Wil

I sorta like it. CT basses look quite organic to me. It looks like a bass that's been hewn from a log with a piece of flint, then tidied up a bit.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='1010138' date='Nov 2 2010, 10:39 PM'] [b]C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER![/b] [/quote] Can't go wrong with a bit of SB6.

It is indeed, thanks I far prefer that headstock shape to the one's used on the high end Spector 5 strings, shame it's only available on the cheapies.

It's been a long time since I posted any gear porn, so here goes. My current stable consists of just two basses, a Korean built Spector NS2000/5, which is a lovely thing for the dosh. I'm not sure if it's a long term keeper or not, but I like it a lot and it's currently my main bass. The neck is very comfy, as is the contoured body. It doesnt have the classic NS shape, but it's curvier than the Legend series that replaced it. Pickups are passive EMG HZ, which have a nice focused bottom end and clear highs in combination with EMG BTS preamp (a neat feature of the preamp is a series of four dipswitches inside the control cavity which allow you to adjust the treble frequency boost - the highs were a little harsh when I bought the bass, a quick tweak and I was far happier). The bass is an all maple neck through instrument, so as you can imagine it sustains for days. It's a great workhorse rock bass. My other bass is this old thing. Encore body (from my first instrument, I've had it a good 15 years), a mighty mite neck, American Fender P pup and Aaron Armstrong bridge humbucker. I wired in a DPDT series/parallel switch for the bridge humbucker to add a bit of versatility. As you can see, the bass is a fingerprint magnet. The mighty mite neck is very nice indeed. It has a thin satin finish (so thin I thought it was unfinished!) that makes moving around the neck a breeze. Previously this bass sported a Status graphite neck but I was never happy with the tone - something about it just didnt compliment the body (which is very rare, rich and exclusive Brazillian MDF). Soundwise it seems to have a 70's vibe going which the MIM Fender P I once owned really lacked. It's thumpy and dark, which I like. Soundclips... The Spector clip is both pups on full, and a touch of bass and treble boost on the preamp. There are two P soundclips. In the first clip both pickups are on, the first half of the clip is with the bridge pup in series, the second half is with it in parallel. The second P clip is neck pup soloed with the tone rolled all the way off (the tone cap is an orange drop, not sure what value but it still lets some highs through when it's totally rolled off). [attachment=62838:spector.wav] [attachment=62839:P___both_pups.wav] [attachment=62840:P___neck.wav]

Very nice. I bet that's a dream to play!

The Thing and Alien have wonderfully atmospheric soundtracks. The woodwind in Alien sends chills down my spine. Schindler's list - one of very few films that has me welling up when I hear the score. Incredibley beautiful and profoundly sad piece of music. Star Wars! Full of incredible music. The original films, of course.

I broke a low E mid set once - I just carried on and played the lines an octave higher. Worked out ok, sounded a little odd but not enough for the punters to notice much.

The Queers - Don't Back Down. Great album, it's like the Beach Boys meets the Ramones.

Certainly looks like a 3000 to me: [url="http://statii.com/status_cats/flyers/series_3000/index.html"]http://statii.com/status_cats/flyers/series_3000/index.html[/url] Early Energy basses do look remarkably similar though: [url="http://www.statii.com/status_cats/adverts/energy_nov_1991/energy_advert_nov_1991.jpg"]http://www.statii.com/status_cats/adverts/...rt_nov_1991.jpg[/url] I doubt there is much to split them apart from year of manufacture.

If I were going to buy an instrument as an investment, I'd probably try and track down a really good 50s Les Paul. Guitarists seem to care slightly more about the vintage tone mojo stuff.

I used to be terrible for it. I still get pangs when I look at nice basses. Whenever I do get GAS, I think about how I'm saving towards a deposit on a house and how uncertain things are with jobs in the current climate. Can I really afford to spend so much money on an expensive bass when I have one at home that does a great job? The answer is, I can't. GAS deflected momentarily.

C.P.E Bach's cello concertio in A minor. Baroque and roll.

I suggest you PM Shockwave, this sounds right up his alley.

I think I might be in a Stuka.

Well, I guess it's his bass so he can sell it for what he likes. It's not really in the spirit of basschat to profiteer this way, but I can understand wanting to get all the value you can from a sale - times are hard after all. I'd be inclined to ask them to match the previous price, if that was a fair representation of the instrument's worth. Either that or simply say "thanks but no thanks".

