molan

17 hours ago, molan said:

I’ve had a go at something similar, and for the same reason!

 

Mine was based on the Lakland Clayton P style signatures. 
 

US body, McIntyre J neck, some vintage hardware I had kicking around and a US custom wound pickup - must track down my invoice for that as it was quite expensive!

 

Found out what the pickup is. It’s a custom wound Curtis Novak. Sounds clean and crisp with the tone wide open and punchy / growly with it wound off. 
 

Responds really well to subtle changes in how hard you play with fingers. In that closed position it can deliver a really smooth, full, sound if played with care and then turns into a bit of a rock monster if you hit the strings harder. 
 

Perfect for moving from Bad to Beautiful Day or those classic U2 slower songs that build and build to a more aggressive

climax. 
 

I gigged it last night and really liked it!

2 hours ago, police squad said:

I didn't know he played a Lakland P type

Looks very cool

There’s a matching J as well. I’ve seen pics of him with the J. 

I’ve had a go at something similar, and for the same reason!

Mine was based on the Lakland Clayton P style signatures. 
 

US body, McIntyre J neck, some vintage hardware I had kicking around and a US custom wound pickup - must track down my invoice for that as it was quite expensive!

I’ve had a first trawl back on my emails and can’t find any information on this. The neck marking does look familiar and I have a feeling it is a Rick’s Fine 52 build but can’t be sure. 
 

If so, everything will be very high quality with some hardware being original and everything else being ‘period correct. 
 

I have some Bassgear archive material buried away. I’ll try to dig that out and see if there’s anything there. 

On 15/04/2025 at 15:27, neepheid said:

 

I have not, that I recall.  In that rarefied air, I have played a Ritter before - when I say "played" I mean "gingerly wore, scared to breathe on it wrong"

 

I’ve used a Ritter as my main gigging bass for over 10 years now. They are surprisingly resilient and the high gloss finish still looks like new

On 15/04/2025 at 12:03, Terry M. said:

As an ex-owner of a Sadowsky outboard preamp pedal and current Fendowsky owner I would say it's how the circuit makes the bass frequencies cut through live mixes with hardly any loss of nuances. 

I’ve owned quite a few of Roger’s basses and I’ve always thought that it was this ability to sit so nicely in a live band mix that makes them special. 

15 hours ago, funkle said:

 

I originally bought this from @molan. It’s been so long I had to check all my old emails!

Indeed you did!

Although I own a number of other basses, they rarely get any playing time these days as my Ritters just ‘work’ for me so well. My poor 60’s Fenders only get played about once every 2-3 months :(
 

I have five of them now and I’ve gigged all of them except my black Victor tribute (built by Jens in honour of my dear friend, and colleague, Vic Davies). 
 

I just love everything about them, light weight, lots of tonal variation, slim necks, fractionally shorter scales etc. Simply the most ‘playable’ basses I’ve ever owned. 
 

Your Roya looks lovely. I think the Roya body shape works better as a 5 than my usual 4’s. I’ve owned a couple but the upper horn position holds them slightly differently to my others and I kept finding my fingers drifting across 2 frets. 
 

Random pic of my Ritter wall in my study:

My old R8, I really miss this one!

I have a USA Lakland J with a custom Sims paint job. It’s actually the only bass allowed in the house by my wife and it hangs proudly on the wall in the dining room. 
 

I’d agree that the necks on these really are fabulous. I’d gig this one but it has an East pre-amp, which I really don’t like, and it’s simply too heavy for me these days 😭

1 hour ago, bassace said:

What am I listening to right now?
 

The Proms disco night on TV. It’s awful.

Get out of here - it’s fabulous. The horn section is to die for!

How does it balance on a strap?

With such a light body weight, I’d be slightly concerned that it could be a little neck-heavy?

Wow, this looks fabulous, love the colour!

Wow, only just seen this. 
 

So sorry to hear about your back problems. I dread the day when/if it comes that I can’t play any more. 
 

Shame I can’t play fretless 😢

Happy to help. I also spotted that the preamp is a John East Uni Pre, with passive tone.

