TrevorR

Off to listen to Owner Of A Lonely Heart... http://youtu.be/ZPYzW5_FjwE

Just spotted elsewhere that the luthier Jim Mouradian has passed away. https://www.reddit.com/r/Guitar/comments/5o4suf/news_legendary_boston_luthier_jim_mouradian_has/ Those who are fans of Yes and Chris Squire (or indeed Extreme) will be familiar with his amazing basses. I recall seeing Chris playing his green Mouradian on the 90125 tour Andrew being blown away by both its amazing sound and amazing look. It has been fascinating I watching Andyjr1515's Mouradian-alike build diary over the Christmas period. Asthat bass nears completion it adds a little poignancy to the fact that I've been thinking about Jim Mouradian's basses on a near daily basis for the last month and a half.

We did a few and we're always happy to sell a few to family and friends BUT only because it was a chance for them to come see us play in a nice environment (which with a wedding band you can't usually do). BUT that was our choice and our initiative, not any sort of compulsion or requirement. If you want to look at it another way, you've already donated half a grand to the charity/event just by agreeing to turn up and play. So it does seem a bit out of order. It's not like you're personally affiliated to the charity or one of their fund raisers.

Personally I love active basses. All my basses have been active or very soon became active. Why? Well, I personally like to have the ability to drive my tone from the bass and a smooth pickup pan facility. I love Jazz basses but can't get on with the two volume set up. Pan pot every time. And I change batteries regularly enough that sudden battery death isn't an overriding worry. [quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1484603254' post='3216807'] Unless the controls on your bass do something very different such as the filter EQ of the Wal or ACG, or they allow you to EQ each pickup separately, I really can't see the point as all they do is duplicate what you should already have available on your amp. [/quote] And my approach is the opposite of this. My amp is adjusted at sound check (simply any necessary room based tweaks to a largely flat EQ setting) and then tonal changes all come from the bass - from changes in pickup pan, EQ or plucking style and position. Horses, courses etc. Neither approach is right or wrong.

A thing of beauty indeed. Built in an orchard in Devon by Hobbits (that worked better with Andy's OLD hairstyle!). What are they calling the model? They must be running out of rivers by now! Sort of an Okement bass!

Ooooooooh, it that an Otter bass? They've always looked so lovely but way out of the "something I could justify" league. I've got a Tamar 6-string made by Simon and Andy in 1999 which I simply adore. They are great builders making some fantastic instruments!

One new addition to my board, with great thinks to Stingray5 for donating it to the SE Bass Bash raffle - a Joyo Vintage Overdrive pedal. May not sound exciting but it's a whole voyage of discovery for me. Never really had any interest in overdriven or distorted bass sounds before (and still not really my thing TBH). However, really enjoying how it fills out the wah and funk wah sounds from the Morley Dual Wah. So much so that I'm clearly going to have to upgrade it to a proper bass OD... oh dear, GAS again... I'm usually so GAS resistant...

[quote name='barneyg42' timestamp='1484465481' post='3215571'] Using the Markbass eq I haven't been able to dial up a good punchy sound, it's strange, there's so many much variety on there with the VLE/VPF etc. I'm now thinking I've been eq-ing the bass wrongly, when I walked out on the last two gigs it's had so much punch and presence with the mid switched in. I agree though, there be too much fiddling, I've tended to run everything flat if I can, I hate getting too technical with it but this time seems to have been a lucky mistake! [/quote] If you're trying to dial up punch from the VLE and VPF controls you're looking in all the wrong places. One rolls off treble and the other is one of those mid cut pre-shapes so beloved of slappers and the like. On my LM the VPF is always off and since I've gone from rounds to flats the VLE has gone from a smidgen to none. Try setting the EQ flat and then adding a touch of bass and low mid to taste. That's pretty much how I set mine and there's more than enough punch!

