Dingus

[quote name='Prime_BASS' timestamp='1403677941' post='2485102'] If I spent £1k on headphones I'd expect some one to shoot me for being so ridiculous. I bet they still get tangled up in my back pocket. [/quote] They will still be knackered after a couple of years /( or less), too. Most of these in-ear designs are pretty fragile and will not give year after year of regular daily use. These headphones sound O.K, but well-chosen decent full size headphones can easily better them in terms of sound quality, especially if you are spending £1000. It would be very interesting to do a side-by-side comparison between these Shure in-ear 'phones and some relatively inexpensive full size sets, like the ( very good) Audio Technica ATH-M50's, which you can get for under a hundred quid and which will sound great , last for years and which will work well with most portable devices as well as full size hifi separates and pro audio equipment .

[quote name='Dr.Dave' timestamp='1403770173' post='2486013'] Dr. my arse - bloody fake. [/quote] Dr My Arse - isn't that a song by Jackson Brown ? Dr Dre can't be that stupid because he has just sold his company to Apple for a trillion quid. In comparison to that , I expect my doctor earns bugger all, but she has contributed next to nothing to the world of hip hop so she has really only got herself to blame . Hopefully she will have learnt her lesson and start mixing some beats at the first possible juncture.

I must admit that I have never noticed this snare/ hi hat foible, but I am going to try and hear it right now...

[quote name='r16ktx' timestamp='1403800204' post='2486592'] Sounds like you need to get your own sig strings :-) [/quote] Yes, good idea! They would have to be be overrated, expensive and difficult to get hold of though, just like me.

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1403797488' post='2486556'] As it 'appens, I always had Roger down as the weak link. A classic shed-builder, who can't hit his snare without opening his hi-hat which wears on me pretty quickly. Doesn't spoil the band for me, though. [/quote] I was watching a documentary about Queen where RT was playing in the studio and he was rocking it , big time. Sounded great to me ! One on my favourite Queen tracks is Fat Bottom Girls, and I have always thought he and John Deacon combine supremely well on that track, to my ears anyway.

Why is it that as soon as I find some strings that I really like, the manufacturer stops making them ? I'm very particular about my strings , and the choice is getting to be depressingly uniform So many strings on the market are much of a muchness, but every now and again some come along that have a remarkable sound and feel. Dean Markley Alchemy Randy Jackson Signature strings were such a string, and even better than them were Thomastik Super Alloys, but both are now sadly no more . Both those sets of strings were unique , but now are gone forever. I feel sad. Now I have to pay good money for strings that I don't really want. I suppose I can understand why the Randy Jackson Alchemy had to go - Randy buggered off to Ernie Ball and they were overpriced crap ( I still liked them though)- but did they have to take away the Super Alloys too? I cannot see why Thomastik would discontinue their most mainstream bass string. It seems to make no sense to me.

Like most British people of a certain age, I grew up hearing and liking Queen without ever really being a fan as such, but when I listen to their music now I realize what a creative band they were with such a unique and distinctive sound. As well as John Deacon, it worth mentioning that Roger Taylor was ( and I expect still is) a very powerful and skillful drummer, and he made a huge contribution to the sound of that band, too. Another underrated player.

[quote name='Bassnut62' timestamp='1403795581' post='2486511'] What!!! Oliver Cheatham is married to Vanessa Feltz....that is WAY TOO funky for me!! [/quote] No, I am getting confused. She is married to Ben Ofoedu, who is in fact someone completely different and who had a fairly minor hit with a totally different record . Oliver Cheatham died last year in fact, which makes his achievements as a cameraman for the BBC all the more remarkable. .You will have to forgive me. For various reasons, I have a ( very) jumbled memory of the 1990's. Can I just say in mitigation that Vanessa Feltz probably [i]would[/i] have married Oliver Cheatham if she had known him- he was, doubtless, a very attractive man- - but she didn't and so opted for Ben Ofoedu instead.

That looks like a great bass and one that you could have endless years of fun playing, so good luck to you. I am looking forward to hearing about how it sounds, but I would hazard a guess that it will be something along the lines of " like a really good Jazz Bass !" Somehow he has managed to make that relic job look genuinely weathered. I wouldn't be surprised if he has been using that bass to do some gardening with at some point. You are lucky he didn't charge you extra for that .

I've just read back through this thread looking for the train wreck ( so I can make it worse, obviously...) and I can't find one. Were there no survivors? Anyhow, my take on all this would be that , regarding relicked instruments ect, it is a ridiculous trend, but at the same time I can totally understand why people are attracted to them. So much of what we all aspire to in life is ridiculous, so why should bass guitars be exempt from that? The underlying fact is that when we buy consumer items, basses included, we are very often making choices which are based on our ideas about how we see ourselves, and those buying choices are designed to reinforce and those ideas and to turn them into something tangible so we have got some physical evidence that they are real. In a culture obsessed with nostalgia and the quest for the authentic, it's not surprising that wear and tear are now being faked in order to create inauthentic authenticity. Not to do so would be an opportunity missed.

