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Doctor J

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    Emperor’s New Clothes?

    in Bass Guitars

    Posted · Edited by Doctor J

    Why? Probably because I remember when you could get them for less than a tenth of that. A friend bought a used JV Squier P for, if I recall correctly, £90 in the early 90's. They're budget instruments, albeit very decent ones, selling at what are, to me, insane money. Are they in the same league as the kind of basses at the same price in the FS section here such as EBMM Stingrays, Sandbergs, Warwicks, US Fenders, etc, etc, etc? To me, no, not even close but I understand the allure of hype and old exclusivity although I don't see the value of it. As you say, whatever floats your boat, but the thread was started with a question inviting responses and opinion, hence me offering mine 🙂

    I don't like slap

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    8 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

    There's definitely a place for it and I think a few musicians have perfected using it sparingly. Billy Gould is the best example I can think of, he mainly uses slap just when his part is more percussion with a little tone rather than melodic. Tim Commerford uses slap very sparingly but for some reason, I've seen bassists cover his bass lines with slap start to finish and it sounds terrible. 

    I think we have quite similar tastes. I was put off slap towards the end of the 80's when seemingly every local rock player started thinking every song in their set needed wildly unsuitable slapping and popping. It was truly nauseating. Dark, dark days, they were. There were some notable exceptions, as you say. Billy Gould, Tim Commerford for sure and I'd add Denis Pepa's sterling work on the wonderful Act III as players who could utilise the technique in a way which was musical and interesting, rather than the usual "HEY YOU LOOK AT MEEEEEEE!!!!" 
     

    Youtube has become a cesspit of gratuitous thumb abuse though, thankfully, many of the preview pictures show the thumb in position over the strings and one knows not to bother pressing play. For all the talk of using it tastefully, when left to their own devices, especially on supposed "gear demo" videos, many bassists cannot resist spending most of the time sticking their thumb in places it shouldn't be. Horrible, just horrible.

    • Like 4

    Best underwear for tone?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    70's ones which have been worn for years onstage and in the studio, infused with smoke and sweat and look like they have a story to tell. They have those authentic crease patterns and just feel more comfortable. You just can't replicate that feel or mojo with new jocks, even ones which have been relic'd by an expert.

     

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    • Like 1
    • Haha 3

    Emperor’s New Clothes?

    in Bass Guitars

    Posted

    If you want something old, buy a good Japanese bass from the late 70's or 80's, something along the lines of a high-end Yamaha BB or the likes. They're now just as old as the oldest Fenders were when they were made and people started losing all rationale over the value of 30 years or older instruments in the 80's. Plus, they started out as good quality and consistently well-built basses too so, if you believe in the road-worn feel, magic wood and pickup fairy dust, they'll have all of that too at a fraction of the cost of the very worst 70's and early 80's Fenders.

    Seeing JV Squiers sell for over a grand these days... what have they done to my beautiful planet?

    • Like 1

    Cliff Burton Day today

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 18/03/2021 at 13:27, Monkey Steve said:

    In the Metallica vs Megadeth debate I've always thought that Megadeth have maintained a higher standard across their career than Metallica.

    As a teenager I saw Metallica a couple of times with Cliff, and I saw Megadeth's first UK gig - thrash metal was new and exciting and it was everything you wanted when getting into music, something that is completely yours.  But for Metallica, much as I love them, I only really rate their first three albums, with a special mention for the $5.98 EP and the fourth album, but it's been pretty bland since then.  Though they have always been superb live

    Megadeth's first two albums are utterly brilliant, right up there with Metallica's first three, tailed off a bit for the third, but there have been very, very good albums since then. And some average ones, but a higher hit rate than Metallica.  A bit mixed live - I've seen them mainly at festivals over the last couple of decades, and there have been some excellent performances, and some less than excellent ones

    There's no doubt that Metallica have made a much bigger impact on the world at large, but for the thrash obsessed teenager in me, it feels like Megadeth have stuck to their guns.

    They both should've quit in the early 90's. Both have lost the fire and released some utter rubbish (albeit million-selling rubbish) in the last 30 years.

    At Last! A Zappa Documentary

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    9 hours ago, super al said:

    I think Overnite Sensation was part of that sweet spot of Zappa's that I love from the mid 70s. One Size Fits All is my favourite (Inca Roads... what a tune to start an album with!).

    For his live albums I love listening to Roxy & Elsewhere and The Best Band You Never Heard (inc Bolero). I think some of his albums blur the lines between live and studio output, Sheik Yerbouti is a good example.

    Anyone here listen to Lumpy Gravy much though? 🤔

    This film sounds right up my street 👍

    Overnite Sensation, Apostrophe (') and One Size Fits All, you just can't go wrong with them. Hot Rats is spectacular. I'm particularly fond of Absolutely Free and We're Only In It For The Money, from the Mothers stuff.
     

    The Beeb put together a decent documentary shortly before he died, well worth watching. I particularly love that, in a one hour documentary, they gave 10 whole minutes to a performance of King Kong, that was a massive inspiration to a band I was in at the time 😂

     

    • Like 2
    • Thanks 1

    At Last! A Zappa Documentary

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    The working title of the movie was "Who the F*@% is Frank Zappa?", it was always intended to be an exploration of the man, not the music. There's lots of talk about his music out there but not so much about what made him tick. To his eternal credit, Alex Winter was behind the whole idea from day one, he put it all together from scratch.

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    • Like 3

    At Last! A Zappa Documentary

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    He was very much not from drug culture but I can see why he'd be lumped in with it. He was operating at a very different level😁

    If you're unfamiliar with him but vaguely familiar with his music I think you'll enjoy it a lot. He had a lot of strings to his bow, so to speak, a really fascinating character. My earliest memory is actually listening to my Mother's Mothers of Invention records, so Zappa was my musical starting point but, even for me, his music ranges from sublime to unlistenable. There is a bit of both in the movie 🙂

    • Thanks 1

    A luthier's experience with tonewoods

    in General Discussion

    At Last! A Zappa Documentary

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Yeah,I participated in the crowdfunding for this over 6 years ago 😂

    Actually, the funding was to digitise the material in the vault and the documentary was a parallel project utilising the vault material. We got the doc a few weeks ago, I thought it was well worth the wait, there's a lot of stuff in there I had never seen before. If you're a Zappa fan, there's probably not a lot you didn't know already but it's a great overview of the man and his music.

    • Like 2
    • Thanks 2
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