Misdee

The Hellborg amp at Wal headquarters back in the day isn't the Warwick-era version. It's a short-lived mid-1980's combo that I seem to remember was made in Italy. They had that amp in the workshop at High Wycombe back in the '80's. Jonas' had a signature bass made by an Italian company at that time too, might well have been the same company.

I remember only too well how unwanted flat wound bass strings were back in the day. Most shops had Rotosound Jazz Bass flats in stock, from what I remember, just on the off chance a masochist walked in off the street wanting to restring his bass. I bought a set out of curiosity and found them completely unplayable. I didn't buy another set of flats for 30 years until I finally relented and got some Thomastiks about ten years ago. I can easily envisage Alan Spenner using old rounds and making them sound akin to flats in certain situations, either intentionally or otherwise. Re Bernard Edwards and the flats on his Stingray, he definitely changed to round wounds on that bass, I think after the second Chic album.

Rob made Jonas' bass from Utile and included the switchable parametric sweepable mid control to try give the bass a similar tone to his Wal. Can't remember if it was Rob or Jonas who mentioned it, but it's was one of the other.

That bass has been doing the rounds for years. I tried to buy it from someone in Norfolk in about 1995 from a classified advert in Melody Maker (those were the days...) but it had already sold. It was £500-ish, if I remember correctly. There was no mention of it being Nick Beggs old bass at that time, though. It's only subsequently that came to light.

Rob went on to make a few with graphite necks as special orders.

Alan Spenner really featured the characteristic sound of a Wal bass on those Roxy albums. I'd love to get a definitive answer on whether he used rounds or flats on that bass. It's very difficult to tell. Anyhow, it sounds great, and what a player he was. Died tragically young and I think if he had lived longer he would have got the widespread recognition and respect he deserved. A superb musician. I have to respectfully disagree that a Stingray can approach the tone of a Wal; I have long thought the two of being the antithesis of one another. The Stingray has got that baked-in zing and a hollowness in the mids that is it's calling card. I think what they do have in common is that both basses sound big and hefty. In their own respective ways they've got an inherently beefy tone.

They say the best deals are when everyone walks away happy and this sounds like one of those occasions. 11k? I expect you treated yourself to fish and chips that night.😊

Jonas' signature Status bass was designed to sound as close as possible to his Wal, apparently. I think Wal basses most certainly do have a unique tone, and I have yet to hear any of the would-be imitators nail that sound. Just because a bass has a filter preamp that doesn't mean that it will sound like a Wal. It might sound good in it's own right, but Wal basses have got their own sonic identity. Alembic basses, by way of contrast, use a filter preamp and have a wonderful tone of their own, but they sound nothing like a Wal. Construction ( as well as electronics) also plays a significant role in the overall tone of the instrument. Wal basses have got that fat midrange that is so useful for a bass guitar. It's a beautiful thing, for sure.

Lots of basses, both new and "vintage"" are overpriced in the current market. Wal basses are a prime example, but I think 1970's Fenders are also ridiculously expensive considering what someone is actually getting for the money. Partly it's a generational thing. If you weren't playing bass in the late '70s into the late '80s then certain instruments can hold a certain mystique. That's because of famous players who use(d) them and romantic associations we make with that music. If you were immersed in all things bass back in those days then there's much more chance that you have experience of the mundane reality of those"classic" instruments. Yes, they had certain strengths but they also had potential drawbacks and pitfalls. Allowing for inflation, they were also proportionately much less expensive. £6000+ for a used Wal Custom is a bit ridiculous to me, but it's more understandable than £2000 -£3000 for a late '70's Fender in so much as Wal basses have a unique tone. By comparison, those Fenders have neither an otherwise unattainable sound or substantial build quality. If you want a Fender-style bass you can do better elsewhere. Whether used Wal prices have peaked, I doubt,. That's because there's a buoyant market for them fuelled by influential big-name players, limited supply of new instruments and big demand particularly from the USA. A strong dollar means that UK-based Wal basses up for sale are appealing to American buyers.

I remember seeing Jimmy Bain playing a BB1200 with Wild Horses back in the late '70's. He must have progressed on to the BB2000 and subsequently BB3000. Regarding the BB2000, maybe there's something about a reverse P pickup that works well for a grindy rock pick tone; look at the Spector NS2/ Warwick Streamer ect.

I just watched that video. In those lighting conditions the (ahem ..) Mantis Green doesn't look quite so virulent. I still couldn't say I like it, but it's not so bad as in the photo.

Would be nice if that's how things progress. I'd love a Bongo with a maple board and a vivid colour scheme, just not one that burns my retinas and makes me wince every time I look at it.

