lemmywinks

It nails the convenient home practice angle, just plug your bass and headphones in and that's it. I'll try this on it later tonight: https://shift-line.com/irpackbass

Been after something for quiet portable practice and song learning for a while with some very specific requirements, it had to be tiny, have bluetooth audio streaming from my phone, rechargeable, have a built in tuner and be able to drive headphones. Didn't need anything else, also had to be cheap because I don't like spending money. The Ashdown Tone Pocket seemed to fit the bill (regular and BT versions currently on sale) but I was a sick in my mouth at the prospect of buying a device that uses Micro USB in 2025. So anyway I bought this: https://www.sonicake.com/products/pocket-master First off it is truly tiny - just 104mm x 85mm x 29mm so about the size of a cigarette packet. All plastic but feels well built for home use, screen is nice and the buttons feel decent. Can get going straight away by powering the unit on and either using the jog wheel or buttons to cycle through the pre built patches. Tapping the jog wheel cycles through BT on/off, volume and patch selection. You can exit menus by tapping both buttons, all pretty intuitive. I couldn't get this to pair with my phone straight away but after pairing it using the SonicLink app (which enables you to manage the patches via your phone if you so wish) I could add it as "Pocket Master Audio" from the regular bluetooth menu allowing me to play backing tracks over my phone. Bass sounds good through it, enough volume and clarity for headphone practice which is all I really bought it for, most of the presets and amp/cab sims are for guitar but it does have some dedicated bass effects, the eq and comp pretty good. As usual there's loads of over the top presets (50 factory, 50 user) but the standard "Basic Bass" patch is good for me. You can add your own IRs in (up to 5) via the Sonicake software. Can also use it as an audio interface and it has a basic drum machine, unlikely I'll ever use these but they're there. All in all it more than does what I bought it for and came in at £50, really convenient as you just plug your bass and headphones in and away you go which is what appeals to me the most as it's great for short sessions. The one downside is that there's no dedicated 3.5mm headphone jack so you have to use a 1/4" adapter. Here's my rubbish picture to prove I'm not shilling for some random company, as you can see it's about the length of a Neutrik jack plug. Crazy stuff.

You can buy that Ric for £3k new (PMT themselves have it at £3.1k), a shop isn't going to give you anything like the used market value as they'd be essentially competing with their own new stock. The manager will look at the profit margins he makes on a new Ric, figure out how much he can sell a used one for and make you an offer accordingly. He'll also have to factor in the possibility of a customer returning it due to a manufacturing fault (it's a Ric after all) and the shop having to take the hit. Nothing sinister, this is just how retail works. Might be different if it was a rare instrument that the shop didn't stock.

Decent deal that, I have the BH250 and think it's a really neat little head. I'd keep a lookout for another BC208 to put underneath it for a mini tower of power, they come up pretty regularly. This bag fits the BH250 perfectly btw: https://www.bassdirect.co.uk/product/gator-9″-x-9″-mini-amplifier-bag/

AliExpress is full of knockoff D'addarios. Two things I only ever buy from dedicated sellers are strings and higher capacity SD cards, too many fakes out there.

The one from PMT might be as well. They're well known for selling ex demo (read heavily used, damaged or missing parts) as new items in their clearence sales. I got an Ibanez EHB1505 in their sales which arrived with a ton of back bow, a missing control cavity cover and dings in the finish exposing bare wood. Someone else in the same thread got an Ashdown Shavo head which had been around the block a few times and arrived covered in scratches with a broken EQ slider. So there's every chance the used items for sale on here might be in much better condition than the "new" on from PMT.

If you fancy a drive then grab this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/326402087138 He also has the version with the horn for a bit more money: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/326402087359

If you want something compact with a small footprint then an older 2x10 on its side or a 1x12 is probably the only way you'll get something around your remaining budget. Unless you fancy a longer drive you'll be looking at local collection only listings on FB Marketplace, eBay etc. Brands like Peavey, Ashdown, Hartke, TC Electronic, Laney. Not much point in recommending a specific type of cab as your budget constraints will decide what is attainable over everything else. Hartke XL cabs are decent and go for pocket money now, on here in London for £75 which would bring you under budget: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1185251983336041/ Laney 2x10 with neo drivers near you for £150 here, bigger cab though: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2487813131416873/ That SWR I linked to above would be fine, be aware it's a 4ohm cab so you can't add another. I'd grab that Hartke as chances are you'll see another one for sale before too long and can have a vertical 4x10 tower which should cover every gig you're likely to do without PA support.

