Misdee

Back in his heyday Ozzy would have got up to some kind of dubious shenanigans with those chimpanzees. It would have been too good and opportunity to miss.They should count themselves very lucky.

In terms of the music, my favourite Sabbath was definitely the Dio era too, saw them live ect, but Ozzy was a personality cult all of his own, even back then. I agree that if Sabbath had changed their name at that point then maybe people would have more readily acknowledged what great music they were turning out in their own right. I saw Ozzy with Randy Rhodes on the first Blizzard Of Oz tour in 1980. It was pretty good but not great, just another routine gig on a Monday night in the provinces for Ozzy. I waited at the stage door afterwards to get my programme signed but Ozzy looking a bit dazed and glazed-over, wasn't very approachable. Sharon accompanied him straight across the car park to the hotel next door. A few minutes later you could see him through the window having a drink in the bar with Budgie, the support band. Probably just a quick nightcap and then straight to bed.

Rick Parfitt is looking a bit peaky at the back there. Who the chap throwing up the devils horns is I have no idea, but he looks more like our old milkman Dave than he does Ronnie Dio, that's for sure Can't see Ozzy being that enthusiastic about an embrace with Freddie Mercury either, but that's another story ...

For me the standout Ozzy performance is War Pigs on the Paranoid album. I can still remember the first time I ever heard that song on my record player when I was ten years old. My nephew bought that album on vinyl recently and he's thirteen. That's a time gap of going on for fifty years and he's into Sabbath just like I was. Black Sabbath are still the best to ever do that style of music. No one can get near them, even after all that time. Ozzy might (quite understandably) have been a bit shaky at the final gig but the rest of them were still a formidable unit. As far as I'm concerned they are one of Britain's greatest ever exports and something to be proud of.

As so often happens with high-profile people perceived by the wider public as hedonists, effectively Ozzy became a stuntman for excess and intoxication. I think a lot of the shock about his passing is based on the common assumption that, despite his obvious frailty, he was more robust than ordinary mortal men. By the time of his death Ozzy and Sabbath were household names and fully embraced by the mainstream media, but I remember when Ozzy and Sabbath were a cult band and hardly ever featured on TV ect in Britain. That was the real Black Sabbath and the source of their legend. In an age where rock stars could get away with behaving badly, Sabbath were a bit more dangerous than most, albeit that they were mostly dangerous to themselves. Never mind The Osbournes, I wish someone had made a reality show about Ozzy's life back in those days. It would've been the most interesting documentary ever.

Wow, only just seen this on the news. I'm shocked and I don't know why because he's obviously been very unwell for some time. Puts a different perspective on things if he knew he was getting close to the end. No exaggeration to say that Ozzy and Sabbath were a big part of my life and my imagination going back to when I was a kid in the 1970's. Ozzy was a cult icon even back then, before the rest of the world joined in. It's the end of an era, but his legend will only grow. Sabbath's music has already stood the test of time, and I have no doubt people will still be listening to them a hundred years from now. A one-off original, the genuine article. Rest in peace Ozzy.

I would have to say accordion, on the basis that to my ears any accordion is too much so a lot of accordion is unspeakable.

I too assumed it was PIno until I found out otherwise by accident, Mike. PIno does play on some tracks on that album, though. For my taste, one of the great bass lines of the 1980's .

That's a common misconception, Mike. It was David Paton, formerly of Pilot and Alan Parsons Project ect. who played bass on Nikita. Apparently he got to the studio early one day, was just playing his Stingray along to the backing track to test out a new piece of equipment, Elton heard it and loved it and the rest is history.

Talking of Elton John, it was great to see David Paton in the band. Looked like a vintage P Bass he was playing. Another great unsung bass player. So clever, so tasteful, so inventive. It must have been around that time that he was playing on tracks for Elton's Ice On Fire album, including Nikita which was a classic example of an ,'80s big hit where the bass guitar is so prominent like you seldom hear on pop records nowadays. Fair play to the BBC for putting all this footage on again. I've really enjoyed watching some of it. If so had the time I'd probably sit down and watch it all.

