Dan Dare

My post wasn't entirely serious, although as I use small cabs in multiples, I don't need a furniture removal van to carry my stuff around. If you have one cab, placed relatively high off the floor, you do lose that nice coupling effect that gives the sound weight. It's a matter of working out the best compromise to suit you. I agree with those above who warn of the dangers of using Quiklok or similar stands. If you play at any volume, a bass cab can easily vibrate/walk itself off them and fall to the floor. This is especially true of lightweight gear.

Definitely. The hardness of graphite/carbon fibre means it can be brittle and prone to cracking/splintering if you don't know what you're doing and don't use very sharp cutting tools.

I just pile enough cabs up so one at least points at my ears...

Surely if the amp is there mainly for the player's pleasure, then any old amp won't do, unless you don't care what you sound like. The FOH engineer takes care of what the audience hears, so if you can afford it, get the amp that makes the noises you like. The value of that for me is that I feel I play better if I'm happy. Even if I don't, I enjoy the experience more, so I wouldn't say it's purely vanity.

Surely if the amp is there mainly for the player's pleasure, then any old amp won't do, unless you don't care what you sound like. The FOH engineer takes care of what the audience hears, so if you can afford it, get the amp that makes the noises you like. The value of that for me is that I feel I play better if I'm happy. Even if I don't, I enjoy the experience more, so I wouldn't say it's purely vanity.

An old joiner's trick to ensure that two pieces of wood mate really flush together is to slightly countersink the holes in the piece that the screws are screwed into. It avoids the threads pulling a slight cone shape from the holes, which causes the pieces to have a minute gap between them.

Great player. Check out BB King with Gary Moore playing The Thrill Is Gone live on YouTube. Masterful display of solid, restrained bass playing. Mr Moore and BB aren't too shabby, either.

In defence of Anderton's style music superstores, when I were a lad, it was rare, if not unheard of, to be able to walk into a music shop, no matter how large, and see/try a range of quality, name brand instruments. There might be one or two, but that would be yer lot. I bought my '72 J bass in the late seventies from a shop that had just one, yes one, Fender bass on the wall (they had none after I bought it). We don't know how lucky we are these days.

As I said, use the right tool for the job 😊

Apart from the Bass Gallery, I don't know of any that keep a good range. Take a trip to Warwick and visit Bass Direct. It's a nice day trip on the train from Marylebone and not expensive if you go midweek during the day and travel after around 9.30 in the morning (as little as £28 return depending on the trains you catch).

I'm principally a fingers player, but I won't hesitate to use a pick if it will do a better job. I play the mandolin, too, so I know how to use one. There seems little point in working to be able to imitate the sound of a pick with the fingers. It's a bit like saying "I've practiced for years and can now play tennis quite competently with a cricket bat". Just use the tool for the job.

A lot of people do swear that thin nitrocellulose or oil finishes are better for "tone" in solid instruments. They are claimed to allow the wood to vibrate and "breathe". It is certainly true of acoustic instruments, but not for solids.

Stop it, all of you. I'm trying to tell myself I don't need a Bass Cub to go with my other PJB stuff and you're not helping.

All well and good, but a magnetic pickup is not a microphone (you may wish to Google the differences). It doesn't "hear", by sensing variations in air pressure (detecting "sound waves", if you like). It senses vibrations of a string within a magnetic field and converts them into a minute electrical signal. The materials solid instruments are made from may, due to differences in density, rigidity, etc have a tiny (and I do mean tiny) effect on how a string vibrates, how long it sustains and so on, but it will be insignificant. It will be different if you are using a piezo pickup or contact microphone (which is what double bass players normally use).

If you need so much gain that you're noticing a lot of hiss, my first thought would be that you aren't driving the amp hard enough. Hiss will usually be produced by the preamp section of the head. You're not using a passive bass into an active input are you?

Don't forget the reverse form of confirmation bias - "I can't afford that and my pride won't allow me to admit it's any better than what I can afford".

Absolutely. Spending lockdown rehearsing/playing with bands via Jamulus with headphones on made me swear never to get involved in any "silent stage" nonsense. It was better than nothing (just) but soulless and unsatisfying.

Horses for courses. If you want that tic-tac sound, for example, you need a pick. If you play reggae, you need fingers and/or thumb. No point in struggling to make a less than ideal method work.

Rather than spend £200 on a budget powered monitor, I'd look at an active PA top box with a 10" driver (you don't want too much bass in a monitor). I use HK Premium Pro 10s, which double as vocal PA speakers (with or without a sub) in small venues. They're nice, but over your budget. However, there are some decent cabs from RCF and others that should do the job at the sort of price you're looking to spend. Avoid generic Chinese boxes. You cannot get them repaired if they develop a fault and resale value is nix when the time comes to upgrade.

Not so (unless attempts are made to eq out extraneous noise, which will take some of the wanted audio content with it). Some, such as key rattle on woodwind instruments or the sound of a singer breathing, is part of their character, so why would anyone want to remove it? How much truly "expensive and esoteric HiFi" have you actually heard? I'm not talking about gear that costs a couple of grand, but stuff that costs tens of thousands. It can be pretty astonishing - analogue or digital - but you need very deep pockets, the proper space to set it up in, etc. Vinyl is capable of remarkable results, but at a price. Most decent hi-fi does have only a volume control and an input selector. Even mine does and it wasn't particularly expensive. Any device that reproduces recorded music must introduce colouration and yes, designers will voice it to their tastes (in the same way as we use eq, etc to make our instruments and equipment sound pleasing). It's always a compromise. Proper manufacturers acknowledge this and do not deny the fact. Treat yourself to a listen to something really decent. You will be surprised.

I had a similar experience. I had some tendinitis in my right/picking arm and hand. The job I did at the time involved my using Excel a lot and my poor old right hand was being over-worked - jumping from mouse to keyboard and back all the time. It used to ache at the end of a work day. I switched to using the mouse left-handed and added a mouse mat and keyboard rest with gel to spread the load more evenly and the issue went away.

Maybe. The starting point is the recording, not how it was made. Obviously, one cannot make up for anything lacking or present in the recording - CD, vinyl or whatever - itself. The idea of hi-fi is to reproduce whatever is on there, good or bad, analogue or digital, as accurately as possible. Some don't actually like it when they can hear too much - key rattle on woodwind instruments, background noise in studios, musicians breathing, dodgy edits (all of which I've heard on recordings played on good quality equipment), etc, but it's all part of the performance. I agree that some acoustic treatment helps, too.

The better ones allow you to connect them to the PA via a 'through' output, so the monitor level you set has no effect on the signal sent to the mixer. The TC, unlike the Mackie, can mount on a mic' stand, so it can be close to your face and easier to hear. It also has reverb/fx (which don't go to the PA), which makes your voice sound warmer/nicer and is confidence-inspiring. That's why I got mine.

I'd suggest seeking the advice of a physio or osteopath before resorting to more extreme measures such as surgery or heavy duty drugs. Many (admittedly not all, but it's worth trying less invasive options first) such issues can be helped by changing the way we play, alleviating strain, not putting joints at awkward angles and so on. Playing an instrument can put a lot of strain on hands, backs, etc, especially if people are self-taught and have picked up bad habits.