Kiwi

He had rounds on his basses but he never changed them. Forget about the mythology around electronics - for bass it doesn't really matter. It's the construction which makes the biggest difference. Think structural.

Bernard Edwards got his sound from thick, dead strings. If you want to make your bass sound less lively, put something in the neck joint, like some paper, to decouple it from the body a little and get some old 45-105's.

Me too! With a splash of Lennie.

Yes, I believe she decided to mark the moment of her epiphany by having the newsprint mirror image remaining on the right side of her face permanently tattooed for posterity. Special K is a cruel master although some speculate that it wasn't just ketamine but a custom blend that included datura.

Yes! And here's the backstory as to how the bass got it's name. It's a little known fact but all those controls were master volumes. According to the Tour Manager, Tam McTavish, one soundcheck lasted two and a half days after one of the stage hands inadvertently turned down a control on the bass as they were setting up the stage. Tony struggled to work out which one it was and eventually admitted defeat. At risk of date cancellations later in the tour Polly, the band's wardrobe assistant, eventually suggested he turn them all up just to see what happened. Thus...the tour was snatched from the jaws of defeat! It's a wonderful story, really brings a tear to the eye.

I managed to find this picture of his Jaydee signature bass. After undergoing a third liver transplant, he went back to using his trusty 1 stringed signature Fender. He claimed he didn't have the patience for multi stringed instruments any more.

The man is an enigma, wrapped up in a mystery, wrapped up in a roll your own. Never one to shy away from delivering 130% in all aspects of his life, his views on instruments and backline in particular were legendary. His lifestyle was completely free of anything we might normally recognise as restraint. He was the original inspiration for Geddy Lee's washing machine backline after one of the band's stage trucks broke down on the way to a sell out gig at Golddiggers in Chippenham in 1982. A Tyrrell and Green had opened just down the road so Tony, in his characteristically down to earth style, replaced his missing backline with a selection of household appliances of approximately the same size and DI'd straight into a PA fold back using his Jaydee Tony Goggle signature with three stage gain preamp. Another fact worth noting was that his signature bass featured an integrated bottle holder. Unfortunately though it was attached to the headstock and any spirits rarely stayed in the bottle for long once the performance had started. But what Tony wanted, Tony got.

I havent used mine live as there are no gigging opportunities where I live. However, a Cooper Moment Machine is about to arrive. It's a sequencer pedal that uses pitch shift to arpeggiate. Hopefully it will push the Future Impact into convincing 70s and 80s electronica and dance riffs...Giorgio Moroder for example.

It sounds like things have changed re: guarantees. There was a time back in 2006 when Warwick refused to honour a guarantee for a CL combo that had been manufactured with no thermostat. I had bought it in Germany and took it back to the UK while on a Christmas visit to Cologne. Their distributor MAD gave my amp to a tech with major anger management issues (his son later apologised for the screaming down the phone at me) when I refused to pay for work that hadn't been authorised by myself. But since then, I have refused to buy a new Warwick product and turned down an invitation to their Bass Camp a few years back.

The thing is with this pre and power amp is dynamic headroom. It was designed for an acoustic instrument so the transient peaks are preserved like studio monitors rather than clipped or compressed. This kit is for players who like a capital Z in their zzzzzing. Admittedly at this price, who can complain but if someone is buying into the hype, it's important to preserve the headroom through the whole signal chain with this kit. Otherwise there's not much point in making the investment and let's face it, there's plenty of kit out there which does the job perfectly well at the same price point (or lower).

I have two at the moment. One has a set of Armstrong 57 PAF's in and it's very hard to tell the difference from a LP. It makes some nice jazz noises on the neck pickup too.

Mark Bass speakers have a very distinctive sound which contributes significantly to the burpy tone he gets.

"Music eh...shit business int'it?"

The Gallery are correct, it's a problem with the piezo. I had similar issues with the piezos on my 6 string. Just get a replacement, they are cheap enough and it will save you a load of faff.

The London Acoustic Guitar Show is in mid September as well.

I was quite impressed with how they sounded on youtube videos. More convincing that the 'strat' sounds on the regular shaped models like the 509 and 513. But two and a half grand is crazy money for that sound and playability.

You're right. I've made a start at messing about with it but the interface isn't very intuitive. Looks like I'll have to study the instruction manual.

I suggested to Smoove and Tyrrell that they approach Jack Stratton and talk about a shared tour. I think it could be a phenomenal show. Smoove were enthusiastic but not a lot of progress seems to have been made in the couple of months since.

Yeah the harmonies are a neat trick and he can get away with it as a tenor vocalist. Really making the most of his vocal ability!

Particularly his drumming but he confesses he can't go a day without playing guitar...! He almost switched majors at university onto bass when he became disillusioned with drums.