TrevorR

It was in Wunjo’s in Denmark Street. Fluke really. I had a work meeting near Holborn and arrived very early. So, of course, got off the tube at Tottenham Court Road and had a quick browse in Denmark Street. Saw it hanging up in their bass basement and couldn’t resist having a tinkle, especially as it had the Precision plus Music Man pickup arrangement that I’d been mulling over… Page has gone now but…

Well, I guess that I’m the society’s newest member… or at least I will be when I pick up my new VM4 from the shop on Friday. I tried this hardcore aged Marley Blue bass before Christmas, having been wondering about the P/H pickup layout and was very very taken with it. I’m not a relic fan but this seemed to be a bit more restrained than some of their hardcore jobs. And really quite good looking and authentically done. Having tried it out and reconfirmed all my Sandberg prejudices (I’ve never played one I didn’t love the look, feel and sound of) I thought I’d work up my ideal config (not that different - different blue, no relic, dots rather than blocks, pearl scratch plate) and look into ordering one. Then I discovered just how long the lead times are… yikes! Not quite Wal levels but 18-24 months is a long time. Anyway, having loved this bass when I tried it out before, I checked whether it was still available. It was and the price was no different from the configuration that I’d worked out. So that sealed the deal. Can’t wait to get my mitts on it and give it a proper, in depth going over at home and at our next jam night on Monday. Very happy bunny!!!

They have been around as a brand since the very early 90s. Have used them for all my acoustic guitar needs since back then. Originally there were a one man band company owned by a guy called Malcolm Newton (hence the name). When he retired about a decade ago he passed it on to the current owners who have carried on the same high quality, hand wound, small company, good service ethos. Both my Wals are currently wearing Newtones… great strings.

Really enjoyed that. Another really good rig guide from @Kingbassist of this parish. @cetera is right, that faux synth bass tone is fabulous - soooooo fat and crunchy!!! Works perfectly in the context of the track. Yes Ian, some “how I achieve certain tones” videos would be fascinating!

Funny, I never heard hair metal called glam rock until much later than its heyday (and only from US sources). I guess because, for us, glam was still exclusively a term for 70s bands like The Sweet, The Glitter Band and T-Rex.

Paddle boat rock…? Isn’t that CCR? Rollin’ , rollin’, rollin’ down the river…

Rick must have got a lump of coal in his Christmas stocking this year as he’s definitely in Grumpy Scrooge mode here. He seemingly takes huge offence at the term “Yacht Rock” as being denigrating to the music and musicians who made it. Bah humbug! Let’s face it, pretty much all genre tags are a bit crap and there are outliers in all of them. None of them works properly. Won’t stop me using a term that everyone now knows and understands or make me like the music lumped in there any less. Maybe Rick needs to have a nice lie down and listen to some Steely Dan tunes…

Love PMJ! Have you heard their take on “The Final Countdown” by Europe? Brilliant and laugh out loud funny at the same time! And their “Mr Blue Sky” is just sublime.

So Joan Armatrading then? 😉🤣

Influenced how I play: Herbie Flowers (esp War of the Worlds) Kelly Groucutt (ELO) Phil Lynott (Thin Lizzy) John Whetton (but ASIA-era not any of his other bands) Neil Murray (Whitesnake) Tiran Porter (The Doobie Brothers) Alan Gorrie (AWB) Roger Glover (Deep Purple) Randy Hope Taylor (Incognito: much later - late 90s - when started getting into acid jazz and similar) Inspired but not in a way that changes my playing: Chris Squire Geddy Lee Abraham Laboriel John G Perry

It is that time of year when you look a back of the last 12 months. So here are the last of my personal musical highlights by theme. Albums : The Last Flight - Public Service Broadcasting: a wonderful album charting the last flight of Amelia Earhart. A perfect synthesis on music and narrative but a truly innovative yet accessible band. From the Beginning - Big Horizon: a bunch of top UK session players having fun on their days off and producing an uplifting set of ‘70s West Coast/Yacht Rock influenced pop songs. Fires reissue box set - Nerina Pallot: this album has a big place in my heart so getting to delve into it in a luxuriant box set format was wonderful. So many great songs on this lesser known gem. Gigs: Public Service Broadcasting - Pryzm, Kingston: effectively an album launch gig but in a more intimate venue than their usual. They translate their audio-visual music so brilliantly on to stage. Adrian Snell’s The Passion - All Souls Langham Place: a prog rock opera about the Easter story that I’ve loved for over 40 years. Amazing to see it performed with a full orchestra. Big Horizon - Pizza Express Live, Holborn: their debut gig in their own right (ignoring the fact they’d been playing Madison Square Gardens a few weeks before as Jeff Lynne’s ELO backing band). Such a fun night out and lovely so see a couple of old chums there too! Pete Roth Trio - The Old Court, Windsor: a jazz trio led by the excellent Pete Roth and featuring drum legend Bill Bruford’s return to live. Amazing to see these musical maestros in action in such an intimate setting. Not a bad set of musical high spots for a 12 month period. What about yours?

I’m a rank amateur… I’ve only ever bought 7 basses. I still have 6 of them. The other was a late 80s Squier Jazz I put EMGs in, later de-fretted and sold on to my former bass teacher. And the remaining six are…

Fabulous retrospective and tribute. What a legend, and what a lovely man. Was fortunate enough to see him live a few times and to meet him on a few occasions. He was fabulous and hilarious when he came to our SE Bass Bash a few years ago. There’ll never be another Herbie!

Have to agree. One of my top 3 albums of the year and top 3 gigs!

I think Lozz was talking as much about his playing style as much as anything. Not strictly the tone of a P vs J vs Thunderbird in blind test conditions like we had ( @cetera did a brilliant job behind the curtain but by the end I never wanted to hear that Kansas diff ever again!). @Lozz196 was at that Bash IIRC and will have scored as badly as the rest of us - coz we ALL did miserably.

Hell, I couldn’t even pick out my own basses in the blind test!!!

Had to walk by Wunjos today so popped in for a look around. They had a PM configuration California hanging on the wall, so of course I had to try it. That hasn’t helped the situation one little bit! 🙄❤️😍🤘

I would love a Sandberg California VM… but it’s not going to happen unless I do something like sell one of my Wals. And THAT’S ABSOLUTELY NOT going to happen. The Sandberg, if it ever does materialise might look suspiciously like this!

Mine would be made by Sandberg and look a lot like this… not that I’ve ever played a bass like this or have any excuse to buy one, but IF I WAS… might go for a trans raspberry red though, but I do like this blue burst! I would be going this way because even after 20 to 30 years of play (40 in the case of my Aria!), none of my basses are particularly beaten up or with visible wear in need of relic-ing in a copy. Aside from the odd little ding here or there … but no “wear marks”. They’re all in good condition. So for a signature bass I’m doing the wish list thing…

Pete Roth Trio in Windsor tonight… with Bill Bruford on drums! Jazz man!! Niiice!

It was fantastic. Very 70s West Coast pop, Yacht Rock vibe to it and they were clearly enjoying - as was I! Nice intimate venue and great sound. Iain Hornal has a great voice and Lee Pomeroy’s playing as ever a delight… even if watching his lefty, upside down strung bass mangles my brain.

Yeah, can’t believe my Wal Pro 2E is only 5 years off that score!

Cool bass but very confused by the E and A strings!

A Costa Coffee card or similar works great for this. Usually it’s not an electronic sensor, just a physical switch/relay activated by the physical presence of the card.

Very Special… 😉