drTStingray

Yes definitely Blood Sweat and Tears - my first intro to in yer face walking bass lines!!

Correct - and corrected - don't know what came over me!! A band with one of the more bewildering set of line up changes!!

I suspect it depended where you were I guess - and older siblings would make a difference - my recollection of Motown (Tamla Motown in the Uk) and reggae was that white male teenagers listening to this would likely be latter day mods or skinheads - and more likely be into the finer points of football hooliganism and 'bovver' as it was known than doing such things as learning an instrument - Motown Chartbusters Vol 2 and 3 and Tighten Up Volume 3 were big albums for those guys at the time. I don't even recall Bernadette and only heard it more recently - although the bass was a little more audible on Motown it certainly wasn't very audible on transistor radio or even a Dansette player - and picking out a Motown bass part would be partially guesswork at the time. The first tracks of theirs which really made my ears prick up was Heard It Through The Grapevine - but that was quite different - and Tears of a Clown (Bob Babbitt on the Uk version).

Love the basses - first time I've seen a Sub and noticed the compensated nut. Mine's a 2003 5 in white (standard nut)

Yeah agreed on Danny Thompson - also Ric Grech and Larry Taylor. In fact the band Renaissance had a phenomenal bass player.

They had one bass in each colour (except mine) on display last Friday - I think mostly 4H and maybe a 4HH and a 5H - I would ring around and ask but I'm sure they'd take an order for a specific colour/model - if you're willing to put up with the GAS and wait - that's what I did!

Back in the late 60s (well say post 67), I and a number of my mates had growing desires to become musicians - me and one other wanting to be bass players - we were about 15/16, broke and still at school. So what did we read and listen to - Melody Maker - was read by musicians and more serious non teeny bopper modern music lovers (NME and magazines like Jackie catered for them) - MM had ads for used instruments like Les Pauls etc, Amps, and seeking musicians - it also treated 'underground' or 'progressive' music (rock and blues) as an art form, alongside jazz, folk and other genres. Albums were beginning to be more significant than singles and there were lots of great players and groups. Melody Maker ran singles and album charts and also readers voted for the top ten of lots of categories of musicians annually - if you seriously want to know who were thought of as best bass players of the era, research the Melody Maker polls. We'd just started getting stereo vinyl albums with fantastic gate fold sleeves - and better still mum's and dads were investing in stereo record players to hear their Beethoven and Sound of Music soundtrack albums in all their glory - which could be appropriated when they went out for listening to newly recorded (on 16 track) rock music.....!!! So in 1968 and 69 who did the aspiring bass player look up to and want to emulate - one things for sure it wasn't Joe Osborme or Carol Kaye - even the Tamla bassists (though their style and interesting lines were noticed - fact is none of us were good enough to play it then). Seriously, these people were considered as orchestral style players and lacking the excitement created by the rock players. So who would be my top few of 68-69 in no specific order:- John Paul Jones - Led Zep - albums Led Zep 1 and 2 Leo Lyons - Ten Years After - Stonedhenge; Schhhh Glenn Cornick - Jethro Tull - This Was and Stand Up (plus the wonderful bass on the single Living in the Past) Greg Lake - King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King Andy Fraser - Free - Tons of Sobs; Free Paul McCartney - The Beatles - Abbey Road; Let It Be Jack Bruce - Cream - Wheels of Fire; Goodbye Shuggie Otis; Max Bennett - Frank Zappa - Hot Rats Nick Semper (and Roger Glover - Joined with Ian Gillan 1969 to become the classic line up) - Deep Purple - Shades of Deep Purple and Deep Purple (the single Black Night and albums like Fireball were very early 70s - heaviest single on TOTP of the time??!!) Geezer Butler - Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath (actually released Feb 70). Larry Taylor - Canned Heat - Canned Heat Louis Cennamo - Renassance Peter Cettera - Chicago Transit Authority Danny Thompson - Pentangle - Tge Pentangle Noel Redding; Billy Cox - Jimi Hendrix Experience and Band of Gypsies; Electric Ladyland; Band of Gypsies There are loads more!! In my view these guys are must listens for aspiring bass players - and most of the British one's wanted to emulate (I.e were influenced by) Jet Harris (he of The Shadows). Who would be your favourite rock players of that era??

