Dan Dare

It's a pleasure. You probably do this already, but I find it best to set channel eqs with the FOH and monitors turned down. You may have to ignore "Can't hear myself" protests from the singer. Ask them to sing as loudly as they would when the band is playing, too. Once you have it dialled in the cans, you can use the master eq to adjust for the room.

Yes. Engage the PFL (pre-fade listen) on the channel whilst setting eq on cans and you should hear just the channel eq. You may have to set the signal sent to the cans to hear the individual channel, rather than the sound from the master eq. It's best to use closed-back cans for the job, so you hear as little of the room sound as possible.

An issue with do-it-all combos for guitar and bass (or keys) is the speaker and the way it's mounted. For bass, the ideal driver has a rigid, heavier cone to push air cleanly with no breakup. The cabinet will be closed backed and often ported to boost or at least preserve the low end. If you want to play clean jazz guitar, that works fine. It can work for acoustic guitar, too, although you will benefit from a tweeter for some sparkle. If you want a more characterful electric guitar sound, the ideal speaker will have a lighter, more flexible cone that can break up in a pleasing manner and the cab' will often be open-backed, which reduces low frequency output (you don't want too many lows with electric guitar to avoid muddying the sound). At low volumes, it will be OK for bass, but a bit weak lower down. For bass, I'd look to run the master volume at max/near max and keep the input gain as low as possible to avoid distortion from over-driving the preamp (unless you want it, of course). It's very difficult to get the best of both worlds. The Roland you mention will probably be as good as anything. You pays yer money and takes yer choice.

A great way to lose customers, eh? I don't do online shopping, so don't know whether it's possible, but can you specify no substitutions when you order?

It always amuses me when I buy something expensive and am instantly bombarded with ad's for more of the same. I appreciate that it's AI at work, but you'd think the wallies who programme it would build in something that recognises that few if any of us buys something costing a ton of money every week.

There's a chap whose work features on here occasionally who could do that for you...

So do I, but it cost a lot more than £200.

Whilst flats don't suffer tonally once they've lost the new zing (which I'm always glad to see the back of), I find the intonation deteriorates after a few years, especially on the low E. When I remove them, I find minute dents in the windings caused by the frets. I suppose once they've bedded in, they don't move or stretch, so the same part of each string contacts the frets every time you play. That probably doesn't do their ability to vibrate cleanly any favours.

Worst bass amp I've owned? One of these. A mighty 12w, with an open backed cab'. Sounded quite nice at low volume for guitar, but hopeless for bass. I sold it for peanuts. Now people are asking silly money for them.

Oh Gawd. Why is it that an instrument is thought to be worth stupid money because it has dead skin, dried sweat and bogies from somebody famous on it?

Agreed. I used one before I got my current rig, which has onboard DSP that takes care of things. It worked well. They go for peanuts used. I got about £20 for mine on eBay, from memory.

My God. What a beast. Eight KT88s. I don't want it. I really don't want it. I positively don't want it. No, really. I don't.

You can pick up a simple active crossover for less than £100 which will allow you to split the signal from the mixer. You may not need one. Some mixers have a dedicated sub output (mine does), so you can feed that to the sub and dial out the low frequencies you send to your top boxes using the master eq on the mixer.

I just searched for "turbosound milan sub" and it came top of the list.

The Alto won't cut it, imho. A single 12 with a 2" voice coil won't deal with drums and bass at any kind of volume and I'd be very sceptical of the claimed 900w rating. The Vonyx looks to be a cheap DJ's boom box. At around £200, it's bound to be a waste of money. I wouldn't assume that either will apply a HPF to the signal to your tops at those prices. Sorry to sound negative, but a decent sub can't be had that cheaply - certainly not brand new, anyway. Unless they employ sophisticated cabinets (which they won't at bargain basement prices), they aren't going to be light, either. I'd look for something used from a reputable make. There's a used Turbosound Milan 15 on the 'Bay at the moment (not mine or being sold by anyone I know) for £350. Something like that would be more up to the job.