Dan Dare

I keep the thumb nail short, but use the edge of it on the string. Some great thumb bass playing on live film of Gary Moore and BB King doing "The thrill is gone" on YouTube. Lovely fat tone.

Tears of a Clown was the one that did it for me. Genius.

Seashell's right. You have to put yourself about, go to jams, etc. Never know when something good will present itself. Good hunting.

Bill. Not entirely. The purpose of a contoured surface is not only/simply to scatter reflected waves. It has absorptive properties, too. A flat sheet of solid foam (especially hard foam) will, at least in part, reflect sound waves back at the cone - just the situation one is attempting to avoid. In practice, effectiveness is limited by wavelengths. Foam lining is less effective on lower frequencies.

Agree with Lozz about Markbass. The just seem to sound good in the mix.

Orchid. made in the West Country. £35ish delivered. Don't let the price put you off. Sound on Sound was very impressed.

It ain't cheap, but proper contoured acoustic foam is best. Be careful with spray adhesives. The fumes can harm drive units. I use Unibond.

This may or may not be helpful, but a lot of it is down to how well you get on with them. 99% of bands will prefer a competent player who they like to a virtuoso they can't stand. And of course, you have to be happy with them too. It's not all one way. Just do yer stuff. Good luck.

I've also read that the neck of his P bass was quite badly bowed. Apparently, he reckoned the high action gave better tone.

Can I echo the sentiment of others here and register support for Vail? I can't find the thread the fuss is about, but if it's about difference in power amps (which the above suggests it might be), there most certainly is a difference - funnily enough they seem to improve the more you spend...

Definitely bargains to be had at the moment. Shops need to keep cash flow going post Xmas. You may be surprised if you make them an offer.Good hunting.

Good idea Lozz. Thanks.

That Thomann one looks nice. Not too dear at present exchange rates. I'd be interested to hear what it's like, too.

Yamaha always good and reliable. The best small powered mixers I've used recently were Soundcraft - either the flat/conventional type or the Gigrac, which is an upright box. On board Lexicon fx, good mic pre's and usable eq. Plenty on offer s/h. Used passive speakers can be a lottery. Stick with name stuff - EV, RCF, Peavey, etc. You can get them repaired if need be.

Cream and torty looks delicious.

Would value everyone's thoughts/advice. Recently bought a G&L L2000 Trib as a working instrument, so could give the old Jazz a rest and have wider range of tones, in particular the P bass sound. It's versatile/playable enough - am getting to grips with the wider flatter neck (have had the J for 30 years, so it's almost part of me) - but doesn't really do it for me in the way the old beast does. Leaves me a bit cold. Am looking for a vintage/old skool vibe. Thinking about building a PJ - Warmoth body, Jazz neck, Nordstrands/Fralins,etc. All suggestions/views, experiences of PJs much appreciated. Thanks and happy new year.

Ah, memories. Same as my old head. Loved it, but was a beast to cart around and sold it when old age made it difficult to carry. Never had to run it at much more than half power - clean and pokey and very reliable. Enjoy it.

Remember, the original question was about replacing a 4x10 with two 1x12. I still contend that the best way to do that and retain the 4x10 sound is to go for two 2x10s (it goes without saying that they should not be cheap and nasty, of course). It IS largely down to cone area (assuming material quality, construction, etc is equivalent). You need to move air for low frequencies and there's no escaping that. These mini rigs sound great in the shop, but put them in a large space, with drums, etc and they sound very anaemic. You may get mid and top, but there's no 'heft'. SpL measurements are of little use if they don't take account of frequency.

A bit of defensiveness in the "not raw enough/too sterile comments, methinks. Great musicians. End of.

Absolutely right. There are a lot of great young players and just as many crap old ones (and vice versa). I'm the old boy (61) in my band and the others are great. They even offer to carry my cabs .

Peavey Messenger a budget speaker - around £140 each . May not be worth repairing. Better to put the money towards replacements?

Agree with Fender. Valve amps happy to work into a higher impedance, but less so into lower. Impedance of any speaker is far from fixed - it's frequency dependant and varies a lot (typical 8 ohm cab will vary between something like 6-80).

Anyone else get fed up with unbalanced/poorly matched strings? The tension varies enormously across what a manufacturer sells us as a "set". Bought Thomastik Flat wounds for the Jazz. The A, at.70, was so slack as to be impossible to get the intonation correct at the bridge - the saddle fell off the adjuster screw before it was right. Had to replace with a D'Addario in a heavier gauge. Looking at the tension figures on the D'Addario site, they vary across a set by 25-30% in some cases. Appalling. Is it just me who's unhappy with this?

Justin Case? Sounds like a guest at the Luggage Makers Christmas Ball.