I've got a Yamaha BB2025 and the low B is awesome on the P-style pickup, even with the relatively light 120-gauged string I like to use. I suppose it depends on your definition of a P Bass because the you can definitely hear elements of that Fender sound in the Yamaha but it's got it's own distinct identity too. There's so many factors to considering what makes a low B string sound sufficiently uniform with the other four strings. I think the bridge design plays a huge part and the bridge Yamaha designed for those basses with a narrow witness point over the saddle really helps give clarity and even harmonics in the notes.

I've never understood why some folks see Adam Clayton as an inferior bass player. To anyone who understands the subtleties of the instrument he's a very good bass player. He knows how to create a hook with his bass parts- something that eludes a lot of virtuoso players- and when U2 were at their best his bass lines and gritty tone used to really drive the songs. There's an awful lot to like about how he plays the bass.

In my recollection U2 were already proselytising about various causes by the mid-80's. I think Live Aid just confirmed to them that it could be an integral part of their identity as a band. It also encouraged and confirmed Bono's egotistical delusions that his opinions were important. It was a transitional point in history where musicians pronouncements on issues they were usually completely unqualified to comment on became important as their music and the clothes they wore ect. Righteous causes became an essential accessory. We are still suffering the effects in the present day. Musicians have to subscribe to certain opinions and values or risk being ostracised.

I owned a JV Squire Jazz back when they first came out. It was a very nice bass. Not sure I would pay what they are going for nowadays for one, though. I've never played a Fullerton reissue from that era. I just recounting what was written about them at the time to the best of my recollection. With bass guitars as with most other things in life, people, myself included, can get nostalgic about anything.

I really enjoyed watching some of the footage again. I remember that day vividly, watched it on t.v at home and then went out for a pizza with a friend. I didn't agree with Bob Geldof's version of events at the time, still don't now. He certainly never got a penny out of me. Very few people ever have. Before you all rush to judgement, never mind Ethiopia, I've had a hard life too. It's about time someone had a rock concert raising money for me. The first thing that struck me was, by the standards of 2025, how amateurish and home-made it all was. It was all the better for it, too. The second thing that struck me was, bloody hell, don't all the artists look young! Then what struck me was, if they've all aged forty years, so must I have too! Some very tasty basses and bass playing on display. Those were the days! I particularly enjoyed Martin Kemp playing his Wal (underrated player in my opinion), Paul Denman with Sade(also underrated) and Adam Clayton with U2. It was a bit of a culture shock seeing Status Quo having to use all their formidable gigging experience not to trip over each others leads during their choreographed stage moves. Even buskers have got wireless systems nowadays.

I've been quoted two years a while ago for either a standard model or master built/custom shop (right handed). Sounds like Sadowsky Germany are pretty accurate with their estimated delivery times. That is very valuable to know. Thanks. I hope it was worth the wait🙂👍

I think they were discontinued before the Specials came along, maybe quite a while before. They always sounded really good to me in the YT demos I saw. Never got to play one. From memory, they weren't that much more expensive than a bolt on model. Certainly not enough for people to raise a fuss about at the time. They weren't in production for very long, probably because there wasn't much demand for a non-traditional Stingray. Players are fairly conservative, and so many have already got Stingrays anyway. For a company like EBMM volume of sales is always a big consideration because they have limited production capability so they need to put their resources into making stuff that is going to sell. That's why they can't keep making models that aren't selling very many. With a limited range of models and options they can more accurately estimate what raw materials they will need and end up wasting less time and money.

I remember when the Fullerton Reissues came out in the early 1980's and some reviews slating them as overpriced and underwhelming in terms of quality and playability. They were especially disappointing considering the relatively cheap but very cheerful JV Squires that were abundant in the shops at exactly the same time .

Very nice bass. I had an identical Squire JV Jazz Bass that I bought new in 1983. It was a lovely bass that, with the balance of hindsight, I should have kept. I could have had forty+ years good service out of it and I'm sure I'd still enjoy playing it now. It was the bass I made my most important progress on in learning to play and will always have a special place in my heart. These were considered very good affordable basses at the time, I suppose the equivalent of something like a Sire bass nowadays, but no one remotely suspected they would ever become desirable vintage guitars in their own right. I expect the fact that they were pretty faithful reproductions of old Fender basses with attention to detail is what has made them special.

