Leaderboard

His signature bass did inspire me to make a Bitsa. I don’t know much about him as a player though. I did weaken in the end though and went active with a John East EQ so more of a Ray/G&L combo. Has anyone tried a Joe Dart. I like the idea of a single control?

Surely the video was tongue in cheek and not meant to be taken seriously? That said, Vulf are better skilled as musicians than comedians.

Not at all sure what could possibly be in that box that's just arrived: Well - you could blow me down with a feather! :

Fender Mustang Bass, crafted in Japan sometime between 1999 and 2002, sporting a Fiesta Red finish and an aftermarket brown tort pickguard.

Board rewired and switch programmed for my first band rehearsal since March 2020 tomorrow!

Yesterday was the first gig of the year. The BB1025 was fantastic 😆 Here is a phone video from the gig. The bass sound was DI from the Bergantino to front of house. Use 🎧 IMG_1548.MP4

Colin Moulding.

You have to remember that Joe Dart plays in a band whose most interesting album was ten tracks of silence.

Yeah, then they left the vocal track in. Big mistake.

I would like to offer up the often forgotten Stuart Morrow as having delivered some awesome bass lines, all done with a Westone Thunder Jet as a weapon of choice!

Started to roughly improve the profiles of the wings prior to gluing to the neck, I want these as rounded as I can get them however the lower horn has a sharper point which I really like, it'll make sense later on! Another check to make sure I'm not taking too much off prior to glue up! Started tapping away on the upper horn to start the weird taper down to the neck con cave feature most single cuts have! 40mm bowled down to 20mm will take a while but this is a start! Felt like I had enough of the bottom wing down to get it glued on, it will help me decide where I want the scoop on the upper wing before I glue that on too, I don't have so much a belly... Rather ribs... They need a tummy scoop too! That's it for today though, got a Chinese on its way (2 hour wait mind!!!) And me and the missus have lots of Fargo to catch up on! Thanks for looking!

It SimS to be a pickup. 😎 I'll get my coat.

Marathon - Rush (only those of a certain vintage will get this)

Some might say 'honestly rated'... no transient power, music power or instantaneous power nonsense that's used to double or more the power of (say) class D amps. Plus they put out their rated power with minimal distortion unlike many cheaper amps. I can say Trace Elliot kilos are heavier, though.

Metal Box - Jah Wobble That is all.

The bloke in 999. No idea who he was but nice bass parts. ‘Feelin alright with the crew’ springs to mind

I can get that tone on my bass Joe, and can do without your rather dismissive attitude towards active basses. All I do is switch the 3rd switch from left down, whilst the far right one simultaneously is flicked up, then turn the middle knob 45 degrees towards the front pickup, and keep the knob nearest to me slightly sou-sou-west facing, the main volume knob full on and the “semi active” pull knob is pulled up, or is it down...hold on no it’s up and the 3rd tone knob is off and middle pickup is “in phase” with the thingy dial, no, it’s not, it’s the parallel rotary dial switch that is moved 3 clicks towards my moustache, I think, but definitely while using .90mm rubber/foam custom hybrid plectrum. Nailed it Joe 😝 loser.

And to add to the Elrick love, here’s my NJS5 which effectively replaced the bass I sold to @Al Krow, because black: Effectively the same bass, but with ‘Jazz’ aesthetics and the switches on push/pull knobs. Si

I've never really been that impressed by technical prowess on any instrument. For me the most important thing is the music itself. People producing music I like inspire me to carry on creating my own music. People producing music I don't like also inspire me to carry creating my own music in the hope that maybe mine will be popular enough to displace them from public consciousness.

No More Heroes - The Stranglers

The first bass I ever played, an Aria pro II SLB PJ (which actually belonged to my missus) was a lovely black one. I've very recently re-joined the club with the newest addition to my herd. Not come across this brand before, but I'm completely blown away by it:

Why not just wait and buy the bass you actually want instead of buying something you clearly don't want?

