Skybone

The Chickenhead's are on both of my natural Rockinbetter's and both electric guitars. Those Bach BRBB's are great looking basses, though never made any enquiries about them further than looking at their website.

Don't forget that Nickel Plated Steel is used for high end strings too.

For many, many years, I only ever had one bass, and that has only changed in the last few years.

Fitted a set of Gemini Pickups Waveriders today. Sounds fabulous now. 😁

My set of Gemini Pickups Waveriders arrived today. Fitted them, and it now sounds fabulous.

Assuming you already have a PC, you'll definitely need a mic, a USB audio and/or MIDI interface, and a DAW. You could add a multi FX for amp/cab modeling. Zoom do good, inexpensive products, like the B1-Four, but you'd also need to budget for it's guitar alternative if you're planning on adding guitars. You could look at something like a Line6 POD XT/X3 or HD/HDx that has both Guitar & Bass models (though you may need to budget for the Bass Expansion packs). Some, like the Line6, have USB connectors, and can act as your recording interface, and if used carefully, you can get a good vocal recording through them as well. Which DAW package to go for though? Free is the cheapest, so that version of Cakewalk would be ideal. Some interfaces include bundled DAW's, like Cubase, again, great if you're buying an interface as well. The downside to the software DAW's is learning to use them well enough that they don't get in the way of the actual recording process. Before you get down to any "serious" recording, I'd say that you need to spend a fair bit of time familiarising yourself with how to use the basic functions. You'll find the more familiar you are with the package, the better your results will be. Decent headphones are a must, but also look at getting a way to link your PC to some external HiFi speakers, these are essential when you're mixing.

When I had valve guitar amps, an attenuator was essential for home use, especially if the Master Volume was used to get that lovely power valve distortion. You definitely don't need one if you're running a solid state or hybrid amp (valve front end). But if you're running a full valve rig, and want to use it at home, it's probably worthwhile investing in an attenuator. It is worth bearing in mind though, that if you attenuate the output down, you also have to make sure that you have enough power to drive the speaker. Not enough power, and the speaker will "fart out" and sound awful. Too much, and your neighbours will be complaining. I had a THD HotPlate, which at the time was possibly the only one around (ignoring the Marshall PowerBreak). They were rated in Ohms, so you had to have a corresponding HotPlate to your cab. Some of the modern attenuators have an impedance selector switch for connecting to a cab, select the right rating for your cab, and off you go (Instrument > amp > attenuator > cab). There were complaints of attenuators not being "transparent" enough, but I always put it down to the guitarists either having cloth ears, or being cork sniffers. I never experienced any issues. IMO, they're an essential piece of kit of you want to get your power valves glowing, but other than that, you should be fine without. Maybe invest in a smaller cab for home use (like a1x10 or something, instead of a 4x10).

I would like a semi acoustic, something like a Warwick Star or something similarly EB2 styled, quite liking the look of the Warwick Fortress. Or more Ric's or Faker's... Another 2x10 combo (lightweight this time) Helix LT

Just remembered, there's this in the Effects For Sale section... Might be worth a look at, it's certainly affordable.

Guess we're just teuchters.

I had a couple of the PRS SE Soapbar Singlecut's. Great wee guitars. Stupidly sold the first one, and had a hankering for another one a few years after I sold the first. Tracked down another, again, great sounding & playing guitar, but again, sold it on.

Loads of options around humbucker sized P90's from the smaller pickup manufacturer's in the UK, and at various price points as well. Companies like Bare Knuckle, Gemini, Bulldog, Creamery, House of Tone, etc., etc. do variations on P90's, and will do humbucker sized versions as well (they were all the rage a few years back). Well worth looking at before buying any, as I always found the replacement pickups from the "main manufacturer's" to be a bit "sterile" (which is the last thing you want in a P90).

I would disagree with that slightly. If you stick to the speed limits, you're looking at a good 5 hours from Glasgow to Inverness (done that one regularly... ), John o Groats is a good 2.5 hours from Inverness on a good day, probably more in Summer when the tourists and their camper vans clog up the NC500 (used to go up to Wick regularly too... ). As far as I'm aware, there are no Wal's for sale in Orkney, but that's possibly a good thing, because if you drive from Glasgow to Scrabster or Gills Bay, get the ferry to Orkney, you'll be knackered. Overnight stop in Orkney, buy the Wal, then drive back to Glasgow, it'd be far easier and cheaper to get one from England-cester-shire. Just saying.

You probably are looking at adding some sort of Pre-Amp before feeding the bass into the PA, though not necessarily. However, if you want to do some recording as well, then a Pre-Amp will be your best option. How do you record your guitar(s)? Zoom do a few decent multi FX's at a reasonable price, like the B1-Four, or the B3n. You could also maybe think about something like the Line6, Boss or other modelling Multi FX's. They have the flexibility of adding not only a low latency USB interface, but also Guitar and Bass amp/cab/effects models. There is also the "dedicated" bass Pre-Amp/DI pedals available, such as the Tech21 Bass Driver, VT Bass, Behringer's inexpensive BDI pedal, and plenty of other options. I'd argue that a Multi FX would give you more flexibility when recording, as well as having effects to play with. The caveat here though is that you need to spend some time getting your "base" sound, before moving into effects (as you would do with a "normal" guitar/bass > amp > effects setup).

And of course, it depends on where about's in Scotland you're going to be working. Scotland's a big place...

And cost more per pickup than the set of handwound pickups. Not sure what the pickups are, but I doubt they're Ric ones. No Vintage circuit, TBH, not sure if I want it. I always liked the ballsy tone of my old 4003 & my Faker's without the push/pull.

Unfortunately, the sound is disappointing. The neck pickup's too loud & the bridge is weak & thin. I've ordered a set of Gemini Waverider's, in the hope that a matched pair will even things out, and sound better. A new TRC is on the way too.

@Maude

Not my build, but built for me.

NCRFD - New Custom RickenFaker Day

He still is. Saw The Stranglers a few years ago, and he's still a darned fine player.

New Custom RickenFaker Day. So I now have my dream bass. A cross between a 4003 and a 4004 (though more 4003 to be fair). Utterly gorgeous, grinning like a buffoon.