GrammeFriday

PS Any composer who names a piece after a Lithuanian racing cyclist who got banned for doping has got to be worth a listen!

Ambient, you might also like Laurence Crane. Here's cellist Oliver Coates playing his best-known piece, ’Raimondas Rumsas': [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuZwzoj85C0[/media] His piano pieces are also really good - think Satie but with 500% extra wryness (Crane is often described as 'droll', and with good reason): [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7_3_Cl5Pcs"][media]http://www.youtube....h?v=c7_3_Cl5Pcs[/media][/url] It's typical of Crane that he got Michael Finnissy to play these piano pieces - Finnissy's own work is ... well ... a bit busier, I guess you could say: [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sMVrmnufPo"][media]http://www.youtube....h?v=0sMVrmnufPo[/media][/url]

The title of this thread led me to think this was going to be a Haydn vs. Boulez dust-up. Ah well.

All I 'need' is: Two 5-string basses Identical make and model One fretted, one fretless Roundwounds on both 24 frets (i.e. 2 octaves for the fretless) Bridge and neck pups 3 band eq with active/passive switching. Everything else is just 'want'. (And I do want ...)

The gain control on the TH behaves in a somewhat different way from the gain control on many other amps - the best explanation of how it works that I've come across is in paragraph 2 of this review: http://www.jazzwisemagazine.com/pages/jazz-instrument-reviews/62-amplifiers/13126-aguilar-tone-hammer-500-bass-amplifier Hope this helps, but my apologies if I'm just telling you what you already know!

[quote name='miles'tone' timestamp='1425717960' post='2709956'] Christ just read all that back, please forgive the gushings Here's the condensed version : I bought a Squier P5, they are f**king ace. The end. [/quote] No need to apologise - I liked the long version much better. V informative post - thanks for taking the time to write it!

Hallelujah! Are you supporting UK Subs again, Chris?

Yes, very good - and others seemed to be missing a trick as there were plenty of bassists queueing up to try stuff out at the Fender stand. The other thing that struck me was how enthusiastic and passionate the staff at the Fender stand all were about their stuff - very much at odds with the view you often hear about Fender being lazy, complacent and indifferent to their customer base.

Yesterday I took my guitar-playing son to the Guitar Show at New Bingley Hall in Birmingham. Not many basses there, as this was definitely focused on skinny-stringed things, but Fender (gawd bless em) had a good selection of their stuff to try out, so I spend a good while noodling at their stand while my son was drooling over the Strats and Teles. Main thing to report is that I was absolutely bowled over by how good the Am Standard Precision V is. They had a 3TSB rosewood one on display, and I couldn't get over how fab it sounded. Of course it had that fat, rich sound, as you would expect, but I wasn’t expecting it to sound [i]that[/i] good, and I really wasn’t expecting the low B to be so kick-ass - really strong fundamental, and amazingly good power and sustain for a passive instrument. Fit and finish were rock solid, too, as you would expect for an Am Standard. I kept coming back to it for another go, and another, and another, as the day progressed, and never tired of it. The only downer was that there was no Squire VM Precision V to a/b it with, so I am now even more keen to try that out than I was before! Either way, I now have a bad case of GAS for one of these things. As for the others that I tried out: Am Standard Jaguar (4 string): Loved the looks (gloss black, white pick guard, rw board, white blocks, millions of little switches) but didn’t warm to the tone, either in active or passive mode. Nothing actually wrong with it, and it was certainly a lot more versatile than the P, but none of the sounds it made were anywhere near as nice, and overall I found it a bit, I dunno, ‘plasticky’ sounding. But I was listening to it on headphones, and maybe it might work better in a band mix, so perhaps best to reserve judgement, but it definitely didn’t speak to me yesterday. Am Standard lined fretless Jazz (4 string) - same black and white livery, but I LOVED playing this - such an easy fretless to play, and the sound of the first few bars of ‘Portrait of Tracy’ (yes, I know, it’s as bad as playing Stairway to Heaven on a guitar in this context, but hey) still put a massive stupid grin on my face - stupid because of course it was going to do the Jaco sound - what else was it going to sound like? - but it’s still a rush to get ‘that’ sound in the headphones again. I guess it’s because I haven’t owned a jazz (fretted or fretless) for a while now, and hearing that tone again is like bumping into an old friend unexpectedly. Hey! Good to hear you again! Anyone considering getting one of these, I'd say don't hesitate - worth every penny. Am Standard Dimension HH (4 string) - metallic blue, black pick guard, maple neck. This was the first Dimension I’d ever tried. I quite liked the looks, and wanted to like the sound, but was really disappointed by it - whatever I tried to do with the pickup and tone controls it just seemed to sound muddy and indistinct. I think I was expecting it to sound a bit more Stingrayish or something, but anyway, I didn’t warm to it at all and quickly put it back on its hanger and got the P down again instead. I will say that the neck felt really nice, though - apparently it is asymmetric, which may explain this (I love asymmetric necks). Sorry not to have more positive things to say about this one. The only other bass I tried yesterday was a Cort A6 - I really liked this a lot. I’d heard from some posts on here that these are really good VFM and I would certainly agree with that - very nicely made, posh woods, lovely silky satin finish, nice neck through design, super clear Bartolini pickups and (I think also Bart) preamp. Also lighter than I had been led to expect - felt about the same weight as a Stingray 5 to me, and was beautifully balanced. What really interested me about this one, though, was two things - the scale length and the string spacing. Regarding the former, this one is a 34 but has a MASSIVE low B, so this bass has delivered the final blow to any belief that I used to have that 35 scale Bs are always better than 34s. It has everything to do with construction and really not a lot to do with scale length. As for string spacing, the Cort is really tight - much tighter than my MTD KZ6, which is 18” at the bridge. I found the Cort to be much easier to play from the point of view of finger stretching - it hardly feels any different to playing a 5 - but it was really difficult to slap on, whereas slapping on the MTD 6er is not a problem. So this also convinced me that 6ers are always going to have to force you to compromise one way or the other - which in turn has helped me to decide once and for all that the five-string bass is the best of all worlds, for me at least. As for the guitars, my son and I both really liked the Fender Am Standard Tele and a mad purple PRS thing, but our best in show was a Schecter Hellraiser in blingy black cherry with Abalone inlays and binding, and some very evil sounding EMG pups - shred on! \m/

