Happy Jack

Agreed. The rechargeable batteries apparently have an active 'life' of five hours, which should be more than enough to see me through a gig. When I have a gig. If I ever have another gig. I'll be interested to see exactly how you recharge the units. The photo of the presentation box shows a cable of some sort, so it may well be possible to have the Receiver on charge while you're playing, and then top up the Transmitter in the breaks between sets. I'll be sure to let you know.

I have the same, and I like it too, but I have a couple of issues with the build quality (especially the cover for the battery compartment), plus it has a stand-alone receiver unit which occupies space, is too flimsy to put on a pedal board (IMHO) and is too light to use without velcro-ing it to something heavier! Nothing insurmountable (pun intended) but I fancy the plug & play simplicity of the X-vive. The Smooth Hound doesn't mention its input impedance, and neither does the X-vive, but I do trust Gollihur and they state that the X-vive has the >1MΩ that you need for piezo pickups. Add to that a rechargeable battery system, and I think it's worth my while to give it a try. YMMV obviously. Incidentally, I do like my Smooth Hound and I have no plans to move it on.

The system recommended by Gollihur in the States is the Xvive XU2 Wireless Instrument System, selling for $159. Obviously, in the UK that means that it lists at £159. GAK have them at £99 right now. https://www.gak.co.uk/en/xvive-xu2-wireless-instrument-system-black/909376?gclid=CjwKCAjwkoz7BRBPEiwAeKw3q8tQfriV9BmIS-A7jtlDqCNi1YS0KmKbH7RLxccZC3B3dAmDQHzO2hoCW4sQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds Just saying ...

OK, just to be contrary, I normally HATE singlecut basses but actually I rather like this one. He's embraced the whale shape and made it a feature, rather than an unfortunate bi-product. I'd never play it, simply because all that extra wood means that the bass is (IMHO) at least a pound or two heavier than it needs to be, but aesthetically I think it has something.

Some tales are sadder than others. There is a long and depressing back-story with which I shall not burden you, but the outcome is that I have ended up with a brand new, unused circuit board for a fairly well-rated piezo preamp system. Essentially, it's this but without the rest of the kit: https://www.gluedtomusic.com/products/1038/graph-tech-ghost-acousti-phonic-basic-guitar-preamp-kit/?gclid=CjwKCAjwzIH7BRAbEiwAoDxxTlqFaQXqhfm5J6Gs0kjD2tHAkYonkva8HriNKjVlegQ1WshVubK1KxoCUS4QAvD_BwE This unit has NOT been installed, has NOT been tested, and I do NOT guarantee that it is all good, but there's no reason I can see why it shouldn't be just fine and dandy. It was provided to me (free) by the overseas luthier at a point where everybody assumed that it was the preamp that was the problem. Actually it wasn't, so this never got used. I have no desire to profit from this rather miserable transaction, so I'm just passing this along. As a special bonus, and because I hate throwing stuff away even when it's complete doggy-do's, I will include the cheap'n'nasty pots from the bass at the centre of this particularly teacup-storm, along with the bloody useless locking jack socket, a device which bizarrely some luthiers still think is a good idea. Rather more helpfully, and as you can see, there is also a reasonable photocopy of the installation instructions. Bung me £3 for P&P and it's yours.

Now that's what I call Old School.

Good Lord, really? My first decent covers band, the lead guitarist made exactly that suggestion before our first gig. We were a 5-piece, and four of us owned some or all of a PA system. I vetoed the idea flat. The very idea of relying on three other people to bring vital components and all associated leads etc., plus the grim reality of someone having to take responsibility for plugging everything together into a functional system, was more than I could accept. As a direct result, I (and for the last seven years @Silvia Bluejay and I) have brought the entire PA to every gig. We own every single piece, we know exactly how everything works, and NOBODY touches the PA at a gig except the two of us. Not everyone's idea of having a good time, but it works for us. And as a beautiful side-effect, Silvie is now a very competent sound engineer ...

I used ... erm ... lots of gaffa tape. Seriously.

The Rule Of Six thing put paid to a couple of indoor gigs we had just been given, our first post-Lockdown to be played indoors, but they at least had the effect of focusing the mind of one particular band member who had been holding back from agreeing to playing indoors. He has significant health issues that I do not suffer from, so the band's response to whether or not to play had to be entirely (and quite justifiably) built around how he and his wife felt. He had just reached the conclusion that he can't keep his life on hold forever and was willing to gig when it got cancelled. On t'other hand, and by sheer coincidence, we have since picked up three outdoors gigs in seven days (next Sunday and the following Sat/Sun). Which is nice.

That is absolutely the right bass for you, Blue. Looks great.

OK, so that's the same system on my (full sized) Westone 'The Rail'. Totally agree about the bloody spikes. On my previous Rail I never did the second snip and I drew blood several times.

Is it really as simple as that? Just buy long-scale strings and chop off 18" including the silks?

Easy to see why Kala sent her a free uke bass! I've had a number of uke basses over the years, but I've never made one sound as good as that.

Just make sure that the silks line up ...

Love it! And gosh, isn't it red! Or is that a trick of the photography?

Now I need to know which pedals those are!

Whenever this topic comes up, I read it with interest but in a detached sort of way. I invariably find myself thinking, "These guys must play some bloody LOUD gigs". I appreciate that there's much more to gig-life than the pubs and social clubs that I play, but I'm also aware that at the really big gigs all that backline is essentially there for personal monitoring ... the real action is the great stacks of Powersoft S/S amps driving the house PA. I continue to struggle (and I don't doubt that it's a failure of imagination on my part) to understand how any modern Class D head can't deliver what's needed. I have an utterly beautiful Matamp valve amp in perfect working order sitting on a shelving unit in my studio. It's been sitting there for several years because I can't bring myself to sell it, and I keep telling myself that one day I'll find a gig that will really benefit from me carrying an enormous and heavy lump of amplifier rather than a 4lb Class D head. I'll be sure to tell you all if it ever happens.

Hard to make a living as a 10-piece!

Mind you, if they WERE to ban all streaming and posting of videos, then more people would go to gigs.

OK, strictly speaking I have to admit that this isn't really bass-related, but what the hell. For many years this contained my old Hondo II Black Beauty when moving it around. The rest of the time it was in storage. Last year, I sold the Hondo on eBay and completely forgot that I had a hardcase for it. Doh! So here's a perfectly useable hardcase, all catches working, no ghastly smell of 50-year-old Players No.6, rather tasteful orange furry lining, and I have absolutely no practical use for it. Free to a good home for any Basschatter who can swing by Harrow and collect it. I can stretch that as far as meeting in the West End but no, I will not post, and no, I will not sit in all day waiting for your courier. Sorry and all that, but you have to draw the line somewhere. This is likely to be of limited interest to the good, bass-playing folk who make this their home, so I'll give it a week here and then stick it on eBay.