Mornats

Love it

There's a pretty decent video review of the Aspiration Deluxe 5 here: [url="http://licklibrary.ceros.com/iguitarmag/issue5/page/176"]http://licklibrary.ceros.com/iguitarmag/issue5/page/176[/url] He goes through a range of sounds and whatnot.

Andydye - did you ever find a buyer for your Elite 4?

Well, it wasn't actually me but our singer/guitarist. This was back at Uni in the mid nineties and we were playing a gig for a class reunion. They had a buffet on so of course we just helped ourselves. Our first track started with a guitar riff then a few bars of yet more guitar stuff (self-abuse/indulgence I think they cal it) and it sounded a bit ropey which to be fair usually didn't happen. Then the singing came in. Well, it should have come in but the singer/guitarist had just eaten a chicken leg and had a bit of chicken stuck in his teeth. He stumbled over his words (and later admitted he was concentrating on trying to unstick the chicken with his tongue during the intro) and we had to stop the song, listen to him explain to the audience what had happened, then had to start the song again...

I did wonder whether this could be done on a fretless. I've got nylonwound strings on mine which makes it a non-started on my bass.

Yep, that's the one I played. It was really nice and was almost tempted but I'd just bought my Overwater the week before...

Gotta be the Overwater/Tanglewood:

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I get asked "why do you have 4 basses, you can only play one at a time" to which I reply (usually to females) "how many pairs of shoes do you have?".

But in all seriousness, I have 4 (but let's just say 3 as one is down as being up for sale soon):

1. Overwater - my main bass as it's just awesome and versatile.
2. My 5 string Bass Collection as it has 2 jazz pickups, a real nice jazz growl and a spare string for extra soloing ability (it's a high C)... (whereas my Overwater is a P/J).
3. My fretless Bass Collection as with the nylon strings it has quite a double-bassey sound.

So it's definitely the different sounds for me. I'd keep my Dean but I've never gotten on with the single humbucker musicman style sound from it.

I'm not gigging or in a band at the moment so I'm not thinking of the spare bass but I'd use my 5 string as a spare if I were. I'm only recording so the different sounds do make a difference for me.

I just spent the entire video watching your right hand, there's some magic going on there. So, my weekend plans are now to focus on what my right hand is doing...

Oh and the whole thing was a pleasure to watch and listen to.

I paid £200 for my fretless SGC Nanyo SB320 (1988 model) so this is a bargain for the next-up-in-the-range bass.

Possibly not the best mix in the world (I lack a pair of reference monitors) but here's my Overwater Contemporary J in action: [url="http://soundcloud.com/mornats/in-a-small-and-smokey-club"]http://soundcloud.com/mornats/in-a-small-and-smokey-club[/url]. The bum note or two that you might hear is my clumsy fingers and not the bass. It sounds pretty damn awesome and plays like a £1500 bass.

Check out [url="http://www.ultimate-guitar.com"]www.ultimate-guitar.com[/url] - they have tonnes of bass (and other) tabs. They also do a fairly cheap iphone app too (a couple fo quid I think).

That kept me interested for a while, cheers for the link!

The Head of Steam is usually good for music. IIRC it's where Maximo Park started from. It's just opposite the train station so should be easy to find. Other than that, I'm afraid it's been too long since I lived in Newcastle, having migrated south quite some years ago to find some better weather...

First bass: Aria Pro II ZZB Deluxe.
Go-to bass: Overwater Contemporary J.
'Your' bass: Any SGC Nanyo Bass Collection (currently my SB315 or if I can cheat and have two, my SB320 fretless as well).

Tanglewood do a hollow-body with the clef shaped holes in it. I played one in Treble Rock in Bristol and it was really nice. I don't know anything else about them though I'm afraid.

If your bass amp has a headphone out and a line in you can plug your PC soundcard into your amp and play along. Or you could try one of those little headphone amp things (Vox amplug I think one of them's called). If it has a line in then you're sorted.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the Warwick. I may well see if I can try one then. I was hoping the Rockbass was just rubbish and not a reflection on the quality of the Streamer LX. Anyhoo, we can get back to BCs now...

Welcome back to the world of bass! I had a 15 year break in bass playing and I'm loving getting back into it. Shame about your heirloom bass though.