I can't believe ( well actually I can ...) that there is any real debate about whether John Deacon is a good bass player. He was surely one of the most accomplished players in rock music during the era when he was active. I think the fact that for the most part he opted for subtlety and and not particularly bright or cutting tone for his bass has had a lot to do with him not being as celebrated as some other high-profile players , but John Deacon was up there with some of the very best rock players of the 1970's, no doubt about that.

Wow, serendipity ! I was watching a program on T.V the other day and on the credits at the end I noticed that Oliver Cheatham is now a cameraman for the BBC. Maybe being married to Vanessa Feltz has influenced that career choice somewhat.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1403631241' post='2484750'] If someone like Pino owns a bass like that but never really made much use of it to me it almost confirms it not to be a great bass, collectable novelty because he can, I probably would have one of everything if I could too. To me the only basses worth extra over any other of the same model needs to be one a player is known for or used on a famous record and the actual one not a copy or signature, the stingray used on another one bites the dust would hold more value than one of john deacons many P basses being rarer and used on a worldwide hit for example, an identicle stingray owned by Sting that he has never been seen playing live with or used on a police album for example id pay 0 pence more for than from a seller on basschat. [/quote] These are exactly my own sentiments. To me , the idea of treating instruments that have belonged to "big name" players as if they are holy relics that are imbued with some special magic is ridiculous, and I am not at all surprised that there are plenty of people out there who are stupid enough to to believe in such hogwash. As Pete says, basses that have featured prominently on major hit records might have some historical significance and therefore a higher market price , but seldom-used celebrity- owned basses that are being discarded because they are surplus to requirements have no special value. If Pino doesn't want this bass then why would you ? He is a great musician and I trust his judgement. For the best part of twenty grand I would want that bass he is keeping, not the one he wants rid of.

I like a Stingray, and I like a Sterling. Don't know too much about Sterling by Music Man, but on You Tube demonstration videos the do sound remarkably similar to a full-blown American -made EBMM bass. To be honest with you , once you switch a Sterling into parallel mode, it sounds virtually identical to a regular Stingray, to my ears anyway , ceramic magnets or not. In light of that, I think it is fair to say that a Sterling can sound like a Stingray, but a Stingray can't emulate the sound of a Sterling in series mode, so the Sterling is more versatile in that respect. .

Unless it was sold to you as being brand new, I wouldn't get too worked up about it.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1402998874' post='2478612'] Most genre descriptions I can at least begin to get a handle on. I may struggle (mightily) to spot the difference between a hundred flavours of Heavy Metal, but I have some clue what Heavy Metal is, what Indie is, what Acid House is, and so on. But what the blankety-blank is "Alternative Rock"? [/quote] The genre of Alternative Rock was defined by radio programmers in America to delineate between rock music made by post punk/new wave era- influenced bands and classic rock era -influenced rock music, which referred primarily to the era preceding punk and new wave.

The roadie usually wheels on my iron lung after the rest of the band are in situ and then the care worker helps me get comfy before we start.

Very well-executed relic job. Would have me fooled if I was a punter watching you play. Nice playing on the sound samples, too. Sounds just like a Jazz Bass should. I wonder how this chap and similar builders get away with using the Fender logo on the headstock, though? Presumably it's because the neck is an official Fender-licensed part?

[quote name='toneknob' timestamp='1403110806' post='2479928'] Yeah I don't get them either. Have you heard Oysterhead? Now that was bad. [/quote] There have been so many Primus spin-off projects that it's difficult to keep up, to be honest with you. ( Not that I want to keep up... ). It all sounds like music for an imaginary children's T.V show made by someone suffering from severe paranoid schizophrenia to me, to be honest with you. One thing that we British folks can be very proud of is prog rock. When you look at the horrific mess that the Yanks usually of that genre, you begin to realize what great bands Yes, Crimson, and Genesis[i] et al[/i] were . Rush were great too ( crap nowadays , though ) , but they are part of the Commonwealth so we can claim most of the credit for them .

These basses don't appeal to me in the slightest, I'm afraid. Not an attractive design to me. I suppose it would look the part if you were in an Indie band , but I am too old for that now, and even when I was younger, I liked Toto. I wholeheartedly agree with everyone else who says that it's crazy that Fender don't offer an American Standard -level PJ bass. If they made a good one it would sell a lot of basses for them. They could also offer it with a choice of nut widths, thus further increasing its' appeal.

Oh , and I forgot to mention, Primus are rubbish, too.

