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It's a little flawed as it suggests that a Jazz has one tone but with three pickups it has at least three distinct options before you play with the tone knob. And the examples are all FSOs to some degree and something like something with soap bars, a Rickenbacker, Gibson would have been good. It's a good video as far as it goes, but it could have been just a little better. I was surprised about the pickup changes, but when I've changed them maybe they've been more significant differences in design, for example overwound.

A fretted neck is a combination of the wood at the levelling of the frets. Without the frets, it might need additional work to level to make it a good fretless neck. And if you make an error pulling the frets you end up with no necks. I'd buy a second neck or bass if I were you.

Or a Tokai. I have more than one of those. I'm intending to be buried with the fretless.

I said "in some instances" and "virtually". I'd agree that there are many models that are not similar, apart from perhaps headstocks shape, but there are some that are really quite close. https://images.app.goo.gl/EWi7fmjB7zqZzLDi9 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/156645723240?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=lzb7hzhfthw&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=FrF8PzSQTWO&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY The main functional difference is the location of the jack socket, plus one has the pickup poles flipped (easily changed). One looks much better, though, assuming you like white pickup covers. Granted, the Thunders with exposed pole Magnatone style pickups seem to be relatively rare, but I don't think there's much difference other that pole visibility to the enclosed type, and there are a few variants of those. Whilst there's no exact analogue in the Westone catalogue for the Arias most favoured in the 1980s, the cachet of appearances on Top of the Pops seems to have attached to the whole brand, including models that didn't feature on TV often or at all. The layer Thunder II or III can probably get you close to the John Taylor sound. I had a III with Magnatones which seemed to do the job reasonably well and looked suitably 80s. However, there was a fault somewhere so some switch combinations didn't work so I sold it. I had a West one Thunder IA fretless, circa 86-87 build, sold it, and more recently picked up one of similar vintage fretted, both with Magnatones. In the end I decided that the pickup in roughly the MM position wasn't getting me the sound I wanted. I just sold my MM SUB for the same reason. The Thunder III I could probably fix now, and I wish I'd kept it.

Indeed. They are virtually the same instruments with different logos in some instances. Just one is "hip" because John Taylor used an Aria and one isn't.

It's interesting how opinions change - thirty years ago you had to pay people to take a Westone Thunder (or a 70s Fender) off your hands

It's "edgy". It also means I have to trawl for reviews as the copy is incomprehensible. Maybe I'm just too old and if I was under 30 it would seem more groovy and happening. A friend of mine uses a screen reader and might assume that it had gone rogue reading that page.

The pickup in the some 1As (with the Magnatone pickups) is closer to the bridge so sits somewhere between a P and MM in sound. Thunder IIs sometimes came in dual P. The Magnatone pickups on the III are essentially humbuckers, but with only half the poles installed to make them a split pickup, more-or-less, although IIRC, the neck pickup may be a little closer to the neck. On some you can potentially install extra poles and make them full humbuckers with a series/parallel option. The above is true of some of the Arias that look basically the same as the Westones.

When using a J bass I tend to just use the neck pickup. I have some old recordings that might be that or might be a P. I didn't label them at the time and I can't tell now. Yes, if I played one then the other now, I could tell, but I can't be definitive as to which on the recordings is a P or J.

What about the body shape is the issue? Or is it the body size?

It's 80s futurism, if a bit late. It's what Robocop would play if he played bass.

You want a body that isn't resonant. If any crystallization happens (debatable) it will result in higher stiffness and less resonance. With less resonance, you hear the strings better acoustically. A neck dead spot is an example of resonance.

Alto TS412 would be top of my list. I have a Soundcraft Ui16. I also have a Zoom R16 that has one dead and one noisy preamp, but it provides an option for linking a laptop to the Ui16 and using real sliders rather than as an audio interface. Or it did on my old laptop - I'll have to see if I can work out how I did it. The Ui16 can live on stage.

The JV I had was 42mm, but very shallow front to back.

Best one I had was a JV Squier, second best was a 1984 MIJ. Currently, my best is a 1990s P Lyte. Worst I had was one of two Cowpokes, second was fine. I wish I still had three of them. If you aren't set on an FSO, then early Westone Thunder Is are P basses. Tokai and Ibanez did some good copies or near copies.

What do you have?

