mcnach

I was in good shape, working out etc, so weight was not much of a problem. However, I'm only 5ft 7", so the bulk + weight combined made it an unpleasant experience. Fortunately I only had to carry it to the 1st floor and the staircase was wide, so it was manageable. A few years earlier I lived on an old block of flats with high ceilings. Narrow staircase, steep. Mine was on the 3rd floor. I had bought a Laney VC50 212 combo on eBay that weighed like a small planet. The UPS guy called from downstairs and said he was not carrying it up for me, and I had to take it by myself, or he'd take it back to the depot and I could arrange to pick it up there. I was not driving at the time so I just said "sure, I'll take it, how hard can it be?". Well... it was hard. I could have opened the box and at least used the handles to lift it, but no, I just took the whole box and loaded it onto my shoulder. There were a couple of moments where I nearly lost my balance and had a vision of my heavy amplifier dropping to the ground floor over the staircase's banister... I do not recommend doing that. My cabs now are about 14Kg each. No more crazy lifting. Of course, now that I have lightweight gear I live in a house with the car parked 1.5 metres from the door and no climbing stairs needed...

+1 Expecting someone to be always available for any single band, unless it's *a regular job* is not realistic. If I only gig once a month, I guarantee you that I'm not going to be at home the rest of the time twiddling my thumbs... so what does it matter if I use my spare time playing sudoku, fishing, learning to become a hitman or playing with another band? If a gig opportunity shows up, I'll check my calendar "hmm, I'm practicing strangling and sniping that evening". If I can change it great, if not I'm just not available. I think some people get too precious/possessive about bands without dedicating the time that would justify that.

Maybe. Maybe not. A lot of us play in multiple bands with minimal issues. If the main band only gigs once a month there's lots of room for more action!

I used to not care. Then I found I could get great sounding basses that were light enough and well balanced = more comfortable. So I no longer go for heavy. I'll leave those to the OP

I feel your pain... The worst thing about bands is... people. The wrong ones make bands, and playing live, a most unpleasant enterprise. Get the right ones, however... and it's great. It's tough to get that, 'though. I got it several times, and it was only through being able to quit and not pursuing lost causes that I got there, so don't be shy to quit if things are not working. At the same time, sometimes our tolerance (let's face it, it's never 'perfect') is at a low point, and taking a break helps. It helps our sanity at the very least... and in the future we may be better equipped to face band stuff again. Or maybe we find we're done and prefer to just make music at home. One day at a time.

I bought Kevin's MarkBass SuperBooster. Couldn't have been smoother. Thank you Kevin!

The quest for the right cabs is the longest one for most, I think. And can be expensive! Good luck I'd definitely go modular, even if it can end up costing a bit more. I prefer a couple of 210 over a single 410. They're easier to carry, and many times a single 210 does the job. When I use two, I can stack them vertically too, which means I hear them better onstage and the horizontal dispersion is better... I bought a heavy Peavey TX410 cab for £70 years ago. It didn't look the best, but it sounded good and did the job. It was not fun to lift it by myself out of the boot of a VW Golf back home at 3am, but it was doable. I used that until I was able to afford something better. What I'm saying is that even if your ideal solution may not be achievable immediately, there are many alternatives that will still work reasonably well until you're ready. Try as many cabs as you can meanwhile. They make a big difference.

Don't judge loudness/power in store by the position of the volume knob. Some amps increase the volume until the knob it's at 1 o'clock or so and there's very little else above that, while others are more progressive and they may look 'less powerful' due to that. If you like the sound of the Aguilar best... go for it. There's not as much between 350 and 500W as you'd imagine. With the right cabs you'll most likely be ok. I sold my old LM3 (500W) to get a LMT800 (800W) thinking the extra 300W would make a big difference, and they did not, then went back to a LM3 as I liked the sound more and simply changed the cabs I was using to get the volume I needed.

That looks superb, well done!

What he said... (I was late to the party, as usual) Probably a nice bass but definitely try it first.

The serial number is not JV, so... no.

the black ones

I'm not trying to get the best approximation to an upright, I just really like the sound of piezo pickups on fretless/tapewounds so I'm looking at getting that option added to this bass. Not interested in mixing outputs either, just wanting to have the option of one or the other.

