Jonesy

I bought and returned a bass from Bax without any issue last year. If anything, I really think their return policy is great and they give you 90 days to decide whether you really like your purchase or not. However, from what I read on here, I seem to be in the minority and sounds like I got pretty lucky to have no problems!

21 hours ago, SteveH said:

The first track I had a go at was Space Oddity...... quite a daunting task, put the isolated bass and drums into Ableton with the original track sinked up to it , and tried to learn each verse, but gave up and now do a simplified version cos I realized I've got to do BVs. It's crazy all these years and I'm only just getting into Bowie properly. Stay has got a few real groovy basslines on the play out. And I'm loving some of those early Trevor Boulder and Visconti's chromatic basslines as well. Elvis Costello "pump it up", has got some superb bass playing on it There's not enough hours in the day to learn everything unfortunately. So far I've learnt about 27 songs in about a month done a gig 2 weeks ago and got another on Saturday. I'm working on the set  now.

You're a braver man than me! I can just about play the bass, the idea of chucking in BV's as well is pretty hellish.......mostly for the listeners 😂

Pump it up is a really great song to play and essentially just 3 riffs, so not so much to remember. There's a bit of variation in the choruses, but it's pretty much the same for each one. There's some pretty decent tutorials and play alongs on YouTube for it.

23 hours ago, SteveH said:

I've been learning a load of Bowie and a few Roxy Music tracks for the new band I've just joined, some of them have been pretty challenging. Just working on Stay by Bowie, love it. In fact I've developed a new found appreciation for Bowie, I've always liked a lot of his song's, (the hits) but once you break them down and work them out, I think I'm becoming a real fan. Love learning new material.

Snap! I was the same as you and liked what I had heard from Bowie (a greatest hits cd), but have only just started listening to his back catalogue. I've been listening to nothing else but him for the past few weeks and Stay is one of my favourites, I've just started learning it to.

I've just finished Pump It Up by Elvis Costello, thought it'd be a gentler introduction than Watching the Detectives!

I've never played one, so can't say how good they are, but being Fujigen they can't be that bad? I think pre lockdown they were going for around the £200 mark, but I've seen them around the £350 mark recently

Ohhh, is there a NBD thread on the way then ? 😁

I use Fender cables too. I've had this set (my first set) for about 7 years now and they're still going strong. 

What series is everybody using? I've gone for the deluxe series, b/c o fancy the black tweed outer.....

I'm also pretty tempted by the Ernie Ball leads, mostly because they come in a bright neon pink!

Ohhh, they've dropped the price of the SB2 and Fallout as well. That's mighty tempting.....

Or, if you wanted to go outside of Fender then the Sandberg Electra VS 4 is a P with a J neck I think

I think the Nate Mendel is slightly bigger than a jazz at the nut? I haven't played one so can't say for sure, but I think I read that it was modelled on his original 70s P, so would come in at about 41mm.

If that's ok then I'd also recommended a Japanese PB 70/70us. The necks on those are sublime.

1 hour ago, 3below said:

Someone here who lives in the right part of the world should apply and report back.....  

Or maybe comment on the post saying they're interested? 😁

If it was an originals band I wouldn't go anywhere near it. I don't really think 'following instructions' should be a big part of expressing creativity and don't want a singer telling me to play 5 minutes of root notes.

If it was covers I probably wouldn't go anywhere near it tbh.

If it was session work or where I'd just be playing along for someone else's show then I might check it out. But it's probably approach it thinking the person is a knob. (I'd also have to be a professional bassist, which I am not 😁)

48 minutes ago, neepheid said:

 

They're already available in the States (of course) so I took a look at Sweetwater who often put up weights of the actual instruments they're selling:

 

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/LB100TOW--g-and-l-tribute-lb-100-bass-guitar-olympic-white

 

That poplar one is 9lbs 6oz according to them.  Of course there will be variations, wood be woody, but that's your first point on the plot.  They haven't posted up weights of the others yet, but I'm sure that'll come.  Then you'll have a better idea of the potential fluctuations.

It's weird that they list the neck as 38mm though seeing as they've gone to the length of weighing an individual item. You can see in the pics that it's mahoosive and bigger than that! I love that the necks have a vintage gloss on them too, I really like the feel of the neck on my Tribby JB.

My wallet is grateful that the neck is so big though, otherwise I'd be very tempted!

