StoutFellow

Basses (ones in bold I still own) 1983 Westone thingy. Black, P-type pup, bit of a plank, but did the job! At the root of my current prediliction for black basses. 1984 Tokai Jazz Sound Blue, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard. Swapped for.... 1980-ish Guild B301 - used to be black but paint stripped off - revealing gorgeous mahogany body. Sold this for $200 in 2001 - wish I'd kept it - saw one in Ludlow Guitars in NYC for $1,400 just this year... 1980-ish Guild B302F - ebony fingerboard, Seymour Duncan J-pickup added to original Guild, great noises. It fell apart, largely due to poor care and no playing - my own fault. Still have the pickguard, pups and pots. Might used these in a Frankenbase some time. Then a long, long gap... before..... 2005 [b]Fender USA Standard Jazz Bass[/b], black, tortoise pg, rosewood fingerboard. Stock bass - love it. Bought from Rudy's Music on 48th Street. Have put half-wounds on there. Nice! 2008 [b]Fender Aerodyne Jazz bass[/b], black (of course), rosewood fingerboard, Seymour Duncan hot stack half pounder thingy PJ pickups. Visually gorgeous. Bought off a guy in Florida (on Talkbass). Have to find the right string type/weight and thinking of replacing the bridge with a Babicz. May also drop the SD pups and put in a more traditional set. But not until 2012... [b]Squier VM Fretless ([/b]Unknown year[b])[/b] with outrageous and awful go-fast-strip paint job (done with a toilet brush, I think), EMG pickups, a Badass ][ bridge - ebonol fingerboard - does precisely what you'd expect of it. Bought of a guy in Chicago (on Talkbass too). Put D'Addario Chromes (flats) on - nicely tones down the EMG's squeakier tendencies. 2010 [b]Yamaha BB425[/b] five-string, metallic red (subtle, to a degree) - deeply discounted on Amazon/Musician's Friend (I'm embarassed to say how deep..) Pulled the trigger and have to say that, so far, I like it very much. Simple, solid, bit bright - but will put some flats on there next year. Have yet to use live or in band setting - don't know how I'll perform with 5 strings. But loving the low B so far. [b]Hofner Siena[/b] (Unknown year) acoustic bass guitar. Bought in a guitar shop in Islamabad, Pakistan, of all places. Needs some TLC - pickup stopped working and pegs keep popping out. Am keen to keep this as I like the feel of it. Amps/Cabs (one in [b]bold [/b]I still own) A 1x12 combo from mid-1980's whose name I can't even remember. Did the job until I got.... Trace Elliot 4X12 Combo - workhorse for half a decade. Survived a fire in the straw-strewn trailer we used to take gear to gigs. Developed a strange fault in the preamp - never identified it, but resoldered every visible connection and it went away. Loud MF - ended the on-stage volume war - until the Drummer got a Simmons kit - but that's another story. ....a decade of borrowed gear....then... [b]Genz Benz Shuttle 6.0T combo[/b] with the single Neo 12" cab. Light, loud, a tube for some nice edge, switchable voltage (for when I move somewhere else - i.e. any day now) Bought in Rudy's in Manhattan. First tube pre-amp - makes the most lovely noises when squeezed. Got the foot-pedal - enjoying the voicing changes this brings.

Saw Joan As Police Woman play in NY in May this year. No bass player - the keyboard player did it all with his left hand.I was quite impressed. My brother who is not a bass player though they needed a bass player. But he may just have wanted to be polite....

[b]First Bass Owned: [/b][b]Westone [/b]thingy with a P-style pickup. Did the trick.... [b]'Go To' Bass: [/b][b]Fender MIA Jazz[/b] bass, rosewood fingerboard. Half-wound D'Addario's. The Swiss Army Knife of bass guitars. It's the Series/Parallel switch that makes this so versatile. [b]'Your' Bass: [/b][b]Fender Jazz MIJ Aerodyne[/b], tuxedo black P/J - I think I'm a Precision player with Jazz pretensions.... Truly, the Aerodyne is the best LOOKING bass guitar on the planet.

Thanks to all for taking the time to reply! Depending on when that gig at the Blue Lagoon was Gareth, I may have been in the audience. Don't know if they still have gigs there - it was a fixture on the Irish rock "tour" circuit. U2 played there - I was too snobbish about new wave to attend. My tough luck - it was a great gig. I did see U2 at the now demolished Baymount in Strandhill - they were excellent! I also saw Eric Clapton and, best of all, Rory Gallagher - at the Baymount. But it was the Blue Lagoon where we saw all the bands in the late 70's and 80's. Who did you play with?? (With whom did you play ;-) Beno - I'm working on a trip to Namibia. Murmansk may have to wait until global warming kicks in a bit harder - I do like my sunshine.... BTW, my search for a 5-string is over - dropped the (bargain) $299 on a Yamaha BB425 in the USA (Amazon.com out of Musicians Friend), it's been delivered, but I won't get to play it until I go to US at Christmas. Sob. But at that price, the Yamaha was irresistable.

Hi, Just joined Basschat and thought I'd drop a note here. I'm originally from Sligo, Ireland where I started playing bass around my college years (early eighties - oh the haircuts...). I was in a plethora of bands in Limerick, Offaly and Sligo - some original, some cover bands, all wonderful fun. Sligo was (and remains) a great music town - lots more music happening than the population would suggest. Moved to the UK in 1989 and this saw the beginning of the decline in my bass playing. Moved to Guyana, South America where I stopped playing altogether! Work took me to all sorts of places but it was, of all places, Islamabad, Pakistan where I spent almost four years that I started playing bass again. The band was a motley crew of Canadians, Italians, Norwegians and myself, the lone Irishman. But I started playing again!! I was using a borrowed '75 Fender P bass with EMGs (thanks Oysten!) and vowed to re-equip myself once I got to a place with good music shops... ...cue 2010 and a move for one year to New York. Hog Heaven. I went from zero to 90mph in three months. I'm now the happy and proud owner of: 2005 Fender USA Standard Jazz Bass, black, tortoise pg, rosewood fingerboard. Stock bass - love it. Bought from Rudy's Music on 48th Street, along with the amp (below). Legendary shop. Very, very good deal on the MIA Jazz. 2008 Fender Aerodyne Jazz bass, black (of course), rosewood fingerboard, Seymour Duncan hot stack half pounder thingy PJ pickups. Visually gorgeous. Bought off a guy in Florida (on Talkbass) Unknown year Squier VM Fretless with outrageous and awful go-fast-strip paint job (done with a toilet brush, I think), EMG pickups, a Badass ][ bridge - ebonol fingerboard - does precisely what you'd expect of it. Bought of a guy in Chicago (on Talkbass too) Genz Benz Shuttle 6.0T combo with the single Neo 12" cab. Light, loud, a tube for some nice edge, switchable voltage (for when I move somewhere else - i.e. any day now) Bought in Rudy's in Manhattan. That's my current gear list. I'm in the market for a 5-string with wide string spacing - I've tried lots of 5ers with narrow spacing and don't like - Fender, Ibanez SR505 etc. Did try a KSD 5-string and am looking at the KSD JZ Noir 5-string - but they're as rare as hen's teeth.. if you've got one and want to sell it - get in touch...! Currently on a temporary job in Brussels Belgium, but "residing" in Princeton, NJ, USA where my better half is attending the university there for a year. After that - probably Switzerland - but could be Oagadougu...and I'm not joking! That's me - looking forward to lurking on BassChat and getting involved in the forums (fora?) in due course. Regards, Ronan