Misdee

I take your point, but the UK price is largely dictated by the US prices combined with the exchange rate. US prices have risen too. In the past depends on how far back you go, and how many factors you take into account. Historically basses were more unattainable than they are now if you take into account for how much disposable income most people had. If you were to estimate the cost of a Fender bass in the UK fifty years ago it was proportionately much more expensive. It may be that we are going back to that time.

I just hope that they are grateful!🙂 They were also health food ; "A Mars a day helps you work,rest and play." No moaning about childhood obesity back in the 1970s. If you were a fat kid it was for the entertainment of others and that was your lot in life.

Not sure how true that is. If you were to analyse it, most players are as much buying into an idea as they are choosing a tool to make music with when they buy a bass. It's as much a romantic process as it is a practical one.

Buying a new bass made in the USA you are bound to be left sucking lemons if you start looking at the price in relation to what it retails for in the States. However, it's a lot more complicated than that. America is a low taxation economy compared to the UK. People get to keep more of their wages and overall taxes are lower. That lower taxation is reflected in the price of consumer goods. However, the other side of that coin is that folks are expected to pay themselves for things we take for granted in the UK. Like healthcare, social services ect. And don't expect the government to step in and help you if you fall on hard times. You can't just look at the lower cost of fun stuff in America and lament how we are getting ripped off in this country. Yes the exchange rate is terrible at the moment, but inflation is also at a fourty year high in the USA and prices are going up there too. If you were an equivalent person to yourself but living in America, one way or another you would probably feel just as frustrated. People are miserable everywhere you go. I hope you can take some comfort from that. I know I do.

Gail is an exceptional musician. I thoroughly recommend her first solo album, The Corporate World. One of those albums should have been a big hit but somehow got lost. The bass playing on it is sublime and her songwriting is top notch too. Can't say enough good things about this woman.

If Gibson want to sell some basses they would be well advised to look at which of their vintage basses are currently coveted by bass players. That would be the Ripper, Grabber, and also the Les Paul Signature ( ie the bass the Epiphone Jack Cassidy is modelled after). Then make faithful reproductions.

I saw the YT clip of Rex playing his new bass through an SVT in a barren desert canyon. I expect his wife has read him the riot act about making too much noise while she is trying to watch Love Island. Can't really blame her, I suppose. To be fair to Rex Brown, he might have had to make such a racket to ward off the prospect of being attacked by the local Apaches. Many of you are being scathing of Gibson and Rex, but I see a man in turmoil. Not only has he been banned from playing his bass at home through an amp, but now he has also got to suffer the various physical hardships of using a Gibson Thunderbird. And he has to pretend to like it!

The phrase "tax-deductible" springs to mind. It would be much more impressive if he had started the gig with a broken guitar, amp and pedalboard and then fixed them onstage during the show.

I can still remember the day I bought Shadows and Light and brought it home and played it. I had heard Weather Report and some of Jaco's solo stuff, but this made much more sense to me. Within the context of Joni Mitchell's songs I could really appreciate Jaco's genius for the first time. To this day, Jaco's work with Joni is a benchmark I judge other bass players by.

Something I gleaned recently is that while Yes were creating Close To The Edge, Steve Howe was very much in the thrall of John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. That influence had never really occurred to me despite having heard that album hundreds of times, but now it makes perfect sense. It's also a reminder of the astonishing brilliance of John McLaughlin as a guitarist. By the time they wrote Sound Chaser the band were absorbing some of the influence of Return To Forever and Weather Report. To me this is an interesting perspective because Yes get categorised by a lot of folks as coming from a predominantly European symphonic tradition in terms of their musical influences. This is not true, and Steve Howe in particular has always been a lexicon of guitar styles from a variety of genres and eras. The rest of the band were as hip as anyone at the time, too. Yes had plenty (maybe a few too many) of twiddly bits, that is undeniable, but even the twiddly bits were quite diverse.

Not quite, no. What makes a decent Fender-style bass is a whole other discussion (argument). But at least Fender want to sell you a Fender. Joe Dart has got EBMM to sell you a Fender, at a premium price. What does that tell you about his esteem for Music Man basses? He tried one for a while and decided it wasn't for him.

The fundamental question about the Joe Dart Signature model MK2 is what will this bass do for you that a Fender (or other brand of your choosing) Jazz Bass won't? The answer is ... nothing. Joe Dart, Jack Stratton et al will be wetting themselves laughing at plebs on internet forums agonizing over the minute differences between this EBMM offering and any old other Jazz Bass. Joe is a terrific player who can get a tune out of any old bass, and does. That's the joke. He couldn't give a monkeys.

I never knew she played the bass, although I do remember her saying that her favourite band is the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I would have liked her to be Labour leader, but I think her chance has passed now. I really want to order a Serek bass but the current rate of exchange makes it just too much money to be a good deal. I will have to console myself with a Fender Mustang in the meantime. The Midwestern is a bit too lo-fi hipster looking for my taste, but a Lincoln or Sacramento would really float my boat.

Joe Dart is taking the proverbial. He's got EBMM to make him a Fender Jazz Bass and call it a signature model. I suppose the joke is on whoever buys one. That won't be me.

