Paul S

Speaking of value for money short scale, I had a Squier VM Mustang that was fantastic. Played and sounded better than a '79 Musicmaster I had at the time. Cost me £180 iirc.

I saw them at Wembley in '78. Kind of set the bar - enjoyed many gigs as much but not sure I have enjoyed any more. Be nice to go back and see if it was as good as the rose tinted specs recall

Or transport it in a case without racking it?

As the Westone Thunders have already been mentioned my vote would be the Washburn Scavenger. I love double cutaway basses and I felt the proportions of this were just right. Weighed far too much, approaching 11lbs, otherwise I would still have mine. Close second would be the made in USA Peavey Fury - an aggressive P bass with one of the nicest, slim Jazz width necks I have played. Yamaha BB425 must be worth a mention - the low B feels like an instrument costing 3 times as much. All £200+/- secondhand.

Indeed! And much less of a wait than some boutique custom builds.

No sofa pic yet but apparently mine is finished and on the next pallet in 2 weeks time. Its been a punishing 16 weeks!

Should have gone to Specsavers! I had everything immediately to hand - Supercompact, tape measure... but not my glasses. That'll teach me

660mm

Yes. There isn't quite the headroom but, frankly, it isn't needed. I did actually buy a second Supercompact but it stays at home unless I am feeling particularly decadent. Might even be moving it on, in fact.

Yup. I had a Compact and a Midget. Compact was deep but lacked a tightness at the top end. Midget was tight at the top but lacked bottom. Together they sound brilliant. I replaced these two with a Supercompact, which sounds like the two together in one cab.

... and designed by JK Rowling?...

Seems most people's attitude is supportive and flexible, which is nice to hear. My two bands are the same, which is gratifying. I remember in previous band I lived just 3 miles from one of the guitar players so we decided to lift share for most of the gigs. However, the first time we used his car it became clear he was such an appalling driver that I made sure I always managed to drive afterwards!

My basses and home practice rig live in the spare room that I euphemistically call my 'office' where I also have all the office-a-bilia, pc, A0 drawing table, reference books etc. Everything else lives in a cupboard we had built under the stairs with spare cabs and head sitting on a wheeled dolly thing that slides into the depths easily. This is all going to change soon, though. We are thinking of having the closed stairs replaced with an open stair case which will look cool as flip (testing the profanity filter out) in our mid C20th styled home but leave all this clobber homeless.

The 'gigging without a car' thread made me think about the way bands share the tasks that make them bands. Specifically with reference to physical health and mobility - and mine has taken a downward turn in the past few weeks. How much should we rely on our band mates to help? Or, perhaps, how much should we expect our band mates to tolerate a lack of help? My own situation - I have had a weak sacro-iliac joint for years - now own lightweight gear which I can move around with no problem. But, unless my back was specifically playing up I would also help with the load in/out, set up/breakdown of pa, drums because I think it is the right thing to do. However, in recent weeks I have managed to get myself an inguinal hernia and, more recently still, now have an L4-5 slipped disc and a L3-4 bulge. It is all new to me so at the moment I am very wary of shifting anything much at all - my own kit for sure but the lightest stuff I have. I certainly won't be helping anyone else with any lifting and will be relying on my band mates' goodwill in this respect. At least, until I have had an opportunity to discuss the ramifications of it all and get in some physio/exercises. Hopefully this is only a short term issue and I will be back to helping out in a few months. But it makes me wonder - how do the fitter people out there regard this situation - having a band member who can't pull his own weight when it comes to shifting the shared stuff? Tolerated happily/begrudgingly? Would it fester and become a problem, does anyone think?

This gives me food for thought - II will start a new thread 'Gigging without full mobility'

The settee is looking a bit worn. Or am I thinking of something else? That looks amazing. I've never picked up a Wal (not sure I could - aren't they a bit heavy?) but love everything about the look of them!

Doing this in the correctly spelled feedback thread... Tim answered my plea for a Barefaced One10, selling me his minty one for a good price. Immediate dispatch - he actually paid a premium for next day am delivery, which was much appreciated. Well packaged, too. Nice friendly fella - great comms - perfect transaction - deal with confidence!

Tim answered my plea for a Barefaced One10, selling me his minty one for a good price. Immediate dispatch - he actually paid a premium for next day am delivery, which was much appreciated. Well packaged, too. Nice friendly fella - great comms - perfect transaction - deal with confidence!

I wonder if he'll bring my new bass along - should be ready any time now!

I bought one of these after it was flagged up on here a while back. Lots of little partitions inside keeps it all neat. Not the best build quality but it seems ok so far and it is silly cheap! https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B012AVEOZI/ref=pe_3187911_189395841_TE_3p_dp_1

Another option to consider would be to look at Maruszczyk basses - a bewildering assortment off the peg or dip into the configurator and you can get whatever you want. They are surprisingly affordable. https://public-peace.de/maruszczyk-instruments/mi-bass

I remember the first time I used my Trace head with both Supercompacts - a bass player was standing right at the back of the venue - nothing large maybe 200 at a squeeze - and he said it was like being hit in the guts when I started to play

uh oh...

I'm a big fan of the TE sound. What I did to overcome the weight issue of the gear was to buy on here a few years ago an ABS rack-mounted head - now (well, pre-hernia ) a manageable 12kg. Barefaced Supercompact in the other hand - balanced carry in, lumbar nice and comfy.