Dan Dare

True, but just to confuse things a little, a tweeterless Super Compact makes a really nice noise with a P bass strung with flats. Being, er, compact, it lacks the really extended low end of the larger 12XN cabs. I think a lot of the hi-fi nature of BF 12XN cabs is to do with that and the tweeter. Really extended low end is not always a good thing in bass cabs for onstage use. A couple of years ago, I was engineering an event and one of the bass players had a Super Twin. Up close and in isolation, it sounded magnificent, but in the mix/room, the low end was just too much. I had a hell of a job persuading the bass player to roll off the bottom end. It was going down all the mic's, causing the stage to resonate and was generally a nightmare to control out front.

A problem with all Fenders, with their all-bolted construction. It's so easy to screw a load of parts together and make a few solder joints. I've always thought it likely that many "custom" builders use parts from Warmoth and similar to create "custom" Strats, etc. Sure, they will iron out any rough edges and finish them nicely, but essentially, they are offering assembled kit guitars, often at high prices. I'd certainly be wary of any bargain "Fender". Buying new is the safest option, or if used, from a dealer. Then you have some redress.

That'll likely be 4 ohms, which could cause impedance issues when combined with the others.

He does, but I'd be wary. It looks likely they are hire stock, which tend to get hammered. Given that they are not massively outdated models, it could be that his tech' has advised "it'll cost more than they're worth to fix them. Best to stick them on the 'Bay and get what you can for them".

You don't need to worry, as your amp is rated to drive 2.6 ohms. Unless you really cane it (in which case, you're likely to notice because it will distort), you'll be fine. An amp will only overheat if you try to drive a lower impedance load than it can cope with. There's a safety margin before issues crop up - the impedance of all speakers varies with frequency and the stated impedance is an average. You'll only have problems if you really push things.

I love the way advertisers think that saying "Ex Massive Attack" or similar will increase the desirability of an item. "Ex (add band name here)" usually means "has been chucked in the back of vans/trucks, kicked around and generally caned by someone who wasn't bothered about the cost or repair/replacement". A bit like advertising a used car as "Ex Lewis Hamilton".

At least the strap's Fender... Should be titled "Imprecise bass guitar"

I often run three 8 ohm cabs with an AG700 and it works well. It isn't so much louder as fuller sounding. As a general rule, running an amp into too low an impedance can cause it to overheat because it's being required to deliver more current than it is capable of providing. At low volume levels, it probably won't be an issue, provided the amp is adequately cooled and you aren't asking it to drive 1 ohm or similar. A low impedance load is easier for an amp to drive up to a point, but it's when you push things that problems can arise. Many modern amps have some sort of protection circuitry, which will shut down or mute them if you try to overdrive them. Obviously, you'll need to let the amp cool and address the issue that caused the shutdown before continuing. You're also likely to notice the sound gets dirty prior to the amp shutting off. Of course, if you like a dirty/over-driven sound, you may not notice that until there's a problem.

On that basis, maybe the OP should splash out on a vintage Alembic or Ken Smith...

Same. If it makes people happy and gets us booked back, it's only 5 minutes out of my life. I've got little time for those who turn up their noses at popular numbers. Aren't we supposed to be entertainers?

I had a set of 5 year old Chromes on my main gigging bass until recently. Tonally, they were still fine, but the intonation had started to become a bit vague, so I changed them. Am playing the zing off them. It's mostly gone after a month.

Never say die. I'm 70 (one of the reasons I bought a good trolley) and still doing it. If you do think you may not be playing for too much longer, that's another reason not to throw a lot of money at new gear.

If you like your existing cabs, buying a quality folding trolley is a lot cheaper than replacing them. Don't buy a Chinese 40 quid cheapie. For a little over £100, I got one that is rated to 150kg that makes shifting gear easy.

Few 1x10 cabs will cut it in a band that plays "pretty loud rock", especially if you rehearse at or near gig volumes. The laws of physics and all that. A quality 1x12 would be better, but you don't appear to want to spend much. As the saying goes, "Light, loud, cheap. Pick any two".

