4000

Arguably the most important thing for me is how a bass plays, so I'll generally razz around as much as I can, throwing in a few of my own lines and maybe a couple of my faves for good measure. If I can play things on it that I can't play on other basses, then great. I don't always buy a bass to play in my current band (e.g. both my Alembic and Sei) and at home play a lot of fusion-esque widdly stuff (a million miles from what my band is) so playing the stuff in play in my band isn't always relevant. I also look towards new basses to inspire me in a new direction, but then I'm primarily a writer and have never been a hired gun in my life. I don't give a damn what anyone in the shop thinks, I'm the one trying the bass out and I'll play what I like.

2009 is shaping up horribly for me. The end of 2008 saw me move on my namesake Ric 4000 due to financial difficulties. My CS still needs to go for the same reason, and also for the same reason my beloved Alembic is going, because of ongoing and worsening back and neck problems. So I'll have gone from 2 dream Rics and my workhorse (plus 1 still being refurbed), my dream Alembic, and my back-friendly Sei to 1+1 (possibly; not even sure about the +1) Rics and the Sei. I'd just about got everything I'd ever really wanted (well, a Wal Pro would've been nice) and I've had to get rid of most of it. Oh, and I can't use my favourite gear (old Trace), even though I could get it for peanuts, because of my back. Grrrreat.

[quote name='OldGit' post='387326' date='Jan 21 2009, 11:30 AM']JJ Burnel's finest hour(s) It's how a picked P should sound. IMHO[/quote] Bliss....

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='385126' date='Jan 19 2009, 04:29 PM']You learn ot do one. Then learn to do the other. Then learn to do both at the same time. In a nutshell, you need to work as hard at playing and singing at the same time as you did at doing them seperately. I get the impression that people think that, if you can do both, you can do both at the same time. Its not THAT hard to do but you do have to work at it (bit like the left and right hand on a piano).[/quote] +1. I've done it since day one, but you have to separate them first. I suggest you learn the bass line back to front, and then practice the singing.

[quote name='Delberthot' post='386552' date='Jan 20 2009, 06:53 PM']The thing is that when I'm gigging regularly I'm happy with my gear but the longer the gaps between gigs, the more I start to get restless, possibly due to forgetting how good my gear actually is.[/quote] And here endeth the lesson....ain't that just the truth!

[quote name='skankdelvar' post='386670' date='Jan 20 2009, 08:20 PM']My name is Skank and I'm a GASaholic. ([i]Damn[/i] that Gasahol!) Maybe I'm alone in this, but the only reasons I've (possibly) not seen quoted are the ones that afflict me: * I'm greedy and I want more of what I like * My life will be incomplete without (item here) * I'll be a much better player if I buy that new (item here) * I'll sound just like (artist) if I buy that new (item here) * I'll be a more fully-rounded human being, easier to live with and kinder to strangers if I can just buy that new (item here) * I'll never need another one * If I buy this, my search is over And, of course, I'm wrong. Every other justification I've ever had is just spurious rationalisation of my ugly acquisitiveness and reflects my desolate inner self. So who's with me for the 12-step GAS programme?[/quote] Yep, that's me too...

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='386272' date='Jan 20 2009, 03:42 PM']My GAS is fuelled by two words. 'What if...?'[/quote] +1! Good post Bilbo. As I've just said to someone I sometimes think I'm possessed by John Entwistle (RIP) because I go through so many phases. I think one of my problems is because I listen to so many different kinds of music, and like to be able to play/get a sound to fit that style (although paradoxically tend to favour others who have a real sound and voice of their own), there's always something else to get to do a specific job. Or at least that's what the devil on my shoulder keeps telling me.

[quote name='6stringbassist' post='384266' date='Jan 18 2009, 07:17 PM']My Sei 6 string flamboyant. It's the 4th Sei that I've owned, but this one was built for me by Martin. I ordered it in September/October 2006, and collected it early last year. It teally is the one bass that I'll never sell, I came close to buying a Fodera last year, but in the end decided that there was just no point, the Sei was tons better, and I just didn't see the point in buying something else. I have other basses too, but they don't come near the Sei, I have them just to please other people.[/quote] That bass is [i]so[/i] stunning. My next Sei will likely be very similar but with less strings (haven't decided on 4 or 5 yet).

[quote name='simon1964' post='384032' date='Jan 18 2009, 02:57 PM']You haven't changed a bit![/quote] I wish!

[quote name='Old Horse Murphy' post='384024' date='Jan 18 2009, 02:49 PM']Looks like you're playing the same song too!! Lovely bass. I'm a massive fan of Rics having rediscovered them recently[/quote] Thanks! I noticed that too actually; I assure you I wasn't! Different band entirely; although as I write the music it may have something to do with it!

My '72 Ric 4001 with all the goodies; I bought it in a sale in 1993 for £490. I'd played it a year before (when it was £680) and completely fell in love with it. I couldn't afford it at the time, so went away convinced it would never be mine, but pleased at least that I'd actually found "the one". A year later I'd been saving up for a new amp, turned up at the same shop again, and there it was on the wall, reduced to sell. As luck would have it I'd also taken my 76 4001 along to try some amps so was able to do a direct comparison (the 72 blew it out of the water). I couldn't pay for it fast enough. It was obviously meant to be mine! This is a pic of me playing it the year I got it..... ...and here's me playing it a couple of years ago...

