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@stevie - can you make this?! Would love to see a selection of your wonderful cabs

Both in London - smidgeon over your budget, will work for gigging and home practice. Of course in reality these things are highly personal, but this is what I'd get with £300!

Cheers. Make it out to ……..Please teach me how to slap properly!

It seems to me like the E string has a very bright and 'chorusy' sound compared to the others, lots of warbling harmonic information but not so much fundamental. As a result, the tuner is slightly struggling to track it. It'd probably give you a more accurate reading if you try it only through the neck pickup with the tone rolled back. May possibly be due to the strings it came with. Don't know if you're usually a short scale player, but (IME) harmonics on the lower notes of the E string can often be weird with bright strings on short scale basses. I mostly use Ernie Ball strings now because they seem to suppress those weird harmonics well while keeping the rest of the tone intact. Also check how high the pickup is under the E string. Only time I've really had strings sound quite that unintentionally chorusy is when the pickup is set too high.

Bless you.... the cheque's in the post!

Decloaking briefly. I have a thing for Fiesta Red Precisions. One the left a GB Spitfire with a P bass pickup. In the middle a 1962 Fender Precision On the right a 1981 Fender Precision 1957 Fullerton reissue. These have very wide necks!

Great. Thank you everyone. I was worried about gauge, now I'm also worried if I'll chose the right, gauge, tension, winding type, texture, core shape, material, coating, brand, and probably price? Are flat wounds even legal on a Spector?

I've mailed teh pickup contact to see if he's interested in attending either/both the SE and SW bashes and doing some pickup-related talk or tech comparison for us. I'll update when I get a response. Fingers crossed. ATB Sean

Heya and welcome to the wonderful (and expensive!) world of bass playing! Where abouts are you in London? I'm sure there'll be someone here nearby who would be willing to meet up and take a look at the setup of your bass. Starter packs are great for getting going, but the bass will almost 100% need to be setup properly to eliminate fret buzz and get a decent action. Even if no one is near to you, a decent setup is worth paying for when you're looking at budget guitars. Or, like @neepheid mentioned, there are loads of handy videos on YouTube walking you through what you need to do (if you're handy. Word of warning if you do give it a go yourself - don't give the truss rod more than a quarter turn at a time). If you still fancy an upgrade though, there are 2 ways to look at it as to which you should do first... - Guitar first. If you're just learning and playing at home then I'd upgrade the bass first. It'll feels loads better, encourage you to pick it up more and just play the thing. Most basses still need a setup to suit the player, but if you go second hand and get from here you'll almost certainly get something that doesn't need to be tinkered with. - Amp first. Do this if you're gigging. A bad bass through a good amp will sound loads better than a good bass through a bad amp. However, bear in mind that the increase in size and volume doesn't make a gig worth amp too convenient to play at home. Most of the time I'm practicing at home I use headphones and Zoom B1Four or a 15w Fender practice amp - even with this I have the volume at roughly at 7/8 o clock and it's plenty loud enough.

Well your experience, ability, talent and the myriad of basses you have reviewed. Just as a starter mate! 🤣

Banner Man - Blue Mink

I have always used 40-95 strings in my Performer as it has a very narrow neck. I use 45-105 or 45-135 on virtually everything else, but different brands (chiefly Roto 66 unless I want a more vintage sound then Fender 7250). It's such a personal choice with lots of subjectivity I suggest trying different brands. Once you find something you like it eliminates uncertainties and you know you can get a sound and feel with an idea of how long the strings will last and how they will age with your style of playing.

I'm unsurprised.

Steel double bass strings only really started to become the norm from the 1950s onwards. During the majority of that 300 years folks were playing lower tension strings ... ie gut ... similar to the lower tension strings you are dismissive of.

I've just bought a Sire U5 shorty and I'm seeing some weird tuning instability on the E string, where it veers wildly flat & sharp. A, D & G are all perfect. What's going on here then?! Cheers, Rich E string.MOV ADG.MOV

I always feel active circuits have this built in scoop you can never dial out, even when boosting mids. YMMV.

Gamma Ray - Beck

With my Sandbergs, I think I've been able to match the passive tone with tiny tweaks of the preamp. I nearly always use them in active mode now. I have both 2 and 3 band eq's.

Was it not a bit weird playing on the sidewalk ? Dave