That is a beautiful bass. The quality on the German-made Sadowsky basses is really something to behold. When they first teamed up with Warwick I was sceptical. Nowadays it would be a difficult decision between a NYC custom shop bass or the German equivalent. I've never seen Fender-style basses made better than these. You can't go wrong with the classic olympic white/tort combo. If you opt for a maple fingerboard it goes with the off-white painted body and if, as in this case, you choose a darker wood for the fretboard it goes with the tort guard. May I ask, was the extra-long wait time due to the bass being left-handed or was it just due to Warwick being very late on their estimated delivery date. I'm presuming they didn't quote you nearly four years when you ordered the bass?

It occured to me after looking at the spec of these basses again, considering the vintage-accurate spec of the pickup, will these basses be prone to the much-debated weak-sounding G string exhibited by some Stingrays of yesteryear? It's certainly something to consider.

To be perfectly honest with you, I think if you go the route of trying to turn your bass into a PJ there is a good chance you could end up ruining a bass you are almost perfectly content with, neck pickup not withstanding. Whilst you may get a Precision Bass tone available to you, PJ configurations have their own inconsistencies that may well annoy you more than the unsatisfactory-sounding Jazz neck pickup does at the moment. Let your Sadowsky be a Jazz Bass and get yourself a P Bass to keep it company when you can might be the best compromise. Forgive me if I am stating the obvious but are you sure the existing neck pickup is adjusted to the appropriate height ect? That could make a huge difference if it isn't. Sadowsky pickups are top quality in my experience, so the neck pickup should sound okay in terms of output and tone, even if it'll never be a P Bass. If you do decide to change the Jazz pickups you will probably get better results changing both pickups rather than just one, but no Jazz neck pickup will sound like a Precision. It's in a very different position. I'm assuming you've got Sadowsky Hum Cancelling pickups at the moment. A true single coil like is on the Sadowsky Will Lee will give a beefier sound with more prominent mids, generally speaking. It doesn't sound like a P Bass but it does have a bit more growl and presence than the more modern hum cancelling pickups.See what you think:

It was a different world in those days. It's easy to forget in the age of the internet how much received wisdom about bass playing was supposition, rumour, assumption and just plain good old fashioned stupidity and ignorance. Nowadays it's easy to find out Larry Graham used tapewound strings on the super-funky Sly and Betty Davis stuff. Back thenmost people in the UK didn't have easy access to that music, let alone definitive insight into how it was done. FWIW, I used to(and still do) go for a more midrangey slap tone without the exaggerated treble that so many people still think is essential to that style. Slap equals top end was the basic equation at that point in time. Pino's Stingray tone always had more mids than a typical 'Ray, and it's interesting he mentions that when he's introducing these new basses.

The epoch you describe is exactly when I started playing the bass and yes, Rotosound was the default bass string. My first set of strings were Swing Bass in the plastic pack with a picture of John Entwistle on the back. I do also remember Superwound and occasionally Ernie Ball bass strings being available locally, but Rotos reigned supreme. Fresh out of the box still the best tone of any roundwounds strings in my opinion. It's a shame they die off so quick and then sound not so special. Flatwounds are for hipsters nowadays. Back on the early '80's they were for old men who liked arm wrestling. I still feel subversive playing a bass with flats nowadays because it was drilled into me by my bass teacher back then that they were to be avoided at all cost because you couldn't slap on them. And slapping was essential. Such a great era for playing bass. Someone please invent a time machine.

Except that at £500 it wouldn't and couldn't really bear much real relation to Pino's bass. At best it would be a cheap bass with a reminiscent paint job. The Joe Dart model is a very different proposition in so much as even the USA-made version was conceived as a bit of a joke at consumers expense. It was "special" because you were getting far less for your money. The expensive version was a cheap bass masquerading as something extraordinary. The Sterling version is just further refining that aesthetic.