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Thanks again for all the responses - it's invaluable hearing everyone's real-world experiences to balance up against the usual marketing nonsense and slappy online demos! Most helpful to me so far has been people's different takes on "hifi" and "transparent" which has certainly made me re-frame what these things actually mean to me. @Phil Starr - good to hear from you (and thanks again for the Monza recommendation!): Your take on "hifi" is I think pretty close to my own - not swamped by bass with a light and airy top end, so in that sense it could be that I'm not actually looking for "flat". In this sense the Monza is ideal as it is just that - flat, so whatever I sculpt on the preamp/pedals/amp is what it will produce. I would therefore like to risk knocking the discussion off track by redefining what I think I need from the amp physically and sonically, bearing in mind all of the excellent comments so far: Physically: -Needs to be small enough to go in my gig bag and sit on my desktop for DI'ing into Cubase or Zoom for recording/teaching -Really want to avoid fans if I can (but do appreciated the thoughts expressed so far) -Must have pre/post DI and FX Loop -Loudness is not critical. It does not need to have huge wattage - my Monza's efficiency has shown how much can be produced with comparatively little input. I don't need to compete with loud drummers or guitarists. Sonically: -Must have a low noise floor from the preamp and poweramp- this is primarily what I mean by "silent" (rather than fan noise etc). To provide context here: I used the Spectrum Curve tool in Cubase on the DI from the PJB D400, impedance on passive, gain up 100% (so worst case for noise), but with the connected bass turned right down and compared it to the same situation but measuring the DI from my Headway external preamp. The Headway was near as dammit silent - almost nothing on the spectrum curve above -100db apart from a slight 50hz bump from the mains. The D400 on the other hand had noise ripples going all the way up the frequency spectrum at around -76db. So anything I did on top of that for EQ, reverb, compression was just going to make that a lot worse. -Rather than specifying "flat" or "hifi", I think "refined" now best defines what I look for in tone. I don't rock, I don't slap. What I need is a solid warm low bass, well projected upper mids/lower highs with a smooth, airy top end. Most of this I can sculpt with my Source Audio EQ2 but I have to start with a good fundamental tone. Basically I really want to only use the amp's EQ for compensating for room / stage issues. The older PJB kit was a close match but much less so with their newer preamps. The D400 was (I think) the last of that "old" sound, which is why the noise issues were so frustraing. Forgot also to say that health-wise, charging up to Warwick or Camden Town is no longer a practical proposition for me, so I'm fairly restricted to what I can purchase on approval or take a risk on used. I entirely understand if the collective group throws up their hands in despair at my pickyness - but just wanted to express again how valuable your thoughts have been in getting my own thinking right!

Loving the Ibanezes (Ibani, Ibaneziz.. ) and the twelve stringer.

Yeah, it can sound better without anything, but I think it all depends on what music you play. It's like 'my ice cream actually tastes better without tabasco sauce on it'. Stuff like classic Blues, Motown, Rock n Roll, Reggae etc. often sound better without any 'hot sauce'! But some songs really need effects, threads like this 'Chorus, what songs need it?' https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/514762-chorus-what-songs-need-it/ Or, you'd have trouble re-crating the Bassline from Thundercat's 'Them Changes' without an envelope filter, or Electric Wizard's 'Funeralopolis' without some heavy distortion/fuzz. I wouldn't give up on the hot sauce, it just needs to be used where appropriate.

That is a fair point! I was stretching the idea a little.

Spot on 👍

I agree with you both @agedhorse and @Phil Starr concerning the cooling as a whole that must be calculated to dissipate the heat efficiently and avoid the cooking of the transistors and many other electronic parts. But, when the noise comes from the fan itself, which is 99% of the time the case, replacing it with a silent model with the same airflow power is the safest way to solve the issue. And it's an easy job to compare the specs of the noisy fan with those of the silent one. Cheap fans are poorly made, very noisy, cheap for some reasons and too often used massively by the biggest names to simply cut the budget as excellent silent fans are more expensive. Take the time to have a look at the construction of those silent fans, and you'll understand why they are silent. Quality has a price, sorry.

☝️☝️☝️ This. Definitely not this👇👇👇

We worshiped those TnBs and Goliaths. The bassist in my first band had that rig. The TnB amp working it worth a lot so as others have said, make sure it goes to the right person.

Yeah I do as well, fretless, chorus, octave, optical compressor and sometimes a little reverb. Absolutely perfect.

I have had K&M and Gravity Mic stands, in fact I still have the Gravity one. Both really good quality but I feel that the K&M stands have the edge. Both were one hand operation as I hate adjusting a normal stand with a bass on my shoulder. The Gravity was purchased as the K&M was out of stock at the time but is has always been reliable.

I actually run my LM IV with all the dials at 12 and the two filters turned off and it gives me a really nice clean tone. Only occasionally depending on the room will I drop a bit of bass and low mid if I have to.

I geddit! It's the ultimate multi-purpose bass. You can play wuffly DB lines with the Novak MudBucker, Classic Rock with the Precision pickup and never dare enter the dusty end where you run out of frets, and if you happen to be the second coming of Jaco, you've got the fretless section for some fanatical runs and general slidy soloing... It's the OEM Fender GAS Killer! Every bass you can imagine, all rolled into one!! Verdict: Nah... I'll take nine of the £1400 chambered Blu DeTiger Signature Jazzes and one Laura Lee Jazz instead, please.

To each their own. That’s not my experience of the Beta. I’ve always used it as a very gentle drive and found it great. It also did lovely things to the envelope filter I had sat after it.