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Misdee

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Everything posted by Misdee

  1. Misdee
    I saw him playing a lovely old Fender P Bass with a blocked and bound Jazz neck and what looked to be a Badass bridge and Di Marzio pickup a few years ago. I wouldn't be surprised if he had kept that one. I think that's the bass his custom USA Lakland P was supposed to emulate.
  2. Misdee
    That's a proper Yamaha bass!
  3. Misdee
    Well, to me the Warwick is a bass of the 1980s/early 1990s. I suppose by the early 2000s Warwick's marketing had shifted its focus more towards the modern rock genre, giving their basses a bit of a different media profile. According to my recollection the early 2000s bass trends were characterized by a preponderance of active Jazz-style basses and the burgeoning revival of the Precision Bass, especially with flatwound strings. These trends were primarily influenced by Marcus Miller and Pino Palladino respectively. And they are still with us twenty years later.
  4. Misdee
    Let's face it, you probably need a pair of wooden balls, or something similarly robust, to fork out so much money on items that won't necessarily be great investments in the long term. I am a big fan of John McVie's bass playing but I am sceptical that the tools he has used are imbued with magical properties making them more valuable. Will collectors in 20 or 30 years time still believe in Fleetwood Mac? As the baby boomers pass into history, will the generations that follow place such importance on the artists of that era? Only time will tell. The only magic I would pay these prices for is if John McVie had found a way to make his Alembics balance properly on a strap in a comfortable playing position and weigh less than about 9 1/2 pounds. And even then, if John McVie doesn't want them, why should I? Presumably the basses he is keeping offer some advantages over the ones he is getting rid of.
  5. Misdee
    Thanks for that fascinating insight. I have wondered about these basses for decades, with the likelihood being that I would never get my hands on one. Maybe Stanley Clarke likes neck-diving basses, because his Alembic Signature model is inherently prone to it, too. Bear in mind Stan is a big bloke, so he is dwarfing a short scale bass. I get the impression that he is such a virtuoso that what would be big physical challenges for lesser mortals don't bother Stanley Clarke.
  6. Misdee
    Lovely basses with a great sound for any genre of music, modern or retro. The passive pickups on these basses sound so huge they put a lot of active basses to shame. Looks good in black,too!
  7. Misdee
    That's a lovely bass,Ped. Plays great, sounds great, looks great, light weight. What more do you need? Sounds like a keeper to me. I remember being particularly enamoured of Vigier basses when the Bass Center at Wapping introduced them to the UK in the mid-1980s. The have always had that distinct Gallic design trait of being effortlessly stylish yet understated and functional. I don't think any of them sound like a Rickenbacker, but Vigiers have always stood out in comparison to a lot boutique basses in having a fairly gutsy sound that is suited to dense, heavy music. That's maybe why rock players have gravitated towards them over the years. To be fair, I have never found any bass that sounds like a Rickenbacker except a Rickenbacker. That's probably because no one has been brave or clever enough to recreate something that is as individualistic, compelling and eccentric as a Rickenbacker bass.
  8. Misdee
    I've made some tentative inquiries and calculations about how much a full tilt USA Spector would cost at the moment. It depends on the spec,of course, but about eight thousand quid or so for a really nice one, so far as I can work it out.
  9. Misdee
    Wooden Dildo would be a great name for a folk rock band.
  10. Misdee
    I've certainly overlooked some of the basses I have previously bought.
  11. Misdee
    Very true. Rickenbacker basses are a pretty esoteric design, though. I would contend that the Fender is more an easier design to get along with for most players. That said, I know Paul McCartney is on record as saying that he never really felt comfortable playing a Fender bass, so that very topically illustrates your point. I know that by the time Revolver was recorded Paul had his Rick, but I wouldn't be surprised if he had still used his Hofner on some tracks, just like he did on Let It Be.
  12. Misdee
    True, but how many folks on Basschat spend more time talking about playing bass and related issues than actually playing? I suppose you have to accept that for a lot of folks talking about their pastimes is a big part of what they enjoy about them.
  13. Misdee
    I've been streaming this album from Tidal through my pretty good ( but fairly old) hifi system and it sounds very acceptable. The new stereo mixes have some detailed and even holographic in places. Having a decent DAC makes a big difference in the quality of sound you get from streaming, and Tidal is definitely better than Spotify premium. The whole vinyl v CD v streaming debate is a complicated one in so much as which turntable system v which CD player v which streaming system ? A lot of the major hi-fi manufacturers have long since abandoned CD and endorsed steaming as the inevitable future of audio. It's inevitable that streaming will develop even greater levels of fidelity. My take on it all is that streaming can sounds very good, and it's very convenient!🙂
  14. Misdee
    It's just that every time I play a Rickenbacker bass I am reminded why I've never gotten one before; I grew up playing Fender basses and the Rick feels so alien I can hardly play it! The non-tapered neck completely throws me. And the strings keep hitting the pole pieces on the pickups and making loud clunking noise. I just love the sound and the look so much I can't give up on the idea. When I first started playing the bass I wanted more than any other was a Rickenbacker. Come to think of it, I probably started playing the bass just so I could get a Rickenbacker, such was their allure. I didn't want to be a bass player so much as a Rickenbacker owner. Now it's forty-odd years later and I still haven't had a Rick. But never say never...
