Linus27

Thanks everyone for your inputs appreciate the info.

I have a quick question about the Fender Mike Dirnt Precision and pickups that comes with the bass. From what I can tell, the original 51 Precision or later Telecaster bass didnt ever come with the more traditional split Precision pickups. So whats the story behind the pickups on Mike Dirnt's bass as it looks as though the body and neck are from a 51 Bass although the body is contoured. Are the pickups a modification that Mike did to his original bass or was it a custom option from Fender back in the day or is it just a sales gimmick?

Ah cool, thank you, certainly an amazing experience and yes, incredibly happy about the whole thing. Even better you have heard of us. If you fancy a listen to the album then just go here 😊 https://m.soundcloud.com/michael-boylan/sets/inter-got-my-nine

The band I was in, Inter managed to get a record deal. We were part of the post brit-pop scene and worked our rears off playing as much as humanly possible to build up a following. Started to get a name for ourselves and released a song on the Pet Sounds label and then later on our first single, Happy Ending in 1997. This got noticed by John Peel who said it was his favourite single of 1997 and gave us our first John Peel Session. This promoted us even further and it got to the point where Virgin were trying to decide to sign either us or The Stereophonics. They chose the Stereophonics in the end but we still managed to get a half decent record deal. We were all about 28 and got about £36k advance each for 3 years plus £5k to buy gear and then royalties from merchandise, sales etc. Going to the Bass Centre with £5k to go buy whatever I wanted was the best feeling in the world. I bought a Stingray, a Status and a massive top of the range Hartke rig 😊 We recorded our debut album at Loco Studios in South Wales which was where Oasis, The Manics, Stereophonics and many others had recorded stuff. The studio was also owned by Geoff Downes of Buggles fame and John Payne of Asia who both played on the album. We lived at the studio for three months in our own cottage and even had our own chef 😊 Our producer was Mark Wallis who has recorded with everyone but is most famous for recording the IT Bites album, The Primatives album, The Smiths, The Travis album and was the engineer on U2's Joshua Tree. Prior to choosing this producer we came very close to going to Seatle and recording the album with Rick Parasher who recorded Pearl Jam's Ten album but we told the record company no as we wanted to sound English still and not end up sounding like an American band. The album, titled Got My Nine sold 7k copies in the first week and we released 3 singles, National Paranoia, Speed Racer and Radio Finland. All got mainstream radio airplay and led on to a second John Peel Session, a live Virgin Radio Session and an XFM session. Also one of our tracks was used to advertise Casio G Shock watches in an advert for Spanish cinemas. We also did other TV stuff with tracks being used on Eurosport and Rebel TV. Q Magazine gave the album 4 out of 5. We continued to tour which was amazing with our own crew etc. and were doing really well but then things started to go wrong. We were getting offered some big things like going on tour with Feeder in Germany, film soundtracks, gigs in the States but the record company was saying no to it all. To cut a long story short, we found out we were being ran as a tax loss so initially the record company were happy to pump money in to us (the album alone cost £120k to record etc.) but as we started to get more successful they put the brakes on. We were literally being hung out to dry and missing out on great opportunities which at the time made no sense. Anyway, they breached contracts so we sued them and won and that was the end of it. It was incredibly hard work, constantly recording, touring, song writing, promoting, photo shoots, interviews etc. but I have no regrets as I lived my dream for 4 years, the best time of my life with the most amazing experiences. Plus I still get the odd royalty payment now and again 😊 More details below. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter_(band) Other things I've done is go on tour with Paul Weller in another band, supporting him for 4 nights at the Roundhouse in Camden and recorded an album at his studio in Ripley. He also played on the album and I had to teach him to play this piano part that we wanted. I've been the Bass player in a video for a charity song that ELO were recording. Played at Brixton Academy using The Levellers back line. Supported Cactus World News and Let Loose and best of all chatted to Andrea Corr whilst making a cup of tea 😍😍 Now I play in an amazing 50s and 60s cover band, doing about 100 gigs a year and totally loving it.

Interesting, as my experience has been the total opposite for clubs. We play a lot of clubs, the punters love us, always ask us to join in for the raffle and bingo, always up dancing and singing in the first set and always get a repeat booking. We love playing clubs equally as much as playing pubs although we do more clubs than pubs.

Just play the fretless bass as if its a normal fretted bass. Don't think of it as a different instrument that must sound all slidey and mwah like. That is totally the wrong approach. It like picking up a trumpet and trying to make it sound like a trombone. The fretless bass has a similar but different voice to a fretted bass and this will come through when you play it but you still need to play it like a fretted bass. The key to being successful is having good technique and a good ear. Good technique is vital to ensure your fretting fingers are placed in the correct location and a good ear is vital to ensure when you are a little off you can adjust immediately. Everything else about playing fretless is the same as fretted so just pick it up and play through all the stuff you would normally on a fretted bass and after a while, you will hear your own voice come through.

