Skybone

^ This

Having wraps on the thicker strings also makes it a bit of a bugger to get the ball end seated properly in the bridge. Or at least it is on some types of bridge. Must be a right pain on 5 & 6 string basses.

Axl Rose in any band

To date, I've only ever been to 1 "big" outdoor festival, and that was with my wife & kids. It was OK, but a lot of standing around (thank goodness for Go Outdoors £5 folding chairs!). Didn't see many bands through the day, but got to see Wilko (with Norman) and Madness in the evening. The main stage was in a natural amphitheatre, so you can see the stage wherever you were, and not that many folk in front of you. Thankfully, we were camped in the "Quiet Family" area, but seeing the mess that was left in the normal camping area (tents, sleeping bags, furniture, etc.) on the way out was an eye opener! I got the impression that the music was just "something that goes on in the background" and almost coincidental.

Pick up a second hand Line6 HD500x for around £200-250, add the HD Bass pack for about £20. Great preamp, loads of great effects on board, loads of connectivity on the back, ideal for stage and studio, and a fraction of the cost of a Helix.

The 2005 didn't have the Vintage Circuit, it became standard on 4003's from 2006. Nice bass @BrunoBass, enjoy!

Curious how @Stofferson is getting on with his Ric?

Asomvel

Another vote for the TC Electronic UniTune and PolyTune. The PolyTune is great for the guitar, works fine on the bass, but can drop into "six string mode", which is just annoying. The UniTune works fantastic on bass, it's very accurate, and is cheaper than the PolyTune.

You can get a roll of sticky back plastic (Blue Peter?) from places like B&Q for about £5.00. Goes on easily, and should peel off as well. Might need to clean off any glue residue, but this shouldn't take too long.

What I would do, is use the B3 as your preamp, and plug it directly into the Effects Return of your amp. You can still run a DI from the B3, and you get the advantage of having an on stage 'monitor' to hear yourself. I'm running a similar set up, using a Line6 HD500x into the effects return of an Ashdown 300 combo. Sounds great to me, and I know that the amp is easily capable of handling the low end, where I was never that sure about an active PA speaker / FRFR setup being able to. Pretty sure they are, but I didn't have a big enough budget to get a 'decent' speaker. The Ashdown was not only affordable, but is fairly uncoloured (to my ears).

I'm another satisfied Schaller straplock user, never had any issues with them in over 20 years. I've used Dunlop's, but have always found them to be fiddly to install (the circlips), as well as fiddly to use. Horses for courses of course. I do prefer the old style Schallers, which have the separate strap button & come with 2 different length screws. I was a bit sceptical about the new design, combining onto the button.

I always found that the skin on my fingertips reacted with the nickel on strings, causing dead & flaky skin as well as making the fingers a bit more sensitive, and not able to play for too long before needing a good break from playing. This changed after swapping over to stainless steel strings, no more skin reactions, can play for longer as my fingertips hardened up, and with the added bonus of the strings still sounding bright, and lasting for around 6 months.

And there was me thinking that in amongst the usual Eurovision dross, there were actually a few decent songs. Well, half decent, commercially viable pop songs, that would get some air play on various radio stations.

I remember seeing FNM with the original singer, Chuck. Great show, tiny venue.

They're all annoying.

Hawkwind;: Space Ritual. The bass just drives the whole album.

I'm another one who doesn't like practice amps, I'd rather play without an amp than use a practice amp. I'd go with the Zoom B1 over an amp (and possibly a B3n over the B1), as it'll give you a bit of flexibility if you want to integrate some effects into your "playing out" rig.

They have been released, it's just that they're like rocking horse poop, and priced accordingly.

Didn't they buy up Digital Village (DV247)?

Certainly hope they'll be "rolling" out that new bridge on to all of the production models.