EliasMooseblaster

[quote name='winterfire666' timestamp='1377251190' post='2185255'] well spotted, this may be a secret ploy by fender trying to introduce beard styles to the many in order to sell more jazz basses [/quote] I look forward to pouring scorn on a line of Fender Fake Beards (fully ironic, made from 100% free-range bespoke hemp) being sold to follicularly-challenged hipsters to match their "boutique" Jazz basses.

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1377246712' post='2185185'] Most of us are, without doubt, a conservative lot. Snob value will continue as long as we judge a player by his bass. I hate myself for doing it but I know if I go to a gig and the mandatory gear scan shows a Squier I have pre-judged the bass player as a beginner. [/quote] Interesting...I've noticed a trend for distinctly second-rate bassists who play Fender Jazzes. Obviously I've seen plenty of absolute masters playing Fender J's, but I think there's a correlation with how juvenile their beard looks. It's as if the flowchart is: Fender Jazz? Yes Beard? Yes Quality of beard? Poor/clearly just started shaving/f***ing hipster --> Probably just bought the Jazz because someone convinced them it was "boutique" and/or looks less "mainstream" than a P (or something, I don't know how these pillocks think). Can't actually play the damn thing; too busy posing and looking "ironic" with it.

Big, heavy, slab-bodied basses. I know, I know, I've seen no small number of threads, recordings and videos in which people demonstrate that the body wood makes a negligible difference in comparison to the strings and the electronics...but somehow, small-bodied, lightweight basses just [i]don't feel quite right to me. [/i] The logical part of my brain tells me to take heed of the evidence presented to me. The irrational part, I think, just prefers having a large deadweight hanging from my shoulders, and is still trying to convince the logical part of my brain that they do actually sound better!

[quote name='simon88wilson' timestamp='1377006559' post='2182100'] Hey, had 5 minutes free so i thought i would put up some sounds of a couple of the pickups you mentioned. I have two precisions one has Fender RI 62 Pickups, Rosewood fretboard and Gotoh 201 bridge: [url="https://soundcloud.com/simon88wilson/fender-ri-62"]https://soundcloud.c...on/fender-ri-62[/url] the other has Seymour Duncan SPB-1 Pickups, Maple fretboard and Standard Bridge: [url="https://soundcloud.com/simon88wilson/seymour-duncan-spb-3"]https://soundcloud.c...ur-duncan-spb-3[/url] I Apologise for the playing, was a quick one just to see what was what! Both basses were run through my audio interface into Logic 9 with no EQ or effects added. both played finger style with a run through with tone open and closed. Simon [/quote] Very kind of you - thanks very much! I'm going to have to listen to these a few times, I think, as I quite like both tones. The P-bass that's going to receive this pickup is much like your second one - maple board and standard bridge - so I'm trying to imagine the Fender pickup with a slightly brighter tone. Though I can see myself being happy with either of the two!

[quote name='bassmanguitars1' timestamp='1377003801' post='2182053'] Hi there. If your interested I have a Bare Knuckle Pre/ Tele pick up im selling , it's a 52 staggerd pole hand wound new with a growl to die for !!!! £75 posted from the web site, but im asking £50.00 posted. I live in Manchester if this help's. Just check out there web site, to see how good these are. [/quote] Thanks for the offer - just wondering, is that a split-coil or one of the '50s style single-coil pickups?

[quote name='Paul S' timestamp='1377000077' post='2181970'] If all that fiddling doesn't appeal I'd recommend trying to identify the sound you want to get and then post an example of that here. You will probably have a particular record in mind when you think of your 'ideal P Bass tone' so stick a link to a YouTube and see what people think! [/quote] This is a very good point! I'm still very much a fan of John Entwistle's tone circa 1970, such as here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZch2VZOF5A#t=50s - but of course that's mostly to do with a heavily overdriven tube amp. What I seek is something with plenty of low mids - anything you might describe as "woody," "growly," or "snarly" would do just nicely. [quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1377003381' post='2182044'] I like the spb-1 i even made a wee sound clip (straight into an imac so v. low tech recording) [url="http://youtu.be/dN9CC0_K9bA?t=1m40s"]http://youtu.be/dN9CC0_K9bA?t=1m40s[/url] [/quote] Thanks for that - very useful. I must admit I preferred the tone of the original Squier pickup over the Duncan! Helps to eliminate one variable. From what people are saying, the Quarter Pounder and the Fender original sound promising.

I'm in the middle of a refurb and could do with some advice. The bass is a Precision copy that my father and I built from a kit about 12 years ago. It's seen better days so I decided to sand off the last of the shellac and redo the French polish finish. I've also been considering upgrading the pickup. See, it's never sounded bad, but the stock pickup does seem a little weak compared to my other basses. (Can't remember exactly what the multimeter said, but I think it was just pushing 7K - a little weak for a split-coil!) Of course, typing "precision bass pickup" into eBay throws a huge number of options at me. I could spend around £60 or £70 having a Seymour Duncan shipped from the US. I know the SPB-2 sounds good because there's one in my Schecter, but does anyone have any opinions on the SPB-1 or -3? I could, alternatively, spend the same money on a Nordstrand NP-4, or a Fender '62 RI. Or, I could save a lot of money and buy from one of the small British manufacturers like Wilkinson or Tonerider. Is it worth saving myself 30-odd quid by doing this, or do these US makes justify the extra expenditure?

