NickA

So it's a bass player's forum and people are complaining about too much bass playing! Come on guys, that's the egotistical lead guitarists job! And I didn't see Nile complaining ;¬).

Personally I enjoyed the whole set including the bass playing. Hearing a good bass player let rip and slap a bit these days is like having a stiff whisky during prohibition.

Just don't (ever) touch that "sub" knob. Horrid.

Rare as rocking horse poop .. apparently:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wal-MkII-Custom-Series-5-String-Bass/121844263050?_trksid=p5713.c100284.m3505&_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D12%26asc%3D20140905073823%26meid%3D0e714e73ed0b4e9db70d146b0b250968%26pid%3D100284%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D4%26mehot%3Dpp%26sd%3D121844263050

Yet oddly, here's another for less:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wal-MK-II-1991-Bass/272695447201?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D43781%26meid%3Dc7b661589c7d4a48bba8d77d98a50dd6%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D121844263050

both rather lovely it has to be said ... but also quite expensive.

Nuts!

What you going to do with the old body? Looks pretty good to me .. and will be made from that unobtainium brazillian mahogany too!

I reckon you could save up for a new neck and pickups to go with it!

Well. no bids. Seems I was wrong about it being good value! Back listed again, but at the same starting price. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Warwick-Dolphin-Pro-I-5-String-Bass-Guitar-1991-No-16-Great-condition-/152561591166?"]http://www.ebay.co.u...-/152561591166?[/url]

.. and listed AGAIN. Now £1500 but still no decent photos.

Still think it's a bargain, but still daren't go visit as not going to buy it. Just wondering if these are merely out of fashion and will soon soar in value (as per the Wal I bought in 1999). Pension fund?

As for Wals being expensive because they are rare: there are Wals coming up every week on facebook (and sometimes here) but only one 4-string pro 1 dolphin (mine) and one 5-string pro 1 (this one) I've seen in the last 12 months (lots of bolt ons - but it's not the same).

Good price ... if you WANT a left hander. Strange that there are no left handed double basses, violins etc .. tho I suppose that, being symetrical, there is nothing to stop you playing a violin left handed .. just never seen anyone do it.

Bargain with them. Everything they sell has a rather large markup and there is a certain "flexibility" in the labelled price, within which they can still make a tidy profit ;¬). Helps (maybe) if you have something to trade, then they can pretend they are giving you more for your bass rather than dropping their prices.

Phil Jones Flightcase here (BG150). Sounds fantastic with an acoustic bass guitar, sounds very good (as in transparent) with a double bass ... IF you have a nice pickup and get it in the right place on the bridge.

It is NOT terribly loud. I was playing it with three sax players, a drummer, a grand piano, two guitarists and a tenor horn the other month and wasn't always sure it was turned on. But everyone else said they could hear me, so "louder than it sounds" apparently. I may still supplement it with the powered cab (PB300). But if you're playing in a jazz trio it would be fine alone.

There are better amps for electric bass I think (lacks "heft"), but it's still pretty good for that too.

Oh yes. Proper music with a proper bass line content. Love it ... heading for the download thingy.

Following years of interest in big deep instruments a love of Rush, and a secret and slightly embarrassing (for a confirmed prog rocker) of Hot Chocolate's Tony Wilson's bass lines. Bought a Joni Mitchel album, Hejira, in 1981, quite at random, to see what she sounded like ... first track "coyote" Jaco Pastorious' soaring bass lines replete with weird chords and harmonics. Then a friend said he'd "discovered" this great band Weather Report with a "different kind of bass playing". That was it .. off down the second hand bass shop for a sunburst jazz bass copy followed by an afternoon of ripping the frets out ...and a decade of Morrisey Mullen with Dill Katz or Joe Hubbard, Shakatack and level 42, Mick Kahn and Stan Clarke to Kai Ekhardt, Etienne M'bappe, Tony Grey, Lorrie Cottle.. (and lots of great double bass players) ... precisions, flat wounds and four chord rock bands still leave me cold. but each to his own.

