warwickhunt

I bought a Puma 212 combo when they had a fire sale of Tech stuff in the UK and I'm 99% that it was a Class D power section! <edit> The weight would certainly point toward Class D.

Is your buyer aware they'll be paying import taxes? I sold a bass to the States some years back and (wrongly) assumed they knew that... they didn't and were annoyed at me!

As you were @fretmeister... I was using the Super Alloys!

They never started off as bling and bright as some strings but after losing the initial edge they just remain consistent.

I love them! I bought a load a while back when they were on offer but all gone now. The pair I've just taken off my main bass have been on for 7 years (40-50 gigs every year) and though they had lost a little top end they were still 'perfectly' useable. I gave @LukeFRC the heads up to them and I think he's taken a shine to them.

Changed my email address incase it was related and that seems to have sorted it.

I'll try that now.

I did email/message but obvs folks can have hands full.

This post isn't me bragging that I can play a lesser instrument, it's an observation that sometimes a change is definitely as good as a rest and I wondered how many of our die-hard bass players had ventured out of their comfort zone to play other instruments. After 42 years as a gigging bass player I decided a new challenge was in order (tbh I was feeling a bit jaded with the gigging scene etc). Now I can strum pretty much most songs that I do on bass and with 2 mins prep I can busk through known tunes; as a result I decided I needed to get out and see how gigging a new instrument might inspire me. This all coincided with my wife deciding at 52 years of age that sitting at home wondering what it was like to gig live, needed acting upon (she can sing and has always sung around the house/with friends). As such we formed an acoustic duo 'The Jack Doors Duo' and set about learning sh*t. Established in 2 weeks that I could knock out 50-60 songs, refined it to 30 and got a gig... that is after the quagmire of amplifying an acoustic and getting the best from a small PA etc. The gig went well last night, teething trouble with rogue frequencies on the acoustic and plectrum choice (yes, you only find out at the gig what will/won't work best) but felt good. Must have acquitted ourselves as we were asked if we could do every 6-8 weeks. I have to say that the main point was that it is a very different experience to be the backbone of a band playing bass and supporting the overall band, as opposed to being the sole musical source for a performance. Lots of variables to consider, leading to various considerations for improving my performance and the equipment... now if only the log in to Guitarchat actually worked, I could start buying different sh*t.

Nope but there's nowt as strange as folk! To be fair I'm lead to believe that he does listen to punters... but only a vocal minority have his ear and what they say goes!

I've first hand experience of this and wouldn't disagree BUT with regards to the OP trying to get started in new venues, time would be better spent going for gigs in venues where they 'generally' play/listen to a certain type of music. I've known venues where managers fall into opposing camps; those that are oblivious to the style of music and put anything on (generally so long as it is cheap) and those who manage established music venues who will rarely veer from the tried and tested (no disrespect but often 'blues' in the broadest terms). The latter used to bug me as I once played such a venue and we didn't stick to their usual style of rock/blues (doing rock/blues but in different styles) and LOADS of punters loved us and said it was such a refreshing change... manager simply said we had played the wrong music and wouldn't be getting back in his pub!

You've started on the right foot. Try looking at social media for local bands playing similar music and track where they are playing, no point chasing venues that won't suit. A phone call is often better than a FB message but be prepared to be fobbed off. A couple of points and some may disagree but I've got 40+ years of this... don't be tempted to cut your fee to get gigs; you'll end up very quickly with a label of being a £xyz band and venues won't pay you more, neither will the venue who booked you cheap (you will get the odd venue/manager that might but these days it is dog eat dog and managers rarely stay/last). Watch social media pages for venues wanting bands at short notice, register/like FB groups which are for musicians/bands/venues; chase and take these gigs at every opportunity. It is much easier to get gigs when you are on the inside. Bear in mind that a venue/pub putting bands on 1 night a week will only ever need 12 bands that they like/know will pull punters. Those 12 bands will get 3-4 gigs a year which leaves very little chance of getting in.

So essentially it is a natural finish Caprice bass with x2 J (shaped) humbuckers as opposed to the painted model with PJ humbuckers.

Yeah but wait till you see the tone controls on my cooker... they genuinely colour the food!

The humour of this is swerving me (PLEASE tell me the whole thing is a massive urine extraction) and is bordering on irritating.

I have either a pair of TC RS210 cabs (never gigged with a single as the band are loud) or a TKS 115 / TKS 112 (x2). Sounded equally good with either the TC or TKS though I preferred it with TC cabs, it tended to self compress (is that an actual thing) and fatten up even more than any combination of the TKS cabs (obvs couldn't gig all 3 TKS cabs).

I play in a loud rock covers band which regularly (nearly always) gigs without me using our PA to support the bass. I had in my possession at the same time: Handbox WB100 (120w) all valve, EBS HD350 (350w) solid state, TC Staccato (350w) class D, Thunderfunk 550 solid state and a Tech Soundsystems Blackcat (1000w) valve pre / class D power. I would happily (genuinely happy) gig the Handbox as I would any of the other amps with regards to being heard in a loud band. As an aside I have an Ashdown 120w SS combo which runs out of steam even when playing with an amplified acoustic band BUT the speaker in the combo could equally be the limiting factor. Saying that I'd have no faith in using a solid state amp of less than 250/350 with my rock covers band.

Ditto

How much?

What are the neck body woods of your bass and what are the pups (type/SC/humbuckers)? Sadowsky pups are invariably actually humbuckers not single coil even though they are in sc casings. Are you comparing like for like?

California VSII (I think) and the burst is the 'hard aged'. Both had/have Delano pups and their active 2 band pre (is it Glock?), which is pull/passive.