Needs vs Wants

[soulman]

I've played bass for most of my musical life and I miss having a 5 string. I never struggled muting the low B. You just have to anchor your thumb on it when you play, like you would anchor your thumb on the neck pickup/bridge pickup on a 4 string.

I can cross the bigger bass amp off my wants list, since I got my Boss Katana 110 the other day.

Anchoring with my thumb wasn't so much of a big deal since I anchor on the E string of a "four banger" anyway. It's was more the added distraction of a B string and a wider neck and/or a longer scale length that I disliked as vocalist. I don't like to have a need to think too much about my playing if I'm singing. If I had to do a lot of vocals, and I usually did, I'd typically default to my Jazz Bass because I was so used to it.

I think many of us are crossing off bigger rigs now that manufacturers have learned how to harness power with D Class Amps and design and build really light speaker cabs. My Genzler MG350 Combo weighs less than 25lbs for a 350w head and a 300w 1x10 Bass Array cab. Even when I add a second cab the whole deal will weigh less than 50lbs and I can tote one cab in each hand. It's a great sounding "old fogies" rig.

Maybe the reason we see bass gear moving in this direction is the guys who are designing and building it are getting older too. As nice as some those older cabs with ceramic speakers sound along with a tube head who in hell wants to truck around 100lbs plus worth of a bass rig any longer? Not me. There are plenty of times when just the combo with it 110 would be more than enough to handle a rehearsal or a light duty gig.