Dan Dare

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1494503146' post='3296523'] Having a lifelong developmental/neurological condition, being referred to as "retarded", "backward" "wrong in the head" & other lovely, confidence building terms all through my life by family, teachers & people I worked with, nearly being institutionalised by my mother when I was a child because there was "something wrong with me" - Those good enough for ya? Probably not. [/quote] I'm sorry to hear about it. However, it isn't reasonable to expect (and certainly not to demand) that the rest of the world walks round you on tiptoe because some people have been unkind to you.

To answer the OP, if you can afford it, have a look at the baby AER.

[quote name='Dazed' timestamp='1494366969' post='3295488'] PJB gear is very good quality and transparent sounding. Debatable if the Double 4 (75w) or Cub (100w) would have the volume to compete with a guitar amp or drums. I have a Double 4 and it is surprisingly loud for the size, it's stupidly small. Sounds great too. Not the cheapest of options though but suits me for home use perfectly...... At the moment [/quote] You'd need to add a power amp and more speakers to a Cub or Double 4 to do that. My Flightcase (twice the size) didn't complete with drums and guitar. Lovely sound, but not enough wellie. I sold it and got a couple of PJB C4s, which are fine with a suitable head.

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1494433780' post='3295974'] As is not giving a f*** about whether somebody has good reason to be upset or offended by something it would appear. [/quote] So what's your "good reason" then?

"Taking offence" is becoming a popular hobby these days, sadly.

[quote name='Toasted' timestamp='1494431150' post='3295936'] I think you'll find it's actually hugely offensive. [/quote] Oh dear. How sad.

You can only earn what people are prepared to pay. It's a buyer's market in most areas.

No such thing as a standard rate anywhere, really. Depends on so many variables.

Doesn't bother me. I'm a basstard.

The EBS tone is quite distinctive - tending towards the bright/punchy end of the spectrum. Reidmar probably the best lightweight option if you like the sound. Mesa Subway head worth a listen for that style of sound, too, but expensive.

Watford Valves have some of the old high impedance Celestions that Trace used originally. Ask their advice.

Jack's Instrument services in Manchester. Excellent and quick. Not cheap, but good value for the quality. Google will find him.

Don't do it, captain. She cannae take it. Remember that, even if it worked for the fingerboard (and it's a very big 'if'), the rest of the instrument would be likely to be adversely affected by the damp/humidity.

As Rhys says, I very much doubt you'll find mandolin strings long enough and most, apart from some very light sets used by classical players, are roundwound, anyway. I'd look at jazz guitar strings.

My bass was in tune when I bought it . That does me.

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1494122496' post='3293445'] Yep, one of my fave sounding cabs, just a shame they weigh the same as a small/medium sized planet. [/quote] The Peavey 8x10s are something else, too. The rehearsal rooms I use has a couple and the sound is spectacular. You couldn't really carry them around though.

Agree with Bill. If you find something you like, but want more of it, buy more of it. To make an informed decision, you really need to try some different options with your head and instrument. As you've found via your experience with BF, what suits others won't necessarily be your cup of tea, so treat our suggestions with caution. A visit to a well stocked shop or two looks to be the order of the day. I'd add Epifani to your list, but that's just my preference. Also, if you use a MB head, you ought to try their cabs.

In case you or he are tempted to open it up and take a look, don't. Valve amps often run on very high internal voltages (4-500v not uncommon) and worse, they're DC, so if you touch the wrong thing, you're likely to meet the man in the sky with the big white beard.

Made a mess of entering my previous post (my comment ended up in the quoted bit). Pedals won't handle speaker level signals. They are intended for instrument level signals, which are usually measured in millivolts. The best way to balance two unequal speaker cabs is with an add-on power amp, plus active crossover or graphic/parametric eq with which you can control/adjust the feed to the power amp. Can get a bit pricey and involve several extra boxes.

[quote name='Frank Grimace' timestamp='1494112162' post='3293411'] correct me if Im wrong but are you thinking of putting the eq pedals between the amps speaker outs and the cabs inputs? Maybe Im misreading your post , but if so you will burn out the eq pedals. yes this exactly what i was thinking of doing, but i had wondered if as you say it would burn something out Golf isn't very popular on here then?[/quote] You will indeed burn out pedals if you feed a speaker level feed to them. They are intended to run on instrument level inut (millivolts)

[quote name='radiophonic' timestamp='1493883128' post='3291447'] As implied in Conan's post, you get significant phase cancellation when both pickups are wide open. That's one of the 'Jazz sounds'. The front pickup is way louder than both of them combined. [/quote] If you back off the bridge pickup a smidge (experiment to find how much is best), you get the combined sound, but with more oomph.

[quote name='thepurpleblob' timestamp='1493978576' post='3292281'] I remember not being able to eat for months after buying the 2x12 I have now!! They're great but bloody expensive. I don't think I'd get it passed the management. I'd also like a complete backup (which I don't have at the moment) [/quote] I would have seconded DBerriff's suggestion, but if that's a bit too spendy, suggest getting a less expensive smaller cab. Appreciate your wish for something complete, but buyinng a combo will mean you are spending money on duplicating your amplification, which will use up budget needlessly. A nice used 1x12 neo isn't going to weigh a lot or take up a lot of space and your Genz is hardly heavy.

Got sacked recently from a function band. Were all older (50+), experienced players, with the exception of the guitard, a new Yorker who thought the fact that he was a septic meant he knew it all. He didn't, of course. No sense of time or pitch (I kid you not). Even had to be reminded to tune his instrument before we started playing. Trouble was, he was/is married to the keyboard player, who covered his tracks for him, cued him for breaks (otherwise he came in at random), took over a break/doubled him if he was screwing up, etc, etc. One night, after he played the entire first number with his instrument hopelessly out of tune, I asked his missus to tell him to tune it (he wouldn't take it from anyone apart from her). During the interval, he confronted me in the dressing room and I told him his fortune in words of one syllable/four letters. That was that.

[quote name='Twincam' timestamp='1493907467' post='3291738'] As said chromes are a bit stiff. Great for getting a super low action though. I thought they also dulled a bit too quickly. Some may like that however. [/quote] They do lose the initial zing quite quickly, but then settle down nicely and don't get to being really dull for a long while. As regards stiffness, I find them softer than La Bellas for a given gauge. I use LBs on my P bass and Chromes on my Jazz.

If you want to spend on a powered sub, the Fohhn XS30 is just 29kg and includes a 1500w stereo power amp and digital signal processing. Hell of a piece of kit. Drives an additional passive sub and two tops. Love mine.