Dan Dare

It's akin to sports companies sponsoring footballers, golfers, etc. The collector (they can be companies as well as individuals) loans the instrument to a prominent player in return for credits in concert programmes and so on - "with grateful thanks to Megacorp Insurance Inc".

I encountered someone similar. Hi schtick was to hang around with musicians and he used to let people play his toys as a way of buying their friendship. A little bit sad, really. He saw the instruments as investments, in much the same way as others view paintings and the like. Provided you know what you're buying, vintage instruments, art, etc are a sensible way to invest, especially with the volatility in the financial markets.

Very true. Wealthy weekend warriors - lawyers, doctors and other professional types - buy an awful lot of premium instruments. They are rarely capable of using them for their intended purpose, but we shouldn't knock it, because it's thanks to them that many instrument manufacturers stay afloat. Real musicians tend to find and stick with a few instruments that we really like and change them relatively rarely. When we do, we often buy something old and used. Fender and Spector aren't going to stay in business because I have a couple of nice older basses from them, for example. The really wealthy collect vintage instruments. Few can play them decently or even competently/at all. Some years ago, some US multi-millionaire placed ad's in a number of the instrument magazines, such as Frets, looking to buy vintage stuff. The ad's, which included much bragging about how well he'd done and how much of the folding stuff he'd accumulated, carried a photo of him, wearing jeans with knife edge creases down the legs (always a sign that someone is deeply dodgy), sitting on the bonnet of the Batmobile (he'd apparently bought it from the film company), holding a '59 Les Paul and a Gibson Citation jazz box. He was clutching them like shovels - it was obvious he didn't even know how to hold them. He saw them purely as investments. I thought of parcelling up a dog turd and sending it to him, with a note explaining that he would probably be better able to use it than a fine vintage instrument, but I decided it probably wasn't wise.

What Stevie said. You might try a pre/power amp combination, but modern bass amps are generally pretty neutral unless you use the eq. You might consider the fact that "uncoloured", whilst an appealing sounding idea, may not be to your liking in reality. I've heard my instrument reproduced through some pretty serious stuff in recording studios. It was clean, hi-fi and all the other clichés and needed tweaking in order not to sound sterile and to fit in the track. That would be likely to be the case in your blues/hard rock outfit.

Eurowhat? Have I missed somethinig?

Good idea. The other option is a kid's bicycle box. Your local Halfords will happily give you one (mine does, at any rate). I've used them for shipping guitars before.

Not if you want the classic J bass sound. I had a J Retro in my Jazz. Made it a little more versatile, but I couldn't quite get that J sound any longer. Made it sound like a generic active bass, so I removed and sold it. Of those listed by the OP, the Axesrus one looks the best option. It's the cheapest and uses the same parts as the original spec'. £100 is having a laugh for three CTS pots, a cap, socket, plate and a few inches of wire.

The mangled Inglish these scammers use is hilarious.

The 12" BF cabs have very extended low end compared to pretty well everything on the market. You need to dial it back quite a bit in my experience.

Thanks Bill. My bad. Should have read more carefully. I'd still high pass subs. I do mine (there will be some LF content below that in them due to the filter slope) to avoid the other issues (I like the dump truck analogy) I mentioned. And I only use one in the vast majority of cases.

Bill's advice is, as usual, excellent, in particular, his recommendation to high pass subs no lower than 80Hz. Most people try to push far too much low frequency energy into a room, with horrible results - one note, booming bass, no definition and masking of higher frequencies. They generally crank the system up in an attempt to overcome this, resulting in more of a sonic mess. Two subs is overkill in most pub venues. I only ever need to use one and frequently roll that off in volume by 3db or more.

This. I appreciate not everyone can afford the gear they really want, but buying the best possible within ones budget is always a smart move. You will enjoy using it more and you will recoup more of your original outlay when the time comes to move it on/upgrade. In the OP's position, I'd be looking for another Eden EX112 to go with the one he has already. They aren't a bad cab by any means and can be had used for a couple of hundred. Two of them would be a lot better than a hacked about old Ashdown.

Ah. Right.

Good luck

Shan't be watching (no telly). The music (so-called) was sh1te, too.

Pretty well anything by Henrik Linder.

JJ started out on upright, so his right hand technique was adapted from that.

Taking a new string up to pitch, down and back up several times helps age it by partially fatiguing the metal. Do it gently, though, or it may break.

There's no law that says you have to play carbon copies of songs. Leave out solos or simplify them. Maybe recruit some keys?

Stage left for me, assuming the drummer is right handed. Makes it easier to maintain eye contact with him - drummers tend to face a little towards the snare/hat. Visually, it doesn't matter. The rhythm section is behind the vocalist, guitar and keys players

I had the same issue - dead spot at the 5th/6th fret on the G - on a P bass. I found the problem was a high fret above the octave. I think it was the 14th. The string was just touching it. It wasn't sufficient to cause a buzz, but it did deaden and prevent it sustaining. So the high fret needn't be the one where the dead spot is. The relief of the neck may mean the string is making contact with a fret away from the troublesome note.