funkypenguin

The makes id hedge my bets with are as follows Shuker ACG Jim Fleeting All are absolutely top class builders, willing to incorporate your ideas (especially shuker) enjoy buying your bass!

ive tried a shine 6er and it was a good entry level instrument. but, if you're looking to modify and upgrade, i would recommend the peavey grind 6. the construction and harware are better, with only the electronics lacking a little. i think youl end up with a better bass in the long run

any chance of some soundclips?! would love to hear that filter preamp in action!

20th looks cool! would be nice to come to a big bass bash!

Get Shuker to build you a bass and spend the rest buying a warwick hellborg half stack!

listen to all the music suggested here and try and get the feel of the music. check out some of MKs bass grooves (he's got some fantastic fingerstyle stuff going on thats too often overlooked)... check some of these out for fingerstyle funk The Sunbed Song - level 42 True Believers - level 42 Flying on the Wings of love - level 42 My Hero - level 42 Too Young to Die - Jamiroquai Give it away - RHCP Listen to the nuances in the groove, the way certain beats and notes are emphasised/phrased. and also, how the bassist locks in with the drummer. MK and Gary Husband do this VERY well.

its always a tough one kicking someone out of a band, especially if friendships get involved, along with mud slinging, slander, the whole nine yards. the two methods ive seen used and would advise are thus softly, softly: telling individual his/her services are no longer required. Its nothing personal but we dont feel it is working, its for the good of the band (which it most certainly is by the sound of it!) etc. etc. or..... Guns Blazing: i.e. something to the effect of, "you're sacked because you're s*** and we dont think we're going anwhere while you're in the band" etc. etc. i need hardly say that you're more likely to remain on cordial terms with option 1 i suppose it depends how much you like/dislike the person! its always a bugger. i know what you're going through, my uni band having just sacked our keys player for not practicing and not turning up to rehearsal/gigs on time.

[quote name='BassMunkee' post='487674' date='May 14 2009, 11:02 AM']Hmm... ...#3 - according to whose criteria? Also why is not seeing the point of a bass with more than 4 strings indicative of not being a good musician...?[/quote] i would argue it shows a lack of appreciation for people going beyond the accepted norm?

[quote name='OldGit' post='487188' date='May 13 2009, 07:38 PM']Interesting question arose on another thread about the Sandberg / Delano P pup .. They have the E&A side nearer the bridge and teh D&G side nearer the neck - ie the other way round from most Fenders (though some Fender's are that way round too.. ) Any ideas why?[/quote] sonically, a imagine it will give the E and A strings a little more definition, and will fill out the sound on the D and G strings. i imagine a very even and very full sound, especially with an MM pickup to beef it up!

I have a bobble just behind the top nut of both my 6 strings, just to help stop sympathetic vibration. On my 4, i have a duster under the strings between the bridge pickup and the bridge (strung with flatwounds). its quite heath robinson i admit, but it serves to give a double-bass type sound and attack. very useful in certain forms of Jazz and acoustic music

On the issue of solo bass (and all the mud slinging that seems to follow it every time it seems to crop up), i think its about what speaks/appeals to you. I like wooten's playing. the double thumbing starts to grate after a while, but pieces like 'The Vision' and 'Sometimes I Laugh' are up there with the best solo bass pieces IMO. Manring is off this planet as far as solo bass goes (see the enormous room vid.). his sense of phrasing and expression on his instrument is phenomenal (up there classical soloists in my opinion, clarinet, trumpet etc.) And for those having a pop at tappity passages, check out Jean Baudins music on myspace. www.myspace.com/jeanbaudin transcend and vanishing are fantastic pieces of solo music, played using contrapuntal tapping

id put an MM style pickup in there (i'm sure there's been a thread like this somewhere with a modded p-bass?). it should really fill the sound out. And if you're into the Delano pups, the hybrid J/MM pup they've developed would give you even more sonic options hope this helps [url="http://www.delano.de/products.html?&cHash=9f97ffcf75&tx_smtdelano_pi1"]http://www.delano.de/products.html?&cH...x_smtdelano_pi1[/url][cat]=1&tx_smtdelano_pi1[series]=8&tx_smtdelano_pi1[strings]=5&tx_smtdelano_pi1[system]=9

[quote name='PVTele' post='486688' date='May 13 2009, 10:11 AM']'Nother vote for Indie - my IB604 just feels right, and truthfully, there aren't many bass sounds I'd want to make that it won't do. I still get a little thrill each time I pick it up. If it weren't for that, I'd say Fender. A Precision Bass must be a nearly perfect example of getting it right first time! And when it comes to the skinny-string department, I'd be completely lost without my Telecaster... (What was that I was saying about getting it right first time?)[/quote] great basses arnt they i was astonished when i first picked up my 606 in the shop. surprised you done see more of them

