chris_b

Many years ago, I replaced my original Fender Precision pickup with Bartolini. My sound went from average and anaemic to a glorious dynamic, punchy and warm sound. The Barts that came on my early Lakland 55-94 produced an equally fantastic sound.

I have a piece of soft foam under the flats on my P bass, which seems to control the tone by the right amount. Can't remember where it came from. I've tried various types, including a harder foam from a washing up sponge, but it was too hard and killed the tone.

I'm not an MM fan, but I like the look of the 35th bass. I like hardcases but I only used them when posting a bass. A Vertigo M80 gets all the gigs.

Snobbery is when someone buys expensive gear when they can't tell the difference. Inverted snobbery is when someone buys cheap gear and claims there is no difference.

Hey 5, nice job.

Markbass are probably suffering from the same supply chain issues that's stopped Mesa exporting their amps.

Gear is just stuff. I listen to the player. If he's a good I don't care what he's playing.

Hopefully what Alex does right now will enable him to weather this economic crisis.

I know a guitarist who does a couple of festivals in Northern Ireland . He used to travel to Dublin and drive up, now because of Brexit, the paper work to take a band to an EU country is over £300. He's panning to take the ferry to Belfast now, a much longer journey.

IMO Wal are doing just what they need to do in order to maintain their brand. Pete Stevens passed the whole company over to Paul Herman (an ex Wal luthier), so they are very much genuine Wal basses.

I got a great sound out of a Mesa Boogie 115EV cab for many years and my current 112's exceed anything that cab could put out. My guess is that this is always a preference based choice. Some like 15's some don't. I've been with 112's for about 12 years now. Can't see that changing any time soon.

I wouldn't choose one neck over the other. So far I've only played bolt on necks, but it's never been a consideration. I'd take what ever comes on the bass that I prefer.

I'll also suggest a pickup directly wired to the jack plug socket. You can have an outboard preamp clipped to your belt.

How light is your definition of lightweight? After a back injury, mine is any lift that is less than 24lbs (11kg). I use a Barefaced SC and an SM, 21.5lbs each, sounds fantastic and louder than a loud thing. With these cabs you don't need FOH.

They do this with furniture as well. A carpenter friend built a refectory table and then customer decided it had to look like "Oliver Cromwell's troops used it!"

The most musical pleasure I get is when I've done a great gig. Can't beat that feeling.

Nice colour.

I haven't seen her live but, on all the videos I've seen, I'd agree with your review of her sound. She's obviously a great player, with plenty of great licks, but that's not a good sound!!

Any amp will go into any cab, as long as you match the watts to the cabs capabilities. Doubling the power of the amp will give you very little extra volume. Adding a second cab will give you a lot more volume and better tone, simply by moving more air. Most 112 cabs are 8 ohms, so when you see an 800 watt amp being used it's only putting out 400 watts at the most, and most of these amps will not be running flat out. I am probably using 150-200 watts when I#'m running my 800 watt amp into 1 cab.

I consider both my basses to be #1's. The bass I choose depends on my back. On good days I'll pick up my Sadowsky Jazz. On bad days I'll play my Mike Lull PJ5 bass. It's all down to the weight. Sometimes I'll start with the Jazz and switch to the P for the 2nd set.

My Japanese RV5 Metro is a great bass . Easy to play and with a huge tone. I tried a chambered NYC in Guitar Guitar in Epsom, and I preferred the sound of my Metro.

Solo bass rather than bass solo. . . . Francois Rabbath

Playing a song in front of an audience isn't about listening to the song, or even liking it. Who wrote it is even less important. It's about performance, keeping an audience interested and entertainment. Then it's about playing well as a bassist and playing well as a unit.

We were just finishing my first ever gig, at a youth club, and the singer said, "We'd now like to do the last number". All the lights came on and the caretaker was walking up the room saying, "I wouldn't bother mate. They've all gone home!".

Separate amp and cab. Then you can upgrade either at will. You can also use amp+cab for small gigs and amp+cab+cab for larger gigs.