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After much trying out and research, I’ve finally sorted out my small rig. It’s unbelievable that this little lot ( Aguilar AG 700 and a Barefaced One 10) can produce the sounds that it does in such a lightweight package. Rehearsal tomorrow night should be fun!

My Maruszczyk Jake was based on the specs of a Duck Dunn I had blocked and bound neck matching headstock I decided against a jazz pickup at the bass , this comes in at around 7.5 lbs , I've had several laklands Dj , Bob Glaub , and loved them however I now have 2 Jakes and they are at least the equal if not better than the laklands , i had the bass pictured below up for sale I have since come to my senses and removed it

I'm glad he's managed it saw the announcement today. Although, as dingwalls are already quirkily shaped seeing it in lefty REALLY sent my head spinning

No but I got him to stop gigging with a Les Paul which is almost as good!!

If you just want 30w in a bedroom, a Fender Rumble is brilliant and good value. the Roland series of Bass Cubes are awesome too.

I wouldn't be too happy if I had to spend a whole gig with my foot gaffer taped to a cymbal stand!

Update o'clock: Posted the pics on my fave MIJ FB group and after lots of (occasionally heated & fractious) discussion, it's been established that the serial number & neckplate style is a dead-on match for Tokai. This is from a 1980 JB-65N: This seems to be the standard format Tokai used on their replica-level Fender copies & it's interesting to find that they were presumably building slightly more modestly-specced off-brand instruments simultaneously. There aren't any other 100% match components as far as I can see, although the tuners (which I'd say have distinctively large backplates) are quite similar. Here's the link to the full listing: https://reverb.com/item/3703632-1980-tokai-jazz-sound-bass-very-rare-natural-finish-birdseye-maple-neck-custom-shop-quality so @steviedee, looks like you got a vintage Tokai for £75. Not jealous or anything...

Team work folks!! Following correspondence with Andy and the seller I managed to pick this up at the £525 price. Andy's agreed to pick it up tomorrow once he's agreed a time with the seller. Bit of a steal? So much for downsizing, eh..

Dude, get Reaper and give it a test Here are some quick tutorials that will get you going pretty fast https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrObLJdQqZFZKKW5SCU7ebw

Just to clarify, I’m not the horse referred to in the OP’s title....👍

Hi Ed, apologies but sounds like there is some mis communication here. We were closed over Christmas and re opened on Tuesday so this week has been hectic catching up. Couriers can be a nightmare on occasion but generally speaking if you were promised a collection then it should have happened. Please can you email the details of your situation to [email protected] and I will get to the bottom of it for you. Apologies again but we will get you sorted.

Haha. It's clear that all 'real' upright players are going to vote for the real thing...I'm definitely going to be out voted here, but I'm sticking to my guns in saying that an EUB is a great (= convenient, not overly expensive) place to start for a 'real' electric bass player

Oh, I've made many sacrifices on the altars of the gods before - Rob Allen MB2 , Stu Hamm sig, '64 Jazz (yes, a real one), cusp Fender Showman head.....and haven't lost too much on the resale, so I think I have done enough to be let off this time.

So what do Slipknot use? A Johnson?

Interesting... I've just bought a Big Block 750 and it sounds fantastic to my ears when paired with a Berg 212 AE; and that's when using it with range of different basses, 4 and 5 strings, active, passive etc.. It's loud but with plenty of headroom, has very good mids and loads of low end. More importantly, it has that 'authority' and 'heft' (or should that be 'weight') that I would normally associate with an all valve amp. I say that because I've A/B'd it against my Ampeg V4BH - which has a lovely warm and sweet tone to it - and it compares really well and, whilst it's not quite as warm sounding, it's got more detail in the mid range and more power, as well as a fantastic overdrive sound to it. Overall, I'm very impressed with the Big Block and as my introduction to Mesa's bass gear, it's created a very good first impression.

Phil bought a TC Electronics combo from me. He remembered where I live from his British Aerospace days and we had an interesting chat about what had been what. Hopefully meeting up with Phil again later this year at the LBGS - top fella, totally trustworthy, an asset to this forum... BTW Phil, took about 5 mins to get Shalla back in....

The full propaganda rig - backdrop and 2 pull up banners (the rest of the band call them the ‘Nuremburgs’).

