lemmywinks

Can't believe nobody has mentioned this yet: https://www.cashconverters.co.uk/shop/music-tv--video/musical-instruments/guitars--string-instruments/bass-guitar/054400261222 Worth sending a cheeky offer.

These were the old school choice for fretless and upright, still great if rather heavy by today's standards. Probably won't get a better sounding compact cab for £200.

You can do a limited fret and relief check without tools but a good quality notched straight edge and fret rocker are extremely useful. Press down on the first fret and also on the fret close to the neck heel where it joins the body, then check the gap between the string and 8th/9th fret. That will tell you if you have too much relief, a small gap is fine. Then play up the neck on every fret (on every string) to see if you encounter buzzing on certain frets, the problematic on will usually be the next one along when you get buzzing. Some more troubleshooting if your relief is ok and frets are level: -Put your ear close to the tuners to check if isn't comong from them. -Make sure the string windings around the tuner posts are low enough to give sufficient downwards pressure over the nut. -Check the nut slots are cut correctly, not too wide etc. They may be the correct height but a poorly cut nut can be problematic.

Always fancied one of the early VM Jazz Vs with the Duncan Designed pickups, have those in my fretless and think they sound great.

Either way you could use a plug cutter and make your own dowel so you can have the grain whichever way you want it, luthiers usually do this.

To me the MiM basses were always a bit more of a "proper" Fender. Corona and Ensenada factories are less than 200 miles away from each other, they'll be using woods and other materials from the same source, probably a big crossover in terms of staff (Corona uses a substantial Mexican workforce), using the same or extremely similarly specced hardware etc. In the past parts from MiM Fenders have ended up on USA models and vice versa.

I assume so, AFAIK the CV were made in China early on but moved to the Indonesian Cort factory that produced the now defunct VM range. Wouldn't really matter to me if I wanted one tbh. both locations can produce some great instruments.

This is the first thing we did, ordered the rack and extra bits at the same time as the XR18. One box, one plug and no hassle.

So the Squier would be Idonesian Cort but what does the ISF denote on the Fender? Samick?

They're both Indonesian

If I had ~£550 to spend on a new active jazz that would be my choice too, if passive was suitable maybe an FGN Boundary. Can also pick up a used GB Modern 4 for that sort of money.

Which logo do you want on your Cort?

I've edited that post as I have no experience of Entwistles so can't confirm if they're adjustable or just for show, best message them to confirm. I think Retrovibe also do adjustable J pickups.

All J pickups should have adjustable pole pieces IMO, been a few times where I've struggled with the A on a 5 string. Btw if the pole pieces on your existing pickups extend down below the bobbin base you may be able to tap them up to create a radius, I did this on my old Nordstrands (after getting the go ahead from the company) and it worked a treat. Entwistle pickups look to be adjustable if you're after for a cheap but good option, again I'd message them and check: https://entwistlepickups.com/alan-entwistle-bass-guitar-pickups/

Probably one everybody knows but for tapping out tuner ferrules/bushings a suitably sized socket from a socket set is ideal.

Had a few Artec pres in basses, currently have an SE2A on my fretless and an SE3P in my Zoot. They sound very good to me, prefer them to a lot of posher preamps. Centre frequencies are very musical, you'll need to shield the cavity properly as they can be noisy if that isn't done, once it's shielded they're silent however.

There the full bodied Hohner The Jack if you don't want a cricket bat bass, cheap one here if you're able to collect: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/744174308542887/?ref=search&referral_code=null&referral_story_type=post&tracking=browse_serp%3A5cb0d2fb-bb0e-4e47-bece-69066429a03c Also grab one of these if you are going the licensed Steinberger route, assume they'll fit but check first:

I clicked on it, didn't know what Rumble was at the time. The other videos on that account seem to fit your description.

Good score that, still a small footprint and you can get an extension cab if needed

One on eBay if the OP fancies a bit of a drive, could go cheap due to not having the model in the title. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/187443720508

Yeah as I said previously, a poorly mixed FoH is a completely separate problem. In addition to that having amps on stage might contribute to other issues like bleeding into mics etc, especially on smaller stages. That used to be an issue for me until I started using tilt back bass cabs, then a wedge monitor and finally IEMs.

There's also the reverse of the idiot sound guy situation - the band idiot(s). I went to watch a mate's band a few years ago and the venue had hired external PA with an engineer, pleasant guy who seemed to know what he was doing and had old but decent kit. I lost count of the amount of times he requested the guitars to be slightly less deafening so he could get a proper mix where everybody could be heard, eventually just shrugged his shoulders, gave up and did his best. All you could hear was drums and guitar. Getting a controllable FoH mix is instantly torpedoed when someone decides they absolutely have to have their sound at the volume they choose at the expense of everything else, add in another band member with the same outlook and you can see why handing someone an XLR can be an appealing solution to multiple potential headaches.