I don't know how much it actually weighs - I'd say 8 to 8.5 lbs (based on it being significantly lighter than my existing two light MMs)

This is very true! Now this new EQ - the bass and treble boost is more powerful than the old 3 band - more in the direction of a Bongo and reminiscent of the 2 band EQ. The mid range is centred differently - seems to be on a par with the mid range cut on the previous 3 band - so you can cut mid range more - the whole EQ is very musical - and very powerful if required. A couple more pics to show the sparkle off - I'm extremely pleased with this bass 😎😀

This!! Even on fretted basses some players do this - this month's BGM shows pics of Guy Pratt's 64 J and P basses in burgundy mist - he has added huge dots on top of the fretboard. My Fretless is unlined but I use the dots on the top as a point of reference - I only realised how much I rely on that when I played a gig where the lighting created varied visibility of the top of the neck. So long as I have the reference points I'm ok!!

It's Aqua sparkle - Its a very heavy metal flake and its full effect doesn't come over in photos - it's quite 'in your face'!! The charcoal sparkle is a little like the starry night colour which was done last year. The burnt Apple is also slightly metallic. I have a Cruz Teal 5HH on order - I would put that at a slightly lighter version of sea foam green. The yellow is quite a stunner as well!! Id recommend going and looking at some if you get the opportunity.

Thanks Misdee - as I said ive only got the one at the moment but I'm totally enjoying it - the slickness of the roasted maple neck is extraordinary - I already had a figured one on a Sabre but this one is just a joy to play. Combined with the light weight etc etc. V nice indeed!!

Mine were ordered in April - I only have the 4HH currently but bear in mind there was a bit of a delay partially because the range was only 'released' internationally (non US) yesterday - the 5HH is due this month. I'd expect three months or so ordered from the UK. Only a couple of the colours have fretboard choice - the rest are as advertised although it has been said on Talkbass that there may be later releases which have different hardware finish (such as black with natural). There's only a couple available with rosewood. Mine has ebony but there is no problem dialling up real thump or conversely that real Stingray shimmer. The colour combo on this bass is stunning - although I have been asked if I'm buying a glam rock outfit to go with it 😁

They all look good in real life - but if you're a sunburst/tort person the HD yellow with black hardware, for instance may not appeal!! So just walk on by tot the burst or natural. They all really do look good especially with the roasted maple necks.

The HH Ray in position 2 (outer single coils) is close enough to a Jazz for me to select it if playing Marcus Miller lines or wanting that type of sound. It also works (to my ears) on the new Special. I believe Andertons have a 4HH Stingray Special (though not a sparkly one - at least not on the display on Friday 😏) - you'd need to try one to see if it does what you want.

The cinnamon colour was, IIRC a later addition to the SUB colours. It's quite a cool colour as there's a certain amount of colour shift with the light. You are right about compensated nuts being introduced on Stingrays in 2005 - I think they appeared at the same time as the dual pick up models, the first of which were available in the 2005 LE colour variant (maybe later in the year). Not sure ive ever seen a compensated nut on a SUB - no doubt someone will post a pic in due corse!!

It's also a very late model one in that cinnamon colour.

New Stingray Specials start at £2250. US Subs (great basses btw - still love mine) were around £400 or just over when new in, say 2006 - the Bass Cellar as was were selling them at that price whilst in the window was a new 30th Anniversary Stingray for £1800 IIRC. The price of used Stingrays and pre EB has gone up in line with the new prices - the original invoice for my 93 Fretless is about £740 or so. But that's 25 yrs ago and an average house would have been about £60k!!! US Sub 5s seem to command a slightly higher price - say £500 +

If you were there or involved culturally at the time places a different perspective on things - and one which often challenges the inevitable 'sound bites' and perspective/angle laden history which develops over time. Imagine if in 45 yrs time people were arguing a current time world history based purely on the front pages of say The Daily Mail for instance - those here now might cringe and say well that's not really how it was!! Yes I got a little confused in this thread particularly when Bean79 started disagreeing with me when I was actually supporting his view and arguing with Grassie's 'accepted history' viewpoint. Nonetheless some interesting stuff has appeared in this thread!!