[quote name='acidbass' post='383516' date='Jan 17 2009, 07:46 PM']I'd love to play bass for The Who's current tour, in place of the mighty Pino. I think it'd be a LOT easier to play with Starkey than it would be with Moon, although I suspect that Townshend doesn't exactly want much creative freedom from the bass chair these days.[/quote] That's a gig I'd like too (well, in theory at least; I can imagine walking on stage in front of the average Who audience and dying of fright!). To be honest, although Pino's a great player, I find him a strange choice (in terms of style) for that gig. I'd have loved to have played with early Jamiroquai too, but I'm not really stylistically suited to it; I think I'll leave that one to Stu. Fleetwood Mac would be nice actually, and the Stranglers would be interesting (at least up until the point where I got bottled off for not being JJ!).

John Paul Jones, Gary Thain, pretty much anything by Lenny Kravitz. Oh, and Me'Shell, as above. Sounds good to me.

I played the W&T Spectrum through a Genz Benz at Bass Day and I'm not sure whether it was the Genz or the Berg cabs but I absolutely hated the rig, it was as far away from my thing as it's possible to get. The bass was great though. However what people need to remember is that any bit of kit played by them may not sound the same as it does when someone else uses it; of course many of us are after different sounds anyway, but the first point is very important. With regards to wood, electronics etc, my Rics all sound different acoustically (I'm using them as an example because they're essentially the same bass), and amplified they sound like amplified versions of how they sound acoustically, which to me is how it should be.

Hawkwind on the Space Ritual tour........I'd like to play with John McLaughlin too (although I think I might need to 'shed a bit before that gig!).

Ok, it's pretty much fixed that I hate tweeters (well, certainly with the Rics, which are my main gigging basses). So, for a man who hates tweeters, are the Schroeders going to work? Can you turn the tweeters off? If so, should you? They're on my short list for replacement cabs (something I need very soon, although I'm still struggling cash-wise at the moment) but I'm really worried about ending up with something that's going to be to glassy for me. I've posted this before in other places, and this is something like my ideal tone. Jorg reckons I should be able to get it no problem, but with all respect to him I'd just like a few more unbiased opinions. FWIW I'd say Jon Camp (the player featured) probably plays harder than me, but it's a similar sound (although grittier) to what I used to get from my old (very old) Trace rig. Oh, I'm using an Ashdown ABM500 head. All the Schroeder clips I've seen are nothing like this style or sound so it's really difficult to judge. [url="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ_5h0SKUSM"]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ_5h0SKUSM[/url]

[quote name='GreeneKing' post='381683' date='Jan 15 2009, 08:22 PM']I obviously like hideous shapes [/quote] Me too...

[quote name='leschirons' post='381663' date='Jan 15 2009, 07:57 PM']If you really fancy her and she's got tiny hands, that should make you feel better[/quote] Oh it does. I do like a girl with tiny hands. The bit about her looking 12 still bothers me though!

[quote name='Rich' post='378899' date='Jan 13 2009, 12:39 PM']Enjoyed the music, but I didn't think Tal's Marcus-like tone sat particularly well with it. I was neither over- nor under-whelmed with her playing... she did the job, fair enough, but nothing remarkable. There wouldn't be half so much hype surrounding her if she was either a} male, or b} a munter.[/quote] I must admit I thought her tone on that programme was terrible, but having heard her on other things decided it was probably just the tv mix. Playing wise I just thought she was doing what she's obviously getting paid to do (you don't normally get to play with some of the people she's played with if you're not up to much). Either way, I'll let her off. I still think she's luuuuuverly.... One thing though, Jeff doesn't really do it for me (and I don't mean in a Tal way!). I sometimes get the impression that he's thinking more about how he's going to play the note than about the note he's going to play, and I'm not mad on his tone either, but hey, that's just me.

Lem should be in there too (Keep Us On the Road, Stay Clean etc etc), but he himself says Motorhead aren't Heavy Metal, so who am I to argue with him? Regarding Manowar, I have to say I first went to see them in 1984 just to see how bad they'd be. I'd read a couple of interviews and thought "these guys are going to be hilarious". Well, they blew my socks off. Kind of like "The Vikings" set to music. It was the most fun I'd had since watching Jason & The Argonauts as a kid, and I think fun is a much undervalued concept in music these days. They played fantastically as well. Nice guys BTW… I have a lot of time for Joey and Eric who (at least the couple of times that I met them) were nothing like you'd expect.

New Rickenbacker 4001, s/n TC915, bought in 1980 for £295 IIRC. Stolen in Hendon in 1986.....

[quote name='bass_ferret' post='378372' date='Jan 12 2009, 10:31 PM']Tal still looks about 12, maybe thats cos she looks like the cover of Blind Faith. How does she play with those tiny hands?[/quote] Arrgghhh. Another one. You're the third person to say that in about 3 weeks (and the last 2 were women). Doesn't make me feel too good as I really fancy her! :blush:

That's the instrument I've been searching for all my life!!!!

Wot, no Joey DeMaio????? Well I love Geddy and Geezer and Les, and I really like Robert's Infectious Grooves stuff, but to be honest everyone there has probably played much better stuff (although NIB is obviously a classic). For Geddy I'd have put in his solo in La Villa Strangiato or maybe YYZ, or the more melodic part at the end of Witch Hunt. FWIW, I reckon all those players are better doing what they do best (i.e. driving a song) than at soloing. But seriously, all I can say is "may each note I play be a black arrow of death to all those who play False Metal". Or something like that.