jmccabe

Basses that look out of proportion, for example where they have particularly fat necks (e.g. loads of instruments that have more than 5 strings; if you want 6 strings, get a guitar 🙂). Also, the Overwater Scott Devine J-Series just look wrong to me. I saw one in a pawn shop recently, and it just looked wrong; the neck and bridge are just too skinny. Then again, if you've got tiny hands and still want to play bass, good on you! Also precision basses; I just don't like how they look.

Wow - can't believe it's been so long but, as I get massively annoyed when things just stop, I thought I should add what happened after this.... I gave it to the guy in Nick Fisher in Hereford (not actually NIck Fisher, just his shop, which isn't Nick Fisher any more as Nick's in the, err, nick for kiddy-fiddling, although he might be out by now) who passed it on to some geezer called Lawrence who, I believe, does that sort of thing. He had a fiddle with it, decided he'd done the best he could and any more work would be stupidly expensive, and gave it back to me. He only charged about £15 for what he did, and it's definitely better than it was, but still not great, at the time. It's been in a case for a while though as I hadn't used it until recently. It doesn't seem as bad as I remember though, although still not a patch on the Dean Edge Pro, but usable, and the string spacing makes it easier to slap/pop than on the 5-string Dean. HTH

I had one in the mid-80s. I got it from Thomson's music shop in the piazza in Paisley and it was second-hand when I got it. Unfortunately I had problems with it, probably after only a few days. When it worked I seem to remember it sounded fine, and the phaser was a cool addition, but the fuse kept blowing. I took it back and they tried to fix it, supplying me with a Pearl valve amp while it was getting fixed (that was a nice amp!). Eventually they came back and said they'd failed to fix it and offered me a new Carlsbro Stingray Bass amp instead. As that was the one I'd really wanted but hadn't been able to afford, I jumped at their offer (and I've still got it), but I have a sentimental desire to get hold of an Intermusic again!

[quote name='fatback' post='896390' date='Jul 16 2010, 11:24 AM']I can't see the belt clip model at all on the Sadowsky site. Maybe it's been phased out.[/quote] I think it has from what I managed to find last night.

[quote name='RussFM' post='896351' date='Jul 16 2010, 10:46 AM']Something like this?[/quote] Err- yes, something like that, but preferably not discontinued :-) Interestingly, I looked at the Aguilar site and I found the OBP-2SK which is an internal 2 band version - something like that might be worth thinking about as it's got stacked bass/treble pots. On the rockbass there's 2 volume controls, one for each pickup, and a single tone control so potentially something like that might do the job for me. Thanks though John

[quote name='fatback' post='895625' date='Jul 15 2010, 02:12 PM']I have a Sadowsky belt mounted preamp that is just the kind of thing you need. Could clip onto the strap just as easily. i leave it sitting on the amp, as it happens. Amazing improvement to the sound. Dunno if they still sell them though. I'd sell you mine if I could find a DI pedal version of the same thing quickly.[/quote] Thanks for that. Has it got a model number or name or something that might help me find one online?

I've got a Dean Edge Pro 5 string active bass and a Rockbass fretless 5 string. The Rockbass is extremely quiet compared to the Dean so I was thinking that maybe there's something I can get that will plug in to the Rockbass and mount on the strap and do a bit of amplification just to bring it up to the same sort of level as the Dean. The main aim is to make it simple just to swap from one bass to the other, mainly at practise sessions. I've got alittle JHS flyspeck headphone amplifier I was given as a present years ago that could potentially do the sort of job I want, but perhaps there's something out there that would be more appropriate or better quality? Thanks for any info you've got. John

Thanks for that. For what it's worth, it was me that put the review on Harmony Central. Badass was a thought, but the problem is the length, well, the problem with the bass is the distance between the bridge pickup and where the body curves isn't very far which is why the monolithic ones dangle a bit (i'll try to post a pic one day). The badass is quite long in that direction so would also probably 'dangle' or would need a bit of routing to the body or even a base plate or something.That ABM stuff looks interesting. I'll take a closer look when I get a chance. Thanks again. Btw what part of glasgow are you in? I was born in Govan.

