chris_b

Marc, I'd recommend the Noel McCalla band and Redtenbacher's Funkestra on the last 2 Sundays at Boaters in Kingston. Then bring your bass to the Jam night at The Oak, 98 Richmond Road, Kingston upon Thames on Wednesday 13th July. 8.30 start.

One of the 46. Beautiful and unique. About 20 years ago I heard someone playing Martin Kemp's JG in the Bass Cellar, Denmark Street. It was the best sounding bass I've ever heard. I had a mortgage and young kids so I couldn't afford the £1000 price tag. A "one that got away" moment. I still regret being so sensible. A lot later I asked Pete Stephens if he could build me a 5 string that sounded like that. He said they were close but couldn't replicate the sound. He thought the sound of all their basses changed slightly when the UK went metric and they had to use different sized wire for the pickups.

An American bass player told me I was "meat and potatoes". "Solid playing" is another thing I hear a lot, which I guess is pretty much the same thing. I have been told that I have a great sound, but anyone with my gear should give up if they didn't sound good.

I'll never get that picture out of my head!!

With only one exception, who was/is a total dick, in the same 35 years as the OP I've played with very good drummers who have been very normal people. The good thing for me is I don't play with beginners, guys who have little experience or anyone playing as a hobby. All the guys I know have been around the block, know what to do and how to do it and most are making a living out of playing drums. The rule is that you work on recommendation and anyone who doesn't match up doesn't get asked. On the other hand I've know far more flaky guitarists and singers!

Why do you need to change? You could easily improve your sound by replacing the pickups.

For a Ska band? Bartolini, Duncan or Aguilar. I'd start with passive and see what sound you can develop. My passive P bass (with SD's) is the best sounding bass I've owned in years. A set of GHS flats would thump it up nicely.

Here's another vote for a second cab before you try to push your current cab any further. You'll get more SPL from doubling your speaker area than from upgrading to a slightly more powerful amp. When I used Bergs I stacked 3 112's with a 2 ohm amp, now my 2 SC's are easily loud enough for my loudest band with a TH500.

I've just been watching a Meters video from the 80's and George Porter Jr, a long time finger style player (I thought), is using a pick. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J28WHPh8_VE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J28WHPh8_VE[/url]

I got a set of imperial and metric Allen keys from B&Q for about £8.

Seems to me you've got a clean sounding bass going into a clean sounding amp and a transparent cab. More on the hi-fi side of things. This will sound night and day different to a tube amp and a very coloured cab. I wonder what your objective was when you put your gear together. Never mind the festival. Did it sound good to you on the gigs you did previously? You could try your bass and cab with something like a Tonehammer TH500 or an Ashdown. Or just EQ more low end and low mids into your sound. I use a PJ5 and Lakland. They always sound ballsy no matter what amp I use.

Bare wood will get dirty and mark up. I'd take just enough off the surface to remove the shine without going down to the wood.

Peter Tosh made a great version of Johnny B Goode.

My favourites. . . . Toots and the Maytals

If you want just 1 112 and with your budget. . . . . I'd also checkout Barefaced cabs. With BF you have a 1 month trail period.

Fair enough. I don't know your budget but there have been some very interesting 34" scale Sadowsky's in the classifieds recently.

What kind of comments put you off? Maybe we can straighten things out for you. Also I'd send Alex an email. I would imagine you're much more likely to get an in depth answer to a question in an email. I replaced Bergantino 212 and 112 cabs with 2 Super Compacts. I started with 1 and liked it so much I went out and bought another. Now I run 1 or 2 depending on the gig. For me there are no downsides to Alex's cabs. I use a Thunderfunk 750, Aguilar TH500 and recently a Mesa Boogie D800. These amps all sound better than ever through my BF cabs.

If you're not going to replace your BF with another (I'd recommend an SC or a Two10) I'd look at the 2 Berg CN112's for £900 at Bass Direct. Fantastic tone and more volume than you need from these cabs with your current amp.

I play it in A but don't use open strings. There's no significant reason. I just don't use open strings that often in any number. Never have.

A legacy of a life in bands (apart from tinnitus) is that my left shoulder is permanently 2 inches higher than my right. And that's from years of playing basses that have mostly been on the right side of heavy. I have no idea what my short lived Fender Precision Special weighed when I played it in the 80's but even as a fit and healthy 30 something my knees used to buckle after 20 mins. My Lull is 8.5 lbs, Lakland 9.5lbs, Fender J 10lbs, TF750 23lbs, TH500 4lbs and BF SC 21lbs. My accessories case is the heaviest thing I carry these days. I'm thinking of splitting that into 2 smaller and lighter cases. When you get a bad back you make sure you know the weight of everything.

I used to play my P bass with an acoustic folk rock band and then my Lakland and Lull 5 stringers with a folk, ragtime, blues guitarist. It's not what you play but how you play it that counts.

I dep with a reggae band and a [u]good[/u] Jamaican born and bred drummer is a musical force of nature. It's an amazing playing experience.

While you're there don't forget to take in Austin, TX and New Orleans, LA. Also the Alamo is down near the Mexican border.