Dan Dare

It means we're full of cr@p and not ashamed to say it.

The only way to find out whether a business will work is to try it. It wouldn't cost a lot to place a few ad's, play one of your creations in public to attract attention, etc. Whether offering Fender clones to an already crowded market would work is debatable. There are dozens of firms doing the same and they are going to be able to undercut a one man band via economies of scale, manufacturing in low wage economies, etc. Even at the budget end of things, because Fenders and similar bolt together with around 50 screws, players will often make their own Bitsas (I and many on here have). It's easy enough to buy bodies and necks from firms like Warmoth (or cheaper Chinese stuff), chuck in a pickup or two and pots and make a few solder connections. Buyers looking for higher priced instruments will tend to buy US or even Custom Shop Fenders, because they can be more certain they will retain residual value. No harm in trying, though. If you build to order, you won't have to buy a load of parts and components on spec.

Not necessarily. It's not just about outright volume, but about where that volume happens in the frequency range. You need excursion, as Bill notes, to reproduce low frequencies at high level. You also need a well-designed cabinet that makes the most of the output from the driver(s). A properly ported cab' like the BF will do this better than a plain box like the Ashdown. 4x10s tend to be sealed boxes with drivers wired series/parallel - less efficient than ported designs and with less bass extension. If you look at cone area, with drivers of the same efficiency, a single 15 has more cone area than two 10s (176 sq in vs 157 sq in). So if that 15 has twice the excursion of the 10s (especially in a well-designed cab'), it will be louder and have better bass output than four of those 10s, because it can shift more air. If the 15 is more efficient than the 10s, the difference will be even greater.

Bill's correct. I think the blue Ashdown drivers were Sicas, so were of reasonable quality. However, the BF is a far superior design and will certainly be more efficient (and therefore louder) than the Ashdown. I'd put the money towards a more powerful head, rather than throw it at another cab, no matter how cheap it is. 30w is really only adequate for home, studio or acoustic gig use for a bass. Guitar players can get away with 30w amps on gigs because they do not want clean sound or extended low frequencies, both of which need power.

Yep. I remember those days. The band was a refuge from all the other stuff that clamoured for my attention. Having said that, being in a band with those who have the family commitments, job demands, etc can be awkward. My band has recently had the "We'll have to limit the number of gigs we accept. The missus complains she never sees me, the job is demanding, etc" discussion. I understand their situation and appreciate it's easier for me, as a retired single bloke, but having worked to get ourselves to a position where we are in demand, only to row back from it, is frustrating.

All very well to have high principles if you can afford them, but most of us have to make a living. Talk of "selling out" is usually uttered by those who don't have to worry about where their next penny is coming from. The equation of time/effort invested vs. income received works out heavily against most musicians (and artists generally). I made sure I always kept a day job, so I could pick and choose what I played. Fair play to anyone who manages to make a living out of art of any kind. Sure, I think stuff like Tracy Emin's unmade bed and similar is tripe, but she and people like her have beaten the odds and actually made a decent living out of art, so fair play to them.

This gives me an idea. Do you have a jigsaw? If so, and provided the baffle has sufficient space, you could enlarge the holes for the drivers by around an inch all round and use 12s.

This. I think it's more a competence than an age thing. Many people just don't understand how to do it properly. It's similar to the way to set up a mic' channel. Set channel fader to 0db, switch in PFL, set input gain level and then back off the input gain a smidge when it starts to peak before raising the main output faders. It ensures you get maximum clean signal and the best signal to noise ratio.

Agreed. Yes, there will be poor quality AI-created music, but there's plenty of crappy non-AI music. Musicians will use it as part of the creative process. Nobody is forced to use something AI-created in its original form. Bad musicians will, but the good ones will use it as one of many tools, together with those synths, etc, as you point out.

The best affordable low B I've encountered was on a Lakland Skyline (can't remember which exact model). I tried a Spector Dimension in a shop which was pretty good, too. Haven't played a Dingwall, but have heard them sounding great in the hands of others. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned that the rig is very important when things get seriously low. At around 31hz, the fundamental of low B is below the range of many drivers/cabs, so a lot of what you hear is made up of harmonics. You need gear that covers its tracks well and gives a convincing illusion. Leaving proper subs aside, the bigger BF cabs do it better than many I've heard.

Ah, the London toilet circuit. I used to play at a boozer in Tooting where the route to the toilet was through the band to a door at the back of area where the band played. There would be a constant procession of people stumbling between the musicians to relieve themselves (cue announcements over the PA of "Hope you can hear us in there, We can certainly hear you"), Happy days.

I suspect he had little alternative. He was quite comfortably off and didn't need to work (his missus is quite wealthy, too), but he loved to perform and I guess had no other options. Which makes it all the sillier that he walked away from something good because he couldn't get his way.

