lemmywinks

AliExpress is full of knockoff D'addarios. Two things I only ever buy from dedicated sellers are strings and higher capacity SD cards, too many fakes out there.

The one from PMT might be as well. They're well known for selling ex demo (read heavily used, damaged or missing parts) as new items in their clearence sales. I got an Ibanez EHB1505 in their sales which arrived with a ton of back bow, a missing control cavity cover and dings in the finish exposing bare wood. Someone else in the same thread got an Ashdown Shavo head which had been around the block a few times and arrived covered in scratches with a broken EQ slider. So there's every chance the used items for sale on here might be in much better condition than the "new" on from PMT.

If you fancy a drive then grab this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/326402087138 He also has the version with the horn for a bit more money: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/326402087359

If you want something compact with a small footprint then an older 2x10 on its side or a 1x12 is probably the only way you'll get something around your remaining budget. Unless you fancy a longer drive you'll be looking at local collection only listings on FB Marketplace, eBay etc. Brands like Peavey, Ashdown, Hartke, TC Electronic, Laney. Not much point in recommending a specific type of cab as your budget constraints will decide what is attainable over everything else. Hartke XL cabs are decent and go for pocket money now, on here in London for £75 which would bring you under budget: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1185251983336041/ Laney 2x10 with neo drivers near you for £150 here, bigger cab though: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2487813131416873/ That SWR I linked to above would be fine, be aware it's a 4ohm cab so you can't add another. I'd grab that Hartke as chances are you'll see another one for sale before too long and can have a vertical 4x10 tower which should cover every gig you're likely to do without PA support.

So do PMT, GuitarGuitar and Thomann, this is local so he can go check it out in person.

Just spotted a Markbass Little Mark Blackline 250 in the Cash Converters sale for 100, Southend shop as well so close to you. https://www.cashconverters.co.uk/shop/music-tv--video/home-theatre-tvs--hifi-stereos/amplifiers/audio-equipment/047400178437

You're putting these on it, right?

See if Steve at Wyre River guitars is still working, he's an older gent and had an operation on his eye last time I got some work done there but his craftmanship is excellent. He's in Bispham so not too far from you. If you Google Wyre River Guitar images you'll see the custom acoustics he builds.

I can still remember carting around our dual Peavey CS1800 amps (later a pair of QSC amps I forget the name of) with an older Peavey monitor amp in our rack, HiSys4 tops and a pair of massive subs. That's five items that were two man lifts, now we have that number down to zero. We have it so good in terms of budget kit now.

Fair point actually, probably more than a few cm given how rigid amp to cab cables usually are. Perhaps a cable with a 90 degree speakon connector would be a good idea as well? The Phil Jones C8 and C4 are only 12.4"/32cm deep and look very smart too especially in red, I have the C8 Lite with neo drivers but they only do the regular versions now. Of all the cabs I've owned it's the most "front room worthy" in terms of appearance: https://www.pjbworld.com/cms/c8-2/ https://www.pjbworld.com/cms/c4-2/

We're using Alto TS210 with a TS15S sub, sounds great and the tops can be loaded in with on in each hand. If you aren't running a sub at the moment and the Alto TS412 performs as good or better than your current cabs it sounds like a no brainer, shave some more weight and bulk off with a digital desk if you like.

There a used GR AT212 Slim at Bass Direct at the moment, almost 14" so a tiny bit deeper than your alcove though. Also £200 dearer than the one that sold on here which is gonna hurt.

Overall it looks nice, that chunk of wood for a bridge is an odd choice though and spoils the aesthetic for me, doesn't look like part of the original design.

Do you have PA support or do you need a set up to fill large function rooms on its own? There seems to be too many constraints here - if you need something gig capable but compact you'll need to spend more IMO. One possible solution is an older 2x10 on its side, there's an SWR Goliath Jnr 2x10 near you on FB for £150: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/589875380316706/

Still wouldn't be able to daisy chain cabs as there's just one socket, even on the 8ohm version so if your head only has a single output you either need to mod the backplate, make a new one or use a Y cable. Annoyingly Ashdown put the single 1/4" input right in the middle so there's no way of modding it that wouldn't look like a bodge. If I was keeping it I'd just make a new backplate and put dual Speakon Combo connectors on there.

This does mean my much maligned BN10 300s is now without a home, quite enjoyed playing through it in this cab over the last couple of days.

The empty cab on it's a bit heavier than expected, definitely a solid little thing. Spoke to my mate tonight and he's going to make an offer on a used Pulse so hopefully he'll have a mini stack soon enough. Disappointing that Ashdown only offered a single 1/4" input on these even on the 8ohm cabs, means he'll have to buy a splitter cable. The OriginAL series cabs had dual Speakon combo jacks.

A lot of the Pro JJ finishes look very poor IMO, like the old cheap jazz copies with the solid black forearm contour. The only ones that look decent are the dark natural veneers like this one and the stained ones. They did a pinkish red one which looks good but I've never seen one of those in the UK.

Just spotted this on FB, these were good basses with wide spacing and a pretty flat ebanol board, usually pretty heavy though. This one has Dimarzio pickups, a Bass Mods pre and possibly a hard case. Might be worth enquiring abour postage as £300 is a steal: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/157647100697639/

Incidentally there's an Aria IGB68-5 just come up for sale near me for a decent price, keep having to stop myself buying it.

I have one of these, I've modded it over the years and the body is the only original part though as I never liked the pickups or preamp. Not a fan of gold hardware either so I went all black but that veneer is beautiful.

Just looked inside, the ports go right to the back then upwards towards the middle of the cabinet in an L shape so I'll give the internal cab volume two separate sets of dimensions, one for above where the port ends and one below. I'll do the same for the port, I also measured each side of the port divider and added the lengths together so that's accounted for. I hope this makes sense! This is what it looks like from the front: And this is what it looke like looking down the port from the inside: There's also a curved handle cutout which I'll give the straight dimensions for, the actual amount of space the handle takes up would be between 1/2 and 3/4 of this. Upper cab (l x w x h) 262mm x 304mm x 133mm Lower cab (l x w x h) 262mmm x 240mm x 152m Horizontal port x 2 (l x w x h) 280mm x 296mm x 25mm Vertical port x 2 (l x w x h) 280mm x 49mm x 191mm Handle (l x w x h) 132mm x 39mm x 39mm

Nice one I'll have a look when I get chance, hopefully tomorrow.

The clue is in the name - "double bass". Can only have them in multiples of two.