fusionbassist1

I've seen plenty of threads about with people suggesting replacment pickups and I know there's loads of different people, manufacturers and suppliers that we can get replacement hardware from but what about decent smooth necks and solid bodies with decent sustain and tone? I'm planning on doing one of 'those' projects. Building a jazz bass very very slowly over a long stretch of time until it's got everything I could want in a sturdy workhorse of a bass. As I'm in Wales Wizard 84's are a must. I'm really really contemplating Kahler 2400 bass tremolo..........(anyone had a go?) And just some decent tuning pegs, pots etc. I'd like a jet black body and a whiteWHITE maple neck with no pickguard at all. A bit different but it looks sexy to me. So far I've only really come across allparts and WDmusic but both are in the states and I honestly have no idea of the quality except that my local shop said that allparts were 'fine'. There MUST be people in the UK that i've totally overlooked who'd be happy to sell me a JBass body and neck....(?) Any ideas? Ta, Ben.

I bought an Ampeg head from the states, no switch I can see so I popped to Maplins and payed £25 or so to get a transformer. It's small, bit of a nightmare if you forget it but is far more straight forward than trying to get someone to change the amp's transformer it's self. now that people are bringing it up though I think I'll contact Ampeg's tech support to see If I can change some switches round to save using the wee li'l' Maplins box.......

Hello everyone, It's been a while. I'm currently using an Ampeg Portabass 800 through a Gallien Krueger Neo 212 (loving it niceguyhomer) and also a Hughes & Kettner "Crunch Master" pre-amp thing that all together look like this..... I'm now lucky enough to be looking at gigging abroad in the near future and recently experienced my first domestic flight where a bass had to be taken with me (and thank god I had a hard case after seeing the tears on the case's tolex :| ) so I've been thinking about a few things to do with my gear that I was hoping you fine low end warriors could help me with. firstly I've read that the portabass comes with optional rack ears but as i bought second hand from the states i don't have the luxury of having them so could someone please tell me what kind of ones I should be looking for to put the head in a 4/3U flight case? The other issue is that the preamp is rather delicate and allthough not great in an expensive kind of way (many of you may snigger but it's the tone not the means that counts in my book) it still gets what I want and therefore deserves to be looked after so i'd also like to have it rackmounted. It gets EXTREMELY hot and is an unusual size (from what I've seen) so I have honestly no idea how to go about this. The front panel is 8 and a half inch across,near abouts 2" tall with it's tiny little rubber feet and very nearly 8 inch deep.it's front panel (with all the knobs) is held on with 6 screws - one on each side, 2 on top and 2 on bottom (they can just about be seen in the picture). In regards with flight casing cabs. In my head it should be done because speakers if not aluminium are extremely fragile and if a fragile piece of my equipment is out of my sight and very likely in the hands of someone who doesn't quite respect the usefullness of a Gallien-Krueger 2x12" Neodymium bass cab then I'd quite like to have something in place to save any un-necessary costs. How much money and from whom can I get a flight case for a neo2x12 (and possibly a neo115 in the near future) in the uk? **I'm now going to post a thread in general discussion to do with endorsment and the funding of a trip to a competition in Sweden with a young band I play with and it would be very much appreciated if anyone with experience with that kind of stuff could go have a look and get in contact** thanx very much for any comments, much appreciated.

Hello everyone. There's going to be a night of oasis covers in the British Legion Club in the town of Llanrwst, N. Wales Friday January the 4th (that's this friday btw). I'm not just posting this because I'm playing, it's going to be a good night - all nice staff, good people on the door so there'll no nappy wearers drinking themselves into pools of sick, no rip-off drinks, great singer + band and if you didn't go out on new years night then why not indulge in the opportunity to get lathered singing along to a back-catalogue of tunes you've always known but never admitted to due to it being 'cliche' or not arty-farty enough for you. Or alternatively you could coem along to argue why Ampeg is "sooooo last year" and that the Fender tele thru a marshall cab + head the gu***rist is using isn't much better. All we're asking is £4 at the door and these magical doors shall be open from 7:30 'till late. It'd be cool if a fellow BCer came along and said hello, I'm the only bass player on stage so it's not too hard to spot me. Hopefully we'll see you there, Ben.

