Dan Dare

Several Fenders on FleaBay at the moment for not too unreasonable prices. A pal has a Cort Rithimic, which is a J bass clone. It's a very good instrument and they aren't that expensive. If I didn't have my '72 Jazz, I'd certainly consider one.

Are the odd looking inlays actually inlays, or has someone put those stickers on that tell you which notes are which?

Cort do some decent mid range instruments. If you don't want to push the boat out too much, they're worth looking at.

In the same vein, why does the Gibson Citation jazz guitar cost more than a Les Paul when it doesn't have any pickups at all? And don't get me talking about those Stradivarius thingies.

BBE bass preamp in Cash Converters for £30. Bloke thought it was something to do with disco equipment. "Can't get it to work, mate". I offered him £30 "for the parts". Picked up my 1972 J bass for £250 in a hock shop in the early 1980s, which was pretty cheap even then. Still my favourite.

Guess the householder was a bit of an Action man.

Coincidentally, there is a quite well-known eBay purveyor of basses whose instruments should prove ideal for this purpose 😉

A good old fashioned flight case takes some beating (literally). Heavy and awkward to carry and may well cost you more in carriage charges, but if you value your instrument, it has to be the way to go.

Dirty input jack on the amp or output jack on the instrument can cause odd noises. Try cleaning them with switch cleaner. Is the lead OK? Try wiggling it - especially near the plug at each end - whilst the note is sustaining and see if it results in any crackles and buzzes.

Bill. Could I pick your brains, please? Is there a straightforward way to work out how much wadding a cab needs, or is it a case of suck it and see? Is it best to allow for the wadding when calculating cab volumes? Thanks.

Looks good. Re break-in, I wouldn't hammer it for the first few hours. You could connect up the iPad or similar and play some stuff through it at moderate volumes for a while to loosen things up.

I had a similar issue recently and it turned out to be dirty contacts on the input jack. I sprayed the plug with switch cleaner, pushed it in and rotated/wiggled it a bit (oooer, missus) and it solved the problem.

Rough with the smooth has to be the motto. Pub gigs are generally all right. You encounter the odd bad one, but most are fine. As long as I get paid, I'm happy to play to two people and a dog. I look on it as paid rehearsal time.

Have a look on eBay (search for 'instrument decals'). People will make them to order. I had this made up (can't remember the guy's name who did it, I'm afraid) and intend to put it on the Bitsa when I get around to it.

Polyester toy stuffing worth a try? eBay has plenty.

Words don't fail me. In fact, words such as Sh1te come readily to mind.

Well, if you have active FoH, that's power to each side of the front of the stage, plus active monitors - say one each for a 4 or 5 piece band. That's quite a lot just for the PA and is additional to anything needed for individual backline, power for FX, etc, etc. If you're happy, great, but I like to keep things as simple as I can.

An increase of 3db is supposed to result in a doubling of volume. However, it takes a 10db increase for people to perceive volume as having doubled. Barely any amplifier on earth will double the power output it gives into 8 ohms if the load is reduced to 4 ohms, because the power supply in most will run out of steam.

Many happies Willie. The man who wrote my favourite song (Nightlife).

I appreciate that. I know active speakers do sound a little better in most cases. My PA speakers (Fohhn LX150s and XS22 subs) are sort of semi-active - the power amps are built into the subs and you feed the tops with normal Speakon cables. It sounds pretty good. Like a giant hi-fi. However, I've got no alternative option if something fails on a job, unless my monitors (which are passive) suffice.

I have an Ernie Ball. Works fine and the display is quite large and easy to read in poor light..

Looks good. I have a Dinky Toys decal on the headstock of my Bitsa. Always fun when people ask what make it is and then look closely at it. I tried to get a Hotpoint decal, but couldn't find one.

You carry on then. I prefer to err on the side of caution, especially if I'm driving an amplifier hard. As an example, take a look at the spec' sheets for Kappalite drivers (popular choice for bass cabs). I'm not singling out the Kappalite - all drivers behave similarly. The impedance varies quite dramatically according to frequency. At certain frequencies, what is supposed on paper to be a 2 ohm load can be a lot lower.

Good advice. Using passive speakers also removes the need to run mains power all over the stage. I'm running active FoH at the moment, but I'm aware that if anything fails, it could create a problem. My monitors are passive, so I could put some of them out front if the main system misbehaves, but it may not be adequate.