Three spring to mind for me... Highway Star, Black Night and Space Truckin' for that crushing riff! http://youtu.be/hHOrpFeXUao

Let's see... started reading about Wal basses in Guitarist magazine in 1984, saw Rob Burns demoing his on the Marshall stand at the London Guitar Show in 1987 and fell in love with them but knew I could never afford/justify one new. 1992, saw one advertised for private sale in Guitarist and a week later I'd bought my Mk 1 Custom Series. It has been my main Bass ever since. So that's 5-8 years depending on when you start the clock. In about 1998 I started to get a severe hankering for a Pro Series bass to sit alongside my Custom Series. Spent about three years looking with little or no success. Until in early 2000 I saw a lovely red Pro IIE in a little local guitar shop. Except that the bass was listed for sale at three times the current market price!!!!!!! Then ensued a haggling session which lasted over a year and a half! When I first saw it in the shop it was priced the same as a brand new "Custom" bass. I made a sensible offer which was rejected. I pointed out the error to the shop owner who was adamant that his price was the going rate and it would fly off the shelf. I warned him that it would never, ever sell at that price. We agreed to differ and I toddled off saying "We'll see..." Over the next 18 months I watched as the layer of dust on the bass grew thicker, popping in once a month to have a play on it and repeat my offer. Well, after I had popped in about once every month for a year and a half (the price had dropped to a grand by that time. Still twice the market value, though) yet again I offered a sensible price and the owner relented. That time I'd brought in a just published magazine article on the model for him to look at which quoted a sensible, at the time, £500 market price. Sadly he wasn't there at the time so I never got to see the look on his face. I left the photocopy for him. A phone call back from the shop that afternoon and the handing over of £550 later... and it was finally mine! Late 2001. It's been my close No 2 bass ever since. So that was 3 1/2 years from initial hankering and decision until purchase, including an 18 month haggling session. PS and that was my 1000th post. Yay!

[quote name='Mykesbass' timestamp='1484304803' post='3214469'] I've set myself the task of writing an antidote to all the "best bass player" polls, and aim to do introductory pieces on 200 players. It has stalled a bit, but just finished a piece on Oteil Burbidge. [url="http://www.modlock.co.uk"]http://www.modlock.co.uk[/url] Also have a look at Flat Eric on here. His is well worth a delve [url="http://flatericbassandguitar.blogspot.co.uk"]http://flatericbassandguitar.blogspot.co.uk[/url] [/quote] Fascinated to know who your 200 are! Have you got a notional list already or is it building up as it goes along? Like how you covered a genre with the reggae selection and that's a nice way to make it into a series of more bite sized blogs (also less daunting/soul destroying for you as you won't have one long never quite finished blog hanging over you). So curious to see what's coming up next... a metal edition with, say, Harris, Burton, Trujillo, Kilminster etc, a pop edition with Gunnarsson and others, a folk blog with Glascock, Thompson, Pegg, Noyes etc, UK Session dudes blog with Foster, Flowers, Cottle... and so on and so forth? Nice format. Will watch with interest...

Who said that? I'll get me coat..

Mark's diaries on his journey to becoming a professional bass player are a good read... https://marksdiaries.wordpress.com Steve (Solobasssteve) Lawson always has something interesting to say... http://www.stevelawson.net/?p=all My chum Benjamin Ellis does regular, interesting musings too... http://bassguitarblog.com More a magazine news site than a blog but there is Bass Player Mag's blog... http://www.bassplayer.com/blogs Bass rambling usually has some interesting articles... http://www.bassramblings.com/hoomepage/ And, with apologies for self promo, if you want to read about Wal basses, see my blog in the signature below...

Pinktastic! Bassjaymi/The Pink Bassman/Jaymi Millard would love that! Ricky style and pink sparkles... perfect!,

Clearly pink [corrected: Hello Kitty livery] is for guitarists only... Back on topic. I can only recall two particular gigs where I didn't bring/play my Wal and they were both 60s theme gigs. Took my non-60s-authentic bitsa Jazz instead just because that night I decided I would go with a more period look. But that was my whim not and feeling of pressure/appropriateness.

