Wolverinebass

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1417265374' post='2618686'] And how the hell do you make a Stingray a muddy mushy mess - prizes for achieving the virtually unachievable there I reckon. [/quote] Easy. Same way as you make any bass, good or bad sound like a piece of crap. Just Low pass everything under 400Hz cutting all the mids and treble. That's the standard soundman context I've encountered. Ever heard an Alembic reduced to a "blurruurrp" when it should be twang galore with the filters wide open? I could have played a plank of mdf for all the difference it's made on certain evenings. [quote name='spacey' timestamp='1417468853' post='2620746'] Bass players have had their bollox cut off by sound engineers to make it easy for sound engineers. Just DI the bass straight in the desk, where there is no compression and very poor limited EQ. All that drive and warmth you spent years creating as your sound is gone from your showcase of the big gig. If they tried this with guitarists they would be a riot, it is our own fault, make them mic up the amp, insist, demand to have your sound, compare it, get on his back until its done and they might just start to take us seriously. Same in studios, just DI and we will use the warbilater to cut all the mid and you out of the mix, again those yesteryear iconic sounds were mic up cabs. DI has its place, but getting your sound to be replicated elsewhere is never going to happen with a bass DI straight in to a desk. Make them go fetch a mic, just like they have to for the guitar. [/quote] Sound guys are generally idiots to bass players. In 15 years of gigging in London I've come across 3 good ones that respected the sound I wanted to achieve and why I needed to use it to be heard in the mix of the band. The rest? Not so much shall we say. The most hilarious one was playing the Water Rats where I ended up having to play through an Ashdown Perfect Ten which the engineer refused to mic ("The bass will spill all over the stage if I do that" - total crap, the previous band had 2 guitarists both using 4x12's!!) nor did he let me use my pod into the pa. Naturally because I became irritated, he deliberately cut the bass into the monitors to mess me up so I couldn't hear myself at all. All this DI before the amp stuff? Er, no. You're mic'ing the cab sunshine. I take no crap with this these days as I play to enjoy myself not to subsidise the fact that some muppet is deliberately screwing with me because he doesn't have a clue how to mix a band properly.

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1417265374' post='2618686'] And how the hell do you make a Stingray a muddy mushy mess - prizes for achieving the virtually unachievable there I reckon. [/quote] Easy. Same way as you make any bass, good or bad sound like a piece of crap. Just Low pass everything under 400Hz cutting all the mids and treble. That's the standard soundman context I've encountered. Ever heard an Alembic reduced to a "blurruurrp" when it should be twang galore with the filters wide open? I could have played a plank of mdf for all the difference it's made on certain evenings. [quote name='spacey' timestamp='1417468853' post='2620746'] Bass players have had their bollox cut off by sound engineers to make it easy for sound engineers. Just DI the bass straight in the desk, where there is no compression and very poor limited EQ. All that drive and warmth you spent years creating as your sound is gone from your showcase of the big gig. If they tried this with guitarists they would be a riot, it is our own fault, make them mic up the amp, insist, demand to have your sound, compare it, get on his back until its done and they might just start to take us seriously. Same in studios, just DI and we will use the warbilater to cut all the mid and you out of the mix, again those yesteryear iconic sounds were mic up cabs. DI has its place, but getting your sound to be replicated elsewhere is never going to happen with a bass DI straight in to a desk. Make them go fetch a mic, just like they have to for the guitar. [/quote] Sound guys are generally idiots to bass players. In 15 years of gigging in London I've come across 3 good ones that respected the sound I wanted to achieve and why I needed to use it to be heard in the mix of the band. The rest? Not so much shall we say. The most hilarious one was playing the Water Rats where I ended up having to play through an Ashdown Perfect Ten which the engineer refused to mic ("The bass will spill all over the stage if I do that" - total crap, the previous band had 2 guitarists both using 4x12's!!) nor did he let me use my pod into the pa. Naturally because I became irritated, he deliberately cut the bass into the monitors to mess me up so I couldn't hear myself at all. All this DI before the amp stuff? Er, no. You're mic'ing the cab sunshine. I take no crap with this these days as I play to enjoy myself not to subsidise the fact that some muppet is deliberately screwing with me because he doesn't have a clue how to mix a band properly.

