Misdee

The CD63KI is indeed a true classic. It's still a great-sounding piece of kit twenty-odd years after it came out . If the deck in question has started skipping when you are trying to play a disc, there is a good chance that what has happened is that the lubricant in the transport has dried out. It can usually be re-lubricated by an hifi repairer. The particular Phillips transport the the CD63KI used was very prone to that fault developing as the years pass.

I'm not that keen on this bass, but Cliff Willliams is a much underrated bass player, for sure. A couple of years go I had to learn a couple of AC/DC songs exactly as they are on the record, and they were far from simple and straight forward. They play some really clever turnarounds , and make them slightly different each time. Check out the bassline on tracks like Riff Raff- quite unusual and really busy. Cliff makes it sound easy, but there is a lot going on . The timing is pretty tricky too, especially if you want to make it swing like AC/DC do. The whole band are really clever. Superb musicians who feel no need to draw unnecessary attention their chops. Big respect from me.

Definitely the best Lizzy album, along with Live And Dangerous IMO. I remember buying the LP when it came out back in 1979. They were always a special band, and Black Rose was them at their best. Great playing and, above all, superb song writing. Phil Lynott was a superstar. Great memories.

I remember these basses in the shops when they were new , around the time I started playing . They were pretty exotic at the time, probably the most expensive bass in the shop. Fashion always comes full circle , and these would be pretty trendy nowadays if they were a new design, blending as it does a novel technological approach and retro Seventies styling. Conventional wisdom at the time was that these basses were flawed by the aforementioned temperature- sensitivity of the aluminium neck. I have no idea how true that was/is. I never got to play one. What I do know is that a few years ago I picked up a Kramer aluminium-necked six string guitar from this era off a stand in a music shop and it was shockingly heavy, like it was made of lead.

The old Boss BF-2 was great, but nowadays I have the EBS Unichorus and it's so versatile and useful, with chorus and pitch modulation on offer in addition to some excellent flanging, easily as good as my early 1980s Japanese-made BF-2.

I've got the Tech21 BDDI V2 and it's great, but I find I have to keep the Presence and Treble controls rolled back a fair bit or it's a bit toppy for my taste. I using it with headphones for home recording , and it may well be that I need to add a bit of compression to my Focusrite interface to take the edge off. Contrary to Tech21's assertion that the BDDI shouldn't necessarily be used in conjunction with a separate compressor because there is already some natural tube compression factored into the sound , in my setup when I combine the V2 with my Diamond BC1 the sound is much more to my taste. But then again , I am a middle -aged bloke with middle-aged taste in bass tone. The BDDI , even the V2 with a midrange control, seems to naturally favour the more aggressive scooped and distorted modern kind of tones that angry kids in board shorts with tattoos and multiple piercings seem to like . That is fair enough, because the present( and probably the future) belongs to them .

Also a fantastic bass.

I would reserve judgement until I had seen the condition, but yes, as others have said, for £1800 it would have to be in very good nick. That said, that 20th Anniversary Stingray 5 was an exceptionally good bass, albeit a bit on the heavy side. Arguably the best-sounding Stingray 5 ever. One of the better EBMM Special Editions because it was substantively different( and better) than the standard model. As ever, the laws of supply and demand are applicable, and if I had one to sell in good condition I would be asking £1800 too. Whether I would find a buyer is anybody's guess, but if you really want one where else would you get one? If you can find one at a better price, buy that one. That would be my attitude.

Absolutely stunning! I've never played one of these Rob Allen basses, but I'm sure I would love them . They look like an awful lot of fun to play, and they sound great.

Thanks for the info, I will have to try a set then! They sound mighty impressive in the demos I have heard, something quite special. I really like XL's, although in recent years Dunlop Nickel have been my default string of choice. It's just a shame the NYXL's are twice the price of the XL's, but maybe they are more expensive to produce . Something must make them sound so good.

I read one or two accounts of NYXL being rough on frets. I would love to hear what any ones' experience is in respect of that potential pitfall. They sound superb on YT, that's for sure.

