three

SIMS have some nice celluloid tort too, and does Jack's in Manchester - probably about £80-90 from SIMS or £60 from Jacks

There will be many with far greater knowledge than my own, however, as far as I know, the 'straight' pickup (i.e., non-split) was standard on Fender's original Precision basses up to around '56/'57. So I'd say, yes - a P can have either split or single pickups

I was in conversation with the Bassdoc recently re: a replacement tort guard for a US 44-64. I sent him the original Lakland guard and he sent back some images of the celluloid tort that he has in stock. In his opinion, and mine, it's no better than the material that Lakland are using. My plate was promptly returned and I'm still looking for some beautiful '60s style tort. I had a Spitfire plate on a Limelight J a few years ago. It was simply staggeringly well-executed and could easily pass for (a very good) 'Fender '60s plate. Originally imported for around £200 (not by me) about 7 or 8 years ago. If you have to have something almost identical to '60s tort, I don't think that there's a better alternative to Spitfire. Horribly expensive but lovely.

Some lovely Laklands appearing - here's a couple more

I suspect it’s Fender’s International series Monaco Yellow. Just beautiful - very ‘70s

I’ve used a Rumble in a rehearsal room - light, loud and versatile - I was very pleasantly surprised and would consider one for easy gigging. There’s also an AER Amp Three for sale on here too - I had an Amp One and it was very special (the brand is certainly worth consideration). If you stick with separates, have a look at the Bergantino amp options (BAmp and Forte). Not cheap but a superb unit. You’d need to think about protection for gigs - a very cute box but doesn’t appear massively robust (mine’s in a Peli)

The guarantee has worked for me too in the UK. On the noise issue, I’ve experienced this with both my Hellborg power amps - one sold, the other returned to Thomann. There’s definitely an element of harmonic colouration/distortion that you’ll either appreciate or not (I’m in the latter camp). With the first amp there was also intermittent internal noise

I recently went over to see Max to collect a bass from him - everything worked perfectly - an incredibly easy transaction with excellent communications throughout (we still talk on Basschat). Very honest and rapid in responses and action. I can recommend without any reservations as a totally upstanding member of our community (and a really good and knowledgeable guy too - just a pity we didn't have longer to speak)

Clive Brown in North Yorkshire has an excellent reputation (thiugh contact isn’t always easy)

I’ve posted fairly extensively re: unexpected behaviour with the Hellborg power amps - my stereo power amp went straight back to Thomann (I’d previously owned a mono power with which I wasn’t entirely happy). The pre, on the other hand, is stunning IMO

There’s a beautiful natural US Lakland Bob Glaub PJ (jazz taper) in the classifieds. I have the same bass but in oly white. These are outstanding instruments and my favourite Fender clone by some distance. I had an Overwater in the same spec (but natural) until recently - the new owner added a lovely tort plate - outrageously gorgeous

Didn’t Epifani do this with some very expensive cabs?

Not had the lid off mine, but you can start to see where some of the money has gone

Excellent, thank you all – I’d read the manual to but didn’t pick up the sentence relating to the combined input’s positioning. As you suggest then, no need to use a further DI for the jack. I thought it sounded pretty tremendous anyway – we are always looking for marginal gains! Thanks Hellzero for your very kind offer in relation to the Millennia, though I may just find another use for it! Thanks again all

Thanks Hellzero and rsint - I'm afraid that I don't posses even the most perfunctory skills in reading schematics. I'm eager to see if the jack/xlr provide different routes (either vie the input transformer of not) - I'm not sure if there's a definitive answer to this one without taking the unit apart... given the above, something for which I certainly don't have the skills! Any further views very welcome... I suppose I could just try it with the balanced line from a Millennia TD-1