Muzz

I'd just add that the tone which might sound just right to you in isolation may well sound very different (and not always better) when heard in a band setting*. There's lots of YouTube examples of isolated rock bass which sound very harsh, but in a band context sits in the mix differently. Have a play, as suggested above, with the settings and get to know which knob does what, then when and if you need to adjust in a band context, you'll be a bit quicker and your bandmates won't be standing around tapping their feet while you faff...or maybe that's just my bandmates... 🙂 * Quick example: I used to have a bass cab (a Schroeder, long gone for reasons I'm not entirely clear about, tho it was some time ago, and must've seemed like a good idea at the time) which on its own sounded honky and barky, but worked very very well once the drummer and geeetards started up...

Bought a bass from Pete, perfect transaction; bass arrived very quickly, packed better than most shops or manufacturers manage, all good. 👍

Yeah, if I was travelling the usual time of year we go (October), I'd book a seat like a shot and take one of my good basses (I've paid £36 return for a seat before), but this is a one-off Charity gig, and in late April the tickets are £150-ish...

I'm pretty sure I've got this one sorted, chaps, thanks to a very nice chap on here - a Honda Alien is as I type en route to me...result 🙂

Would be, but the dates I'm looking at (April, exact date TBA), the tickets are nearer £150...

Yes, there will be infrastructure there - our drummer’s Italian, and it’s his home town and musical friends who are organising, and we’ve been invited to play. I was rather hoping not to impose and to play something of mine out there, tho…

Sadly gone, I’m afraid…

Nowt anywhere at the moment, I'll just have to keep looking every day...

I was going off the OP's '...and I want something more the size of the markbass type thing...'

Weird I can cope with...in fact I quite like the Yamaha BXs...then again, I can remember the 80s... 🙂

Yeah, I was more thinking of the cricket bat Spirits...I'll see what I can find on that front first...worth a thought, tho, thanks...

Yeah, I'm trying to avoid that one, as the flights might not be super-cheap around April when we're going (they were £38 return in October when we last went), I'm trying not to double that... I suppose we could do without the singist, and I'll take a bass next to me instead... 🙂 Edit: Just checked, and yeah, the flights are four times that much...

Very often the way...if I find one, use it and want to move it on, I'll let you know... 🙂

Now that I didn't know, thanks for that - all the Hohners (not Hofners, I'm a dolt) I'd seen were neck-through...which, of course, plays right into your 'Finding one...' statement 🙁

Don't rule out a 212 (if it's small/light enough), or even a decent 15...good luck!

Bass -> Stomp -> PA -> In-ears Or (band depending) Bass -> Stomp -> Small monitoring combo/PA

I'd say that this one is an unpaid one-off charity gig, and the only other person I'll be travelling with is the singist, who isn't taking any gear, so I'm hoping to avoid the whole carnet thing... Good point about the proof of ownership, though, I'll have a think about that... Now then, I just have to find a bolt-on headless; the Steinberger Spirits and the Hohners (which seem to be most of the headlesses around) are neck-through...

Sooo, I've got a big gig coming up in Italy in the near future, and I'll be flying Ryanair (because I'm skint), which means a degree of care will need to be taken per taking a bass with me, to avoid doubling my costs (see 'I'm skint', earlier). I'm thinking a bolt-on headless could be disassembled and packed into luggage, does anyone have any clever suggestions (aka Genius Hacks, for anyone under 30) which might help?

Cheap, light and loud? The nirvana of bass cabs...generally the rule is 'Pick two of the three'... 150w is a low rating for a bass cab if you're gigging without DI support; you could run that head into it, but you'd need to be verrry careful with the volume and listen to it closely for signs of distress, which isn't always easy in a band situation; an enthusiastic drummer could give you volume issues. I run a 100w combo onstage for monitoring, but I'm DI'd, and I dial the bottom end out of the amp. I'd say a 300w cab would be easier to find and give you more peace of mind...as for the cab rating in ohms, there's another thread running about the whole 4 vs 8 thing which is quite...complicated.

I've had a LM Valve and a TH500, neither were my speed at the time, the LM Valve I found a bit...fizzy when driven (but that's not what you're after, I know), the TH500 I thought was a bit Meh, and didn't convince...again, all very subjective, and I know my goals aren't yours...those two are the older power unit Class D heads, which I found less authoritative than the newer ones; again, tho, you're not necessarily looking for a big driving live sound, so one might suit...

Yup, it's all verrry subjective...now you've said 'warmth', tho, I get it...but if you like versatility, I found the Magellan to be very good at everything, even though it hasn't got any actual valves in it...which is what you were asking for. Oh. 🙁🙂 Given I need a LOT of versatility for most of my gigs, I moved to a Stomp, so it kinda doesn't matter what head/amp I use (and a lot of the time I just DI, or DI and use a Rumble 100 (with most of the bottom end cut) for stage monitoring), if I hadn't I'd probably still have the Magellan. And the (old-school) Walkabout, obv...

I had a lot of the smaller heads, both generations of the Class D thing, and the best with actual valves was the Streamliner, but the Magellan, while it doesn't have any actual glass in it, does the valve thing very very well, and is much more versatile. If I ever went back to a small head, I'd get another... I have to say, though, the 'clean' and 'crisp' don't sound like the ideal targets for a valve pre; just me, but I'd be looking at an all-SS head for that. The best one of those I ever used was a Markbass F1... Edit: just seen that Walkabout head, and I'd absolutely love one, tho again, it doesn't make me think clean and crisp...I have an old-school Walkabout, and it's a different ball game; much warmer and bloomier...I'm presuming the WD800 is going for that ballpark (hence the name)...

Our singist/geetard plaus and sings This Charming Man, and I've no idea how*... * Actually, he has told me; it's the 'Do it till you don't have to think about it' method mentioned above...

I'd say it depends what your audience usually is in the Dog & Ducks you're playing in; the original style would maybe appeal to the teens and 20-somethings in there, but how many of those are there? Would they go for a reggae cover? I dunno... I'd think the over-30s (or over-40s/50s, etc) wouldn't know it from a hole in the ground as anything more than an obscure reggae number...there again, if you've a reggae crowd, they might not know the original but enjoy a bit of reggae. The places I play, I think blank looks on both fronts would be the result, but then again that's just the Dog & Duck circuit I'm in...

At this point, I should really allude to the work of Sidney Aloysius Smutt, but I fear his oeuvre may be a little risque... 🤐 Edit: I've been online, and I can't find even a single frame of cartoon which (though gloriously phonetic) wouldn't contravene at least two or three standards of acceptable behaviour on here...you're on your own with this one, folks...