Dan Dare

Correct. The original seller should have done his homework.

Jamerson, no less, reportedly used open strings whenever he could, although with ancient flats and a high action, it probably didn't sound any different to a fretted note. I use a mixture, like most. If I want a mellow/less bright sound, I do prefer a fretted note, especially on the D and G strings, however.

Interesting topic. I've made a conscious decision not to buy anything made in China/the Far East in recent years if I can avoid it. Not because I feel workers there are "exploited" (I believe they are to an extent, but the point that they are able to live well on the wages they are paid because the cost of living in those countries is much lower than ours is a fair one), but because I don't want to contribute to the further decline of industries in the West. I'm fortunate, in that I could afford to buy a German PA (I tried to buy British, but the choice was between crap and really expensive stuff I couldn't justify), although I did have to buy a Chinese-built mixer - there was nothing else available (it is an Allen and Heath, but they manufacture in China). I appreciate not everyone is in this fortunate position. My main worry about buying from China et al is that we may get some bargain-priced kit in the short term, but if our economy goes down the tubes because nobody is buying home-grown any longer, we'll lose out in the long run.

A pal has a guitar harness that sits on both shoulders (like rucksack straps). He's had shoulder issues and says it helps a lot. He had his made, but this is the sort of thing - https://www.slingerstraps.com/harness-strap-guitar-strap.html. They're not cheap, but if you like your bass and want to keep it, may be a good option. 13 lb is pretty heavy, incidentally.

Stories of enormous fees for NYE are usually exaggerated. I remember a lot of musicians holding on for big bucks for NYE 1999/2000 and plenty ended up not working. Unless it's a one-off, out of the blue booking from a place you've never dealt with/heard of, I'd start double your usual fee at most. However, if it's a place you play regularly (and which looks after you and pays you happily even if the audience is thin on the ground), surely it makes sense to quote the usual, plus a tip if takings are good. The suggestion above of the usual, on the understanding that you get regular bookings during the year is a good one. No sense in getting one well-paid job and nothing more for the rest of the year.

Enjoy it. Great amp. I used to use a Y lead to route the bass into both channels of mine. I felt it improved the tone.

"Passion vs ability"? False dichotomy. You need both. As for: ... one cannot be described as a "great player" if one cannot keep time. It all sounds a bit defensive.

About the same percentage of guitars aimed at the cheap end, I suspect. The bottom 3 frets may be be worn a bit and that will be it.

If you don't like playing social clubs, there's always a nice job shovelling sh1t for minimum wage going somewhere... Counting one's blessings and all that.

Looks as if it's been used to sweep the chimney

AER Amp One is small, but the Three is quite beefy and not light. How about the baby Markbass - the 801?

A true monument to desperation. Love it.

A big flight or rack case looks good and protects your kit, but can be a sod to move around, get up and down stairs, etc. At my advancing age, I've separated my kit into smaller cases - several lightweight rack cases rather than one big one, etc. More trips, but easier on the back. Camera cases - alu' ones from Maplin at al - are fine for cables, mics and small stuff and cheap.

Agreed about Powercon. It is becoming more a standard fitment in pro audio My PA (Fohhn) uses one. The only possible downside is that you can't borrow an IEC to get out of trouble should you forget/lose the cable, so remember to carry spares.

If you like the Ampeg sound, look out for a SVT210HE. You'll have to get a used one as they're no longer made. I had one and it was a great sounding cab, reasonably portable and US built. I was tempted to get another for a larger rig, but it was a bit awkward to get up the narrow stairs to my flat at my advanced age, so I sold it and went lightweight. Can't fault the sound, though.

From Santa's little elves

I like "custom built" or "rare/one off" for a Bitsa. Or "grab a bargain" for something that is being offered for about £50 less than full retail. Then there are the pals of sellers, who post comments such as "Why is this still for sale? Bargain of the century", etc. To which the response is "Why not buy it yourself, then?"...

It can be useful to send some bass (and some kick drum) into the PA so your backline doesn't have to be loud enough on stage to fill the entire place. It fattens things nicely.

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1510337784' post='3405791'] Why not list what your band use at the moment? Then we can suggest upgrades that won't cost the earth and would improve your sound. Who knows; you might get more gigs as a result of sounding better and if not you still own the PA. I went out and bought my PA to prevent this being an issue in any band I'm in. Buy used and you can cash it in any time and get almost all your money back. [/quote] I did exactly that many years ago. I got fed up with playing through iffy PAs, so bought one myself. I started out with something basic but decent and have upgraded over the years to something quite good. It also means I get offers of work over better players than me because people know I come with a PA (for which I charge, of course, but I'm still cheaper than hiring).

[quote name='Cato' timestamp='1510337584' post='3405787'] He gets paid per click for the 'free' videos he puts out on YouTube, hence the clickbait. Once you get past whatever gimmick is the title of the clip, there's usually (although not always) something useful in there. [/quote] Agreed. I find his boundless enthusiasm a bit wearing at times, but he gives some good advice and a lot of helpful stuff.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1510335997' post='3405759'] Tbf I'm not sure all ampeg heads have a DI on the back so the sound crew might have had no choice, still not great putting the phantom up you though. I'm not sure that's supposed to happen either tbf, the phantom should just power the di box to save batteries afaik? [/quote] Phantom is switchable for individual channels on all but the most basic mixers. So the sound crew (provided they are competent) shouldn't feed it to you if not needed. If your amp has a transformer DI out, it will ignore phantom.

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1510337599' post='3405788'] Phantom power is used to power condenser mics. Some equipment will ignore it. Some will go up in smoke. [/quote] Good point. Check the manual for your amp and if in doubt, don't risk it. A passive DI box transformer will ignore phantom power. If you get an active one, you can use the phantom of course.

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1510337230' post='3405779'] It may be about which mixer you use. Some cheaper mixers use the jack input as a line level input and the XLR as a mic level input, which is much lower. If your amps DI output is line level it would be too high output for the XLR mic input. If the mixer has no way of padding (reducing) the input then you can't use it with the XLR to XLR connection. Using the jack connection is better as explained above because it is quieter. Using the DI will allow your guy to match the inputs and use a low noise connection. It means you lose control of what the bass sounds like out of the PA. [/quote] A way round this is to buy a passive DI box and run a feed into it from the effects send on your amp (which shouldn't be at a very high level). Most mixers will have an input gain that starts from below zero gain, which should accommodate all but the hottest signals.

A further suggestion re. band PA systems. Don't buy everything jointly. It can get complicated when people leave or the band splits and you have to sell it all (you rarely/never get what it's worth from a utility point of view) or get replacement members to buy into it. Best for individual members to own individual pieces of equipment - one owns the mixing desk, one the speakers (or one each), etc. That way, if you part company, you each take your own stuff with you and if someone leaves, they take what's theirs and the replacement member just has to provide similar.

[quote name='Tubster' timestamp='1510188299' post='3404594'] In our cases: 1. Wireless lost connection, pa continued to run but no control of any functions but show continued 2. Mixer stopped passing audio to speakers on vocal channels - no vocals audible - pa crapped out and show stopped Case #1 is perhaps avoidable with external router or physical connection. case #2 is not. We were not prepared to wait for #3. Maybe we were just unlucky but our reputation is on the line so we moved to safeguard it. The benefits of digital are manifold but peace of mind trumps them all. [/quote] A digital mixer that doesn't depend on Wi-Fi is the answer here. I use an Allen and Heath Qu, on which you can control everything manually if the iPad fails.