Place of manufacture aside ... are they much different to the "real" ones?

.. and presumably THIS one (same price at present) [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/G-LL2000-Bass-Guitar-Fabulous-Condition/122504347569?_trksid=p2047675.c100009.m1982&_trkparms=aid%3D888007%26algo%3DDISC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D44293%26meid%3D90ab7770db644cae95766c803af2bbb4%26pid%3D100009%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26sd%3D282486684839"]http://www.ebay.co.u...%3D282486684839[/url]is the real thing?

actually there are a bunch of them out there some Tribute some not. It's a minefield!

The Roland Micro-Cube is surprisingly good for the size and cost (lots of knobs to twiddle too!)

The PJB bass-cub & (same but bigger) flight case very good indeed .. but a tad pricey and really just make your bass louder without adding or taking much away (which is a good thing IMHO) - also modular in that you can add a powered cab for performing.

Tried a load of tiny amps out in my search and found most of them (Laney, Orange, Ashdown, to name three) feeble and boxy.

£6800 ???!! you could buy a decent double bass for that!

Re price: £3000 quid cheaper than this one: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wal-MkII-Custom-Series-5-String-Bass-/121844263050?hash=item1c5e7be88a:g:tk4AAOSw0vBUka2f"]http://www.ebay.co.u...k4AAOSw0vBUka2f[/url]

This Wal bubble must surely burst. Yes they are lovely .. but not SO much more lovely than the best of the Warwicks ... and increasingly less rare

I didn't know that! ... tho they will make you a new one if you ask nicely (and pay through the nose ... 5400 euros! any takers?):

http://shop.warwick.de/?&lang=en&modul=shop_new&site=shop_overview&&ctree=D0746768001321517432A47035|D0780229001321517432A47059|D0784276001447163111A217|D0974340001340950964A224&modul=shop&site=article_details&article_id=D0686327001472733749A4&article_category=D0974340001340950964A224&collection_id=D0813280001455897857A2227&

I do love the clear bell like tones of my own MEC dolph, so would probably be disappointed. Had real trouble playing people's 5-strings at the Midland Bass Bash on Saturday anyway.

Yes very bad pics.

My 2001 4-string MEC / Ovangkol body & neck / ebony fret-board) dolphin was £1600 inc flight case and delivery (missed yours Kev and another didn't come up!). £1750 doesn't seem bad for a 5-string Boire one I guess ... depends whether you prefer the Boire / Bartolini or the Ovangkol / MEC version (can't say as only ever played the MEC ones) .. but been up for 2 days and no offers yet.

Tempted to go and look.... but really, shouldn't.

RARE 5-string broad neck, boire body, wenge neck and bartolinis ... and it's only a few miles away from me. And I spent all my money on a four string dolph that I now can't bear to part with. Please someone, buy this and save me.

if it goes for just the asking price it is a bit of a steal ... I think.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Warwick-Dolphin-Pro-I-5-String-Bass-Guitar-1991-No-16-Great-condition/152550162108?_trksid=p2047675.c100011.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D43781%26meid%3D5e2ea21ff46548ef84eacf254295780b%26pid%3D100011%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D7%26sd%3D172020634700

[color=#0000ff][i]"I can't remember who the Dolphin 4 string belonged to" ... [/i][/color]MINE! Bought from Stance of this forum, at the end of last year.

It's weird due to its un-inlayed fretted ebony fingerboard (no mother of pearl dolphins - thankfully, I think they're a bit naff). Stance said he reckoned it was a pro shop special for someone who specially wanted an ebony fingerboard. Conclusion of my fellow bass bashers is that it was built as a fretless .. (there is a little shim under the nut, the frets are not the Warwick "hidden" kind and not bronze either). But whoever did the conversion did a mighty fine job of it as it's perfectly in tune and very easy to play; and why anyone would convert a fretless dolphin to a fretted instead of just trading it .. I don't know.

I have to say that your own basses are pretty special (and unique to boot) .. so any jealousy is in both directions ;¬)

... Oh the joys of meeting other bass nerds

yup thanks all for a great and friendly afternoon.

