Chienmortbb

Those 4x12/4c10 columns were built for two reasons. In the UK, there were three main guitar speakers makers, Goodmans, Fane and Celestion. These speakers were usually 25-30 watts so to match the amps of the day, 4 were used in each column. Most amps were 30/40 or 100 watts. WEM, made 49 and 100 watts solid state amps. Using two 8 ohm columns meant that the drivers did not get to the point of come breakup, so beloved of guitarists. Were they as good as a good modern PA speaker? No but they were probably as good as the cheaper plastic speakers available today.

Until you put them through a Markbass Cab. Any colour you like, except flat.

Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves?

Apparently nicked from a van parked in Notting Hill in 1972. It was outside a squat and one of the squatters took it, but when he realised how "hot" it was given it to the pub landlord for safe keeping.

On that basis an HB P Bass kit for me as my mechanical and electrical skills far outweigh my musical talent.

Not sure about the headstock, but that body a Matsumoku or a homemade clone of an Aria or Westone, late 70s or early 80s. On second look, the stripes and hardware is also not consistent with Matsumoku.

They are now made by D'Addarrio. Sadly the flats are just as bad as ever IMHO.

The A&H CQ series look really good if not a little more expensive than others. I am going for the Stagebox version, the CQ20. However, it does seem that the CQ18, the touch screen version is very popular for those transitioning from a mixer with traditional controls, it's currently sold out until April.

MDF, can suck in black holes at a million miles as it’s so dense.

There is no right answer to this. One of my bands useds a Behringer Powered Mixer stayed at 500 Watts. However that is across two channels and also Peak watts. I suspect it is about 100 into 8 ohms, 150-200 into 4 ohms per channel. One channel is used mono for FOH and the other for monitors. The front of house speakers are Ramsa WS-A200s and they have a sensitivity of 98dB . We have played pubs clubs and small theatres and never been short of volume but then we currently only put vocals the PA Remember the watts do not tell you how loud a system is. The sensitivity of the speakers determine that.

A bold statement.

HiFi or FRFR means faithful reproduction of the sound you put in. Most "old school" amp/cab system have, as @Phil Starr said, have little top end and often a boost at around 120Hz. That used to be the sound of bass. With more and more modelling systems/multi-effects units, more and more people are either going into a HiFi/FRFR system or directly into the front of house PA system. HiFi is usually reckoned to be 20Hz to 20KHz, but in BASS systems I would argue that 40Hz to 15KHz is more than adequate for bass (in fact probably 15KHz is probably higher than you need). Most modern amplifiers are close to HiFi, we measured several at the SW Bass Bash two years ago and these included class D offerings from Bugera, Ashdown and others (I will try to dig out the results). Be aware however that the "Gig Bag" amps, like the Elf and the Gnome, tend to be coloured when set with all EQ at 12 o'clock. The Elf has a baked in Smiley Face EQ and the Gnome has a rising response. The Aguila TH series are also probably not flat as shipped. Many people use PA cabs for this too. RCF and QSC get a lot of love for this, and it is a fairly lightweight option, but not a cheap one. A decent cabinet will cost at least as much as a good amp/cab combination, and probably much more.

Whoever accepted the gig on behalf of the band was done up like a kipper!

Behringer get a bad press as a copier, but many of their spruces are designed in house and do not copy anyone. The power amplifier section of many of their older speakers were based on the same NXP chips as the earlier Mackie Thumps. Most of the low to mid-speakers use the Analog Devices DSP chips that are of a higher quality than the rest of the speakers/circuitry but are really there to make up for the deficiencies in the low-cost drivers. Although I am not a fan of the Behringer Stage Box Digital Mixers, for a few reasons, but they have almost created the market and Soundcraft, RCF and Allen and Heath probably benefit from that.

I do agree, although it is the values of the components that matter. There is no magic in Orange Drop capacitors or any particular make of pots. The law or taper does matter, though.

My lot laugh at how many cables I bring. They were not laughing last week when the lead guitarist's only cable and a month ago, when the Rhythm Guitarist's mic cable was safely in his garage when we were 40 miles away at a gig.

That is the daddy!

Wise people1

I have just retired my passive PA tops and set an 11Kg limit per item. My bass cab is 11Kg and I am looking for tops under 11Kg tops.

Good work.

They should not come together, and mains sockets on different phases should not be closer than can be touched simultaneously by a single person.

My point was that the actual wiring has little effect as a sound upgrade. The workmanship on @KiOgon's looms is superb and in many cases a worthwhile upgrade, but there would be little difference in the sound to a bass without a loom but with an identical circuit. In fact, you need to be careful when laying out a loom that the innate tidiness does not cause unintended problems. @KiOgon is experienced enough to know this and if you want an easy, trouble free installation, one of his looms is a no-brainer. The other advanatge of @KiOgans looms is that it looks nice inside your bass, but only you can decide how much that is worth to you.

I only use my J pickup once in a blue moon to check it is still working (it is). I often wonder how much the loading of the J pickups affects the sound of the P even when the volume is at zero? I must do some circuit analysis, or I could noodle on my bass....

Much as I admire @KiOgon s work, I don't think he would argue that his looms are a tone upgrade. In saying that, if upgrading the pups you might want to upgrade the other electronic items as well and in that case, @KiOgon should be your port of call if soldering is not your thing.

No, the voltage between phases over here is over 400V.