TrevorR

Bob Seger’s original version of Rosalie is incredibly pedestrian. Thin Lizzy’s version is the definitive one for me.

I saw Lizzy on that tour and he was playing the Roland synth bass controller. I can certainly vouch for it sounding fabulous live. Spent ages getting to work out what bass it was until I git far enough down the front to spot the GR logo on the headstock. That was a fantastic gig - though I’ve never been a fan of John Sykes’ NWOBHM style for Lizzy . Darn it but he could play, though. The other time I saw them live was with Snowy White and his sound and style suited the band so much better as far as I was concerned. Phil was playing an Ibanez at that time. I absolutely hated the headstock on that bass. 🤮

On 10/03/2025 at 13:49, Terry M. said:

I shared the link to my strap because it may be of interest to somebody else. For example I'm intrigued by the Italia strap idea shared by TrevorR.

This is the Italia site. Think I’ve got 4 of these straps - all 20+ years old and still in perfect nick! Great quality and lots of colour choices!

https://italiastraps.com/collections/4-inch-wide?srsltid=AfmBOoqngioYLIT2BrY7p6jMjTG5ENV5OqT2r8MeD8C1gm0pQ_etOnJ5

Your strap also looks very nice quality!

On 10/03/2025 at 13:47, Rosie C said:

 

 

Room for improvement though 😉   Though on a serious point, I think the most significant work on my bass was changing the tuners as that weight is right at the end of a 1 meter lever arm. 

 

 

That’s how that bass came - it was bought as a Frankenjazz so Hipshot Ultralites were the first thing I changed!  I considered this but frankly for the likely difference it just wasn’t worth the hassle. A wide strap and it works fine!

Chambering my not help as much as you think… this bass still weighs 10 and a half pounds!

On 08/03/2025 at 12:09, Iheartreverb said:

 

thanks for your reply. I’m aware that any massive changes would be a bad idea, I’m just out of option beyond moving it on.

 

The straps is 2.5” Ernie Ball Neoprene comfort strap. As I say, it made a massive difference but maybe not enough. Also trying to stick with a strap that looks pretty normal and not some of the super wide or padded things. 

For my basses which are 10lb+ it’s got to be a 4 inch wide soft leather strap - I got Italia leather ones for all of them many moons back. They weren’t cheap but I view them as an investment rather than a cost!

1 minute ago, Terry M. said:

Try a post 2009 example and it might be that you worked your way "up" to a Warwick 😉

Strangely enough, I’m still good…

4 minutes ago, tauzero said:

 

There's a lesson for you right there. Warwick necks vary enormously - you may simply not have yet met the Warwick neck that suits you.

Fair comment, it’s been many years since I played one - itwas back when they were making very D shaped necks with pronounced shoulders to them - didn’t like that at all. That said, my Warwick-less bass life is pretty well fulfilled so there’s no great impetus to try them. There would be many other brands on my “that would be nice, not that I need one” list before I worked my way down to Warwick.

1 hour ago, Terry M. said:

I have to admit to not fully understanding this as the instrument was designed to be plugged in. I've heard it said before however and I'm not suggesting there's nothing to it. Just my understanding. 

I guess the idea is that playing isn’t just an aural thing, it’s visual and tactile. If you don’t like the look or feel of a bass then you probably won’t be won over just by the sound. Also, a lot of folks say you can tell a lot about the resonance if a bass unplugged which then feeds through into the amplified sound. That gets wrapped up in that statement too. 
 

For example, I love the look and sound of Ricky’s but hate the feel on the body and the neck. Their distinctive sound doesn’t change that. Similarly I hate Warwick necks - I absolutely know a W is not for me before plugging it in!!!

I’ve never played a Sandberg that I didn’t love! I finally relented in January and brought this home from Wunjos… absolutely fabulous instrument and it sounds so good in active or passive mode.

I’m always loath to share my playing online because I’m hardly the best player in the world but I’ve been getting so many compliments about the sound of my new VM4 since I got it that it’s getting silly. This was at our local jam on Monday when I got up to do a Stevie Nicks/Tom Petty number. This was filmed on someone’s phone and sent to me but the bass sounds so rich and growly it’s unreal. I so love the feel and sound of this bass. This is just the P (or V) pickup solo’d in passive mode, I think, but the tone is great (in my opinion). No effects, just a Tonehammer amp and a couple of MarkBass 1x12s.

I love this bass! No wonder none of my other basses are getting any playing time at the moment!
 

Some chums of mine are in the prog metal band Threshold. They’ve been going for 35 years or so, have a back catalogue of 20 albums on Spotify but still there are loads of folks who never even think of googling “[my genius, unique band name idea] music” before settling on a moniker… it’s pretty unavoidable even with the power of the interweb at our fingertips. 🙄

…they are the ones at the top!

I remember I was listening to Steve Wright In The Afternoon and the did a “tracks from albums coming out soon - guess the band” and they played a track from Counterparts. I recognised Geddy’s voice but thought, blimey, that’s a change of style for Alex with the grungy guitar.

On 18/02/2025 at 08:21, wateroftyne said:

I think the production is perfect, in an 80s way. Very Trevor Horn.

It’s a shame that Steve Lillywhite pulled out of producing Grace Under Pressure at the last minute(Geddy still bears a grudge apparently). Given the direction that album went, I think that could have been a really interesting collaboration. Peter Henderson did a fine job but I’d have loved to have travelled to an alternative timeline/dimension to listen to the Lillywhite-produced version. Love the sound he got on Big Country’s The Crossing album around the same time.

40 minutes ago, prowla said:

I quite like the video - it's just silly and harmless.

Geddy described his hairdo as like he was wearing a skunk on his head.

