Dan Dare

Cost (a single reel of carbon cloth can easily cost thousands), complexity of manufacture (carbon has to be laid up in/on a mould and baked in an oven to cure/harden it, which is labour intensive and difficult to automate) and the fact that, although it has great tensile strength, it does not take impacts or abrasion well. Instruments tend to suffer knocks and bangs - manufacturers would be hard pressed to offer any kind of guarantee. Add that to the cost/complexity of manufacture and it wouldn't be worth it for the small weight saving.

Ah, agents. A so-called agent (I use the term loosely) booked a band I was playing in into a VERY tiny bar. Band was a 5 piece, with a healthy amount of kit. All of us were of a certain age (OAPs) and we played classic rock, with the occasional soul standard thrown in. The agent in question booked us out as a soul band (he had our demo and set list and had seen us play several times, so he had no excuse). We arrived at the bar and saw a poster advertising live soul music. We had a quick pow wow outside and reckoned we might we able to get away with it with a bit of re-arranging the sets and busking stuff we vaguely knew. We went inside and were directed to the "stage", which was seven feet square at most and would barely have accommodated the bass rig and drums. There was room for maybe 40 punters in the bar itself. It was an obvious no-no and we apologised to the bar owner, told him we simply couldn't fit in the available space - we would have just about halved the capacity of the place and the few people remaining would have been right in our faces. He was understanding and we got in our cars and left. The next day, the agent called and berated us for not honouring the job and telling us we owed him his commission. He threatened to take it out of the next gig he booked us into. We didn't get much work from him, so told him to forget it. He became a bit threatening, so our drummer (who owned a building firm and was a martial arts instructor in his spare time) paid him a visit and had a quiet word. He never called us again.

I agree it's not necessary (or even possible in many cases) to slavishly copy an original. It often can't be done if you don't have the same instrumental or vocal line-up available. Ditto changing the key. What suited the singer on the original may not suit your singer. However, changing the melody or harmonic structure/chords is another matter, especially if it's done to make it simpler to play. That's a major no-no.

Musically, the fiddle was my main instrument for a long time. I also play guitar and mandolin. I originally took up bass because the fiddle was not cool 50 years ago and I wanted to play in bands with pals. When traditional music became popular, the fiddle came into its own and I even played it for a living for a while. I'm lucky in that I've owned various nice instruments, although I've been rationalising in recent years. Rather than have several nice mandolins, I sold them all and bought the one I'd always wanted. Did similarly with guitars and fiddles. Non-music addictions include angling, bicycles, kayaking, golf and air rifle shooting. Outdoor boys toys, really.

I've always wondered why they did. They do work, but are expensive and heavy. Although a 2x12, they are effectively a 1x12 (a good one, granted) in terms of output. You can buy a 1x12 from companies like BF, Bergantino, Epifani and others for similar money that will be lighter, less bulky/heavy and give equivalent performance.

Isobarik cabs run two drive units in parallel - one behind the other - in a sealed cabinet. The idea is to prevent standing waves from the main/front driver from reflecting from inside of the cabinet and striking the driver cone out of phase. It is supposed to enable the main driver to act more pistonically, increase bass extension and give a cleaner, greater output than a single driver would. The disadvantages are that Isobarik cabs are usually heavy, bulky and power hungry. Because the drivers are paralleled, they have low impedance and make greater demands on amplification. The principle was invented in the 1950s and a few manufacturers of hi-fi speakers, notably Linn Audio, made them. Modern bass reflex designs and drive units have made them pretty much unnecessary nowadays.

Combos are convenient. Separate amp and cabs are more versatile and expandable - you can add cabs or an extra power amp if you need more volume - and you can upgrade one without the other. You say you are a noob, so you may not want to throw a lot of money around. Don't buy on the basis of recommendation or reviews. Go shopping and try some stuff. Used is cheaper, so answer a few ad's for used gear and go and have a look. No reasonable seller will object to you trying things. It also gives you the opportunity to sum up the seller and decide whether he is a hooligan who has hammered what he's selling or not. Don't buy the first thing you see. If you envisage gigging, I'd suggest 200w as a minimum requirement. You can always turn it down for home/practice use.

Agreed. Three bolt neck makes me wonder, too. Apparently, it was introduced on J basses in '75, so not impossible, but added to what you've pointed out, it's not confidence inspiring.