These do look very nice indeed. Is there any chance of either a 4x12 or an 8 ohm 2x12? Especially like the idea of the mid driver and tweeter. Possibly similar to the EAD 2x12 I played at last years South East bash which was really, really good.

I use the newer PK6 with a moog slim phatty and the strymon mobius and timeline pedals. I toyed with the minitaur but I didn't like that the presets weren't that accessible. Plus I wanted an arpeggiator like the Taurus 3. If you want to use the Roland pedals you'll need a sound module as they're only controllers.

[quote name='Geddys nose' timestamp='1411765444' post='2562698'] I always thought someone like Bill Sheehan would be a better choice and someone like Dave Grohl on drums just for his power and aggression, I think Townsend likes his new lead role too much to step back like he did with Moon and JE though. [/quote] Sheehan maybe, possibly even James LoMenzo wouldn't be a bad choice but it'll never happen. Pino not only in sound but technique is just the wrong person and always will be. A great fusion fretless player but just awful for this situation. Pete doesn't want that style back as he's happy with the way things have changed. Pity that by doing that it destroyed all that was great that was left about the band much in the same way that Kenney Jones was the wrong choice to replace Keith Moon. Dave Grohl on drums would be all wrong as he's from the John Bonham school rather than the Keith Moon school. I saw the Who in November 2000 and I'll never see a better gig. Ever. Zak Starkey would have been 35 then. He's now cracking on for 50 and playing drums in the Keith Moon style is somewhat strenuous to say the least. Besides the straightness of the new song in itself doesn't give one much space to work with. The song in itself is crap. Just utter crap. It wouldn't even get on Face Dances which is what it sounds like an off cut from.

[quote name='12stringbassist' timestamp='1408404611' post='2529938'] For many years I pretended that you couldn't buy new strings unless they were on a new bass. [/quote] The irony being is that if you predominantly play 12 string basses that statement is almost true.

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1398975532' post='2439699'] The 70s RI Precision is a great bass, but the neck profile is nothing like either of the actual 70s Precisions I`ve had - much shallower. Going from your post above, your hands seem to prefer a deep profile on the neck, which screams actual 70s basses to me - and as you`ve stated re both Richs Jazz and your mates Precision. Looks like an expensive bass is on your way , make sure you try before you buy if possible, but from what I`ve read above 70s all the way for you. [/quote] Thanks Lozz. I took an hour to pop along to Wunjo's today. Lovely blokes there and just said "I'm looking to try a few precisions, what you got?" So I started at the bottom (in terms of price bracket) and worked up. So here's what I found. Started with the Squier CV in fiesta Red. For £300ish that is a really good bass. They then say that the Mexican basses are a good bit better and the Americans are even better. I'm already salivating. So, I move on to the Fender Standard. Whoooaaaaa!!! Get in!! For £500 that bass kicks some and then a bit more besides. Fantastic. Now, what's next?!!! If this is going to be EVEN BETTER what then?!!!! 50's Roadworn. Okay, that's £900 and I'd say it's not any better. In fact, I'd say soundwise, it sounded more hollow in the mids but still yet more comfortable to play despite having a wider neck. Nevertheless, we move on. American standard. Very, very well put together, but it sounded duller than all the rest. It was strung through body, but it had much more in the low mid area and less top than all the others. Curious that. By this point the guys at Wunjo's probably want to kill me, but nevertheless, they were amazingly polite and lovely towards me. Frankly, I'm buying from them in the future as they deserve my custom. So, as to negative points. All the basses were really good in their own way. The Squier was stupidly cheap for what you got, but maybe the name puts people off. It shouldn't. Possibly the tinted neck might, but not in my case. The Precision Standard was in Cherry Apple Red. What a horrible colour. Truly apocalyptically bad. It also had a satin neck which I hate. But it by far was the best bass of the 4 for me from a soundwise perspective. It was just devastating and if you think the Squier punches above it's weight then this one even more so I feel. The Roadworn was probably the most comfortable though the string spacing at the nut felt odd to me in a way I can't define as the nut width is the same as my Alembic. Nevertheless, a very comfortable and good bass. Are roadworn basses stupid as a concept? Probably, but just my opinion. I guess there must be a market for people that want basses that look like they've come back from a tour of duty in Chechnya, but I'm not one of them really. Lastly the American standard. Curiously though this and the Roadworn both had maple fretboards but were less bright than the other 2 which were rosewood. The American Standard especially so. Odd that. It was quite obvious that it'd been more taken care of in terms of fit and finish, but sadly this didn't come over in the sound and if you played them without looking at the colour, you'd maybe come away thinking that the American and Mexican bass had had the price tags switched around. Curious. I played all 4 of them with the same flat amp setting and tone knob full on. I regarded it as a fair test, but of course my opinion is subjective. I suppose what I have learned from this is that I'm going to sound like me regardless, but I think a nice P bass is on the cards at some point in the near future. That last sentence is words I never thought I'd come out with. Maybe as you said in a different thread Lozz, I've just finally "got it."

