warwickhunt

You've started on the right foot. Try looking at social media for local bands playing similar music and track where they are playing, no point chasing venues that won't suit. A phone call is often better than a FB message but be prepared to be fobbed off. A couple of points and some may disagree but I've got 40+ years of this... don't be tempted to cut your fee to get gigs; you'll end up very quickly with a label of being a £xyz band and venues won't pay you more, neither will the venue who booked you cheap (you will get the odd venue/manager that might but these days it is dog eat dog and managers rarely stay/last). Watch social media pages for venues wanting bands at short notice, register/like FB groups which are for musicians/bands/venues; chase and take these gigs at every opportunity. It is much easier to get gigs when you are on the inside. Bear in mind that a venue/pub putting bands on 1 night a week will only ever need 12 bands that they like/know will pull punters. Those 12 bands will get 3-4 gigs a year which leaves very little chance of getting in.

So essentially it is a natural finish Caprice bass with x2 J (shaped) humbuckers as opposed to the painted model with PJ humbuckers.

Yeah but wait till you see the tone controls on my cooker... they genuinely colour the food!

The humour of this is swerving me (PLEASE tell me the whole thing is a massive urine extraction) and is bordering on irritating.

I have either a pair of TC RS210 cabs (never gigged with a single as the band are loud) or a TKS 115 / TKS 112 (x2). Sounded equally good with either the TC or TKS though I preferred it with TC cabs, it tended to self compress (is that an actual thing) and fatten up even more than any combination of the TKS cabs (obvs couldn't gig all 3 TKS cabs).

I play in a loud rock covers band which regularly (nearly always) gigs without me using our PA to support the bass. I had in my possession at the same time: Handbox WB100 (120w) all valve, EBS HD350 (350w) solid state, TC Staccato (350w) class D, Thunderfunk 550 solid state and a Tech Soundsystems Blackcat (1000w) valve pre / class D power. I would happily (genuinely happy) gig the Handbox as I would any of the other amps with regards to being heard in a loud band. As an aside I have an Ashdown 120w SS combo which runs out of steam even when playing with an amplified acoustic band BUT the speaker in the combo could equally be the limiting factor. Saying that I'd have no faith in using a solid state amp of less than 250/350 with my rock covers band.

Ditto

How much?

What are the neck body woods of your bass and what are the pups (type/SC/humbuckers)? Sadowsky pups are invariably actually humbuckers not single coil even though they are in sc casings. Are you comparing like for like?

California VSII (I think) and the burst is the 'hard aged'. Both had/have Delano pups and their active 2 band pre (is it Glock?), which is pull/passive.

No Lindy Fralin (passive) on the Blue one. The aged burst came with 70's Fender pup (passive), which I reverted to original Delano + active. I've got the original Delano + actives for Bluey but I'm reluctant to change back as it sounds sweet.

I dislike/hate blue basses with a passion... but it was love at first sight with this one. I think it is the maple board that does it; with a dark fingerboard it would be 'Meh'!

Hmmmm. I only discovered this morning that the former own had removed a drop tuner before selling it to me... which just sold on ebay! It was a Hipshot bass Xtender HE6C 1/2 and doesn't seem to have left any marks on the bass.

My pair... just need to find an equally light J type.

If anyone of us were asked to draw a P bass on a blank bit of paper (I deliberately didn't state Fender or Precision), we would draw... Insert PICTURE What we wouldn't draw is anything that didn't have the aesthetically correct body shape, with 4 on the side tuners which has a single pup (be it split or otherwise).

I agree... end of! Will it stop me buying/trying other basses and equipment... NO because I came to the conclusion some time back that what I want/need/desire is in no way connected with what is needed/wanted in a live band/music setting. I've been around the doors long enough that I've met myself coming back into fashion and I've even bought back instruments/equipment that I sold years ago (now the proud owner of my original Thunderfunk AND Tech Blackcat amps) but it's for my own personal gratification. A classic example of why it matters not one iota is that I recently went down the route of IEMs so that I could see how little gear I needed to gig. I threw myself in the deep end; bought £50 IEM, borrowed a transmitter, ditched backline and rocked up to my band gig with an Aria Sinsinado bass which I've never gigged EVER and sounds nothing like any of my other basses. I went through FOH band PA and at the end of the gig, the drummer hadn't noticed and the punters didn't give a sh*t and did the dickish things that punters do when tanked up. Did I enjoy it... No. So back to sourcing my fave backline and playing whatever bass colour goes with my shirt!

Why can't you sand your cab on its side? As has been said, you aren't far enough off the floor to lose bottom end.

Does anyone know if there is a drop D tuner that is specific to the Sandberg range or at the least one that would fit? Not my actual bass but this style?