If you can find a dealer it may be worth checking out the Overwater Classic J. They retail for £400 (out of your budget a bit but if you can sretch, it's worth checking out). They're pretty good quality. I bought an Overwater Contemporary J bass and I consider it the best bass I've played and i've played Fender American Jazz's (one of which is the only bass to stand up to my Overwater), Musicman Stingrays, Spectors, Schectors, and many more in the £800 - £1700 price range.

It's worth noting that every bass will play and feel different. I've tried 2 Fender American Jazz's and one was fantastic and the other was very much below average. It's all personal taste really. A guy in a guitar shop told me that if I pick up a bass and like playing it and can afford it then I should buy it, regardless of the make and I think this holds true (it certainly did when I picked up the Overwater whilst out shopping for bed linen!!)

You could try some of the basses mentioned here: [url="http://www.musicradar.com/tuition/guitars/10-best-bass-guitars-under-300-226841"]http://www.musicradar.com/tuition/guitars/10-best-bass-guitars-under-300-226841[/url]

Or try and pick up a dirt cheap bass for £50 or so, get used to playing again then try out some guitars in the shops with more confidence. When I got back into bass playing I had to get the guy in the shop to play a few for me so I could tell which sound I liked best! He was great though once I'd explained to him that I hadn't played for 15 years and barely know which way to hold one anymore (this was in J.G. Windows in the Metro Centre near Newcastle).

[quote name='orys' timestamp='1319635568' post='1416687']
I am goint to a big store tomorow and I am planning to spent some time there trying everything they have ;-)
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Best plan I'm sure if you explain your 20 year gap they'll help you out and let you try them all.

Hmm, i actually like it how it is! Although I'm sure if you put it next to an untouched one I'd prefer the untouched version. Mind you, I've never been all that keen on the traditional Fender style bass in terms of looks. Would be great to see pics once you've restored it though, hope it all goes well!

Just out of interest, how does your BC compare to your Warwick Streamer LX4? I've always fancied one but have never had a chance to play one. I did play a rockbass a few weeks ago but my Overwater/Tanglewood totally blows it away for playability, as do my Bass Collections.

91 is right in the Japanese-made era. The one I bought brand new was bought in 1994 and it was Japanese, as are my 1988 fretless and my 1991 5 string (both of which I got on ebay for a pittance).

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1318868375' post='1407154']
Everything goes dude.....do you own thing, makes for more interest.
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Hell yea, Soundcloud is the place for finding interesting music rather than the type of dross that's in the charts (you know the stuff, anything remotely related to X-Factor and the like). I'll hear a track on there that will spark something in me and will inspire me to record something in a similar vein. For example, Skol's remix of Haitian Fight Song ([url="http://soundcloud.com/skollob/haitian-fight-song-youtube"]http://soundcloud.com/skollob/haitian-fight-song-youtube[/url]) inspired this: [url="http://soundcloud.com/mornats/in-a-small-and-smokey-club"]http://soundcloud.com/mornats/in-a-small-and-smokey-club[/url].

Thanks for the sticky by the way

Yep, seen those and adjusting one of those may help but I may ask Chris whether this is the best way to get a bit more volume out of the pickup and if so, what the best settings are for doing so. I don't want to make the balance unnaturally uneven but I love the growl of the bridge pickup and like to hear it a bit more in the overall sound.

I'll swap you a bump if you let me know (just for future reference) how easy it was to send yours up to Chris May. Did you just post it and he posted it back? (There's nothing wrong with mine other than some tweaks I'd like to make just out of personal preference but it would be handy to know just in case!)

Real shame you have to sell it. I'd sell my car before I sold mine!

Sounds like brilliant service! I have total confidence in my bass now. I think this one will stay with me until my arms fall off.

Out of interest, was it just the D string that had the pickup problem or was yours much quieter overall? My bridge pickup is really really quiet and I'm not sure if it's just because they usually are quieter or whether it's too quiet and it needs adjusting. I may just raise the pickup height to see if that helps. I have a preference for the bridge pickup sound you see but the overall volume drops quite a bit when I pan over to the bridge. It could be just normal but if I can boost it a little, I'd be very happy.