Dan Dare

Have a look at the back of the sleeve of Zappa's "The Man from Utopia".

Sounds like a collab' between Abba and Guns n' Roses...

I did a similar thing for my parents when their neighbours wouldn't stop their noisy all night parties. Took a 3kw PA round to mum and dad's place and cranked it in the small hours during the week (having first warned the other neighbours, who were also peed off about the noise). Did the trick.

I bet they were all trees, though 😊

Treewood.

Headphones have to be the way to go for the bass. The problem with low frequencies is that they travel through the structure of a building. This is especially true of older ones, with wood floors, joists, etc. Moving cabs away from shared walls, etc, does little to alleviate the problem. Even when I play quietly, with the cab well away from walls, my neighbour (I live in a terraced house) can still hear/feel it. Not sure whether speaking with the neighbours will be productive. If someone knocked on my door and said "I've just moved in next door and may make a lot of noise", I'd be unlikely to be overjoyed.

This is complicated. There are so many things at play. Others have addressed the issue of instruments made in high wage economies by craftsmen/women who are paid properly vs. those built in highly mechanised Far Eastern factories staffed by people who are paid the equivalent of a tin of beans a day. Price and "value/worth" are not the same thing. Modern manufacturing means you can buy a budget instrument which will be as good a functional tool (albeit with a bit of fettling) as something handmade and expensive. If that's the case, why doesn't everyone play a Squier (other brands are available)? The list of reasons is long - pride of ownership, scarcity, desire to own something unique or unusual, disposable income, fashion, resale value, etc, etc. If people want to treat themselves to something nice or expensive that makes them happy, that's great. It's their money after all.

Yep. I used to use my old Fender Deluxe for low volume bass - recording and practice. Tonally, it was lovely, but had relatively little low end in the room (which didn't matter with a mic' six inches from the cone).

Ignore us, go and try stuff and buy what hits the spot for you. It's the only way to make a good decision.

The Beatles

Be cautious fiddling with valve amps, especially when switched on (even when they're not, the power supply caps can hold a potentially lethal charge). The internal supply rail is dc and usually high voltage. If you don't know what you're doing, take it to someone who does.

A decent DI box will usually get you out of jail (unless the PA is really cr*p).

Worth trying what Bill suggests. You are unlikely to get a lot of low end from an open backed combo, but for quiet living room playing, it could well suffice. As far as I know, the Classic, unlike some combos, does not allow you to disconnect the onboard speaker so you can use only an extension cab (for which there is a jack socket). You would have to rig something up.

Give it a few years.

I do hope so. All the talk of resonance, etc is meaningless when pickups are not microphones and do not function as such. To test this, turn your bass and amp right up and shout as loudly as you can at the pickups. Unless they are or have gone microphonic - due to poor construction, age, etc - you will hear nothing from the speakers. How can they "hear" the acoustic/unamplified sound of the instrument? Electronics and construction are what make the difference.