NHM

I think probably the shop I spent the most time in was in Canterbury, where I went to university. A place called – I think – castle street music, or something like that. It was a guitar shop on castle street, and businesses in Canterbury tend to go for pretty straightforward names. It was called County Music - a lovely shop, good staff, a decent selection of gear for a small outlet, always happy to match online (GAK) prices.

possibly, all my basses have a symmetrical curve where they stand so I don't have a problem.

If you go into amazon and search Kinsman wooden guitar stand, you'll find it.

Here's a sexy little folding wooden number, I found it on Amazon a few years ago:

I haven't played a RB210 but I've owned a Rumble 500 for over ten years. Pros: if you like the sound, then the Rumble with 'Vintage' engaged is near perfect. Loud, light, reliable, sounds great in the mix. It's fine on its own for pub gigs but when paired with a second 2x10 it's epic. Good height to sit on at rehearsals. Cons: I don't like the drive setting, it's too harsh for me. A built in tuner would be nice. I would prefer side handles.

Just home from my first gig with the Evo lll 500 (going in to two Rumble 2x10s) - wow, what a sound, I couldn't believe how big the rig sounded. Lots of compliments.

A good thing about fitting the Hosco saddles is that they keep the correct look of the bridge - i.e. twin saddles - and also utilise the stock bridge plate so no new holes in the body are required.

I'm a bit late to the party on this topic, but I've fitted the Hosco compensated saddles to my Musicmaster and have had a good ten years of 'no worries / great intonation' as a result.

Is a bass only "properly played " at a gig? If you choose to make music on a bass at home is that not "playing" it? Solo practice at home, rehearsing with the band and playing a gig are all great to do - but they are three very different things. I try to play 'properly' whichever of these activities I'm doing, and thus each is equally satisfying in its own way.

I play any of my three basses at gigs, all three play equally well, so I choose on a whim (unless its a prestige gig then the number 1 always gets played). That's why I own them, to play in a band. If I wasn't in a band I would probably sell them all as I don't particularly enjoy playing the bass just for the sake of it.

I've just bought an ABM 500W Evo iii - wow, it sounds amazing, why have I waited all these years. I see I now have to wade through 46 pages of this thread to get up to speed....

Another problem which seems to be on the rise which reduces the number of venues offering live music (thus reducing the size of 'the game') is complaints by neighbours or locals about noise levels. I know of three cases in my area in the last two months, two of which have resulted in cancelled bookings for the band I'm in.