This. As most here will know, I’ve owned a couple of dozen Rics from all eras and have played, at the very least, several hundred. I’ve also owned Seis (5?), Alembics, Wals, Jaydees, early Warwicks, old Fenders, new Fenders, a Pedulla and countless other things. In my 40 years of playing I’ve tried to play pretty much every bass I see, just in case it’s great (at least up until recent years when I pretty much know what is going to work at a glance). What basses do I still own? 2 x 1972 4001 basses and a custom made copy of my main one for dodgy gigs. Many people don’t get on with them, which is fine, but bear in mind often they’re coming to them from playing a completely different instrument, or simply don’t like what they’re about. I learned to play on one so all the things that many find weird I find normal, and vice versa. I love the ‘classic’ tone (almost all of my favourite-sounding players have played Rics), I love the looks, I love the necks (except for the period where the 4003/4004 necks became pretty big). I prefer the necks on my ‘72s to anything else I’ve ever played (except possibly my old ‘71 21 fretter) but the profile is different even from ‘73 Rics, never mind all the other variations over the years. They do vary a great deal; no two of the ones I’ve owned have been the same in feel or sound, and to be honest of the hundreds I’ve played I’d say only a dozen or so were really very similar to each other. So in a nutshell, if you find you don’t like them (although you really need to play a lot first), you’re not missing anything. If you do find you like them, then you maybe have been missing something, which is exactly what I’d say about every single bass on the market. And everything really. Books, films, foods, clothes, whatever. No one else’s opinion really means anything unless you know they like similar things to you (or hate things that you like), you need to try them and see what you think. One other thing, as CV said, I don’t tend to think they work that great with modern rigs, so that’s something you may need to bear in mind.

Norman Watt-Roy But then you figure out that playing isn’t a competition

Would have loved to see the magic band. Major influence on my guitar playing a long time ago. As a counterpoint, I Just remembered one of the most encouraging events when we played on the same bill as Isaac hayes and he came up to us after our set and said 'I really dig your music man'. Having the approval of black moses was mind blowing and gave us encouragement to keep going.

I don't think I've ever seen anything which discouraged me. Great music and musicians make me want to play. Crap music and musicians make me want to play too, just better than they were 😀

First of all thanks to those who have been following and engaging positively with the Bassworks build diaries involving stock and custom builds for clients. I'd like to tell you about my "Dream Bass" service. I design your dream bass for you AND you get a voucher for £100 off your instrument if you wish to proceed! Normally this service costs £25, (or $25, or EUR25). For a period of time I will offer a group of 3 Basschat members this service for FREE, per month. I'm not offering this elsewhere. It's exclusive to Basschat members. As well as a clearly identified discount, we'll spend 30 minutes together by video conference to scope out your detailed written specification which I will document for you. You'll get a high resolution 2D colour render of the bass, a fully detailed cost breakdown and an easy stage payment plan where the build time can be tailored to fit with your cash flow situation. So for example if you want to delay the spraying of the instrument whilst you save the cash to fund that - you can do it! There is no obligation to proceed at all. IF you do choose to grace me with an order, we'll create a build diary on Basschat too. This will operate as a competition. Here's what to do if you fancy a shot... 1. In this topic describe your dream bass in your own words, colour, materials, hardware and (if you play in a particular genre) what main genre(s) of music it would be played in. No pictures, just your words. 2. A panel of Bassworks judges will consider the submissions made by the end of each month. 3. As long as there are 3 great concepts per month as judged by the panel, those 3 Basschat members will win the Dream Bass Service for FREE that month. Feel free to watch the video over on my Bassworks Facebook page. Hit my page and then search the page for "Dream Bass". Thanks for reading and have a Funky Friday...

I'm guessing you have seen Duck Dunn's awesome rendition of 'Sweet Home Chicago' in the Blues Brothers film. This is the scene where Jake and Elwood escape from the police and the song goes on for a good seven or eight minutes! Duck Dunn is playing all over the fretboard but still manages to hold down the bottom end and stay locked in with the shuffle groove. I have made a Youtube video where I pull apart some of Duck Dunn's bass line and extract the riffs and techniques that you can use in your own Blues bass lines. I have resisted a simple 'teach yourself to play Sweet Home Chicago lesson' as there are loads of those already on YouTube. But I try to distill the essence of Duck's bass line and give you something tangible to take away. If you are wanting to get ideas to help make your shuffle Blues bass lines more interesting then check out the video. You can also transfer some of the walking lines to your jazz bass lines too.

