itu

That was the original reason I have used that in few of my basses. Simple blend pot cuts highs and with a vol they change the sound.

I'd go with a switch: ser/par, or ser/single. The more you put pots to the signal, the less you get highs when the impedance gets lower. Every pot in a signal means that they act as tones, too. That's why I like Mixpot.

Boss SY-1 has similar feature. It tracks surprisingly well, although I feel that it makes a calculation and follows after a short delay, like after the Attack (ADSR, anyone?). But if there's any signal coming in, the note stays there for ages.

That body colour is nice, but I will not hunt that one because of the not dark fretboard. I have played a nice Pensa-Suhr, and that I would buy, but it has disappeared completely.

I saw the gig where Clarke, Wooten and Miller were playing together. To me the whole set sounded lame, because it felt like a set of showoffs, but no songs/music. There Miller was probably the best while backing up his two colleagues. When he started to thumb, the feel was lost just like with the two others. I have seen Clarke soloing with his band and it was a really good show, likewise when Wooten was playing with Bela Fleck.

Smörgås? I may be Danish. Could it be Rutgerssån(g)?

If you want B/T/tone, and blend/vol, your wish not to have stacked pots is rough. However if you leave T away, put the output jack to side or back (consider Strat style plate, like in Ritters have), you could have 4 pots in the front. Or if the T has switch and works as a tone, too, that would do. I think John East had one option, where all adjustments were divided to separate pots, but I couldn't find it now. His preamps are highest end, and are designed in a very interesting way. John used to design mixing consoles, and it can be seen in his creations.

A preamp may have some or many of the following features: - active mixing (instead of two vol, or blend) - bass -middle - treble - semiparametric eq - filter - tilt eq - individual adjustments for two pickups or coils On top of that there may be: - ser/par/single switching for pickups or coils - pickup selector - passive, or rather, hi-Z switch - hi-Z tone During the years some effects have been built to basses, like fuzz, and comp. Even a headphone amp. List the feats you want, and we can try to recommend something suitable to your bass.

@spyder: two more to reach 5.

Use a name tag Björn Svensson. Tape the bass with a SAAB or Volvo or Bahco logo, and the amp with an SSAB. SSAB is a metal company, as far as I know. If I remember right the bass string core comes from Sandvik.

...or disco lights.

I can see tin, and components, but the iron has been cold on the table.

I think - although not my idea - that a good sideman is far more important than a flashy soloist. It may even be so that a flashy soloist can be a lame sideman. Such a player may not be the best bandmate.