Green Alsatian

Nice vid - I thought the 2000 MIA sounded the best out of the four basses on all pickup/tone settings. There wasn't much between the other three for me in terms of preference from a sound perspective.

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1366830508' post='2057888'] How on earth did you remember that? [/quote] Honestly, it was the first thing I thought of when I saw them on 'Later...'. Well, it might have been the second thing that crossed my mind... I'm 40 in a few months time, and have quite vivid memories of late 70s TV, especially the often harrowing Public Information Films that tended to burn in one's memory! The one where Charlie fell in the river had me in tears when I was 5!

I had the Squier VM Amber P-bass and it was a very good bass. Naturally, the hardware (tuners, bridge etc), finish and the feel of the neck didn't match my 2009 American Standard P or the MIM Classic 50s P-bass I had, but there are several hundred pounds between each of them. Soundwise, the American sounded more refined and a bit more full-bodied, which I attribute to the higher grade materials and pickups, but the VM is still very much a P-bass. With roundwound strings, you can get a grindy aggressive sound, especially when playing with a pick and with flatwounds, you get the vintage-sounding thump, especially with the tone rolled off a little and with the strings muted a little. I put a set of the James Jamerson LaBella Deep Talkin' flats on it and the neck handled it admirably. I felt no desire to modify the VM bass from stock - it worked and looked and sounded great. Disregarding the price, would I prefer it over the American Standard? No, but when you weigh up the prices, it'll certainly get you most of the sound/feel of a P-bass for a fraction of the price. The white/rosewood one looks lovely too - you already know what the quality of them are like from your VM Jazz and if you liked that, I reckon you'll be pleased with the VM Precision.

Her facial expressions reminded me of Charlie: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDu7yYHxZr0"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDu7yYHxZr0[/url]

That said, there could have been no sound on that vid whatsoever, and I'd still want one!

I've been interested in hearing how the new ones sound and that demo wasn't particularly useful. It would have been nice to hear the instrument properly - too much hyperspeed clicky slapping to appreciate it fully. Even his finger-style and pick runs were spattered with too many ghost notes. A little more 'show' and less 'ing off' would be appreciated in such vids - I'd love to hear Ed Friedland reviewing one.

I strongly approve of this new song.

[quote name='green_ram' timestamp='1366113410' post='2048405'] Thanks for the reply. So do you think the photos I uploaded are of the classic pro IV? [/quote] Sorry - should have added - that's not a Classic Pro IV - just the regular Epiphone Thunderbird. Another way of telling from the front, is that there are no thin 'pinstripes' of mahogany/walnut running through the centre of the body.

The Classic IV differs thus: - the knobs have silver tops with labels - the output jack is on the side - the body is through-neck - the rim of the headstock is darker - the pickups don't have the 'lip' housing the screws There are pictures of the one I had in this thread: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/178078-new-epiphone-thunderbirds-coming/page__st__40"]http://basschat.co.u...ng/page__st__40[/url] Hope this helps.

I'll throw a wildcard in there - a Wilkinson Alnico V for a pocket-busting £24.90 (not to be confused with their cheaper ceramic £14 model). As I mentioned in another thread a few weeks ago, I put a Seymour Duncan SPB-1 (a great P pickup) in a Vintage V4 p-bass that I'd wired up with CTS 250k pots and there really wasn't much between them (I couldn't tell, to be honest!) so I put the Wilkinson pickup back in there. I thought it did the 'vintage p' sound admirably. Especially with flats. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-Wilkinson-WPB-AlNiCo-V-Bass-Pickups-for-PB-type-guitars-Precision-/121092568214?pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&hash=item1c31adf496"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-Wilkinson-WPB-AlNiCo-V-Bass-Pickups-for-PB-type-guitars-Precision-/121092568214?pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&hash=item1c31adf496[/url]

The first six Dr. Feelgood albums.

Agreed - Norman's certainly one of my personal favourites. I was cursing the interview cutting off at the end, when Norman mentions the Superman's Big Sister bassline and bumping into Mark King!

Aye, definitely just the sound of the stock P-bass on New Boots, and I think it was still just P on Do It Yourself too. Going from various live footage and videos, he must have added it in late 1979/1980 during the recording of Laughter as the latest I've seen of the bass pre-Jazz mod was a Rock Goes to College performance from 1979 (playing Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick). The Jazz pickup's in place on their vids from 1980 'I Want to Be Straight' and 'Superman's Big Sister', along with the 1980 Dominion Theatre concert (I watched this recently on YouTube - absolutely fantastic!).

