chriswareham

I've been enjoying my bargain basement Avon EB-0 copy so much over the last year or more that I decided to splash out on a Gibson EB. A good example of of the long scale EB-3L model popped up on eBay, so I took a punt. It's an absolute beauty, with a serial number that dates it to somewhere in the very early 1970s (hard to be exact, as Gibson's numbering scheme was a bit random around this time). The sounds from the "mudbucker" neck pickup and Varitone control may be an acquired taste, bit I'm absolutely loving them! Any other users of this unusual bass on here?

I'm very tempted to make an offer on that Bass mirror if the hinged stand can be persuaded to open!

I bought an unbranded Gibson EB3 copy from eBay, only to find it's a long scale EB3L body that someone has attached a short scale neck from another copy onto! As a result it's impossible to intonate, but would make a great project for anyone who can find a suitable neck to fit the pocket on the body. The body is in excellent condition and looks to be a proper bit of mahogany, so most likely from an up market copy rather a cheapie, The hardware is in excellent condition as well. The neck is currently not attached to the body, and I'd prefer to post it that way to make a parcel smaller. It's free for the cost of postage to anyone, or collection from Enfield, North London.

Since my basses have expanded from three to five (so much for the three bass and one in, one out rules), I've had to upgrade to a stand that can hold five basses. That means I have a folding stand for three basses that is taking up space in my tiny house. Free to anyone who pays postage, or collection from Enfield, North London.

Wow, DR103. Peter Hook used one of these for most of Joy Division's existence and then we'll into the 1980s with New Order.

What's happening to your Burman amp? Please tell me you're not going to sell it as I don't think I'd be able to resist.

Was wondering where Mr Delvar was, as I hadn't seen one of his illuminating and authoritative posts for a while. It's also little known that the notoriously miserly owner of a certain litigious maker of guitars insists on using recycled IKEA furniture to make bass bodies, hence the "tail lift" problem from the poor quality wood.

If EHX are still making their valves in a former Soviet radio factory in Russia, then the valves will be OK but nothing special. Always amuses me when people describe their Soviet music gear like Polivoks synths being made in military radio factories as though that's a good thing. The design was rudimentary, the QA non-existant. In the case of the EHX valve factory, it's mostly derelict!

[quote name='Cato' timestamp='1455124890' post='2976209'] Ah, I think thats my fault. Pretty sure Mr Geek accidentally included that when he was quoting something else I'd written. I said it, in the context that none of us are in a position to judge Adam Clayton's actual level of technical ability because we've never heard him play outside of U2. For all we know he may be able to give Victor Wooten a run for his money but never demonstrates that side of his playing because its innapropriate for the band that he's in. Hope that clears that up. [/quote] [quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1455141561' post='2976482'] Apologies - if you examine my original post and the post it quoted you'll see I actually messed up the quote tags and I didn't say that, it was the person I was quoting I actually thought "did I really say that ??" Till I read it carefully - I was trying to shorten the quote and made a Horlicks of it [/quote] Ah yes, in the context of the original comment it's much more appropriate. Which reminds me, quoting doesn't seem to work at all on the Android version of Firefox - I have to do it manually, which is even more error prone :-(

Interpol. Someone described them to me as being heavily influenced by Joy Division and the darker edged indie guitar stuff of the 80s such as The Chameleons and The Sound. I discovered that "being influenced by" should have been qualified by "but can't write a song for sh*t" when I bought their back catalogue on CD :-(

6/10, although apart from the Motorhead one that was by guesswork. Worth doing the quiz just to know that I wouldn't like to meet Lamb of God down a back alley on a dark night.

[quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1454928931' post='2974181'] an unimaginative or 'bad' bass player until he releases a solo album that showcases the full range of his skills. [/quote] That is such a crass comment.

Andy Cairns is often described as the nicest bloke in rock, as he's very down to earth and friendly. Dave Ball from Soft Cell took the time to explain to me how to get the synth sound on "Youth" which I was most pleased about.

Played the London heats two years ago. I know Mick the guy promoting the shows in London, and he is a top notch promoter with a great sense of humour. We weren't really heavy enough to be typical Bloodstock material, but had a good gig. Best bit was our then singer, an extraordinarily pretty young Italian girl, selling loads of our promo CDs to the predominantly male audience - we normally just give them away!