The previous band to the one I'm in now started just prior to the Covid shutdown. We were all experienced (i.e. ancient) and competent and hoped we would be past the issues mentioned in various posts above - substance/alcohol abuse, tantrums, etc. We played classic soul and R&B. When Covid hit, we decided to continue, work up a repertoire and hit the ground running when everything returned to normal. We initially played together online via Jamulus and soon decided to actually meet at one of our houses (tut, tut, although none of us lived with anyone vulnerable to the plague) to rehearse. Two of us had home studio set-ups with enough space that made it easy to get together and play. All went well and we were ready and raring to go when everything opened up again. We did a couple of gigs, after which the singer decided that we were his backing band and started trying to lay down the law. He managed to run off the guitar player (they had never really got along) and brought in someone he had played with previously, who turned out to be very good, so onwards and upwards, we thought. However, he became increasingly diva-ish and took to threatening to walk unless we did exactly as he wanted. To give an idea of how hard he tried to be the boss, despite the fact that I own a quality PA that I was quite happy for us to use, he insisted on using his (which wasn't as good as mine), so he could be in charge of the sound. The rest of us met for a pint and a discussion, at which the guitar player informed us that this was the singer's standard modus operandi. So we called his bluff at the end of the next gig when he once again threatened to take his ball home if he didn't get his way. He looked shocked that we didn't crumble, then packed his stuff and left. He proceeded to bombard us with emails, claiming we'd fired him, how unfair it was, how disappointed he was, how much effort he'd pit in, how unappreciated he felt, etc, etc, blah, blah. We replied that he could either be a member of the band, but not the boss/BL, or we'd look for a replacement singer. The email exchange dragged on and on. He obviously really wanted to continue - we had gigs in the book and the band was decent - but his stupid pride wouldn't allow him to climb down. Shame, as he was good. We got someone else (not as good, but a sensible human being) and carried on for a while, until I decided to sell up and move out of London to spend my dotage in the country. Last I heard, the singer was doing one man band gigs with his keyboard and laptop in old peoples' homes and grim social clubs.

Behringer owns Midas, which gives it access to some excellent mixer designs and explains why their stuff is decent.

Started out playing the fiddle. When I got into my teens and wanted to play music with friends in the late 1960s/early 1970s, a fiddle was not cool or desirable. Everyone wanted to play guitar, so I figured playing bass was more likely to get me into bands, which proved to be right. I'd always had a decent ear and was able to pick out bass parts. I loved Motown/Stax and soul, so that was my homework in early days and got me off to a good start. I kept up the fiddle and later learned to play mandolin and guitar, but the bass has stayed with me and is virtually all I play these days. I've even had brief periods of playing it for a (sort of) living. Edited to add because I realise I didn't answer all the questions. My first bass was a Vox Clubman. Second was an Aria Jazz copy. I always hankered after a real Jazz and got one for my third instrument. Bought it in a hock shop for £250. Have had a variety of basses since, but always kept and still have the Jazz. My most recent purchase was a Spector Rebop. I rarely buy a brand new instrument and usually sell things on when I buy another, so I have few basses. Got into prog' in the 70s, then jazz-rock, Steely Dan and similar. Played in function bands, which required me to learn a range of styles/stuff, which in hindsight was very useful. Currently back playing classic soul/R&B in my dotage, so the wheel has come full circle.

Same here. I go for about 1.5 mm. I find a thicker pick defeats the object as you lose that click/attack that is so much part of the sound and it approaches the tone you get when playing with fingers. I always loved the pick tone Ladi Geisler achieved on those old Bert Kaempfert records. He used a Jazz bass.

This and your subsequent post above is very true. We are becoming increasingly jaded and in search of instant gratification and something that isn't (and cannot be) there.

You need to be careful about using water-based cleansers on untreated wood. It may not hurt if you apply and wipe it off quickly, but wetting untreated wood can cause it to swell as it absorbs the water.

God forbid. We'd merely end up with better executed tripe. I agree with BigRedX above, but I would add that there is comedy value in rubbish YT music vid's. Obvs, you don't want to spend hours watching them, but a few minutes light relief (Oooer, missus) is a welcome break in the daily grind.

A canoe somewhere is missing a paddle.

This. Add the fact that he has no feedback and no previous items sold and you can buy with confidence, lads...

Speelling errur, methinks.

It's debatable whether she does. I have to say, I find her vid's hilarious. They're so obviously mimed tripe that anyone who is fooled only has themselves to blame. I particularly like the one in which her mum twiddles the knobs on a $59 mixer (with, of course, no effect on the sound) whilst our heroine gives it large.

Rumbles are a lot easier to sell on when upgrade time comes.

Quality starter instruments are much of a muchness these days. They're all pretty decent. Don't buy new, as others advise. Plenty of instruments out there that have been bought with good intentions and consigned to the cupboard virtually unused when people realise it ain't that simple. As a starter bass will almost inevitably be sold on once the player has got past the beginner stage, so you want something that won't be worth pennies when the time comes to upgrade (unless you have plenty of moolah). A Squier will hold its value better than a HB or similar.