I take your point entirely about giving you some consistency with a range of amps. I have also had a bit of a journey with learning how the blend control interacts with the other controls. One of the good things about the Sansamp is the way it can faithfully recreate the subtle distortion you get when you dig in playing through a valve amp. I have learnt that dialling the blend control back a bit really enhances that sound.

I wish I had bought a white Status Series 2 back in the late 1980's. I remember seeing one on TOTP circa 1987 and thinking how it seemed to capture the style of the time so perfectly ☹️ But then again why stop there? I wish it was the late 1980s, full stop. Nowadays it's only a cocktail of ibuprofen and medicated shampoo that's keeping me going. I'm genuinely upset that Status are winding down production. At least they are very much going out on top and doing it out of choice. Regardless of the trend towards vintage gear, there is still plenty of worldwide demand for Status basses.

I totally agree. I was just trying to say that the BDDI adds a very definite character to the sound, some (not me) would say a bit too much. I use mine primarily for recording. To be honest, I can't understand why so many people use the Bass Driver and similar preamps through an amp. Why not just buy an amp you like the sound of in the first place? I suppose if it makes the sound better then fair enough, and with so many bass players using distortion nowadays ( it wasn't always that way, I remember when most bass players were trying to get as clean a signal as possible) at least with a BDDI you can rely on a bit of fuzz with plenty of bottom end. Whatever you want to use it for, I think the BDDI is excellent value for money. To me it sounds as good in its own way as much more expensive competition and it's very nicely made.

Re the Gus basses, I've been looking into them this afternoon. I really like the sound and a lot of the design features. I really like the overall shape and the ergonomics. What I don't like is the tubular metal top horn and bottom bout. If I analyze what I couldn't reconcile myself to then it is that. It just seems like an unnecessary gimmick. Otherwise I might buy one. The Status Streamline, in comparison, is futuristic ( bearing in mind that the future is what happened circa 1983) but the aesthetic is practical. Form follows function, to paraphrase the much- vaunted Bauhaus principal. The thing about graphite basses is what are you looking for in terms of sound? Do you want it to sound like a wooden bass but with the advantages of graphite construction, or do you want it to sound unashamedly like it's made of carbon fibre? To my ears, Status basses sound like carbon fibre. The scant YouTube demos of the Gus bass I have seen sound much more wooden and organic. Neither is better than the other, just different. My reference point for graphite bass tone will always be the Steinberger L2. That's my ideal. Status basses don't sound like a Steinberger, but it's very definitely a graphite kind of tone. In contrast, I had a custom Zon Legacy Elite as my main bass back in the 1990s and it was distinctly and deliberately un-graphite like in its tone. When you see that a Gus bass is about seven or eight grand, you realise what good value Status basses are/were. I'm not saying the Gus Basses are overpriced,by the way, just that Status were a very reasonable price considering the world class quality of the basses.

I'm sorry if you feel that way. I'm just genuinely surprised about the Sigue Sigue Sputnik business. Maybe it's me that was/is out of touch with the consensus of informed opinion. I'm glad you enjoyed them. 🙂

Not sure what this is supposed to prove. 😀🙂 Okay, my mistake. It must be me then.

Modulus are a funny one. I think the name was bought by a music shop somewhere in the Midwest. I'm not sure who is actually producing the basses and to what standard. I might have to look into that! The downside at the moment is the weakness of the pound against the dollar. Buying British never seemed more appropriate.

Gus Basses. Never played one, but I must say that the aesthetic doesn't appeal to me in the slightest. I'm sure to some folks they look stylish, but I would feel a bit ridiculous playing one in public. To me they look like the kind of thing Sigue Sigue Sputnik would've used on TOTP circa 1987 ( had they actually been successful). What do I know though? We're living in strange times where inherently modern things are considered old fashioned and the only way to be current is to look to the past. But that is complicated by the fact that the modern age is now old enough that people can look back at that era as being vintage. I'm sure buying basses never used to be this complicated.

The thing about the BDDI in its various guises is that it has a (very) distinct sonic personality. It's not trying to be neutral or transparent. It's aim is to impart itself on your tone. And as with most things that are distinctive, some people will love it and some people will be less enthusiastic. I've tried all sorts of preamps in all sorts of price ranges and I end up coming back to the BDDI precisely because it is so stylised in it's tone. I like that it's idiosyncratic and occasionally difficult to work with. That's preferable to being bland.

The most important thing is that Rob Green stays well, that almost goes without saying. But what a loss to the industry! I've got a Streamline bass that I had made for me a while ago and it's a superb bass. A unique design with a sound to match. I've had other Status basses and they were all very enjoyable. In a bass manufacturing world of vintage- fixated retrogression, Rob's basses are uncompromisingly modern, and refreshingly original with their own identity. It's the end of an era. Never mind Status Graphite, I remember reading the review of the Rob Green Strata Bass in Sounds magazine. That must be 40 years ago. I also remember seeing that actual bass for sale secondhand in the Bass Center in about 1987. Rob Green retiring also raises the question, if you want to buy a new bass with a graphite neck who would make you one? According to some folks on Talkbass, Zon are hopelessly back-ordered and unable to deliver completed instruments within a reasonable time frame. I am scratching my head trying to think of other options.