XB26354

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='883119' date='Jul 1 2010, 04:03 PM']Probably the first time it's been played without nonsensical widdling.[/quote] Total crap mate.

I've got the 5-string version. If you get one with the wenge/bubinga neck then it's quite similar to a Warwick. Plenty of grind in the low mids, whilst at the same time a little more versatile due to the widely spaced pickups. There are a lot of different tones, from a smooth fingerstyle/solo on the bridge to a really deep, fat neck sound ideal for old skool slap or p-bass tones with treble rolled off. A wicked bass all in all and I would think very suitable for funk, rock, blues, metal, anything. In my top 5 basses ever owned (which includes £3K+ Ken Smiths, MTD, Modulus and Foderas!)

I don't know if anyone has tried the wooden Ergodyne models from Ibanez but if not, they're well worth a go. I've owned a ton of boutique basses and got a used EDB555 recently for £300. I was and am shocked at how good it is. It has a 2-pce ash body, wenge/bubinga neck, single coil Seymour Duncan/IBZ PUs and a decent 2-band eq. Deep treble cutaway means you can reach right up to the 24th fret easily. Not too heavy, substantial but not uncomfortable on a strap or seated. Balance is spot on and the tone is absolutely wicked. B-string is nice and tight and the overall sound has a very Warwick-like growl, if a little more open in the top end. I'm convinced Great slap/pick tone from the neck PU and lovely solo/fingerstyle tone from the bridge PU. The PUs are quite a long way apart so tone varies from bright to deep. Downsides? Control cavity cover badly done and screws weren't evenly placed, but at least the battery is in a proper metal clip. Single coils are a little noisy when pan is away from centre detent, but no more than the average passive Jazz Bass. I don't like the pointy headstock or horrible strat-type jack socket, and the smoky metal hardware isn't my cup of tea. However none of the above is a deal breaker in this price range. Anyone missing the German Corvette 5-strings - give this a look. They're £500 new (although now seem to come with Jatoba necks) so around a third of a new Pro Series Corvette. Cheers Mat

Having had probably 20-30 warwicks in my time I can assure any potential buyer that the necks are not sticky when new. If used then wire wool and wax will make the neck silky smooth again. Ergonomically warwick 5 and 6-strings aren't the best. The short top horn doesn't help. The NT models have arched bodies which tend to be more comfortable seated, but I never felt the Corvette body was uncomfortable. Personally I would choose a used ash one as bubinga is heavy and oily. Ash has more growl and snap.

There's a little story about when Hadrien played at Charlie Wrights a couple of years ago. I was watching him with his band and some guy on decks. I was a bit bored, snob that I am waiting for something resembling a song or melody to appear. I start chatting to friends, when all of a sudden some guy wearing a snow hat with tassles hanging down (indoors!) comes up and tells us to stop talking whilst they're playing! He got short shrift from me - music is something that goes into your brain subliminally and talking at gigs (when music is playing, pretty loud too) isn't entirely unheard of. It then transpires that this weird guy with the hat is something to do with Hadrien. He goes up to the bouncer and asks him to tell us to be quiet - all this making more noise and creating far more of a scene than when we were chatting quietly. The bouncer comes over, and we talk, and he just laughs it off - it's a gig right? I get dirty looks from the weirdo who then creeps around the back of the stage for the next half an hour. Still bored when they took a break between sets, I left. Jazz used to be music people danced to, for chrissakes. One of the best live jazz CDs ever, Bill Evans Live at the Village Vanguard, clearly has noises of people talking, getting served drinks etc. If people get so precious about their forgettable tunes that they have to shoosh the audience then they're missing the entire point of music as an interactive medium. If the music and playing was great I would have just watched. I saw Mike Stern with Anthony Jackson, Dave Weckl and Bob Francescini at Ronnie Scotts the same year. Didn't say a thing all gig

Wow - quite damning! I can understand what he means though. Sometimes frightening technique can be a bit of a bugbear. As funkypenguin said, Patitucci is the man really - effortless technique, doubles and is superb on both, grooves like mad and solos like a bebop sax player. On The Corner is still one of my favourites. Wish he'd kept the Smith though - I've never liked the clickety clack he gets from a Yamaha.

[quote name='Bilbo' post='880214' date='Jun 28 2010, 07:35 PM']I have to defer to your obvious knowledge but, by my reckoning, if the first note is D, the tune is in Cm, not Dm. I'm off to check!! [/quote] Huh? The first note is open D, then up A,B,C,D,E, down to C and up to octave D - this is clearly D Dorian, missing only the minor 3rd and perfect 4th. I've just had a quick listen to the original and PC most definitely plays it an octave higher than was written on that lead sheet. Going back to the form - any drummer and pianist worth their salt will queue the start of each time round the form with something significant, and a lesser emphasis every 8 bars, especially for less sure players. Makes life much easier.

