itu

I am on the same side with @jezzaboy: all blades that I have tried (three 4 string and a 5 string) have been on a weighty side. Maybe they are good for heavy music. All had that Japanese quality feel.

Please send it back. The biggest issue is that it doesn't feel even as good as the previous one. Ask for a picture of the next one, if you decide to try that once more. The feel is always the most important to me. Even with lousy strings bass talks or not. Once I tried eight (if I remember correctly) Laklands and the only one that was even close to OK was a Japanese made one. US models were mediocre or worse, to me that is. Trust your own personal feelings.

That top shouts a routed (slap) pop spacing between the neck and the neck pickup. If you add a ramp between pickups, everything's fine.

...and as long as we talk about tonewoods, we should talk about toneshapes. Every shape has a resonance, where frequency is affected by density, and stiffness among other features. Neck is one long and moving object when hit. I hate this tonewood discussion because it is always and every time simplified to the wood species and the manufacturer. Physical specs and features do not interest anyone. Lame.

Fixed.

Oh yes, an amp with brushed aluminium face sounds brighter and harsher than its sibling with black face. Don't ever make a unit that is brown!

Cabinet: on the floor +6 dB (one plane) against the wall +12 dB (two planes) in the corner +18 dB (three planes) Numbers fixed, thanks to @Bill Fitzmaurice. Room dimensions usually amplify certain frequencies, see: standing waves. Depending on the placement of the cab, and materials some frequencies may be attenuated, too. Use an RTA to analyze the space and the response.

Your term "deeper" most likely needs some definition. A good system even today costs some money. An ELF, and a 2x8" is most likely not suitable in a bigger venue without the help of a PA. First of all, the system (cabinet + X-over + elements) has to be designed and made well. I have seen many combos/cabs throughout the years that have been mediocre at best. If the system is designed for bassist, it has to deliver some kind of response from around 60 Hz up to around 4 kHz (you don't get much higher frequencies from an ordinary coil-magnet pickup). You want extra bass through subs, fine. How big are they, how much do they weigh, and how high the response goes? If you can and want to carry such a system (subs + bass), you can do that but how feasible is that? 31 Hz is very low, therefore your subs need minimum of 2 kW power on top of that 500 W bass amp. Is the venue so big that you get any benefit from a system that goes down to 31 Hz? Will everything sound messy and mushy? Subs have a very limited response. There are some elements that happen to be big, but as said, very limited. If you start the cab design from an 18", you most likely need a ten, and a tweeter to the cab. Have you ever carried such a monster to a stage? TE 1818X was just terrible. Is the answer to you an equalizer, or a better system, I don't know, but the size of an element will not answer to your need of "deeper".

Oh yes, if you are using a tube/valve amp, I'd recommend a 2x10" or 2x12", where elements are 16 ohm and connected in parallel. If the other element would break, there would be another left as a load. This could save the transformer.

No. One plain number tells very little about the response. Most of the numbers seem to be about marketing than real life. I would like to see something like this, although this is mostly wishful thinking: Response: 60 - 4000 Hz (±6 dB) Wattage: 500 W @ 8 ohm Sensitivity: >100 dB / 1 m / 1 W (previous numbers tell me that the cab is capable of pushing at least 127 dB, and 8 ohm means that it is pretty easy load to any amp, 60 Hz equals good response even with a 5 string bass) (Adjustable) Tweeter 2 Speakons Weight: <45 lbs (means Nd elements) 1x12" / 1x15" / 2x10" / 2x12"

Some Brian Bromberg, maybe? With a piccolo, or anything. Tom Kennedy, and Jonas Hellborg. If double bass playing is allowed, Niels-Henning Ørsted-Pedersen is a must, as well as Edgar Meyer. Palle Danielsson, Marc Johnson...

If I remember right, the honorable John East uses very modern opamps that consume very little energy (try an old Alembic that needs a power plant beside it). I don't believe in rechargeable batteries in my basses. They are much older (1986-1999) than your preamp. I usually change batteries once a year. Strings twice a year. The issues with battery consumption sound like there's some wire in a wrong place, or some part is touching conductive paint. OD/dist/fuzz family of effects behave and sound different depending on the output Z (impedance). Connect the pedals straight to the bass and look after sound changes while changing from hi-Z to lo-Z from the tone switch. Bass I would set to boost only. There has never been any need to cut it, and then the pot adjustments would be more accurate because of a longer track. (I prefer vol and blend to VV. This is highly subjective.) Freq wheels need the band around you. Then you can get a good idea of the adjustments in real context. The same applies to changing caps.

Free: Mr. Big Should be on every bass specific list.

Victor Bailey: Kid logic, or Goodbye pork pie hat.

If you drive the elements with the same program (not in stereo) there's no need for the divider. Hopefully both are in the same phase. It is easy to check that with a 9 V battery: if both elements move to the same direction when you connect the battery to the input, all's good. If there's a grille, put a pencil or chopstick (dull, not a sharp one) against the element and feel the direction.