I have the M9 Carbine Head and tha PH412 and PH215 enclosures. I´ve loved my Sunn 300T for many years, but it broke down on me a summer with a lot of gigs and I had to buy something quick. Enter the M9. For me, there is nothing on the market that could make me wanna change gear. Except maybe for the Mesa Strategy or the Fender Super Bassman. But since the M9 is rather lightweight (remember I´m used to the Sunn, SVT:s etc) it´s going to stay forever... I mostly play a 65 P-bass with the M9 and the PH215-speaker. When I play metal, i use one of my Warwicks with the M9 and PH412, but I could easily use the 215 for the metalstuff as well. I like lots of mids and pretty much low end. I don´t like so much top-treble-fizzle... If lightweight isn´t important. I´d skip the Subway-cabs. I´ve only tried the smallest ones but they didnt work for me at all... The D800 is the best Lightweight amp around, if you ask me. The only lightweight amp that doesn´t feel like a compromise soundwise. It´s all there. But I´d go for Powerhouse Cab. The 215 and 412, 810 and 610 are really easy to move around with handles everywhere and not Aguilar/Ampeg-heavy....

Yes, plan is to use these with the D800 & fingers crossed it's not a bouncy stage

Yes, definitely. When I was talking to him, 18 months ago, I banged on (and whined!) about the non-existence of lefty Dingwalls, and he said that he wanted to produce some, but that would imply getting entirely new tools for most tasks, so he would start production once the company's finances allowed it. I take it as a good sign, then, that he's done it. I'm seriously thinking of killing my GAS forever by buying one!

Had the pleasure of buying Phil's US Fender Precision, was a total gent and a very smooth transaction.

I use 2 RCF Evox 8's with a 6 piece covers band. For your band, 1 will probably be fine as they have good sound dispersion and good feedback rejection so you might be set it up in such a way that you can hear it and use it as a monitor. A word of warning about in-ear monitoring. Unless you have a sound person controlling the FOH sound you can be blissfully unaware of how bad you sound to the audience because you have the perfect in-ear mix. Been there, got the tee-shirt etc etc N

A Stagg sounds perfect to me for what you want, I still think the Stagg is good if you want to move onto an acoustic upright later as the neck is fairly deep and the finger board arched, a fretless bass on it's end it ain't!

Another warning about Lakkie weights; I've owned a few Lakland Skylines (JO BG DJ) and NONE have been 9lb (never mind less), most have clocked in closer/beyond 10lb. I've heard multiple people say they've had uberlight Lakkies (particularly DJ models) but not one has been able to put them on digital scales and post a pic! Oh and tread very warily of the seller who says that it is 'the lightest P bass they've ever played' (they've only played 1) or that the bathroom scales read less than 9lb... I've got the T shirt for those replies!

One of the important points is that (I believe) these cabs use Eminence Deltalite II 2512 drivers with a Vd of 255cc. So a total Vd of 510cc for the SL212 versus c.1100cc for the BF Super Twin or c.550cc for the BF Big Baby 2. Mind you, I owned a 212 cab with a pair of Deltalite II 2512 and it was still quite loud, but not that good in the lower frequencies. You pays yer money and makes yer choice. Frank.

I think I'd sum up my preferences with the following table: Mac 1. Logic 2. Reaper Windows 1. Reaper 2. Cubase Si

On a serious note, I do think it`s down to the specific instrument, not the year it was made. I had three 70s Precisions, a 77 in white/rosewood, and two 78s in black/maple. One of the 78s weighed 10+ lbs and sounded amazing, the most aggressive Precision I've ever played, I nicknamed it Ian Paisley as it barked at you (so it did). The other 78 weighed about 8lbs, sounded fine, as did the 77 which was about 10.5lbs. Major different weights of supposedly the same build-materials, and radically different sound from one of them. And a mate has a white/rosewood 77 that weighs 13lbs! Just like in The Life of Brian, they are all individuals.

please bring the 'Axe'!

Those of us born in the 40s are completely stuffed.

But I can assure you I was smiling when I typed it.

They're kinda like more expensive TKS S212's :-)

There's a Laney RB1 on sale in the classifieds here at the moment. I had a look at a couple of videos on youtube and quite like the tone. It's a 15W which might be suitable for home?

