Dan Dare

I wouldn't worry about going through all the companies' sites. Their prices are going to be within pennies of each other. I sent a bass by ParcelChuck recently for around £15.

I found singing lessons helpful. The main benefit for me was that I learned to use my voice efficiently and without strain. The techniques also come in handy when I need to project my speaking voice.

Blimey. Another p1ssing contest. I've owned 5 basses over the course of 50 plus years. There's obvs something wrong with me.

Given that "thunderous low end performance" often seems to mean sounding like a poorly designed disco sub', that might not be a bad thing...

I think (correct me if I'm wrong) Talkbass is American. With no disrespect intended to our US members (who, having elected to join BC, must all be sensible people with excellent taste), that might explain the worthy, censorious attitudes you encountered.

According to the Bax Shop website (which has photos of all sides of it), it isn't ported. The product description includes "port? No". I'd check with Ashdown to be sure. They're very helpful when it comes to answering enquiries.

I had the mosfet one. When I bought it, I could hear negligible difference between it and the valve one, so I thought I might as well save 50 quid. The M may have been a touch brighter, but that was it. Many of these class D amps that boast valve drive just use a single ECC83 in the input stage. I have a Carvin that does just that. It doesn't add much in my experience. Rounds off the sound a little when you push the gain, but that's about it. You aren't going to get a full-on valve overdrive out of them.

I reckon a lot of the stuff in these sorts of listings is probably nicked. Little Jimmy Scrote doesn't have a clue what the item is, so gets AI to come up with some tripe.

Before loading and firing the parts cannon, take it to a tech' for diagnosis. It's easy to spend a lot of money - more than you'd spend on a tech' - on replacing parts by guesswork.

Agreed. I had the mosfet one as my spare and it was great. Sold it when I got my AG700, but only because I didn't feel I needed three amps. Truth be told, it did the job just as well as my other two amps (barring the fact that it wouldn't run into 2 ohms), but I'm a gear tart.

This. You wouldn't buy a car without driving it first. As Bill says, watts are not a very meaningful way to rate amps and some manufacturers' claimed figures can be a little optimistic. If you're looking at the standard class D offerings from most companies, they all give (or are claimed to give) around 300w into 8 ohms and 500 into 4, because that's what the Hypex, IcePower and similar modules they all use put out. Many people gig quite happily with them, so they should all suit. Whether you like the sound they make will depend on your preference. The preamp designer will have made choices which affect that (Markbass tend to do old school very well, for example). Cabs are another story. Efficiency and quality affects how much they will deliver for a given input power. You really need to try a few things before deciding.

Standing in the Shadows of Motown is well worth a watch.

I carry spare cables, mics and similar, but have never taken out a spare desk (and never needed one). I do take out a power conditioner for the PA in case of spikes/dirt on the mains, but whether it does anything is debatable. I suspect it's just a comfort blanket for me.

Thanks. You've saved me from wasting time watching it. The "resonance of thunder" = 8hz and this has caused our ears to evolve to resonate at certain frequencies? Oh dear.

Yeah. I've always thought that odd. You sometimes see a mass-produced instrument offered for sale, labelled "ex (fill in artist's name here)", with an absurd price-tag. How does the fact that it's got Jaco P's bogies and dead skin on the fingerboard make it worth twenty times the market price? Beats me.

I tried a couple when I was looking for a Spector earlier in the year. I found them surprisingly easy to adapt to and liked the clarity and accurate intonation in the lower registers, especially when I ventured up the neck. I bought a conventionally fretted one in the end, but might take the plunge sometime in the future.

Agreed. This sort of thing is nothing new and isn't limited to guitars. A pal of mine is a violin maker. I won't drop his name, but he's highly regarded. He told me there are plenty of name instruments out there that are exactly as you describe - cut and shuts, refins, or originals with some non-original parts, rather than out and out fakes. Virtually all Strads, Guarneris, etc have non-original necks and fingerboards, because the method of constructing and attaching the neck when they were made was different to how it's done now. Back then, the neck was not angled. It has been discovered since that angling the neck, creating a steeper break angle over the bridge, gives more power and a more brilliant tone, so pretty well all of them have been modified. Others have replacement parts, due to the ravages of time, several hundred years of use and even unfortunate accidents. Some have few original parts left. The line between a modified original and a re-creation/'fake' can be pretty blurred.

Mine fell off 😭

You'd have to catch him first 🙂

Bad luck. Having lived all but the last three years of my life in The Smoke, I'm extremely wary of tea leaves and always lock the vehicle even if I'm only leaving it for a very short while. Now I've retired to a rural location and many of my gigs are in nice places, it's probably a bit OTT, but better safe than sorry. I'm with Lozz and Maude. Have one in the venue and one keeping an eye on the vehicle when loading in and out.

You are Derek Smalls and I claim my £5.

It was 55 years ago, when I was 16. I struggle to remember what I played last week 🫤

I've had that happen at less extreme frequencies when playing loud. A piece of thickish foam between cab and amp helps prevent the vibrations from "walking" the amp off the cab.

My wife doesn't understand me. She can't speak a word of English.