So do PMT, GuitarGuitar and Thomann, this is local so he can go check it out in person.

Just spotted a Markbass Little Mark Blackline 250 in the Cash Converters sale for 100, Southend shop as well so close to you. https://www.cashconverters.co.uk/shop/music-tv--video/home-theatre-tvs--hifi-stereos/amplifiers/audio-equipment/047400178437

You're putting these on it, right?

See if Steve at Wyre River guitars is still working, he's an older gent and had an operation on his eye last time I got some work done there but his craftmanship is excellent. He's in Bispham so not too far from you. If you Google Wyre River Guitar images you'll see the custom acoustics he builds.

I can still remember carting around our dual Peavey CS1800 amps (later a pair of QSC amps I forget the name of) with an older Peavey monitor amp in our rack, HiSys4 tops and a pair of massive subs. That's five items that were two man lifts, now we have that number down to zero. We have it so good in terms of budget kit now.

Fair point actually, probably more than a few cm given how rigid amp to cab cables usually are. Perhaps a cable with a 90 degree speakon connector would be a good idea as well? The Phil Jones C8 and C4 are only 12.4"/32cm deep and look very smart too especially in red, I have the C8 Lite with neo drivers but they only do the regular versions now. Of all the cabs I've owned it's the most "front room worthy" in terms of appearance: https://www.pjbworld.com/cms/c8-2/ https://www.pjbworld.com/cms/c4-2/

We're using Alto TS210 with a TS15S sub, sounds great and the tops can be loaded in with on in each hand. If you aren't running a sub at the moment and the Alto TS412 performs as good or better than your current cabs it sounds like a no brainer, shave some more weight and bulk off with a digital desk if you like.

There a used GR AT212 Slim at Bass Direct at the moment, almost 14" so a tiny bit deeper than your alcove though. Also £200 dearer than the one that sold on here which is gonna hurt.

Overall it looks nice, that chunk of wood for a bridge is an odd choice though and spoils the aesthetic for me, doesn't look like part of the original design.

Do you have PA support or do you need a set up to fill large function rooms on its own? There seems to be too many constraints here - if you need something gig capable but compact you'll need to spend more IMO. One possible solution is an older 2x10 on its side, there's an SWR Goliath Jnr 2x10 near you on FB for £150: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/589875380316706/

Still wouldn't be able to daisy chain cabs as there's just one socket, even on the 8ohm version so if your head only has a single output you either need to mod the backplate, make a new one or use a Y cable. Annoyingly Ashdown put the single 1/4" input right in the middle so there's no way of modding it that wouldn't look like a bodge. If I was keeping it I'd just make a new backplate and put dual Speakon Combo connectors on there.

This does mean my much maligned BN10 300s is now without a home, quite enjoyed playing through it in this cab over the last couple of days.

The empty cab on it's a bit heavier than expected, definitely a solid little thing. Spoke to my mate tonight and he's going to make an offer on a used Pulse so hopefully he'll have a mini stack soon enough. Disappointing that Ashdown only offered a single 1/4" input on these even on the 8ohm cabs, means he'll have to buy a splitter cable. The OriginAL series cabs had dual Speakon combo jacks.

A lot of the Pro JJ finishes look very poor IMO, like the old cheap jazz copies with the solid black forearm contour. The only ones that look decent are the dark natural veneers like this one and the stained ones. They did a pinkish red one which looks good but I've never seen one of those in the UK.

Just spotted this on FB, these were good basses with wide spacing and a pretty flat ebanol board, usually pretty heavy though. This one has Dimarzio pickups, a Bass Mods pre and possibly a hard case. Might be worth enquiring abour postage as £300 is a steal: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/157647100697639/

Incidentally there's an Aria IGB68-5 just come up for sale near me for a decent price, keep having to stop myself buying it.