3below

£686 GBP - bargain compared to an original Hiwatt (which I had in my youth). Hope you find the Tour 700 you are looking for.

Pretty much what I would say about my Gibson SG bass. I did fit Hipshot tuners to cure the neck dive.

Bit far from Mid Wales to offer a 'try it out'. You are however in the land of the sensibly priced used Weber Mywatt

Aria spirit PE bass, bought on this very forum. No pics at the moment but google "Aria spirit PE bass" and it is the blue one. Seriously well built, nice and light, superb balance - no neck dive, active electronics. With a 32" scale length it should be a 'killer' but lacks 'bite and aggression' compared to my other basses.

I have two (go figure..) Peavey Tour 700s. Indestructible, not too heavy, not Class D and reliable. (500W into 8 Ohms is useful) Tone is good for what I want, I can get some 'valvey' grit / distortion (think Andy Fraser on the Free Live cd). Graphic is good, the cosmos is a waste of time for me. Where are you based?

Smoke on the water, best left to DP, just no for me, period, no!

29 yrs with my G&L SB1, 3 with the L1505. Build quality on both excellent. Still not convinced I am a 5 string player however.

The 301 is imo one of the best looking bass cabs ever. Just need a 2019 301 lite, looks like a miniature 301, has modern lightweight internals and construction. I see a project

Bought an EMG DC40 from Chris. Excellent communication, next day arrival, really well packed. First rate, deal with confidence.

61 and now prefer my lightest bass for any long playing session. Also have to take care lifting heavy kit, seems very easy to get tendonitis / elbow damage. Still all too easy to forget and start shifting kit like I am still 20, I wish...

G&L the great bargain if you like them and keep them. I have two, one since about 1990 when they were a rarity, it was unknown and it was just as well built as a Fender I had owned previously. It is a great bass, every bit as good as a P bass. Bit of a mixed bag on resale though.

One detail that you have not mentioned, is the pot log (A) or lin (B)? If you do not succeed on this mission there are at least 4 possible ways out of the situation (probably more that I am not aware of). In order of ease IMO: 1. Is a split shaft version available. Screw on knob will work on split shaft. You can always file a flat onto the split shaft if you want. 2. Non PCB mount pots of your desired size are available. Use flying leads to the pcb board and solder these to the pot. The tags on the pot can be bent / moved / cut down as required. 3 Re-use the three pcb mount legs (solder pins) on the 'duff' pot. leave them soldered into the pcb, snip them through. Use a non pcb pot, adjust the solder tags so they make good physical contact with previous pcb pins. Solder them up. You might want to make a temporary jig to hold the pots in the correct vertical plane so that it is soldered at correct height. 4. The difficult one (which I have done in desperation). Obtain two pots, same make with the pressed folded tabs holding them together (CTS). One with the correct 100K value, centre detent etc. The other one values do not matter but must be the right angle pcb mount. Dismantle the two pots and transfer the correct internals to the pcb mount, reassemble.

TI flats on my various basses combined with Sansamp overdrive (either Leeds or VT) seems to do the business for me. Can range from 'solid thick wall of bass' to surprising amounts of 'roundwoundness'. They work really well on all of my basses except one - G&L 5 string, just too floppy. Weirdly they are excellent on my G&L 4 string.

Bass parts bought from Lawrie, excellent communication, deal with confidence. Many thanks.

or for those who need more?

I did, about 41 years ago when I was young and happier to move 'big kit' about. Same with the Hiwatt 200. Would quite like to try the Acoustic 370 head with my Barefaced Dubster

Acoustic 370 amp and the 301 cab or Hiwatt 200 ....

The G&L that I broke the fingerboard on with truss rod adjustments went to Jon. The repair took a fair while however the quality pf work was/is outstanding, stainless frets and better quality than before.The cost was unbelievably reasonable

At this point it is time to check out the circuit topology, power transformers, output transformers and the valve specs (loadlines etc). As a massive simplification EL34 / 6L6 operate in the same ballpark and 6550 / KT88 similarly, but in a bigger ballpark. 6 EL34s in my Soundcity - adequate. 8 X 6550 in the Marshall VBA 400, adequate ++ (and far too heavy to move around). Best valve amp I ever owned - Hiwatt 200, 4 x KT88

Looking really good, makes me want to build some cabinets, reduce my car loading :). On previous builds I got a 'leathercloth' / Vinyl finish look by dabbing the Tuffcab with a washing up sponge. Pour / brush a reasonable amount onto the cabinet then dab away.

Mine was well crafted, nitro finish and well built. It was a factory 2nd but I never worked out what the finish flaw was. However, like many semis it was a pressed plywood body. not a carved top. reverse wind machines were an interesting feature until you gor used to them.