Dan Dare

I'm partial to my '72 Jazz. It's been my musical co-conspirator since 1980.

If you like the PJB sound, you probably like it clean but without tweeters. I'm a PJB user and appreciate their clarity together with the lack of the click and clatter you always seem to get with tweeters. Given that you say cost is not an object, I reckon you'd enjoy a Barefaced Super Compact and class D head of your choice. The SC is light/ easy to carry, tweeterless but clean sounding and versatile. It will also do old school very well - if you like a P bass with flats, for example. It will go very loud for its size. Add another SC and you would have a potent and portable rig that will cover the majority of jobs in virtually any venue.

Popular music is often part of the uniform we wear that identifies the tribe we belong to. It applies most when we're in our teens and twenties (and sometimes beyond). If we're fortunate enough to move on from that, we can enjoy music for its own sake without worrying about how we think others will perceive us for liking it. This isn't to say we turn our backs on what we liked when we were younger (or not all of it, at any rate). In my case I find I like more things now than I did 40-50 years ago. You never know. You may even end up liking some jazz.

Yep. And a paid gig of course.

I'd play my existing instrument, that I am familiar with, for any gig that mattered. I know it would do the job for me. Not interested in coffee table basses.

I had a similar experience the other day. Got an email from DHL informing me my parcel had been delivered to "my surname". Nobody had knocked on my door, rung my bell, etc. Opened the front door to find said parcel on the doorstep, soaking wet and in full view of the road. My front path is only a few yards long. Fortunately: 1. It had been well wrapped in plastic by the seller. it was an electronic item and would not have taken kindly to getting wet. 2. I live in a cul de sac and have nice neighbours who would not nick something off my doorstep. I have no doubt it would have disappeared in short order at my previous address in London. The delivery person had obviously falsified the delivery report and claimed to have delivered it to me personally. Most of these courier/delivery companies are a joke. My local Evri delivery woman is an honourable exception.

There is rosewood and rosewood - Indian, Brazilian, Madagascan, etc - and colour/grain pattern and density varies between them. Within any type, colour, etc can vary according to which part of the tree it comes from. Or perhaps Rick may be being a little creative with the biology. Pau Ferro is not a member of the Dalbergia family like Rosewoods but it is part of Machaerium, a closely related genus. Given that they lacquer their boards, any wood with the right hardness should do the job.

Is the hiss masked when playing an instrument through it? Few, if any instrument amps are completely silent, especially at higher levels of gain (just listen to any valve guitar rig when it is fired up but not being played through). PJB gear has quite an extended high frequency output - more so than many bass amps - so it may be more noticeable. If it does not intrude when playing, is it a problem in a real world situation? How is the mains supply at yours? Are there appliances, etc, which might be causing noise? I had an issue where I used to live with a street light that was right outside the house. When it was lit, it created noise on the mains, which I noticed when listening to my hi-fi. A power conditioner helped.

65-120 tuned up a semitone? Must have been like playing iron bars.

I wouldn't dream of besmirching the local womenfolk, for fear of being dragged from my house by a rabble waving pitchforks and burned alive on the village green ☺️ Hampshire has long been known for pig (hog in the US) rearing. Also, it includes the New Forest, one of the largest still existing areas of forest in England and one of the last places where wild boars could be found before they went extinct in the UK.

This appears to be the tactic, bit it isn't as crude as wholesale privatisation. What is happening is that pieces of the NHS are being nibbled away and hived off into private hands. The services the private providers are taking over are those which can turn a profit, of course. The same thing happened with the railways. Eventually, we will be left with a two tier system, where those who can afford it get comprehensive care and those who can't will have a basic, safety net service.

Hampshire. UK

If you stick to lighter gauges in Chromes, they are brighter in my experience. I use the 40-95 set, which was closest to the 43-100 TI set I tried and felt the same under the fingers. The 70 A string on the TIs was too slack and I found I had to practically wind the saddle off the adjustment screw to get it to intonate correctly. The A in the Chromes set is 75. Only slightly heavier, but much better.

Older Fender bass cabs weren't that badly made, so if it's really cheap, you could put better drivers in it and end up with something reasonable for not too much. I put decent drivers in an old Bassman 2x15 many years ago and improved the porting and it did a good job for me.

Whichever is most expensive. I already own a couple of Fenders that I'm very happy with, so would be looking to sell it on for as much as I could get for it 😉

They may have improved since, but when I tried a set of groundwounds some years ago, I found they lost their zing/newness quickly. I'd be inclined to look at some of the bright flats that are on the market.

Not bass related, but i got a wooden leg. Only a stocking filler 😑

Agreed. Better to have the holes too tight than loose. Ease the screws in using a good quality screwdriver bit (don't use a powered driver) that doesn't slip in the heads and chew them up or jump out completely and scratch the body. Snug them up tight but no need to lean on them.

I like that bass a lot. A guitar player in a band I was in had a Kawai. Beautifully made LP/PRS style instrument with 2 humbuckers. Sounded great. He loved it.

This. Stay well away from the power supply, especially. The reservoir caps hold lethal voltages for a long time. If in doubt, take it to a tech'.

This. I appreciate that bands such as Journey have made their millions and probably don't need to worry about alienating people, but it makes no commercial sense to do so. Given that much of the world, not just the US, is polarised these days, it makes little sense to do it anywhere.

Doesn't appeal to me. Very unorthodox and not a keeper.

Will it work if you have "big hands"?

Ah, Black Widows. I replaced the nasty stock drivers in my Bassman 2x15 cab (one blew and the other didn't look too clever) with BWs in the 1980s. Needed a Volvo estate to get it around, but sounded epic with a Trace AH350.

The race to the bottom, eh?