Dan Dare

I have a mint set of MIM Fender tuners I took off my P/J (I replaced them with vintage style Gotohs soon after I bought the instrument because I wanted the old style smaller elephants' ears). They've been sitting in a cupboard ever since. Turn nice and freely and clean/unmarked. Shoot me a PM if they'd be of interest.

A keyboard playing pal found my old Jazz in a hock shop in the 1980s. Used it for a couple of jobs and then sold it to me for what he paid for it - £250.

True. I'd love to find the 5 string equivalent of my old 72 J bass, which I've had for 30 years. I've never liked any 5 string J I've tried, sadly, even expensive ones. A Lakland I tried came closest, but was too spendy for a first 5..

With us all being prisoners in our homes, my bands are keeping our fingers in trim via get togethers on Jamulus. You need a hard-wired internet connection to get the bandwidth and speed required. As I can't be bothered to keep switching the wi-fi on and off, I've been using the wired connection generally and Blimey. The difference is enormous. The sound quality on music videos, etc is in another league. I shan't be using wireless again unless there's really no alternative.

To which the answer is "Why?". We don't replicate vocal, keyboard, guitar or brass parts (apart from occasional and usually brief unison phrases). It's impressive, but musically pointless.

My wife told me "It's those instruments or me". I'm gonna miss her 😉

I dipped my toe into the waters of 5 strings last year and got a Cort A5+ FMMH. They are discontinued and you can (or could) pick them up for bargain prices. Balances nicely, 34" scale, Bartolini p/us and per-amp/eq (basic models, but still Bart'), through neck, light. I like it. However, I have to say, the Lakland you have is a very nice instrument. I didn't want to spend that much, but would have got one if I had. The difference between 34" and 35" scales is not really significant, unless you have particularly small hands. The frets are only about 1mm further apart, after all. Provided you don't use through body stringing, virtually all 34" string sets will be fine. I'd definitely persevere with the Lakland were I in your shoes.

Good advice. I saw an interview with Ritchie Blackmore on YouTube, in which he discussed being asked for advice as to what guitar and amp to get for a youngster. He told of a father who had said he was going to get his son a Strat and a 100w Marshall. His reply to the father was "Good luck with that".

Nail on the head. He just duplicates every drum beat. There's no groove.

This sounds like the issue to me. If the sound is over-driven, you have to overloading the input, probably on the mixer. I'd try running the Zoom into a line input.

Another vote for Chromes. I tried Cobalts (which I have on my 5 and like), but they're too bright for my tastes on a Jazz. One thing that is worth doing is to wipe down a new set with meths or similar. They have some sort of coating on them (presumably to prevent rusting in the packet) which makes them feel odd under the fingers.

The only thing I can think of is that something - a short, perhaps - may be draining the battery. That might explain the fact that it starts out OK and then dies.

If you want a traditional J bass sound, I'd avoid higher output pickups. I put a J Retro in my Jazz a few years back and removed and sold it because I found it made the instrument sound generic and lost 'that' sound. Before spending anything, try the SDs you already have. If you still have the ones it came with, try them too. You may save some cash. If you do want to try something else, I'd agree with Stub's suggestion above.

This. If you're worried, check the tightness of the bridge retaining screws. I've never been able to hear any difference bet3ween through body and top loaded. Seems pointless to risk breaking expensive strings.

Nice. Time for a trolley?

EONS are PA speakers, so not designed/intended for use with bass. They're a budget model. At lower volumes, they may work, but I wouldn't spend good money on replacement drivers. It's tempting to try to improve on or fix mistakes, but it can (and usually does) lead to more money down the drain. I agree with Paul that stereo isn't really worth using with bass. Given that you want a rig for a Stick, which demands a full frequency set up, I'd take the instrument shopping and try some alternatives. Better quality PA cabs may do the job, but doing it well is unlikely to be cheap. The upside is that at least you will know that whatever you get will work. The Greenboy cabs work because of their design, not simply because of the drive units they use. Spending money on a DIY project based on guesswork or advice and suggestions on forums is unlikely to work out well, unless you're very lucky.