[quote name='karlfer' timestamp='1398834974' post='2438002'] You have a load of top quality basses. [/quote] Thanks mate. It's not like you don't have nice basses either!! [quote name='bigjohn' timestamp='1398875914' post='2438571'] You've just got to remember that guitars are made of wood and wood is not a consistent material. Fenders are also hand finished, so again not consistent. There's not a whole heap of difference between MIM and MIA other than the hardware and how much time is spent finishing each bass.They use the same woods. That said, there are FSR (factory special runs) MIMs that may have had more attention paid to their build than US Standards. MIJ is completely different kettle of fish. Different woods, different factories. Though their non-export models tend to be more like the FSRs in that they're made in shorter runs, better spec and build. Squier again is completely different, with cheaper woods and hardware and different production techniques. So... due to the inconsistencies present, even though these things are mass produced and that what's "better" or "worse" about each is entirely subjective, it's perfectly possible that a particular Squier guitar could be considered by the majority (if doing their best to be objective) to be "better" than a particular MIA. It's just that the odds are stacked against that being likely for each individual guitar. I have an MIM, a MIJ and an MIA bass. They're all as good as each other in their different ways. Though my MIJ is a real beauty and my MIM is the best MIM I've come across. So all depends what you think is value. And if you, for the sake of saving a few hundred quid (esp considering if you by 2nd hand, you're not actually losing "money") want to go though the likely process of buying a few MIMs in the hope of finding a really good one you like. Likewise, you might buy an MIA and find you don't... but in general, you're more likely to enjoy (if you prefer well built, finished and nice sounding basses) luck finding a good bass that's either MIA or MIJ. That, apart from their cost as new, is mostly why they hold their 2nd hand prices. Like... The Warmoth stuff is really good quality and consistent. The Mighty Mite stuff is good, and consistent, but not properly hand finished like Warmoth parts. They're not in the same league (or market) in that regard. All Parts I've not used, neither have I WD. [/quote] I note that a few of you say that "above x price point it doesn't make any difference." What might that be? £500? £700? £900? I'm curious. I was looking at the Classic 70s RI in Olympic white which I note is cheekily £60 more expensive than the same model in sunburst. Really?!! It's a colour!! A standard colour!! I also note that on Fender's website they're the same price, why the difference over here? Anyone got one? Any good? For years I thought most Fenders were awful as the ones I tried were just that. I couldn't find anything I liked though to be fair I was after a much more cutting sound. The worst was jazz basses and the horrid neck profile. However, at last year's bass bash I tried Fat Rich's 72 Jazz. Get in!! Brilliant. Then by happenstance a friend of mine asked to borrow my Alembic for an important gig. I said yes as friends do on the condition that I could borrow his precision from 1980. I was great so I kind of felt like the clock had been re-set so to speak in my views which I thought were concrete have become.... less so. Hence why I'd like a really nice precision, preferably with a maple fretboard. Why are blocks not a proper option except on one model? If the point of Fender basses is that everything is replaceable, why not offer everything as one big custom shop? Thank you all for the advice.

