Kiwi

+1 one of the best pics I've ever seen of Si.

Its very 'pretty', I wouldn't say its beautiful though.

[quote name='Rich' post='951684' date='Sep 10 2010, 10:46 AM']My pass-the-bucket list of shame: - That stupid Warwick Reverso abomination. - Alembic Dragon's Wing. - Big AL - Bongo - Everything made by [url="http://www.loewenherzbass.com/english/models.html"]these people[/url] and [url="http://www.dipintoguitars.com/category.php?id=2"]these people[/url]. - Much of BC Rich's output. - Sparkly Italias etc. Rich (refusing to 'justify' my 'coffee table' bass to anyone) [/quote] Oh a big plus one to all of that as well. The Big Al I really don't understand...its worse than the Modulus Vertex

My 2p: Wish basses. No amount of excuses about finishing can hide a total lack of aesthetic awareness. Burns basses. The styling is very fussy. Fenders are simpler, functional, elegant and look a load better by comparison. Any number of mutant Fender copies with musicman pickups and odd looking scratchplates made by US rednecks who can't tell the difference between weird and cool. Pretty much anything by Gibson apart from the Thunderbird Single cuts apart from the Fodera Beez Elite and the Marleaux Mbass Modulus Vertex Lodestone basses Rick Turner basses Atlansia basses

Putting prices up to cope with a fall off in business protects the value of the brand.

[quote name='Musky' post='950082' date='Sep 8 2010, 10:21 PM']Didn't Entwistle trash one of his buzzards outside a studio?[/quote] Yes and the pieces were framed and presented back to him as a gift.

Good to see you back here Mike.

[quote name='Clarky' post='946429' date='Sep 5 2010, 04:52 PM']And last one from me - Jason Newsted doing the solo entry to My friend of Misery live on his modded black Alembic Spoiler (like mine but with uprated electronics and an added middle pickup). The first 2-3 minutes should give a good idea of the Alembic natural sound - ignore the last minute of how-many-fx-can-I-play-with-simultaneously twaddle[/quote] I was kind of disappointed by his tone. Alembics have HUGE sub bass which is why they're such an underrated rock bass. But none of that was coming through in Newsteads sound. I thought this might be a better example but its not. Still interesting though just for the tone. This one of Led Zep is pretty good for that Alembic tone but again the sub bass seems to be left out.

[quote name='Chris2112' post='945861' date='Sep 5 2010, 06:26 AM']Aren't the Barts in Modulus basses specially made for Modulus? In the same way that the Zon pickups are? Irrespective of this, I think the bass is best just left "as is". Surely the humbucker should be enough to get by on? I just think that by modifying the bass you could be shooting yourself in the foot and doing away with a good studio bass.[/quote] Hmm I'm not sure they are. Otherwise I'd expect the Barts and EMGs to sound more similar than they do. Barts do tend to sound better with aggressive sounding basses - they sort of soften the sharp bits. They don't sound too hot on the Modulus VJ from what I've heard, owner complain of not being able to hear the bass on stage because the mid scoop is too much. The Villex system is the favoured alternative, but I digress... ...I tried the Ernie Ball/MM SR5 HS and was extremely disappointed because the output was all over the place with the coil settings. Would have made playing live a nightmare. After buggering about with my own bass, I've reached the conclusion that its possible to switch coils easily but only if any humbuckers are in parallel mode because the voltage variations between parallel and series still result in output differences. If you like the sound of a bass with humbuckers wired in series you'll probably need a compressor or separate gain setting if planning to use parallel or single coil settings in the same gig.

At risk of blowing whatever musical credibility I have left out of the window, these worked for me recently. All cheesy as hell but the hooks are real brainworms.

Status Groove is an awesome first 5 string. Great value for money second hand.

[quote name='JTUK' post='945666' date='Sep 4 2010, 07:14 PM']IMO, this is a typical sound of a Lakland Fender clone and a few others ..as in wolly sounding. You don't have much chance it you run them flat and I can't think why they haven't livened it up with a pre amp. I also am not sure on the woods they use... too much emphasis on weight rather than beef...is my thinking. Plus the unlaquered necks don't work for me. I don't know why it should be but all the above basses I have heard recently could be described as weak and wooly, IME[/quote] I think the wood in Laklands is superb - very consistent and growly from what I've been able to tell. Its barts I generally don't get along with but they do sound good in a Modulus Quantum through an SWR head...

[quote name='lozbass' post='911018' date='Jul 31 2010, 09:35 AM']I've never had the pleasure unfortunately. There's one of these ultra-rare graphite Alembics for sale on the Alembic Club site at the moment (at a firm $10k) - I don't doubt it will sell - an extremely desirable model[/quote] [url="http://alembic.com/club/messages/395/81845.html?1280447172"]http://alembic.com/club/messages/395/81845.html?1280447172[/url] This one? It's a stunner for sure. The nicest one I've seen had a quilted birch top though. I would have bought it if I'd had the readies but the owner wanted pretty much the same figure for it.

There will always be a degree of tonal variation between neck and bridge pickups. I don't really trust MM/J combinations, there's too much variance in the pickup design. Having said that, I'll grudgingly admit that the Barts in Laklands seem to be nicely balanced (although still a little woolly sounding).

If you all post a link to this thread on facebook, myspace, blogs etc. google will pick it up and eventually this page will rank higher on search engine results than their own website. You have the power to make them take notice! The Bass Centre were VERY aware of negative feedback on this site but they still didn't make any significant improvements to their service. Sometimes its like leading a horse to water...

still, I think Jon would probably have a chuckle over it and say something to the effect of if this guy actually sells it for that much, he'd be keen to get in touch.

Hello new boy. Has Matron seen to you yet? She looks a bit ugly and her speech impediment tends to coat one in a thin film of saliva but she's got a good heart...or three actually, if I recall correctly.

[quote name='Vibrating G String' post='943763' date='Sep 2 2010, 05:36 PM']The 2 outside mounting holes with the threaded inserts won't be covered by a normal bridge and you get funny looking holes in the bass. And you get on the EBMM hitlist.[/quote] The other issue is that the location of the bridge and saddle design itself changes very slightly from about 86 through to 95 or so to compensate for lateral angle of the strings after they've broken over the saddle. So anyone looking to produce MM replacement bridges for 4 string stingrays would have to issue at least three models for each design variation and then ensure that people got the right bridge for their bass. A total faff if you ask me.

[quote name='Beedster' post='942965' date='Sep 2 2010, 07:59 AM']Is Dave a legitimate member having a bad day,[/quote] A legitimate member almost certainly but exercising unfortunate judgement. I think he might have realised in the first couple of pages he'd bitten off more than he could chew.

Troll 0 Community 1 Nice work chaps.

[quote name='dave74200' post='941896' date='Sep 1 2010, 10:54 AM']What about Mike Inez, Geezer Butler, Tim Commerford and Jason Newstead?[/quote] All pussies. They had roadies.

[quote name='dave74200' post='941886' date='Sep 1 2010, 10:50 AM']Randy Jackson from American Idol. Grow up![/quote] LEAVE RANDY ALONE!!

[quote name='51m0n' post='941877' date='Sep 1 2010, 10:44 AM']I think yo'll find this beats any Ampeg ever made (ooh flame on buddy!):- [/quote] No no, I think you'll find thats a load of Koch.