What's Going On was 50 yesterday, and as a celebration (and if any album is worthy of such, this one must be) Craig Charles has what sounds like a great show from 6pm tonight. A host of current artists are recreating the album, along with interviews with people who were involved in the album, or worked with/knew Marvin.

1950, first ever Ska tune?... or certainly a big influence. This was a big tune Coxone played in the 50s (while keeping it's identity secret) and rival soundman Duke Reid was after it for years - revealing he'd got it at a soundclash. Coxone later set up Studio One and produced music by the Skatalites where you can assume he asked them to make similar tunes. I got the story from the excellent book 'Bass Culture: When Reggae was King'

Absolutely. I only commented to let people know the documentary was on, come on Ray, back to the gentlemanly civility of The Den, my round.

Reckon the original ad will be long gone now as it was back in 2008 when I first joined BC, but my persistent nightmare is the Fender Japan '65 Jazz Reissue, Oly White with matching headstock, tort guard, dot and bound neck, which IIRC was being sold by somebody in Scotland, asking price £450. I really should have bought it, and to this day regret not doing so... 😭

Oh Good Lord! It's only Music Outlet Shop up to their usual tricks. There's no suggestion that anyone will buy this complete POS ... this is a type of marketing, and the existence of this topic (and many other, similar topics) tells you that it works. 🙄

Paul Gray - Hotrods

Alister Donaldson (Ithink) of the Rezilloes, the bass playing their first album was something else, and it could be heard in the mix, Top of the Pops is right at the edge of bass my playing abilities

So it didn't go too badly at all, nice fit just need to continue to blend it down and in to the volute, hindsight would have been to sink it in to the headstock a couple of mm and sanded it flush... I know for the next one! Routed the cavity cover recess and started a finger groove to remove the cover I'll only be able to finish this when the wing is glued on... Got the hole drilled for the pickup cables pre glue as it's so much easier! Jobs list is building up best get cracking!

East 2 band and genuine Ray pickup which was a bargain until I paid the import taxes!

I don’t actually think Mr Dart is a loser. It was supposed to be a joke, an observation on passive v active, etc blah blah blah. But I guess if you have to explain a joke, then it’s clearly not funny. Gordon Bennett..!

I don’t really understand the concept. If I come across somebody who is brilliant, be it as a writer or player, I just find it inspiring. I’ve never thought “I can’t do that, I may as well stop”, in any field. I’ve seen it happen though. A friend, who was an excellent guitarist, fell apart the first time he heard Yngwie. He became obsessed with him and eventually gave up playing because he just couldn’t play like that. The great irony was that the more he tried to play like that, the further away he got from what he was good at, which was more of a Lindsey Buckingham via Neal Schon thing. It was really sad to see.

Unfollowed. Too much cow poop going on.

…and their film Bunch of Kunst (2017) is on Sky Arts tonight at 10pm.

I've got 4 4003's in different finishes. They are a bass on their own and if you amplify and EQ them right, they cut through with a tone like nothing else. And they are a big talking point, too. That said, I am into my Fenders at the moment.

Yeah, but be VERY careful Otherwise before you know it you'll be tempted to play entire songs an octave down 'cos, all of a sudden, you've got some lower notes at your disposal, followed by finding that you can actually play a fair few phrases more easily across the fretboard rather than needing to perform a merry dance up and down it...it will all end in tears. 😁

-

Had a bit of think about best place for HPF when introducing new low freqs via octave-down and filter, and decided to compromise by putting it mid-board immediately before my little Zoom multifx but after all the additional low-f stuff. I'll have to 'fess to having an ulterior motive in that I've got a couple of pedals offboard that I was really keen to find some space for, so I took the opportunity to sling the Thumpinator below board as an "always-on" pedal and have now slotted in a Pigtronix Octava in its place.

Which is why I'm blaming you for my latest purchase...