TrevorR

[quote name='fleabag' timestamp='1475594403' post='3147213'] I checked out the options and you're right , there's no Ash body / Rosewood FB model. You have to go to the Alder bodied models to get a Rosewood FB [/quote] To be honest, I've been sorely tempted to buy two, swap the necks and sell on an Alder/Maple bass!

We always started with Brown Eyed Girl. Punters love it and it's more pacey. Doing weddings we'd do the bride and groom's opening dance and by the end, the obligatory number of reluctant dancers had been coaxed onto the dance floor. By the time we'd said "Ladies and Gentlemen, Mike and Debbie... Mr and Mrs Bloggs" and led a round of applause half of them were usually sloping off already. Then we would launch right into BEG. By the time we'd finished the intro they had pretty much all done a 180 and we're happily jigging away, singing along. Always found it a good gig starter.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1475924116' post='3149780'] Pete Stephens wasn't very well towards the end but thank goodness he still cared enough about his company to ensure that its heritage and pedigree was maintained, and not sold off to the highest bidder (which was on the cards). Paul Herman was/is the best person to take WAL on and maintain the continuity and quality for such a world class brand. [/quote] Amen to that! Ther were a few of us holding our breath back then. The idea of a budget Korean Passive Reissue Pro would have been interesting (a la Overwater by Tanglewood) but he idea of a big corporate watering down the Wal bass... still just don't want to think about it. There's an alternate universe out there somewhere where mass produced Wals now have one piece maple necks, basswood bodies, Schaller bridges and Bartolini pickups... Or worse... imagine Gibson had bought the brand and done a Trace Elliott to it!!!!! Pete absolutely made the right choice. Paul da guy!

[quote name='Spoombung' timestamp='1475750992' post='3148412'] Blimey, sorry I missed it. Any idea who owns the Wal Mk3 4-string? (sycamore/maple facings). I've always wanted to try one of those... [/quote] Workshop model so currently available... you know you want to...

[quote name='NickA' timestamp='1475786622' post='3148832'] I was with mine (a 1980s 4 string mk 1 fretless) in bass direct this week, where they had a Mk1 and a Mk2 for sale at around £4500 (!!) they told me the new ones are about £5000 and have a two year waiting list and "anyway wouldn't be the same as an old one", hence the increasing value of the original Mk1s. Any truth in that? [/quote] The first half of their statement is true... £4500 starting price and approx 22 months lead time. The second part is TOSH. As anyone who was at the SE Bass Bash the other week will tell you the basses Paul is building are absolutely toppest of top notch. If I dare say it, I'd actually say that the build quality has increased a smidge with him. To me those Bass Direct ones looked about a grand overpriced maybe for a 2nd hand Wal, looking at current prices on eBay. Just my opinion, though. And I'm not particualry aware of Mk 1 prices spiking against other models. Sales poppycock/deeply held opinion [delete as applicable] As to old quality vs new... Let's face it, Paul knows Wals. He started working there a few months before Ian Waller passed away in the late 80s and was working there until around 2000 so most of the basses around will have had him working on them anyway.

I use OnSong and really like it. Very powerful. Not free but very well specced.

I use OnSong all the time on an iPad 4 Retina and love it. Some of the features are a bit hidden or obscured but once you get to know it the programme becomes quite intuitive. I suspect that an iPad 2 is just getting too far away from the current iOS minimum requirements etc. for it to work effectively.

I'll definitely take a view on the asker and decide on that basis. Have said "Yes" have said "No". Always officiate, though... place the bass around their neck and help them take it off. That way, I know it's not going to get dropped or whacked into the drummer's crash cymbals. It can have nice paybacks too. Remember doing a 50th birthday party once. The birthday boy asked if his nephew and friends band could do a couple of songs at the end of the barbecue break. We said, fine. Bless em, the kids were all about 14 or 15 and they were stoked to be able to play on a Wal bass, a Gibson Les Paul Studio, a Takamine Acoustic and a Premier drum kit rather than the £100 instruments they were used to playing. They weren't half bad in a strummy kind of way for some teenage kids starting out and I don't think they'd ever touched, let alone played instruments like that. The look on their faces when we said, "Nah just use ours..." All of us really earned some karma points on the cosmic balance sheet that evening. It was great watching some kids having such a treat too.

The Listening Service is now one of my regular weekly podcasts. Always fascinating even if in an area of music I'm not hugely interested/engaged in. The How To Write A National Anthem one is hilarious. The Noise one is very good. But other ones like Mozart Hero or Villain, The Power of Love Songs, Repetition and Starts etc are all really interesting. The one on Rachmaninov's 2nd piano concerto was a fascinating study of how music moves our emotions AND of snobbery in musical circles. Radio 3 programme so a bias towards using classical music as an example but no worse than that... You could use 30 minutes of your time in many less productive ways.

A chum of mine, Darren Poole will do mastering. Don't know his rates but he's a properly good guy and has a great set of ears. Good on a whole range of styles too... Abandon Music Group [url="http://abandonmusic.tumblr.com"]http://abandonmusic.tumblr.com[/url] [url="http://abandonmusic.tumblr.com/"]http://abandonmusic.tumblr.com/[/url]

Looks lovely. I so wish they made these ash bodied ones with a Rosewood neck. Or maybe, I don't as it's probably the only thing preventing me from being compelled to buy one!

