NHM

Don't agree with that. My '71 is a lovely instrument, superb neck, just needed a better pickup.

I thought all the first Musicmasters (with the tulip tuners) had a black pickguard. So what colour did the black one come with?

So A.I. has still got some way to go

I love my Fender tuner 'cos (a) it works and (b) it says 'Fender' on it. (or perhaps the other way round)

I thought from the first pic the banana box was a nice Fender tweed...

I recently retired from full time work and worked out a spreadsheet of our outgoings to see how much money we needed to survive. With recent inflation, it is about £20k a year for all food/drink, bills, insurances, house maintenance money set aside, car/fuel, dog etc. but as we've paid off the mortgage this figure doesn't include this or rent. Over the years I've built up a top quality bass rig, with three gigging basses, a main amp/speaker rig, a decent combo for small pubs, a small back-up amp and a small pedal board. I made a decision that once I was happy with the gear, that's it, no impulse purchases and only buying gear to replace breakdowns. My gear is about a £5k investment in total. I haven't spent on bass gear for some time now, so my income from being in a covers band is a healthy supplement to my pension. I'm saying all this because I came at having a fulfilling musical lifestyle by planning what was possible on my budget and then sticking to it, and getting the fun from playing knowing that the money side of things was secure. I've not been good enough to go pro so the issue of going full time has never been one I've seriously considered, but I'm lucky(?) enough to have been in good quality bands for many years so I've had a brilliant time with a lot of really talented and lovely people playing at some fantastic events without it ever jeopardising the family. So I'm an advocate of keep the day job and have a great time in a local band - and any income this generates offsets the tedium of the day job and buys you and the family some nice extras.

Only once had need of a back up bass, many years ago at a NYE gig in Harrogate. The 'A' string broke during the first set, and I had to soldier on as I had no alternative. Ouch. Thereafter I carried a back up bass but now don't bother any more as the basses I gig feel rock solid, but always carry a spare set of strings (and amp head).

half a darning needle does the job nicely...

I love the little model figure - and I've got some trousers like those!

the band I'm in is great, but I wish we went out now and then and got hammered followed by a curry (like in the old days). S'pose one can't have everything, so it's a good job the music is good...

I can sing fine if I'm strumming an acoustic guitar, but stumble on the words when playing bass. Never understood why one and not the other.

they had a fair bit of 'band' gear, but thinking about it it was mostly or all Yamaha.

I recall Chappells in Bond St had a good bass selection, I bought a Yamaha BB from there about 20 years ago. Now long gone (both shop and BB).

I've got a 500 and it's a great piece of kit and is my main gig amp. It has been 100% fine since new. Good luck with finding one, I don't see them come up for sale very often.

I've just had the Monaco cab on the last leg of its UK tour. For most of the gigs my band does, our instruments do not go into the PA - so a great onstage sound quality is essential. We're a blues-rock four piece, and my regular gigging rig is a Fender Bassman 500 into a Fender Neo 1x15. The only pedal I use is an always-on HPF. I didn't gig the Monaco while I had it on trial but did run it at gig volume for a three hour rehearsal. While I'm very happy with my Fender rig as it sounds and looks great, when the opportunity came to try something different / state-of-the-art I was very interested to explore possible differences. And differ it did, the Bassman through the Monaco was different to the Neo - cleaner, smoother and more even through the frequencies, and very articulate/sensitive, with the amp on the 'vintage' channel and eq set flat. Tweeking the eq from flat as the rehearsal progressed, I ended up with only a very slight bass boost, mid and treble staying flat. Hearing my sound through a neutral speaker made me think the Bassman is a really great amp, it pushes out such a lovely, warm & laid back sound. It was an interesting experiment to pair it with a very high quality 'neutral / reference' speaker, so the 'sound' only is created by the bass, my technique & the amp. One less item in the chain to contribute to confusing differences! In fact, it made me think what role a cab plays in creating a manufacturers' 'signature sound'? If I was in the market to downsize my gear I would definitely consider getting a Monaco. But I like the physical appearance of Fender gear (does any manufacturer's kit look better?), I think it is important how the stage looks and Fender gear has real presence. I'd say the Monaco sounds close to perfect, meaning to me that it pumps out pure, even and uncoloured sound, and should be a perfect platform to shape your sound to your spec with the amp and pedals if the natural character of the intended cab is not doing it. Also, it is a one-hand lift and I don't think you'd need a second cab for the average pub gig as it seemed to handle volume OK, so two more plusses there. I think it has been a great idea from the company to let a cab do the rounds on trial and I hope they get good publicity and sales as a result.

I was using a 500W /4Ohm, but being very careful not to push it into a single 210. I usually used a second cab on a gig for reassurance.

I had one of these for a time, a decent cab although I wasn't over-excited by it, I expected it to be more punchy that it was but that might be my playing! I also had a 1x15 which I though was better, a really decent unit. Can't help with the specs, but the 2x10 isn't heavy. It certainly did the job for a lot of pub gigs, and when used with a second 2x10 (which it paired very well with) or the 1x15 it can make plenty of noise.

and there's me thinking that people made videos about things they knew something about...

thanks for the link, Doc, I did search for 'Event UK' but nothing seemed to come up ...

The band I'm in are being sounded out for a festival this summer. We've been told we have to register with Event UK as this is the way payment is made. Has anyone any prior experience of this? Just interested to know if there are any pitfalls to be aware of.

Another vote for the Rumble 500c. I have one as a back-up to my Bassman rig but it becomes first choice when playing in pubs with tight spaces or difficult get-ins. It really is a decent solution. Its going out on a gig this weekend (the double whammy of a tight space and a long carry!). Can't comment on the Ampeg as I've not tried one.

I bought a Sound City head and cab new in 1978, I don't remember which model but I recall the amp had 4 inputs and I think it was 100 watts. The cab was a 4x10 (or was it 12?). I wasn't experienced enough then to know whether it was decent gear or not, but it was loud and heavy! I ended up trading the head in for a tiny solid state amp at a small music shop in Exmouth -the shop owner thought I was crazy. I don't remember what happened to the cab but that went too and I morphed from the Sound City rig to a little red amp (brand unknown) and a WEM 2x15 which was more portable and worked fine which was all I wanted. Life was simpler then! And the red of the amp matched the red of the WEM so it looked quite a cool match.

Fender Bassman 500 fits the bill, 'though not many about.