Dan Dare

That was one of my favourite Rick Beato interviews. Chuck was funny, thoughtful and gave a ton of good advice. Great musician and man. Thoroughly disproved the notion that you should never meet your heroes (even if only via a recorded interview).

Absolutely. Even more strange that they give those musicians money to be bored for a few minutes.

I could try potatoes if you like.

Don't blame it on the sunshine Don't blame it on the moonlight Don't blame it on the good times Blame it on the bogie

They slime together

My hovercraft is full of eels.

Spectors are quite good in that regard, too.

This, but bear in mind that if you are playing with acoustic guitars and vocals, the musicians may find all they can hear on stage is your bass amp if you aim to fill the venue from backline alone. Small venues often don't have any monitoring to speak of. So you may want to do as suggested and take a Di from your amp (or use a DI box if it doesn't have one), so you can play at more reasonable levels on stage.

The strings do not "vibrate against" the neck, unless it's a fretless with a low action, which will tend to give you that "mwah" sound as the string contacts the board intermittently along its length as it vibrates. The string vibrates in free space and the only two points of contact with the instrument are the fret at which it's fretted and the bridge saddle. Think about it.

Spot on. Pickups are not microphones. Microphones detect vibration/movement of air molecules and convert that into a minute electrical signal. Magnetic pickups detect movement of a string within a magnetic field and convert that into a minute electrical signal. In both cases, those minute electrical signals are amplified by the, er, amplifier. The difference is that the acoustic tones are not sensed or detected ("heard", if you like) by a pickup. Try shouting at your magnetic bass pickup and see what comes out of the speakers. Unless it has gone microphonic, the answer will be nowt.

Maybe on a fretless. On a fretted, the fret is one end (the other being the bridge) of the part of the instrument that the vibrating length of the string contacts. The 5-10mm or so of string between the fret and the point at which your finger presses the string against the board doesn't vibrate (or if it does, it's negligible).

This. If I like the way my instrument plays, I couldn't give a rats what anyone else thinks or says. Nor should you.

I find if I drink a lot of bear, the fur tends to get stuck in my throat 😬

You don't have to crank an AG700. Mine sounds nice at low volume and it is useful, if you want a clean tone, to have the headroom. They're quite pricey. The Ashdown Retroglide, despite what the name might suggest, is versatile, with extensive eq and does modern/clean, vintage, etc. Not available new, but you can pick them up used in good shape for sensible money.

Ah, my mistake. I assumed "Bass amps without fans" meant bass amps nobody likes. My bad. As you were.

I intend to "do my own research" about this earthing thingy tonight by sleeping in the garden on the ground. It's raining here at the moment. not exactly balmy out and I'm almost 70. If I don't croak as a result of hypothermia, I shall report back in the morning.

Pretty much anything from Stax or Motown. Just as well as I'm playing in a soul band these days...

VJ74 is a J bass copy, so any Fender-style bridge should do it. Gotoh 201 if you want chunky and 203 if you prefer a more vintage look. Both around £30 and excellent quality.

K&M stands are very good. They do amp stands. If you do angle the rig back, ensure the amp is secured in place so it doesn't "walk" off the cab with the vibrations. Guess how I know this can happen...

Agreed. Japanese manufacturers care about getting things right. Which is why I drive a Toyota.

And as for bass players...

I've found that MB gear doesn't sound particularly special in isolation or when you're stood next to it. As you say, it's a bit coloured and rather "thick" sounding (for want of a better term). However, in a band context, it works extremely well - fat and punchy with a nice warmth.

That's the 203. It looks like a BBOT, but is chromed brass and a bit beefier but still vintage looking. Very nice bridge and a snip at under £30.

This isn't about you. Jim was asking our advice. If you have none to offer, why comment at all?