Extraordinary to see such negative vibes, and I'd wager none of you have seen one of these in the flesh let alone played one. Go and try one before you comment. I have one (more details to follow tomorrow) - the revoiced preamp does sound very musical even on full mid boost. The weight loss is very noticeable - I have a light Stingray and Sabre and this is noticeably lighter than them. The output is huge. The changed body and neck contours feel really good. Oh and flawlessly constructed and the roasted maple is the slickest neck I've ever played. What's not to like (other than the price - but this is easily as good if not better than say a Fender CS) Regarding string to string volume - this bass is very balanced - The pre amp is revoiced - I don't think people will have an issue with that even if the EQ settings are abused. And the slap tone remains wonderful - clever eh? Just to correct some errors in Misdee's post - there was an issue with quality control from CLF who made the pre EB basses initially, which affected amongst other things necks on pre EB basses - indeed rigorous quality control was instituted as dealers rejected the instruments and eventually this created a relationship breakdown because CLF were either unwilling or not capable of producing a product which would meet MMs requirements (this was the 70s!!!) - it's all readily available in print - the issues included inoperable truss rods, dead spots (at the very top end of the neck), rattling truss rods and worse. Those in circulation didn't have those issues.

You're right lots of people use them - but if you listed seminal, infuential players, then far less so (and remember the bass was fairly inaudible in the 60s so brilliant as Jamerson, Cogbill, Jemmott, Babbitt and to an extent Duck Dunn were no one had heard of them until more recent years and much of their output was fairly submerged in the mix - we didn't even have stereo in the 60s and much was heard on AM radio through tiny transistor devices with poor sound). The most famous bass player of all for instance has not used one.

Great piece of rock and roll Americana alongside the Strat (as far as Fenders are concerned) - in pastel colours, scream early 60s throw back, sunburst later 60s/early 70s, natural early 70s, black 70s rock, and white, late 70s punk. I guess the equivalent of an American Classic car - the difference being few people use the latter in everyday use in 2018, as despite how much nostalgia we have for them, they not the best at the job these days. Despite 50s design and origin have a place still in pop music, although are associated these days with inaudible or muddy, inarticulate bass sounds in modern music mixes. I absolutely love the look of them (especially in certain colours), but have found them no better than adequate, playing wise since the 70s and certainly not the best for certain genres. A lot of it depends what you are playing and what your playing style is. I do cringe at their (in my opinion) somewhat overstated place in the history of pop music, largely created by more recent commentators and educators. Many famous players have never played them, and some of those who have moved on to broader, more articulate sounds. Some have returned to them but has their bass sound improved? Perhaps we'll go full circle and those currently extolling P bass virtues will return to double basses (or euphonia and tubas haha 😂)

The P bass can be very muddy live dependent on how it's played and also EQd - in the case of the first point, from my observation and experience over the last 50 odd years, those who do sound good on them, even exceptional, whack the strings pretty hard - that has also been my experience - in the exceptional cases I'm thinking of the players were exceptional also. The second point regarding EQ is also important - and too important to be left to sound engineers who won't necessarily know the intricacies and vagaries of individual bass guitars, let alone their players, and should be given the bassist's bass sound to amplify/enhance rather than a pre EQd/pre modified sound - as described by Guy Pratt, whose entirely delay reliant part of a song was bypassed by the sound engineers, diverting his out of the bass sound to house DI prior to effects/EQ, thus screwing up part of his performance - in fact I'm concluding that this is a major contributor to inaudible bass guitar in some music these days. For those who think BGM etc are a waste of space, they've missed two of the most seminal bassists of now talking about these issues - and an interview by Silvia as well!! I don't buy the 67 years bit either - there was only a very gradual take up for the first ten, the 60s certainly wasn't an era where the P was ubiquitous, certainly in UK pop maybe it was in the US, the early 70s was surely shared with the J and Ric, whilst many of the best players moved to Wal or Musicman at the end of the era. 80s was shared with synth bass, 90s with 5 strings - and then it becomes v popular again. When I first started taking notice of these things (the later 60s), there were one or two high profile top rate players on P bass but more importantly the whole concept of bass guitar was still on an uphill struggle beyond pop/rock music to be accepted even as a serious instrument - against double bass!! Rather like Jools, those who chuck the BGM, BG baby out with the bath water miss some great moments - in fact the whole concept of a magazine is surely to create passing interest with one or two nuggets otherwise there wouldn't be such a plethora of them - from women's magazines to Ideal Home to OK - they appeal to broad taste in their subject area rather than individual's focus - even something as focussed as prog magazine is guaranteed a decent percentage of stuff which will only appeal to a percentage of readers. It's the nature of the beast!!

Now then, now then!! 😂

No problem - I found the Marcus article very enlightening to be honest. Im with you on the issue of those P bass sounds - a bugbear Ive had since the 70s in a live setting (with a few notable exceptions - who I also class as genius players!!). And the reason I don't play such a beasty!!