Also that it weighed 8.4lbs according to the Gallery. 
 

It really is a great gigging bass with that slim neck, light weight, LEDs, pickup flexibility and the East. 
 

I found you could get a huge variety of tones from it - perfect for a covers band player!

I only sold it because I only ever gig my Ritters these days. I’ve got so used to the feel and neck profile now. 

On 07/01/2024 at 10:28, johnbiffa said:

Were you the original owner or do you know who spec’d it initially 🤔or when 😎

I first saw it for sale back in April 2017. I think it had been listed via The Gallery from the first owner. 
 

It then reappeared in Dec 2020 and that’s when I agreed to buy it. I can’t for the life of me remember what the delay was but I took delivery in May 2021. 
 

I think that made me the 3rd owner. 

I owned this one for a while. Nice bass and the 33” scale makes it just that little bit easier to whizz around the neck

On 21/06/2023 at 17:17, PaulWarning said:

I'm not convinced that our website is value for money, but the singer loves the perceived kudos of having one and he runs it (the band pays) so it's not worth the aggro of having an argument about it, I don't understand tictok but it seems to have traction, I'll have to investigate

It shouldn’t cost much to run. Ours is £9 a month(and that actually allows me to maintain 5 sites). 

So sad to hear this, one of my absolute favourite bassists. 
 

Always seemed to be able to get so much heartfelt emotion to even the simplest of parts. 
 

I adore his playing on this from John Martyn:

9 minutes ago, Biscuity Boyle said:

Something...anything from these guys.  

 

 https://atlansiaguitars.com/

Maybe the 1-String - I actually love the idea of this 😂

Knirrir - whereabouts in Oxfordshire are you?

I’m right down in the south in Henley

21 minutes ago, Mudpup said:

I think you had about 4 on the wall when i visited. I wonder if anyone else on here has one?

I reckon the first batch was 4 and then we received another 4 about 18 months later. 
 

As far as I remember, all initial sales were in the UK (although we did sell a lot of instruments into Europe). 

On 18/04/2023 at 21:26, Mudpup said:

My Zon Sonus Standard Import is the only one I can't see being sold. Mainly because I could never replace it as they are so rare. I saw a couple on the wall at a now defunct bass specialist store around 2011 (Bass Gear in Twyford - I think @molanmay have had something to do with the place?), played one, loved it but couldn't afford the £1000+ price tag on it. Moved on and forgot about it.

 

And then walked into my local guitar store a few years ago to buy some picks and saw one hanging on the bass wall (amongst the usual stock of a couple of Fenders and Ibanez basses). It was used, mint condition and very keenly priced as they didn't know too much about them. I couldn't believe it. 30 seconds later it was coming home with me..... I've never seen another one in the wild since that first sight back in 2011.

 

 

 

 

We had the exclusive rights to sell these when they first came out. The biggest problem was getting hold of them. We more or less agreed to take every one that Joe could get to us but I don’t think we even made it into double figures. 
 

I’d say that if you got one for under a grand then you picked up a real bargain!

18 hours ago, Cato said:

I'd have to go proper top end, stuff I probably wouldn't feel able to justify even if I had the spare cash, so Alembic, Fodera, maybe a particularly high spec Ritter.

 

I'm intrigued to find out what the additional outlay gets you.

 

I kind of get that much like Wal, nothing sounds quite like an Alembic because of their unique electronics, but with Fodera and Ritter, aside from body shapes, the differences between them and other basses are less obvious.

I own a couple of Ritters and have 2 more on order. 
 

For me it’s the playability and feel. I can play stuff on my #1 Cora that I simply can’t play on other basses. I can come close of course but not quite in the same way as my Cora. 

On 27/02/2023 at 22:55, ped said:

Looks great and you must feel relieved to have it all sorted. I’m amazed that nitro checks so quickly - I assumed it happened over a long period of time with temp changes etc.

I think the paint is probably 4-5 years old now but it’s been in a case and not played. 
 

We were planning to sand the neck back a little but decided to wait and it’s now checking as well. 
 

Neck must be 11 years, or more, since it was refinished.