Leaderboard

One is stylish, well designed, well balanced, plays peachy and is versatile... The other is a Rick...

Now then. Some of you may recall the Smitten Kitten thread from a while back. I fell in love with a five-string Mike Lull NRT5, sold a bunch of basses and put in an order. Six months on, the photo below dropped into my inbox today with a brief message saying Mike Lull will be building it this week, so hopefully I'll see it before Christmas. I guess it's pretty rare to see his work like this, so posting here. I am heartedly excited. P

They're very, very different basses in every possible way, but there's no such thing as better, only better for you. As a case in point, I had a Euro LX and to be honest I didn't really like anything about it. Ergonomics didn't suit me at all, I thought the neck was way too big and the sound one-dimensional, whereas my two main basses are 1972 Ric 4001s (I've had about 15 Rics). Ricks can vary a great deal though so you'd need to try a few and you may actually get on better with a recent 4003 or 4004. Or you may hate them all! Ultimately only you can decide.

They both have their own sound and you'll probably like one more than the other. Great bass work has been recorded with both. That being said I don't think I could ever own a Ricky. I find the owner far too objectionable. If I did find one I really wanted I'd have to buy used to make sure he didn't get any money. And then I'd probably change the logo to make it look like a copy.

You need to remember that about half of them will be creationists and thus don't get an opinion on anything to do with maths.

I had a Mesa Boogie RR 2x18 that stopped the UK from lifting off into the air.

I would stick with the spector, I've never found a rick I can get on with and also find Ricks to lack versatility

There's always the Doug Wimbish model for a jazz neck option, and the Ian Hill is smaller front to back.

I've had both and for me the Spector was superior in every way, although less iconic.

That sounds about right. A refusal to cover will most likely be specific to the proposer, whereas declining to quote will be to do with the risks the underwriter is prepared to cover and as such no reflection on the proposer individually.

A trio I perform with. Not the strongest piece in the set but the video was the only one I could upload without editing a massive 30GB file!

Yes, after their first five or six albums they did become more "poppy". Here is the very first track from their very first album...."Chicago Transit Authority". As far away as it's possible to get, from songs like "If you leave me now"

Check out the albums CTA, Chicago II, Chicago V and Chicago VI for starters mate. Fantastic rock/jazz/pop crossovers.... killer grooves, rocking guitar, legendary horn section and 3 lead singers!

... and I would say, look for a Hohner B2B, which is passive with P/J pickups and sounds more 'organic' to me than the EMGs in B2As. They don;'t come up very often but there are a couple on eBay at the moment.

Iron Maiden Live After Death Long Beach Arena October 1984

I bought one for the same reason - I can take it away with me in my campervan. After a lot of adjustments, it plays really well and is comfortable to play sitting down using the fold-out support. It's a different story on a strap. The reach to fret one feels a mile away compared to a Fender. I solved this by making a carbon fibre extension (folding) to take the strap button to fret 12. It works a treat. By coincidence, I gigged it for the first time last night in a small pub. It did fine. The pickups are not in the league of my USA Fenders, USA SUB or my Warwick LX4, but, they're fine and I will get used to their different sound. All in all, I'd say they're worth the money although I bought mine used for about half the new price. I really pleased with it. Frank.

Mine and my sons Stingray basses for your delectation: Mines the pre EB (1980) on the left - reputed to have belonged to Neil Corcoran of Mother Earth at one time. My sons is the EB (1984) on the right, with added EMG active P pickup and D tuner - reputed to have belonged to Gavin Cooper of Paul D'Ianios Killers. It was Olympic White before my son stripped it.

Why should your bass cab sit there taking up space between gigs? I've found my cab, 20 inches high, is the perfect height for sitting on and putting my socks on in the morning, and just discovered that it is also the perfect height for putting my foot up and trimming my toenails. Also, the cover seems to catch the trimmings so they don't shoot all over the room. Very easy to sweep them off. Isn't it great being a bass player!

What Bono has an endorsed Bass, as well as Adam Clayton...?

I really liked my Spirit, so much so that I bought the big brother model, the Synapse. I travel a lot with work and the Spirit / Synapse is dead easy to lug around. Rock solid design, and stays in tune forever. I bought one of those little Vox plug-in headphone amps, and all is good when I'm away from home. I put a set of La Bella flats on mine (only about £25 from BassDirect), and it sounds great to me.

As others have said, it's hard to get a handle on this without hearing the band. That said, if you're a 3 piece band and using a solo as a point of climax (see: bands like Testament who usually use the solo as an opportunity to up the tempo and introduce some crushing rhythm work), you won't really be able to get there without an additional guitar player/keys player/etc. My band don't really have too many solo sections but they're usually used as a way to create space before the rhythm guitar/vocals punch back in. All depends on the music but worth asking some questions about the arrangement before you start altering your bass tone.

This isn't aimed at you at all... but that kind of thinking with regards to compressors and bass guitars needs to be taken out back, shot at close range and buried in a shallow grave for the birds to pick at. PS: 51m0n! Nice to see you on here mate

Yes, the 'Muff' was short for 'muffled'.....

Thanks, Pops. I do try to 'play the music' despite the reputation that Jazz has for random noodling. It is a nice trio with no egos on show. Michael composes all of the tunes and Tom and I agreed that we should maintain the integrity of the ensemble by remaining focussed on those tunes with none of ours (Tom is a pianist and arranger for big bands as well as a drummer) and no standards/covers. A lot of the playing is understated and there is a LOT of space in the performances with no-one inclined to fill it unnecessarily. My favourite gig at the moment.

