Stub Mandrel

My best GG deal was a s/h Hohner Jack Professional 5-string, virtually immaculate for £130(!) Then they went and fetched the hard case for it which contained a strap, straplocks and even a lead... The irony is I'd just been paid for a contract and had £££ burning holes in my pocket and would have paid more than twice as much for it! LOL! One on Reverb in the USA for £650 Holy cow: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174558874468?mkevt=1&mkcid=28&chn=ps 🙂

Much less 🙂 It all depends on the settings, but I find that if I'm quietly noodling it might increase sustain but doesn't level the sound as noticeably

I don't think I could feel happy with something I had recorded as a series of short sections strung together. I've done my fair share of drop ins and repeats, but I think mcro-twiddling to give the impression I'm much better than i really am is cheating - like pitch correction 🙂

Do you maintain a database., or is that just what you can remember? 🤣

I regularly play £1K bass through a £140 practice amp. Mid-price practice amps are very good these days and I don't expect perfection from an 8" speaker.

Spoke to a mate who imports from the far East earlier. He had a container loaded in October which got offloaded in Malaysia and eventually turned up last month. Currently the expected time is about 2 months, but the international container shortage has put teh cost of a container from China up by several thousand pounds. Not good news for Pound shops!

Sic Codes aren't too bad, the list is not ridiculously long, although my main activity (by turnover) flips between two headings year on year according to the work I get. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/standard-industrial-classification-of-economic-activities-sic But don't stress too much - it's only used for data analysis (e.g. to analyse contributions of different areas to the economy) not to set your VAT rate etc. so it's not critical to be spot on, they just suggest you go with your main business activity.

I doubt my broadband is up to it. For when I have access to decent connection, what's the best setup? I was thinking a vocal mike straight into the PC for talking and my bass through a Scarlett for minimum latency at my end?

What is tricky with compression is that when you sit down gently practising it has a completely different effect from when you start to dig in at rehearsal/gig volumes.

I'm sure he's got an extra set of joints in his fingers 🤣

It's funny, the first band I was in, we thought we were pretty basic. Listening to the echoey recordings now (made in a huge hall with a proper stage using a ghetto blaster on a table about 30-40 feet from the band) we were surprisingly tight, if unsophisticated. But we were practising twice a week, had a great drummer and were never shy of offering genuinely constructive criticism, so if my basslines were off, I was told so! Now when I practice to recordings, my aim is to make the original bass 'disappear', which can be tricky. It's very easy to play sightly behind and take cues from the recording.

Cheers, The stuff on YouTube is good and well recorded and the videos are nice too. I've sent you a PM. Neil

Originally for a foam mute

Nice to see him nearly cracking up near the end. I always imagine Eric Burdon stealing Chas Chandler's dinner money...

I have several different cases, but the most rugged is one from our own good @ped It's a cosmetically abused SKB case that keeps a Jazz or P as snug as a bug in a rug. I had to glue one of the inserts in place to stop it flapping down* and fix the strap that stops it opening too far, but looking at the 'relicing' on the outside it's clearly suffered a long hard life without taking any real damage. *Actually no! That was a no-name case I bought new.

You could buy a Harley Benton and throw away everything but the neck and still get value for money...

Instrument cables are screened to reduce noise (often with extra layers to further reduce noise and improve performance with small signals), and have relatively thin conductors for flexibility, lightness and to reduce cost. Used as speaker leads they work at low volumes but will probably 'fuse' if pushed hard or at least run warm and limit output. Speaker cables don't need screening (which reduces cost) as they carry larger signals and use thicker, heavier conductors instead. Used for an instrument they will be noisy and clumsy. You could have a dual-purpose cable with thick conductors and screening but it would be heavy, fat, expensive and probably less flexible than ideal. For a short unscreened cable you might get away with it in a not-very noisy (as in electrical noise) environment, but usually it will mean annoying hum when you aren't playing. Jack sockets themselves work with high currents and voltages and they have been used for instrument speakers for many years. They have two main disadvantages - an unplugged lead can easily short out and they can accidentally be plugged into sockets meant for instrument level signals. They also have less current carrying capacity (up to 15A - still enough for a pretty scary amplifier) than Speakon (which can take 30A). Speakon were only introduced in 1987 and were initially used for high power PA speakers and only relatively recently for lower powered instrument amplifiers. Before Speakon special XLR-style jacks were typically used for PA speakers (and sometimes still are). These share the risk of being confused with instrument/microphone leads but are less likely to get shorted accidentally than 1/4" jacks. Although Speakon are the ideal, you will find that most lower-priced amps/speakers will use 1/4" jacks. Some gear even has hybrid sockets that take Speakon OR a 1/4" jack: https://www.neutrik.com/en/neutrik/products/speakon-loudspeaker-connectors/speakon-chassis-connectors/speakon-combo My (rather elderly) amps and speakers all have 1/4" jacks, so I made up sets of speaker leads with heavy-duty mains cable in bright orange with high quality plugs that I can't confuse with my instrument leads, but if I had the choice I would go with speakon.

Every time I hear a chopper... I get the red mist.

It's worth considering that adding a second, different, cab can improve the overall sound if the original cab is not quite up to scratch. In practice, 'suck it and see' is perfectly rational approach if this doesn't demand risking a lot of money.

Famously Blackfoot, who were reformed by original member Ricky Medlocke, but he has the role of producer rather than musician. There are some bands where an evolving lineup doesn't seem to do any harm and even contributes to keeping their creative output fresh (Fairport, Hawkwind, the Animals), others where certain lineups are particularly significant (e.g. Deep Purple)

While what Bill says is perfectly true about modern speakers being much better at covering a wide frequency range, it's also worth noting that now bassists have access to a much wider range of tone shaping options on amps, pedals and via active basses. 25+ years ago it was an unwritten rule that bass players used 1x15 or 4x10 cabs. 12" speakers were for guitarists... some people thought I was really weird for using two 2x12 cabs, of course that would be perfectly normal now. Some bands I joined questioned whether or not they would do the job (until they heard them). Ironically I now have my dream 4x10 combo on top of a 1x15 cab as well, but it is as yet ungigged just practiced with, my only gigs since coming back to the fold have used supplied backline or only needed my 150W head on a single 2x12 :-)

The Fender "pure vintage '64" ones supplied as fitted to mine give a lovely wide range of sounds and great tone IMHO but are not very 'hot' although give plenty of crunch if you turn up the amp gain and dig in. When I bought it (Flea Jazz) I tried it side by side with a Mexican Deluxe active and far preferred the sounds from the Flea bass. I am very much a lover of a 'traditional' bass sound though. (It seems they are no longer available as the listing has disappeared from Fender's website - they do do ''60's custom shop ones' which may or may not be the same.

I can provide a definitive answer to the original question 'Thomann Price?'