drTStingray

My 2003 SR5 ash/maple sounds great recorded, in a live band - has that balance between a warm vintage sound and more modern focus, so it's great for most genres including Motown and Stax - as I say I'd go ceramic. This is mine - really my favourite bass. Of course, they've now gone neodymium/18 volt - still a great bass. In this case, ebony!

The Tesla video, if not the other one have been around since before the Musicman signature. It all sounds great to me - and oh for a drummer like this who knows how to play funk - without a whacking great fill which removes all the space and clashes with the other instruments every fourth bar (a la many 1968 rock bands - ok though it was back then). Rock drummers should study Steve Gadd 😏

I think factors to get a ballsy dark sound:- A pick up at the neck (possibly a humbucker); a rosewood fretboard; preferably not an ash body; a bridge pick up to add the bite and definition. It's not coincidence that people are talking EB2 and Hofner. You could add EB3 and a lot of more modern basses to that list also (eg a Stingray HH). Intereting to read the Motown comment!! And yes that DI is available these days commercially - I wonder if any of the Jamerson/62 P bass devotees use one for authenticity (Mr Devine as an example)!!

So if you're going on aesthetics you have a problem as they're both fabulous. Id go with the ceramic - I think they can produce a more punchy sound. Although mine is way over 10 lbs in weight I won't be selling it - it sounds absolutely great and although I have a 8.5 lb Stingray 5 Special i still love the ceramic one. Regarding rolled edges, I think these were introduced in the mid/late 90s - my maple board 2003 has them - I have a 1993 SR4 which doesn't.

The output (of the ceramic SR5) can be relatively low compared with some basses - might be worth changing the battery and strings as you say. Also the output changes as EQ is boosted. I always refuse to use those DI boxes which bypass everything at gigs - I use the amp DI out with post EQ and on a Markbass you get a volume control for the DI output so can adjust if necessary as required by the sound engineer. That way the sound engineer gets the sound you want amplified to start with and can do whatever adjustments they think are needed to deliver FOI. Interesting you should say this - I did an outdoor gig through a house PA recently and the sound guy came and asked if I'd turned up the bass volume after a particular song - the answer was no I hadn't but I played it harder as it had a driving bass part... Just goes to show they need to mix the bass in the same way as any other instrument!!

It does make you wonder how hands on this role would be as opposed to management. Such as transporting and setting up equipment for video shoots, organising interviews, transport etc. Rather like a PA (personal assistant as opposed to public address) cum roadie etc. Who knows!! Or maybe the D Ops manages the people who do that? It sounds like the CEO comes up with the strategy and the D Ops sorts out the implementation. A bit like John Hall and his senior management team.

Yeah I thought so as well - I don't know but wondered if it mightn't be referenced to founder member Boon, who passed away in April. Anyway I thought it was a really nice cover - lovely rythmn guitar and sound on the Les Paul and the whole thing sounded really good. Like others, I've followed this band since they first appeared, seeing them live for the first time at a University Union bar in 1983. I last saw them a couple of years ago at Hammersmith - they seriously get better as a live act every time I see them.

Would you be talking the COmmander in Chief (COC) here? If so this is most definitely fake news - a terrible, that's a terrible travesty. Perhaps the COC is planning to buy and set up another resort - and JH is the warm up act? 🤔

This is right on the nail. And we are lamenting the days when it was obligatory for our Eurovision entry to either be written or change somewhere into 3/4 - presumably to appeal to certain country's judges, and to contain copious amounts of onomatopoeia (Boom Bang A Bang - Boom Boom Boom Boom etc)

You've clearly been coaching the drummer in one of the bands I play in!!

They must have ruled out the two royals (Birkdale and Liverpool (Hoylake)) as unsuitable then.

Did he still use that very unique hand technique he had for darts for scooping up the breakfast components? I seem to recall he was from the era when darts players were relatively large chaps who wore bespoke smocks - often with large national flags as part of the design - not to be barged at the buffet I'd say 😏 Perhaps JH will be wearing something similar for the golf club event - btw are women permitted at the golf club?!!