The Ricky in the covers band my bigger brother played in when I was a kid was what first hooked me on bass. So that was my first bass lust. Still love the look and sound of a Rick. Little did I know then that I'd hate how they felt to play. Then there was Neil Murray's SB900 back in the Whitesnake days. A huge influence on my choice of first bass... see in the signature below...!

JapanAxe, if you're feeling nostalgic then a load of it is downloadable from iTunes etc. Still love the first two albums despite picking them up way back in 1986 (IIRC).

Some artists that spring to mind are Kirk Franklin, Donnie McClurkin, Kurt Carr and Hezekiah Walker. Don't know whether I'd exactly call it jazz infused gospel, more soul/r'n'b infused but it's heading in that direction - a more modern direction than traditional gospel. For (smooth) jazz in a Christian/gospel context I'd recommend Abe Laboriel's band (Koinonia - think a Christian version of Fourplay. Mostly instrumental and VERY VERY GOOD whether you're spiritual minded or not) or his solo/duo work with Justo Almario.

Yes, my Cort comment was on incongruous styling of neck vs body and the likely presumption when the new Gibson range has been long forgotten that a neck from an expensive Gibson bass had been mated with a much cheaper, generic far-eastern bass body. No dissing of Cort, I could as easily have referenced Harley Benton as they do some sub-£200 Cort-alikes too, don't they? Also, am I right in thinking they retail in the £8-900 price range? They have the look (from a photo) of a £2-300 bass (fancy bridge notwithstanding).

Neither parent did nor my eldest sister sang or played music but all three of my brothers played to one extent or another. However, Mum and Dad were always really supportive. Eldest bro became a music teacher, next bro up from me did cover band stuff and it was watching the bassist in his band and his Ricky that made me want to take up bass in the first place. I also did a lot of singing in various sorts of choirs - school, church, gospel (plus a few years f piano lessons - which I hated and foolishly dumped age 11). So I guess that's how I got started.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1475152262' post='3143484'] Looks like a Cort to me, Gibson and basses don't work for me other than the ripper/grabber, make a ripper 5 string and we'll talk. [/quote] Yes, in about five years time anyone playing one will just get asked, "So why have you put a T-Bird neck on that cheap Cort?"

Like others, listening to records I liked and trying to pick out the bass line and copy it... much simplified if necessary. Also worked through this classic tome. Oh the joy of getting a flexi disk to work properly... Oh yeah, and any opportunity to play with others, however modest or low key!

Chris Squire took the top neck of bass ( originally a guitar) and turned it into a double course three string bass... very short scale and tuned A-G

Photos here... should be visible to all... https://www.facebook.com/trevorraggatt/media_set?set=a.10154317149360860.1073741848.705595859&type=3&comment_id=10154318016955860&ref=notif&notif_t=photo_album_comment&notif_id=1475041241626223

[quote name='WalMan' timestamp='1475009932' post='3142353'] What he said [/quote] What he said he said! Oh, and there are a few videos from the day posted here... http://basschat.co.uk/topic/292570-this-was-too-good-to-hide-on-the-events-page/

There were some GREAT talks at the Bass Bash last weekend - not least of all from Squeeze's John Bentley and the one, and only, Mr Herbie Flowers! Here are a few videos of what happened at there. Sorry that this isn't on the Events page but this was too good not to share more widely on the General Forum! John Bentley demonstrates "Another Nail In My Heart" [media]http://youtu.be/pdfwLWIQ1hk[/media] Peter Gunn like what it should have sounded like. [media]http://youtu.be/Fj0eatnulhs[/media] Some pricelessly politically incorrect musings about political correctness [media]http://youtu.be/JYl6LIc_70o[/media] Walk on the Wild Side featuring John Bentley and Dave Swift! [media]http://youtu.be/V3tw6BCsEFI[/media]

Two words... Gallagher. Rory. Not necessarily in that order. Plus what Norris said.

This is literally my first moment online since dumping my bass gear in the house the on Saturday, repacking the car with suitcases, little boys and wives and heading off to Somerset on Saturday night to do best man duties at my brother in law's wedding and then visiting my little boy's best friend in hospital in Bristol yesterday. So I'm coming a bit late to the party. I recall about 10 months ago chatting to Nik and him saying.... "This will be the 10th anniversary Bass Bash, I'd really like to make is something special." And later, "Do you think I'd manage to convince Herbie and Paul from Wal to come along?" Well, Nik, in terms of making it something special.... Mission accomplished! What a truly great event in every way. Huge thanks from me too! And huge thanks to all the others organisers too... Hamster and Mrs Hamster, Sylvia and Jack and everyone else involved behind the scenes. Well done guys. What a day. It was great chatting and hanging out on the Wal stand. And the talks were amazing, especially Herbie and John. The rendition of WotWS will live in the memory forever. And it was only afterwards I realised all the folks I'd not managed to get round to having a proper chat with because of being so busy and absorbed in all things bass... Sorry Jack, Sylvia, Dave, Gary and others too... the day flew past too quick. Next time! Can't wait to read Sylvia's blog, and can't wait for No 11!