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='483877' date='May 9 2009, 06:00 PM']Because they don't have sound engineers eq-ing the FOH to be bass heavy?! EMG record OK but live they do lack something.[/quote] +1 on the first bit Kiwi Im surprised you find that with EMGs. i love the live sound of my DC pickups (but yes they do record extremely well)

My Indie 606, Yamaha RBX JM2 and Spector Performer 4 do me just fine a sound for every situation

First things that come to mind are as follows! Fender - No imagination. If its a fretless jazz, brace yourself for an impending jacoism Fender clones - as above on steriods Yamaha/Ibanez/Cort/peavey - Underdog/underrated Musicman - Funk (Flea being a close second thought) Alembic - the ultimate sculpture! Wal - Geddy Lee/Justin Chancellor Jaydee - Mark King and running semiquavers (can be a good thing ) Status/Modulus - crystal clear sounds. Occasionally slapped. Overwater - Ultimate all rounder Spector - Close second place Sei - science project from another planet Warwick - how many more signature paint schemes will it be possible to come up with for the streamer.... MTD - gospel Rickenbacker - Progressive Rock Gibson - ............ ERB - Someone thinking outside the box Fodera - someone with too much money and too much patience

[quote name='BigRedX' post='480435' date='May 5 2009, 10:05 PM']Apart from esoteric designs like the ACG filter pre-amp, electronics on basses offer nothing that your amp's controls ought to be able to do better.[/quote] this brings me to anthony jacksons concept... [url="http://www.fodera.com/a_jackson.html"]http://www.fodera.com/a_jackson.html[/url] an instrument all about the woods and metals with a single high quality pickup going through some seriously powerful amplification. (and an equally serious price tag....) the problem is that if you have a very flat/sterile amplifier (if (heaven forbid) you're using house equipment for instance) and you have no onboard EQ, you find yourself stuck with a sound you're unhappy with. Active EQ gives you more options IMO, by allowing greater manipulation of your bass sound. Active circuit with a proper active bypass (with passive tone controls) is the way to go IMHO.

I see the bass guitar as a complete instrument. Melodic, Harmonic and Bass, as opposed to just playing the bass line and leaving it at that. I take influence from the full pallette of instruments - recently i've become interested in the movement that goes on in Organ players left hands and foot pedals.

just a thought, but the string spacing at the bridge is greater than the spacing at the nut, so the strings will naturally fan out as they reach the bridge end. this might explain why the outer units are cocked slightly

John Moyer signature Traben Havoc. Uber metal and killer tone!

[quote name='2wheeler' post='473813' date='Apr 27 2009, 10:33 PM']No, it's not just you. That's exactly what I thought when I read the BGM article. Simple, striking to look at, something that does the job well. Or it's the bass your teacher might suggest you buy when you show that you have some commitment to playing bass but your bass is a bit cheap and nasty.[/quote] possibly, but you can best this thing with ease if you shop around hard enough. £500? you could pick up a secondhand spector rebop for that (a friend got one off evilbay last year. good way to blow his student loan! ) and as has already been mentioned, a second/third/etc hand jazz/stingray, (maybe a corvette?) in reasonable nick. up against some serious competition here, and i dont know about anyone else, but to me, the layout, tuners and electronics look very 'cheap' for a bass in this price bracket.

Some of the fun ones in our repertoire at the moment are... Van Morrison - Brown Eyed Girl Stevie Wonder - Superstition Black Sabbath - Paranoid The Who - My Generation The Stranglers - Golden Brown Golden Earring - Radar Love

[quote name='LWTAIT' post='466394' date='Apr 18 2009, 09:44 PM']the rolling stones dont count. on a more serious note, you didn't quote the whole sentence there, you took it out of context, to make it sound like im arguing something different than i am. i said the public dont want to listen to oldies playing wierd scales that dont sound right, which they dont, not that they dont want to listen to oldies. i suppose your eyesight just isn't what it used to be though [/quote] I think you're being a little short sighted in saying 'wierd' scales dont sound right. you can integrate all sorts of alternative scales into accessible music (modes, jazz scales, etc.) without it sounding 'wierd', jazzy, proggy or anything like that. a friend of mine managed to put all 7 major modes into the same song and it sounded fantastic. its using them in context and in a musical way thats the trick. going back to the point about kids playing to get a record deal. for many young bands this is their objective, and they hone their sound/style/image to suit. If you look at the musicians that are coming through in mainstream bands today and comparing them to some of the musicians that emerged 20 years ago, i would say there is gulf in ability, both musically and technically. Changing tastes aside, i would certainly say that the level has dropped significantly. the abundance of material on the internet makes it far easier to learn an instrument so instrumentalists dont have to work as hard for their knowledge/facility. Its my opinion (and ONLY an opinion) that many young musicians dont practice enough and dont push themselves. as for the bit about music today not being as bad/basic as the pistols....i see/hear some bands and wonder....when they are making elementary errors such as being out of tune/not in the same key, it speaks for itself.