Dan Dare

A band I was in advertised for a fiddle player. We played 50s country music, Western Swing/honky tonk and similar. I play fiddle, but was the bass player in the band (due to our being unable to find anyone who could play the bag - it ain't just 3 chords/2 to the bar, despite what many think). We agreed I'd check people out - accompany them on guitar while they showed their stuff. A weird Scandinavian arrived at my house. He asked "Vot iss honky tonk?" and then played me a terrible version of a well known fiddle piece which he insisted was an original tune wot he had wrote (and argued when I suggested the real title). I let him murder another song and then suggested he was not sufficiently familiar with the idiom and thanked him for his time. He fixed me with a maniacal stare and said "I am not satisfied with your explanation". So I took out my fiddle and played him some stuff and pointed to the door. He gave me a terrible look and left.

For a quality instrument like that, get it resprayed professionally. Stripping to bare wood can be difficult. The tough finishes some makers use resists all chemicals and has to be removed with a blow lamp (I know. I've done it. Takes for ever).

Anyone else have problems with people in bands who insist on wearing ear plugs? As a result of doing so, they can't hear subtleties or how loud they are relative to everyone else, so they crank the volume and the whole thing descends into chaos. When you suggest it would be better to take them out and for everyone to play at a sensible level, they bleat about damaging their hearing (they don't seem able to grasp that wearing plugs is only going to increase the problem, for others if not for them). Mad.

Death metal

Sorry to hear that. I hope the person she lent it to is stepping up and either trying to recover it or offering to replace it.

Lovely singer. Terrible waste.

I'm a fiddle player. When I was in my teens, not a cool thing to be..Picked up the bass so I could join my mates' band. Found I took to it (being a reader helped).

Used Mexican P Bass Special should come in at your budget. One on EvilBay recently.

Red Box a good solution. You could also carry a specific mic for the task. Something like a Sennheiser E602 or 901.

Absolutely. Wrap it once round the strap. Only problem is you may pull your amp head onto the floor if it's a lightweight one...

HK Elements are good, but may struggle with louder bands unless you use a lot of them, which would be pricey. The conventional HK boxes - Premium Pros, for example - are good (I use them as monitors). Agree with others about Bose - OK for acoustic acts. Check out Fohhn compact line arrays (I'm biased - they're what I use).

I've always understood Steve Jones played the bass parts on the SP records an that SV was just a tailor's dummy for the stage.

I have found memories of my old TE AH350. I do think there's a big difference in showroom vs live sound. The Trace sound just seems to work on a practical level. Some of the amps that sound nicest in the shop fall flat on a noisy stage.

You need to work it into the pores of the Tolex - takes a while. Agree with Bill. Dye best.

Good move. The stock Ampeg driver are Eminence, but cheaper models. I replaced the one in my SVT 15 with an Oberton. I think the "drivers must be matched to the cab" rule is a little over-stated. As long as you get drivers that suit the cubic capacity (roughly) and type - sealed, reflex, etc - you'll be fine.

Pedals? What are they?

Agree with EBS Freak. I add an extra power amp to my 350 and drive both cabs separately if I want more grunt.

Get another drummer.

A powerful amp running at low volume will sound easy/unstrained. Much better tone/more headroom. Most amps are over rated anyway - a 1khz test tone through an amp into an 8 ohm resistor ain't the same as a complex musical signal into a reactive load like a speaker.