Beedster

I plug in my 600w Mesa head and 1516 cab at home, at rehearsals, and on stage. If I want more volume I turn it up, if I want less I turn it down. Occasionally I feel it would be easier to have a smaller and lighter rig for smaller gigs, but I get over it once I hear it

As if Trump and Brexit weren't enough change to be going on with......

This ^ I can't speak for the effects of fretting a formerly fretless neck, but I've had basses that sang with a fretless neck and were comparatively lifeless when a fretted neck was installed (I like to chop and change necks). OK, the fact that it's both the original neck and that it's graphite reduces the risk somewhat, but I can't help feeling that Tony's advice is good advice 👍

Welcome Chris, great that you’ve joined us, many many many Trace and Status fans here, suspect you’re gonna be kept busy 👍

You do some lovely interesting gigs Michael 👍

Which has solved problems with two of my amps over the years 👍

Blondie basslines are like ABBA basslines, sound simple until you try to play them 👍

Explain?

I feel your pain guys, but I've engineered a very simple GAS-management rule now, I only own basses that have Fender compatible 4-bolt neck construction. Basses that arrive in my place cease to be basses, they become donors. There's two real benefits, some necks just sing with some bodies, and it's interesting and satisfying to go through that journey, and I can beat the urge for a new bass by simply swapping around a few components. I've about 4 fretless and six fretted necks, and around 10 loaded bodies (Precision, Jazz, Tele, Jag). Obviously neck-through basses like that in this thread rather mess things up, which is one reason I wouldn't chase it again if it came up for sale, no matter how lovely it was, same with the BB2024MX 👍

Nice post. I studied Electronic Music Technology for three years in the early 80's largely as the result of Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, and dare I say it, Georgio Moroder (as well as the BBC Radiophonic Workshop)! For me, while at the time the technological achievement was huge, it was clear that by the early 90's pretty much any idiot with a synth could do what those guys had done. Does that lessen anything? I think it's like this.... There are probably 4-year olds who can play it now, but man, so what. In it's moment it was glorious, every 14-year old kid on the planet wanted to be able to play it. I listen to Kraftwerk today and love the fact that you can hear the hiss as they turned on a machine, various clicks and thumps and other random noises, the odd cough or grumble. My acoustics lecturer told me once that the test of a good orchestral recording was whether you could hear the pages being turned, i have always felt that. As is so often the case, it's the errors/weaknesses/nuances that make the art - the 5/4 bar in Rain, the mic stand falling over in Long Distance Love, Bonzo's squeaky pedal - OK they're extreme examples but the reality is that when music is made by humans in real time you can tell. AI can probably do that, but it probably won't because the people who'd use AI to make music would not see music that way.

And that was all state of the art by comparison with how =Kraftwerk recorded their first album, I must re-read that book

I hope so

There’s good advice and experience above, I don’t think it’s enough, others do, you won’t know unless you try 👍

Then the answer is no

That I think it going to be the downfall of this when owner reviews emerge, I long ago ditched attractive open front/back retro tolex head cases due to the number of times I or one of my bandmates broke controls when moving the gear around. I get that the manufacturers seem to think that this is more of an installation unit - theatre pits, rehearsal rooms, and studios - but they're all situations in which, while the unit might not be in and out of a van or car boot every day, space is still at a premium, and instruments, mic/drum stands, and various other solid objects are often being moved around with less care than should be the case (my DB's current impromptu extra soundhole is testament to the effects of a poorly placed mic stand and a clumsy musician). I've not found any evidence of the manufacturer asking bassists themselves what they need from a small form factor combo in the was Mesa/ @agedhorse have been doing recently. Perhaps they'll need to do some after the fact market research re cases etc?