molan

Shame by Evelyn Champagne King before that it was Ain't No Stopping Us Now by McFadden & Whitehead Really got a disco / funk thing going at the moment

Looks like I'm all sorted already! The rather wonderful obbm has volunteered to show me how it's done & he only lives about an hour away from me. You have to love this place sometimes

My new (to me) Lakland JO came with a J-Retro from new but has been converted to passive. I'd like to re-fit the J-Retro but have never wielded a soldering iron in my life, although we do have one lurking in the garage! Is this something I could take on myself or should I just get the bass into a proper tech shop & get it sorted properly?

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='218742' date='Jun 14 2008, 10:34 AM']Hi again, Molan. It actually came form Electro in Doncaster. Dave Ryan did me an amazing deal, meaning I actually earned money on my Hofner Contemporary & Squier VMJ fretless by trading them in. There's a first! The Japanese MM's are really nice quality overall. Never played a badly made one at all. Mine's the natural, so you can see the ash grain very clearly. All I've done is changed the Fender 45-105 strings for some Roto 40-100's. The bass has such a thick sound that I thought I'd keep the guages a little higher than I usually would. The 30-90's can be reserved for my Status basses. Also played a brand new just out of the box American Standard Precision (black with maple) & it absolutely sang. Lovely bass, so I've ordered 3TS with tort guard & maple board.[/quote] Cool - I really like the look of darker coloured basses with maple boards. I like the ash MM's as well. Still can't make up my mind about that pick guard though. My Status is coming home tomorrow so very much looking forward to giving it a good clean, new strings & playing it properly. I have some flat wound lighter gauge strings kicking around somewhere so may try them out. I'm sure it ought to have round wounds for that acoustic zing but flats might be fun for a more laid back vibe, lol.

Good shopping Mr Jazz Sounded like you were going to crack on the Precision front but getting an MM at the same time sounds cool. Did you get them both from the US or did you find what you wanted in the UK? Only asking as I was really close to ordering an MM from the States as the used ones are often really well priced. However I'm a bit wary of long distance ordering on something that has a slightly indifferent rep with regards to quality.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='218681' date='Jun 14 2008, 02:50 AM']That doesn't sound at all like Chic. It doesn't work without Bernard. [/quote] I don't know if you tried any of the more obviously Chic songs from the same gig that are on YouTube but I totally agree that it just doesn't sound "right" somehow. I think it's really interesting that without Bernard Edwards it's all a bit "tribute band" even though you've got the other half of the core band playing? Just goes to show that when someone has a particularly distinctive signature sound they simply can't be replaced by another player who may be technically as good.

[quote name='Gunsfreddy2003' post='218632' date='Jun 13 2008, 11:07 PM']Wow that You Tube clip is awesome - thanks for sharing it with us! Shame I missed them on Sky - you do get some great gigs on the more obscure channels at times. Nice onw. Mark[/quote] I've been doing some work with Sky recently around their music programming. There really is some good stuff kicking around but you have to work hard to find it! One of my recent faves was some gospel on BET. I have to own up I've never even heard of Urban TV before. The ones I usually have a quick look at are Sky Arts, performance & Mainstream as they are all quite close on the on screen programming guide. I'm guessing Chic will be repeated at some time but I've just had a quick look and can't spot it in the next 7 days. I've really got into using the new programme guide on Sky.com and then remote recording on my Sky+ box. You have to register to do this but means I can pick my programmes sitting at my desk at work & then watch them when I get in. Can't do series record like this yet though. Drives the wife mad as I keep filling the box with music stuff. This week was Led Zep, some gospel, Quincy Jones and then Chic tonight

Just flitting around the Sky channels in between the footy earlier today and came across Chic Live in Japan from 2003. At times it was a bit like watching a tribute band playing Chic's greatest hits but there were some very cool moments. Most notably just listening to Nile Rodgers' great guitar playing. Omar Hakim was, of course, pretty damn impressive on drums. Couldn't quite make my mind up about Jerry Barnes, he certainly didn't play Bernard Edwards' bass lines note for note and at times I thought he was overplaying - and let's face it Edwards wasn't exactly 'economical' with his notes. Could just be that I will only ever hear those bass laines the way they were originally played so anyone else is going to sound kinda 'wrong' to me. Here's an example of Barnes' playing from a more recent gig. If the slapping gets too much just wait until Nile joins in on super funky guitar about half way through [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yxTNIi2g14&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yxTNIi2g14...feature=related[/url]

[quote name='Bigwan' post='218167' date='Jun 13 2008, 11:00 AM']Alas no. TF550B.[/quote] Still a nice piece of kit

I had a [i]very[/i] early Streamer with all the "desirable" bits & bobs of the early models - it even came strung with those Maxima Gold strings to set off the gold hardware. Trouble was I never got on with the damn thing! Could never put my finger on it but felt like a clunky old beast next to the Kubicki I traded it for. Obviously this was a big mistake financially, the Warwick would probably be worth twice what I paid for it now whilst the Kubicki is close to half the value. Having said that the Warwick wasn't for me and I've always enjoyed playing the Kubicki. It really is "horses for courses"!

Just wondered if it's possible to junk that odd looking scratchplate on the Japanese Marcus Miller & replace it with a regular shaped one without having to undergo major surgery on the electrics? To my mind the standard fit item on the MM bass just looks "wrong"

I have a Euphonic CXl 1x12 which is a nice little live gigging cab (in my opinion anyway!). Will probably sell it soon though as I've just picked up a couple of EBS cabs. One of these is a 2x12 and it's really punchy with a deep tone but a crisp top end as well. Haven't been able to gig with it yet but have a feeling it might be a really good standalone 12" option. I've tried it back to back with the EBS 2x10 and the 12 is way deeper in tone that the 10. If you're anywhere near me then you're welcome to try any of them - I'm in Henley by the way.

[quote name='tauzero' post='215968' date='Jun 10 2008, 10:24 AM']Incidentally, is it only me that places the playability of an instrument as the first and by far the greatest priority?[/quote] Playability is top of my list too! Looks & sound are obviously important but, with my limited ability, I really value something that just feels right.

[quote name='stingrayfan' post='214905' date='Jun 8 2008, 02:22 PM']I'm not gigging for a few weeks, so I'm gassing. for what, I'm not sure though![/quote] Buy a pedal - that'll keep you happy for a bit

[quote name='Ham fisted Bass' post='214699' date='Jun 8 2008, 01:33 AM']Is that all?.......You only live once.[/quote] God point - let's see if I survive the op OK

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='214695' date='Jun 8 2008, 01:20 AM']Glad you got hold of the Sadowsky in the end - I know you have been watching that for ages... and isn't Neil a top bloke??[/quote] Neil was a really nice guy. Great collection of basses & more than happy to let me try any of them. And what about that collection of pedals? Went round with a plan to spend half an hour & get back home & stayed nearly two hours

Just bought a pair of EBS cabs from Jake today. Both in absolutely mint condition! Great communications and really smooth organisation - top all round guy

Well - the Modulus VJ has gone to a good home but the Lakland & the Status have now been joined by a rather delightful Sadowsky NYC in a beautiful deep blue quiled maple finish and the MarkBass has two new, and significantly larger, EBS cabs - a 2x12 & a 2x10. The wife is far from impressed Another couple of hundred pounds worth of motorcyle bits should sell on Flea Bay this week so that'll make a bit of a dent in the debt mountain!

Not far at all from me and Mr Fandango