Dan Dare

You must be working with different people from me.

If you're looking at spending that sort of money and that sort of rig (sub plus array), make sure you check out Fohhn. Made in Germany, great after sales/backup and really excellent sound. I bought my Fohhn rig after pretty extensive listening/comparing and love it. It's like a giant hi-fi.

Go to a proper shop with a good range of stock and try a few. It's the only way. It's a major purchase (if you are going to consider for some of the amps referred to above, you're looking at a grand or so) so spend some time on it and don't make a purchase on someone else's say so (the Marketplace is full of nearly new stuff people bought and decided they didn't like after a short while, probably because they listened to others' opinions). You need to find out what suits you.

Perhaps it's because he's from oop North. Dark satanic mills and all that

This is sensible. Point 2 is very pertinent. Even if your drummer has personal troubles, it isn't on to throw a tantrum. Were I in that position, I'd say to the others "Sorry chaps. A few issues getting me down at present", etc. That's just being a grown up. This is music, not therapy, after all.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1969-GIBSON-CUSTOM-V-BASS-made-in-USA/173186593095?hash=item2852b9b147:g:QOIAAOSwo4pYRdkf Suppose it could come in handy for hitting burglars with

Rather than using a single large cab, I'd go for several smaller ones. You only need take out what the job needs and several trips carrying lighter stuff is better than one that gives you a hernia. You may not even need to go lightweight if you do that. Older style smaller cabs - such as 2x10s - are quite manageable and cheap to pick up used these days.

Two different ways of buying an ICEpower module. Depends which manufacturer's preamp design you like best essentially.

FX loops are often switchable, which means you have the option of selecting an unprocessed signal without having to switch a lot of stomp boxes on and off. They are generally at line level, which can be helpful for FX units with higher outputs which can overload the preamp in the head and also mean the FX can be driven properly (useful with a lower output passive instrument), which helps reduce noise.

Baby Markbass?

Beware the odds and sods upgrade path - buying a cab here, an amp there, mixing and matching and never really being satisfied. It appears cheap, because you buy in dribs and drabs, but you can end up spending more than if you just sell your existing rig and go for something you like. I did that before I saw sense, off loaded my mish-mash of stuff and bought what I really wanted/liked.

Have you actually tried any of them? If not, you need to. What suits you may not suit us and vice versa. They are probably all much of a muchness in quality terms - they are similarly priced/sized. You simply must try them to see which you prefer.

Sellers don't need to "justify" their rates. If you don't like the percentage they charge, don't sell through them. It's a free country and they are in business to make a living, surprisingly enough... The advantage, when you sell an instrument through someone with a retail outlet, mailing list or whatever, is that they can put your instrument in front of many more people than you can. "Leaving it on the shop floor" is often beneficial, provided it's a desirable instrument, because so many will see it, so I don't know why some are disparaging that. How many people are going to come to your home and look at it through the window?

There is no price list for vintage instruments. It depends on what the seller will let it go for and what the buyer is prepared to pay. That looks a reasonable price to me, unless you are buying to sell it on, in which case, you should pay more...

I have the matching guitar strap.

If it's genuine, he'll probably do better selling on the 'Bay than to Gruhn.

"Fun in the sun" with "scantily clad free spirited laydees"? Free STDs for all. Whoopee. Everything's fine in America, etc (now, where did I put my assault rifle?). We can do without your pity, thanks all the same.

Smoking, drinking, eating, etc on stage? Would you do the same at work?

So true. In cycling, there's an expression - "light, strong, cheap. Pick any two". Building yourself helps, but even then, a few kappalites or equivalent, plus a proper cab or two to mount them in, won't be cheap. Any lightweight head with sufficient power won't be cheap, either, even used. The most economical way to lighten the load is probably to use ones existing head/amplification (unless it's a SVT) and build some lightweight cabs. Even the heaviest head won't weigh anything like as much as an old school cab.

I like his attitude and can relate to it. Being ancient, I've paid the bills and have enough to live on, so am more interested in playing decent music with like minded souls.

Tears of a Clown and What's Going On.

Interesting. Back in the day, gig fees were low, relatively speaking, for better known acts as performances were often mainly about generating record sales. All different now, of course, with downloads and the rest of it.