Dear All I was wondering if any of you have, or have considered replacing the bridge on their Dean Edge Pro 5 String. If so, what did you replace it with and how difficult was it? The standard Edge Pro 5 bridge is one of those finger style things but on mine (and I presume on all the other ones, but...) nearly all of the fingers hang out over where the body starts to curve. You can't see it from the front, but from the side it looks a bit stupid. Also they're not that sturday as far as I can see. I got some strings that have quite small balls on the end and they're not very secure in the slots. Finally I find the sadlles a bit of a nuisance to adjust because it's awkward to get in to the allen nut to loosen them off depending on the angle of the string and it's not easy to make accurate small adjustments. Anyway - I'd be grateful for any useful information anyone has on this.

[quote name='bassatnight' post='605859' date='Sep 22 2009, 05:35 PM']Derek Forbes once of Simple Minds Paul Webb once of Talk Talk Mick Karn Ex- Japan Youth - KillingJoke Steve Severin - Banshees Bedders - Madness Not sure of his name but he played bass on the third associates album Sulk, the bass is lovely and dark.[/quote] Michael Dempsey probably - he was mentioned earlier. I wouldn't put Mick Karn as underrated, I thought everyone thought he was brilliant :-)

[quote name='grahamd' post='605779' date='Sep 22 2009, 04:36 PM']Didn't Jah Wobble play one too back in the day? Now there's a player…[/quote] I believe he did, and yes, there is a player! Wasn't he in PiL at the same time as John McGeoch? I see that Russell Webb was also in PiL at one point - I wasn't previously aware of that. Him and McGeoch were later in The Armoury Show together with Richard Jobson (Skids) and John Doyle (Magazine).

[quote name='nick' post='101181' date='Dec 7 2007, 11:57 PM']Good call on Barry Adamson, he's first mention on this thread & rightly so. He used a Ibanez Rickenfaker for much of his time in Magazine[/quote] And also his Ovation Magnum. Phenomenally ugly instrument, sounded great in his hands though!

Thanks for that link. That's a difficult one! The Friday Forum show's sold out and Thursday is so phenomenally inconvenient, and Saturday - can I put up with the flack from the wife if I go to Manchester??? Aaaargghhh. Birmingham, Bristol or Cardiff would be so much better!

Russell Webb played some brilliant lines on that Armoury Show album. Apparently he was also in Slik with Midge Ure as well as The Skids. McGeoch was a fantastic guitarist, such a pity. Magazine are one of my all-time favourite bands; McGeoch and Adamson worked together really well. I like bands where there isn't any real prominent instrument all the time, and Magazine fit the bill perfectly. Along with Dave Formula's keyboards everything fitted brilliantly. I guess that's one of the reasons I like Duran Duran so much - they also have no real "main" instrument (well, most of the time) everything just fits together nicely.

[quote name='markytbass' post='288515' date='Sep 21 2008, 01:55 PM']The Aria basses are quite good more so the older Japanese built one's.[/quote] This one was built in Japan, I believe in the Matsumoku factory. If so, according to the www.matsumoku.org website, it will have been built in 1984. I bought it in '85 I think but I was its first owner. They weren't particularly expensive, list price was about £229 or so, and it competed with the Westone Thunder 1A (I preferred it to the Thunder 1A for some reason - John Taylor may have influenced my decision :-), although I think I paid £185 for it. It didn't seem like a huge amount at the time, but given what you can get these days for that amount, perhaps it was! [quote]If a set up and fret dress sorts it out then you should get many more years out of it. Don't be too put off by the prices on ebay, they are generally quite low at present.[/quote] I've no real intention to sell it so that's not an issue, unless an SB-1000 came up in good condition for hardly any money [quote]I've got some rellies in Ledbury, 2 of my cousins live in Lower rd and my Uncle and Aunt live next to the telephone exchange. Before that they managed a farm on the Eastnor estate near the Welly.[/quote] Oh yes. I nearly rented a place in Lower Rd once. It's a bit busy down that way though! I have an ex-colleague, Nick, who lives down there. All the best John