knirirr

Sounds like the CMD 121 would do the job, though it's somewhat expensive. I'll have to try one if/when funds are available.

It is indeed mine. I thought I'd ask them to do a commission sale to save me the hassle.

Would Soma FM have anything of interest?

From what I've heard the quality is good and I thought they might produce the sort of sound I'm after. The size/weight seems to be good as well and, silly as it may be, I like the look of the orange speakers. Another possibility is a Fender Rumble if it turns out that none of the above are suitable.

Thanks - very useful information! The suggestion that the sound might be a bit woolly suggests that I ought to try one out to check; I have noticed exactly that problem with the BLX and my current favourite bass.

At some point, funds permitting, I would like to buy a Markbass combo, probably one of: - Minimark 802. - Mini CMD 121P. - Marcus Miller CMD 101 Micro 60. - Micromark 801. The purpose is to play jazz in small venues; I used to play with unamplified drums, horns &c. using a Trace Elliot BLX-130* and that was always sufficient to be heard, though lifting ~27kg was not pleasant. When asking about these in a well-known bass shop I was told that the Micromark 801 is too quiet, the Marcus Miller a good choice but not as good as the 121, though that would be outside my budget. Apparently the Minimark 802 is not recommended, though that looks to me like a good choice as it is (barely) within budget and seems to have a reasonable power rating. Has anyone got one, or any of the others, and if so would you be willing to comment? * There's a thread here where it was suggested I take the amplifier out and fit it to a lightweight cab, but I think I'd rather keep it intact (and probably list it for sale).

I'm not sure either, but I suppose you could make several adjustments using the harmonics each time.

That's all I've ever done on unlined fretless basses and it's worked well enough. If there's a better technique I'd be interested to hear it.

Encore E83 unlined fretless, c. 1994. I don't have any pictures from the time, but here's a similar one: https://www.adverts.ie/electric-basses/encore-e83-fretless-bass/10664187

Yes; I've only ever bought a single bass with frets and it has lasted less than a year before being offered for sale, soon after I got a decent fretless.

I've got a 15w one which is pretty good for practice and was wondering about upgrading to one which would be loud enough to play jazz gigs/jams, e.g. in pubs. Any idea what size would be sufficient? The weight of the 100 looks good but some of the reviewers on Thomann complain of the low volume. I used to use a Trace Elliot BLX130SM, which was fine by itself even in loud pubs, but the ~25kg weight is a bit too much these days.

Also, from what I can tell the Eastwood one has a solid body and the Ampegs were hollow or semi-hollow (someone please correct me if I'm mistaken). I asked Eastwood a couple of times for some more information on this bass, esp. details of what markers are on the neck, but they never got back to me so I bought something else.

A tasteful and reserved album cover from 1971:

I started on fretless (unlined) and played either that or EUB for my entire gigging "career", though I played guitar first (and violin at school) so that probably doesn't count. I've tried fretted basses and even own one now (hardly ever played) but never liked them. As far as I can tell (unless I'm deluded) fretless playing is easy enough. My intonation was sufficient to not draw complaints, even from proper musicians, and I can play and read charts; I look at the neck fairly often, though. Recently, I found a recording from my first bass gig, which must have been after 6-8 months of starting IIRC. It's not great but there weren't any complaints at the time and I seem to be close enough to the correct pitch. In the unlikely event that anyone is actually interested I could link to an example.