There is always the overwound pickup option too, the more overwinding you go for usually giving proportionately higher output and more pronounced midrange, but at the expense of treble extension. Aguilar do an overwound 70's Jazz Bass set that is well worth checking out.

If you are going for a more aggressive tone, Di Marzio Ultra Jazz are a great choice. High output, raw tone but still very pleasing and musical. Would be my pick for heavier rock styles.

The right choice of pickup depends on what kind of a J Bass tone you want .Will you be going for the modern hifi active Jazz Bass tone , or a more gritty traditional Fender sound, for example ? I favour the latter, and the best pickup for my taste has been the Fender Custom Shop 60's Jazz Bass set, and also the 74 Jazz Bass set. Both are superb. Stating the obvious maybe, but Fender make great pickups if you want a Fender-style sound. I thoroughly recommend either of those two sets.

I wish that they'd had Scott's Bass Lessons back when I was starting out. All we had was Rockschool on BBC2 , half an hour once a week for a few weeks, two series. That was your lot. And no VCR to tape the first series. It was tough in those days to find out things that you can learn in minutes now. But yes, all the relentless marketing is pretty annoying.

I have a very similar Lakand fretless 4 string with Lakland pickups and it sounds great. If you're only going to have one fretless this design makes a lot of sense as it is so tonally versatile, offering as it does Jazz Bass and Stingray options, plus a few more besides.

It has to be said, in 40 years a playing bass, the best- made instruments I have ever played and owned were made in Japan. And the thing is I am old enough that I can clearly remember the time when "made in Japan" carried with it an assumption of inferiority from many(most) people in Britain. How wrong they were, even in those days. I would love to return to the days when companies like Ibanez and Yamaha were manufacturing superb instruments exclusively in Japan . I've never played a Sadowsky Metro but I wouldn't be at all surprised if they were that good.

For me, there's no getting away from the fact that Sadowsky as a brand was all about the close stewardship of Roger and the reputation of his NYC workshop. As soon as Warwick got involved I lost all interest in buying one of their basses, even a NYC-made model. Warwick want to get into the Fender- style market, Roger wants to take things a bit easier. Fair enough. But over time the Sadowsky brand will lose its' prestige. It's inevitable that affordability, reaching a mass-market and profitability will overtake excellence as the primary objective.

Back in the 1980's there actually was a Chinese restaurant on or around the Edgeware Road called Lee Ho Fooks, I seem to remember. Whether the name was a reference to WZ, I have no idea!

Terrific YT vid demonstrating the sound of various graphite neck basses. Would have been nice to hear some fingerstyle playing too, but still a fascinating listen : They all sound good to me, but I am particularly partial to the more midrangey tone of the Schack. The Stati and the Bogart sound pretty similar to my ears, a bit mid-scooped.

A lot depends on which BB you have, and what kind of a sound and feel you like. Different brands of the same gauge can feel very different in terms of tension. Round core DR's like Hi-Beams or Sunbeams feel a lot more elastic than D'Addario XL, for example. I love the sound of Rotosound RS66 Swing Bass, but they tend to lose their lovely bright, aggressive tone pretty quickly. Once they go dull, they sound pretty average. They also have a very rough feel to them under your fingers( and on your frets). That roughness doesn't bother me, but some players find it uncomfortable. Elites Stainless Steel are a pretty good alternative if you want a bright tone and they seem to stay bright a bit longer than Rotosound.

Even high-end, very expensive basses often have shims.

This is a problem that can effect any bass, and on a bolt- on neck is easily fixed by inserting a shim in the neck pocket.

I appreciate what you are saying, Dr T, but why is it that we don't need to have graphs and scientific explanations about why other kinds of basses actually sound o.k when our ears are telling us otherwise? I would contend that, for whatever reason, there are a significant number of Musicman Stingrays that don't sound satisfactory on the G string. Not all Stingrays by any means, but some for sure. As with any such idiosyncrasy, it will annoy some people more than others.