Indeed. I can wait if necessary. Having decanted the PA amp into a rack bag, that's also somewhat easier. I expect the Yamahas will work better cranked, but possibly in the same ballpark. Whilst the NX3000 is pretty good in terms of price and weight, assessments of the true RMS output make me a little wary. 360W RMS (which the speakers should be able to handle in most scenarios) should give me reasonable headroom much of the time for the use case - any larger or well provisioned venue is likely to have its own PA, even if no monitors. But 250W which the NX3000 seems to actually output into 8 Ohms would make me concerned. I certainly don't want to push into clipping and kill the HF. It seems to be popular, but with a new retail cost of £150, I don't imagine I'd get more than £50 for it. I have all the bits, although I'm keeping the mixer! Actually, it would make a pretty decent set up for a rehearsal space where weight isn't a concern, so maybe there is merit in this. I seem to do very badly selling on eBay, though! The Samsons are 29lbs. They aren't fancy and begin to get a bit shrill when driven hard, but they aren't terrible. They certainly sound no worse than that old gear. They aren't going to win any prizes, but for occasional use they are fine. In theory I could dry hire, but I've done that in the past and it tends to be a bit of a pain and not cheap enough to make up for the inconvenience. Heavy subs still need to be got in an out of the car/trailer, possibly up and down steps into venues. That's the real point of pain. That having been said, there is something to be said for a speaker that is not powered and is a little lighter when it comes to putting them on poles. In a previous band around 2010, Mackies were in use, probably 12 inch and 200W but they may not have been class D and they were not fun to get onto the poles. Someone should invent speaker poles that are like giant car jacks. I have a digital mixing board already. The outboard gear is an active DI unit which may not be totally worthwhile (I have other individual DI boxes) and a feedback eliminator and parametric EQ which somewhat overlaps with the mixer's capability so might not be entirely necessary but it is pretty easy to use in a fire and forget mode. The DI unit is because it was a pain to lay out and gather back all those individual boxes every time. Every other gig one seemed to get lost. But the mixer has a couple of high impedance inputs and can even apply speaker simulation. Indeed. I'm asking here basically to get an idea of options as they arise. Thanks for taking the time to reply.

Vocals, acoustic instruments, synths, etc. It has varied between bands over time, so no easy answer here. From relatively quiet to offering ear plugs to the audience. For this PA, nothing has been through it in anger as I got it just before COVID and haven't had to use it so fast. Picking up the power amp again, I'm sort of glad :). If I was buying now, I would. My monitors are powered. They were the previous PA of disappointing loudness which made me shy away from active speakers in 2019. There didn't see anything as competitively priced as what I got then for occasional use, but I injured my back in the interim so anything above about 30lbs is a bit of a drag. None of the other components I have (speakers, cabs, amps, etc.) is above 30lbs. Granted, I haven't gigged in anger with the Samsons but I did test in a hall, and they sound fine to the loudness I'd likely need, but I'd get pennies for them on resale, I expect. That would force me towards something like the Alto TX at best to replace. I could probably sell other stuff I don't use much, though, which might make the Alto TS viable. I could get rid of 1x15 bass cabs and use one or two Samsons and probably get acceptable loudness which makes the active speakers more viable. They are equivalent at the low end to a TC BC208 based on specs, but with a piezo and about 1dB more sensitivity. It would be s bit quieter than currently, but should do the job. But it would look really ugly. I'd rather go slightly lighter and smaller on the bass can front but something used and more conventional looking. This appears to be the case. For the NX3000, Behringer quotes 440W RMS per side at 8 ohms, but testing suggests more like 250W. So what I did tonight was pull the outboard gear out of the rack bag they were in and put them in the 2U rack sleeve, ditching the EQ and compressor contained in my newer mixer. The outboard gear now weighs 20lbs, most of that being the sleeve. The amp should be 34lbs in the bag. It's closer.

I looked up the spec of the Behringer NX3000 as that's cheap enough for occasional use and about the same per channel into 8 ohms. Or maybe not, according to some who have tested it.

Adding another speaker cab of the same type could net you up to an extra 6dB, depending on how output scales with an impedance - it might also be only 4dB. More at the lower end depending on the geometry of two cabs together. Based on mixing, I find 3dB can be the difference between bass being hard to hear and just right, so 4 to 6dB could be very useful. With the efficiency of some of the BareFaced cabs it might be immaterial. EQ also matters, but if there are periods of solo bass it might be hard to balance cutting though and sounding pleasant.

Similar journey for me, although I got an Ashdown but no change in cabs as I'm already lightweight there. I did consider the Gnome but the Ashdown has an FX loop, just not quite the position in the chain I'd like, so I'm debating with myself. Warwick seems to now be the sound I have in my head, though.

Is the the 200 or 280W version?

I'd quite happily have the preamp out of one and a 1u class D power amp in a 3 or 4u package. I'm not sure you could obviously get one and insert a class D power amp. Certainly not with my skills! Trace Elliot did try to bring out a lighter line in the mid 90s.

So, in its rack sleeve, the T-amp E-800 clocks in at 41lbs on the bathroom scales, but a Warwick Profet in a rack bag, 29lbs, which is reasonable. The PA is supposed to be 28lbs, which means the sleeve (2U) must be 13 lbs! I've never weighed it empty. The Warwick is 22 lbs, so the bag must be 7lbs, although I'd be happy to have one without all the extra pockets. If I just swapped the containment, it would be roughly 35lbs source. But instead I might just see what outboard gear I want to put in 2U that's currently in a rack bag. I should probably get one that fits my Soundcraft remote mixer, though. Then I'll see if weights dictate change (probably, if not so urgently).

Ditto. Sometimes consecutive nights when there has been a festival of bands it has gone from great to sludge to like listening to a loud CD with additional bum notes.