edward

I will only use a bass combo that has the controls on the top. I play double bass almost exclusively so anything wi' t'knobs at the front am no damned good. I bought a Roland 100 watt cube a few years ago and its a good 'un. If I need to make a thunderous din I can plug in a larger cab, in my case a great hulking Fender 2x12 plus horn from a redundant pa and that is mucho whompharama. The Roland has all the knobs fx and flashing lights etc and is in my humble giggin' opinion a light reliable versatile wee box of goodness. You might also consider an old Peavey tnt combo. I had one for 20 years and it never failed. I bought a new Ampeg B115 in 1974. It blew its speakers until I put a Fane in the brute. It died of terminal output disease in about 1990. Before that a Selmer Treble and bass driving a Goliath 18'' cab. Now I prefer to play without the body building workout before and after every gig. moral of the tale? Buy something that is not quite new that has only seen bedroom use, plenty cheap and run in. Ed.

Just found the site and your plywood bass for sale. If you google' Mad Ed's hot 5' you will find my phone number and e-mail. If you still have not sold perhaps you could contact me as I am in dire need of a spare. Usual story, bits falling off, bent bridge, top coming off, bottom block coming adrift etc etc. Ed Lloyd-Hughes.

I found that fitting Rotosound black flatwound strings give a good DB sound on my EB, nice warm tone with no roundwound rattle, kinder to frets too. However there are some deeply convinced EB haters out there who will never tire of making depracatory remarks about cricket bats and electric sticks. I use both EB and DB, but I far prefer DB. I can pick it up and play, no pluggin' in and all that stuff, but mostly it is the tone, sustain, warmth, flexibility, and sheer sensual feel of an acoustic instrument that does it for me. Consider the advantage of not needing amplification too, stand there and play with a pianist or a guitarist, see peoples faces light up as they realise you will not doing any harm to their hearing. The 'Underwood' transducer does the business where more whampo is needed and for £2000 or so there are some very nice Chinese basses available, and if you take care of a DB you will find it to be a[ pardon thr terrible pun ] sound investment. Ed.