notable9

Thats the one Tension. Reckon its an early 70's P with 60's tuners fitted..and why not, they're a lot nicer and lighter than the 70's ones.

Still does'nt explain the 70's logo on the 60's headstock., or vice versa even...seems a lot of work for what ever the reason. +1 on the Kylie thing. Some clever writing going on there, fantastic pop tune.

Just saw Mud doing their christmas number back in I think 1974. Minty fresh looking P bass but it doesnt look right. Body and neck look brand new but of 60's origin. It's got 60's tuners but the logo is the big 70's TV version....odd. No big deal but there were few options back then and I'm just surprised anyone would have bothered with what could either be a factory change or a component swap.

[quote name='Funky Dunky' timestamp='1419175474' post='2637214'] Dee Murray's on 'Step Into Christmas' wins for me. [/quote] +1 Fab tune and great bass work. Hardly a great bass line per se but I love the steady bass groove on that Mariya Carey christmas tune. Reckon it's the most even set of repetitive quarter notes on anything.

[quote name='scalpy' timestamp='1419196009' post='2637528'] We did our local Christmas lights switch on! If it's us you're thinking of I apologise, and would like to point out I used a small rig and the guitarist's amp was set to 5w! Volume out the front out of our hands. [/quote] There was no band..your in the clear! No it was something like Wave105fm here on the south coast...I reckon it's all got something to do with a whole generation that is going deaf at an early age because of the prolonged use of in ear headphones, it just does'nt sound that loud to them.

[quote name='scalpy' timestamp='1419072975' post='2636194'] Cheese Louise the volume some of you guys must play at- excuse me for being frank but it must be borderline insanity. Back in the day I used to play in a full bore rock band, Marshall stacks and heavy handed drummer etc but I used 410 with a 140w head, running at 8 ohms. At a recent hearing test my response to bass frequencies was below the average for my age group. I actually play bigger gigs now, including the fabled 'festival' stage size, which I take to mean outdoors on a stage you can actually move around on. Two 112 cabs is more than enough, and that again is with a drummer capable of moments of seismic proportions. The ego of the people responsible for the midrange seems paramount, if they are volume mad lunatics it causes chaos for everyone else. Been there and done that with the full stack business and not only am I convinced no one needs 500w plus and cabs capable of in excess of 100db I'm sure that it's ruining the live music scene for all concerned. In this day and age, if anyone in your audience has to shout in the ear of who they are talking too you as an musician are irresponsible. As a demographic we've been capable of producing these volume levels for 40 years and that initial generation, who haven't died before they got old have trashed hearing. The full stack is a dinosaur that should go the way of ducking witches and drilling holes in the head to cure headaches. [/quote] +1 and look where it's got us. I had to go to my local towns Xmas lights switch on (dont ask) and the local radio station was using what must have been around a 2/3000 wt rig in a small packed space. Jeez I had to put me plugs in which I always carry now,..ridiculous sound pressure levels, I even saw little kids with their fingers in their ears....madness.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1417871254' post='2624717'] Again, my 2p. You can't just play big or old gear and get a better sound. It takes more than that. You can sound just as bad with "old school" gear as you can with modern gear, and a lot of the "old school" gear guys do not make the most of their sound. Having good ears is better than having good gear. I've heard so many guys with vintage gear, thinking they are the mutts nuts because this what the original guys played, and they usually don't sound half as good as they think they are. IMO old gear is mostly just old gear. Most of the music played in the first 20 years of Rock sounded pretty average, so I don't get any warm feeling when I see old gear. The strength of back then was what the guys played on that gear. As the gear has got better the creativity of musicians has dropped off. But that might be a different thread. [/quote] +1 But I sure wish I had never sold my immacualte 1976 V4B amp. It looked great, weighed a ton and sounded spectacular..

[quote name='Musky' timestamp='1418761383' post='2633127'] The fumbling fingers thing... yeah, I can remember that. And trying to mute the strings. I can still remember thinking that I'd never get it - how on earth were you supposed to play a note [i]and[/i] mute the other strings at the same time. I spent ages on that, with seemingly little improvement. Then it just seemed to click. I didn't even notice when it happened, I just found that I wasn't having to think about killing that ringing D string all the time. [/quote] Absolutely. My problem started the day I decided to chuck away my picks...cause it seemed every decent player used fingers. In the space of a minute I went from being able to play reasonably fast lines to barely being able to play a twenty beats per minute version of the..... "Birdy Song"!

Much like some others. Played violin at school, then Bam! 1977 arrives... Im 17 and I had to play bass cause my friend was really good on guitar, ha typical story..... Picked up a Colombus Jazz from a junk shop...and suddenly found myself in a band full of slightly older more experienced musicians. Boy was it scary,...Deni Deni, and other punkyish tunes, it was a very fast learning curve. And for the most part I was pretty bad. It was all so loud..not like the school orchestra! Ha. I always remember my first gig. It was supporting a more established band called The Pumphouse Gang and the bassist let me use his bloody great ...Orange Bass Bin!!..Holy moly I couldnt beleive it, got a picture somewhere. I love playing bass..have'nt gigged for a few years but I still noodle for a good hour everyday, still feel the need to keep improving, .Its one hell of an obsession!

