Misdee

I did notice on a YT video plugging Ernie Ball strings that Justin Chancellor has got an impressive estate in California with his own teepee on it. There must be money in dark, odd-meter, doom laden naval-gazing somewhere, obviously.

Fretless Thumb Basses are indeed very special. I'm sure the combination of woods contributes a great deal to that. I remember when Thumbs first came out and ( as the name implies) everyone commented on the phenomenal slap sound, which is also probably in no small part due to the use of wenge and bubinga ect( I know Thumb Basses have ebony boards now, but didn't they have wenge fretboards back in the 80s?). Anyhow, back in those days a good slap sound was a major consideration! The natural compression from that wood combination really delivered the goods.

I remember that era so well and a Rickenbacker bass was an object of religious reverence for aspiring bass players of the rock/prog persuasion. And plenty of other genres too, for that matter. I've still never owned a Ric for one reason or another. Should have bought a 4004 while they still made them. And now they have stopped laquering the fingerboard on ,4003's!😯

I too need a bit of fretbuzz and grit in my sound or I don't enjoy playing the bass. Just so long as it isn't choking too much and taking energy out of the vibrating string. The thing is, some high end basses are do well made to such fine tolerances nowadays that it can be difficult to get sufficient fret buzz and grind with my preferred string heights!

I know for a fact that Pete Stevens used to recommend more relief in the neck and then lowering the setup at the bridge to suit taste and playing style accordingly.

Fair enough, good point. It's a great strength in life to have a clear idea of what you want. 🙂 Even the G&L Jazz width necks have some meat to their profile. If your not a Fender- derived design guy I totally get it. I sometimes muse that my dad had, as I so wanted at the time, been able to shell out a bit more and buy me a Rickenbacker 4001 instead of the Jazz Bass copy I ended up with how different my taste in basses might have been.

Exactly right. But this case isn't so much against the record company. It's against the artists. Both legally and in terms of public perception, it's against the creatives involved at the time.

Make sure you play one first. Great basses, but not for everybody.

They offer a selection of neck profiles to order. Unfortunately my L1500 was a bit too wide at the nut for me, with an overall profile like a classic vintage P Bass. If it had been more like a Jazz or Stingray I would still own it. G&L make some superb instruments, no doubt about that.

I would suggest that if this young man's image had been used in the same way by a someone who wasn't a creative artist whose work countless millions of people know and love folks might have a more open mind about the merits of his case. The fact that he cooperated with the anniversary shots is an irrelevance, by the way. He expressed his ambivalence at the time, and he is under no obligation to behave in a uniformly consistent manner than anybody else. People are inherently inconsistent. That inconsistency does not necessarily undermine his case. You like Nirvana, you like the album cover, and then this guy comes along looking for money and trying to spoil the party. What's his problem,? But if his image had been exploited in a comparable way by some massive corporation that people had no particular affinity for would you be so dismissive and so damning of his claims for injury? I think not.

I used to have one of these and it was indeed a beast of a bass . I would best describe it as a Stingray on steroids, and a Stingray is already on steroids, if you see what I mean. So these basses are probably more like a Stingray on steroids and antibiotics at the same time.

Check out his playing? More likely I will be checking out his financial advisor! 😄

I'm sorry to hear that. I would give him the benefit of the doubt at the very least until I know the context of those remarks. Just a general observation, but I suppose as people get older, regardless of what line of work they are in, they have a tendency to get more frightened by what they can't understand or can't control.

Never mind Chris Square, how has Paul D'Amour amassed a net worth of six million dollars? I've never heard of him.

Flats on a Jazz sound great with the treble boosted a bit and loads of compression for that click-and-boom late 1960s kind of tone. As Cat points out, great for indie music ect . A refreshing alternative to the usual fuzzed-out fare. Channel your inner Paul McCartney.

Human beings are not rational creatures. Much of what we do and what we aspire to be is not rational. Where a MusicMan Stingray 5 fits into that, I have no idea, but it is a bass that has many strengths ( versatile sound, robust design, great low B string, to name but a few) and a few weaknesses. Only you can decide if you can live with the shortcomings. Most notably: 1) 17.5 mm string spacing ( not necessarily a bad thing by any means, but something to be aware of if you are primarily a 4 string player.) 2) The G string is usually very close to the edge of the fingerboard, meaning it keeps whizzing off the edge of the fret and choking the note, usually when you are most enjoying yourself. It drives me and plenty of other folks crazy. 3) A lot of Stingray 5s are quite heavy. Some are really heavy. Asess the weight carefully before you take the plunge. A bass that is too heavy will always be too heavy.

