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There are some threads on TB suggesting nylon strings don't always work that well with a Fishman piezo bridge (example below). Old thread alert (2016)! I have black nylons on a bass with Graphtec piezo saddles and that works fine. I did try white nylons once (on a non-piezo bass) and noticed that they were super light tension which certainly wouldn't help. There's not much that can go wrong with a piezo saddle - it either works or it doesn't. The contact pressure from the string is critical to how much of a signal it generates though.

Thanks!

A 100W that comes in at around half the weight of the YI200 would do nicely! Most new breed 'lightweight' valve amps still seem to weigh in at close to 20kg. I wonder how Pure Tone managed to get it down to 7kg?

Ah, I didn't see the Rheingold B100 which is very much in the ballpark. Unfortunately not the price. Looks like I may need to reset my expectations..

Hmm, at 1.6k for 15W I expect the 80W will be heading towards Pure Tone territory...

Yes, I just emailed Michalis and got the news about the Euro3.5k price tag! He replied in a matter of minutes with quite a lot of info. Build time is 6 weeks and current wait time is about 6 months. I looked at Rheingold and Handbox but they're quite a bit bigger and heavier. Very little info on the Hot Amp website or FB page. The Basstard 1082 80W looks looks interesting, I'll email for more details. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=280303903892855&set=pcb.280305070559405

Does anyone have one of these amazing little amps? Seemingly only available direct from the maker in Crete (https://blog.drooble.com/pure-tone-amps-a-talk-with-michalis-serpetsidakis/). Fabulous sounding amp and weighs only 7kg! Are there any other small/lightweight all valve bass amps out there? I've scoured the internet but can't find anything that comes close to this.

I'm surprised how much you can save by taking a scratchplate off, never really thought much about that!

👍 that would be great, thanks

I have a similar interest in component weights. Here are some weights that I've collected over the years including a few pickups.

Gibraltar make hardware for drums - these ones are tension washers for drum heads.

For info - I bought a pack of the Gibraltar Tension Rod Washers and they're 10mm OD / 6mm ID which is too big. I managed to get some M5 washers (ID 5.03mm) with a reduced outer diameter (9mm) from Accu. These are a very close match for the Fender washers. Link below if of any interest. https://www.accu.co.uk/flat-washers/404899-HRDW-M5-A2

Thanks ReggaeBass and PaulThePlug. The Gibraltar tension rod washers look good. As Andyjr1515 says, it's the small outer diameter that's important. A regular M5 washer is too big.

Despite some diligent googling, I can only find these for sale in the USA (eg. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/393312389818?hash=item5b933ecaba:g:al0AAOSwGK5hTAUI). Does anyone know where you can get them in the UK?

Surely there must be some sort of substrate material across the full strap width with the memory foam just being an outer layer?

Hofner staple pickups are generally pretty hot. Even at that distance from the strings you should be getting good output. Pic of my 185 below which had a similar pup/string distance and that was fine. How did you check that your pickup output was OK?

Thanks warwickhunt for the cab info.

Out of interest, what speaker set up were you using with the Handbox?

A tiny tweak to the trussrod (in either direction) can also help to shift or reduce a deadspot.

Saw Sting at the Palladium last night and there was a bell-shaped 'thing' with wires going into it on a post behind his bass cabs. See pic below (apoligies for quality). It's been bugging me ever since! Anyone have any idea what it is?