Linus27

I tried one of these a year or so ago and I thought it sounded and played amazing. Way better than I was expecting. If I ever got back into a U2 tribute band then I would have one of these along with a Fender Jazz or Precision.

Wow, what a track. Hard to tell if a real bass as for most it does sound real but at time it does sound processed but there is a synth sub bass running under the whole track so that might be confusing it. Mega track though.

I think we need to understand what type of music you play. Many years ago, I went from two guitars, bass, drums and keyboards to one guitar, bass and drums and we were worried that our stadium rock sound would sound empty. It was the total opposite and the space was a wonderful addition to our sound and we had amazing seperation between the instruments. We went on to play Brixton Academy and many festivals and we had no issue creating a wide full sound and we never missed the other instruments.

These days I play in a 3 piece which is a singer songwriter on acoustic guitar, drummer with brushes and myself on fretless bass. We play with so much space and dynamics that you have to be creative in you area, otherwise it's going to sound flat and repetitive. So to fill the sound out in certain parts, I will add an octave which just fattens the sounds and the next level up after that is to introduce a little envelope filter to the octave sound. Other times I'll use a little chorus and reverb to make a beautiful sweet tone and then some time it will just be a clean tone.

So it really depends on what type of music you play and to decide on respecting the space or filling them but always try and maintain seperation between the instruments.

5 hours ago, Frank Blank said:

Empires and Dance by Simple Minds is one of my top five albums, every song is absolutely built around Mr Forbes' superb bass lines. Imho the band quickly went down the drain after he was kicked out.

It was certainly one of the major nails in the coffin. John Giblin did an incredible job on Once Upon a Time and Street Fighting Years and Malcolm Foster on Real Life. However, the final nail for me was when Mick McNeil left. They were never the same since.

2 hours ago, cetera said:

Would love to know the settings on that MXR flanger....

I asked him once in an interview and he refused to tell me 🤣

Here you go,

John was also a composer and could play piano and guitar. During his time with Simple Minds, he played the following during the Simple Minds recording era. Mick McNeil, the incredible keyboardist from Simple Minds is playing it here.

John also composed the following for Simple Minds. Sadly, during the recording process of the Street Fighting Years album, John and Trevor Horn fell out in such a big way that John packed up his gear and walked out and quit Simple Minds. Its possible to tell on the album what are some of John's bass lines for some tracks but not all. I have spoken to Steve Lipson who played additional bass if he knew but sadly he can't remember. 

I was super lucky to get to play one of his basses last year, in fact about 4 or 5 of his but this is very much up my street and I got to play some of his Simple Minds basslines on it 🥰

One of the greatest bass players ever and to me, the most interesting and inspiring fretless bassist ever.

I don't regret selling too much but I do wish I'd kept hold of my Warwick Streamer Jazzman fretless, my 1973 Fender Telecaster bass, my 1977 Fender Precision and my yellow Fender Japan 51 Reissue Precision.

My current board for my fretless and I'm super happy with it now. Pedals are as follows,

Zoom MS-60B - Tuner and TC Electronic Corona Chorus

Ampeg Opto - Compressor

Boss OC-5 - Octave

MXR Envelop Filter - Used in conjunction with the Octave pedal for a slight tonal variation for certain songs

Walrus Audio Slo Reverb - Used to create rising swirls, pads and to replicate a cello.

Mooer A7 Ambient Reverb - Used as either a stand alone reverb or with the strings pad option.

Sonicake Boost - Used to boost harmonics

Sansamp Bass Driver DI - Pre-Amp

My ideal set up would be a separate tuner, mini TC Electronic Corona chorus and possibly replace the Walrus Audio Slo reverb with a Strymon Cloudburst. Sadly I don't have the space and I don't want to go bigger on the pedalboard.

4 hours ago, Geek99 said:

All those foxgloves… what he needs is an unforgettable bonfire 

As long as there isn't an Electrical Storm.

42 minutes ago, mep said:

Does he grow any lemons?

That's his Desire but he's only been able to grow One but it was Magnificent.

3 hours ago, Grooverjr said:

He had an accident with the secateurs last weekend..it turned into a bloody Sunday

It was ok though as he thought it was quite Bad but as it was New Years Day, it actually turned into a Beautiful Day. 