Considering what everyday things cost in the UK nowadays, I would say so, yes. Young people (most likely to be beginners)in particular spend ridiculous amounts of their parents money on things like smashed avocado, Starbucks and McDonald's et al. that £500 for a bass is not untoward. What does a decent coat cost nowadays? If I was twelve years old again I would demand a family meeting to tell my parents in no uncertain terms that they need to get me one of these basses or the likelihood is that I will become yet another tragic victim of knife crime on the blood-soaked streets of Broken Britain. I'm sure they would see sense.

Well that has fair upset me. Three new colours for the Bongo and they're all crap. Lime green? I'm a middle aged man with prostate issues, not a skateboard kid in a punky ska band. If it was Seafoam Green with a maple board EBMM could have my money right now. Or Fiesta Red or something else a bit more classic. EBMM Blood Orange is essentially Cherry Sunburst ( not my thing)and Titan Grey is not my cup of tea either. What a waste. And presumably the Bongo is excluded from the custom options they are threatening for the Stingray Special.

Relatively inexpensive basses have been a revelation to me since I got my Harley Benton Shorty. Okay, so the tuning pegs fell off when I went to change the strings for the first time but so what? For £80 it's got a right to self-destruct at some point. In the meantime I have had all kinds of fun playing it. If your a proper muso then playing a cheap bass is a bit like riding a moped i.e it's very enjoyable until someone you want to impress sees you doing it. 👍🙂

That looks like a nice bass to me. Beginner-level price point basses have come on a bit since I was a lad, that's for sure.

It's also a bit disappointing that EBMM have started treating the Bongo a bit like a ginger haired stepchild. Only two crap colours and one pickup configuration available ect. Ironically, the Bongo would look great in some of these new finishes. I love the Bongo and would cheerfully buy another if EBMM would make the effort to tempt me.

For my taste, these new standard colours for the Stingray Special are bloody awful. The only inoffensive ones are the black one and the Black Rock. The Candyman does indeed need black pickup covers and either a white or black pickguard. The rest are all far too Liberace for my taste. Maybe this latest selection is so conspicuously unappealing in order to usher prospective punters towards the soon to be available custom order service. I recently bought a Stingray Special and would like another to give me a choice between rounds and flats. I am intrigued what options EBMM will be offering to tempt me, but it better be good. A new ordinary Stingray Special is overpriced for what it is, and no doubt a custom one will be too.

I think a significant difference is that Pino and John Giblin both had a much more formalised and conventional approach to playing bass than Mick Karn. That made them much more suited to mainstream session work than Mick Karn, who's style was probably just a bit too idiosyncratic for some artists and producers.

Tickets available from £2.50. Those were the days...

Mick Karn was always a maverick. It's not really that useful to compare him to Jaco Pastorius in so much as Jaco was an educated musician whereas MK played by instinct. Mick was always very frank about his disregard for conventional technique and saw it as a strength rather than a shortcoming. Jaco was from a completely different idiom steeped in tradition and scholarship. His jazz background is what defined his style and put him streets ahead of the competition. They're both magnificent in my estimation and I enjoy them both tremendously. Mick Karn was a mesmerising talent back in the early '80's and surely a fretless icon forevermore.

It's really refreshing to hear a bass player who isn't afraid to deviate from the orthodoxy of "less is more" and who has the taste and skills to make busy playing serve the songs in such a compelling way.

For my taste, Tony Kanal is one of the best bass players of recent times. Such creative and interesting bass lines.

Whether they were better or not is a matter for conjecture, depending on what you value, but Yamaha made some top quality basses back in the day. The standout models were the BB1200, BB2000 and BB3000. All world class instruments in their own way that you've heard on countless hit records. Myself, I've never been keen on the older active BB basses like the BB1200, the only exceptions being the NE2 and BB1500A. The current BB P34 is equally well-made and a superb bass in its own right but to my my taste lacks a little of the characteristic classic BB tone. I had one for a while but I found it's exceptionally clear and precise tone not that useful for my own needs. The 20 Series basses were/are epic. Arguably the best BB basses ever, providing you like the neck profile ect. The bottom end is massive, so much so that if you turn it up loud through an amp you can feel the bass hitting you in the chest like someone prodding you. The mids are rich and complex and the treble extends much further than on a traditional Fender-style bass. What struck me when I first played one was how un-Fender like the sound was, despite being a passive PJ made out of very similar materials. The quality is as good as anything out there, that is except the crappy pickup selector switch. That is equally true of the vintage basses. It's also worth mentioning that in my experience the "X" models are notably heavier than the non-X version. You wouldn't think so but the scratch plate and metal knobs ect must add nearly half a pound

I've never owned one, but I remember when the original Cruise Bass came out in the very early '80s and it got rave reviews. I longed for one at the time but alas it was way out of my price range in those days.