asingardenof

Another V7 player here and they're great basses for the money. If you're after just a practice bass consider the V3P which is the passive version of the V3 so essentially a V5 without the fancier finishes but with the same pickups, etc.

If you've played it and like it then you should do OK with it, however it's a bit pricey. For that money you could probably buy something newer and that's a bit more versatile from the likes of Sire, Yamaha, Ibanez, etc. I have a 1996 Standard Precision, albeit made in a different factory in Korea, and it has the more standard open-backed cloverleaf tuners - those closed-back ones tend to be a bit cheap and of dubious quality, so I'd be a bit wary of this, especially as it's essentially the same as your Aria.

Depression is an awful, insidious illness, and even though outwardly someone might appear to be fine, inside there can be a fierce battle raging. Often there can be no external trigger and it's all about what's happening inside their head, and it can be a vicious circle of misery from which it can be impossible to recover. So sorry to hear this news.

And if it's more important for her to play the part than for OP to remain in the band

I know someone who turns them into jewellery

There's always the classic:

Then let her try it at a rehearsal, and when she messes it up try not to look smug as you wait for the apology. I'd have told them to do one by now so you're more patient than I am.

Noticeably? Possibly. Significantly? Probably not.

If you turn the volume up both cabs will get louder though.

Very slow. I've been watching something fail to sell on eBay despite the owner chain-auctioning it (i.e. as soon as it fails to sell because it hasn't met his reserve price it immediately goes back up at the same starting price and same reserve)

Agreed, it's not the prettiest but it's far from the ugliest, and when I'm playing I don't care what it looks like as I'm not looking at it

All that does is convert the non-VTC preamp to the VTC preamp. There aren't different versions of the preamp for JJ and PJ pickup configurations, which was the original question.

Indeed. It's a pretty simple install if you're putting it in a Sadowsky bass.

There's just the one: https://www.thomann.de/gb/sadowsky_onboard_bass_preamp.htm

Really? I put up a message in the wanted section and had two messages within minutes.

Do you not have an artistic friend you could slip a few quid to to knock one up? This sort of thing has a "thin end of the wedge" vibe about it.

The easiest way is to buy heavier gauge strings

Sandberg have something similar as well: https://configurator.sandberg-guitars.de/

You can spend many a happy hour on their site just tinkering. Well, happy unless you know you're a long way off being able to buy your creation that is.

For fun and frolics, maybe more

Or the people who advertise for other people when they're putting themselves out there. So many bass players seeking other bass players!

That does appear to be a major design flaw

You can, but for physical items I think you need a US address - I've bought from them before and had it delivered to my MIL's house when my wife was visiting last year. For digital items I don't think the address thing matters.

I believe it's the pickups that are hot, with the preamp lacking headroom to deal with them.