BigRedX

Buy a keyboard synth and learn to play it.

And this is a UK based forum where most of the members live in the UK...

Never stopped me. At 5'6" I'm shorter than you, but for most of the 90s my main bass was a 36" Overwater Original as seen here: And here with a more conventional scale, but larger bodied Warwick StarBass II:

Will it be possible to measure the inductance value of the choke before re-fitting it? IIRC there is no value marked on the Gibson circuit diagram, just a part number.

Newtone. The first time I fitted a set of Newtone strings to my short-scale Burns Sonic Bass it was a complete revelation. For the first time I was able to get a proper sounding note out of the E string, before that I had avoided using it because it sounded rubbish.

Yes, but you don't live in the UK where there aren't really any extremes of temperature and humidity between the seasons. I have only had to adjust the truss rod of any of my basses on two occasions. Once when I changed the very high tension flat-wound strings that had been fitted to it originally for some more sensible round wounds; and once when I imported a bass that had previously been in Florida to the UK.

Sounds just like any other bass guitar. Therefore the best method to use when selecting a bass is to get one that looks nice (subjective) and one that suits your playing technique (down to the individual player).

@skidder652003 Thanks!, However AFAIKS all the full-size keyboards are at least 4 octaves, which is too big for on-stage. The Novation keyboard I'm looking at has both DIN and USB for connectivity.

I'm looking for a controller keyboard to use with Logic for programming as well as for playing synth parts live. I don't want anything massive - 3 octaves will be fine (maybe even just 2) but I would like full-width keys (again slightly smaller will probably be fine, but definitely no mini keys). Other than that I don't really know. How useful are the various pads that most of these devices sport? When I last used to do any MIDI programming I simply used the keys on whatever synth I had available that had MIDI sockets on it and bashed at the relevant ones for programming drums. Connectivity - I will need USB for in the "studio" as I do everything "In The Box", but a proper MIDI DIN socket might be more useful live as the audio interface we use to connect to the PA has MIDI DIN connectors on it, and suspect this may be more reliable. Is it? I try and avoid using consumer-grade computer connectors that need to be plugged in on stage, as I don't trust them not become disconnected. Anything else I should be aware of? I've been looking at the Novation Launchkey 25 or 37. What else is out there? Thanks in advance!

That a YoB bass that I would actually play... but not at that price. BTW I don't see what the problem is with the sunburst?

No. Not in the slightest.

What do you want your second cab for? If it's to make your rig louder get another one that is identical to the cab you already have. If it's because there is something missing from your sound with your existing cab, then you have the wrong cab and should sell it and find one that sounds how you want it.

But as someone who works in advertising, I know they could have spent another couple of minutes making sure that everything was straight before taking the photo. I know from experience that product shots that don't show off the product in the best possible light are worse than useless. Whoever took the photos went to the effort of using proper lighting and a white photographer's back drop so it's not as though they were taken on someone's phone in the office.

Channelling my inner Peter Hook.

Depends where all those heels are in relation to the frets. Something the photos all conveniently ignore. On my Gus G3 bass which essentially has no heel at all, the main obstruction is where to top horn/body joins the neck which is at the 21st fret

The photo of the bass made up doesn't really inspire confidence. Everything is on a wonk...

At the risk of being blunt... If you really want a Wal, then start saving now. Maybe you'll be lucky and find one secondhand at a more affordable price, but the current prices are what they are, and are unlikely to go down any time soon. Unfortunately moaning about the prices on the internet won't make them any cheaper...

To the OP, were you looking for advice or simply interested what other people were using (or would like use)?

Exactly, and that's why I ditched my rig in favour of a Helix and an occasional FRFR for monitoring at the smaller gigs (it's main use is for rehearsing). Because this has also replaced my guitar setup I actually made money out of the change.

The Warwick model is also subject the problems like when the "cheaper" versions turn out to be just as good as "full-fat" ones. Certainly my MiK StarBass was at least as good (if not better) than any of the German StarBasses I had tried previously, but a fraction of the price. It's no wonder that Warwick stopped having them made.

No. If the current business model is working for them then they should stick with it. Wal have spent a long time creating what is a unique instrument with a combination of features not readily available elsewhere. And with no signs of the current demand for their instruments dropping off, it's an enviable place for a small business to be. Why on earth should they dilute this? IME Employing more people is one of the reasons why most small business fail, because the added expense and bureaucracy outweighs the advantages most of the time. And if they can sell their main product at it current price why make a budget version? Anything they do to reduce the price will almost certainly remove some of the special features that make a Wal a Wal. You don't have to wait 4+ years for a Wal. There are second hand Wals coming up for sale all the time. You might think the prices high, but they reflect the fact that you don't have to wait. You can pay and be a Wal owner the same day. I'm a big fan of another English luthier - Gus, whose instruments are also unique (but in a different way). When I first became aware of them in the mid 80s I was unemployed with no chance of being able to buy one. However over the next 15 years my circumstance changed and in 2000 I took delivery of my first Gus Guitar. I now own 3.

The problem for me was that if the amp and cabs are part of your sound you need to be using them for EVERY gig you do. About half the gigs I play involve some kind of equipment share with the back line which used to mean spending valuable sound check time trying to dial in the right sound from the cab(s) and/or amp I was having to use, and on several occasions having to admit defeat and go with what was the least horrible tone I could coax out of the rig in the time available. At the bigger gigs the bass amplification systems on stage make no contribution to sound I hear when I'm playing and the sound the audience hears FoH. I realise that perfectly flat amp and cab(s) are not really feasible, but the less the amp and cab(s) influence the sound the better IMO. I also find it weird that the bassists who benefit the most from spending time and money agonising over esoteric amps and cabs are those playing in pub band with vocal-only PA systems, to punters who are mostly too drunk to notice.

Indeed. The speed that the stylus travels in relation to the groove is almost 3 times faster at the outer edge of a 12" album then it is at the label. That affects both the amount of "detail" that can be carried in the groove and the frequency response.

But good luck finding a receptive audience to play it too in small town England back in the 70s.

The problems with vinyl are at the end of each side not the beginning.