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In the blues band Alex uses a variety of Marshall heads. He also uses a massive power soak and typically runs at about 5 watts output on stage.

Yeah, Paul Tutmarc got there first, but all I can say is I'm glad Leo's company came up with the ultimate bass guitar design when they did. It totally changed my life.

In my experience the too-loud bands are the ones who gig regularly for a living and have shot their hearing.

I have a reasonable spl app on my phone. Itsy not be spot on but it does useful comparisons. Alice Cooper at an arena gig about 20m from the main pa. About 97dB peak. Typical bands in my local club at about 10m from the pa 90-100dB peak. Average levels about 10dB down. The band who needed their valve amps hot to get the right tone - over 110dB. I suspect it reads high, but seriously, no pub/club band needs to be louder than Alice Cooper.

I have a four hour rehearsal tomorrow. I will take the Flea because I know it will do everything needed and be the least tiring to play.

That's what we call a shower in Wales 😁

That is at odds with my experience - admittedly with a Tribute L-2000 - it would play fine in passive mode even with the battery removed, never mind dead. In that case, the active or active with treble boost settings on the switch became an effective kill switch.

Thanks Frank. It continues to impress me...

I play 18mm and 19mm and don't notice the difference. Any narrower and I start to suffer.

State Fair Park a few hours after we left. 14 inches of rain. They closed the fair on Sunday. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19UAzxynQP/ Daryl

Hell no… this young padawan is different. Perhaps he will be a champion of gear abstinence 2026? 🤷‍♂️ #asif

I have built up a decent collection of basses over the years including a few US Jazz, US Precision, a rare US Jaguar, a 51 reissue Precision, Warwick Streamer, US Musicman SUB, etc. Since I bought my Flea Jazz in 2020, (bought used) it's been by far my most gigged bass. They are simply superb to play and sound brilliant. I'm taking it to the recording studio on Wednesday as a first choice. Enjoy yours. Frank.

I gig in a cover band and the guitarist wears earplugs and plays way too loud. His Fender combo is also pointing at the back of his heels. The rest of the band are matching his level, which isn't good. The singer is always complaining that she can't hear herself, but no one seems to care enough to fix the problem.

I love mine. It only has one flaw. If the 9 volt battery for the pre-amp dies it won't play in passive mode. Daryl

I've been taking my Steinberger Spirit away in my campervan for years. Cheap to buy, especially used, solidly built, stay in tune for months. They pack away in a small gig bag (supplied with the bass) and I've actually gigged mine and it's excellent. The extension on the bottom of the body makes it easy to play sitting down too. I take mine to gigs as a backup - fortunately, I've never needed it. There's some useful information on them in this old thread. Frank.

Wow that must have been very loud if it was too loud through the ACS customs. I have the 26db ACS customs, and sometimes find the fit isn’t as tight towards the end of a gig, which makes them not quite as effective. I tend to now only take them out when I am in the car and all packed up due to loud music/DJ playing after the band has finished and are packing up etc

Looks like they've tweaked the standard cobalt flats to compete with Thomastik jazz flats. If you get cobalt flats performance at thomastik prices then it's a poor deal 😂. I'm surprised to learn that pino uses flats but found that indeed..he's been using EB cobalt flats and thomastik jazz flats .. so, lively sounding flats. Well, on my two fretless basses, I currently have some eb cobalt flats and they're ok but have quite a distinctive tone that may take over the sound of your bass... and some thomastik jazz rounds ( not the flats) which are nice but very thin and rather floppy...and I'm not sure I like them, subtle and supple but flap against the fingerboard. I sure wouldn't blow 80 usd on strings for an 80 usd bass!

It's when I lift my finger off after playing the string. playing an open string no longer rattles. Also, I already did the credit card trick and the frets were even. Guess I'll just see it go away when I get better then

Hey all, just purchased a strap from Abd I’ve been wanting to try for ages. Well packaged, good comms and great price. So all good and I’d happily deal with again, thank you very much. Peace.

On a Roscoe 3005 I once had, I fitted a Babicz bridge which is 19mm spacing. The neck was wide enough to accommodate the extra 2mm per side and there was no change to the string sound balance from the pickups. Its a reversable option rather than missing out on a great bass. 👍

What do you mean by free and rest strokes? I've not heard the terms before.

The baby LFSYS is excellent and hard to beat, imho. As you have a PJB amp and want a clean sound with a fretless, I must (as a PJB user) suggest you also check out a PJB C4. I have a couple and they sound clean and open and are surprisingly pokey. One would certainly do a great job for pit gigs.