Loving the simplicity and the body colour with the maple board is just great.

Agree with the thoughts on trying out as many as possible in music shops, but also check out as many bands as possible to see which instruments you like the sound of in a live mix. Yes, many of those may be over budget, but if every time you see someone playing a Jazz bass you like the sound of it more than any others that`s also giving you a lead to which instruments to pay more attention to.

I can tell you for sure, that the Subway 15s are awesome cabs. They perform just as well as my old Diesel 2x15 and I don't say that lightly. I have used them with all 3 of my Mesa amps and they have got all the presence without the weight. I confess I was very pleasantly surprised. Unhappily they are about 250 quid more now than when I got mine. I know it's a trek but you're welcome to give them a go if you want to try before you buy.

Hey Roger - have you A/B'd the Mesa cabs with some of the more modern high end gear e.g. BF or Vanderkley? As you say Mesa was mega 'many years back' but I think these newer kids on the block have more than caught up with Mesa, Aguilar etc on the cab front and are definitely worth checking out, particularly as they are both less expensive and way less heavy. All three will be a step up from the Markbass traveller cabs (I have a LM3 + 121H cab housed in a AC 121 Lite combo package) but you would hope that would be the case if you are paying two to three times as much for a cab, right?! In terms of your rig set up, well that's going to be very much down to your personal taste methinks. I would pair a 1x15 (or even a 1x12) with a 2x10 over two 1x15s simply because I prefer the punchiness of 12s and 10s over 15s (and I do disagree with the 'experts' who say that a properly set up 1x15 is no different to a 1x10 with comparable drivers, other than the surface area of air shifted...if that argument was taken to its logical conclusion you'd end up trying to argue that a 1x20 was the same 1x5 speaker, which is patently nonsense).

I suppose good rule of thumb is look at what bassists you like and what you want to sound like, then look at what basses they use, then look at trying to get similar. If you are transitioning from guitar, you might even find it beneficial to look at anything with a thinner neck and/or a shorter scale.

If you provide a rough idea of your location, offers may materialise from local forumites who are willing to help you (and, admittedly, themselves). Ideally, there should the opportunity to view and play the instrument(s) that you are considering. There could even be scope for haggling yourself a good deal.

yes my thoughts exactly

Listen to this (two minutes in, but there's plenty of good bass during that time) and then say that!

If I were you I'd buy a VM 1977 Squier Jazz......... I had one and it was so light and lovely to play.... It had all the qualities my 1977 Fender had except the price. The necks are lovely and the block inlays are really nicely done.... Then, when you're ready to sell the world alight, I'd pick up a pair of EMG pickups for it... they're active but require no routering or mucking about. They come with the control plate and cost about £200. It will sound amazing and you won't look back. Happy new year.....

My gopro picks up sound well though I'm sure some will have more complicated set ups

Play everything and anything you can get your hands on. My experience with P basses is that I have played custom shop and vintage instruments that if I was blind folded I would have guessed they were squires, and vice versa. You might find your perfect instrument is a lot more affordable than you first thought!

You can just order a Limelight.

If I had the money, I'd be spending it on a good Custom Shop re-pro, known history (ideally new) and a known quantity.

Some great basses on here. This is my California TM4 Supreme bought a couple of weeks back.

I went short scale 18 months ago because of neck and arm problems. I have 3 short scale (30") basses, and they have noticeably different playing characteristics. This is mainly because of the position of the neck relative to the body. See Photos. In photo 1, left to right, Lakland hollowbody short scale, Fender MIJ Mustang, Harley Benton Shorty. Notice the different bridge positions relative to the end of the body for each bass. The Lakland's neck projects quite a lot further to my left when I'm playing. It feels much more like a 34" scale bass as a result. The Mustang has a thin, skinny neck which brings my left hand closer in. The HBS brings my left hand even closer in, plus it has a small body, making it feel quite dinky relative to the other two. Howeber, it has the widest neck. See relative nut positions in side-on photos, and see how much "longer" the Lakland neck is. Kev - don't know where you're based, but you're welcome to pop round anytime to try these basses out for size.

just bought a pedal,all received and post it and pack perfectly , thanks PHIL ,BEST

Phil bought a stupidly big bass amp from me. An absolute pleasure to deal with; sorry about the mad house when you came to collect!