Osiris

I've just picked up a cheap and cheerful Ibanez short scale that is virtually new and may or may not have an unfinished neck (there are conflicting opinions on TalkBass) so would something like Danish oil or Tru oil also be just the ticket to give the neck on it a quick going over?

Can you pick me up on the way, please?

Oh sweet baby Jesus NO. Just no. Do not get @Al Krow going on compressors again

And the 100 Hz figure is not set in stone either. When using my single 1x12 cab, I find that a cut around 60 Hz works wonders, especially when stacked with the HPF in my amp which has a steep slope set at 30Hz. The cab seems to 'breathe' more easily and the sound is subtly but noticeably clearer and punchier.

I think there's some confusion over cutting the lower frequencies. No-one is saying incompletely remove every last trace of them at least as far as I understand it) but do attenuate them as they are not helpful to your sound. See the post from @EBS_freak above who explains what's going on.

@Frank Blank Any sign of your SWB Pro yet? I'm keen to hear your thought on it as and when it arrives. Having not played a short scale for decades I borrowed an Ibanez Talman short scale from a friend and gigged it at the weekend. OK, so it's an inexpensive bass, but it's well made and plays great, just so much less of an effort compared to 34" scale that I'm used to. So I now have a serious itch for something a little more luxurious (don't get me wrong, the Talman is still a great fun bass to play) and the SWB is the top of my list. I'm now officially a fan of short scales

My guess is that much of this is down to the inherent voicing of the amp(s). If you play through several different amps, all with the EQ set flat, there is still a huge variety in sounds between them. There's no consensus among manufacturers as to what flat actually sounds like. Some are voiced more than others. For example, I have a little 30 watt Marshall bass combo that I use for messing about at home and the flat tone has a massive hole in the mid range to give you that cool sounding scooped sound. But I find I then have to EQ the hell out of it (including the on board and an external pre-amp) to get some critical mids back in to the sound for it to be useful. Are you using the same amp in both situations? Also the change in volume is likely having an effect too as few amps sound the same at in house levels as they do when cranked up. As @deepbass5 says, the room is also a significant factor. And as @skankdelvar * wisely points out, cut the low end (even if it seems counter intuitive, but it really works) and push the low mids to fill out the bass sound. Adjust the upper mids and treble to the sound you want and go from there. * Mine's a large Blue Nun, old boy.

I've also had the pleasure to have a play through @Opticaleye's Quilter bass block and can confirm that it is indeed a great amp and surprisingly versatile given its ostensibly simple tone stack.

The mighty Genzler Magellan 800 ought to meet your needs (although it only goes down to 2.67 ohms, which I believe is suitable for three 8 ohm cabs, or maybe one 4 ohm and one 8 ohm together). Very clean sounding with a huge weight and size to the tone, and a very simple pre-amp that can does everything from vintage mid-rich warmth to scooped mid tones. More of my thoughts and experience with it here -

And here it is; In short, I thought the Mesa was a superb amp, bags of power and a really aggressive tone (possibly more so than you're looking for?) But I felt I was having to work against it to keep it under control and to stop it getting out of hand. https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/303884-amp-test-drive-aguilar-darkglass-genzler-and-mesa-boogie/

I moved to the Genzlers from a TCE RH450 but I'm not sure how similar that sounds compared to your BH550. I loved the warmth and retro voicing of the RH450 and could get a similar - albeit much smoother and somehow 'bigger' retro tone - from the Magellan 800. But what has really impressed over the past year or more of gigging it is the weight, clarity, depth and articulation of the clean channel to the point that what it's now my go-to sound instead of a the more vintage bass tone that I've been using for the past 30 years. If you have a Spectracomp check out the Muscle Comp tone print if you haven't already. That adds a massive punch to your sound. Are you using ear plugs when you play? If you're playing at even modest volumes with a drummer (or anyone else making a significant row) without any from of ear protection my guess is that its ear fatigue that's the cause of the apparent dampening of attack that you perceive. Do your ears ring after a gig/rehearsal? If they are ringing it's ear fatigue caused by the volume - and you don't need to be playing flat out either to cause it. Try some ear plugs if you're not already using them and see if they help.

Genzler Magellan, either the 350 or the 800 (just ignore the drive channel, although you're missing a trick if you do ). The clean channel has a massive weight and punch. It's also got on incredibly versatile and simple pre-amp. Just ignore the anti class D brigade, this thing punches like Tyson after 8 pints of Stella

I seem to think it also claims to be where the pancake race originated too. That's flipping awesome. No? I'll get my coat.

I'm just a few miles north of MK For reasons that are still not entirely clear, Osiris junior insists on calling it smelly Olney and insists on trying to hold his breath whenever we drive through the place. Hope this helps.

Yes, I agree with you on that. Maybe if I was still a 20 something long haired rocker I'd have loved it, but as a podgy, balding middle aged man it didn't really look so cool! On my white intermediate model I had a 3 ply white/black/white one made to tone it down and it looked much more civilised, IMO.

Yes, it did. It also had Dave Ellefon's signature and a scorpion graphic on the head stock along with a mirror scratch plate. The BXP models didn't come with any of these but were still great basses considered how inexpensive they were.

And not forgetting Battenberg of course.

I have the short lived intermediate model from the Zodiac range that had the DE Scorpio headstock and mirror scratchplate of the top DE signature model but the stock pickups of the BXP (of which I have replaced the P for a Di'Marzio Model P) and it is indeed a hugely underrated instrument. Super skinny neck that makes an Ibanez feel chunky

Never a truer word spoken. Gravy is the food of the gods.

Ooooh, I like that But then again I like fish fingers in gravy.

If you're in the area and have the time, please give me a shout. Cheers!

Yes, it is similar totally to how JE used to play. I saw a video clip of him showing off his typewriter style where he attacks the strings as though playing an old fashioned manual typewriter, but my style and hand position is more like traditional finger style but I probably have my fingers a little straighter so that it knocks the string onto the frets but not completely perpendicular to them. It's more crap technique than anything! Any alleged prowess on my part is long gone

I'm in Northamptonshire, there's a PMT in Northampton so I wondered if they were possibly going to be getting one in. Thanks for the offer to try yours, I really appreciate it. I'm a couple of hours away from Southend but if I'm in the area before getting opportunity to try one I'll drop you a line