Not being a Fender expert myself and noting that price of them are going up somewhat, I wondered what would people get if they wanted the best Precision (I'm talking in terms of playability and fit and finish) choosing say from the following: Fender USA Fender MIM Warmoth Squire WD Allparts Mighty Mite I'm very intrigued being that say a Duff McKagan is now £900 for a MIM and the QC has been noted to be lacking (allegedly) and beforehand they were MIJ. I wondered how much discernible difference there actually is? Other than Fender using cheaper labour and putting the price up slightly. Is a Squire really a cheap slab of basswood that should be burned or are they very much value for money and a lot closer to a Fender USA than the price difference would have you believe? Are Fender USA models ridiculously overpriced? Do MIM have dodgy QC? I ask this not to be inflammatory in any way, but just for curiosity as I may grab a precision in the near future.

[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1397599495' post='2425630'] A unique technique for sure. I've experimented with it at various times out of curiosity. The key is to lower the action so low that conventional fingerstyle technique sounds terrible, but you can dab the strings down near the end of the neck and 'ping' out the notes you desire. It is relatively easy to get speed up this way, especially if you have good finger strenth from conventional playing styles. You then have to use enough distortion to turn the fret buzz into musical harmonic content. A compressor helps as well, but I would personally keep the chorus and flanger pedals [s]in the bin[/s] away from your rig. I don't like playing that way at all, but it does work if you are patient. I admire John for being unique, and for carving out a unique voice on the instrument, far beyond how much I admire him as a musician, sadly. Rather like Ray Manzarek of The Doors (RIP), he does enough to sound flashy, but not enough to stand up to scrutiny, personally. That tuition video really highlights this, as he struggles to explain away a lot of his technique. How much of the content of that video is actually useful? Again, hats of to him for experimenting with treble, roundwounds and distortion at a time when nobody wanted to know. I am a big fan of The Who, but I prefer the band as a musical unit far beyond my personal like of any of the individual members (I just finished Pete's autobiography as well). [/quote] With respect, that isn't really true in part. If you have a bass which you can set the action suicidally low and have a light touch for fingerstyle, it will be fine. As long as you don't play even mediumly hard, there will be very little tone difference. As long as you don't overdo the chorus, it works fine for typewriter. You are quite right about flanging though. It sounds awful with tapping in this method. Yuck.... Isn't it obvious why he doesn't explain his technique? It's because it's all showing off!! He knows this, you know this. Nobody plays bass like that if they want to be a backup man. Obviously, he can't really say that on a mainstream production as (heaven forbid!!) a bass player doing more lead work than the guitarist is always wrong. Apparently. I suppose it depends what you define as "useful." If you're looking to check something out and steal a few bits of technique then yeah it is. If you're looking for a tick box of where something can be used in, well, it is total pants. I always took it as being down to the individual's imagination. I never had any problem retroactively going through songs I play to use it. It's just such a pity that my favourite members of The Who are both dead.

Don't do it. If that bass isn't worth the sacrifice of having no money for a while then it's just pointless. In my own case I bought ALL my basses for cash with the exception of the buzzard. That was thanks to the legal malarkey with the design, so although I'd saved about half of the cash, I got a quick loan from my father in law and lived on baked beans for 8 months whilst I paid him back. I don't regret it for a minute, but if I'd not liked the bass, nothing would have been worth the sacrifice as I couldn't do anything that cost money.

Both bands are using 12 strings. There aren't that many good 8 strings. ESP Ltd maybe, Dean are okay as well. The Shine ones aren't great. Depends on what you want to spend.

[quote name='AttitudeCastle' timestamp='1396482379' post='2414287'] I think John Entwistle's Status Buzzards have/had the lowest action of any basses I've ever seen. I believe Wolverine on here used to have one and agreed with this a while back. [/quote] I still have the buzzard. You can get the action supernaturally low on them. Almost beyond anything you can imagine being possible and mine is about 0.5mm at the 12th fret. I do play very lightly though. It makes it so stupidly easy to play that after a week of playing something that you can't do that with like my 12, the it feels like you're playing a toy...

