tauzero

If you use any multimeter, it will read the voltage between ring and sleeve. That will depend on the impedance of the multimeter and of the preamp (the preamp impedance is actually the inverse of the current draw). A digital multimeter will have a very high impedance. If a preamp has a current draw of 1mA then it will have an effective impedance of 9kΩ and with a digital multimeter with an impedance of perhaps 1GΩ the potential divider between the two will result in the multimeter reading pretty much the same as the battery voltage - however, this is under no-load conditions. To read it under loaded conditions, you'd need to plug a mono jack plug into the output socket to switch the bass on, and then measure the battery voltage with the battery attached to the bass.

That's OK, I saw that. My most recent acquisition is the only one of my basses which is 18V, so it'll be fine for 97% of them (and the 9V powered Variaxes as well).

You can get a reading from a multimeter between ring and sleeve which will be proportionate to the battery voltage but not equal to it. I replace batteries when they're somewhat under 9V, if I spot they're below 8V I'll replace them otherwise I'll replace them when they die. KMI Batt-O-Meter incoming, I'll report on it when it's here.

Sit down. Eases the problem with weight and you're closer to the floor so better chance of reading the setlist and seeing which patch you're on.

Almost tempting for £1.75. If it was a 5 I'd have it. £15 tops though. TBF, it's Ebay's definition of "used", and Ebay's boilerplate description text.

The USB device I got from AliExpress was generating lots of extraneous noise so I returned it (instant refund). I'm trying a Behringer UM2 instead which seems more promising.

I don't play banjo but a former bandmate who mainly played melodeon also played banjo, and she called strumming by striking the backs of her fingers on the strings "frailing".

Something of a contrast between the two open mics I did this week - Wednesday was all male, minimum age 65, one really good performer but the rest (including me, I'm not a great singer and only an average guitarist) mediocre. OTOH, last night there were (I think) five male singers and six female ones, and I think only me and the host were over 65. Three featured bands - a quartet (female singer, DB, drums, keys) did jazz covers of various rock songs (eg Eye of the tiger, Sunshine of your love, Seven nation army), a sextet (2 gits, bass drums, female singer, female keys) playing straight rock, and a conventional quartet, female-fronted, also playing straight rock. I was recruited to play bass for someone who is an even more recent arrival than me, so I learnt All the small things on the hoof. Also accompanied the youngsters again. The guy who played drums for various artists has just returned from playing Download with his band Jayler, who are playing Glasto shortly - very capable multi-instrumentalist called James Bartholomew who generally plays guitar and sings but can also turn his hand to bass and the aforementioned drums.

As long as you don't think that your rule should be imposed on anyone from bands other than your own, fine. I'm in two bands - the originals band isn't going a lot as yet, the covers band just has 8 gigs for the rest of the year at the moment, plus I'm the house bassist for a couple of open mic nights and occasionally am asked to learn a song for it. I'm the only one in more than one band, though our singer also does musicals (he's the monster in "Young Frankenstein" in July) which takes some time up, and also does dogsitting which takes occasional weekends. @Mickeyboro, how easy have you made it for the other band members to practice? With my covers band, I've created a Dropbox folder containing MP3s of all the songs in the set, with a sub-folder for new ones that we're rehearsing. For the originals band, the singer/keys/writer shares his fully produced tracks with the drummer and me (the released tracks are solo but for live gigs there's also drums and bass). That means that it's very easy to practice - better than hunting on Youtube to find a song and then practicing to the wrong version of it.

I do no exercise because I'm lazy. I do do a bit of practice. The day after a gig, I used to feel as if somebody had been giving me a going over with a baseball bat. I changed to lightweight gear, including the PA - no single item weighs more than 10kg except for my monstrously heavy 11.5kg 2x12 cab. Plus the other band members give me more of a hand lugging gear than in previous bands. As a result, I feel fine the next day.

OTOH, I've just bought a bass from a bricks and mortar auction house. Seller's premium about 25%, buyer's premium about 25%. So if I bid £800 for a bass, there's £200 buyer's premium added so I pay £1k, and £200 seller's premium taken off the £800, leaving £600 for the seller. That's a rather bigger gap than the gap between £600 and £618.75 or £800 and £822.75.

Then you're happy, and many many other people are also happy. Everybody's happy. I don't know what you've complaining about.

No, shoving a plectrum into the scratchplate like that is bound to stress it around the neck end screw and may break it.

The controlling device needs to be a host device. DIY one: The M-Vave Chocolate Plus can be used - connect the MS-60B+ to "Host" and a USB power supply to "USB" (if you don't, it won't work - the USB power supply will power the pedal though). Set to Program Change A, the four buttons select patch 1, 2, 3, and 4, if buttons 1 & 2 are pressed simultaneously it will advance the base patch by 4 so button 1 will then select patch 5, pressing 1 & 2 again will advance it by another 4. Pressing 3 & 4 decreases the patch base by 4. There's a setting "Max Group Count" that you can alter to be the point at which increasing the base patch sends it back to 1. The number shown in the display is the patch number minus 1 because that's how MIDI works.

For further detail of the MIDI message content for the MS series (applies to + as well AFAIK): https://github.com/g200kg/zoom-ms-utility/blob/master/midimessage.md