knirirr

I have done that from time to time. These days I usually use a TC Electronics BAM 200 and it's 50/50 if I'll plug my bass into the headphone socket and wonder why there's no sound.

Another tier 2 fail - new tailpiece for the guitar shown, plus a new guitar pickup. Still no new bass purchases, though.

If you would like a horror story then there's one horn player I recall who emailed 15 minutes before we were due to start the set (he lived over 30 minutes' away) to say that he had been feeling a little unwell all day and had now decided that he wasn't up to dong the gig. As we were heavily reliant on said horn player to pad things out with lots of soloing, this was a bit of a pain. "They all tend to arrive 5 minutes before downbeat and leave 5 minutes after" seems right to me. I wonder if I'd do the same if I had an easy instrument to carry (probably not). Reading ability amongst the ones I know varies; most are better than me at reading and most (usually saxophonists) are good at improvisation. I recall seeing a discussion on a trombone forum where a trombonist asked why saxophonists were always so much better at improvising. One answer appeared to be than when it came to a practice session the saxophonists were ready to start noodling away after 5 minutes of adjusting their reed, and so got more practice at it than trombonists, who would have to spend 30 minutes warming up with long tones etc. to get the best out of their instrument (I don't know if this is true). If they've played any jazz then they should be happy with taking a break when they're not soloing.

I use nothing but flats myself, for both the tone and the feel. From what I hear in a jazz context an electric bass with rounds doesn't sound right and gets in the way (though others may disagree), but it's probably quite different in other genres. To answer the question - pedals. Over the years I have tried various ones, e.g. reverb, wah, fuzz because I thought I ought to but always end up discarding them and plugging straight into the amp.

Some from Oxford: Blackwell's, which used to be a good place to go for sheet music. Later, it became a discount bookshop and then a restaurant. Now it's part of Wadham college. ABC, where I got my first decent bass amp (Trace Eliot BLX130) in 1994. Later a Threshers, then Sainsbury's, now to be demolished. Russell Acott, old location shown here when they had moved out of the centre and the site had been taken over by All Bar One. I never got around to visiting after they moved and it's too late now.

Sound Control in Dundee; I bought a Gibson Flying V there in the early 90s (worn out and so "cheap") and it was a source for tutorial books, accessories etc. when I was an undergraduate there. They closed fairly recently after spending years under another name: https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/money/14363301/music-store-to-shut-after-20-years-dundee/

My other half (brass bands) informs me that bandsmen consider anyone whose brass instrument (inc. saxophones) isn't silver or brass lacquer to be a coxcomb. The pro jazz players I know use them and they play very well, though I realise that this issue isn't going away. Eventually, there will be complaints about those performers who have iReal project chord charts into their peripheral vision via smart glasses or ocular implants. An irrational prejudice of mine is against acoustic guitarists who confuse their preference for performances where the audience sit in silence listening to Dylan covers for a universal truth that the acoustic guitar has a pure, clean and true sound, unlike nasty electric guitars which sound bad and are always too loud (so if your genre uses them you should switch genre). Though I generally avoid them they end up living rent free in my head.

Amongst the jazz pianists some I know take pains to practice rootless chord voicings, given that the roots are the bassist's job, as well as playing more sparsely. Playing with these pianists is great. Others play as if they are playing for themselves and/or a singer, and leave all the roots in, which is less fun and muddies things up. I recall one at a jam telling me that he hadn't got any charts, but I could just watch his left hand to find out what all the roots of the chords were...

Some developers near where I live have had a planning application to build houses accepted where the directly adjacent neighbour is the shooting club. Next to the chaps firing rifles (and not just .22) there are the Rugby and football clubs. I suspect there will be a few noise complaints once those houses are built. Before moving I took a few late walks through the area and asked locals; the conclusion was that it was a quiet area. What I didn't discover was the plans to build a hotel nearby, with my street being on the quickest route back for hotel guests who've been trying the local pubs. New windows have dealt with most of the nuisance from that.

Never had a strap fail (yet) though I did once enjoy something like this on stage at a jam:

At present I've only got this: I'd quite like another fretless but I almost always end up playing double bass these days so it seems a bit of an extravagance (and I will be knocked out of the gear abstention challenge). This one (with Villex pickups) also crosses over with the fake Fender decals thread... Taking the neck off reveals a "Fender" stamp due to it being licensed (the body's from the same source). The decal (easily removable) is only there for the "well, you didn't bring a proper bass but at least that electric one's a Fender" crowd.

I will admit to having been compared to Mr. Tickle, but I'm afraid that in this case I cheated, as my best bass is this:

Number of strings: 4 Number of frets : 28 Scale length: 41.5" Number of pickups: 1 Number of controls (switches/knobs): 0

I sold mine (eventually) via this forum, during one of the lockdowns, for a lot less than the £404 I paid for it in 1994. Though it never failed to provide sufficient volume I definitely don't regret selling it; the weight was far too much.

This is certainly an unusual-looking instrument: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/116684725531 I wonder if the lack of frets near the top was simply because it's too hard to reach that part of the neck. The same chap has a Roland Cube of the sort jazz guitarists like, but this one is filthy: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/116691148146