I had the exact same same problem once with a drummer. He kept complaining the bass was too loud. This went on for quite a few rehearsals and I turned down, changed the EQ but he still complained. So one rehearsal we went through it and I kept asking if I was too loud and he kept saying yes and it got to the point where I turned my amp off and still played and I was still too loud. So I pointed out to him that I'm not even turned on. Turned out it was the rhythm guitar that was too loud 😂

Hi Dani and welcome to Basschat. I also love my Kala UBass, they are such fun instruments. I currently play the Kala SUB but will be getting either a Rumber or Hutch Hutchenson model shortly.

Markbass cabs less yellow thanks to the suggestion of covering the grills with speaker cloth. Comparison shot.

Very good point although single pickup Stingray can be had for a lot less than £1500.

Don't forget 3rd's, they are the best

I have a Fender Rumble 100 V3 and it is excellent. Very light, beautiful tone and easy to tailor your own tone. I'm actually going to be selling it soon.

I recently bought a Mexican Fender FSR 70's Precision as a backup to my US Fender 75 AVRI Jazz and to be honest, there really is no difference in quality between the two. So much that I am warming towards using the Mexican Precision more. It sounds and plays beautifully and just as well as the Jazz. In the past I have had a Mexican reissue 70's Jazz and that was probably the nicest Fender Jazz I have ever played and I have an inch to get another as well as the Flea Jazz. Here are my two lovely ladies

I guess I've been very lucky as all the bands I have been in I have loved the music. The five original bands I have been in I have been either part composer and did most of the arrangements. Plus free reign to write all my own bass lines so up to me to make it enjoyable but the songs have all been very good with great musicians. The style and genre of music I have liked as well so happy days. I now play in a very busy, popular 50's/60's cover band with a great bunch of musicians and I love playing about 95% of the songs. Its really enjoyable and most of the bass lines are great fun. The gigs are also a total hoot. I maybe wouldn't of listened to a lot of the songs pre-joining but I have come to appreciate a lot. The Motown stuff I certainly listened to. I tend to enjoy most music anyway from rock, pop, jazz, classical, grunge, indie etc. It's all music and I can learn something from it so I'm just open to it all really.

I tried one of the Ashdown Rootmaster combos out and I was blown away with it. Sounded amazing.

Mmm I like that idea. I already removed the giant Markbass logo from the grills.

This is a very good point. For the 50's/60's function band I am in, both our guitarists use Vox amps and they look great. I'm not digging the look of my yellow Markbass speakers next to them. Just ruins the overall look and despite sounding great, I am considering changing them to something more subtle or retro looking.

I enjoyed it as well.

As a bass player then it has to be James Jamerson, Derek Forbes of Simple Minds, Adam Clayton of U2, Peter Hook of New Order and subconsciously a lot of swing Jazz thanks to my dad playing it constantly when I was younger.

Thanks Jack, appreciate your thoughts 😊

I currently have a Kala Sub Electric Ukulele bass which is a brilliant fun instrument. My band is incredibly busy (nearly 100 gigs booked this year) and about 30 or so are acoustic where I use the Ukulele bass through a small combo. As this setup is getting more and more usage including a handful of festivals, I'm looking at getting a better Ukulele bass or one that perhaps looks more acoustic to match the rest of the band. The two that have caught my eye are the Kala Hutch Hutchinson Ukulele bass and the Mahalo Solid Ukulele bass. My current Kala is fine but I wouldn't say its high end in quality, despite costing about £500 when they came out new I think. I believe the Kala Hutch Hutchinson Ukulele bass is a higher quality model but I'm wondering is there a better quality brand available? I like the look of the Mahalo Solid Ukulele bass as it's a solid piece of wood but it only costs £250 so maybe it's a step down and I'll run into more problems. So apart from Kala, are there any other decent Ukulele basses out there?

I'm a few years away from 50 and I really have no idea what to get. The problem is that what ever I get I wont want to sell it, I don't really need any basses, I would want to use it nog let it sitbunder the bed collecting dust and I am really fussy on what I like. So the only thing I can think off is a Status fretless neck for my Stingray as my Stingray was a 40th present, sits around the house doing nothing as I use my Jazz for gigs and I currently dont have a fretless. I don't really want or need anything else.

I actually played at Ben's Collector's Records in Guildford with my band to help celebrate Record Stores Day. We did acoustic and I used my Ukulele bass. It was great fun and great feedback from the public 😊

Bass and amp only here as well. I have a pedal tuner but its not part of my chain. I tune before the gig and that's it.