  15. Misdee
    That is good to know. If it were not for the pound being tragically weak against the dollar I would be doing my sums regards buying the USA NS bass I have always deserved. As things stand, it not even worth bothering.😕
  16. Misdee
    When I first started gravitating towards Yamaha BB basses the thing that surprised me the most was how unlike Fender basses they sounded. They have a tone which is quite apart from the typical P/J Fender fare. The active JJ arrangement on the NE is even more boutique-sounding. I can totally understand whern folks compare it to something like a Ken Smith rather than a typical Jazz Bass-style 5 string.
  17. Misdee
    I suppose a pertinent question is are Spector basses as great as they once were? Now that Stuart Spector has retired and Korg have taken over the company, I would be interested to hear from Spector afficionados if the basses are still made to the same standard
  18. Misdee
    Listening to this album has made me hanker for a Rickenbacker bass even more, by the way.
  19. Misdee
    I've been listening to this remixed version for the last few days and I love it! I totally understand the authentic mono v remixed stereo debate, but the new remix certainly gives a startling insight into the recording and brings the music to life, to my sensibilities anyway. I love Paul McCartney's bass work, and listening this album I've really been struck by how great he was at playing between the kick and snare of Ringo's drumming. I love the sound of George Harrison's guitar on the early takes of Paperback Writer, too. Sounds like either his Gretsch or his Rickenbacker. I tried googling it but it got too complicated to find out the facts, such is the conjecture.
  20. Misdee
    Sleeford Mods sound properly angry to me. The singer has the demeanor of a man who has just been DNA tested on the Jeremy Kyle Show and the results mean he now has to surrender half his Income Support every week to an obese mother-of-three called Tracy. Let's face it, both the guys from this band are probably no strangers to their local Citizens Advice Bureau. Maybe music doesn't sound as angry as some might expect because politics is now secondary to shopping in most people's lives. Political issues only become tangible crises when they affect the ability of the masses to buy the goods and services they want and feel they have a right to. As long as folks have access to the material things they desire they are relatively content.
  21. Misdee
    I'm always reluctant to critique other people's playing, partly because I am acutely aware of my own shortcomings, and also because it's difficult to be complimentary without sounding patronising. Suffice to say then that there is nothing wrong with your playing in my estimation (with the addendum that even the best players can always find room for improvement), and you could easily get some work playing bass. On the advice of a big name bass player I once met socially, I used to record all my practice sessions and then listen back to them while I was doing housework ect. That probably sounds quite strange but it was very helpful in defining my shortcomings as a player. A guitarist I used to play with who had studied at Berklee was taught to do the same thing by his tutor while he was there,too. The tape doesn't lie, and if you are serious about playing for other people then you have to be as brutally honest about your own playing as the outside world will be.
  22. Misdee
    Spector's are indeed great basses. I wish I had bought one when they were more affordable, although they were never that affordable, thinking about it. I've only tried the USA-made NS basses and they have consistently been epic and lived up to the hype. I would rate them amongst the best basses money can buy. Spector basses have their own sound. I would venture that the EMG pickups, combined with the maple body and neck-thru construction, are a significant part of that tone. I know Spector offer other options nowadays, but EMGs are synonymous with that classic aggressive Spector character.
  23. Misdee
    I seem to remember paying around that for mine in 1985 , no case. They had a matching fretted and unlined fretless in the shop, and I agonized over which to buy, but eventually sanity prevailed and I chose the fretted version. Otherwise the next few years would have been a lot more out of tune!😄
  24. Misdee
    The thing about Fender Custom Shop basses is they are making expensive recreations of their ordinary instruments, albeit vintage ones. And anyone who has played a lot of vintage Fenders knows they are a mixed bag, to put it mildly. It's not surprising that the CS basses are unpredictable, and Fender basses are very setup -dependent. Any Fender bass , Custom Shop or not, the difference between a good one and a bad one can quite often be a simple matter of adjustment.
  25. Misdee
    I used to have a Ibanez Musician Bass back in the mid -1980s. I had wanted one for years and when I eventually got one I was so happy I couldn't sleep for two nights! Oh, for that level of excitement nowadays! They were pretty iconic basses at the time, what with Sting ( and lots of other top players) using them. It's a shame that Ibanez developed from the manufactured in Japan quality brand they were into what they are now. Basses like they used to make would be expensive nowadays, but it would be a price worth paying for instruments that were still the same level of quality as from their Golden Age.
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