Sounds like JJ Jeczalik was making things up. FGTH could definitely play, as they played Relax on legendary music show The Tube where they featured as an unsigned act before getting signed to Trevor Horn's ZTT label. Theres also live footage, from The Tube again if memory serves, of them playing a very exhilarating version of Two Tribes with live keyboards, bass and drums. As for the Fairlight, plenty of them in the country at the time and thanks to the screen with a light pen, very easy to operate. Syco Systems, the UK importer mentioned above, were the main suppliers of high end music technology. Their place was actually in Maida Vale and burnt down, at which point they realised they'd forgotten to get insurance. I use their former repair guys, who now trade as Hammond Hire.

Missed this thread first time around. One thing I've been told, so take that as anecdotal until someone better qualified confirms it, is that modern class D stuff is rated at peak output while old school SS stuff is rated at continuous output. In other words, a typical "500W" class D will soon blowup if pushed hard, while my "125W" Acoustic 140 isn't struggling to match the same output level at roughly 25% on the master control. If so, it would explain several Orange Bass Terrors I've witnessed breaking down at gigs where my other head (100W valve) has no problems.

[quote name='BottomE' timestamp='1454002581' post='2965294'] The one constant is that i am always the most immature in any situation. [/quote] That's me in a nutshell in a band situation. Music is my big release from reality, so whether I'm rehearsing or on stage at a gig I'm always the manic one. Surprises people no end that I then go completely anti-social once the music stops, and it often comes across as arrogance :-(

The B120 is essentially the same as my L120 Mk IV. The active tone controls on the Mk IV amps each have a preamp valve, which makes them very sensitive. Once I realised this, I was able to get a good tone since I realised only small tweaksof the controls could dramatically alter the sound. The L100 is a rarer model though, so unless the B120 is being sold at a temptingly lower price then I'd go for that.

And keeping it bass-centric, Flavor Flav of Public Enemy is a very good bass guitarist

RhythmSection could be my long lost twin with that choice of albums, although I'd probably add Closer by Joy Division which squeaks in by being released in 1980. A more left field choice would be the genuinely unique Advantage album by Clock DVA, early industrial electronics meets jazz and funk in a sublime mix that wasn't to be repeated as the line up imploded on the subsequent tour.

An acquaintance when we were both teenaged wanted to play bass. His family were minted, so off he went to some bass academy in California with his first bass, a Musicman Stingray. I learnt on my own by playing along to records with a loaned Marlin bass bought from a catalogue and thne some Korean made Aria thing. He came back able to play other people's bass lines with great precision and faultless technique. My playing was rough and ready. He couldn't write a song if his life depended on it. I write my own songs. So yeah, music theory is great, but too much can completely stifle your creativity.

I always get her confused with Sara Lee, as both are brilliant bassists with a connection to Gang Of Four as well as David Bowie.

I had the Mk III version as my first amp head. I seem to recall it differed to the Mk IV in not having the graphic EQ. Built like a tank, and sounded brilliant through a Peavey 1820 (one eighteen inch Black Widow and two ten inch Scorpion speakers). I can confirm their durability as it even carried on working after it was dropped down the outside stairs at Nottingham Rock City. More recently I had a Mk IV as a stand in when my SVT was being repaired, and was able to confirm my memories of these old Peavey heads were not rose tinted!

Since my all valve amp head is stored at the rehearsal studio, I decided to get a cheap solid state amp for use at home. I've always loved the look of the Acoustic Control stuff from the 1970s, so I bought a model 140. Despite being the amps of choice for many top flight bassists back in the late 60s and 70s, they sell for very low prices these days. I guess it's the valve versus solid state thing, where many assume a completely solid state amp is not going to have any character or sound too quiet. Well, this beast is not only full of character, it's also unbelievably loud. It's supposed to be used with a 4ohm load for peak output, so I initially set it up to use two 16ohm 18" speaker cabs to get an 8 ohm load. It was so staggeringly loud that I'm now using it with one cab for a 16ohm load and even then the volume is only at 10% before it's loud enough to shake the walls of my music room. Not bad for an amp that supposed to only be rated for 120 watts!

I miss the Simms Watts AP 100 and ported 15" speaker I had as a student. Just assumed all valve amps sounded as good, and let it go when I needed some money for food. Should have tightened my belt and kept the bass rig ...