I'd kinda disagree when it comes to a lot of my fave funk riffs and lines. These strongly emphasise the One on the root note (or another strong chord tone) as an anchor.... ¦¦ BOM [rest] badada-dada-dada-dada ¦¦ BOM [rest] badada-dada-dada-dada ¦¦ BOM... etc etc If you get my drift. Or maybe that's just the type of funk that most tickles my ears

To be fair to the seller, those prices he's asking really, really are "[b][i]special[/i][/b]" (albeit in all the wrong ways! )

[quote name='ZilchWoolham' timestamp='1484167195' post='3213298'] I've never played a Wal myself but my favourite ever bass tone was crafted with one (an old JG model I think). [/quote] Oooh, which tune. Do tell...

[quote name='Mykesbass' timestamp='1484209649' post='3213472'] That's partly what prompted the post, I'm one of the last people to start any patriotic tub-thumping! [/quote] Yes, it's great to know that the sheer quality of the guitar and bass builders in the U.K. warrants praise and kudos entirely on their own merits... quite irrespective of any spurious nationalistic feeling. I'm not a gas victim but I've always hankered a little after an Overwater... maybe one day.

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1484167543' post='3213301'] I firmly believe that we are blessed with some of the best luthiers in the world on this side of the pond. Status, GB, Overwater, ACG and our own Andy Rogers to name just a few. All will build you basses that out perform their US counterparts at competitive prices. You might also note how Trace Elliot went down hill when it was sold. [/quote] Couldn't agree more. Everyone who knows me knows how much I love my Wals and Wals in general. Over the last 30 years I've mange to pick up a collections of fine British instruments... a Tony Revell acoustic bass, two Gordon Smith's, a Fylde Gordon Giltrap Signature acoustic, a Brook acoustic and a Fylde bouzouki/octave mandola. All world beating instruments in their own right. And barely the tip of the UK luthiery iceberg. Just off now to sing Rule Brittania and wave my Union Jack underpants!

A few disparate recordings really set the hairs standing up on the back of my neck every time... Elgar's Cello Concerto http://youtu.be/zv6w1VoEJaE Little Wing by Stevie Ray Vaughan http://youtu.be/An4uDegHB8s Gustav Holst's The St Paul's Suite - particularly the last movement, "The Dargason" when the melody from Greensleeves starts weaving its way around the main tune. He wrote this for his local girls schools annual concert... Amazing! http://youtu.be/5Sxbj1AKrj8

Came across this Lee Ritenour video posted on Facebook today. Never seen it before but I think that it absolutely epitomises why Abe Laboriel Sr has always been one of my absolute favourite bass players. Playing totally in the pocket and utterly for the tune. And then when he does step forward for his solo he still stays totally musical and holds down the groove - even in the most over-the-top 8 bars of the climax of the solo. Such an accomplished and tasteful player - whether backing some jazzers, walking the bass for Donald Fagen, being soulful for Michael McDonals, playing on a movie soundtrack (he's done some stunning playing on recent Disney sound tracks - Zootropolis and, yes, even the dreaded Frozen!) or indulging himself (tastefully) on his solo work. Love, love, love this! [media]http://youtu.be/R-qkUvAD508[/media]

[quote name='bluejay' timestamp='1483984951' post='3211719'] Trevor's post has just reminded me that his blog should also be in the list! From his signature: [url="http://walbasshistory.blogspot.co.uk/"]Wal Bass History[/url] [/quote] Aw bless you Silvia! In that case if my blog is worth a read then these two definitely are too... Bluejay's General (but hugely bass heavy) music blog - https://bassclef141.wordpress.com And... Her blog about bassing leftie in a righty world (says the person who's leftie for everything except bass/guitar, using a knife and fork and blowing my nose) - https://leftybassgirl.wordpress.com

Interesting to see Rob's The Gibson Bass Book website listed among the top 50. It is a really nicely designed website too!

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1483883535' post='3210809'] I love my 30 year old Wal Custom Fretless. I hate that it never be quite sounds like it is in tune. [/quote] D'you suppose Pete got the measurements and spacings on the fretless fingerboard a bit wrong? Everyone knows that when they aren't exactly right the bass sounds a bit out of tune as you go up the neck.