I think an interesting chordal foundation (be that rhythm guitar, keys or whatever) and a vocal line are the most important things in writing a good pop song. Other genres may vary, but the vocal melody needs to catch your ear, as it's the thing 99% of punters will pick up on. It's hard to do it right consistantly and keep it fresh.

I'm pretty awful at it. Occasionally I'll sit and come up with a nice chord progression and vocal line but I struggle with lyrics. As a result, most of the music I do write is pretty sparse at the best of times. The last song I wrote and recorded was a simple, junkyard blues number where I was more focused on creating an atmosphere than creating anything particularly groundbreaking musically. Ended up banging on pots and pans for drums but never did get around to recording the rain on my garage roof for more ambience... You can listen to it here if you like: [url="http://www.myspace.com/ebolamonkey11"]Myspace link[/url] A good friend of mine can churn out brilliant chord progressions and vocal lines all day long. I have no idea how he does it, it just comes naturally to him. Good news for me as he does all the writing in our band!

[quote name='silddx' post='1004317' date='Oct 28 2010, 08:15 PM']Thinking a bit about this, it's a common question and I used to be quite paranoid when i was starting out about whether I would need to sight read. Much more important things to consider if you want to be in a band are: Will I ENJOY being in this band? Do I have reliable equipment which I know how to use? Do I have a plan for when a string breaks or my sound cuts out? Do I have/need an active DI box (SansAmp etc.) for emergencies? Can I learn songs as quickly and as accurately as the other band members? Do I need a form of reliable transport? Do I understand, and can commit to, the level of time and effort expected by this band? Am I a reliable person with a professional attitude? Am I a nice person to be around, diplomatic, open minded, and know when to shut the f*** up? Can I accept that bands are not always democratic? Am I prepared for this band to eat into my time and financial resources?[/quote] Great post.

[quote name='silddx' post='1004245' date='Oct 28 2010, 07:31 PM']God, I've been playing for 30 years and other than the first five frets on the E and A strings, I have to work out what the notes are called.[/quote] I'm glad it's not just me!

Those old Statii have a certain something about them. Very cool basses.

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='1004060' date='Oct 28 2010, 04:58 PM']For communication. The song ends... Me to guitarist: 'That final chord you play, the G chord, try playing a G6 it would sound much better I think.' Guitarist: 'Which chord?' Me: 'The final chord, you're playing a G major, try playing G6.' Guitarist: 'What is G6? Me: 'Put the sixth note of the scale into the chord, it's an E note.' Guitarist stares at me. Me: 'You see your ring finger on the high E string? Just take it off the G note at the third fret and let the open E sound.' Guitarist: 'OK' ... 'That sounds great.'[/quote] Western music theory is not a universal language among musicians though, as this thread shows. You may as well have asked him to play a chord in Esperanto. If I want to get something like that across to my guitarist, I pick up the guitar and show him. The only universal language of music is music itself. I'm not saying it wouldn't be easier for you if he did know the chord names, but IME most hobby musicians don't focus as much on that side. I'm not really sure what my point is here.

I really should get around to learning the notes on the neck at some point, but then I've been playing in bands for a decade and it's never been necessary. Similarly I taught myself to read music and to an extent sight read for cello and piano, but I always found I created better music when I forgot all that stuff and just played the music in my head with relative pitch. Probably down to the fact I learned that stuff after years of playing along to records and improvising, it felt like a backwards step I wasnt prepared to invest time in to overcome. It's all horses for courses at the end of the day, I'm sure I've said all this before. If you want to get paid gigs, play classical or jazz, or do session work, then it's probably a good idea to learn to read. If you're rocking out in an originals bands though, take it or leave it, but make sure your ears are up to par.

SACRE BLEU! That's hot.

Absolutely not. I've yet to meet anyone in an originals band who has needed to either. Having a good ear is more important. In all the bands I've been in the guitarist or whoever writes the bulk of the music will bring an idea into rehearsal and play it, so being able to listen and come up with something appropriate is the key.

Gold hardware, shaped like John Merrick in profile and with wooden pickup covers? Pretty tacky IMHO. Certainly nothing on Ritter though, I'll admit. And to be fair, I do like Bongos, so my taste is questionable.