wombatboter

Since last week I own a Puma Tecamp 1000 (2x500w) which I run through an Epifani UL4X10 and a 2x12 (both 4ohm).
I'm really very enthousiastic about the sound and the power.
Every bass I have run through it (from a Wal to a Celinder, etc.) sounds great. No colouration, no dirty mids, no boomy lows.
Just a great basssound respecting the sound of each bass and not sounding too hifi.
I have used the Epifani UL502 during a couple of years. Great amp too but the Puma is more powerful, easy to use and it weighs less than 3 kilograms.
Excellent stuff ...

Stop reminding me of this bass....you're making it very hard !

A couple of weeks ago I had a gig...some singer had his cd presentation and a whole band of free-lance musicians were hired to do the rehearsal in the afternoon (seven songs) and the gig in the evening (with a tv-station filming).
I did the rehearsal with a fretted Peavey Cirrus USA 5 string..I gave my music stand to the backing vocalists since they nothing to put their lyrics-sheets on and I put my chord charts on the floor (badly lit behind a monitor). Rehearsal went smoothly and we played every song twice and we were prepared for the gig.
Just before the gig started, I suddenly decided to make it a bit harder on myself (why I don't know, I'm a bit impulsive) and I didn't take the Peavey but a fretless unlined Lefay 5 and went on stage.
While I plugged my bass in I noticed a bassplayer in front of me who does 70 % of all the studio-sessions in Belgium. I asked the drummer what that bassplayer was doing here and he said that he had played bass on the album ànd had produced the cd....Hmmmm.
The drummer counted off and we started playing the songs, me trying to intonate correctly while reading chord charts on a dark floor...Not the easiest thing there was (but I only made one mistake)
I saw the gig on tv and it sounded ok..Although I cursed myself for my decision the moment itself, I felt ok that I did it and it got the adrenaline going.
Live fretless bass keeps you on your toes during otherwise sometimes boring gigs..

I saw the Spandau-Ross clip on Youtube ...
In "Chant" the drums are really not swinging at all...I don't know if he's the original drummer but his playing really isn't ok to me...Very annoying and holding the band down.
When they switched to "Gold" he played better..Hadley still sounds ok to me.
I wasn't a Spandau-fan when they were succesfull (also here in Belgium) but now I find myself turning up the volume everytime they are on the radio..Power of nostalgia but they do have a couple of great songs (I even like "Through the barricades")

The intonation of Steve is just terrible...It just hurts my ears when I hear him play.
Isn't he the one that said that you had to practice intonation on fretless by playing in a dark room ?
He's got the lights on here but it still sounds out of tune. That eary reverb-sound doesn't make it better, like a sound of dolphins shitting.

Good price for an instrument which can easily compete with other, far more expensive, basses.
Those Musicians are top instruments and sometimes even remind me soundwise of Alembics and Wal-basses.

Very hard to resist... if it would be in Belgium I would have gone for it.
Stunning sound from a great bass

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzMoUFTHuYE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzMoUFTHuYE[/url]

[quote name='MB1' post='464887' date='Apr 17 2009, 12:19 PM']MB1.
Best to steer clear on that one!...who in there right mind is gonna part with £1800 for a bass they havent even seen/played?.....MAD!....Sounds more like he doesnt want to sell it!.[/quote]


Well, I was once that stupid... costed me 1800 euros on a fake Wal in Dundee. Learned my lesson the hard way.

I used to hear the music I liked on the radio and I saw it appear in the hitparades.. When I was in a shopping mall I heard music I liked. Not everything but still. Robert Palmer, The Police, Joe Jackson, etc cool !
Nowadays I have to start looking for music instead of simply hearing it...
I am confronted now with large doses of Pussycat Dolls, Britney Spears, Kanye West, P. Diddy featuring his landlord who used to know the butcher of Tupac...
It gets on my nerves and I don't even have a radio anymore since it irritates me.

I bought the Update 4 from Crazy Kiwi...
I have owned lots of basses but everytime I took my old Fender Jazz Marcus Miller it was like a hand in a glove and I felt at home. Nothing could beat it. I tried Sadowsky's, Alembic, Fodera, Status, Vintage Fenders, etc...When I came back to my roadtested Fender : wow.
Since I have the Celinder my old white Fender feels like I'm driving a truck. I had never expected that to happen. The Celinder neck is faster, the action is a dream, the response is unbelievable, the controls are smooth and easy to handle. It does sound a bit hifi but not in the cold definition of the word. Even when you use the bass-controls the sound is never muddy and the bridge pickup growls enough.
I used it for a gig on an Epifani UL502 with a 4x10 Cabinet and it was one of those occasions that you just enjoy your own sound without any worries.
The Celinder J is a great bass and it brings out the best in me. I never took the trouble to adjust the D-tuner (not even the ones on my Wal basses) but this bass is just so good that I took the time to finetune the D-tuner and it works really well.
I was going to buy some straplocks but then I saw that the bass has them already.
One thing which I don't really like is the black colour (I like a bit of colour) but the bass itself makes me forget everything.
This bass was just a lucky guess : I had never played one but something just said "yes" when I saw the pictures and heard the soundclips. I was right.

