Wolverinebass

As a bit of an Entwistle fanatic, I thought I might pitch in as well. Entwistle was using a P bass in 1970 but didn't use tapping techniques until post Who. If you watch the Live at Toronto dvd (circa 1982) he doesn't use tapping at all (possibly because it's Kenney Jones playing drums you can tell it's forced Entwistle to be less flamboyant. On the other hand, there's so much other craziness going on in places it doesn't really matter. I agree that to get his sound from the Leeds era one should look at the rig itself. Cranked valve amps methinks. I tried an old Hiwatt head a few years ago and that was fantastic. If you got your hands on one of them I'm sure it'd be reasonably easy to get the sound. I bet your wallet is already feeling the strain at the thought.... As for the "Live at Leeds" patch on the Bass Pod XT, when I first got the my Pod XT, I thought "FANTASTIC!!" However, it sounds absolutely NOTHING like his sound from that era. I think the best way of describing that patch would be "weedy," or even "lame" but that's just my opinion. I did try it with about 4 basses just to check I wasn't going mad. Still sounded rubbish though. From my experience the hardest sound to get right is his late 70's sound where it was still reasonably clean and he was using the Alembic Explorers. It's just impossible to get that tone even with Alembic I have. On the other hand that's not my favourite tone of his. By contrast, with a Status Buzzard (or something with a graphite neck and an active 3 band EQ), his latter day sound (1996 - 2002) is actually reasonably easy to achieve in all it's incarnations with a very low action, reasonable amount of flanging and bonkers effects depending on what year you want to try and copy his sound. Good luck with your quest for arguably one of the best bass tones ever.

I must confess McCartney leaves me very cold. Undeniably, a brilliant songwriter, but as a bassist? Er, no. Funny that everyone goes for Jaco bashing. Whilst it's not my bag, you can't deny that he changed a great many people's views on bass and I think he's fantastic. Whilst I don't particularly like slap, you can't deny that King is amazingly good at it. I wouldn't diss anyone who is probably the best at what they do. I'd also like to add Pino Palladino to my list of "criminally overated." However, that might have something to do with the fact that he replaced Entwistle in the Who and can't hold a candle to the man either in terms of tone or technique. I'm an Entwistle fan boy. My cards are now on the table. Seeing them play Glastonbury a few years ago on TV almost made me ill. Adam Clayton as well. Though that could have something to do with the fact that U2's albums over the last 10 years have been awful. For those who say that Entwistle didn't deserve "Bassist of the Millenium" tag, that's fair enough and a matter of opinion. Different genres are obviously going to put people off thus making objective comparisons impossible. Were Jaco still alive and recording maybe he would have won, though it's worth noting that he was further down the list than McCartney which is bonkers in my opinon. Who is really better at PLAYING the bass out of those 2? The fact that Entwistle won that poll I would assume would have something to do with the 515 solo from the Who's 1999 - 2000 tour which went on before that poll was taken. Right or wrong, I'd always go for people who can play and solo well.

Try this. A buzzard flight case. It might be what you're looking for. [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/rockcase_10835_warwick_buzzard_case.htm"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/rockcase_10835_wa...uzzard_case.htm[/url] Failing that there is a gigbag on ebay for Ironbird type basses which is £50. Think it's made by Ritter. Shouldn't be that hard to find.

The buzzard and explorer are roughly the same size (the 8 string has a shorter neck), so the warwick case might fit. Will have to measure the 8 string to see what the dimensions are. If you want some info on the buzzard try www.buzzardbass.com which is quite good. The Status version is the one on the homepage. I think Warwick did 2 versions. One with the beak headstock (which is smaller than the status version) and the usual warwick type peghead. Also, if I remember right, the warwick version doesn't have a tilted back headstock. I must confess that in comparison of the 2 instruments, the warwick version was inferior in every way. Just my opinion though and I'm sure others would disagree. Not that it's not a good bass, but the status version is even better. This is the gigbag I use for the buzzard. Just for info. It's not that cheap. [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/rockbag_rb20603b_plus_thunderbird_bassgigbag.htm"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/rockbag_rb20603b_..._bassgigbag.htm[/url] Will have to measure up the explorer to see if it'll fit the hiscox case.

