro) we never missed a beat. 😉 The first Basschatter to correctly identify every vehicle that appears in this video will win The Square Root Of Bugger All. Answers on a postcard ...

Sorted. No need to thank me. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265328011729?chn=ps&var=565176482583&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&itemid=565176482583_265328011729&targetid=293946777986&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9045963&poi=&campaignid=17116423086&mkgroupid=134652533165&rlsatarget=pla-293946777986&abcId=9300856&merchantid=107659768&gclid=CjwKCAjwrNmWBhA4EiwAHbjEQD5mPk7bGR19w6NNFOlZAUmkBWH2KurrNC_V5grZd_bH39DiVHpt8BoCxSgQAvD_BwE

Note to self: When demo-ing "voices" on a pickup, try not to spend too long pedalling on the open Low B. 😂

What are these "long, continuous shots" of which you speak? I just watched a video broken up into dozens of short sections which made it quite impossible to get any real feel for the scale of the place. No doubt the editor won a prize for this or something, but the video would have been far more interesting had he simply flown his drone through the entire installation in a single shot. Single-shotting is quite the thing these days, and you don't need to be Hitchcock or Orson Welles to pull it off.

Well DUH! Obviously the pickup has to go in the sweet spot. Right, next question: How the hell do you find "the sweet spot"? 😂

Pawlonia is a hard wood to get hold of.

So have multiple instruments. What's not to like?