Under-rated = someone whose playing I like, but who is not as widely appreciated as I think they should be. Dave's a very good musician. As pointed out above, he was (and probably still is, although he's almost 80 now, so he may well be taking life easy these days) a session player. it's in the nature of the job to do it well and not be a household name or someone the music press raves about. I don't suppose he's bothered. He's made a good living out of playing music, which is an achievement in itself.

I'd like to try some different pickups in my Rebop. At the moment, it has EMG HZ p/us, which were what it came with. I know the HZ was the budget EMG. Tonally, the sound is not very subtle. The low end is massive, the mid honk very pronounced and the top end is a little reticent. I know that mid growl is part of the Spector signature sound and I don't want to lose it, but it would be nice to tame it a little and add a bit more air in the highs. It's a 4 string, so EMG 35 type p/us should suit. I'd rather not have to start routing it to get replacements to fit. Anyone tried the EMG 35P4? It's claimed to be a bit closer to a P bass sound, which could be interesting. All suggestions appreciated.

2x45, as most say, seems to be standard. 2 hours with a 15 minute break, so 1x45 plus 1x60 is common, too. I find functions can be longer - 3x45, for example. Having at least two hours worth of material ready to go should be fine for most jobs.

What Burns-bass said. It's been a few years (quite a few), but I used to play there in the early days of the Irish theme bar boom, when O'Neill's bars booked Irish music (my original/main instrument was the fiddle). It could be interesting. There was little to no stage or separation between punters and musicians back in the day, so when it got boisterous (which it did on occasion), it was a case of sauve qui peut. Sounds as if little has changed. I'd set your monitors up well in front of you to (hopefully) act as a barrier to the punters. Brizzle seems to be one big building site/pedestrian only zone these days. I played in another Bristol bar last autumn and we couldn't get that close had quite a schlepp from the vehicles to the venue.

Jeremy Hosking? He owns two Deltics and one pf them is in a museum on the site of the old Hornby factory in Margate.

I should imagine it's to do with the fact that lower frequencies are felt - via causing your bones and tissues to resonate/vibrate - as well as heard. Blocking your ears masks the high frequencies by preventing vibration of the air reaching your eardrum, leaving only those which reach it structurally. It's the same as hearing only the bass from your neighbour's hi-fi because it causes the structure of the building to vibrate.

Now that is a serious toy. Which one?

The average person's ability to discern - visually or audibly - is not high. They seem to hear and/or see anything complex as a jumbled mess and are unable to separate out the individual strands of what is going on. If a musician tells me something is up with the balance, I take heed. If it's anyone else, I thank and ignore them.

There's some truth in that, but Switchcraft stuff, which is American, certainly isn't rubbish. Ditto CTS.

I've long since given up reading anything so-called music journos write. It was tripe back in the day and I've no doubt it's tripe now.

The major difference between covers and originals bands seems to be supply and demand. I play in one of each. The covers band (mainly classic soul) gets many more bookings than the other. Without wishing to blow our collective trumpet, we're pretty decent. We're all experienced and know what we're doing, have high quality kit, etc. We do pubs, clubs, functions (weddings, parties, etc) and similar, nearly always get booked back and work once or twice a week on average. It could easily be more, but we've had to agree between ourselves to limit the number of gigs we do to avoid issues with clashes with family commitments and so on. Getting a decent fee for our efforts is no problem. Crucially, there are plenty of venues where we can play and which want to book us. The originals band, which is just as good in terms of ability of the players, quality of material, etc, does maybe one a month if we're lucky. Fee is usually a couple of free drinks or non-existent. There are far fewer venues that put on originals acts and which will take a chance on an unknown quantity and it's a much harder sell to get into them. We have quality demos - audio and video - and a typical response from venues is "You're great, but we're not sure how you'll go down with our audience". They may want some kind of guarantee of how many people we'll bring in. That's fair enough. They're businesses and it has to be worth their while to open the doors, pay the staff and switch on the lights. We're up against dozens of other hopeful (and good) originals outfits eager to get their stuff in front of an audience and fighting for gigs in that limited number of venues. I'm not complaining. Playing in an originals band is satisfying and enjoyable, but the potential to gig and make money is far smaller.