I used to work in shipping, and the Intrastat Book with all the harmonised commodity codes is freely available from the HMRC website. I happen to know that the HMRC are well aware of the commodity codes for electric guitars and basses and as there is a specific code for them (that they have searchable online access to), its pure incompetence. Mind you, I imported a Chapman Stick into the UK once and they actually rang me up because they didn't know if it was an instrument or an ornament - turned out it was the latter

[quote name='funkypenguin' post='880529' date='Jun 28 2010, 11:55 PM']I dunno what it is about Gwizdala, but a lot of his playing doesnt do it for me. Cant really explain![/quote] I was just about to say the same about Hadrien! I've seen a fair bit of him and whilst he obviously holds some sort of land speed record with his right hand (no that is not a double entendre!), his tone reminds me of Jeff Berlin, always rooted to the bridge pickup. I know he is still fairly young, but he really lacks any stage presence, something which Matt Garrison and Janek have plenty of, probably due to personality. What also bugs me is that what is left after the amazing technique? I saw him with his band, and felt that, before putting out your own record and forming a band, you should have something to say. I love jazz and have a lot of time for guys that can play those sax/tpt licks at 100mph on bass, but to me he is impressive, in the same way that painters that can make a portrait look like a photo are impressive.

I've had a lot of Warwicks and tried a number of $$, both Streamer and Corvettes in 4,5 and 6-string (Corvette only). I've never really got on with them as I find the pickups have some sort of mid cut going on that cannot be defeated (and there's no mid eq). The sound is too fat with both coils and too thin as a single coil. The big volume difference between the coiltap settings also precludes changing mid-set without messing with either onboard volume or amp gain. Undoubtably powerful, but I'd get a Fender Roscoe Beck as it is fully passive and sounds more musical and usable.

[quote name='henry norton' post='877746' date='Jun 25 2010, 08:35 PM']I agree with most of this but I do believe [i]some[/i] players benefit from a boutique instrument, although the benefit (especially with something like a standard Precision layout) is probably more in the mind of the player than in the quality of the woods, construction and electronics. I think the US Standards are really nice feeling instruments, smooth rounded board edges and fret ends, usually nicely set up and usually good quality paint & fittings. Paying more money for rare fingerboard woods and a flame in your maple won't make it a better sounding instrument, but the player might 'like' the bass more, feel more connected to it especially if it was custom built for them which often leads them to play better. Do you get what I mean?[/quote] Yes (hence all the money spent!) - just not on something as straightforward as a passive bass with one pickup - but then again a Fodera AJ Presentation is a passive bass with one pickup and is close to $20,000

I think the whole point about a good P-bass is its simplicity. I don't get boutique versions of them. From what I've seen the US Standards are as well made as at any time in Fender's history. A vintage P might have a sound and look of its own, but won't be better quality, just older. It is alder or ash, maple neck, one pickup and 2 controls. Decent wood and attention to fretting/setup and you can't go far wrong. If you're going to drop serious money on a bass, either go vintage or get something that does something else - or even, gasp, keep your money in your pocket as I have finally learned to do after years and tens of thousands of pounds wasted on boutique instruments!

I saw John Taylor years and years ago with Peter Erskine in Southampton. I've never heard a drummer play a solo that had was [i]melodic[/i] before or since. Also on the bill was John Apple crumble, sorry, Abercrombie in a trio with drummer Adam Nussbaum, who fell backwards off his drum stool (it wasn't fixed properly) right in the middle of a tune. Happy times...

I've owned the most popular models and this is where each top horn went to Thumb - 17th Fret Corvette - 15th Fret Streamer LX - 14th Fret Dolphin NT - 14th Fret Streamer NT - 13/14th Fret Of all the Warwicks I've owned and played, all the Corvette 5/6 and Thumb 5/6 not only had terrible balance but were quite uncomfortable seated or standing. The Dolphin had the most wicked tone and bottom end but the tiny bottom horn digs into your leg when seated - balance is better due to heavy body. Streamer LX was better, but the Stage One 5/6 are the best, if rather heavy.

+1 - learning theory without being able to read makes things all the more confusing.

It's funny, to my ears none of these examples are actually behind or ahead of the beat. The smooth jazz groove was dead on, and the drums are playing straight 8ths whilst the bass plays swung 16ths. All the other tracks are in time for the genre, but I feel that this ahead, on, behind business is misleading. Some of you guys perhaps felt that the smooth jazz groove was uncomfortable because of the kick on the + of beat 2 sounding out with the last swung 16th on the bass. They're both in time, it just sounds odd because of the crossover of the two different pulses. The only track I can remember where the beat is actually late is in the middle of Weather Report's "A Remark You Made", but then at least the whole band are late on the quarter pulse!

[quote name='Bilbo' post='836465' date='May 13 2010, 06:49 PM']A baby trip..... A triplet is three notes played evenly against one beat Say these evenly while tapping your foot, each word starting on the beat plum plum plum plum (crotchet/quarter note) apple apple apple apple (quavers/ eighth notes) banana banana banana banana (triplets) Hurrah!![/quote] hey Bilbo, when I do Banana I get a sixteenth, an eighth and a sixteenth?

Doesn't do anything for me. I'm not an upright player but on the second vid he can't swing for sh*t. To me it's just another Jaco Jazz clone, technical ability or not. His touch is heavy handed and he rakes almost everything going down the strings. And get away from that bridge pickup! To those that say they could never reach this standard, or couldn't hope to play that well - all he did was woodshed technique and licks. Anyone can do it if they [i]put the practice in[/i].

Sold a Streamer Stage One to Mark, paid instantly, a pleasure to do business with. Enjoy it!