The quality of cheaper stuff these days is great. Not everything cheap is good, but there is good stuff that is cheap. If one has the money to spend, that's great as you get more to choose from, and having access to more expensive stuff usually means you have access to better stuff... but is the jump in quality similar to the jump in price? Nope. My current #1 setup live cost me a fair amount more than what I was playing 10 years ago, and I love it and I don't want to go back... but if I could not afford it I would not be 'suffering' (other than by lifting heavy cabs and amplifiers ) I've owned a string of Jazz basses from various makes and qualities... I own just one now, the survivor who saw all the others go. The survivor is a Korean Squier I paid £75 for. Yes, it has had the pickups changed etc, but it's still a relatively inexpensive bass and sounds and feels great. My fretless is a £60 Sue Ryder Precision that stayed while I sold my Japanese Fender 70s reissue... My girlfriend plays a Squier Standard P/J which is one of the lightest and most comfortable basses I've ever played. That again was under £100 at Cash Converters or similar. It's a good time to be a player. If you can't afford more upmarket stuff, you can still get more than adequate gear.

Yes, I'm looking at an electric bass bridge with piezo saddles or even the saddles alone. I found about Graphtec and very little else, so I think I'll end up with a set of the Graphtec ones. They're not too scary pricey... and my bass will suddenly duplicate in value! The preamp is what I'm really not sure about. I don't think a standard preamp for magnetic pickups will do the job. Ideally I'd like a preamp without EQ, and simple passive tone/volume for it... I have to keep looking.

I've got a fretless Precision that I really like. It was one of those £60 sale Sue Ryder basses about 5-6 years ago... I put a DiMarzio Model P, nylon tapewounds, removed the frets and had the fingerboard planed nicely, and it worked out so well I ended up selling the CIJ fretless Fender 70s RI and kept this instead. Anyway, I would like to get a piezo bridge / saddles for it, to allow me to get that thumpier "more acoustic" tone you get with those systems. I imagine I'd need a preamp of some sort for it too, and I'd like a tone control (passive is fine). I don't need to blend magnetic/piezo, I'd use a switch to choose one or the other. Does anybody have any recommendations, or some to avoid? I don't want to spend a lot on this as this is a bass I only really use at home or rarely busk with, but I don't take it to any serious gigs or record etc (I still need a lot more fretless practice!). I'm not afraid to chisel, rout and gouge the bass to install stuff in it, I have some experience in that kind of thing.

That looks amazing... I admire people who can build things like these.

I played through one of those a few months ago at a venue that provided amplification for me, and I was very impressed. Nice one!

I have used SIMS before, at around £50 per pickguard. Great results: https://www.sims.guitars/

Typically a bridge pickup will be a bit wider, with wider spacing between polepieces, so one does not fit in the routing for the other. Having said that, some basses use the same size pickup - particularly older Squiers and some Mexican Fenders). Sometimes the bridge pickup is also a bit hotter, but there's generally very little difference and instead the bridge pickup just needs to be set closer to the strings to ensure even output between both pickups. Just try it, if it fits... it'll work.

Cobalts CAN sound like roundwounds that have lost some of their brightness, but they're very much a flatwound string and sound like one if you want it to. That's the strength of that string: it gives you a flats sound, and a bit extra should you want it. You can easily remove that extra brightness but you can't add it if it's not there. I found some other bright flats have the brightness but can be lacking a bit on the mids, sounding scooped. The cobalts seem to have everything I want there, so it's for me to remove anything I may not want in any given situation. Disclaimer: not associated with EB, I just liked those cobalt flats

Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats are the brightest ones I've tried that don't suck all the mids out. You can use the passive tone control to get the traditional thumpy flats sound, or go for a brighter sound that is much like rounds that have 'lived a little'. From your description, those are the ones I'd go for. Versatile string and good tension (meaning not low or too high)

They need to be set up right, and then they are accurate. I find that to work well they need to be oiled a bit even if the manual does not mention it. You can get it for substantially less from a ebay seller in the US, I think it may be 'bassspecialties' but I don't remember. I've bought a couple and ended up paying about £50-60 (a few years back, I admit)

Not at the moment, but I used a LS2 for two reasons in the past. One, to blend in clean bass together with either an overdrive or an envelope filter. Two, to be able to switch two pedals at once easily (phaser, octave, overdrive and envelope filter all in the loop).

If they put the bridge further towards the end of the body it would help somewhat, but as it is, I agree, the neck feels too long. It's playable, and I have the same exact issue with a Telecaster shaped bass (a copy of an ASAT by Shine, it's actually a very nice bass) but I would not want to use that every day. There are a few different Epi models, neck-through/bolt-on, different look/specs... hence the differences. They do look good, 'though.