I'm sure all that is possible. Sounds a bit like the World Darts Championships. Perhaps the BC massive can be provided with sponge pointy hands to hold aloft and the like 😁👍😀 Seriously though - this is surely for Rickenbacker fans rather than the 'oh shock horror the bridge screws are 0.003" too short' types, or my Rockinfaker illegal copy has been rendered unsalable on bass forums single-handedly by this CEO - people? Ultimately it's probably their lawyers who are responsible anyway!! Do you not think the retailer was chosen by Rickenbacker to work with - the only big shop on that area I can think of is Promenade Music but I may have it completely wrong!!

I was driving whilst this was on Radio 2 and am thankful for it giving me quite a few major laughs and keeping me awake - not least the listener voting - that the Russians could receive 250 odd and the U.K. 3 says a great deal - and the Germans zero. Hilarious I thought!! I suspect some of this is caused as much by taste irregularities in some countries but also probably more by a feeling of certain countries having a parriah-like image - ours is probably fuelled by idiot politicians (or non politicians - well at least policy-less politicians like that that trouble maker whose name rhymes with garage (but only when pronounced poshly and unlike the music genre). FWIW I thought our entry was pretty good - certainly not out of place with the Dua Lipa/Calvin Harris style stuff on commercial radio - and it was heavily Bass orientated. The Iceland entry was hilarious - death metal vocals on Eurovision..... unbelievable. Long may the Eurovision Song Contest continue - it's really a quite hilarious mismatch of very diverse cultures with over production to the nth degree. I'm sure the anti Europe brigade politicians think it's a huge waste of money - well some of us would prefer to think they're a divisive huge waste of space. Someone pointed out to me the other day that if we come out of Europe we can still enter the song competition as even Australia and Israel take part....

Well it's great to hear he can be asked to come over and talk directly to people. I can only presume the location is dictated by a demographic of their instruments selling better in the north of the country - in fact their most famous musician users were from that very area IIRC (thus blowing a hole in the ludicrous Fender marketing blurb that their basses are the sound of pop music - yes if you presume US manufactured pop of the 60s and early 70s constitutes pop music - which of course ignores most of the output of the U.K. - arguably far more the 'sound of pop music' 😂😂 - accents are scouse not Seattle... ). The other possibility is the history of London shops offering truck loads of Rickenfakers in the early 2000s - I was in the market for a 5 (Musicman of course) and couldn't believe the number of basses with Reckinfarter and all other possible misspellings of Rickenbacker on their headstocks in the Denmark St shops. I think the question of why they don't offer cheapo Chinese imports is pretty straightforward. Just because that famous organisation beginning with the letter F chooses to offer basically the same instrument ranging in price from bargain basement to bespoke custom shop - and made all over the world - doesn't mean everyone should follow such a model - given the financial performance of that company you could argue such an approach would be plain stupid. The US is currently at a hiatus between cheap foreign imports and home made - more expensive goods. I'm sure Rickenbacker is unlikely to produce cheap foreign made versions of its instruments as it has a certain business model which doesn't fit this idea. Does Ferrari make cheapo versions of its cars - if you want one you have to save up for it - no different for Rickenbacker really (or any other goods which are positioned in the market in a certain way). I suspect anyone wishing for a change in this could be pi**ing in the wind.