[quote name='bubinga5' timestamp='1396645871' post='2416134'] yes but there is no Shuker or Sei even at there top end, that you will have to pay 15 + grand for.. by the way i didn't mean to offend anyone who goes on stage with these instruments. i apologise if i did. [/quote] Yeah, that is true and I didn't make that point clearly enough in my post. Unless it's a vintage instrument owned by someone famous or somewhat rare nothing "normal" should really be up at that sort of level. On the other hand, I'm sure people could argue that the Series 2 basses would wipe the floor with anything. Having played a couple, they are amazing basses and probably the most flexible sounding basses I've ever tried.To compare Shuker or Sei basses is an apples and oranges one at that level as they're not similar in functionality or sounds really at all. I'd have to win the lottery to get one though.... 15 grand is somewhat steep though to put it mildly. Ouch. No offence taken and I hope my post didn't suggest there was.

[quote name='bubinga5' timestamp='1396619842' post='2415756'] sorry i just don't buy it. some alembics are nearly three times the price of a Shuker, or a Sei. and Alembic don't put three times as much effort in to there making there basses than these makers. . they ride on there image, and can get away with the huge prices of there basses on that fact. its nothing to do with capturing peoples imagination. its about very cleverly forming an image, with top players, endorsees etc. and riding the wave and overcharging because the can. just like Fodera, fantastic instruments no doubt, but overpriced. yep. i think its very naive to think otherwise. i personally would feel like a bit of a wally, walking on stage with a Fodera or an Alembic. [/quote] It depends which level of Alembics you mean. The Series 1 and 2 basses are stupidly high for for what is just electronics differences. I think at the signature level, they're about right, though I've had mine for 12 years. You're not going to see much change out of 4 grand for either a Wal, Sei or Shuker once you've added almost every bell and whistle or fancy wood top and fingerboard you can think of. It's all relative really and how much you think something's worth. You don't think they're worth it, fair enough, don't buy one. Having played a Shuker and a Sei, I prefer my Alembic. I played a Ritter and thought it was so-so. The Fodera I tried was great, but sadly passive so I wasn't interested. I don't think that in all seriousness even if money were no object anyone should be paying more than 5 grand for a bass. I personally think that Rickenbackers are hugely overpriced. They're a £400 bass. £1700?!! Jog on, pal. As I said, all relative really. Plenty would swear by them. I regularly go onstage with my Alembic. I don't feel like a wally (regardless if I am one or not!!) I don't go on feeling like that anyway, but then again, I don't own a bass I don't like for that reason.

This is pointless. Just open all the options up or I'm not interested. If I can't get a precision with black blocks I'm not interested. They only do one (some 70's reissue), but the nut width is thinner than usual so no dice there Mr Fender. Plus the fact that it is £900 for a MIM bass they can poke that. I think that if I were going to ever get a precision I'd get one from Warmoth.

[quote name='toneknob' timestamp='1394805110' post='2395421'] There's a couple on eBay at the moment (one I suspect is the one you've seen), both in Edinburgh. £2.5k for one, £2.8k for the other. Thing is, they'll probably sell for this much, or not far under. Mine sold for about £2k a year or two ago (see ad qv in basschat - but it took a LOT of work to get them advertised to a standard they deserved, ie more so than an ebay listing saying "yeah they work fine") [/quote] Those were both the ones I was referring to. Surprising that I've seen them go for $1100 and yet these folk want almost 3 grand in crisp Sterling. Good luck as those listings have been there for months with no updates or anything. It just seems somewhat overpriced to me, but I'm sure someone will buy them at that level. "Works fine." Love it. 40 year old gear, no inclination of servicing or anything. How I laugh.

I recently jumped on this bandwagon myself. I really wanted to find a set of T3's but after looking for quite some time it seemed to be a dead end. So I ended up going for a set of PK6's and a Moog Slim Phatty. That's pretty devastating. I notice with interest there are a couple of clowns in Edinburgh are trying to sell the original Taurus pedals for more than £2500!! Jog on, pal. I'm still in the whole "midi hell" stage of it as I notice that switching between mono and poly mode is sending midi cc messages (127 and 126) which is changing the settings on the Moog. Naturally, Roland weren't that helpful. Looks like I'll have to get a midi filter or something to block them. Anyone got any suggestions? Unless Moog were going to lose money on every T3 they made I kind of wonder if they've dropped the ball by only making 1500. Surely they could have sold twice that amount at least. I certainly would have bought a set. Maybe at one point in the future they might re-issue them again.