Yeah, but you have to admit that the green screen stuff is SOOOOO badly done, even by 1987 standards. As it happens one of my top 5 fave Rush tunes, one of my all time fave songs… doesn’t make that video effects production values any less naff.

10 hours ago, paul_5 said:

Ms Mann provided the breathy backing vocals for Time Stand Still.

Jesus, that's a shiit video!

I’ve heard folks say that the video hasn’t aged well. I disagree. It was just as abysmal back in 1987!

1 hour ago, prowla said:

 

What are those "filler songs" you speak of on Moving Pictures?

(I like Permanent Waves too though!)

Perhaps a reference to side 2 which, though less immediate than side 1 is no less glorious!

Permanent Waves is one of those albums I really like but want to really love. Funny thing is that Jacob’s Ladder and Natural Science have never grabbed me as much as “the algorithm” of my musical taste says they should.

We hear Neil and Geddy (rightly) lionised a lot. Shout out though for Alex. Such a creative player/arranger in terms of fitting his guitar into an already busy space. Strangely I think some of his most creative playing is on those albums where folk complain “it’s all keys and no guitar”. There’s some amazing, creative, tasteful, brilliant playing on there if you remove the blinkers of all guitar needing to riff away like Slash or whoever. Also, I love the fact that he never plays an obvious guitar solo - they always come out of left field and avoid just pentatonic shredding but still shred harder than most. Who other than him would ever come up with the solos on playlist friendly tracks like Tom Sawyer or The Spirit of Radio.

Still loving the Weekly Monday Night Jam in Woking. It’s a great atmosphere and really supportive environment to play in. The organisers always try to make sure that everyone who comes gets a fair shout at playing and trying to hog the stage is highly frowned on. Also, it heads to be proper tunes from all genres played - not just 2 hours of turgid pentatonic blues widdling. The tunes can vary from pub cover standards to some swing and jazz to indie to pop… It’s an offshoot from the Woking Music school hence the ethos.

We’ve got a fabulous house band led by an amazing guitar player called Nicolas Meier who is a bit good - as in he used to tour in Jeff Beck’s band good (we’ve had some amazing band leaders - Carl Orr (an Aussie jazzer) and Pete Roth (a jazz guitarist who is currently touring his trio which includes Bill Bruford)) but they’re all lovely and ego free.

Last week we did a hair metal themed night. I played on You Give Love A Bad Name, a car crash version of Deadringer For Love where the singers got completely lost half way through, and Ozzy’s Crazy Train (which was a blast and such a fun line to play). Here’s Nic and the house band opening the evening with some obscure White Lion tune…

We were due to do Here I Go Again that week but our singer and drummer had work things come up that they couldn’t dodge - so we did it the previous jam (and Nick joined us on lead).

On 15/02/2025 at 09:05, neepheid said:

Also, I think the lower horn of a Stingray looks goofy - can't unsee it now.

Ssssshhhhhh, guys! Nobody show him a picture of a Bongo… 😬🤫

14 hours ago, bubinga5 said:

40 years of listening to music and I have never heard a RUSH record until now. This is just WOW.. I get it. 

 

So much great music to explore. This is actually one of my least fave Rush albums so the only way is up… check out Moving Pictures, Hemispheres, Counterparts, A Farewell To Kings, Signals… all so different. Rush were a band that never stagnated and kept on growing through their career.

You’d get a really nice Sandberg for your budget. That would be my pick!

…just remembered, they finished one song, something from Abacab I think, and Phil pointed over to the other side of the stage and said something like “Oh look, Tony’s pulled out a 12 string acoustic… well that can only mean one thing…” The whole crowd were already going ape-poo (saving the filter some work there) before he got the words “Supper’s Ready” out!

Saw them in 82 at the St Austell Colosseum on the warm up tour for the Milton Keynes Gabriel reunion gig. They were spectacular and all the more so being in a modest sized hall, not too far from the stage. This medley was on the set list along with a rare 80s appearance of Supper’s Ready (practicing for Pete). The gig was the perfect combination of prog and pop Genesis. One of my all time favourite gig experiences.

9 hours ago, Russ said:

That’s part of the “mystique”.  

 

On one hand, Paul could have made an absolute fortune if he decided to introduce an import range to fulfil demand, but that might devalue their brand, and dilute some of that mystique and rarity value that Ian and Pete spent so long building up before him. 

 

Personally, I think they should do a Spector-style approach - yes, have an import range, but that would still be high-end, maybe made in Central/Eastern Europe. Cheaper and with higher availability than the UK-built instruments, but still built to a quality that wouldn’t impact their brand. 

Pete did toy with that overseas budget model concept before he retired and was in discussions with a corporate partner. Ultimately he didn’t trust that the Wal brand wouldn’t be diluted with Wal badged basses featuring stock aftermarket pickups and BBOT bridges. He pulled the deal in the end before they reached agreements.

Paul simply isn’t thinking in terms of higher volume and outsourcing. Not his ethos. He just wants to hand building the highest quality instruments. Like when he first moved on from Wal to hand build arch top jazz boxes… it’s all about the art and the craft.

5 hours ago, Russ said:

It also coincided with Tool’s Aenima coming out, and everyone wanting Justin Chancellor’s bass tone. All of a sudden, the nerdy British studio musicians’ tool of choice became the coolest bass with the most coveted tone in the world. With only Pete involved in building Wals at the time, it was impossible for him to keep up with demand for new basses, and so the prices of used models went stratospheric. Then he retired, and sadly passed away. Before Paul Herman picked up the reins a couple of years later, there were no new Wals to be had at all, which added to their scarcity value.

Yes, and the fact it’s a two man, hand building business with a very limited output hasn’t helped se and hand prices any! Not to mention the closed order book and waiting list!