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Off I went to Home Bargains this morning and bought 2 x 500ml bottles of meths (£2.29 ea) and a large plastic tub with a lid (£1.29) and now I have 2 sets of EXL170BT coiled and soaking. I'll get them back on ready for Friday's gig and report back.

My approach in these situations is not to give advice or comment per se but to switch to a purely coaching approach. Asking probing but open questions and getting them thinking in a reflective way. So, how do you think that went? If you were to score yourself out of 10, what number would it be? OK, so what does an 8/10 look like compared to your 6/10? Have you thought about recording the gigs and listening back to spot improvement opportunities? If you could go back in time and play "Wonderwall" again, how might you approach it differently? How have the rehearsals been? Are they as productive as you'd have hoped? How different is that from your ideal? Obviously, you can tailor the language to make it less corporate-coaching but this stuff works and gets them doing the thinking. They don't get offended (usually) and could then see you as a genuine help rather than just giving what they see as negative criticism. Coaching does need a bit of practise, though and isn't a cure-all for everyone but it's worth trying.

Bit of a thread resurrection - looks like this is gone from Thomann and everywhere else apart from AliExpress, has it been discontinued? A mate of mine was contemplating one but waited too long.

I was going to use my WS-50 at a U2 Tribe gig but it sounded weird with my Warwick Reverso, so went back to a lead It sounds excellent with 6 stringers in my 80s thing I was going to buy a Shure GLXD16+. I was hoping to get a 2nd hand one but will go for a new one, interest free fairly soon

I'd look for something positive to say, like how much you enjoyed 'I predict a riot' and it really added to the song by doing it in the style of the Shaggs.

What have you ordered?

My opinion (not that anyone asked!) is that yes, your reaction is a little 'over' so to speak. You don't know what's happening with him (or do you?), so you cant gauge what he's feeling/dealing with. In these scenarios we must take the cautious road and assume something quite difficult is being experienced at his end. The fact you've told him that "this needs sorting before MY holiday" (paraphrased) won't have done him any good. I expect he read that and MAY have thought "I'm in this terrible place and this guy is just worried about his holiday". I understand your position, one of partial frustration and the genuine want/need to have a good solid, unburdened, holiday reset. But, as we're unclear to this chaps position, I'd lean towards caution and suggest his situation might not be best helped by you 'needing' answers now. Give him time, enjoy your holiday. Perhaps, if you're so inclined, send him a simple message saying something like "I genuinely hope all is well mate, as you know I'm off on holiday now, let's catch up in a week or two, speak soon and keep safe". That way he and you have no pressure to deal with until you're back, might give him time to process his situation and work out a way to discuss it with the band. Just my two cents. I hope he's well and you genuinely have a fantastic holiday!

True around the pickups although still an old model of EMGs. The same pickup in the Bass Centre reissues don’t come close to his real deal though. There was a tutor on here I had lessons with who had a 70s jazz with old Seymour Duncan’s and it still sounded like a typical 70 s fender jazz. Yes the same model will sound a bit different but will have the same characteristics. They love the bass because it sounds good, not because it’s old. The sound to the audience might be no different (depending on scale of gig and chain involved) but the sound in the in ear mix will pickup on the nuances of a bass’s direct output. I’ve played enough basses to know owning a vintage fender would be worth the money for me over a modern bass.

Maybe he KNEW it was terrible (perhaps on purpose?) and he's just testing the strength of your friendship... To pass the test you must be straight with him as he knows it was purposefully bad, or risk failing by saying nothing at all, or worse... lying! Or... it's not a test... who knows? Honesty is usually/always the best policy (assuming he has directly asked for your opinion), but tact must be deployed in the correct proportion relevant to the level of your friendship.

out of interest, would you disagree if he was? 😁

Was it a one-off bad gig? Why do you have to say anything? He was a friend before you knew how bad this band was, so just continue being a friend and ignore the band thing.

I’d be curious to mess with a 4 string if they’re bothering.