It'll be on iplayer somewhere. I hope you guys realise that Flog It, Bargain Hunt and Dickinson's Real Deal are part of the pantheon of daytime tele and for those of a certain age and persuasion it's quite relaxing viewing (unlike that programme that's just been taken off the air - which I've only ever known young to Middle Aged women watch - good riddance to that one). I think you're doing Flog It a bit of a disservice - after all the auctions they use mostly have Internet and stuff in demand (like old Moorcroft vases or vintage Stratocasters) pop up in people's searches or even alerts. Some of the stuff sold is bought by retailers who would also have to make a profit and give the item parking space for however long it may take them to sell it. Also was it fully original and was the colour desirable - it all makes a difference (even with Moorcroft vases...). So I think you're treating Flog It a bit harshly - just don't start having a go at Countdown as well....... 😂😂😂 The price sounds a little low but when I first saw this thread I was thinking they'd sold a 59 Strat for £200 or something really daft!!

Congratulations - these are fabulous basses. I use mine most of the time and the aqua sparkle has some great effects dependent on lighting 👍

Hang on a minute - lest anyone forget Fender invented the wheel along with the inaccessible truss rod and other engineering marvels - however if their instruments required wheels they would be true to vintage as everyone knows solid tyres are best - none if this new dangled pneumatic rubbish 😏 To me the look of the Rickenbacker bass has something of the Art Deco and gothic going on all at once - it's extremely cool in my view.

The Allegro was introduced in 1973 (or maybe 74) and stayed in production until replaced by the Maestro in about 1983. They were pretty popular but the square steering wheel (I think it was called quartic) was deeply unpopular and was dropped for a standard one after a couple of years. Believe it or not the Allegro 1750 SS was the epitome of a boy racer's dream in 1974 - I know - I went and looked at one - but they were eclipsed by the Golf GTI a couple of years later. Vanden Plas made luxury versions of BMC cars as well as limos and then BL ones - the Allegro was possibly the worst looking of all - it's predecessor - the Vanden Plas 1300 was much nicer!! They had full leather and in some cases an upgraded engine (including one with a Rolls Royce 4 litre). The grille looks abominable on the Allegro - all the other badge engineered saloons like MG disappeared in 1973/4 - presumably BL had a financial stake in VDP and its workshops. There is a parallel here between the hatred for JH and the chairman of BL, Lord Stokes - he scrapped the Mini Cooper, fitted hideous bumpers to the MGB for the US market among lots of other hated decisions - the Graham Taylor (in England manager guise) of car company chairmen.

Why is he pretending to be Eddie Jordan??? 🤗

Isn't that a bus? 🤔😀

It was a metaphorical reference - those spouting vitriol and smoking at the same time are likely to explode. Ive heard of self combustion also!! I must say that these reposts against Mr Hall do remind me somewhat of the 'Benzedrine puff adder' once used as a description of Basil Fawlty..... they just seem to be insults to me. In the early days of Internet forums and before, presumably lawyers or even doctors advised against company officials saying daft things, the likes of John Hall (if indeed it was him behind the user name) were occasionally embroiled in heated exchanges with people on forums. Sometimes these were hilarious not only for the responses from company names but the level of ire in the posts - to the extent I did wonder if rival company employees weren't behind some of it. I've seen individuals banned for very good reason and then pop up again on, say Talkbass to bemoan it!! Not that I'm saying anyone in this thread is in those categories. However the internet has moved on as has liability for stuff posted there and some of the stuff referred to in this thread, entertaining though it is for some (perhaps not John Hall) is possibly from relatively ancient history. Also bullying on the Internet is probably illegal these days 🤔 Just pointing this out...... My own view is we should just get on and enjoy the wonderful instruments and ignore the individuals - a bit like we do with Fender, who still seem capable of making guitars where the truss rods snap within a short time and then take a while to fix it satisfactorily. However they've also generally upped their game - though not to the extent of some of the smaller approaching boutique level people like EBMM, PRS etc etc - maybe Rickenbacker.

Blimey - looks a tight fit with the case - Fender 'precision engineering' I guess 😏😀👍

There's a lot of theories here - is it remotely possible he runs it at all and in the way he does because he's passionate about Rickenbacker?

Indeed - for spontaneous combustion - however we're talking vitriol fuelled combustion - where a naked flame or heat sources is almost certain to cause catastrophic explosion 😀