Dan Dare

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.

There's a homeopathic medicine called Ruta Grav which I've found helpful. It's recommended for over-use/strain of flexor tendons.

This. Cover the pickups with masking tape or they will be coated in fine steel fur for ever. Clean the board with meths, naphtha or similar when you're done with the steel wool, wipe down with a suitable thin oil and all will be luverly.

Same here. People would be trotting round telling everyone they were an E.N.T.J or whatever. I think I turned out to be a T.W.A.T when I took the test.

The C4 is a different animal. I used to own a Flightcase. It was excellent for small/acoustic jobs, but limited in output and not up to competing with even a quiet drummer. It had Neo, rather than ceramic drivers (I know people say magnet material makes no difference, but to my ears, the Neos were softer and more polite sounding). A C4 with a suitable amp is a lot more pokey. I originally bought my C4s because I liked the PJB tonality and wanted it at higher levels. I drove the C4s with a separate power amp connected to the preamp out on the Flightcase. I soon realised that one C4 with a lightweight head (I use an AG700 or a Carvin B1000, but other amps are available) would do the same job and be lightweight and easy to carry and sold the Flightcase. If you get a C4, they are easy enough to carry - not as easy as a C2, but no problem to even a pensioner like me - so you can save money. Or even buy another C4 😁

To be fair to Satriani & Co, such occurrences are not down to them, but to knob waving by the FoH engineer (who was probably hired by the promoter, not the artist). It probably sounded fine to them on stage.

The baby LFSYS is excellent and hard to beat, imho. As you have a PJB amp and want a clean sound with a fretless, I must (as a PJB user) suggest you also check out a PJB C4. I have a couple and they sound clean and open and are surprisingly pokey. One would certainly do a great job for pit gigs.