After years of learning to play jazz on the fly, I've found the best walking bass lines are the ones which manage to sound like an effortless stream of notes, instead of a series of chord changes...if you see what I mean! In other words, the bassist takes the shortest route to the next chord - often starting the bar on the 3rd or 5th of the new chord, so the chord change almost sounds incidental. On which note... [quote name='ML94' timestamp='1376993991' post='2181863'] What gets me is starting from a root and then trying to land on the nearest harmony note of the next chord eg 3rd, 5th. Ay excercises that would help me with this. I feel as I've hit a brick wall as my head dosent react as wick to the chord as quick as I want it. [/quote] I must admit I had an epiphany when I realised you didn't have to start each change on the root of the current chord! Afraid I don't know any exercises for this, but presumably you have your own bank of "standard" walking forms for the common chords? It helps to sit down and think through how you might walk over a few straightforward swing tunes from the Real Book, and start mashing up your standard figures to run into each other smoothly. Not wishing to sound blase, but with a bit of practice it begins to come naturally!

It's been a strange weekend for us. We were supposed to play a food festival on the Saturday, but by the time we were due to play the rain started to pick up and was being blown under the roof over the stage. Think our singer must have caught something in the cold and rain as she then had to pull out of last night's gig on account of the fact she couldn't speak! So with a very "show must go on" mentality we tried to cover for her. Not our best performance by a long shot, but it was a fun night in the end.

Try adding more Shirley.

Now beginning to wonder if I'm unusual as I could never get into AOTGL, but I loved Six and thought Little Kix was pretty good, if I remember rightly...

At the risk of sounding boring, I'm going to suggest a P-bass as well. Has to be fretted in my case though, and mine is strung with rounds. But yeah, I've used my P copy for every acoustic-type project I've worked with. I can see the benefit to flats if you're taking a definite 'rhythm section' role; in my case I was usually swapping solos with the acoustic guitarists so the extra brightness of rounds worked better!

[quote name='Delius' timestamp='1376350327' post='2172790'] Have been doing a lot of looking around, and the GK MB210-ii looks pretty good to me. In fact it looks too good to be true in terms of weight versus performance. Can such a lightweight amp really sound any good?? Is it a good bet? [/quote] Yeah, as Burrito has suggested, you might be surprised. I haven't played through much GK stuff, though I like what I have tried, and their reputation is very good! On the point of small bass amps, the last amp I tried destroyed all my preconceptions very quickly. It was a Mesa M3 Carbine combo with a huge wattage but just a single 12" speaker. I almost laughed when the guy in the shop showed me how small it was, but the sound was [i]enormous[/i]. If size is less of an issue, and you're just after something dependable, I've been quite loyal to Laney as my experience with them has been excellent. And you can get an awful lot of Laney for under £500.

I just feel a bit sorry for the guy who then posted "so are we done here?" At the bottom of page 36. That was optimistic...

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1376138438' post='2170103'] Nice. I approve, good comms, well done. Have a great time... [/quote] Ta! We had a great night... [quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1376145254' post='2170209'] But I've already booked him ... [/quote] ...though he does look a bit pissed off. Maybe he didn't have such a good night...and would like to recount why, through the medium of mime...

...is one of many things that won't be happening tonight. But if anyone is kicking their heels around Cambridge this evening, I'll be running a gig down at the Corner House (Newmarket Road). Featuring my own band (Cherry White), Subset, Beat Magnets, Cemetery Junction and Metropolis*. £6 on the door, kicking off at 8pm. Facebook event deelie is here: https://www.facebook.com/events/408170712632691/ *No mimes. Or erotica**. **Sorry.

Would it be out of keeping to post a video where I'm not playing bass? *insert cliche about change and variety here* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk4KGtppDvU

God damn it, this thread is making me want to buy one again now...

This is going to be my new definition of "success" - we will know we've "made it" when somebody-we-don't-know-from-Adam makes a bass dog out of a picture of us.

Hmm...eight bids and still with five days to run...yeah, it's probably going to end up going for double that, at least!

[quote name='KiOgon' timestamp='1375790152' post='2165574'] No zoom required - it's an N6- - - - - so in my book it's a USA made in '96 & looks just how a American Standard, (with a 50th anniversary badge) should look. The thing is being advertised as something it ain't, I'm pretty damn certain of that [/quote] Ah, now you mention it, yes, on the second photo you can make out the label on the parts bag, which reads "AM STD BASS," so pretty sure you're correct! Question is whether a '57 Reissue would be worth more than an American Std...have to say £260 seems like a good price either way to me, but I'll defer to your greater knowledge!

I didn't think my current band was particularly bluesy, but then a lot of reviewers said they liked our "blues-rock sound," so I relented. Now we describe ourselves as "lively, melodic rock n' roll with a hint of the blues." Maybe it doesn't help our cause that the last word in that tagline is "blues!"

I guess the only rub is you can't zoom into the headstock photo to see whether it actually says "Made in US" or something else! Otherwise looks pretty convincing - and I guess the re-issues go for a lot less than the originals!

I'm intrigued by: [b]"please don't waste my time, I like strong personalities but not ....holes[/b]" I suspect he's censored himself because he was wary of writing "arseholes" in a public advert, but it looks to me like he's just shuddering at some memory of childhood claustrophobia - "not...holes. Anything but...holes."

That's rather good, that! Is this to be a forerunner to a full album, or is it early days yet?