3below

Blackwood Tek? I used this same material to make a new fret line marker board for Mrs 3below's Ronnie Bennett lap steel. It finished really well with Tru oil, like a glossy ebony.

A quick search indicates Carla can support Windows native plugins. To do this requires Wine. LinVST and Yabridge offer direct linux support of Windows plugins. Disclaimer here - I have not tried these, I just use Linux for 99% of my computing needs.

Current v2 one (image from Tech21 website) appears to do 500Hz mid, though you would have to experiment a bit to find exact 500Hz. I find it really useful with a wide range of kit - EUB, uke bass, various basses & guitars. Swiss Army knife

The perennial problem, plus my drummer (not heavy handed) sometimes uses a Gretsch kit which is just "too loud".

+1 ^ This. Next we will be adjusting bass / treble / eq in gig or recording situations to make it sound better

A lot of ground has been covered in the thread so far, I am just running through the "well what would it look like, how will I use it at a gig" scenario. Apols if this is superfluous and has been covered. Undoubtedly there are key items missing in this first iteration, it is a seriously good challenge. Main unit (on my amp or table/stand/whatever, not on the floor = no bending down, less vulnerable, stays nice looking longer, I can see what is going on without a telescope) Main unit effects / configuration can be edited / assigned / routed / display what is going on using a web browser (implies webserver in main unit) Touchscreen on main unit accessing the webserver Webserver is also accessible through wifi, BT, Ethernet (implies DHCP server or assignable IP/Subnet, plus DNS, SSH, 2FA?) N knobs on the main unit for quick adjustments e.g Vol, bass , treble - these will be parameter assignable through the webserver, so it could be modulation, drive, whatever I want (the touchscreen will show what they are doing) Footswitch with n switches, (some users might want 3, others 12 - implies a modular software architecture) and LEDs, floor based. wifi / Bt / ethernet / usb / single wire connection(s) to the main unit. The footswitch unit is built to indestructible standard. It will probably require a low power microcontroller, it is however only routing and communicating simple selection data. Analogue signal input to main unit is XLR and HiZ jack (pad will be available for high output instruments, Z will be high enough for direct piezo connections) Mute button / touch pad hot spot Simple 3 colour LED to show input signal level - instant quick check rather than having to access menus when changing instruments Analogue signal output from main unit is XLR, Jack, Line Out, headphones Digital output is USB and optical. Midi i/o Inbuilt Tuner? or tuner out jack Expression pedal ?? wifi/bt/ethernet/single wire to main unit? to footswitch? @Smanth I have not mentioned midi in any detail due to my total lack of knowledge about it, I am sure you can fill that gap in.

The bitsa Jazz bass (all genuine Fender bits including 1970s neck) I have in my possession has this very feature

Have you had any thoughts about where you will start from with the software? Do any OSS projects give a good starting point that can be forked or used as a library? No point inventing the wheel again

Stating the obvious, if a screen is incorporated into the design should be: readily available, sensible cost and easily replaced. With some judicious design decisions the control software could be written to accommodate a build with knobs and/or touch screen? It is a good programming challenge

The Beano decoupage looks really good. Many years ago I built an Omni 15 widebody. Totally agree that the midrange horn was the hardest part to construct.

Just to add more fun to this is the issue of getting and keeping 'the tone / my sound' at home, small rehearsal, recording and war volume (if this is possible). Throw into this the effect of room acoustics and the situation gets even more complex. You could of course have a linear pre amp > pa amp > some FRFR (or what alludes to be FRFR) speakers. Once you get it into the room use a DBX driverack and autoeq at the volume you will be playing at (where will you place the mic for autoeq'ing is another complexity). Everything will be really flat (if the kit is doing what it claims) until the audience fills the room. Replace the linear pre amp with your pre amp of choice (Helix, Sansamp, whatever). Will it sound any good in the context of the band is anyone's guess. At this point I am losing the will to live so I will just plug it in, pray the guitarists are playing at a sane volume and tweak my eq until I get something I am fairly happy with. @dclaassen summarised it all very nicely for me.

Super looking bass I have just bought a uke bass (bc has a lot to answer for yet again) and am very impressed with what it will do and the ease of playing. I suspect the next build will be such a thing.

A guide and a reasonably standardised way of doing this (physicist/engineer here) would be really useful. In addition to amp heads I would like to contribute measurements of some pedals in my posession e.g Tech21 Leeds, VT, Joyo American etc. (if this is of interest). In semi jest we can then subject all the results to AI / machine learning and arrive at the universal eq emulator ranges.

Done that one, the cutting (bandsaw) and smoothing is easy enough. It did not look as good as I had hoped but that is a matter of personal taste. Ideally you will get machine heads with a small back footprint e.g. Hipshots. The Space at the back is a bit tight, I only just got Schaller BMs to fit.

So many excellent ideas have been expressed so far Not sure what is left to contribute on the ideas front. Might have missed this, it should also have some form of headphones out amplification or bt headphone connection.

Corvette 2006 - baseball bat neck, but easy to play. As @Kev states, not all are large, my fretless corvette has a totally different slim neck profile. USA G&L L1505, the largest neck bass I own or have ever played (other than db/eub). Left field mention: Chowny SWB-1 - slim, jazz bass like but deep, a rounders bat , really, really good to play, I have small hands.

Played (dabbled lol) guitar in a musical many, many years ago, the bass player used the same combo. As a bass player I was well impressed with what the combo delivered from a small package. @Downunderwonder has sound advice about avoiding hearing damage.

In my own personal possession universe are a 1980s USA standard strat and USA standard tele. Both are good, the build quality of the tele particularly so, the strat is light and really vibrant. I also have a knockabout Yamaha pacifica 012. Every time I play the Yamaha I realise how close it is to the USA Fenders for sound, playability and build quality. There is not a lot in it (I did change the machines on the Yamaha to Grovers).

As per @chris_b I have just looked up what the new P bass I bought in 1977 would cost in today's money - £1,964. Unbelievable that I bought it as a student! Seems like Fender are better value for money now compared to what they were.

^ this.

Bought a Gold Tome ME bass from Graeme. Excellent communication, bass really well packed and it arrived in record time. Smooth transaction, deal with confidence. Many thanks.

That is a very kind offer. Do you require some internal dimensions?

Definitely of interest, I shoehorned a Fane 8" Sovereign Pro into a Laney RB1 combo. I seem to remember modelling it (WinISD) and getting port sizes that were too large to physically realise so a proper conversion was out of the question. The RB1 cab is too small, it lacks bass and sounds boxy.

The small cab format would certainly be of interest to me. What speaker are you using?