BigRedX

IME the 3 main factors in getting a good sounding and feeling low B string are as follows: 1. Good neck construction 2. Good neck joint 3. The right string for the bass (construction and gauge) There's not a lot you can do about factor 1, but you can improve the neck joint on a bolt-on neck bass, by slackening off the strings. Then undo all the neck screws by half a turn. Tune up the pitch and once the tuning has stabilised tighten up the neck screws again. Loosening the neck screws allows the tension of the strings to pull the neck as tightly as possible into the neck pocket to give the best possible joint. If that doesn't produce an improvement then I would recommend trying a taper-wound low B string, where the taper basses over the bridge and the full thickness of the string starts as soon after the saddle as possible. Suggested strings would be LaBella Steels, Warwick Black Label or get Newtone to make you a custom set.

Fairly pointless when there are potentially 20,000 phones in the audience all looking for a WiFi signal.

The problem with your poll is that you have lumped what I consider incompatible choices together. For instance I like a proper bright "white" white, but would never consider an instrument in a creamy white as I think it looks horrible. Likewise with bursts. Some look great others dull and boring. I would tend to say they choices reflect a typical man's lack of appreciation of fine details when it come aesthetics.

Unless it has changed recently the carbon fibre Enfield necks are made by Simon Farmer of Gus Guitars. I wouldn't recommend an Enfield to the OP unless he has tried on and liked the neck, all the ones I have played were extremely V-profile to the point where I found them uncomfortable, and I'm normally very adaptable when it comes to neck shapes.

Anything programmable with level and tone controls on it.

What's the reason for wanting 35" scale? If you like the extra space between the frets fine, but if it is specifically for getting a better feeling and sounding low B string you may well be disappointed. IME adding an extra inch to the overall scale length on its own does virtually nothing to improve the low B. It is far more important to have a well constructed neck and got neck to body joint, and all these things can be achieved on a well-made 34" scale bass.

Just found this photo from 1986 of me playing the Yamaha KX5 after it had been repainted gold...

Thanks! The fingerboard/pickups/ramp combination was my idea, but Martin was the one who actually made it work. When I went to collect my bass, While Martin was doing the final set-up I had a quick play on another Sei that had recently been completed. A stunning looking instrument, but it didn't speak to me the way the bass that'd been made specifically for me did. I think the trick is not the get bogged down in the specifics. Think in broad strokes - how do you want it to look, sound and feel and let your chosen luthier fill in the details.

I own this Sei Flamboyant: It's actually got an ACG EQ1 pre-amp in it, so it's got a similar sound to an ACG but with the Flamboyant shape which I liked more than the ACG shapes (sorry Alan!) I've tried a lot of Shukers but although I liked the looks I really haven't liked the feel of any of them. As others have said, it doesn't matter what we think. What matters is what you like, and whether or not you get on with the luthier. My advice would be don't expect to be able to specify every aspect of your bass, a lot of it should be guided by your choice of luthier helping you to get the instrument you want. My Sei was based on the fact that I liked the shape, wanted a Wal-like fretless sound and wanted my bass to be grey and orange in colour. Martin did the rest.

Another one with the same band as my last post. In fact it was almost definitely the next gig we played. Coventry University Christmas Party in the new Student Union building. We were support to an up and coming indie band that I'd heard of at the time but can't recall the name of 20+ years later. Impressive venue with a big stage and a massive and very loud PA. However none the the audience were in the slightest bit interested in live music. They were there to get drunk, throw themselves around the dance floor and hopefully get off with someone they'd been fancying all term. We were an inconvenience in this mating ritual. As we came on the dance floor cleared and we did our set to complete indifference, the moment we finished and DJ started up the dance floor was full again. The headliners despite being a "proper" signed band didn't fair any better. In our hurry to get away at the end of the evening we left the hard drive for the sampler and most of the framework for our backdrop behind and had to go back to Coventry the following day to collect them.

I did one like that in the late 90s in London. It was one of those 4 completely different bands on the bill, but seemingly well organised - we'd already done another London gig the month before with the same promoter which went down brilliantly. This one was completely different. We were playing in a venue underneath a posh-looking bar somewhere in central London. The first two bands had been blandly inoffensive and a decent sized audience had built up. Then the band before us came on. Their opening comment was: "Today we just signed to (insert name of minor late 90s Indie label so insignificant no-one can remember who they are now) so flip you all!" and proceeded to "play" a set that seemingly consisted of 25 minutes of non-stop feedback and shouting while the drummer flailed drunkenly at his kit. They managed to drive every single person out of the room including the PA engineer. I stayed only to make sure they didn't decide to finish their set by demolishing all the gear on stage (which included ours). We played to 3 people who had come from Nottingham in the singer's car.