Thanks chaps. I didn't want to hassle them, I just wondered if my emails had been lost in the ether. Will see what transpires.

About a month ago one of the screws which hold the adjustable nut on had fallen out. Okay, it's a really stupid imperial size 5/64ths of an inch and worse still happens to be an allen bolt. In other words it appears to be about as rare as unicorn tears to find in the UK. So I thought I might get a replacement and a few other things from them as well that might come in useful. However, after more than a month aside from an automatic system generated reply I've not heard anything. Surely someone on the forum has had some reason to contact them. Is this typical or not? It just kind of strikes me that a month to reply to an email seems a tad long.

What about the cabs? Are the powerhouse series worth it? Having never played them, I've been offered a Powerhouse 4x12 for a quite nice deal, but as even at that it's still a massive wodge of cash. Is it worth it? Has anyone ever played one? Are they transparent or heavily coloured cabs? Any info would be good if anyone has it.

[quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1380894323' post='2232063'] Played with one for a couple of hours at the SE Bass Bash - they are monstrously loud, my measely 500w MB sa450 head into one literally emptied the hall with the other 30 or 40 bass rigs, because no one could hear anything whilst we played with it. Once again apologies to everyone who put up with my getting very excited with filter sweeps into brown note territory at extreme war volume. Apparently you can jam 1600 watts into one all day and it will just turn your internal organs to jelly... It sounded fantastic, effortlessly loud, but more than that a great tone. Killer cab... [/quote] I happened to play through 51M0n's rig into the Big Twin 2. I think 2 words can be used to describe it - limitless brutality. I've never played anything like it. I'd never seen anything have speakers which move so far and yet still work afterwards. Never had I played a bass rig which had such low frequency extension. Might put some off, but we had the Markbass at 10 for all of a minute and it just ate the power and continued to just get louder and louder as we turned up. I'm sure that people were being turned into some sort of strange fleshy liquid in far off countries when we played it. I did favour the treble end as hey, that's what most important to me and I went for the "full treble grind." Just ate it. That new waveguide horn is brilliant. Biting, but smooth and not shrill. Si used some evil octave, filter and fuzz fx. It just took it without even breaking a sweat. At the volume it was being played at and the notes being produced with the octave, I didn't think it was possible. The whole off axis thing was ridiculous. I played the same figure as I walked in a wide arc of almost 180 degrees in front of it. The sound stayed virtually constant. That's another one I've never experienced. Furthermore, I used to honestly scoff when people say "it's a one hand lift." I always thought that the people who said that played rugby for New Zealand and were made of solid muscle. I picked the thing up with one hand and I'm only 5 foot 9 and weigh in (dripping wet) at a portly 9 stone 4. It really was like it was made of.... well, nothing. They're not cheap, but nothing good ever is. It's not for everyone I don't think as the bass extension was just soooo monstrous, but I thought it was the best cab I've ever played. Directly before that I'd played 51m0n's Bergantino 4x10. That was the best 410 I'd ever played. Brilliant.

Am I the only one who when they read "a certain pickup manufacturer" immediately thought SGD? I would never, ever have bought anything that SGD had done. Not because I doubt the inherent quality of the work, but because when you read the 5000 page thread on talkbass "Won a wal pickup on ebay," you realise that every 6 months he said "soon" it's either never going to happen or it'll be a total car crash of customer service. Crap. Sorry, just total crap. I did toy with getting some stuff from Warmoth and bunging those pickups in, but decided that if I wanted a Wal, I should just..... get a Wal. Shock, horror of realising the total bloody obvious. For anything similar I'd get an ACG. I suppose I've never really had a custom build. My Alembic was off the shelf at the Bass Centre in Wapping, the buzzard was pretty much standard. My 8 string was custom in that I chose every single part myself. Pity I didn't figure out how amazingly heavy it was going to be and that I'd be a foot shorter after wearing it for 4 hours at rehearsal. Oh dear. However, it's like everything else. Roll the dice and take your chances.

This is the most insane thing I've ever seen!! Get in!!

Loved it. Top quality in every way. Was brilliant to meet people and put faces to names and try out some of the most amazing gear I've ever seen. Fantastically good fun.