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He did say "Sting can almost pull it off"!

I went to a couple of music shops in Falkirk to see what they had in stock & maybe try out a fretless (not expecting anything really). The first one I visited didn't have much in but said he was expecting a lot of new stock in about a month's time including Fender & some other good brand yet to be known (hopefully will have a fretless in then). The chap was pretty pleasant & I'll pop back to see what he has. The second shop is where I got my Freshman semi from (after traipsing round Glasgow trying everything that was @ £500) about 4 years ago. The shop was full of budget gear (£500 is an expensive item to them). The chap was talkative & pleasant enough, but when I asked if they ever stock fretless basses his response was "No. You wont find many music shops will have one as they can't sell em. They're no good for playing in a band with as the notes are hard to get & are really only for home use, just for your own pleasure". He then went on to tell me how they got one in stock many years ago & he couldn't play it (I don't think he plays bass at all mind) & I'd be best to try ebay or Cash convertors as folk who buy them find out they're no good for in a band & sell them again. I thought "well he works in a music shop, so must know best"!

Another option is the Godin A5 fretless. But it's a similar price to the 2nd hand NS.

@ £200-250 would get you a Markbass Super Synth or @ £100 odd would get you a EH Bass Micro Synth.

Personally, I'd go with 2 club 102s. Avoids mixing speaker sizes. Just looking at the specs of those club cabs, 13kg! Could lift 2 of those with one finger!!! The 102HF is the cabs that I would go for (better on paper anyway) but it is heavier 19.6kg.

I'd get a lend of one first before buying. I thought I wanted one, tried several & found that every note being the same volume meant it wasn't for me. I do have quite a good amount of control over what my right hand is doing in regards to the dynamics & the only time I might use it is when slapping (which I don't do all that much of).

I looked at both routes (combo or head & cab) & for my needs the combo came out on top. I would have been just as happy with a small head that I could stick in a bag (LMII or similar) & a 2x10 cab.

Hope everyone had an excellent Christmas & have a great run up to the new year.

I can vouch for the MB 2x10 combo being loud & sounding great & if it's the one at £600, then it's a bargain. If you're in Central Scotland (Perth/Stirling/Falkirk) then you're free to have a test run on mine.

I've got one on loan from my guitarist (had it for about a year now) & find it a very useable pedal. So much so that I'm gonna miss it when I give it back! I use it on a slow deep setting, thickens my sound up nicely.

Godlyke Powerall. Has a 5 point daisychain with yellow caps to go over the unused.

Like above, playing with other musicians is the best thing you can do. Spend time learning each note by ear & singing them in your head so when you're listening to something, you know what notes are being played & what scale it is in. This will really only come with time & practice (obviously). Walking basslines tend to be using the scale of the song & following the chords (in it's simplest form). 12 bar blues is a good place to get your basics for this. Experience will come in time & before you know it, you'll be giving most of us advice (hopefully). Anyway, you're headed in the right direction, keep it up!

If you can stretch to £600 (sell your Xmas pressies on boxing day maybe?) then a s/h Markbass CMD 102p would do you proud. there's one in the for sale [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=114170"]here.[/url] I play in a rock band, an alt dot band and starting a DnB experiment & I have no trouble drowning out noisy guitarists, moving things off shelves etc.

If you're looking to always have distortion on then for wah, you can't go wrong with a Moog mf-101 & exp pedal & turn the drive up.

I got lucky, bought my SR1000 20 years ago & I've never wanted anything else until I visited the Ritter website a couple of years ago.

BRILLIANT! Some people would give an arm & a leg to be that good.

I did a wee video a few months back re: slapping on flats. I use TI flats on my fretted Ibby. Here's the (embarrassing) video... The bass was plugged into a Vox Venue 30Bass combo & recorded thru the iMac's built in mic.

I'm still picturing you trying to reach upto the head sitting atop the 2 vertically stacked 8x10s.

Go & listen to some Bootsy Collins on Youtube, is that the kind of funky sound you're after? If so, you want a good amount of mid boost, a reverb, a delay & some kind of envelope filter such as a wah.

For looks alone, I would choose Josh Dunham's Ritter Cora.

I've never seen a battery eating a bass before! (sorry, I couldn't resist responding to the title). Could it be a case of the jack socket being wired incorrectly or a loose strand of wire causing a short somewhere else in the compartment? Like is said, get a lend of a multimeter & go testing. Hope you find it soon.

Get a LMII (or LMIII), they're only slightly dearer & worth the extra. You can upgrade your Mag 210 at a later date if needs be.

I've found a few times that I've typed teh by accident when spellcheck isn't on auto. I think it's something to do with the way my fingers go if I'm typing fast (when I say fast, I mean fast for me).

I'd listen to some Glam & get a feel for it & just jam along & maybe learn the chord sequence to a couple of songs to jam to. Whenever I've went for a jam it has been a case of working ideas around a riff or chord sequence & having fun. A couple of cracking songs have been born from jamming. Rememember, it's about having fun