Musky

He's got this on Ebay as well - it's a Highway. There's a short thread about it [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=2592"]here.[/url]

[quote name='nixonuk' post='28309' date='Jul 7 2007, 02:34 PM']Many thanks Musky. I am at that stage as a beginner where I dont know whether to go back to fingers, or plod on with the plectrum. I am better with fingers but I know for the music I want to play most Bassists use a plectrum. decisions decisions lol![/quote] It's horses for courses really, and a pick is pretty much the only way to get that aggressive attack (unless you're John Enthwistle . There are benefits to using fingers, but it largely depends on the style you play and for what you want I'd stick with a pick. There can be some snobbery about pick vs fingers (usually from the fingers style players), but at the end of the day it's the results you get that count. There are amazing players of both styles that sound incredible.

Hmm. No experience of the Deans at all I'm afraid, though a quick google reveals they've got the body shapes and and headstock to suggest that neck dive could be a problem. Aside from that most of the Metal Man models have pickups right next to the bridge, which is the prime picking area for an aggressive punk/rock sound - though if you're considering one maybe you play a little further up the strings anyway. The simple answer is give it a try and see how it sounds and feels to you. For comparison try a Vintage modified Precision - the Precision is pretty much the yardstick for punk/rock type stuff, and the VMs have been getting very well received by all who've tried them. You can pick them up for £175 delivered from Thomann.de, so you could use that to haggle with your local shop.

[quote name='Bloodaxe' post='27656' date='Jul 5 2007, 10:53 PM']Next... [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Aria-Pro-II-RS-The-Cat-Bass-Matsumoku_W0QQitemZ330142478982QQihZ014QQcategoryZ4713QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem"][b]The CAT[/b][/url] This has been knocking about for a couple of weeks now &, oddly, attracting no interest - no PayPal the reason? Anyway £80 seems a steal.[/quote] £80 is a good price. Though not as good as the £26 odd he paid for it (I did a completed items search when he first listed it). Maybe people were figuring it's comparatively overpriced if such bargains were to be had.

$500-600 should get you a Fender Japan precision or jazz, or maybe a US made Highway. I'd probably be inclined to go for a japanese one as they can eclipse the US made basses in terms of quality. You've got a lot of choice at that price, but both the Jazz and Precision are classics that should hold their price well. Be sure to try both though, as they're very different in both sound and feel. Who are your favourite players/bands by the way? I usually find people starting out are happiest with something similar to what their heros play.

Seems like it's a highway so £375 isn't a bad price, but not a huge bargain.

[quote name='Clunge' post='25837' date='Jul 2 2007, 12:00 AM']Hehe, sorry to contradict but I'm 99.99% certain he doesn't use a Micro Synth (being something of a Wolstenholme fanboy n'all ). + I'd like to try and get that sound using just one unit if possible, mainly to keep my board nice and compact.[/quote] Don't be sorry - you've just set me straight! In a weird bit of synchronicity, its seems he does also use the Bassballs though. [url="http://www.bassplayer.com/story.asp?storycode=15875"]http://www.bassplayer.com/story.asp?storycode=15875[/url]

[quote name='Clunge' post='25730' date='Jul 1 2007, 08:17 PM']Well the Museier the sound, the better. The Flying Tomato sounds like a fairly good bet as does the GI Fuzz, do they sound good with bass? Also, anyone who's owned/tried either, which offers the smoothest tone? - the GI or the FT? Cheers, I'm really not that knowledgeable about all this stuff .[/quote] Sorry Clunge - I had a totally different sound in mind and yeah, unless you get lucky secondhand its above your price limit. Though oddly enough Chris Wolstenholme does use a micro synth, inline with a Big Muff. A Bassballs and big muff might do the trick. I could make a few more suggestions, but I doubt your wallet would appreciate them.

[quote name='Clunge' post='25677' date='Jul 1 2007, 06:08 PM']Instead of making a new thread, I'll shove what I'm looking for here. Basically, I'm looking for a really smooth, synthy bazz fuzz which gives tonnes of sustain and maintains as much of the lows as possible. I have a throaty, gravelly bass sound covered but I'm looking for the other end of the spectrum. Any unit/pedal suggestions are welcome, prefs not about £125 if possible, though I might be able to stretch.[/quote] Above your budget, but the EH Bass Micro Synth will give you some nice synthy distortion, and a whole lot more as well.

Yeah, Mark King is a first rate bass player. But when he really lets fly I think he can on occasions let his virtuosity get in the way of a song.

To be fair, most of those suggestions are just simple basslines - which doesn't make them crap per se. A crap bassline IMHO is one that actually detracts from a song. Something that Mark King has been guilty of at times.

I'm not sure about about neck width, but Rickenbacker have certainly messed about with the neck profile over the years, which might make it feel like a wider neck. 60's necks were very slim (and breakable) and were strengthened at the end of the decade with a bigger volute at the headstock and a chuckier profile. Rickenbacker seem to have changed the neck profile almost on a whim since the beginning of the eighties, though nothing major. Ricks are still handmade (or should that be hand crafted) so it may be that they deliberately allow differences in neck profiling. I know Gordon Smith guitars are made like this to give the player a bit of choice according to their personal preferences.

