chris_b

Oh dear!!

You've answered your own question. It doesn't matter what they sounded like, you couldn't lift them anymore. If you only think of your current amps as a compromise then you'll always be making yourself unhappy. The 3 and 7 are good amps. They sound good in their own right. Move on.

The Royal Philharmonic. Those bastards have been trading on the name for 100 years!!

Any number of stings on a bass is cool. All basses are cool, full stop! So, play the bass that makes you happy. That'll make you a better player, no matter how many strings you've got.

A "decent" Fender Precision would be a 2014 American Standard. It's unlikely that you can guarantee that a "vintage" Fender is better than a more recent one.

Well I got thorough 2020 just buying a Roqsolid cover for my Barefaced BB2. That was it! First, last, best and worst purchase rolled into one. 6 gigs. My worst gig total in 35 years. Let's hope 2021 gets better. . . . Happy New Year.

There are Bergantino 2 x AE112 and 2 x CN112 cabs in the classifieds. Either would be a classy and great sounding rig, with any amp you choose.

These basses are 100% Warwick's responsibility and made in their own factory. That Roger Sadowsky has had to get involved at all seems like a massive vote of no confidence in Warwick's ability to execute the terms of their licence agreement with him.

I have the Amazing Grace CD, so I'll be watching. And the Respect documentary that's on afterwards.

But it's not his factory or responsibility. That should be down to Warwick. I'd like to have heard that phone call to Hans-Peter Wilfer!!

The Warwick Sadowsky basses are produced under licence, so, responsibility for all sales, manufacturing and QC is down to Warwick. I guess this is Roger Sadowsky's delegation nightmare.

+1 But if they make you sound like a better version of yourself, that's a win.

A few years ago, about 30, when Loot and cards in music shop windows was the internet, many bassist ads were for Radiohead bands. I had no idea what that meant. It took me 6 months to find a band with a repertoire I understood.

If you want to pep up this bass, get a good outboard pre amp, like the EBS Valve Drive, or Sadowsky SBP1.

. . . . but we shouldn't have to. You'd have expected Warwick to have fixed this issue (now seen in the UK and US) in the testing phase!! Sadowsky quality control was legendary. Maybe these could be called teething problems, but how did Warwick let basses with such problems "escape".

I've done many gigs where that number of frets would be just fine.

On a solid body electric bass a bridge does 5 things; anchors the strings, intonates the strings, adjusts the action, sets the width of the strings and passes the energy from the string vibrations into the body and then back again. The weight and material of the bridge affects this last point. BBOT's were fine in the 50's when bass amps struggled to be heard past the 2nd row and your competition was an upright bass. These days the sonic information in a bass signal chain is significantly more complex than back in the day, and that's all thanks to the many small advances in the engineering (as in modern bridges) of our bass gear.

Surely there’s already enough gear in the UK?

Ask him what his favourite tune is and teach him that.

When I was a kid, I just wanted to survive the education system. I just about did that, then the plan was to be a rich and famous bass player. Failed miserably on that one.

We should all be capable of playing both fingering styles and to know which is appropriate, ie to avoid stretching. So Simandl low on the neck and Saimadl or 1FPF further up the neck.

Sadly no video, but we were queuing at Universal, in Orlando, and about a dozen black teenage school girls, joined the queue behind us. They were very loud, happy and boisterous, then they started singing. Wow, I've never heard such great voices. The hairs on my arms stood up. They were like a hip hop gospel choir. I could have stood there all day listening to those girls.

Sell this bass and buy a Travis Bean.

No. I play everything on the same bass. IMO it's not worth trying to sound like your heroes. Chasing their tone and sound rarely works. Sound like you.

If being in a band is the equivalent of playing a round of golf then OK, but this is why IMO it's usually preferable to keep friends and band members separate if you are more serious about being a musician.