Zenitram

I don't disagree particularly, but who would you say was influenced by Hooky's style of playing/writing? I can't think of anyone. Which probably just means I've never heard of them.

Apparently Hooky started playing high up on the frets from the very beginning, because the gear he was playing through was so crap (I remember something about Bernard butchering his granny's old gramophone by wiring it up through where the needle went to play his guitar) that he could only really hear himself in the higher registers. Jumping forward, by the time New Order were using lots of synth, there was generally a programmed synth bass line (think Bizarre Love Triangle), allowing Hooky to do his melodic thing. When I first heard PCL and Low-life, for example (I was a spotty teenage drummer at the time), I never realised that a lot of the melodies/tunes/riffs/whatever were a bass, I just thought they were lead-ish synth parts, and of course the thing is that it doesn't matter what they are, what they sound like or who plays them, all that matters is the song. And as someone else above said, New Order produced beguilingly sublime creations that are far more than the sum of their parts. Things like Your Silent Face, All Day Long, Leave Me Alone, The Village.... wow. Listen to this, with the synth bass first, and then Hooky coming in. Doesn't particularly sound like a bass. Doesn't have to. Doesn't matter. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd6P5H9ZUVk[/media] I could go on and on about New Order. They also produced an awful lot of absolute crud. PCL contains four of my favourite songs from my teenage years, desert island disc stuff. The other four are dreadful. Complete dross.

Damn.

1. Encore 2. Stagg 3. Dean 4. Westfield 5. Rockster 6. Benson 7. Chord 8. Shine 9. Chase 10. Kay

That tube looks like a great idea, but I curled all my strings up in an empty ice-cream tub, and they came out fine.

I can confirm that soaking strings in meths does wonders for them. The tired crappy old strings on my Stagg sound completely, totally different after an overnight bath in meths. So different that you might want to tread with care; if you have some amazing sound that you just love, don't go doing this. But then if you had a sound you loved, you wouldn't be considering this in the first place, I suppose.

Right. It makes the strings like on a harp. Makes sense in my head now. Thanks.

What does "better tension" achieve? Genuine question.

Mel managed to palm a load of unwanted stuff off onto me, for money. And pretty damned efficient about it she was, too, sneakily covering everything in bubble wrap and making sure it was delivered promptly. Oh yes. Just watch out, that's my advice.

There's nothing wrong with my Stagg -- I like it very much. Thanks for all the info. The dude hasn't replied so we can probably forget the whole experience and put it behind us.

[quote name='jaydentaku' timestamp='1339263109' post='1686104'] Why don't you post a wanted add on here for a cheap bass and name your price. That way you run the risk of getting something decent and not wasting your money in this sh*te. [/quote] Oh I have a cheap bass already (a Stagg). I was just curious. Thanks though!

Modesty?

Granted. I wouldn't buy it for anywhere near what he's asking, but he says he's open to that. Let's see if he answers my text. Another thing of course is how on earth I would be able to tell a good bass from a bad one. I know nothing about them!

Nice mixing desk behind it, mind...

Right, but apart from the fact that it's junk and they've sawn a bit off...

Hello. What do you clever folk think of this posting on Gumtree: [url="http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/a-jazz-bass-copy-with-a-great-jazz-sound-for-slap/103908772"]http://www.gumtree.c...-slap/103908772[/url] I'm intrigued because it's fairly local to me and, er, fairly cheap. And I love cheap. So. Can anyone shed any light?

How does one know if a pick-up is passive or active? Do they look differently? Have more wires sticking out of them? Etc.

Or it's been set on fire to achieve that 'bad paint job' look.