JD1

I had an Auderre fitted to my 5 and the hole wasn't as big as the 4. Crucially however it went round the passive / active switch and that took it past the line where a regular control plate would be.

+1 on quality and customer service. Overwater are second to none in my experience.

Hey Rumble I had an Antoria EB3 copy around 1980 and I was / am a big fan of Jim Lea. Great bass and the quality was spot on, but I couldn't get away with the scale length - and I certainly couldn't play or sound like Jim.

The books will give you a very structured practice route but they are a bit dry on their own. Hats off if you stuck to it though. If I didn't take the exams I know I wouldn't have put the same amount of work in to internalise the stuff.

Even with your experience I'd recommend going with a tutor with experience of taking students though the exams - even if only for some mock exams. At least until you know what to expect. I'm in a similar position in terms of my experience (and self taught). I decided I'd like to do some teaching and I thought the RGT qualifications would be good to have. I came in at 3, then did 5, 6 and 7. Grade 8 left - probably Easter if I get my finger out. If you are experienced and can follow chord charts reasonably well then the "performance" and "bass pattern" parts of the exams should be easy marks. However as you progress, naturally these become harder, plus you will need to learn shed loads of scales and arpeggios / inversions in different positions and you'll need to learn to recognise chord voicings and intervals. Towards the higher grades music theory is tested a bit more - but not to the extent of dedicated theory exams. Definitely help you musically, but I'd recommend learning to sight read alongside them (if you don't already) as they don't really develop that side too much. Also - they aren't cheap. PM me if you want any more info. And good luck!

Did I say that more watts affects the sensitivity of the input stage?

Hi Greame I had a Spector NS5CR with a ridiculously hot output. It had EMG's - not sure of the circuit - might have been an Aguilar rather than a Spector Tone Pump. Either way, it used to make the input stage of my EA amp wince - even through the padded active input it would sometimes cut out. (the bass circuit was only 9v - mind you I'm not what you would call a gentle player). I e-mailed Gary at EA and whilst he was surprised, he suggested a slight mod to the amp. Afterwards it didn't cut out, but it would still clip if I didn't keep the pre-amp stage low. The bass had a volume for each pu, and I used to run the bridge on full and the neck on 2/3 (and turn the neck pu up full for slap). Bass and treble slightly boosted. Only solution was to keep the amp pre level down and use the output stage of the amp to get the volume I needed (which was fine with an 800w amp). My Gallien Krueger amp fared slightly better for clipping as the input stage seemed to have more of a pad for actives - but obviously I still had to drive the power stage to compensate. Its trial and error amp-wise and it depends on your playing style. Some will have a more robust pre-amp stage and be able to cope with the hot output of your bass better than others. But, a more powerful amp will allow you to compensate at the power stage. John