That's a hell of a lot of gear, and nice gear too. I hope you get it back and that there's a decent ass woopin' waiting for the baddies. Wish I could help but it's not my area at all, I'll keep an eye out - just incase for some strange reason any of it ends up near me.

doesn't zender de-badge most of the ol' ampeg gear he's currently using as well? I'm not a massive follower of mr zender but from what I can tell he has had a massive turn around in the equipment he uses, from modern amps/basses in his older stuff to now using old fenders and valve gear so perhaps it is an endorsement issue. Someone should ask him i guess.

I thought the song was cool but I must admit I'm not a P man myself at all *shock horror*. Song reminded me of Donald Fagen a bit. Great band and tbh I couldn't care if it was a compelte cover of a 70's song it's still fun listening to it and hearing it on the radio these days, I'd swap Stevie Wonder cover group for Girls Aloud any day.

[quote name='wotnwhy' post='108251' date='Dec 22 2007, 05:43 PM']the bass is and acoustic guitar body with a home made (not by me) neck and a slab for a finger board. suprisingly nice sound and playability [/quote] weeeeeeeird

Great video man !!! I'm thinking of posting a video of my progress so far with the technique. I've got 4 years of playing with an anchored thumb on the neck pickup behind me so it's just un-learning that from my haad and getting used to things like raking which was a conveniently easy thing to do previously but now requires more co-ordination between pulling my shoulder back and bringing my hand with it. also playing 3 note chords with my thumb for the bass note is proving rather different, playing P.o.T. and making sure all the notes ring freely is proving to be a bitch. I got to try out floating thumb in a gig yesterday and I didn't find the technique a hold back, just myself still trying to do my 'old' licks. It's been refreshing loosing a bit of confidence and having to step back from everything and analyse what exactly I'm doing as a whole and have noticed I'm probably over-complicating some of my lines. All is going well though, it's always nice to see new videos and putting hands/faces to basschat avatars. Interesting bass you've got int he video as well wotnwhy.

I'm interested in this non-anchored technique (is that a word???) but am also trying to force my self to learn to do it as I really don't want to have to cut my musical career short when I'm older due to arthritis and other injuries that (clearly) can be avoided. I am finding my shoulder a bit sore but I'm taking this as a good thing because in theory it means that I'm taking away some stress and basically the weight of my forearm from my wrist. Could someone such as wotnwhy do their own video of them using this technique please, especially demonstrating the technique in use during string crossing etc. I'd just like someone else's camera angles and explanations of how the technique works for them rahter than how they drileld it into their hands. Thanx for posting the link btw.

I think as as a teacher and a columnist jeff berlin is very valuable in modern bassplaying as even though I disagree with some of his views (and clearly so do a large amount of other musicians out there) he certainly made me question why it is that I do stuff like practice with a metronome and justify it to myself and others occassionally. For me doing something because you're formally taught to isn't enough, i have to ask 'why' otherwise it's redundant due to me not knowing how to apply it. Specifically on metronomes and click tracks he is actually stating a fact that time and rhythm in most environments have never and probably wont ever be metronomic or perfectly constant. IMO i don't use a metronome to play constantly myself, it's more of a tool for me to be consious of where I am in relevance to a given beat so that when it comes to a live setting where the human aspect is present i am able to play more steadily or pick up where i should be by listening to the beat fo the drummer. Also it's widely given that studios will want artists to play along to a clicktrack so any practice towards that is a plus in my book. If anything I think it's easier to play with a clicktrack or metronome than a real drummer as it's more predictable, I'm pretty sure Dave Weckl's more likely to throw me off the beat than a steady 4/4 beat on a metronome is.

Bongo's DOOO look like toilet seats.