Hmmmm there was a case on here a while ago of a pro signing up to tell everyone not to use a compressor live because pros don't, seem to remember there was some fairly robust disagreement which he didn't like and he left. Those who disagreed were then rounded upon for not being nicer to him. Personally I think if it can be done someone will do it, and if they are clever enough about it it will sound good, and then other people will try (Tom Morello's kill switch springs to mind, never heard that before, then everyone with a heavy distortion and a guitar was adding a kill switch or breaking their pickup selector switch :D). When I was learning sound engineering the one rule we had drummed into us was "There are no rules, just guidelines, any rule there is is there to be broken, if it sounds good, it is good".... Of course if you go too crazy in a studio you might just fry some very expensive kit (as in mortgage your house type expensive), so you best have a good idea of what you are plugging in to where before you start getting all 'creative'

Hope you enjoy it! A lot of people think they're a bit naff but I completely disagree. It goes to show that when we had a photographer at our gig there were more photos of me with the Hohner for the last few songs than there were of the entire band over the whole set. They're also light weight and reduce the chance of smashing headstocks with the guitarists... Though that may only be us kack-handers!

Can't agree with that. My Euro tended towards a Jazz rather than a P neck. Mind you, that was coming from a 1.75" nut-width P Bass, so... I can agree with this, however. It's a controversial stance, mainly because people who don't think that tone comes from your fingers don't get their tone from their fingers...

Can't compare the two in any meaningful way. I can only post my own experience, which is that every single Ric I've ever played has been a dog. I'm quite prepared to accept that I've just been unlucky, however. I owned a Euro4 Spector for a while and loved everything about it except the colour. Great sound, great ergonomics and playability, great build quality. Very versatile too, and really what an active bass is all about. I'd get another one today if I could justify the expense. Mind you, a lot of very famous songs have been recorded with a Ric and they do look amazing. In an ideal world I'd have one in my arsenal, but I'd need to spend time playing as many as possible to find 'the one'.

Can't we go forward in time ? I really want to go to this shindig get some silver globe action going on.

I’m almost down to 1 - just need to sell the 64 Jazz Bass. Might get a fretless but that depends on how much I end up with from the sale. have had enough of buying crap I don’t need!

I have always preferred originals and, as a consequence of my conditioning as a fledgling player, cannot help but consider an excess of covers to be a bit 'cabaret'. I do the occasional covers gig with friends but I tend to do them for the social aspect rather than the musical and can't help but think of a life spent playing covers as a bit, well, pointless. I accept that I am in a minority but I think that time spent learning covers should be spent writing originals and that, were people to spend time learning how to compose instead of learning thousands of tunes by other people, then the quality of their composing would improve exponentially and then their originals might not be so poor. Self fulfilling prophecies and all that. I think covers bands tend to be the shortest distance between starting a band and earning money and it is that which drives the thing rather than the creative aesthetic. I completely understand why people do it but, personally, I just can't get excited about another run through of 'Ain't Nobody', 'Signed, Sealed, Delivered' and 'Son of a Preacher Man'.

I do home study, practice and gigs with my LMIII with either 1- or 2 112cabs. Haven't felt the need to buy something larger, louder, heavier. Even if you study at home in a very small room with thin walls....there's a volume knob.

I wanted to fit a few extra pedals and stuff in so I bought one of these: http://www.spider-engineering.co.uk/industry/product.asp?item=spider-guitar-effects-pedal-board-flight-case-extra-large-7628-4748 It's heavy but bloody brilliant!

I feel like @0175westwood29 may be able to point you in the right direction re: fuzzrocious pedals that would tick your boxes

Aware. It sounds different too. I was at The Seventh Tour of a Seventh tour in August 1988 at age of 15 in front row.

+1 These days it's increasingly difficult flying with DB. Google John Pattituchi and the damage the baggage gorrillas did to his bass which was in an expensive flight case. A Chadwick would be ideal. With this much time before a gig, maybe look at the hiring situation and also, put it out to the talkbass massive. It's pretty global and you may find someone willing to help with a bass that's playable. You could also look for local orchestras in the region where you'll be playing and see if you can contact the bassist(s).

Having owned, until very recently, a Hohner B2A I would recommend that over the steinberger. The Hohner second hand is far cheaper than the new steinberger and if you get one from the right period you not only get active electronics but EMG pickups too. They do sound fantastic, I would recommend GHS strings too. My only reason for selling was the string spacing was too tight for me to be making the change from the Fenders I play more regularly. My drummer did shed a little tear when I sold mine.

Is it not possible to hire an instrument while you're over there? Or borrow one?

I've tidied up a few posts - let's keep the discussion on-topic please. Thank you.

For me it would be Rush at Wembley Arena on the Hold Your Fire Tour, with Primus as support... my own personal bass heaven

Most of London Calling, I'd say. Especially the title track. I think the imagery is superb.

I doubt any of them has the slightest clue what they're talking about. What they're actually referring to is that using two cabs sounds better than one. That's the case 99 times out of 100, and it has nothing to do with the impedance load, everything to do with the increase in sensitivity when you use more than one cab. How many of them did side by side comparisons of the same amp with two 4 ohm cabs and with two otherwise identical 8 ohm cabs? I bet you couldn't find a single one of them who's understanding of how a speaker works goes beyond 'you plug it in to an amp'.

It doesn't run best at 2 ohms, it's just capable of running at 2 ohms, and running at 2 ohms doesn't maximize anything other than current draw, which isn't a good thing. You're wasting time and money going to 4 ohm cabs.

I don’t go to the sort of places that play he Birdie Song. The Chicago version is an indulgent, tedious and overblown cover of an insistent and arresting mod classic.