Skybone

Just remembered, there's this in the Effects For Sale section... Might be worth a look at, it's certainly affordable.

Guess we're just teuchters.

I had a couple of the PRS SE Soapbar Singlecut's. Great wee guitars. Stupidly sold the first one, and had a hankering for another one a few years after I sold the first. Tracked down another, again, great sounding & playing guitar, but again, sold it on.

Loads of options around humbucker sized P90's from the smaller pickup manufacturer's in the UK, and at various price points as well. Companies like Bare Knuckle, Gemini, Bulldog, Creamery, House of Tone, etc., etc. do variations on P90's, and will do humbucker sized versions as well (they were all the rage a few years back). Well worth looking at before buying any, as I always found the replacement pickups from the "main manufacturer's" to be a bit "sterile" (which is the last thing you want in a P90).

I would disagree with that slightly. If you stick to the speed limits, you're looking at a good 5 hours from Glasgow to Inverness (done that one regularly... ), John o Groats is a good 2.5 hours from Inverness on a good day, probably more in Summer when the tourists and their camper vans clog up the NC500 (used to go up to Wick regularly too... ). As far as I'm aware, there are no Wal's for sale in Orkney, but that's possibly a good thing, because if you drive from Glasgow to Scrabster or Gills Bay, get the ferry to Orkney, you'll be knackered. Overnight stop in Orkney, buy the Wal, then drive back to Glasgow, it'd be far easier and cheaper to get one from England-cester-shire. Just saying.

You probably are looking at adding some sort of Pre-Amp before feeding the bass into the PA, though not necessarily. However, if you want to do some recording as well, then a Pre-Amp will be your best option. How do you record your guitar(s)? Zoom do a few decent multi FX's at a reasonable price, like the B1-Four, or the B3n. You could also maybe think about something like the Line6, Boss or other modelling Multi FX's. They have the flexibility of adding not only a low latency USB interface, but also Guitar and Bass amp/cab/effects models. There is also the "dedicated" bass Pre-Amp/DI pedals available, such as the Tech21 Bass Driver, VT Bass, Behringer's inexpensive BDI pedal, and plenty of other options. I'd argue that a Multi FX would give you more flexibility when recording, as well as having effects to play with. The caveat here though is that you need to spend some time getting your "base" sound, before moving into effects (as you would do with a "normal" guitar/bass > amp > effects setup).

And of course, it depends on where about's in Scotland you're going to be working. Scotland's a big place...

And cost more per pickup than the set of handwound pickups. Not sure what the pickups are, but I doubt they're Ric ones. No Vintage circuit, TBH, not sure if I want it. I always liked the ballsy tone of my old 4003 & my Faker's without the push/pull.

Unfortunately, the sound is disappointing. The neck pickup's too loud & the bridge is weak & thin. I've ordered a set of Gemini Waverider's, in the hope that a matched pair will even things out, and sound better. A new TRC is on the way too.

@Maude

Not my build, but built for me.

NCRFD - New Custom RickenFaker Day

He still is. Saw The Stranglers a few years ago, and he's still a darned fine player.

New Custom RickenFaker Day. So I now have my dream bass. A cross between a 4003 and a 4004 (though more 4003 to be fair). Utterly gorgeous, grinning like a buffoon.

Very true. I was an analogue purist a number of years back, but then I discovered how good the newer generations of digital multi fx's were. If you treat them as you would any analogue device, and use your ears, they are very good.

Very nice.

Another fan of Servisol.

Depends on what my criteria is (and available budget). It would be superb to go to a music shop that has a good selection of different basses to try some out, unfortunately, I don't have that luxury. There's only a couple of shops, and they only stock the usual Fender/Squier basses (or derivatives). If you're lucky, there may be something else, but generally, low to mid price, rarely anything over £500. If you want anything different, you need to search online. Had a number of good experiences buying online, had a couple of bad experiences too. Live and learn.

Don't know about 'best', but I bought some Fender Custom Shop leads about 5 years ago, they're still going strong which is always a good sign.

And of course, it depends what you "want"... Musicians, bands, basses, amps, pedals, other stuff? There's sections for it all, just scroll down the main forum list.

He was running a competition on Facebook a while back, "Like & make a comment to be entered". Liked the post, made a comment, and was then inundated with messages from SBL every couple of hours.

I'd say that an inexpensive Multi FX might well be a better purchase at the moment that stumping up for individual pedals. Mainly down to the multitude of options available in the pedal market, from relatively inexpensive pedals, through to expensive boutique pedals, finding the "right" combination for you is a bit of a costly minefield, especially if you just want to get in and do some recording. A Multi FX should enable you to play about with a number of different effects in a relatively short space of time. Also add in to the mix that most of them will have amp & cab sims as well (unless you use something else for that), and that they should enable you to use the pedal as a USB recording interface on the more expensive ones (Zoom B3n, Helix, etc.) Options: Zoom B1-4 or the B3n (maybe look for a second hand B3?). Line6 POD HD Desktop/HD300/HD400, or for a fair bit more, the HD500x (you'll have to factor in getting the HD Bass Pack, around £25). Boss ME50B

I'd say that if you're familiar & comfortable working with Cubase, then I'd go for a high spec Windows machine & equivalent USB audio interfaces. Try and get something with a few USB 3 or higher connectors. The more memory the better, and a good size HDD. Maybe something with separate video memory as well, so a gaming machine would be a good bet.