This is what I was planning to say but TimR has already said it and a lot more succinctly and eloquently than I would have. IMO that is all this thread needs.

It certainly makes sense, particular live since hardly any PA engineers will mic up bass cabs. Therefore all your tonal adjustments are contributing directly to sound of the bass on stage and FoH and not compensating for the voicing of your cab(s).

NJust a bump to remind people that this is one tomorrow (Friday 8th) night. In Isolation will be on stage at 9.30 Entry £5.00 on the door.

IME bicycle boxes are made out of far stronger cardboard than the typical guitar box.

Just how loud do you need to be? I'm using a Helix with a single RCF 745 (1x15 plus tweeter). Most of the time when I have PA support I'm running the Helix with the master volume at 10 o'clock and the RCF at 3 o'clock which is plenty loud enough for a decent on-stage mix when we have vocals only in the foldback. I've done one gig with no PA support for the bass and that required me to turn the Helix up the just over half way.

Why? They were rubbish.

As an artist considering whether or not to use PledgeMusic there was no sign of any sort of "community" or cross promotion of our campaign to existing supporters of similar artists. Maybe that was something that only becomes available when you start your own campaign and for an extra "payment" or percentage of your pledges? I don't know and currently have no way of finding out. Is there anyone on here who has run a successful PM campaign who could comment? I can't help but think that most of the artists you say you've supported through PledgeMusic really shouldn't be in need of it's services. They all appear to be people who managed to establish a decent sized following under the old "record company" system of artist development and promotion. This is something I see over and over again; bands who are making the "new" ways of producing and promoting their work are those who have already built up a follow or are being supported in the background by management that is already well established. There doesn't seem to be any way for a completely new band of musicians without a "musical history" to benefit, because they need an audience in the first place to make it work. There are a few artists I like who have previously run PM (or similar) campaigns, but I've always waited until the album has actually been released before buying a copy, if possible directly from the band. Most of the time there is nothing in the pre-release promotion that I want enough to make me want to commit my money that far ahead of the album being released. Also as a punter I have a lot more respect for a band that has managed to get their music out under their own steam, irrespective of whether or not there is an audience for it, and not to have to go begging for money before they will commit themselves to recording and releasing new music.

Well then instead of getting a new bass amp get some better monitors instead. The whole band will benefit.

I generally use the pick because that's the sound that I want so I don't automatically have a different EQ setting just because I am using a pick. Having said that I use a Line6 Helix, so every song potentially has a slightly different EQ (sometimes I even have EQ changes in different parts of the same song) to get the bass to sit in the correct changing sonic area cause by the different sounds of the other instruments. Also I've found that my pick playing is slightly quieter than my finger style.

But the pickup mechanism itself isn't active - that's still wire wrapped around a magnet. It just needs an active butter to match the impedance to make them work better with the impedance of the amplifier input.

I do. Although I use a Bass VI for this. In one of my bands, the keyboard player and myself alternate between bass and melody parts, so when one of us is playing the bass part the other is doing chords or the melody and vice-versa.

Apart from optical systems such as those by Lightwave there are no true active pickups. However some conventional magnetic pickups are specifically designed to have a low output (for supposed tonal or low noise performance) and must be used in conjunction with additional active circuitry, which for the sake of convenience is built-in the the pickup housing. These are sold as "active" pickups although there is nothing active about the pickup mechanism - just the additional pre-amp used to match the signal and impedance to standard instrument level. So to answer the OP if you want to facility to be able to use your bass without any active circuitry you will need normal passive pickups and a separate active pre-amp that can be by-passed.

Personally I wouldn't bother with bubble wrap. You won't be able to put enough around a cab to make any significant difference in the event of it being dropped. Polystyrene slab or heavy duty cardboard tube at all the corners is far better and make sure that the cab can't move even slightly within the box when all packed up. Heavy duty cardboard should be available free from any shop that receives goods in large cardboard boxes. IME cycle shops are always keen to get rid of their unwanted boxes and packaging. Do use extra layers of card over the front to protect the speakers and at the back around the where the sockets are. Finally as @Deedee mentioned cutting holes in the packaging to allow the use of the handles on the cab is an excellent idea.

@BrunoBass yes definitely a Hagstrom or one of its rebadged variants - I got one second hand in the early 80s with a Futurama logo on it. The whole front of the bass is a single piece plastic molding, you can see the screws holding it on. The body would have been plywood covered in textured vinyl. Red and pale blue were the most common colours. Nice looking Burns guitar being sported by the guitarist on the right in the second photo.