[quote name='toneknob' timestamp='1403108154' post='2479889'] Thanks! I'm a big fan of DMB, and quite partial to early Dream Theater and Gentle Giant lurk in that grey area of "bands your music pals say you should like given everything else you listen to". So I think I'll be ok. The band you're looking for by the way is Phish. You know Phil Lesh is playing here soon, by the way? [/quote] Phish- now if ever there was a group of individuals who wanted so badly to be the Grateful Dead that they were willing to abandon any last shred of dignity or claim to originality then surely it is them ! There are so many of these bands nowadays that it is difficult to find enough time to dislike them all, to be honest with you. However, the one thing most ( all) of these new prog/ jam bands have in their favour ( or to their detriment, depending on how you look at it ) over the Grateful Dead is that they can actually play well. Contrary to popular myth, the Dead were, on the whole, fairly poor musicians , and but have garnered a reputation to the contrary as part of the whole Emperor's New Clothes phenomena that continues to surround them. If you listen to them objectively and divorce what you are hearing from the legend they encouraged , the plain fact is that the Grateful Dead sounded like a not-very-good amateur band that you could see for a the price of a couple of drinks in a bar somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Phil Lesh is coming to the U.K ? Is this intended as a form of retribution for Tony Blair backing up George W Bush in illegally invading Iraq? I had the misfortune of seeing the Grateful Dead play live many times over the years ( once would have been too many, to be honest with you) and that band were the biggest joke in the history of popular music. When it comes to taking the public for a ride and lining your pockets in the process, no one has ever even approached the scale of the massive scam that the Dead surely were and still are . Malcom Mclaren and the Sex Pistols , or indeed Simon Cowell were rank amateurs by comparison.

This music is brilliantly played, but bloody awful I'm afraid. Sounds like a hybrid of Dream Theater and Gentle Giant to me . Also, quite worryingly, there are shades of the Dave Mathews Band in there, too. Since the enforced absence of the Grateful Dead following Jerry Garcia's unfortunate demise nearly twenty years ago now, America has been searching for a substitute for that institution , or at least a way to indulge the same kind of notions of ...well, all kinds of things to do with a long-gone era that were mostly never really true even when they were current . All these "jam" bands and New Age prog rockers are trying to fill a void that should have been left as a void. To my sensibilities, this band's music is like an intricate sonic wallpaper that is so densely patterned that it cannot be taken in and properly comprehended for more than a few minutes at a time. In light of that short attention span , the great irony is the extended length of these pieces of music. Not my cup of tea then , but I am glad they are coming to the U.K and at least their their fans here will get a chance to see them in the flesh . Hope you enjoy the gig.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1401904195' post='2468168'] [b]NBD - Limelight Fender Jazz 1960 YOB[/b] Won't get my sweaty mitts on this for a couple of weeks yet, but I thought what the hell - I'm sure you'd like to see some pics of it. Year Of Birth Jazz Bass - 1960. Needless to say I'm happy with the result. FYI - it was ready about six weeks before I was expecting it. Mark at Limelight is an absolute pleasure to deal with and nothing is too much trouble for him. One of life's good blokes. They are few and far between, as you know. Anyway I'll shut up and let the pictures do the talking... [/quote] Looks knackered to me. Ask for a refund. Hang on a minute , 1960? That's ancient ! I bet you can remember when young people thought Noel Edmonds was cool and what life was like before Pot Noodles were invented. I love hearing stories about the olden days . Maybe you could get involved in some kind of an oral history project while you have still got all your chairs at home, so to speak?

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1401955852' post='2468570'] Pish and tush. How many people own an industrial postal scale, let alone carry one about with them? Exactly my thinking some years ago, Kev, which is why I bought [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fishsense-Weighlite-Fishing-Scale-and-Measure-Weighs-Up-To-65lb-With-Batteries-/350846649199?pt=UK_SportingGoods_FishingAcces_RL&var=&hash=item51b017036f"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item51b017036f[/url] The scales themselves weigh only a few ounces and I frequently take them to bass bashes and even occasionally to shops, they are as accurate as they need to be to satisfy dedicated fishermen, the hook thingy at the bottom is perfect for tuners, and they have been borrowed several times by other Basschatters. This "no way to weigh" issue is a problem with no excuse for existing. Incidentally, I'm astonished that Michael has had to explain why the weight of a bass is important to him. One thing that has changed about Basschat (for the better) in recent years is recognition that some of us are actually a bit older than we used to be, and that very few of us are professional weight-lifters who think nothing of playing a 3-setter with a 5Kg boat-anchor slung over our shoulder. If you're a bass-player who has no back problems then congratulations and long may that continue. Sadly, it won't be for ever ... your lumbar region is waiting (weighting?) for you, lurking in a shadowed doorway with a baseball bat, and ready to totally spoil your whole day. [/quote]1 ] If you read my post you will see that I acknowledged that proper postal scales are not a very practical option for most people. They are, however , the most accurate way to weigh a bass. Postal scales are what more reputable shops and manufacturers who want to give an accurate weight to their customers, like Sadowsky at their NYC workshop for example , use to weigh basses Not pish and tosh, then. I'm sure a decent quality fishing scale or luggage scale is enough to give a fair estimation of the weight of any given bass, just like my two kitchen scale method. But a postal scale is the most accurate, nevertheless.