Given that the performers appear to be objectifying themselves, what's the problem?

"We" did try to help, man. It's just that you didn't like what we were saying. If a friend told me he/she was going to waste money and effort on something I knew would be fruitless, I'd attempt to dissuade them. Why would I do any differently on here? In the sprit of this forum, we offered advice based on our own experience and knowledge. You can choose to ignore an ordinary player like me, but it's foolish to ignore people such as Bill, whose experience and knowledge is extensive, hard won and best of all, FREE. This is not about seeking our advice any longer. We offered it and you rejected it. It's become about proving you're correct and we're wrong. There is no "negativity against Hartke". Hartke is a respected company. It offers a wide range of equipment, ranging from full-on professional gear to little, low powered practice amps, that are aimed at youngsters or beginners. That's what you have. You simply cannot "bring it to the pro level". There are good reasons amps like that are small, inexpensive and low powered. Parents can afford them, the kids can't blow the windows out with them and you don't need a fork-lift to move them around. Ask yourself why Victor Wooten, possibly the best known Hartke endorsee, doesn't gig with a B150. He could have any number of them for free, after all... As I said, it's your money and it's a free (sort of, these days) country.

It would be more accurate to say the mobile phone was developed from a kids toy (it didn't do so by itself). There is scant, if any, resemblance between the kid's toy and the modern mobile phone and you cannot turn a kid's toy into a mobile phone (which is the equivalent of what you are trying to do). Think of evolution. We and apes share a common ancestor, but an ape cannot become a human being (and we cannot become apes). We are both products of a process that has taken millions of years and neither of us resembles the common ancestor any longer. Many on here, from ordinary players like me to those who make a living from designing equipment (such as Bill) have tried to give you practical, helpful advice, but you brush it aside and tell us we are "faint of heart and mind". That's fine. Have fun wasting your time and money if you want.

The answer to "what's possible" is "not a lot". You can't "stretch boundaries" or "discover new lands" with a kid's toy. We'd all love to find something that costs £50 and fits in a pencil case that we could gig with. Not going to happen. Sorry, but that's the reality.

I saw a video of Victor W in which he said he uses a hairband. If it's good enough for him...

Have to say, this is the answer. Everyone has tried to be helpful (it is not "negative" to point out the truth), which is that you have a small, very low-powered practice combo which is discontinued and can be had for £50 odd second-hand. Spending money on a replacement driver for it would be a waste. I appreciate that money is tight at the moment, but there's no way around the fact that you would be far better advised to look for something more suited to the job. There is no alternative, I'm afraid, even if you go the DIY route. There's a useful mantra one can apply - "Small, cheap, high quality. Pick two". If you want something very compact that will do gigs, you need more than 15 watts. There are compact combos out there that will work (the smaller Rumbles that several have recommended, for example). You can spend more, much more, for higher quality - perhaps something like a PJ Bass Cub (there's one - not mine - in the Market Place at the moment). Not a lot more that can be said, really.

It's the other way around. The principle point of complex bracing in cabs is not to provide strength. It is to cancel and/or control panel resonance, break up standing waves by interrupting the internal space and manage/control airflow in the cab. A braced cab means that you can achieve strength with thinner, lighter timber. The lightness is a consequence (and a benefit) of that. Honeycomb structures are widely used in engineering to give strength without the need to resort to expensive, high-tech materials or to add bulk and weight.

As others suggest, make sure the cable you get uses a genuine actual Speakon connector and not a copy. I've had issues with copies being a tight/poor fit.

For small, good quality bass drivers, you really need to be looking at makes like Volt, which won't be cheap. They will also take a fair bit of driving and you have limited power at your disposal. Bill's and casapete's advice above is the better and more economical option. Something like the smaller Rumble will be light, compact/easy to carry and inexpensive.