Trueno

This! Absolutely... 100%

1) Stick in a switch that isn't connected... call it an "add talent" switch. 1) Stick in a switch that bypasses everything (if possible), straight from pickup to jack.

My Squier Jag SS... cost £170. Added Gotoh bridge (swapped over from my Mustang), rolled the fingerboard and smoothed down the fret ends. Finally added EMG passive Geezer pickups. The bass was excellent but the stock pickups were a bit weedy. Now it's gone from a back-up I would only use in an emergency to a serious no.2 bass. The Gotoh bridge didn't make any difference to my ears (but it looks great)... but the new Schaller I put on the Mustang DID make a difference.

Personally, I can see a huge chicken-head knob (in cream) with all the options you mentioned. Gawd knows how you wire it, though.

+1 for the stacked knobs. Have you thought about turning it into an active bass? If you want to do something different, how about ditching bass and treble and having a semi-parametric mid? I think I might go for that one myself. Or a boost switch? I'd have a look at some fancy expensive basses that have loads of knobs and switches and see what they all do. Eg... series/parallel switches.

^^^ blisters caused by excessive tambourining... I'd forgotten about that one... ouch!

01 Ever played a gig sitting down? No 02 Ever gigged on a different instrument? Yes. Most of my gigs played on sax and also flute. Bass in the last 20 years. 03 Ever shared a stage with a musical hero of yours? Sort of. A brilliant sax player called Peadar Long... learned more in the first five seconds than I did in 20 years... aaahhh! So that's how you play it... 04 Any fan ever had a tatoo of your band's logo? No 05 Ever signed an autograph in a dressing room? Signed autographs... not in a dressing room 06 Ever cried on stage? No 07 Ever worn a hat on stage? Yes... went through a phase where the whole band wore Bowler hats 08 Ever gigged with a band you hadn't met before the gig? Yes... a scratch band supporting another band 09 Ever been in a relationship with a fellow band member? No 10 Ever played in different bands on the same day? No 11 Ever had anything thrown at you while playing? A couple of bras... and a pair of underpants 12 Ever crashed on the way to the gig? No 13 Ever left a band over the choice of set list? No, but nearly did when the singer announced he wanted to do "swing" 14 Ever slept in the venue despite it not being a hotel? Yes... a military base 15 Ever been supported by a band clearly better than you? No 16 Ever played a gig suffering from some debilitating medical condition? All of them... I have Crohn's disease 17 Ever been in a band where the guitarist was your favourite bandmate? Current band... he's a good egg 18 Ever played in the grounds of a stately home? Have played inside a Stately home 19 Ever injured yourself on stage? Yes... walked into a low-lying scanner with sharp edges... huge cut in my head 20 Ever been told that your bass isn't loud enough? That will NEVER happen

I have a Rumble 500. It's very light, it looks fantastic and it sounds fantastic. It's quoted at about 350w without an extension cab (I think). I would say, however, I have problems with my legs and with my balance, so although it's an easy one hand lift, the dimensions of it have thrown me out on stairs, going through doors and bumbling around in corners... I've nearly gone over a few times. I have considered going smaller and superlight... but it costs. Need to get out of lockdown to try it out at a few more rehearsals. Have thought about keeping the 500 for gigs and getting a Rumble 100 for rehearsals... but where's the fun in that?

I know you will get 1001 different answers, but I use an Orange Crush 50 for home practice and I love it. Semi-parametric mid; and the gain/blend controls which seem to give infinite possibilities; aux in; headphone out; 12" speaker and enough whoomph to convince you you're playing a real bass... rather than twangly low notes.

I went from an Ashdown MAG combo (too heavy... arthritis and all that) to an MB combo many years ago... never entirely happy with it, apart from the weight. My solution was to keep it flat and feed it through an EBS Microbass II. I sold the MB, but now I'm addicted to the EBS... wondering whether I should get an Ashdown head but fretting whether it will make the EBS redundant.... first world problem.

I can't help with your particular query... but I feel your pain. You can drive yourself half-mad by endlessly reading reviews and listening to dodgy you tube vids. I've been doing quite a bit of this myself over the lockdown period and likely to wake up screaming at three in the morning. My view is to be a bit patient... you need to get one in your hot sweaty hands and try it. If you like it then it doesn't matter what the reviews say. But I've just seen a lovely sunburst one at Andertons... I'm a PJ fan myself. Don't forget if you buy mail order you can still return it (if you're careful with the packaging) and you only lose your postage.

I once put a Mark Bass cab on ebay for what I regarded to be a reasonable price. Someone messaged me that he had seen a similar (but not the same) item brand new in a sale. I suggested he should therefore buy the sale item and save himself some money. He wouldn't let it go... kept bothering me with messages. I was tempted to tell him to "take himself hence"... but ebay is bad enough without making yourself a deadly enemy. I sold the cab to a decent guy... he came and picked it up from the house and paid with a fistful of tenners. We were both happy. Luckily, if you sell on BC most members are good eggs and feedbacked up to the nines.

No false modesty! That's a great way to start off a dull day. Nice pics, nice basses.

My local-est shop, PMT in Leeds (obviously shut at the moment) has OBC 112s in stock. Think I'll have to take meself off to try... plenty of "sobering up" time between now and then. I don't know if this is heresy, but I prefer my Orange black! My Orange Crush 50 is black and I think it looks really cool.

I'd be interested in an answer to this, too. I'm turning into a bit of an Orange-head... based on my experiences with my Orange Crush 50 practice amp. I'd like to scale this up for rehearsals/gigging, but without the weight. I thought one cab for rehearsals, two for gigging plus orange head would be a good rig.

Thanks for that. I bought some control knobs from them recently. I didn't hear much, but they just popped through the door over a week later. I wondered if they might be a bit more informative if you bought something more expensive. I think I'll hold off until things are "normal". Hope the bass works out ok.... I frequently lust after shiny new stuff on Bass Direct.

Lookng at the photo I thought he was selling a patch of concrete.

How long did it take to arrive? Did they use a courier? Considering buying some pickups from Bass Direct, but having some long waits for stuff at the mo... mainly Amazon and the PO.. Thomann were brilliant, and ll the way from Germany. Cheers

I did notice that the b******s had added a tuner to the Microbass III, then I wouldn't need a board at all. I'd probably get the same sound out of the III, but increased functionality... I'll ponder that one...

I have a bass-related vacuum in my brainspace caused by lack of rehearsals and no-gigs planned. GAS abhors a vacuum. I'm currently thinking about going superlight with a barefaced cab and maybe Ashdown head. But everything I have now just works so perfectly together. Will be ordering a new strap when delivery times are a bit better.

Here's one for the minimalist guys. I've had all kinds of stuff in the past... this is what I've arrived at now. Thought about the latest Microbass III, but don't think it would add to my "set and forget" killer tone set-up. Goes into a Rumble 500 with flat eq, then minor tweaks to the Rumble to suit the room.

Is that a Strippenbacker?

Mustang MIM PJ Pickguard courtesy of Jack's instruments in Manchester New loom and conversion to stacked knob VVT courtesy of KiOgon Control knobs courtesy of Bass Direct Bridge courtesy of Scaller (via Thomann) Pickups... original... they just sound soooo good now