Baloney Balderdash

Well, sure your ear will tell you. I could ask how do you know what to play if you can't hear it? If music was really just simple mathematics we might as well have an AI play for you. Mind this is not to say that theory isn't in fact a very useful tool, cause it definitely is, just a reminder of what comes first in music. Just using your ears and knowing your instrument will let you play just about everything, theory won't (though it definitely can help with you actually getting to know your instrument, help give you ideas and options, and not least allow you to communicate your music clearer to others, outside of playing it all by yourself). Also regarding chords on bass, this is an amazing online app for finding out chords, and chord notes and scales all over the fretboard: https://chord.rocks/bass-guitar/

And I am sure no one would notice if you didn't turn on your amp either. Can't say this match my experience though. Maybe it is different when you are part of an original band.

I once bought a vintage 70's Rickenbacker 4001, because I had that kind of money at that point and loved how it looked, and I very quickly ended up hating it. It felt awkward clunky in my hands to play, and I wasn't exactly blown away by the tone either. Most expensive piece of absolute crap I ever bought.

The bassplayer from Khruangbin plays a SX Jazz Bass as her main, though with the stock pickups swapped for some higher quality ones (I forget if they are Seymour Duncans or DiMarzios, but one of those two).

String tension calculator: https://wahiduddin.net/calc/calc_guitar_tension_from_size.htm Plot in the gauges of your usual set of strings in E standard tuning, then experiment with plotting in higher gauge strings to match the tension of your usual strings in Eb and Drop C tuning.

Turn Around - They Might Be Giants

While that is absolutely true, try to take a closer look at the fret at the very top of this picture under the D strings: That's a pretty serious gorge into the fret, not just regular, relatively light and uniform, fret wear as seemingly displayed on the other frets of the pictures, and I would think that would cause issues.

I do try my best. I might have been a little too eager with sharing it, though some of the excessive exposure can be explained by the fact that it is by far my favorite bass, and that I seldom play anything else.

And it keeps getting longer it seems, now it is 138cm (or 136 cm strap hole to strap hole). Do mind though that I, as said, is 6'4" (192cm) tall. (Edit!!!: Well, back to 126.5cm hole to hole, as with 138cm I had issues with being able to fret the lower strings at the upper end of the fretboard, above 12th fret or so. This also seems to be pretty much spot on where my bass would naturally be if I sat with it.)

Shameless self promotion (lead guitar/bass/backing vocals/cover photo): Taking Pictures - Janosch

String spacing, which indirectly relates to neck width, is an aspect to consider as well. It usually go from regular 4 string standard 19mm, in some rare cases even 20mm, spacing and all the way down to 16.5mm, in some rare cases even tighter string spacing. 19, 18, 17 and 16.5 mm string spacing are all fairly commonly used for 6 string bases.

Congratulations! Yes, the pickups are usually the weakest link in otherwise great budget instruments, and with the right upgrade it can take a bass from decent to amazing sounding. Personally the EMG Geezer Butler P is my go to P pickup upgrade, for a vintage voiced pickup with some extra spank that sounds exceptionally clear and articulate, or for a more modern full and aggressive tone the DiMarzio Model P.

You missed one in the first paragraph, second sentence, of your OP post. And yes, auto-spell sometimes is a pain in the ass.

You might want to change that, I assume auto-spell, typo from "regret" to "re-fret".

While tension is lower relatively on a short scale bass the strings are, also because of the shorter scale, considerably stiffer/less flexible relatively to gauge and tension than on a regular 34" scale bass, something that becomes particularly apparent when you move up the fretboard, above the 12th fret or so, and can make for a verry thuddy dead tone. Personally I use the same gauge strings on short scale basses as on regular 34" scale basses, that is a tension balanced set of gauge .095 - .075 - .055 - .040 hex steel core nickel-plated roundwound strings. It does require a relatively light touch, but as far as I am concerned also results in a far better tone.

Swung From The Gutters - Tortoise

Same... Didn't last long though (that is me playing a 5 string bass as my main): From this: To this: And back again to the 4 string.

Well, that was a relatively short love affair, just feel much more at home with the 4 strings and narrower neck of my 4 string Mirko Bass "Dud Bottomfeeder", which is tuned to A# standard tuning, as in 1 half step above the 4 upper string of a six string bass in regular B standard tuning. Also while I loved the amazing sustain of "Mr. Growley - The Noodlemancer" it also made it a bit hard to tame in terms of muting, and also it just sounds a bit too polite for my taste compared to the reverse P pickup of the 4 string, so I am back on "Dud Bottomfeeder", and the 5 string will probably only be used when specifically called for in the future. Dud Bottomfeeder :

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Agree with all this. And I too utilize minimal relief, very close to dead straight, that is less than even just a business card thickness.

Yes, but it got 3 gain settings that you can switch between (the middle switch, marked MOD),that is supposed to emulate tube gain stages, and he has it set at the highest setting, Hot Wired, add to that the California (Mesa Boogie) setting (last, AMP emulation switch) already got the most gain of them all, meaning that it'll distort quite a lot even with the Drive knob at minimum. .

Note that his distortion, not his more or less always on bi-amping Turbo RAT + Boss GEB-7 dirty chain, or the fuzz build into his wah pedal, but regular distortion in his main effects chain, actually is a Tech 21 GT2, guitar preamp/drive pedal. I own the dirt cheap, but great and pretty accurate, Behringer GDI21 clone of it, and I can attest that it works pretty amazing as a bass distortion. Here is a great demonstration of the Tech21 GT2 pedal's capabilities as a bass distortion:

Some pictures of said bass might help too.

Both Mozart and Bob Dylan has been done.