At the moment, I'm looking for a case/bag and don't have one. When I picked it up I used the gig bag from my status buzzard. It was the only thing I could think of that it might fit in. Obviously this is far from ideal and if anyone's got any suggestions as to a case or a bag then that'd be greatly appreciated. As for the SE bass day, I may very well pop along and if anyone fancied a shot of a bass that'd be fine. As to what instrument I take along to the thing out of the 8 string Explorer, the Buzzard or the Alembic it's a difficult choice.

The rest of the band were somewhat surpised as I hadn't mentioned what I was getting. My guitarist thought it sounded huge and with a bit of chorus thought it sounded like Cheap Trick. I've never really been one for using a pick. I did try it with the 8 string, but whilst it sounded good, I think I'll stick with the fingers and stock up on surgical spirit. As it's set with the drone strings above, I can't string it the other way due to the nut. I didn't fancy it the other way round (which I think is the way Rickenbacker 8's are strung) so I went that way knowing I'd have to get the nut replaced were I to ever change my mind.

Bridge is a Schaller 471. You can get it from Warmoth. I think it might be discontinued though. Will try to upload some soundclips over the weekend so you can all have a listen. Yeah, Entwistle used to use Alembic Explorers in the late 70's until the mid 80's. As I've already indulged my Entwistle fixation before by getting a Status Buzzard, I figured that the only thing I was lacking in terms of radically different sounds was an 8 string. After trying a few (most were rubbish or just didn't stay in tune - which one might argue is the same thing) I decided to just go for it and get an 8 string Explorer. As for tuning, it seems to hold up really well. Thankfully the bridge has individual saddles otherwise I'd be pulling my hair out. I played it for about 3 hours last night at rehearsal and it was still in tune at the end. Hopefully that won't change when the wood all settles out.

Sounds like an invitation to buy yet more stuff!! Quality!! Have thought about doing that, but it's early days yet. Bought it as a "present to myself" for my 30th next week. Am well chuffed as it's a really good bass.

Most definitely a good thing. Not evil in general, just the comment in relation to my new bass. It's really a huge sound and rather chime like. Surprisingly being that it's an explorer, it actually balances really well as well.

Finally indulged myself and got an 8 string bass. Mostly parts from Warmoth as well as Status pickups and an EMG circuit. Sounds evil. Truthfully, the photo doesn't do it justice. But see what you all think. Cheers Andy

Has anyone used any digitech rack gear for bass? I tried a Digitech 2120 a few years ago which was great, but sadly they're discontinued. The 1101 seems to be the same sort of deal. Has anyone used one before and if so what do you think? I've been using a pod xt for about 6 years now, and I think it's time for a change. Of course if you think that there's other stuff that might fit the bill, I'd be glad of any suggestions.

Thanks for the suggestions. I must confess that Warwick looks great and I'm not a particular fan of them either. I would be very loathe to spend more than £4K on a Zon as The Status Buzzard I own cost that much and IMO that's the best bass ever built. If I ever paid more than that for a bass it'd better come with a free house and be prepared to do housework as well. As much as I like the Alembic I have I prefer the buzzard as it's just so incredibly brutal. I wouldn't mind a graphite neck, but I've never played a hybrid bass before (i.e. wooden body and graphite neck). I suppose the question is which does it sound more like wood or graphite? Does anyone have any experience? I suppose it might be worth giving Status a phone to see if they do forays into 8 strings. The last model I was aware they did was the 8 string buzzard and that's at least 4 years ago. In terms of the Hagstrom, I would like to at least try one, but trying to find one is rather difficult to say the least. I assume that the fact the strings don't have individual saddles is a real problem based on the info you've mentioned regarding intonation problems. It may also be rather silly to get a bass that's £450 when the dip in quality will be rather apparent I assume in comparison to my other 2. Money isn't too much of a problem, but of course I'd like something that's good. Cheers Andy