As it says in the topic-title it is sold : to a Belgian bassplayer who sold his motorcycle for it.

Beautiful instrument but I understand your feeling. I own a couple of Wal basses and not everyone likes them. There are the prominent midtones which aren't to everyone's likings. Plenty of bassplayers try them out but realise that it's not their cup of tea. I like them a lot but I can't use them for every concert I play. There's this "honk" in the sound which you can't get rid off (even while changing the frequencies). Luckily I like that sound but Fender-players are often a bit sceptic about the Wal-feel and sound since it's a bit further away from the traditional things they are used to.
Good luck with sale or trade !

[quote name='slaphappygarry' post='455628' date='Apr 6 2009, 03:20 PM']Ged Lynch f***ing sucks. Some of that drumming is so below average.

G[/quote]

I couldn't tell who the drummer is but there are some serious mistakes in the drumpart.
The groove isn't there either.
I am surprised that this is possible considering the level of drummers in Gabriels band.

To be honest I had never played a Celinder bass before I bought the one which is in the Basschat banner.
Amazing basses with a great feel. I have vintage Fenders which are supposed to be the real thing but I keep on picking up the Celinder bass. Yesterday a friend bassplayer came along and tried it out herself and she was floored by it. She said it was the easiest neck she had ever played on and the sound was full but precise
Unfortunately I 'm not really a Precision player (although I have a '73 Fender P) but otherwise this one would surely be on my list.

I used to have one like this... made the trip from Brussels to Wapping to get one.

Bump for my old bass...has all the characteristics of a great Wal

I received the Celinder Update J4 yesterday, which I bought from CrazyKiwi..
It was a bit of a risk since I had never played one before but I liked the soundsamples he posted.
It was worth taking the risk : the Celinder I have is an amazing bass.
I have owned more than 90 basses since I started playing bass but this Celinder is one of the easiest basses I have ever played. Really fast neck, lots of tonal varieties but more than anything this is a great funk bass. Punchy bridge pick-up, great slapsound with both pick-ups.
Everything just works out a bit more smoothly than on other basses.
This Celinder makes a couple of my other basses totally redundant...

And a bump from another Belgian bassplayer...
alstublieft !

Geert

I love his tone and playing on this one (I rarely see him playing this stuff)


[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_RE5ysi1LU"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_RE5ysi1LU[/url]

I never underestimate the skills of a gifted studio-musician. Those amongst us who have done studio-work know how challenging and difficult it is. Playing along to a cd might be easy but coming up with a good bassline, have good timing and the ability to play different styles while the clock is ticking...it is tough for a lot of musicians.
I found out for myself that I was able to play adventurous and free within the safety of my living room but as soon as the studiolight said "record" I started playing safe clichés..A bit impressed by the click in my headphones. Being a studiomusician isn't a task for everyone..
I can be a bit annoyed by the fact that around here in Belgian all the recordings on a commercial level are all done by the same two or three bassplayers and three guitarplayers but I have to admit that they do a great job and I wouldn't be able to do what they do.
There isn't too much adverture of experiment in these recordings but that is all up to the producers...Not to many people take the time or the risk to have something special in the basspart while marketing and niches are what it's all about...

Well, I have owned a lot of fretless basses but in couple of cases I just had to conclude the mwah wasn't there also...
I had bought a nice Wal MKI fretless a couple of years ago, took it to the studio and I was surprised that the sound didn't vibrate at all...I tried everything, but in vain and sold it.
Same thing with a 2500 euro Ken Smith... had it fretted and then it sounded ok.
Funny enough I got plenty of sustain and a killer sound out of a cheapish Mexican Fender Jazz...
I think some basses just don't have it, can't explain why though..

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVZpak6eqzQ"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVZpak6eqzQ[/url]

Features also her great feel and sound....

I love her playing, I bought her two first cd's...saw her three times live in concert (not always that convincing, last time was more of a jam with a dj and a band helplessly looking for directions and just relying on "the groove".)
That's a bit my problem with a lot of funk... Even with this youtube thing : after two and a half minutes, I was actually a bit bored. Great bassplaying, tight pocket but I just love to hear a song. Maybe that's what keeps me away from a lot of funk-concerts. After seeing a jam on two chords during ten minutes my attention goes somewhere else, how great the playing might be.
Still, great bassplayer..One of her basslines I use a lot for soundchecks because it just sounds and feels so great.

I hope so.... !

One of the reasons why I bought this bass (and other basses) is that life is already full with arguements and discussions about anything...Every now I then I deserve something as an antidote against all the crap I have to endure. This Celinder will make me forget certain things while I'm playing.
It would be nice that with the sale of this bass this whole topic thing stops and that we bring out the best in eachother..
So do me favour and don't make me see this bass as an object of discussions etc... I just want to play it.
Thanks and hope you all enjoy this site
best regards
Geert