Dan Dare

To an extent, you have to be to get up and front a band, especially performing stuff you've written yourself. Plenty of people who have become very famous are more than just a "bit of a narcissist". It can be an asset, as well as making them a little difficult to get along with. Being able to work with them depends on whether they have sufficient self-awareness and social skills to know when to give it free reign and when to tone it down.

Which mod would you like removed?

Just PM'd you.

True, but you can ameliorate it to a degree, which is better than nothing. Moving speaker cabs can certainly be helpful, as you suggest. If you're playing in a venue with acoustic issues, you're stuck with it. You have to try to do something, even if it won't be a perfect solution.

You can apply much the same to virtually any amplified music. We have to adapt to suit the acoustics of whatever space we are playing in. That's why having "my sound" isn't a good idea. If you're running everything through PA, the engineer can adjust the eq for room acoustics. However, if you're running off backline with a vocal only PA (which is the norm in many smaller venues), you need to check the sound in the room (use a long lead or wireless) and adjust your rig accordingly. I do this and if the resultant sound on stage is not ideal or what I'd prefer, I live with it.

No. I run PJB cabs, but I find their amps a bit too hi-fi, so I use an Aguilar head. The additional warmth helps fattens the sound. It's still clean, but has a little more character. It may not be strictly accurate, but I prefer it.

I'd trust your Scottish instincts. If the tension difference is noticeable (and bothers you - if not, why worry?), maybe raise the action a smidge.

Don't be ridiculous. Most of us are well past the first flush of youth. Many are even OAPs like me. For me, there's not a lot to do or say apart from feel sad about the news. We don't feel the need to rush into print. Respond how you wish and leave others to do the same.

Another vote for Eneloop. Which rated them highly, too.

Given that gear is not a trivial purchase, you simply must try/demo things. I've taken a couple of days of leave from work and travelled to try things out in the past. It's enjoyable to plan a day or two away and if you go on a weekday when shops aren't busy, you can try things to your heart's content for hours That's what I did when I was looking for my current rig.

The reason leads curl up/knot themselves is because many coil them up by winding them over an arm, which puts twists into them - one for every time you coil it over your arm, so it adds up to a lot in a 10 metre or longer cable. Learn the right way to coil them (there are YouTube vid's showing how to coil mic' leads without twisting them) and the problem will be solved.

I find my Shubb works on my bass. I've hardly ever used it for that purpose, but it has worked when I've tried it.

Why not Google rack cases/sleeves? You're unlikely to find something like that ready made, but there are plenty of firms that will make one for you. At a price, of course.

Boil it for hours and hours.

I have a dining chair that does the same thing.

You could if you used them to drive a couple of power amps.

Excatly. Room acoustics, reflections, resonant frequencies and cancellations and so on will all vary considerably depending on how many bodies are present to soak up the vibrations, atmospheric conditions, temperature, etc, etc. It's enough to make your head hurt, Brian.

A quoted number of watts is pretty meaningless without a definition of how the measurement was obtained, for example, 500 watts into 8 ohms (a purely resistive load is typically used for measurement) @ 1 khz over X milliseconds. Most companies measure burst/transient power - what an amplifier will produce on short peaks. That will give an inflated impression of what an amplifier is actually capable of, which is why marketing departments like it.. Continuous power delivery over a wide range of frequencies into a reactive load (such as a loudspeaker) is a completely different ball game. It's difficult because there are no quick and easy ways to give (or gain) an impression of how much power an amplifier produces and watts have become the shorthand, if you like. The only way to make an informed decision is to try something in the so-called real world, which isn't always possible.

Designacable are good. However, all they do is use good quality components, as did OBBM. You can save money by using the same components - Neutrik/Switchcraft connectors and Van Damme or similar cable. Speakon cables don't even need to be soldered. Just strip the cables and screw them together. There's even a diagram on the Speakon packet to show you how.

Don't know why this posted twice...

I like to screw/glue boards together and, when the glue is dry, remove the screws, drill out the holes and dowel them. It saves destroying router bits and tools when you radius the edges. It also means you can sand the surface really flat and smooth for paint or tolex.

Good advice. The second point is particularly true. It's even more noticeable on a P/J in my experience, where the P pickup has much higher output. I always have to set the bridge pickup quite a bit closer to the strings to equalise the volume.

Neat. If you stick a sink plunger and food mixer whisk to the front of the hop-up, you can have hours of fun shouting "Exterminate" at gigs 😊

You can get D'Addario Chromes in short scale, too. They feel a little more supple under the fingers than Fender flats to me.

Call me cynical, but I reckon there'll be no difference between one of those and a standard good quality (Switchcraft, Neutrik, etc) jack save the price.