Thanks for the advice. I must confess that the 30 inch scale doesn't bother me at all as the Alembic I have is 30.75. I did read the review of the Hagstrom you mentioned and that's what got me thinking that an 8 string might be a good idea. A mate suggested getting the Dean Rhapsody 8 then gutting the electrics and pickups, but I'm not too sure how much difference that would make as I've never done it before. On the other hand the circuitry is I suppose one of the main things and it would be ridiculous to expect a £450 bass to sound as good as one 5 times the price. Would say, getting all the bits via Warmoth be a possible solution? Certainly the tune looks interesting.

I've been contemplating getting myself an 8 string bass and was thinking of getting a Dean Rhapsody 8. Has anyone played one of these? I've been told that they're getting discontinued and when I phoned the UK distributor the bloke I spoke to couldn't tell me even how much the bass weighed or anything that wasn't on Dean's website which was more than a tad poor. I've played a Dean 8 string Edge and wasn't too impressed with the tone, though on a playability level it was good. If anyone has any suggestions as to possible 8 strings that might fit the bill of being active, (pref) 3 band EQ it'd be good to know what's good. Grateful for suggestions if you have any. Cheers Andy

I've been a bit busy over the crimbo period with my band imploding a few weeks ago and decided to get back to writing my own stuff whilst trying to fom my own band. Here's a demo I roughly finished a couple of days ago and it'd be great for some feedback. There's no guitar on this at all and aside from some (pretty appalling) vocals from myself and some sequenced drums, everything you hear is played on bass. So, if you discount my rather appalling singing (which I've unsuccessfully tried to cover up with loads of reverb and phasing), I'd be interested in some opinions. Cheers Andy

Thanks for the encouragement guys. Clearly a bit of practicing with a metronome will be the order of the day for me.

I'd certainly agree with that. There is a reasonable amount of "slop" from myself and I'd be the first to admit that timing isn't my main strong point and it never has been. I would say that the biggest mistake we made on this as well as the other couple of songs we did was that we didn't record to a click so there's a reasonable amount of push and pull. I'm not entirely sure if this takes away from the song to the extent that it's the rythym section falling down the lift shaft or not, but I can certainly appreciate that it's not too far away from said territory. On the other hand, it was recorded live with no overdubs or cut/paste fixing of anything whatsoever. I suppose hindsight is 20-20 vision here, but in truth the timing deficiencies are the guitarist and drummers as well as my own. Whether or not we've got away with it or not remains to be seen. Not to excuse my own shortcomings on this of course, but it's certainly the more precision aspects ot timing that I've always felt have let down my game so to speak. One to work on methinks.

Yeah, am using the buzzard through the Pod with a bit of subtle chorus on it (which to be fair you probably can't hear). Thanks for the positive comments.

Have been in the studio of late and was wondering if I could get some opinions on the song on my band's myspace. I'm really looking for pointers regarding my own bass playing, things I could/should be doing better, but all feedback is appreciated. www.myspace.com/thelightgateway

There you go. A couple of pics of me playing the buzzard a while back. Andy

Hi All, Joined a while back, but yet to introduce myself. Am in London, been playing bass 9 years. Mostly rock, funk and a bit of grunge. Current band sounds a bit like The Who with my previous band a bit more in the Jane's Addiction/RHCP mould. At present my gear is: Status Graphite John Entwistle Buzzard Alembic Stanley Clarke Signiture Line 6 Pod XT Hartke 5500 Markbass Traveler 102P Markbass Traveler 151P Have attached a photo of my rig if you want a gander. Cheers Andy