Dan Dare

My backup head came in useful when the power amp for the monitors packed up.

I'm with Bill on this. I did once try using two identical cabs, one each side of the drums (this was for situations where I was not DI'd into the PA) and found it made little if any difference. The guitar player liked it, though. He could stand his combo on my bass cab and hear it more clearly.

A valve pre with a power amp? Decent PA power amps can be had for little money second hand.

Socks, slippers, mugs bearing cringeworthy slogans ('Grumpy Old Git', etc), indigestion, a mild hangover. Just the usual bloody Christmas. Ho bloody ho

You said it yourself. Bongos and congas instead of drums to a load of drunks in a boozer who've come to hear rock, pop and soul covers the night before Christmas? A sure-fire recipe for disaster and for never being booked back in that venue. Your geetar player needs to realise it ain't art, it's entertainment/giving 'em what they want. You're right and you should stick to your guns. Save the arty, "interpretive" stuff for another time.

I haven't bought anything bass related for 2 years and have no plans to, but you never know...

I had a Fender Twin. Great amp' but too heavy to cart around...

I have two PJB C4s (the C8 is effectively two of them in a single box). I like them a lot. Clean/flat and excellent tone, but they may not suit if you are used to the BF sound. PJ cabs, even the Lite versions, are quite heavy for their size (wheels and handles are OK until you encounter stairs). They are also quite inefficient and take some driving. You really ought to audition/try before you buy to avoid making an expensive mistake.

Bill's right. It's pixie dust, really. Even RMS wattage claims are pretty meaningless. They may tell you how much an amp will heat an 8 ohm resistor for a few milliseconds, but into a reactive load like a speaker and across a full range of frequencies, that all goes out of the window. And that's before you start factoring in speaker efficiency, etc. Best to ignore all claims and audition stuff in real-world situations.

I had the AH350 many moons ago. Great heads - powerful, unburstable, reliable, heavy. If you can live with the weight, they are still great amps. TE's design brief was to mate a good quality pre' with proper eq to a PA power amp output stage. They were originally built in the wilds of rural Essex (I took mine to the factory for a service/repair and they did it on the spot whilst I went to the local pub for lunch). They were a bit of a revelation in their day compared to what else was available and that uv front light looked cool.

Impressive. They do look the biz, those classic Ampeg rigs. Has anyone ever tried putting lightweight neo drivers in an Ampeg 8x10? Would be an expensive experiment, but I'd love to hear if it would work. Have fun with the new toy.

Aguilar AG700 is cleaner and more powerful than the TH500. I'm biased because that's what I chose (over the Magellan and several other well-liked heads that are mentioned here), but worth a try/listen, I'd suggest. If you want that classic Eden sound, another Eden is the obvious choice. A Reidmar might be a good lightweight alternative. There's no alternative to auditioning a few, really.

I reckon ped has it right. An instrument is the sum of its parts. As an OAP, I'd prefer a lighter instrument, but not at the expense of quality.

I've found with my very infrequent sales (I hardly buy and sell - I try to find what I like and stick with it) that the BC sales forum is a reliable place. The only thing I don't like is that you have to set a price when selling. Sometimes, you can get a pleasant surprise when selling on eBay, especially if several get into a bidding war for what you're selling. I do notice that a few selling on BC have an optimistic view of what their stuff is worth. Typically, average used values (excluding vintage, rare or unusual items) tend to work out at around half new retail.

The late great Jimmy Smith played all the bass parts with his feet on his Hammond. Very tasty bass parts they were, too.

I'd sell the bass complete and try a Jaguar. Short or medium scale, depending on model, P/J pickups and not too expensive.

It's cheap and easy to experiment with cap values. They cost pennies.

THs do have a baked in tone (warm/thick), which you can modify but not lose completely with the eq (which is only 4 band) in my experience. If you like the sound, great. If not, you're probably better looking at alternatives. I have an AG700, which is less coloured by nature, although even it has some of the trademark Aguilar sound. Fortunately, I like it.

I love tucking into the buffet at functions (provided I'm invited, natch), but you have to watch out. If you overdo it, you can be nodding off in the second set - like those films of the lions of the Serengeti, where they kill and eat something and go to sleep under a tree for two days...

You need to bypass the preamp entirely if you want something genuinely "flat" (if such a thing exists, which is debatable - all amplification has a sonic signature of some sort). A plain power amp is the obvious choice. You may not like the results, of course...

True. I was in the same position as you - needing something compact for small jobs. I went shopping for combos, tried a few and liked the Markbass 1x12. I was about to buy one, when I saw the shop had a Phil Jones C4 cab on display, so out of curiosity, I asked to try it. It was considerably better - surprisingly so (to my ears at any rate) - than the MB (and that was driven by a little GK 200w head). It sounded even nicer when I got it home and plugged my AG700 into it. I bought it and have since sold my other cabs and got two more PJB cabs, so I can take as many as I need to get the volume required for a job. If you like your Super Twin, the advantage of getting a Super Compact is that you will get the BF house sound in a smaller package for lower volume situations. They do turn up used, so if you're not in a hurry, you may well find a nice one and save a bit.

Don't be concerned about a neck "taking on moisture". If you throw the instrument in a river or leave it out in the rain, it probably will, but hard woods such as maple are tight grained and not at all porous. They will not absorb moisture over the course of a couple of hours playing. Products such as Tru Oil, Birchwood Casey, etc are meant for gun stocks and similar, so will leave a slightly shiny finish. Most seem to consist primarily of linseed oil. A wipe down after you've played will be fine. If it gets dirty, clean it as suggested above.

I put a couple of Celestion Neo 10s in a cheap secondhand 2x10 cab a while back and got decent results. I may have been fortunate that the cab suited them, but don't be too worried about matching drivers to cabs. Within reason, most good quality units will work fine in the standard sized cabs that exist. Manufacturers, especially those in the budget/mass market, tend to stick to the tried and trusted as far as specs/designs are concerned.

Two very nice (and portable - especially the LM3) heads there. Any decent 1x12, or even 1x10 if you don't need to push the volume, cab ought to do nicely. Cheaper than buying a combo, too.

Not wise to answer this for fear of tempting fate.