Bassassin - It sounds like the Precision copy you've got is pretty similar to the Kay I learnt on. Natural finish, body made from 6 pieces of wood (3 pieces top and bottom), six bolt neck (although it appeared to be one piece) and weighed a ton. The pickups had no top end whatsoever though, and as the neck was glued as well there was nothing I could do to improve the fairly dire action at the dusty end. Oh, happy memories.

Teisco have quite a following, as you might have guessed from the website, but I think their appeal lies in their cheesiness rather than any inherent quality. The pictures from the ebay auction are exactly how I remember the late seventies things sold in Woolies, and they were absolutely dire. It's entirely possible that Woolies were sourcing their instruments from elsewhere by that point, and by that time had no connection with Teisco.

You might want to look at the Teisco Twangers website. Some of these guitars were rebadged as Kay and Top Twenty for sale in the UK. What I remember of Top Twentys from the late seventies, was that they were extremely shoddy instruments, and were about the cheapest things you could buy that looked vaguely like an instrument. Unless anyone remembers differently, they were at that time only sold in Woolworths - just a guitar and bass version, which were clearly the bottom of the line being produced. I really can't imagine any cheaper being available, anywhere. The picture of the A 200 you've posted looks like a dream machine compared to the top twentys I remember.

[quote name='silverfoxnik' post='23055' date='Jun 25 2007, 03:46 PM']First to spring to mind were these: Good Times - Chic Sir Duke/I Wish - Steve Wonder but in some ways, maybe it's easier to identify amazing basslines in funk/soul etc. As something from a completely different genre, how about: [b]Walk On The Wild Side - Lou Reed [/b] A totally sublime and brilliant bassline by Herbie Flowers...[/quote] I was working my way backwards through this thread and couldn't believe no one had mentioned Walk on the Wild Side, until I found silverfoxnik had got in there right at the start. Herbie Flowers line absolutely makes this song and is instantly recognisable, which to my mind makes it a winner. And I'm not even much of a fan of Lou Reed.

There's the short-scale sound as well. Which also brings to mind that muddy sound typified by an EB-3 or Telebass. And also the semi-sound of the Rivoli/EB-2 - rounded attack and often less sustain.

There were a couple of great links that were stickied, but which seem to have disappeared in the the move here. They were [url="http://www.garywillis.com/pages/bass/bassmanual/setupmanual.html"]http://www.garywillis.com/pages/bass/bassm...etupmanual.html[/url] and [url="http://www.weedhopper.org/bass_guitar_setup.asp"]http://www.weedhopper.org/bass_guitar_setup.asp[/url]. I found them both more useful than the fender one in terms of understanding exactly whats going on when you adjust the truss rod (particularly the gary willis site). As Muppet says, it can be difficult to give simple advice without knowing how your bass is set up to start with, but the fact that it's buzzing higher up the neck suggests you need to tighten the truss rod. Edit: Wizbat, that's exactly what I thought happened when you adjust the truss rod until I saw the Gary Willis site!

There's been a few threads on the Squier VM range, and a couple specifically on the TB. Opinion has pretty much been that they're great basses and fantastic value to boot. You might want to take a look [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=111"]here[/url] for a review.

Quality bass for less than £100? Try one of these [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Aria-Pro-II-RS-The-Cat-Bass-Matsumoku_W0QQitemZ330138772954QQihZ014QQcategoryZ4713QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Aria-Pro-II-RS-The-C...1QQcmdZViewItem[/url] Unlike the others you're considering, you can be pretty sure this will be worth more than you paid for it in a few years.

[quote name='kevbass' post='21550' date='Jun 21 2007, 07:42 PM']I wouldnt use T-cut, I did once and I ended up with what appeared to be smears on the area that I used it, if I were you I'd just leave it, black tends to show up more lacquer scratches than other colours anyways.[/quote] Yeah, T cut is relatively course (though still not as abrasive as the finest wet-and-dry used wet). It will remove light scratches but can take a bit of the sheen off. Which is why you'd need to finish off with a finer rubbing compound.

T Cut is fine for removing light scratches, though you don't want to go crazy with it. Just thin it out with water. Then use a lighter compound to remove any swirls.

[quote name='Adee' post='20725' date='Jun 20 2007, 01:06 PM']Thanks for that its helped kick start my search i've found the following possible names CLEARSOUND KINOR ARIA LORI KAWAI Possible all made and re-badged under various names in one of the Japanese factories late 60's or early 70's Not sure if I should clear it up and keep or sell at the moment ! If anyone has any further info please let me know[/quote] Aria were made by Matsumoku so you might fancy checking out [url="http://www.matsumoku.org"]http://www.matsumoku.org[/url] Kawai were AFAIK an entirely different company with their own production facilities, and would quite happily rebadge their instruments with anything an importer wanted. So while I've never heard of any of the other companies, if Kawai were knocking out similar looking basses it's quite likely they were also sold under other names.

There was a query about a very similar looking bass a little while ago. Bassassin reckoned that one was an Aria A200. I'll see if I can dig up the post. Edit - Must have been on BT. I can't even find it cached in Google. I did find a picture on the net though. [attachment=825:Arai_for...0_90__lb.jpg]