Dan Dare

Not really a steal. Half new retail is about the going rate for used gear in good condition.

For that kind of lolly, I'd have a Fodera.

Why not sell it and get something you like the colour of? You are almost bound to reduce resale value to nil or close to it if you do what you intend.

Sounds like a fault in the winding process. Send it back for a replacement.

Paul's spot on. Anything you get will be a bonus and you'll save on storage costs. The old HiSys cabs were decent, so someone is bound to want to give them a home.

K&M make tilting amp/combo stands. Not cheap, but well made and fold up small for carrying. There's a decent looking amp tilt stand on Thomann for around £30 (can't get the link to copy into this).

What a disappointing thread... 😉

I tried one a while ago and it was OK, but nothing special. The Lakland Skyline I compared it with was far superior and a bit cheaper.

I have a Seymour Duncan P pickup in my bitsa (not the quarter pounder or the overwound or vintage model, just the basic cooking version) and it does the job. Nice tonal balance and not expensive. Clear but not over bright with rounds and with La Bella flats, it gives me the classic P bass sound.

Throwing your instrument across the room and screaming "I QUIT" normally does the trick.

I've looked at those. They do seem rather expensive for what they are. A custom builder would not charge much more and you could specify size, ports, etc to suit the driver you wish to use. Or buy one of Bill's plans (they're not expensive) and get that built. You know they'll work, so won't be taking a chance.

I'd leave well alone if you don't know what you're doing. I'm assuming you want to go back to the darkened/aged look. It's very difficult to do convincingly. If you insist, the best advice I can give is don't stain the bare wood. Protect it with some form of sealer first to prevent the colour from sinking into the grain. You could always play it with dirty hands for a year or so and achieve the effect naturally...

Excellent head. Everything you need and nothing you don't. I really don't need another head...

You said it. You "expect" people to do what you demand. Could there be a connection between that and the "lonely life"? Not having a go at you, but I've found over 60 plus years that the place to find why we have problems/issues is inside, not outside ourselves.

Change the atmospheric conditions? Stone me. I'll have a couple. Fed up with it being cold and damp. Gets in me bones, wot wiv me being 65 and a pensioner, like.

Style over content

Mate, you need to stop obsessing about yourself and get out more. You seem (from this and other posts) to expect everyone to follow your lead and do things your way. It doesn't work that way. People have free will and can choose what they do, when and how. Switch off the computer and join the human race.

Ubit's post above reminds me of a similar situation. It doesn't qualify as a worst gig ever, because it actually went well for us.. I was playing fiddle with an Irish trad band and we turned up to play a wedding at a smart venue In Wimbledon to find not another ceilidh band but a disco taking up the entire stage. There were piles of speakers, lights, smoke machines and junk all over the place. The DJ was an arrogant fat git - when we asked if he could make some room for us, he sniffed contemptuously and refused. So we set up at the side of the stage and played and everyone enjoyed us. The clincher was that we had a high quality EV PA, so we sounded great. By comparison, our hero's massive pile of gear was the cheapest, nastiest disco equipment possible. It sounded like a portable radio, but staggeringly loud and distorted. As soon as he started playing his stuff, the place emptied. Hardly anyone got up to dance and the organisers could be seen complaining to him. Very satisfying. We just stood at the bar smiling contentedly and watching him suffer.

Phil Jones stuff is great, but not cheap. I run a couple of C4s and a 4B with an AG700. For practice, I just use one C4. Do you already have a compact amp head? If so, why not just look for a small cab? The problem with small 'practice' amps is they cannot be used for anything else (unless you get something like a PJ Double 4, to which you can add power amps and cabs and use it as a preamp).

The word "more" suggests you do some already.

Playing too hard/over-straining is a sure-fire way to get cramp. When you can't hear yourself properly, you tend to play harder to compensate and that's when the problems start.

Aguilar AG700? Simple eq and 350w into 8 ohms. Looks an ideal match for your cab. Like mine a lot.

You may well not like "neutral" gear (if such a thing even exists). To get an idea of what it might sound like, run your bass through your hi-fi (via a suitable interface/preamp). Flat/sterile? Check. Dull/lifeless? Check. No "heft"? Check. No amplification is "neutral". The trick is to find the one with the colouration/distortion that appeals to you.

Recording bass "to pro level" is usually done direct in. You don't need large numbers of large cabs (even if studios mic' up an 8x10, the mic will only be pointed at one driver). All you need is a preamp/front end. Always tickles me that people spend a fortune on Ampeg B15s "because Jamerson used one in the studio", despite that fact that the bass was recorded direct at Motown and the rig was only for monitoring/so the band could hear the bass.