Dan Dare

Slaving a very good thing to do. Gives you more headroom and oomph. Also, if you have a small amp you like the sound off, is a good way to get that, but louder.

Ah, still miss my old Bassman 135. The closest equivalent sound made by a modern mini head I've heard was made by a Little Mark. Was still some way off, mind.

He did stamp his little foot rather, didn't he?

All up full and then roll back the bridge vol whilst playing a note until the sound thickens - usually only takes a smidge.Classic Jazz Bass sound

BigRedX - love your suggestions. Intend to follow your excellent plan - I like the idea of giving the guitar player a 4ft mic cable, so he has to sing on his knees by the mixing desk...

Anyone else struggle to get bandmates to act/look pro'? You know, ensuring equipment - not just the main instrument and backline, but cables etc - is of good quality and works (and looks decent and not held together with gaffa tape), having proper cases, not cardboard boxes, carrying spares - cables, pedals/fx, fuses, a few tools for running repairs, arriving early and so on? Drives me up the wall, especially when people complain you're a fascist/control freak when you ask why they're late and point that they really ought to carry a mic cable rather than constantly scrounging one of yours. You can't refuse, of course, because it affects the quality of the result. Oh well...

I use an AKG WMS 420. Based on the D5. Plenty of level and good feedback resistance. Less than half your budget.

Little Mark 3 or the 250 if you don't need volume? They do warm/smooth well.

I found Thomsatik flats too soft. They're now on my fretless. I settled on D'Addario chromes for my fretted in a slightly lighter gauge than I had been using for rounds. Not expensive, widely available and quite bright when you need it.

Re. the question about old guitars clapping out, it only applies to classical instruments. Because of the way they're constructed and the fact that they're very light, they don't last well. Steel strung is a different story - my 50 year old Martin is still going strong.

Reet Purple. Yorkshire based prog rock.

The beauty of PJB is you can slave it up if you need more power. The preamp is excellent. I have a Flightcase and add a power amp and cabs for more volume. Sounds great.

Exactly. I am the sound man for bands I play in (because I own the PA), as well the bass player. They use my kit on the understanding they help me with it. If they don't like that, I hire a gopher to carry it and charge.

If you're not bothered about weight, Moos is right. Lots of good old heavy stuff going cheap. There's an old Peavey World Tour head with an 8x10 at the rehearsal rooms I use and it sounds fab. Effortless and fat. Wouldn't want to carry it, mind.

Line 6 Lowdown's a lot cheaper than that. Mine only made £46 on eBay and it was mint with a cover. Would do for very small jobs only.

It's directly proportional to the weight of the rig...

Sir Norman is the boss. He'd sound good playing a Satellite bass through a practice amp

It's played with a pick - you can tell by the attack. It's so heavily processed it isn't possible to hear what's going on. Sounds like a Gibson type of bass - humbuckers. Other than that, dunno.

Clever, compressed to death machine music. No doubt he'll do well making commercial jingles

I tried the combo a few weeks back and liked it. Didn't buy as decided to get a lightweight cab and use with my existing head. A combo isn't as flexible as a separate amp and cab and if, as you suggest, you may need more power at a later date, I'd suggest the LM3 (which is being sold at a good price at present) the way to go. You don't need to use MB cabs of course. Perhaps look at a decent used cab or two?

Gotoh are reliable and not expensive.

I'd agree with Stevie. I went shopping for a compact combo and compared the GK MB112 with the Markbass 112 combo. MB was well ahead in terms of tone and clarity and went louder without struggling. Approaching twice the price, so ought to have been, mind. In the end, I bought neither. Bought a Phil Jones C4 Piranha cab to use with my existing head for small jobs - found it out-performed both.

My 72 J (see my picture). Had it 34 years and it was the only thing that stood between me and not eating for some while.