... and given [color=#0000cd][i]"..... I never ever let anyone play my basses ..." [/i][/color][color=#000000]Extra thanks to JazzyVee for letting me not only see, but touch and EVEN PLAY both the alembics (that black Europa is pretty much the only fretted bass anyone would ever need... ever... tho it weighs even more than my Wal). [/color]

[color=#000000]..confusion over five strings, three pickups and fanned frets on that Dingwall !!!! For a fretless 4 stringer of 35 yrs this one did my head in.[/color]

[color=#000000].. excellent Mesa amp and cab (as I found they should be when I got home and checked the book price!!)[/color]

[color=#000000]Even got a go on one of these http://www.innerviews.org/inner/tacuma/tacumaheader.jpg (the Steinberger, not Mr Tacuma):[/color]


[color=#000000]And what WERE those nice flat round strings on the shiny Shuker?[/color]

[color=#000000]Thanks for organising. Now have to learn some new tunes for next year![/color]

[color=#000000]Cheers all.[/color]

Naked, definitely naked. Looks much better .. and also it means the whole finger board is the same material, less likely to wear unevenly and start to buzz. My first fretless was a rosewood fretted one with the frets pulled out and some epoxy stuff stuffed in the fret slots - it buzzed from the outset and got worse as time went on.

Why would we be looking at our fingerboards anyway (ahem!) after all when reading music (as is usually the case) on my double bass or 'cello there is no way to see the strings at all and we've all been taught to play looking straight ahead. THIS is the aim in e-bass playing too as we can then see music, other band members! and (heaven forbid) maybe an audience too ... so yes, I admit to ego as well as aesthetic bias.

On the other hand, on a db and cello there is this useful heel where the neck ends and the body starts: when your thumb hits that you are in "4th position" and your first finger is a 5th higher than the open string. The octave above the open string is an extended third finger. Helps keep track of things.

On the electric bass there is an AWFUL long way up the fret board to go without any reference beyond sound as to where you actually are (especially on the one with 26 frets) so it's easy to get lost without a few dots at least, especially during position changes of more than a whole hand (ie when finger substitution no longer applies). So I think we can allow the odd glance.

I do love that (zebrano?) Wal with the little lines along the edge .. THAT I think is the ultimate solution, and come the day that I can justify a new Wal from Electric Wood, [b]that[/b] is what I'm having :¬)

Put a series parallel switch on my Jazz (ish) bass, out of interest. Doesn't make it more bassy really, just a) louder and more "solid" .. Jazz to Precision (sort of) .

Could be this particular bass has a pickup coil to coil fault - ie not all the windings are working. A bigger capacitor will take away more treble, but won't add more bass - what yr actually doing by increasing the capacitance is dropping the frequency above which the volume is reduced.

Could also, possibly, be that one pickup is wired in back to front (pos to neg).... does it sound even more bass lite with both pickups turned up full?

Really worth trying some different pickups. My vote for dark warm tones is Kent Armstrong .. far too treble light for me, but kind of warm and comforting.

Wow that went cheap!!! He could have traded for it more at bass direct I think.

Saw Dean playing a Wal in 1985 with the Eurythmics :-). Not this one tho.

Acquired a BG 150 ( flightcase ) earlier this year. Excellent, especially with double bass .. but a bit lacking in air shifting ability. Now thinking of a pb300 to boost it up.

The bg300 ( super flightcase) may well be the pjb sweet spot.

BG 400 also very good .. if you don't mind the weight.

It was indeed a Trace hotbed "back in the day". I played briefly in an electro-folk band that looked like we had Trace sponsorship .. the stage glowed green with it all!

The shop at the top of the Osmaston Road that now is Rattle and Drum, was previously Play It Again Sam and before that was .... erm I forget.... used to be stosh with Trace Gear. At one time it was a fantastic 2nd hand gear exchange too. I bought my trace combo (new), my Wal and a Yamaha BB2000 from there over the years. Now it only really stocks new mainstream brands (Fender, Ashdown etc). Hey ho.