Maude

Looks like he playing in the pocket.

I suppose I've had three sig basses over the years but have always found the concept a bit daft, until about a fortnight ago 😉. I wouldn't necessarily buy a bass because of the link to a certain player, but strangely it would put me off buying one if I didn't like the player/band. I'll happily buy a sig just because I like the bass though, above clause dependent. My first real bass, after a plywood SG, was a Yamaha Attitude Special. The bloke in Mansons told me it was based on the proper Attitudes that Billy Sheehan uses, Billy who? I'd never heard of Billy Sheehan but the bass was the coolest thing I'd ever seen and came home with me. Second, many years later is a Epiphone Jack Casady. They'd always been on my radar as a bass to try but I was just never 100% sold on the looks, then they brought out the faded Pelham Blue with a stained wood back. Oh my! Then the one that changed my view on sigs. The Yamaha BBPH (Peter Hook). Even when they came out in very limited numbers I was still telling myself not to be so stupid. Then one came up at a decent price s/h and I couldn't help myself, being a huge Joy Division/New Order fan. Sure I could've just picked up a BB1200s but I actually wanted what Hooky uses now, and I'm so glad I did, they are wonderful basses. I've since bought an EHX Bass Clone (better than a Clone Theory IMO) and have spent many a happy hour just being Hooky. Yes it's sad, and no I don't care! 😄 All three of these are, in my view, different enough from a standard or close variant to warrant being viewed as being a totally different bass.

Top of the Pops - The Rezillos

I've just bought a couple of yards of brown material and a length of rope... ... but I won't be making a habit out of it either. 😐

Best hope Flea keeps his undercrackers on then. 😁

Monkey Man - Toots and the Maytals

It's properly nailed his tone. I know he used a Clone Theory but I liked the idea of the Bass Clone and it's 99% the same tone. I like that the x over switch takes the bottom end out of the effects so it stays solid and punchy, not all swampy. The bass and treble then act as boost and cut to how much bass and treble gets affected. Kind of like a dry bottom end and wet top end, rather than all the same. It works well.

This little box of fun arrived today. I such a sad silly billy! 😄

To be fair, back in the 80s/early 90s his basses must've taken hell of a beating.

Flea's slap technique isn't exactly gentle.

Who the F**k - PJ Harvey

Refinish, new scratchplate and a KiOgon loom. Job done. Is it a sensible price though?

I like the idea of this. I quite like having two volumes and two tones. My Longhorn (stop it! 😉) sounds great with the tone down on the neck PU, with a bit of tone full of on bridge PU mixed in for a clear thump. Or both volumes on full with neck tone full but bridge tone rolled back slightly gets some thick clank going on.

Nope, off to look for it now. Thanks 🙂👍

As has been said before here, it all goes around in cycles. A while ago I worked with a young lad who was really into Bloc Party, a band who appeared to have their own modern sound at the time, especially to him, and don't sound too dated even now another twenty years on. To those unfamiliar with Bloc Party, here they are. Then I blew his mind/shattered his illusion by playing him Damaged Goods by Gang of Four. He couldn't believe it was recorded twenty-five years prior to the Bloc Party track, before he was even born.

Bring On the Dancing Horses - Echo and the Bunnymen

Which makes using it the most punk thing to do. 😉 But yes, I get your point. Although I have gigged punk(ish) songs with mine. Until I started using my 4005, my Variax was my main gigging bass in my Mod/Northern Soul/Ska band, the Clash covers of old Ska tunes was about as punk as it got though, London Calling was almost there and our version of Stepping Stone was more Sex Pistols than Monkees or Merton Parkas. Gratuitous pic, Variax and attitude. I was probably trying to remember how to start the next song in reality. 😁

They don't come up for sale very often. They're also heavy as hell.

The twelve string is great, although hasn't the playing dynamics of three courses of strings, but for just being able to 'switch' to a 12 string for a song brilliant. It doesn't do harmonics well at all though, it gets all glitchy as the wizardry tries to get the harmonic of two octaves higher. As everyone finds out when they inevitably try to play the intro to Pearl Jams Jeremy. I have a spare one I'm planning to put a fretless neck on as I think the upright bass and synths will be great fretless.

Variaxi (plural?) have lovely slim necks like a Jazz, 38mm nut. I really love the neck on mine.

Time's not been kind to those!

Someone give him a whack, he's stuck! 😉

Flash Bang Wallop - Tommy Steele

D'oh, of course it was a Hondo. His first bass, the one Barney sent him to buy when Hooky didn't know what a bass was, was some plywood SG I remember, probably a Kay or something. At least I learnt my lesson after my first bass also being a ply SG, I bought a Yamaha next, bypassing another plywood monstrosity, unlike my hapless hero. 😁

Nancy Boy - Placebo