Dan Dare

It's one thing to learn 40 or so relatively straightforward songs and quite another to have 500 - with complex arrangements - ready for instant recall.

Ah, the delights of two strokes, which oil up the plug after 50 miles or so...

They're expensive, but you can get rack adaptors for MB heads so you can mount them in a standard 19" rack.

May be worth looking at a "kickback" design - sloped bottom on the cab so it can face up at you, which will make it easier to hear. There are a few around. Alternatively and if you are not short of readies, you could get a Fearless F112 built - http://www.bassplayer.com/gear/1164/greenboy-audio-fearless-f112-cabinet-reviewed/48331 - and use it with a lightweight head. Would be easy enough to carry around.

Re. the original question, if you're playing in, say, a function band with hundreds of numbers in the repertoire and you have to be able to play requests at the drop of a hat, you need charts or the dots, especially if you are working with more complex arrangements. It's a completely different ball game from playing a set that varies little from night to night.

K&M gear is fab. And you can get spares if something breaks. I have a 40 year old mic stand that is like Trigger's broom (3 new heads and 2 new handles)

Motorcyclists with traditional machines

Allen and Heath PA12 has a mono sub out. They often turn up used. Decent eq and onboard fx.

Hence my earlier comment about picking up a Limelight for Fender money

This. A PM asking for location takes a few seconds. I never buy from or sell to people overseas and always like to see/try before I buy. If someone can't offer that, I'm not interested. If you buy sight unseen, its always a risk. Photos are unreliable, imho.

Probably got a better instrument than a Fender. If they paid Fender money, they're quids in

Be aware that the Celestion BN 'S' models have 2mm xmax, as opposed to the 'X' models with 4mm. May be a bit compromised for bass (Bill F would certainly think so).

"Very great sound"? Goodness gracious me.

Let's keep this one going. I like spoof labels. My Bitsa has a Fender style logo that says 'Findus Sea Bass' on the headstock, courtesy of a chap on eBay. Is that illegal?

I had the same issue when building my Bitsa. I rotated the socket on the scratchplate so the contacts didn't touch the shielding and it was fine.

This. Great cans. Tried and tested. I power mine with a mixing desk, which gives plenty enough volume

I've bought several items from them - Mex P bass Special, PJB C4 and a few odds and ends - and they've always arrived very promptly. No complaints from me.

I'd suggest trying some D'Addario Chromes. Roto flats are quite high tension for their gauges in my experience. Chromes are not too expensive and reasonably bright, when new at any rate, so are quite versatile. If you get the 45-100 set, they won't be too brutal under the fingers. They come coated in some kind of gunk that prevents corrosion, which makes them feel a bit oily/sticky. Wipe 'em down with a drop of meths or white spirit and they'll feel better.

Don't want to be a doom merchant, but it may be NAD. The digital bit is generally something of a black box. Unless it can be replaced whole, it's often game over.

Buy 'em a capo for Christmas.

A good repair person has a living to make. He isn't running a charity. It's sensible to search for alternative quotes, of course.

I suspect the lower case contains the power supply. That many KT88s or 6550s are going to need pretty beefy transformers unless it's an OTL design.

Comments from others above are very helpful - make sure your outputs are connected correctly, using pfl (if the mixer has one) to set initial levels, etc. Assuming that is the case, it's important to set the gain structure correctly. You have three stages of gain in a mixer - the input gain, the channel fader and the output faders. Each stage feeds through to the next and they must be balanced to each other and not over driven. A quick and easy way to get started is to begin with all turned fully down. Then set the main outputs at around -5db (keep the power amps feeding the main system and the monitors off at this stage) and the channel faders at 0db. Whilst someone sings into each mic/plays each instrument, slowly raise the input gain until the signal lights show at around 0db, or maybe -+3db on peaks (allow for the fact that people sing/play more gently when sound-checking than they do when the gig is underway) and adjust the eq to suit. It helps to do this on headphones. Then set your monitor levels. If you are using monitors, roll the bass end off quite hard - that is a frequent cause of feedback (and you don't need heavy bass in monitors - you can hear plenty of it from the room normally). Once you are happy, raise the gain on the power amps feeding the main PA until the overall level is as desired. That should leave plenty of headroom and allow you to increase the output faders if you wish to raise the overall level during the gig, or individual channel faders if you want to hear more of a particular singer or instrument, without running into feedback issues. Hope this helps.

Not specifically a Bluetooth speaker, but the Cambridge Audio Minx is well reviewed and sounds good with a decent low end for its size. I have one - use it with the laptop, phone and other things. Can be powered off the mains adaptor or the internal battery.

I think you'll probably just have to let the smell work its way out/wear off. A pal of mine used to drive rally cars. He bought an ex-works jobbie from a farmer, who had bought it and used it for one season only, before parking it in the corner of the yard, where the pigs lived. My pal could never rid the thing of the smell of the pigs, even though he stripped everything out of the interior of the car.