I've got DR Marcus Miller Fatbeams on my 2012 American Standard, (and I say Marcus Miller Fatbeams because ten years ago when I put them on that bass they were still endorsed by Marcus), and TI flats on my 74 AVRI reissue. I went with DRs on the Am Standard because I thought if Marcus Miller uses them they must be good on a Jazz Bass. In reality they are OK but I prefer the sound of Rotosound Swing Bass to be honest with you. When it comes to roundwounds, to me that is the classic tone on a Fender. The TI flats on the '74 are perfect for me. Easy to play compared to my only other foray into the world of flatwound strings, Rotosound Jazz flats (way too stiff for me) I bought by accident in 1983. The TI's have a lovely warm, supple tone and in the twilight world of my own imagination they allow me to pretend that I am Robbie Shakespeare. What more could I ask for?

I totally agree with all those who say that it's the aggression is more down to the player than the bass. I was listening to a classic live recording of King Crimson with John Wetton playing his Fender Precision and the bass tone practically mugged me, such was the visceral impact. Geddy Lee and Flea sound aggressive on any bass, let's face it, but, to my ears, a Wal seems to compliment that aggression beutifully. Same with Jack Bruce and the Thumb Bass. Although I can't help but wonder if Thumb Basses tend to sound aggressive because the people playing them are so brassed off by the ergonomics. As for the Stingray, for me the aggression is all in the treble. Those basses have always had a peculiar relationship with midrange, or the absence thereof to be more specific. I know they have a midrange control on nowadays but the essential tone of those basses is characterized by a very pronounced scoop around the middle frequencies. The overall effect can be very punchy, though. Plenty of aggression in Tony Levin's playing whenever the mood takes him, for example.

That's what the 70s were really like in a nutshell! Motorbikes, warped vinyl (and people who claimed to be able to do Kung Fu but in reality probably couldn't, from what I remember).

I too remember Breadfan as a standout track back in the day. Budgie were one of the bands that , like Judas Priest and UFO for example, were a precursor to the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (now there's a phrase I haven't heard in a while...) that was a thing in 1979/80. Saw them opening for Ozzy Osbourne in 1980 and they were a consummate live act, from what I can remember. I recall seeing Burke Shelley on some program or other a few years back talking about his Christian faith ect. Good for him, I thought. Anyhow,I hope he is at peace now.🙂 All this is making me realize how long ago the 1970s are getting to be.

I take your point entirely, but there is also the very real possibility that representation to the British legal system would have been different . Any litigation is tailored to the jurisdiction in which it's likely to be heard. Chances are that, yes, this young man was trying his luck at getting a few dollars out of his enforced fame. But for all we might look askance at court cases like this, there is no doubt that the image on the front of Nevermind is designed to shock and provoke. There is a degree of studied insouciance in putting a naked baby underwater on your album cover. Whoever did it knew it would be controversial. His grievances deserve to be considered, at least. And in any negotiation, you ask for more than you expect to get and negotiate down from there. If you claim child sex exploitation you might get at least some acknowledgement that no one considered how their actions might affect you in future when maybe they should have. It seems in this instance though, he has overplayed his hand somewhat. Bargaining, another perculiarity of the American legal system.

...or just leave it flat like I tend to do. It sounds just fine like that.

I am totally in agreement that EBMM's current pricing is a bit steep to say the least.But at the same time I would have to say that, in its own way, the Bongo is equal to any high- end custom bass I have ever played. For my own tastes, I find a lot of boutique basses to quite gutless and insipid. The Bongo, in contrast, is hifi but quite brutal in a good way. In a blindfold test I would put it up against anything on the market, no eggageration. If a bloke with a beard somewhere in Finland had designed the Bongo, built them one at a time on his kitchen table and made people wait three years for them, everyone would want one. In a world of retrogressive bass designs, EBMM deserve tremendous credit for coming up with a truly innovative modern instrument with a unique sound that matches the styling.

Big +1 on that. This colour combo is a classic! Love the off white with the gold anodised pickguard. The maple board offsets it beutifully, too.