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1419035189' post='2636022'] I've just got in from the pub so judgement might be a little flawed, but isn't that just a loud trebley snare drum? [/quote] listen to the whole thing, everything is clear as a bell, each tone set has its own space..

that alto sax gets me everytime.....wonderfully New Yorkish . Lovely tight bass tone...

For me it's Bernard Edwards. That dry, woody sounding tone he gets on Everybody Dance......insane.!

Ha this forum is the biz.. I've just started playing along to The Selector on the ipod. Never played that type of stuff before. Seems to me at the very least it's fingers not pick and its kinda jerky but precise almost staccato if that makes any sense. And then you have to pogo too!!...blimey.

I would love to know which version she is on. It's on ITV4 now the version with those fast up and down runs...very tasty.

Whether I "hanker" after anything is irrevelant. The whole point of the thread was to debate what appears to be quite an interesting topic. Here is a tune which I hope illustrates my interest in the thread title. And I accept that this particular tune will find very little if any love on this forum but then that's not the point, I just think it's a good example. [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38L7S-L9vXg"]https://www.youtube....h?v=38L7S-L9vXg[/url] Thats what I mean by sparkle...

[quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1418991900' post='2635527'] Oh to hell with it, in for a penny, in for a pound I'm still rather pleased with this old thing I mixed for Kit Richardson, I didnt get to track a bit of it, so there was plenty of twisting things to my will all the way through, I think it sounds pretty splendid as mixes go, it could be a little better in a couple of places, but you can always think in retrospects of changes you might make to improve something:- [url="http://kitrichardson.bandcamp.com/album/submission-chords"]http://kitrichardson...bmission-chords[/url] Entirely mixed in the box, soundcard is an RME UCX, plenty of different listening systems from floorstanding monitors to mobile phones and reference cans to cheap earbuds. There is absolutely masses going on in some of these tracks, but the point is you can't hear all of it in one listen. Do enjoy! Bear in mind though, if you aren't listening on £100,000 worth of monitoring kit, it shoudl still sound bloody fantastic..... [/quote] Sorry old fruit but ur track is exactly what Im going on about....it lacks dynamic range and separation. Sure her voice sounds clear but the interplay between everything else sounds like mud. The whole thing just doesnt sparkle. Sorry.

[quote name='scalpy' timestamp='1418972082' post='2635278'] Recording technique aside, the players were (on average) better and more experienced. Couldn't make chicken soup out of chicken shi*, unlike now, of course. [/quote] This. A lot of those guys and the arrangers were schooled in jazz and blues, they knew how to play and how to arrange. Even the average disco tune from the period will have immaculately arranged orchestra pieces, piano fills etc etc..... those days are over me thinks.

Great responses but i think most of u have missed the point. My point was that it seems old fashioned analogue recording techniques reached a peek in the early eighties, especially on the pop stuff. Nothing to do with dig, or mp3's or whatnot. Listening to those old tunes via the PC through phones and inspite of all the compression the signal has gone through today you can still hear what I call the "soft seperation" of instruments, it all sounds kinda chocolatey but crisp and that is all to do with studio technique, personel and above all.....money! It takes a lot of money to record music properly.....I dont hear it today anymore, not even in live TV. As I said before it all sounds to me anyway grey...mushy. Horrible!

havent played live for a couple of years and I cant help thinking i will need a stand next time out. God Im getting forgetful loosing track of bridges and choruses in standards which Ive played for years....old age....horrible, ha and Im only 54

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1418858006' post='2634264'] It was all done in professional studios using high quality, often analogue, equipment by people who knew what they were doing, not knocked up by some herbert with a music "degree" from his local "University" (technical college as was) on a laptop in his bedroom..... [/quote] [quote name='Sonic_Groove' timestamp='1418858178' post='2634268'] + 1000 and Amen to to this. Spot on Rhys Brendan [/quote] I kinda guessed this was the truth.....

[quote name='Maude' timestamp='1418596571' post='2631642'] Stab his speaker cones with a screwdriver, he'll have a nice distorted sound at lower volume levels :-) [/quote] hilarious...lol

Guy I worked with use a 15 watt Session combo...beautiful sound and just the right volume. Guitars dont need anything bigger than 15 watts.

Just a thought. Ur 72 was probably sunburst or solid colour when new. The bodies are usually three pieces of Alder which when stripped to natural show up the joins. Factory naturals were usually one piece of ash which tend to look more proper.

[quote name='skidder652003' timestamp='1418848824' post='2634120'] ha ha , have another glass, it gets even better! [/quote] ha reckon its all I can do. Any one listen to the x factor winner on sat.....one word - mush! there I've said it. Better stop now feeling a bit wotsit..

Struth. here Iam with a glass of the the red stuff sat at my PC listening to bands like Odyssey, Jocelyn Brown, etc and I cannot beleive the recording quality Im hearing. Crisp seperated bass, drums, vocals, guitar...not to much lo register synth just enough to fill out the mid range etc....what's happened to it all eh? Beats me.