Boodang

I've got a spare car on the roof! But it's a good point. Most of it I'm not going to cry over as it's all replaceable except maybe my custom bass which I wouldn't leave behind. As it happens (touch wood) the Volvo 240 has never let me down and I've had it for the last 12 years.

In 40yrs of playing I've never broken a string and yet I still can't help but take spare sets (plural) to a gig!

Looking through the 'what car do you use' thread and there seems to be a few people with small cars just taking one bass and one amp to a gig. So got me thinking, what do most people take... just the basics with no backup, or everything except the kitchen sink? I fall very much into the latter category and catastrophise at all the things that could go wrong. When I first started gigging I didn't even have spare strings, then one night the guitarist said 'what happens if you break one?'. Fair point, and from that point onwards I couldn't stop thinking about what would could go wrong. I usually bring 3 or 4 basses anyway but I also bring a spare amp/cab, obviously spare leads (usually quite a few), spare strings (each bass has a different set, so I bring spares for each), then there's my box of stuff with duck tap, soldering iron, selection of spare connectors (neutrix Jack's, xlr, jack chassis, 9v etc), spare psu's, fuses (various; mains but also the ones found inside the amps we're using), plus a few adapters (xlr to jack, stereo to mono jack etc), then a selection of extension leads, tools (snips, allen, screw drivers, etc), mains tester plug, multi meter.... I'm sure I've left some stuff off the list! Plus spare effect pedals for my favourite ones I can't do without. And I have even been known to carry spares for other musicians if I think they're not very prepared. Was in one band where I always brought along a spare snare and bass drum pedal, plus a spare mic for the vocalist. And that's why I need a Volvo 240 estate at least to get my gear to a gig!

Well, in fairness, there is a lot of 'Hot Tuna' involved.

Well, it's a personalised plate as my name is Mr Turbo!

Volvo 240 estate. I've got a 1989 version, £500, goes forever, never breakdown, no onboard computers to go wrong, volvo still make all the spares and great for those IKEA trips as well!

Absolutely! I do wonder sometimes what people are doing here when they post 'who cares' type replies when, as you adroitly put it, this is a discussion forum. Another 2 pennies worth from me on the OP... I would say 41hz E and a scale shorter than 41".

The KMA looks awesome, I can see a use for that on my board. As for a low end bump, the two things I'm currently using for this... the TC Electronic Spectracomp is 3 band, I've got a faster attack & higher ratio in the low frequencies, slower attack and less ratio in the mid/highs which that work nicely: and by accident found a great bass boost setting in the Seamoon Funk Machine where it effectively just works as an eq filter without a sweep... awesome lowend, in the Neil Jason video it's very dub but you can tune it higher so it doesn't evacuated your bowels every time you play.

I've found the tri parallel mixer to be so useful it's now at the heart of my pedalboard. Apart from being able to switch between channels, parallel effects blending has become a big thing for me, and some effects like my Solid Gold FX supa funk do not like a hot signal, so with this I can tame the level going to the unit but increase on return. A very versatile little mixer.

This defines what ISN'T a bass. They might have called it a bass guitar but at 24" scale it's more guitar than bass.

Well you could say that but you could also say why read a BC thread when you could be practicing! Of course, by discussing what defines bass guitar you are digging into it's provenance and the wider question of how we see its role in music.

Despite it being called a 'bass guitar' I always think of it as a solid body version of a double bass, so an extension of the violin family not the guitar.

EHX tri parallel mixer... would this work for you? It can switch between channels or you can have them in parallel.

For me the benchmark is the double bass where the low E is 41hz. After all the bass guitar is derived from this.

Hmm, let me think about that offer.. for a nano second!!!!

Obviously still a work in progress. It will end up with a Babicz bridge and Galli Synthesis flatwounds.

This build is an accidental byproduct of another thread where I was looking at the Seymour Duncan Weather Report pickups and contemplating a 'Jaco' style bass. So, I contacted my local luthier, who's done lots of work for me, to discuss the project and as an aside he showed me a body he had made a while ago but had never been taken further. However, I'm so taken by the body that I've decided to take it further but it's certainly not going to be a Jaco bass! The body is a mahogany core with a flamed black walnut top, plain back and two maple stripes with a very contoured shape. It's going to be a set neck of mahogany with a maple stripe, graphite reinforcement, double action truss rod and a slab rosewood fretless fingerboard with maple fret lines. 7.5" to 12" compound radius with a '61 spec 36.5mm nut width and slim C jazz profile and a 2+2 level headstock. It's going to have 2 jazz pickups, for now the Weather Report ones as they've arrived, but we'll see how they go and I've potentially got the Nordstrand warm and wooly's in mind for this. I'm a passive bass guy, so this will be double stacked volume/tone as I like the tone pot for each pickup and the passive interaction of the pickups. I play finger style and pluck mostly over the board around the 18th fret area. I prefer to have the board under my fingers, so for those moments when I pluck further back I'm having the fingerboard extended up to the neck pickup to act as a finger ramp.

I remember the klaxon event, I'm not sure what was more of a noise, the klaxon or the slap happys!

As these cables are low capacitance and as my main gigs are more jazz orientated where I'm sitting down, I'm going to use them live as well as the studio as it's not exactly a harsh environment (although I'll use my normal cables for the Sex Pistols tribute band gigs I think!). The biggest damage will probably be to the braiding from the coiling/uncoiling but I'm sure they are not that delicate. After all the only way to really preserve them would be to not use them.

Palmer PWT12 would power the lot. It also has 4 outputs that are variable between 9 and 18v just in case. I've got 2 of these on my board and can't fault them especially at the price.

At the next gig you can make, turn up with a bass guitar and go all 'Billy Sheehan' on them to see how much fun you can have with them. That way the decision to stay or not will probably be taken out your hands!