A comment from a fellow BC'er (on another thread) got me thinking about what is it that our audiences really want / notice / care about in terms of what we're bringing to the party as the bass player? What is it that really notice about us?
My thoughts on playing bass in a typical pub gig is that our audience is not going to notice:
what kind of bass we're playing (other than it's NOT a Fender)
whether the modulation e.g. tremolo or flange is from a cheap MS-60B or a signif