Nice one for posting this! I often wondered if Norman still had [i]that[/i] bass and what it looked like now and hearing him talk about it's ace! Even though he's been playing the gold Jazz for ages, I always associate him with that P and love his sound on New Boots & Panties. I'd love to have a play on it!

Moustache Ride

I owned a Walnut one and found no issues regarding quality in construction or electronics and the preamp did a great job of providing various tones from it. It did have a noticeably hotter output than the Sterling Ray 35 I once owned, but no clipping on my amp.

[quote name='davehux' timestamp='1365075970' post='2034869'] You want La Bella 760FHBB strings which are sold as 'Beatle Bass' strings specifically for that bass. I'm waiting for a set to be delivered from these guys [url="http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/LaBella_strings.html"]http://www.bassdirec...la_strings.html[/url] as they were the cheapest I found anywhere when searching last week [/quote] I had these on the Hofner Icon I used to own and they were lovely, both in feel and sound.

The last time I bought a set of strings here was in 1994 and that was from Rushworths, when it was still open. I've been buying from Strings Direct since 1998 for selection and price. Ordered a set yesterday morning and they were here today for just a quid delivery!

I saw them in Liverpool on Thursday and they were fantastic as usual. Jet sat out the first hour of the set, with his backup sitting in. When Jet came on, the crowd roared and they burst into Genetix with Jet playing for the remaining hour. The backup came on, doubling up with Jet for the last encore of the night - Tank.

[quote name='MoJo' timestamp='1362691904' post='2003572'] That's the one. Its good to know that the sellers claim that they were Fender pick ups is true [/quote] It's good to know it ended up with a fellow BassChatter. At least you'll be able to recoup some funds if you decide to sell the Fender pickups. It's a pity I didn't keep the box, as I could have sent it on to you. That one went in the great 'cull' around May/June last year when I went for all of two months without a single instrument in the house!

Was it this one - brass nut/Wilkinson bridge/Fender pickup? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SX-P-Bass-/221187538133?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item337fcdfcd5&nma=true&si=X5e3qnwqgbI7DQNhSdSCXx7Yf%252Fw%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 If so, small world! And if it is said bass, I can vouch for the seller stating that the pickup is a Fender 'Original Vintage' pickup as I'm the one did the upgrades (mirrored scratchplate, brass nut, bridge, CTS pots, Fender pickup) and sold it to him. The stock SX pickups weren't much to write home about, and considered DiMarzios but went with the Fender Originals for it instead. The bridge pickup cover was one I had lying around and threw it in.

One-piece maple neck/fretboard with 22 frets. Wider than a Jazz at the nut, but doesn't have to be Precision-width (although I'm happy with full-fat vintage P-width!). Must feel chunky/substantial in the hand - no Ibanez SR-style toothpicks.

I'll also vote for four strings.

I had a 1992 MIJ Squier Strat which I bought new at the time and that had a ply body. It felt, played and sounded excellent - my bandmate (who was a bit of a Stratoholic at the time) would often borrow it as he preferred it to his US Strat. 'Sweeter' he'd say. I've also had a 2009 MIM Strat, a Vintage/Wilkinson Strat and a 50s Classic Vibe Strat (blonde/gold scratchplate). The MIM was my favourite for feel, playability and sound. The Vintage sounded a little brighter but for a sub £100 guitar (it's very hard to sell a Vintage instrument!), it was ace - sounded great, but the edges of the neck weren't as comfortable as the MIM. As for the 50s CV - I'd probably struggle to pick between that and the MIM, given that it was £200 cheaper, was well put together, felt great in the hand and looked fantastic with the white/gold colour combination. Soundwise, very similar to the MIM.

That's a cracking line in Freaks and a great sound too - certainly dwarfs the Clash/Jam knockoffs we were putting out when I was 18 in '91. Like yourself, this thread had me looking on my backup hard disc and most of my recorded output has been synth-related lunacy. I did, however find this 'rarity' from 2009. A mate's band forum would have a covers challenge every month, with the winner picking the song. For almost all my entries, I'd do a synth version, until the choice fell on an already synth-heavy tune in Rufus & Chaka Khan's 'Ain't Nobody'. I put down my synths, save for a nice Rhodes electric piano sound on my digital piano and some organ from the Roland VK-8 clonewheel I had at the time. I added some strat (middle pickup) and bass came courtesy of my bitsa P-bass with rounds, played fingerstyle through a Fender Rumble 60 combo. The guitar 'solo' is just something that fell out while I was playing so I kept it in. https://soundcloud.com/greenalsatian/nobody