Reproducing a P bass with a 20 watt practice amp with an 8" speaker is a big ask, other than at very low volume. That applies especially to the low E string, which may explain why the problem reduces when you dial back the lows. The poor thing is probably struggling, either, as others point out, because you are overloading the input or because it just doesn't have enough grunt. It isn't crap per se. It's just a low powered budget starter amp that isn't up to the job.

A pal uses one and I'm always surprised how well it fills the room, even without the extension cab. MB stuff seems to have the ability to project. I saw a band last year and the bass player was using the 2x10 combo, in a loud setting (there were two guitar players with Boogies) in a large pub. The bass had a real punch in the chest quality and it wasn't routed through the PA.

My favourite BC joke was this one. A woman sees a parrot in a pet shop and falls in love with it. She asks to buy it and the shopkeeper warns her that it had previously lived in a brothel and that its language was a bit ripe. "Not a problem", she says. "We're all adults in our house". She takes it home, puts the cage on the table and her two daughters come into the room to see it. The parrot eyes them and the lounge. "Oh yes", it says. "Very nice. Classy place and the girls are pretty. I'm going to like it here". The woman calls her husband to come and meet the new member of the family. He walks in, the parrot takes one look at him and says, "Hello Steve".

Me too. In my 20s, I used rounds, played with a pick or fingers. I preferred a bright, clean stringy tone and a pick. Nearly 50 years later, I'm playing flats with my fingers and only use a pick occasionally. I think that is due in good part to the fact that modern bass amplification is so much cleaner, with a more extended high frequency range. I'm simply hearing things that my old gear wouldn't reproduce (which is probably why I don't like tweeters for bass these days), meaning I no longer have to compensate. It also has to be due to my changed taste in music. I don't play prog any longer. I do find it a little surprising that I like it less bright now, given that we lose the ability to hear high frequencies as we age. I can no longer hear bats, although my partner could still hear them when she was nearly 70. But then, she didn't play in loud bands for years.

The advantage of a sub (or subs) is that you do not need large top boxes. Anything more than 10s is overkill, really, unless the venue is massive. Subs really need to be of high quality. Budget offerings are prone to suffer from poor definition, overhang and the dreaded one note bass. It's better to have one good 'un (low frequencies don't need to be in stereo) than multiple cheapies. One of the best sounding compact rigs I ever heard was a little Nexo PA, comprising two 10" + horn tops and a single 12" sub. It didn't sound in any way small. It did, however, have some pretty serious amplification (made by Yamaha, which owns Nexo). Size doesn't always matter.

Middle market stuff has certainly improved, but there is still an enormous gulf between it and companies such as D&B. Mid range and especially budget gear is built down to a price. You can only squeeze so much out of a pint pot.

I've told this in another thread before on here, but it fits well in this one, so apologies. When I played the fiddle, I used to do a lot of ceilidhs and barn dances. One night, I was booked as part of the band for a Burns supper. It was quite a smart affair - chaps in DJs and kilts, ladies in ball gowns, etc. The usual format for such occasions is that the band provides background music during dinner and then plays for dancing. It's a tradition at a Burns Supper that the haggis is brought into the dining room at the start of the dinner itself, accompanied by a bagpiper. It is placed on the top table and the MC recites Burns's Ode to a Haggis. Bagpipers are very busy on Burns night and good ones are not to be found on every street corner. As a result, they can play many jobs during the evening. They go to a venue, pipe in the haggis, collect their money, accept a dram or two and head off to the next one. It was obvious, when the piper arrived, that he had done quite a few jobs already that night and had accepted a generous dram at every one of them. He was plastered. However, he was still able to walk in a straight line and play, so all was good. The chef carried the the haggis into the room on a silver salver, accompanied by the piper. The procession made its way to the stage, where the haggis was placed on a table placed at the front of it. The MC stepped forward and began his recitation, whilst the piper stood to one side, playing and marking time on the spot. The effort of blowing into the instrument, combined with the skin full he had imbibed, caused the piper to lose control of his bowels for a moment. As he was wearing his kilt in the traditional manner, there was nothing to catch the product of his lapse, which plopped down on the stage between his feet. This wouldn't have been so bad - the height of the stage made it unlikely that anyone could see the offending item. However, whilst marching on the spot, he stepped in it and slipped. His boot flew up, propelling bits of it into the audience. The band hastily vacated the stage and howled with laughter in the dressing room. The piper was ejected and the mess was cleared up, but the evening never really recovered.

