Dan Dare

There is no "normal" in my experience. It's all down to what you negotiate. If someone can put you into places you wouldn't otherwise be able to get into and is laying out for venue hire, they are going to want to see a return. That's fair enough.

The thing to bear in mind is that a lot of people play in more than one band (this applies especially to brass players), so they need an aide-memoire. It's OK if you play the same 20-30 numbers every night.

Yes. Slapping a bass is like playing the banjo. A gentleman knows how to, but doesn't.

Caveat vendor. Whilst the Beeb isn't out to do Joe and Janet Public any favours, people only have themselves to blame if they don't get a proper appraisal on any musical instrument, painting, etc before selling it. You don't have to be Einstein to work out that an auction room full of furniture and bric a brac collectors in Stow on the Wold isn't the best place in the world to sell an electric guitar...

The difference is not great. Variation in individual fret spacing boils down to very little between 32" and 34" scale length . Unless you have very small hands, I'd stick with regular. There is also a much wider choice of instruments in regular.

All good advice above. I'd certainly suggest sticking with name brands - Squier, et al - and not being tempted to modify them with things like replacement pickups. That way, you'll be able to sell them on easily and for a decent price if you look after them when the time comes to upgrade (as it surely will). Have fun.

I use thick rubber kids play area mats. A fraction of the cost of Auralex and similar and they're solid enough not to allow your gear to move. The sponge ones tend to squash/wobble under the weight of any decent sized cab.

The only way, in my experience, to make it regret-free (relatively, anyway) is to find something you like even more than the instrument you're selling. Which of course gets more difficult as you acquire nicer instruments...

Good quality and nicely made, but much more conventional in design than BF. Essentially, a well built and finished (and quite heavy) conventional box, without the extensive bracing/sophisticated porting BF uses. I had a 2x12 built by them, to which I added my own drivers (I don't know whether it's still the case, but Zilla used to build cabs for you to fit your own drivers). You really need to try/compare them (which is obviously more difficult with custom-built cabs, which tend not to be sold through retailers, so you can't walk into any shop and do that). Hope this is of some help.

Factor in all the grief above and you're better of paying the extra for K&M to start with. Buy nice or buy twice.

(Em)mental

He forgot Captain Sensible...

Sense of humour bypass?

Ideally for me, too, but the most important thing is to be at the back, next to the drums so we can maintain eye contact.

Vox - Luciano Pavarotti Keys - Mrs Mills Drums - Doesn't matter Guitar - Steve Hillage Bass - Sid Vicious

The best value strings are the ones you like. The cost of strings is tiny compared with the cost of a decent instrument or amp, so why penny pinch?

Ask Jack's Instrument Services (google will find them). They make scratchplates in a wide range of materials.

Seems that for your budget, you will struggle unless you can find used (which may well be possible - plenty of people seem to go through pickups like I go through Golden Virginia). Rather than swapping pickups, which may not do what you are looking for (see dannybuoy's comments above), try a pedal or two and see if that gives you the result you're after.

That's normally what happens if the problem is the ground wire. Assuming it happens with every amp (if it doesn't, that would suggest an issue with yours) I'd look at the screening in the instrument.

+ a lot. The point (for me at any rate) of using a valve amp for bass is that sweet, fruity tone. I'm not a bluddy guitard, so why would I want to know how dirty it can get?

The tone pot is almost certainly a log pot, which means most of its effect is in the final part of its sweep, as you've found. Volume pots are usually log pots and the effect is similar. Try swapping it for a linear pot - their effect is steady (hence linear)over the entire sweep. CTS make them and you can find them from plenty of online suppliers. Just make sure you get the same value as the one in the instrument.

As a PJB owner, I'd suggest the Cub and Double 4 are only really suitable for home use. They're lovely little amps - clean, excellent tone. I compared and tried both recently as I fancied something compact for low volume practice, but decided to stick with using a lightweight head and one of my PJB cabs, which is only a twelve inch cube, for the purpose. Yes, there are reviews saying you can gig with Bass Cubs, but you would be limited to very quiet wine bar jazz combo type gigs without a drummer. Both it and the Double 4 are very limited in output. Given that the Session 77 is cheaper than both of them, I'd go for that. It has the same preamp, is a bit more gig-worthy (although still not for anything that needs any serious volume), you can add extra power amps/cabs to it if you do need more power and it's still very compact/portable. Hope this helps.

I guess as I don't have one of those, I must be Gorm-less...