BigRedX

P is for: Pagelli

O is for: Overwater Original

N is for: Norton

M is for: Marleaux

L is for: Lace

K is for: Kramer

J is for: Jerzy Drozd

I is for: Innovo (Switch)

H is for: Highland

G is for: Gus

F is for: FMW

E is for: Esh

D is for: Dingwall

C is for: Carl Thompson

B is for: Born To Rock F4B

A is for: Atlansia Pegasus 5ST

But the point I was trying to make is that IME the engineer is far more important than the equipment. I learnt this the hard way having spent a large amount of money and time building my home studio only to find that the weak link was very much me. Sure my recordings made with Logic, a 40 channel digital desk, big Tannoy monitors and a multitude of effects both hardware and software were technically better than the ones I had done on a 4-track portastudio, but not by a massive amount and they were still nowhere near what I was aiming for. This was very much brought home to me when with another band we used a very ordinary looking studio with what was technically an inferior system to the one I had at home, but the engineer was able to get a recording that sounded excellent in a fraction of the the time it would taken me to achieve something that merely sounded good.

Superb musicianship is IMO irrelevant if I'm not enjoying the actual music being played.

They must have essentially done for free (and then paid him to use it). I can't see any other reason why he would have picked Fender to make this bass when there are so many other luthiers out there who are already making something similar and doing a much better job of it.

Which kind of re-inforces the point that Fender should stick to what they are best at. Or at least do a lot more R&D before unleashing another bass that isn't a P or J on the public.

But is it actually better than your own basses? Personally I'd be worried about catching something off that - the areas around the bridge and pickups look especially minging, not to mentioned that massive fag burn on the headstock. You are probably absorbing tar and nicotine every time you touch the neck. 😉

Very much this.

Maybe if you were in Abbey Road, but I was thinking more along the lines of Sun or Chess, which were set up in a space the owners of the record companies had available. Also there wasn't really anything "premium" about the microphones used back then. They were just what was available at the time. It's only desire to carry on copying what has gone before that has made these devices anything special.

But in those cases the composer and the musicians involved when the pieces in question were written are now all dead. Certainly when I have been to see any modern classical pieces, there has either been some performance input from the composer as one of the musicians or as the conductor, or the piece has been performed by the ensemble that it specifically written for.

Question for covers bands - does your audience come specifically to see your band or do you play to whatever audience is already at the pub? My experience both as a musician and as an audience member is that the vast majority of the audience come with the venue rather than the band, and unless the live entertainment is particularly dire they will be there regardless of who is playing.