Green Alsatian

I haven't played a gig since July last year. The band has been on hiatus since - one third is a daddy and one third is playing keys for The Lancashire Hotpots, of which we're glad, as he's the most talented of us and deserves being paid for gigs and getting out there.

We'll pick up where we left off when everyone's ready - I'm the 'expendable' one in the band anyway. I joked in an interview with the local paper that I only got in the band because I can drive!

I haven't done anything myself this year - last thing I recorded was last year's Chrimbo tune. But, watching my nephew (I'm a first-time uncle) growing bigger and stronger, learning to walk and turning 1 two months ago is far more interesting! I can watch him staggering about, grinning for hours!

Oh bugger - I was looking forward to that too. They were fantastic when I saw 'em in Manchester earlier in the year.

Perhaps I'll play it on a CD player in an empty adjacent room and pretend I'm standing outside the stadium, listening in.

I know what you mean about the 50s Classic P - the neck's fantastic on it and it sounds great. I had the 2T sunburst one and wish I still had it - best P I've ever played.

That's where I bought mine - I went for the sunburst and it worked out at only £491! I had to sell mine recently, but will be buying another as soon as I can afford it, as they're fantastic basses.

Great service from Musik Produktiv, too.

I like Fusion and enjoyed what they were playing - they looked like they were having a laugh too, which is always nice to see. I'd be made up to see a live bass battle on stage!

I'd rather watch people showing off on stage and looking like they were enjoying it than someone just plodding along and looking like they wanted to be elsewhere. I'm under no doubt that either of those chaps could carry out a traditional bass role too.

That, good folk, is how bass 'vs' threads should be resolved, rather than regurgitating the stats/specs of an instrument.

I've used synth for bass on some songs as it sounds better than if I'd played it on bass. My current two are a Yamaha CS-15 and a Roland SH-09. Just different timbres - I like doubling up!

As unlikely as it would be, a matching headstock would be ace too!

Here's a demo of the Jazz:

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXFAkyWd5GM"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXFAkyWd5GM[/url]

About £2200 then, so about £700 more than a HH Stingray. Plenty of optional extras available, for extra cash. If I had that kind of dosh knocking about, I'd be very tempted.

I've just noticed they have a Precision and Jazz bass too (gargling even more now!) - shiny!

[url="http://www.alusonic.com/aluminium-basses.html"]http://www.alusonic....ium-basses.html[/url]

Not into the J-Special having a control plate and scratchplate (or at least not white!) None would be better, or just the outline of them etched into the surface of the body. Sounds like a J...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbwll6VZs18[/youtube]

Here's the P - the black scratchplate looks nice with the mirrored body.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFPOSjD3nyk[/youtube]

[quote name='chrismuzz' timestamp='1319139668' post='1410547']
I like it! Wonder if it comes in a HS model...
[/quote]
The neck pickup is splittable (rear coil), so the HS sounds are in there - he sets it to HS at 3:23 and solos the rear coil around 4:00.

I think it sounds rather nice, and I like the aluminium body. (dons blinkers and earplugs to disperse GAS)

Great playing and tone - great tune too!

Aye, it's synth bass on that one - I remember reading somewhere it was a Roland Jupiter 8.

It could be the added Jazz pickup at the bridge that's making it sound jazz-like. His previous bassman, Steve Lawrence used a Burns, and he had a cracking tone - especially on the 'Dirty Dozen' album.

Bloody hell - was someone using that as a shovel? I've seen Satellite Jazz copies on eBay recently - a clean one sold for £71:

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Satellite-electric-bass-guitar-/190577929779?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item2c5f546e33#ht_6608wt_1185"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Satellite-electric-bass-guitar-/190577929779?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item2c5f546e33#ht_6608wt_1185[/url]

I've got a cheap CMI P-bass from that era with the same tuners - the one with the Telecaster guitar pickup instead of a split-coil. As it is a pleasant-feeling and playing bass, I popped in a Seymour Duncan SCPB-3, so now it sounds good.

