Happy Jack

Slightly OT, I know, but I've never really understood the thing about avoiding side markers. I can see how playing without them can be achieved relatively easily if you always play the same intrument, but I don't. I routinely move between four upright basses but at least they're all more-or-less the same scale length; on electric I jump around from 30" to 32" to 34" to 35" whilst also moving from fretted to fretless. Side dots make life easier - why wouldn't I use them? On an associated note I once took a DB into a very respected luthier's workshop to have a new bridge fitted. He'd just taken a delivery of DB's for set-up & fettling from one of the big London symphony orchestras and they were laid out on the floor in a long row of side-on DBs. Almost all of them had faint (but clear) pencil marks on the neck where the dots would be ...

That was never 10 months ... felt more like five minutes. 😁

Deliberate - the description is correct, it's just the attention-grabbing headline that's obviously wrong.

I've never understood why people ask this question, requiring people to choose between cheap basses and expensive basses. I own both. Simples.

Yes, a cheap power amp once died in a shower of sparks at a country & western gig. Never had a mixer "fail" as such, but I have had to fall back on the emergency spare when the router on our XR18 just wouldn't re-connect. It was still working and the band could play, but without remote control from a tablet it was more trouble than it was worth. All that said, I've had enough issues with small mixers over the years (Alesis, Citronic, Yamaha, etc - all the usual suspects) that I would never gig with one unless I had a spare readily available. My most common issue is the outputs getting fried for some reason.

@Silvia Bluejay and I are in a good place for this, since we have a dedicated gigging vehicle - not a van but a large MPV (2007 reg) with the third row of seats tossed in a skip and the second/main passenger seats reversed to give the biggest possible load area. This means that the driver's seat and the passengers seats are back-to back but there's actually a permanent gap of just under 2' between them, tapering as you go higher. I have three old hard cases originally built for pro camera gear and which I sourced cheaply on eBay, and they fit in a row across this gap on the floor. They contain a full set of spares for almost every contingency (mixer, instrument leads, mic leads, speaker cables, power supplies, tool kit, etc.) and are pretty much never touched, let alone used, but the beauty is that they live permanently in the car and we never need to think about them. They also provide a perfect base on which to lay all the mic stands & speakers stands that we do use at gigs.

I've been in this situation accidentally when the singer/songwriter I was sideman to reset his tuner to 430 by mistake. I was on DB so I kept assuming the problem was my intonation. It was two rehearsals and a gig before I finally called him out on it and the truth emerged. This may have left me somewhat jaundiced but choosing a different "standard tuning" - a contradiction in terms if ever there was one - seems utterly pointless. The best you can hope for is that it won't lead to an embarrassing cockup, there is no actual upside.

Once upon a time, in a studio far far away from Angelsey, I found myself contemplating a similar problem @Owen. My solution was simple, direct, imaginative and showed impeccable taste. I asked @Andyjr1515 to build a new body to go with the neck he'd built for me.

No No NO!!! Stay behind after class, that boy, and see me. It's "Flonj-eh", just ask @Dad3353 or @leschirons, or maybe @Hellzero.

Rhymes with ganja. This may or may not be a coincidence.

I thought about writing something witty, but that shirt/kilt combo has left me speechless. Next up, MacDaddy in a onesie ...

For me, the answer to the actual question being asked is, it depends on the band. In a 4/5-piece covers band with either two guitars or guitar + keys I prefer to stay well away from that sonic territory. I use flats to supply the underpinning for the band. In a 3-piece rock'n'roll outfit I need to be period-correct so it's flats all the way. In a 3-piece covers band where there's a lot of sonic territory to be filled I find that flats just don't cut it, so I use a Rickenbacker 5-string with rounds. I've heard plenty of bands over the years solve that last conundrum (sonic territory to be filled) by just cranking the amps up to 11 and/or adding loads of FX but I have no interest in being in that sort of band.

And here's proof of exactly that ... if proof were ever actually needed. My gig on Saturday night, a section of the set where the DB isn't even being played but it's still front & centre, making a statement.

IIRC we were at that gig. Is that one of @Silvia Bluejay's videos?

It's never too late to grow up, Si. As a double bassist (and yes, I know you have an EUB) my main task at any moment is to be the coolest guy on stage. If I was 19 and in great shape then I suppose I could do all sorts of tricks. If I had learned to do all those tricks when I was 19 then maybe I could still do them today (I'm looking at you, @PaulKing). But seeing as neither of those apply, I just concentrate on pretending that I know what I'm doing while looking cool - though still wondering why I don't look as cool as @tayste_2000 when he plays.

Troo dat, and this would include the legendary "You'll never get that under your chin".

Solutions exist.

I recently spent the best part of a year trying to recruit a competent bass player for my soul band. I play keys in that band, so I can't do the job myself. Not looking for Jamerson. Not even Duck Dunn. Just someone who would play the iconic basslines we all grew up listening to. Not in an obscure, difficult-to-reach part of the country. Not even somewhere just outside Birmingham, like the OP. I'm talking NW London. I was genuinely astonished at the parade of flakes and fantasists who passed through my rehearsal space. I have absolutely no delusions about my own playing ability and I wouldn't even guess that I'm "above average", but I could play all of those iconic basslines way better than any of these people and I'm talking a lot of them. There are bands out there that need a competent, reliable, non-showy bassist. The trick is to find them. The 'obvious' routes like Join My Band, Gumtree and Facebook all come with so many drawbacks that I wonder why I bother. As others have already pointed out, the trick seems to be to get yourself out there, get yourself known, entice someone to invite you to join their band. Go looking for all the well-run jam sessions within driving distance and start attending them regularly. Turning up once is no answer - you need to become one of the regulars, there every week, showing what you can do, available for informal chats. Alternatively you can take the DEEP DIVE and try starting your own band. You want rabbit holes, I'll give you rabbit holes ...

I should prolly point out that "the junkyard" is my home studio/rehearsal space ... The Final Junkyard.

I have played a number of Zeller DBs (both 3/4 and 4/4) and found them all to be great-sounding and completely consistent. A decent pre-owned model would be easily within your price range. I'm sure the Stentors are great, too, but I've not owned one so can't comment.

I'm beginning to think that it's any venue with "White" in it. The worst gigs I've played were at The White Hart, The White Bear, and The White Swan. If Trump wins again and wants to book me, I'm not answering my phone ...

Most of the stuff I play is dance music; most of what isn't dance music is singalong stuff. For me a really good gig is one where everything goes well technically and musically, AND where there's an enthusiastic audience who 'get' what we're doing and join in. Doesn't have to be a crowd of thousands - I've played gigs that made me very happy in pubs that were no larger than the 1930s semi I live in. Conversely, dull or ropey involves small audiences of ageing punters who have forgotten why they even bother to go out any more, or Club Members sitting lined up on the banquette seating with their arms folded and a grim "Entertain Me" expression on their faces, or a mass brawl breaking out on the dancefloor, or a bunch of pikeys invading the stage so that they can sing inappropriate songs about how everybody wishes they were back in wherever (including the band). The really memorable gigs tend to be either exotic and interesting venues (e.g. playing a national car show with the stage alongside an active airport runway) or utter disasters (e.g. playing to a large, completely empty field during a rainstorm of Biblical proportions).