Yeeessssssssss, goooooood. Give in to the GAS side


 

Although I am pretty jealous and having been drooling over some of the new Tribby colours. Like you, I'd snap up a Tribby SB 1 too 

I'm generally max volume and tone, although since installing one of Ki0gon's gnarley looms, I go tone bypass for extra aggyness.

Although in my blues band I roll the tone to about 80% to just take the edge off.

49 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

 

I looked....

 

You're going to be either the most or least popular member on this forum based on whether or not members have a spare £350. As mentioned, many times, a lot of bass for the bucks.

If it were the black version I'd be very tempted and probably wouldn't have shared the link 😉

4 minutes ago, neepheid said:

 

Oh, now that's pretty.  Not sure how I feel about the tort, but that's a lovely shade of blue.

For some reason Andertons have it in that blue, with a white plate and dot markers

I've got a few favourite brands that I'd look to first if I was in the market for something, but I wouldn't disregard other brands for a bass/amp/pedal. The only time I stick to a particular brand is when it comes to strings. Rotosound for round wound and TI for flats.

After going through loads of live albums on Spotify and YouTube I think i've nailed my favourite Bowie era/band. Like others have said in this thread, it's the late 70's around the Berlin trilogy for me. Outstanding stuff and a massive thank you to everyone for their suggestions. Although it's not up there with Stage or  Welcome to the blackout, there is this live performance on YT that is worth a watch....
 

Just had a look and Andertons have the new Kiloton's in stock if you wanted to check them out. They also have this B Stock SB2 for chirpy cheap

https://www.andertons.co.uk/bass-dept/bass-guitars/b-stock-%3A-g-l-tribute-sb-2-bass-in-sonic-blue-3-ply-white-guard-scratches-on-bridge-was-112377

The tributes are great, you get so much bass for the dosh.

They've released a few new colours too, there's more on the G&L site, but here's my favourites.....

I haven't seen them in stock anywhere though 😔

If it were me, I'd go for the SB2. It's got a slimmer neck than the LB100, a bit more versatility with the PJ setup and the MFD pups. What's not to love?!?

1 hour ago, Steve Browning said:

 

Exactly the model I always looked for (but r/w board). That's the lovely B profile neck, as it's called (the Jazz width is the A neck and the standard Pbass is C).

They're so nice that I almost considered selling my other basses and buying another one, just so I could have a P with flats and P with rounds. I soon came to my senses, but I do always keep an eye out for another one, just in case.......

Is it just the tone you don't like about your current bass'? And what's been wrong with the P's you've played that made them not 'the one'? 

If you know the answer to those then you'll be closer to finding what series P that might fit the bill, it even if it's def a new bass you need.

I've had a few  Precision's and always ended up thinking they're a bit boring (mostly just because everyone has one) and moved them on, I've also always hated natural finishes. Anyway, now one of my favourite basses is a natural Japanese P with a maple board 🤨 It just sounds so good with the rest of the band and always gets compliments. It's a 70s reissue, so also has a neck a lot closer to a jazz, which is a big plus for me too.

I use 2 completely different tones for the 2 bands I'm in, so I have a few different setups.

Grungy noise band = horrible clanky mess, plenty of hi gain, driven solid state, distortion and bright round wounds.

Blues band = smooth buttery fatness with occasional tubey overdrive and flats.

I use the same head and cab for both, with a lot of the difference coming from pedals and strings. If the 2 bands were similar sounding then I'd probably get away with sharing gear, but I don't think it's doable.

We'll, I tell myself all of this anyway so I can hoard more gear 😁

On 10/11/2021 at 23:05, paulbuzz said:

For live versions of Stay, this is the one that does it for me. The end section is really cooking on gas.
 

 

Before starting this thread I didn't know this Bowie tune, but it's an absolute cracker. 3 great versions of it so far, but I think this one is my favourite.

Thanks again for all of the suggestions. On to White Room 95 next 😃

I generally don't care too much about the bridge (I even don't mind the Gibson 3 point bridge 🤨) and whatever tonal difference there is would probably be lost in the mix imo. 

However, this bass whisperer vid on the difference between a locked and unlocked G&L bridge is pretty good and you can hear quite a difference......

Whether or not it makes much of a difference when the rest of the band kick in is another thing, but I do lock the bridge on my G&L.

You can hear a difference here in this comparison too......

I wouldn't say it makes the tone more vintage sounding though, nor would I go out of my way to change a bridge unless there was something wrong with it