Dan Dare

Because a magnetic pickup is not a microphone?

Love the Del boy final para - "YOUR PURCHASE HELPS MUSICIANS and supports our studio! Buying from us directly helps support unsigned musicians and bands that struggle to produce professional music without help from major record labels these days." Yeah, yeah, lads.

Could well be. I'm not the world's most laid-back or stress-free person.

Good point. If, for example, members of the band change instruments between numbers or there is likely to be any delay (string breaks, etc), it's important to have something worked out to avoid awkward pauses and silences. Best to avoid cringe-inducing stuff - "Are you ready to get dowwwwwn", "Three blokes walk into a bar", "Take my wife.... please", etc - of course.

Pretty well par for the course where the typical amp eq is concerned. With 3, 4 or possibly 5 turnover frequencies, each will cover several octaves of the frequency range. They are very much blunt instruments when it comes to fine tuning the sound. That's why it's so important to find an amp with a neutral tone that you like and don't have to manipulate too much.

Probably because we don't. We'll happily offer advice if we think we can say anything helpful, but it's probably best not to demand instant responses. Compare them side by side. We aren't you and don't know your preferences. Fwiw, I'd say the Hartke, with its hybrid aluminium cone, may well be more mid-focused and a little brighter sounding than the Aguilar. Aguilar products tend to be voiced more towards a smoother, fuller sound (you can adjust for this via eq to an extent, of course). But as I said, we can't know which you would prefer.

Can be a tricky balance to strike. On the whole, I agree with your drummer and Doctor J above. The fact that you say "Audience thought it was good and lots of compliments afterwards" shows that perhaps it wasn't as bad as you'd feared. There's a big difference between headlining and doing a short support spot. In the position you were in, I'd favour keeping the chat/engaging with the audience short and sweet and letting your playing do the talking, which it appears you did. Play your 7 or 8 best numbers and finish with "Thanks for listening. We've been XX. You can see us at the Dog & Trumpet next Tuesday if you like what you've just heard" and direct them to the place where your merch', etc is on offer if you have any. Then offski.

PM'd

I've had the same issue with the middle/longest finger on my right hand intermittently over the last year. It's curled when I wake and have to pull it to straighten it. I flex it a few times after I have done so and it's fine for the rest of the day. It's not Dupuytren's, as far as I can see, which is permanent. Ther is no thickening of or lump in the tissue/tendons in my palm, which you normally get with Dupuytren's as the tendon shortens, pulling the finger into the palm. It comes and goes and is worse when I do a lot of work that requires me to grip with the hand (which I suppose one would expect). I put it down to age (70 next year) and advancing decrepitude. I love getting old, but I suppose it's better than the alternative.

A&H QU16. I like it. If you are happy to mix using an iPad or similar, the QU SB or QU Pac mixer-in-a-stagebox models are cheaper and more compact.

Can't go far wrong with RCF for the money. I worry about putting big boxes on poles, so would look at 10 tops with a sub, but that's just my preference.

Indeed. A floating tower block. Interestingly, they can be relatively inexpensive if you make a last minute booking. I have to confess to looking into it when I moved house recently. My flat in London sold 3-4 weeks before I could take possession of my new place in Hampshire. I puit my stuff in store and looked at Air B&B and similar. The cost worked out at a couple of grand. For that, I could have had a month on the Queen Mary 2, with all food, accommodation, etc included. I decided against eventually. It would have been hell on earth for a curmudgeon like me, but I did consider it. In the end, I managed to rent an out of season holiday caravan for around a third of the cost.

I'd go further. Even if it's not sh1te, the fact that attempts are being made to dragoon me into it brings out the Victor Meldrew in me (who, tbf, is never far from the surface).

I had a similar experience on the Harwich to Esbjerg ferry. Fortunately, there was another bar (populated, funnily enough, mainly by ageing squares like me) where we could escape the "fun".

As a general rule, look for an amp that requires you to cut, rather than boost the eq to get the sound you want. If you have to make major changes to get the sound to your liking, it probably isn't for you. Another point worth considering is that it's best to audition amps and cabs together. System synergy and all that. Some combinations (not always from the same manufacturer) work better than others. If you're buying just an amp or just a cab, take your amp/cab with you and try them together.