If you use enough of them, yes. A PJB 4x5 is equivalent to a single 10 in cone surface area (I appreciate there's more to it than simple driver area). I haven't measured the XMax, but the cones move a fair amount visually, so the displacement has to be good. In practice, one of them gives the equivalent output of a high quality 10 or even a 12. It's surprising how much poke it has. I have 5 of them, although I've never used more than 3 in anger (if I see a good used one, I buy it). 4 of them, driven by my head plus a power amp, sounds mighty. My neighbours were not happy. The beauty of them for me is that I can take out as many as I need and because they are so small, they're an easy carry and fit into the car boot. Tonally, they are on the clean side, although not hi-fi or sterile. With small drivers and no tweeter, they reproduce highs without sounding spiky or brittle. I use mine with an Aguilar head (plus power amp if needed) and the warmth of it complements the cabs nicely. I should imagine a Markbass will give similar results. I'd try before you buy, however.

My main instrument for many years used to be the fiddle, which meant I was booked for a lot of folky jobs. Back in the day, medieval banquets were very popular. They were utterly inauthentic and formulaic - large quantities of iffy food and drink, an MC who dressed up like 'Enery the Eighth, singalongs, folky tunes and songs, plus various speciality acts/entertainers (strongmen, magicians, knights in armour who staged sword fights and so on) - all for a bargain basement price. I played in a tourist trap near Tower Bridge for several years. Some of the entertainers were a source of great merriment. One guy in particular used to cover for several of the performers. He was a physical fitness fanatic who seemed to believe he was indestructible. His enthusiasm always got the better of what little common sense he had been born with. We used to wonder whether he took steroids – there was always a pungent smell, reminiscent of bulls and horses, about him. He came in one night as a dep. for the regular strongman, who used to hammer a nail through a plank and pull it out with his teeth. He bounded onstage and hammered the nail through the plank in fine style. Bending down, he gripped it between his gnashers and straightened up with a flourish. There was a chorus of squeals from the audience as the nail stayed where it was and a couple of incisor teeth fell to the floor, to the accompaniment of a spurt of blood and a lot of curses from our hero. Nothing daunted, he had them replaced with metal ones, which made him look a bit like Jaws. On another occasion, he stood in for the magician and managed to set himself alight whilst fire-eating. He ran about with his hair ablaze, beating himself about the head to try and put out the flames, until a barman appeared from behind the bar and put a fire blanket over him. Some of the punters stared in horror, while the rest, believing it to be intentional and part of a comedy turn, roared with laughter. Luckily (largely thanks to the barman's quick thinking) he was only mildly scorched. My mate the guitar player stared at the spectacle for a moment, an expression of utter disbelief on his face. “Christ”, he declared. “What’s he going to do for an encore? Cut his d1ck off?” I'll have a trawl through the diaries for some more.

Great stories. You should write a book. I'd buy a copy.

I'll try to hide my disappointment.

If it doesn't bother you or cause problems when you play, it's up to you. I tend towards OCD, so I' probably mix some ebony or rosewood dust (sand a spare bit to create the dust) with a drop of glue, fill and smooth it.

Played a wedding at which everyone - guests, not the band - got absolutely rat faced. Come the end of the evening and we were looking for the best man, who was supposed to pay us. He was nowhere to be found. Someone said they'd seen him in the gents, so off we went to find him. He was lying on the floor, semi conscious and with vomit all down him. We couldn't get any sense out of him, so went through his jacket pockets and found an envelope of money with "band" written on it. All good, it seemed. At that moment, the door opened and in came several of his mates, who decided (unsurprisingly) that we were mugging him. Things got a bit lively, but fortunately, there were five of us and three of them and we were sober.

I would expect the BF 10s to be a bit closer to the MB, as they are designed to be a little more old skool sounding. My favourite BF is the Super Compact. It does old skool (sounds fab' with a P bass), but is more versatile and doesn't have a tweeter - a plus point for me. Were I in the market for cabs, I'd definitely have a couple.

Apologies for harping on. The only advice that really makes sense is to go shopping and try things. Ones man's meat is another's poison and all that. If you like the sound of your little Peavey, try a bigger one as a first step. Choosing cabs can be a minefield. Only your ears can decide. I find a modest cab driven by a high quality head works better than the opposite combination, but that's just me.