Captain Bassman

You rang?

Shows you don’t have to be Prog to rock a Rick! Very cool pic! Dynasty was the Solar Records’ house band but also had hits of their own. They actually released some new material late last year that was up to date but still had ‘that sound’.

Dynasty, Shalamar, Lakeside, The Whispers… all came out of the Solar Records stable so it’ll be Leon Sylvers again on bass and production. In fact pretty much exactly the same musicians involved all round I’d guess, including the fantastically named Wardell Potts Jnr on drums.

More Leon F Sylvers III please! There are some cracking bass lines on the lesser known tracks on the Friends album (Help Me / I Don’t Wanna Be The Last to Know) plus some greats from the previous albums, like Sweeter As the Days Go By, I Owe You One, etc. Funky P bass with class! Thank you for this one!

IMO the best episode of this fantastic series to date. Absolute genius songwriting (Seal) and arranging (Trevor Horn) for a song still played frequently on main stream radio. Unbelievable little gems almost hidden in the orchestration. Gave me chills…

Just bought another head as a backup, arrived Thursday. Silly not to at that price - half what I paid for my current RH750 10 years ago. Fantastic piece of kit.

Mary J Bilge (no that’s not an autocorrect) singing ‘felt behind’ instead of ‘left behind’ at around 1.45. One can only assume she was reading the lyrics and transposed a couple of letters in the moment. She gets it right second time around though.

Mine took almost 18 months from order to delivery and that was back in 2007.

No they’re standard ones, I just opted for plain ebony covers rather than the usual striped. The 3 micro switches are coil tap options and instead of the usual rotary selector I opted for the 3 button selector.

Just ordered one as a spare. Half the price I paid for my current one 10 years ago. Silly not to...

Shaping up nicely, lucky chap! Here’s my GA24 custom. Pics from JD website (better than my own!). 14 years old now but has been gigged very regularly over the years. So versatile and has a more tight focused sound to my ears than the Classic.

Howard Hewett, one of my all time favourite vocalists. The bass player’s not too shabby either...

Lucky chap! Look forward to the pics! I acquired this lovely Series 3 about a year ago. Wonderful bass, perfect weight and balance. Gigged it twice last year and have since added a D-tuner so that when our gigs resume in the autumn I have the option of leaving my Stingray 5 at home if needed. I’ve always loved Status basses, they’re just so rock solid and versatile. My first was a 4000 (resin body, bolt-on neck, weighed a bloody ton but sounded epic), followed by an all-wood Series 1 5 string and an early 90’s Series 2. Moved them all on after many years hard work but always regretted not having a Status. So I now have this one to complement my 30th Anniversary Series 2.

And the late great Teena Marie. No tricks here or disco pony nonsense...

Cheese but the way these 2 harmonise and let each other breathe through the song is pure quality.

Channeling Karen Carpenter on this one but a great vocalist in her own right;

That’s a real stunner, very classy. The crown headstock really works nicely with that body shape IMO.

Easy! 😉 On/off pick up selector - small pointed knob below bridge Individual pickup volume x2 plus master volume - 3x knobs underneath Individual pickup ‘CVQ’ controls - 2x small pointed knobs underneath those Individual pickup filter controls - 2x knobs at bottom The large socket is for the 5 pin cable to the DS-5 power supply. Alternatively you can use a standard lead into the jack socket and rely on the onboard battery supply. If that’s too much then just turn everything up full and away you go!

Posted this before but I’ll just throw it back up to keep the thread going. Series 2, 3/4 point body and crown headstock, burl maple front and back, chrome metalwork. Fire & Ice.

I have a custom built GA24 4 string and there’s zero neck dive. Not sure whether the added neck/headstock mass of a 5 string would tip the scales though. Weight-wise it’s not skinny but perfectly manageable for gigs. JD tend to use mahogany for the body core but you could choose a lighter body wood and/or facings or ask for chambering (I’m sure they’d accommodate this as a custom builder). Also need to consider the other ‘weight’ - the wait time. Mine took about 16 months and that was back in 2007/08. Not to detract at all from JD quality and attention to detail, it would be absolutely worth the wait. The GA24 also sounds quite distinct from the Roadie/Series models due to the downsized body and 24 fret neck bringing the pickups closer together. It’s a more focused modern sound IMO. Good luck, whatever you choose!

Always loved that, thanks! Aah, the much missed Tommy Vance. AKA Richard Anthony Crispian Francis Prew Hope-Weston.... No wonder he adopted a stage name!

I have a HH 20th Ann. SR5 that I bought secondhand around 7 years ago. Perfect condition. Cost me £1,300 back then so I would say £1,800 is expensive. Fantastic basses and I prefer the cleaner look without the massive scratch plate of the standard SR5.

See, this is what fascinates me about music and about everyone’s different ability levels and interpretations. The chugging 8th note section in bars 135-142 I had always heard as straight Bs. You hear, and notate, each bar as 4xB, 2xC and 2xA. Knowing this, when I listen to the original track I can hear that subtle difference where I’d never noticed it before. Do you isolate the tracks when you transcribe them or do you just hear things like that in the mix?