So did I - in fact at the time I was listening to both Yes and the Stranglers and was always struck by the tonal similarities between JJB and CS. Of course, in those days you simply weren't allowed to like both bands, so I had to keep quiet about it. Glad to hear you point this connection out now - reminds me of something I had entirely forgotten about! Now, anyone got any ideas about the 'Barracuda Bass' sound on 'In The Shadows'?

Stranglers - Nice n Sleazy. Come to think of it, pretty much any Stranglers song.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1425030354' post='2703057'] This, plus a billion. I've wasted so much time being strung along by otherwise brilliant bands who talk the talk, but in reality have no intention whatsoever of doing regular gigs and see rehearsal as a weekly social event. Not only a waste of my time, but their talent, too. No more! Get on BandMix, Starnow, Join My Band and all the other online places. Go to jam nights and open mic nights. Go and see local bands, get on the scene. See what attracts you, organise as many auditions as you possibly can. Most of the music sites can be filtered for local results. It's a numbers game - the more you get out there and see what's about and the more auditions you do, the more confident you will become and the more likely it is you will find talented, committed, like-minded people who want to get on with it and not waste your valuable time. [/quote] Brilliant advice - read and inwardly digest.

Top drawer. Now all you need is its fretless twin!

[quote name='moonbass' timestamp='1424476715' post='2696871'] I ordered mine last year through Bass Direct. What struck me is how accurate the configurator is. Mine looked identical to the mock up. Sandberg even let me chose the imbuia facing from three different raw planks of wood. [/quote] That is gorgeous, moonbass - congrats! Imbuia seems to vary much more dramatically in appearance than many other rarewood tops, so it's great to hear they gave you a choice. The fact that Sandberg give customers this level of choice and quality of product at the prices they charge never ceases to amaze.

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1424337904' post='2695189'] But - to anyone that has ordered one in their own spec - Who did you order from? How long did it take? Any downsides etc etc? [/quote] I custom ordered a TM4 fretless from PMT Birmingham a few years ago - took 5 months (which is exactly what they told me). No downsides at all. I've also just placed a custom order for a VM5 from Bass Direct - their website also quotes a 5 month wait, although I didn't actually ask about this. We'll see how long it takes, but TBH I'm not really all that bothered if it takes a bit longer than before - I know it will be well worth the wait.

I'll be going all the way from Birmingham to London to see AC/DC later this year. But only cos the lazy sods aren't playing the NEC!

Looks like I'd better bring a padlock and chain as well!