I also where glasses and drive a Honda for extra nerdyness 😅

3 hours ago, Beer of the Bass said:

There was a thread in the Double Bass subforum where people made a strong point for tripod-mounted EUBs as an innately dorky looking instrument. Not wanting to tread on toes, I couldn't possibly comment!

Well, that's me screwed then as I play a Jazz, fretless at that and also an Ibanez EUB which is tripod mounted. Looks like I know my place 😁

I'm going to get one of these soon as I'll be switching between fretless bass and EUB this year. Can I ask what is probably a silly question, I've seen some people are running their preamp's at the start of their pedal board chain. If you do this and run a line direct to the desk from the preamp, how does front of house get your effects as they are all coming after the preamp?

Despite being influenced by Pino and his fretless playing in the 80's, I have no intention of buying these signature strings. I am more than happy with my Rotosound Swing 66 Nickel hybrid strings on my two fretless Jazz basses and my Rotosound 77 Jazz Flats on my two fretless Precision basses. Both are the best strings I've used.

The 80's was such a great period for interesting bass players, stadium rock like U2 and Simple Minds, to pop groups like Duran Duran, Talk Talk, Level 42, Culture Club, Tears for Fears, The Jam, Rock and Metal like Gun's N Roses, Bon Jovi, Iron Maiden and solo artists like Paul Young, Kate Bush, Phil Collins. They all had exceptional bass players with so much to learn from.

I loved The Bass Centre in Wapping, spent a lot of money in there thanks to the record company giving me a nice advance to buy new gear. Came out with a SR4 Stingray, Status Shark, Hartke HA7500 and a Hartke 4x10 and 1x15 with the aluminum speakers. The amount of Elite Stadium bass stings I bought was unreal. Good times.

I was also worried opening this thread  Great bass player and doesn't get as much credit as he deserves among the top names. I only met him once as we were supporting Stiff Little Fingers at the Forum and he came over to say hi. 

He does use different strings on his fretless Stingray and his fretted P Bass etc. I think it was TI flats on the P Bass and was the lightest possible gauge of Rotosound Swing 66 but recently moved to the Ernie Ball Cobalts I think. 

1 hour ago, Elfrasho said:

 

If its a pedaltrain board, then somthing like this would fit over the existing feet:

 

https://www.diy.com/departments/diall-black-thermoplastic-vulcanizates-tpv-leg-tip-dia-32mm-pack-of-2/1725483_BQ.prd

 

Can't remember if it was this exact size, but this type of leg tip raised my nanoplus enough to put the power underneath. Mine stayed on purely with friction, but a wee touch of superglue wouldn't go wrong, without the need to make any permanent changes to your board!

Thank you so much, looks like I'm off to B&Q tomorrow 👍

I think mine might have been Inxs - Kiss The Dirt.

1 hour ago, eude said:

Sadly just another Class D amp, with an unnecessary Drive circuit.
I think I speak for a lot of us bassists in that, if we want drive, we already have pedals that do that for us.

I can't ever recall hearing a drive circuit built into an amp even come close to a well considered pedal for the same thing.

Why do these guys keep doing this?!
Surely it would make more sense to build in a decent compressor, or maybe a blend for the effects loop, something more useful...

I agree. For me I want gain, volume, bass, low mids, mid mids, treble and a mute. The rest I'll use pedals.

RIP Nick, never had the pleasure of meeting you but by the comments here, you will be greatly missed.

1 hour ago, Beedster said:

Same as you woulkd play a normal fretted bass. Seriously that is IMO by far the best way to start. The worst way - again IMPO - is to try and play, Jaco, Karn, or Pino. Best thing I did to was take my fretless along to rehearsals and simply integrated it more each week to the point that I was giging it around 6-weeks later. Good luck, it's fune 👍

Exactly this, don't think of it as a different instrument that needs to have a different approach, it's not, it's no different to a fretted bass, it just has a different voice. Also, don't try and make it sound like a fretless and play like Jaco, Pino. Play it like a fretted bass and let your own technique and voice come through. Over time you will find what works and what doesn't. The only thing that requires more focus over a fretted bass is using your ear and fretting accurately. How weak or strong this is already will be your only obstacle.