A stark contrast to my first bass - a Kay P-copy for £30 in 1989. In hindsight, this was awful with warped neck (I didn't know anything about setup/truss rod adjustment then) that you could pitch-bend by moving it forwards/backwards - you could fit your fingers under the strings at the body end of the neck! Temperamental electronics, which when they were working didn't sound very good. It was only when I picked up my second bass a few months later - a Marlin 'Slammer' (P-bass copy) that I bought off a mate for £60 that I realised how rotten the Kay sounded/felt in comparison and flogged it to my mate for parts - the neck had been shimmed with a beermat!

I still loved it at the time though - first bass and all!

I used to tune my bass to whatever record I was playing along with. I'd also tune to my mate's guitar when I'd have a jam around at his. I'll use a digital tuner when I get the bass out of the gigbag and if it gets knocked out of tune, I'll usually go from my mate's keyboard.

I do prefer tuning to another instrument, but for a gig, I'll use the tuner before going on-stage - I don't like seeing bands tuning up when they get on-stage and should already have started playing.

I've always associated Duck with the sunburst/gold/rosewood P that he played on the '67 Stax/Volt tour of Norway and that the candy apple red was something more recent. I remember in Bassist Magazine, when the Fender Duck Dunn came out (around 1998), he said he wanted a bass as close to the 50s P-bass with the gold anodised scratchplate but with a CAR finish. Also in the article, when asked about the CAR P with the Jazz block neck, he said he hated that bass!

If you want his STAX sound and look, you could (depending on budget) pick up the sunburst Fender American Vintage '62 Reissue and putting a gold anodised scratchplate on it. How awesome does he sound here:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_mKy-a6d1I[/youtube]

I had a Little Phatty a few years ago (they were £750 then) - great synth and filled the gap from when I had to loose off my MiniMoog. Sadly, I had to sell the LP too a couple of years later, much to my chagrin.

Not all bad though - I accumulated the cash to pick up another earlier in the year and was swayed by a mate selling two immaculate monos - a Roland SH-09 and a Yamaha CS-15 for less than the price of a new LP. Monosynth GAS gone!

When I was learning, I used to play along to the whole of their first album - I still love the muddy tone on it. My favourite basslines of Paul's off the top of my head are probably Stay Free, Lost in the Supermarket, Guns of Brixton, Red Angel Dragnet and Ghetto Defendant.

Half Man Half Biscuit's new album '90 Bisodol (Crimond). It's bloody great!

Ah - I thought it was the mere mention of the 'R' word or any associated model numbers could get an auction pulled. I have noticed a few sellers putting their contact details in the auction, so presumably they're in the 'know' or have had their previous attempts at listing pulled.

As long as you don't mention 'Rickenbacker' or '4001/4003' etc in the auction text, you should be okay. Sell it as an Indie IRK, but mention certain bassplayers who've used a Rickenbacker - Lemmy, Paul McCartney, Bruce Foxton, Chris Squire etc.

Avoid using the term 'copy' - use 'styled after a famous bass used by...'. With a picture in the gallery (the thumbnail), when people search for basses, they'll see the shape and look at the auction.

I'm glad someone mentioned Colin Moulding from XTC. I'll also throw in:

Neil Crossley - Half Man Half Biscuit
Kelly Groucutt - ELO
Dennis Dunaway - The Alice Cooper Band
Mark "Bedders" Bedford - Madness
Tony Reeves - Greenslade
Ian Hill - Judas Priest
Felix Pappalardi - Mountain
Rick Price - The Move

A Jetglo 1982 Rickenbacker 4001, which I bought for £500 in 1992 - had to sell that in 2002 to keep my car on the road. I also regret selling my black/tort 1998 American '62 Jazz Reissue in 2005 - again, to get my car taxed and MOT'd.

'Took Problem Chimp To Ideal Home Show' by Half Man Half Biscuit. I reckon it'd cheer people up.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N7KvKoivbo[/media]

[quote name='Delberthot' timestamp='1316872415' post='1383925']
Something like this?

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogmVmRkgURA&feature=fvst[/media]
[/quote]



He looks like Doctor Octopus with that!