Dan Dare

Correct. 'winning' an eBay auction is not a contract to buy. eBay likes to imply it is, but it ain't. If you are entitled to change your mind about buying a new item from a retailer, you are certainly entitled to do so over something used you have bought privately.

I love the caveat - "imperfections might be noticed..." Bloody right they might.

I expect that's why you're so in demand as a session player... A P bass works. It may not be good for everything, but it does the job a lot of the time.

Glad to hear you're back in the saddle and good luck with it. Now is not a bad time to look for used gear, with so many needing to raise some cash to pay for the excesses of Christmas. Where are you based?

Grindrod probably a real name. I was taught history at school by a guy named Dan Grindrod. Steve G looks to have serious pedigree.

At those prices, it could be worth buying cabs and putting better drivers in them.

A gentleman is someone who can play the drums but doesn't ;-)

Bad luck. The one time you leave something in the car is always the time it goes walkies.

This. Buy nice or buy twice.

I tried Roto flats, but find them hard under the fingers and tonally a bit uninteresting. I've switched to XL Chromes, which really suit a J bass. When I used round wounds, I used to like the Roto nickels, but haven't tried them for ages since I went over to flats.

I find amp demos fun to watch occasionally, but I wouldn't use them for serious research about what to buy. A bass amp is a bass amp is a bass amp, after all. The only worthwhile way to find whether something will suit you is to head for shop or two and try for yourself.

That is not usual. Are you buying used bargains on their last legs, or driving them to death?

My backup head came in useful when the power amp for the monitors packed up.

I'm with Bill on this. I did once try using two identical cabs, one each side of the drums (this was for situations where I was not DI'd into the PA) and found it made little if any difference. The guitar player liked it, though. He could stand his combo on my bass cab and hear it more clearly.

A valve pre with a power amp? Decent PA power amps can be had for little money second hand.

Socks, slippers, mugs bearing cringeworthy slogans ('Grumpy Old Git', etc), indigestion, a mild hangover. Just the usual bloody Christmas. Ho bloody ho

You said it yourself. Bongos and congas instead of drums to a load of drunks in a boozer who've come to hear rock, pop and soul covers the night before Christmas? A sure-fire recipe for disaster and for never being booked back in that venue. Your geetar player needs to realise it ain't art, it's entertainment/giving 'em what they want. You're right and you should stick to your guns. Save the arty, "interpretive" stuff for another time.

I haven't bought anything bass related for 2 years and have no plans to, but you never know...

I had a Fender Twin. Great amp' but too heavy to cart around...

I have two PJB C4s (the C8 is effectively two of them in a single box). I like them a lot. Clean/flat and excellent tone, but they may not suit if you are used to the BF sound. PJ cabs, even the Lite versions, are quite heavy for their size (wheels and handles are OK until you encounter stairs). They are also quite inefficient and take some driving. You really ought to audition/try before you buy to avoid making an expensive mistake.

Bill's right. It's pixie dust, really. Even RMS wattage claims are pretty meaningless. They may tell you how much an amp will heat an 8 ohm resistor for a few milliseconds, but into a reactive load like a speaker and across a full range of frequencies, that all goes out of the window. And that's before you start factoring in speaker efficiency, etc. Best to ignore all claims and audition stuff in real-world situations.

I had the AH350 many moons ago. Great heads - powerful, unburstable, reliable, heavy. If you can live with the weight, they are still great amps. TE's design brief was to mate a good quality pre' with proper eq to a PA power amp output stage. They were originally built in the wilds of rural Essex (I took mine to the factory for a service/repair and they did it on the spot whilst I went to the local pub for lunch). They were a bit of a revelation in their day compared to what else was available and that uv front light looked cool.

Impressive. They do look the biz, those classic Ampeg rigs. Has anyone ever tried putting lightweight neo drivers in an Ampeg 8x10? Would be an expensive experiment, but I'd love to hear if it would work. Have fun with the new toy.

Aguilar AG700 is cleaner and more powerful than the TH500. I'm biased because that's what I chose (over the Magellan and several other well-liked heads that are mentioned here), but worth a try/listen, I'd suggest. If you want that classic Eden sound, another Eden is the obvious choice. A Reidmar might be a good lightweight alternative. There's no alternative to auditioning a few, really.

I reckon ped has it right. An instrument is the sum of its parts. As an OAP, I'd prefer a lighter instrument, but not at the expense of quality.