True. However (and I'm not trying to be controversial), if no bass cab on earth is capable of reproducing that flat frequency response, it's a waste of time - and likely money - trying to achieve it. I know you'll be aware of this with your experience, but flat between which frequencies? All amps are measured between set frequencies - specs will normally state "between X hz and Y khz". All amps incorporate some form of high pass filtering to remove sub bass, which soaks up power needlessly and can damage drive units. In the case of class D, there is low pass filtering to remove the unwanted high frequencies that class D generates. I appreciate there's an element of taking it on trust that designers have done their homework and ensured that spurious frequencies/nasties have been taken care of. It's also the case that designers will resort to mid scoops and similar to give their offerings showroom appeal and impress the prospective buyer with how "clean" they sound. A someone who loves a P bass with flats, I'm no fan of that Fortunately, it's usually pretty easy to hear it. It's best to audition gear with ones ears, rather than a 'scope. Plenty of people waste time and money chasing the flat frequency response illusion. I know it's their money, but there are better things they could spend it on.

Always a possibility. Best to hang onto that Squier as a spare, eh?

I guess he answer is that he can't.

That's the point some of us are trying to make. A truly flat frequency response is not achievable by any bass rig. What people perceive as flat - eq switched out of circuit or everything set at mid point/12 o' clock - is nothing of the kind. It's the baked in sound. The question above - why would you love Handbox flat more than Ashdown or Ampeg flat? - is spot on. There should be no difference between them if they were truly flat. Anything short of a substantial PA will be 3db down (or more) at 50hz or so (which isn't even the fundamental frequency of the low E, let alone the B on a 5 string). Many bass rigs are running out of ideas at close to 100hz at any volume and that's not necessarily a bad thing. I've experimented with adding a sub to my bass rig. Not a cheap, one note sub, either (Fohhn XS30). Impressive at low volumes and on its own, but it quickly became mud city in a live situation. By the time I had it set to sound right, the sub was barely contributing anything. What response do I want from an amp? One that gives me the sound I like at realistic volumes. I don't care what it looks like on an oscilloscope. I should imagine most players would want the same.

Ah, Black Widows. I put two in an old Bassman 2x15 cab many years ago when the crappy OEM drivers went south. Fabulous sounding cab until some toe rag pinched it.

I certainly agree with that. You need those mids for the classic P or J bass sounds.

But that's just my point. You are judging books by their covers. Many of us oldies don't wear "smart casual slacks" or aspire to "deep squareness" or "golf club membership". Many of us would rather poke out our own eyes with sharp sticks. Your mohawk, combats and 110% Psychobilly t shirt is just as much a uniform/sign of conformity as those smart casual slacks. It's the costume you have to wear in order to feel comfortable in the world. You are still conforming to the norms of your chosen tribe. Sounds as if you are putting a lot of effort into showing the world that you are not "square". I'm also a fan of the great outdoors, mostly water-based - surfing, kayaking, fishing, etc. I'm not particularly sociable and like to do things on my own or with a good friend or two at most. Cruise ships wouldn't be for me, either as a workplace or leisure activity. However, I'm secure enough not to jeer at those who do like them.

I agree with Bill. "Flat" does sound sterile, at least in a live context, when you almost always need to emphasize or tame certain frequencies to compensate for room acoustics, etc. However, truly "flat" is a bit of a myth. There's no such thing as "a piece of straight wire with gain", to quote Peter Walker of Quad. Any component in the chain introduces some form of colouration/sonic signature. Switching eq out of circuit or setting eq to 12 o' clock does not remove the componentry that produces gain, which will also have been chosen by the designer to give their preferred nominally "flat" result. The instruments we play are not even "flat". They convert physical vibrations into electricity via sensing those vibrations within a magnetic field and turning them into a minute electrical signal courtesy of a coil round the magnets. The power of the magnets, number of turns in the coil, pots, onboard eq circuitry, etc all affect/colour the signal before it even reaches the amp. There's little point in even attempting to get a "flat" response. It's interesting to close your eyes and set your eq solely by how it sounds. You can be surprised when you see where the knobs end up.

Old folk weren't always old and many can still teach young 'uns a thing or two. They'd probably regard your mohawk, combats and 110% Psychobilly t shirt with amusement. My pal who played for Joe Loss told me of a chap he became friends with on the QE2. The fellow had been a commando and was still in good shape. They docked in New York and the old chap and his wife went ashore to see the sights. Somebody attempted to mug/hold them up and the old guy put the mugger in hospital with his bare hands. The police declined to pursue the matter as it had been self defence. Very satisfying to hear.

That makes a lot of sense. it's accepted that Squier and Epi' are decent instruments and perfectly capable of being used professionally. So if Fender, Gibson, PRS (via their SE models, which are excellent for the money) and others put their value for money offerings in the hands of pro' players, it may well encourage those buying their first instrument (or those whose pockets are not deep) to consider them. If it gets more people playing, I'm all for it. If someone has a good experience with a Squier, they may well think "I'll get a full-fat Fender" when they have more to spend or wish to upgrade. So it's in the companies' interests to ensure that their budget offerings are as good as they can make them. Again, the consumer wins, so that's good too.