Russ

This isn't good for my GAS. Seriously, I'm so glad they've done this. I remember playing a SUB 5, and (apart from the Hammerite-esque finish) vastly preferred it to the regular Stingray 5. I was hoping it would survive the death of the SUB range, and here it is, complete with nicer finishes and a huge dose of retro!

There's a place in Orpington that installs LEDs, as an alternative to SimS - they're a fair bit cheaper than SimS, and I've heard their installation technique is just as clean. Might be worth a look. [url="http://www.auroraproject.co.uk/"]http://www.auroraproject.co.uk/[/url]

The P-bass should nail the sound pretty well (especially if you stick it through something with distortion - the POD patch does a good job), but I'd say the iconic image of Entwistle is him with either the Alembic Exploiter or the Status Buzzard. Short of spending a fortune on an Alembic or Status (or Warwick), I'm not sure what to suggest. Maybe give Jon Shuker a call and see if he'd do you an Explorer-shaped bass with P pickups? Shouldn't come in much over £1000.

I seem to recall, in an interview, that most of the Black Album was recorded fairly simply with an old P-bass and an 80s Spector 4-string, through the aforementioned roomful of Ampeg gear. A 5-string was involved on a couple of tunes, which, if I remember right, was one of his Alembics.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. Yes, we do wear earplugs, and yes, sometimes the backline does have to do the job of the PA, if it's a small venue. I appreciate your comments about volume, but there's something visceral and energising about playing really loud that you just don't get playing more quietly! And I'm not a floppy-fringed 18-year-old... more a slightly grizzled and hairy 37-year-old! I'll definitely be giving the Barefaced stuff a try when I get back to the UK.

I'm toying with the idea of picking up a Big One when I get back to the UK - the idea of a UK-built, lightweight and great-sounding cab really appeals to me. Having said that, I'm used to playing through a 6x10", with two guitarists with Mesas and a drummer who has been known to break Kevlar snare skins, and I've found, in order to hear myself well, I need the bigger cab to have the speakers up nearer my ear level. So, my question is, would the Big One suit me on its own, or would two stacked cabs work better? Also, if I did go with just the one, would elevating the cab off the floor help, and what would the best thing to use for this (ie, not beer crates )?

It's definitely improved lately, judging on the last issue I was able to get a hold of (the Squarepusher issue... paid $11 for it!). The instrument reviews were more cohesive (with more info about stuff you'd actually want to know), the interviews were good... in fact, all that was wrong with that issue was Tom Jenkinson's chav-tastic bright orange trackie top on the cover.

Good stuff, really promising. I'd love to give it a try, but I'm overseas until early February, alas. If you're not sorted for a new bass player by then, I'm well up for it. Plus, I'll only be in Croydon.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='663482' date='Nov 24 2009, 09:24 AM']3. If you do take the bass in a proper protective case have you got room for it in the car on your road trip? Can you keep it out of sight while you leave it in the car to go sight-seeing. Are all the places you'll be staying in sufficiently up-market for you to be happy to leave the bass in the room while you're out during the day?[/quote] No worries there. The new Dodge Chargers have enormous boots - you can get a bass hard case in there lengthways, and still have room for a few dead bodies. Seriously, go on Craigslist and find a cheapo bass to play while you're there. Then, before you come home, find the nearest Guitar Center and flog it to them. Either that or bring it back with you. I've jumped the puddle in both directions many times, and would never risk my basses in anything less than a decent hard case. You can't assume they'll let you bring it into the cabin, and a bass in a gig bag in a plane's luggage hold will not be treated well and will probably come out the other end with its headstock dangling off.

[quote name='Stan_da_man' post='659448' date='Nov 19 2009, 06:23 PM']Ouch - big fail. That was on Californication.[/quote] It was also played with a pick. Flea went back to using a pick for some tunes around the time of Californication. I can play 200+bpm with my fingers pretty consistently, even using only two fingers, however, I do break out the pick sometimes, purely for the sound. Sometimes you just need that plastic-against-strings thing going on that you just can't get with fingers, as well as that up-and-down articulation and variations on palm-muting.

[quote name='bassicinstinct' post='640256' date='Oct 29 2009, 06:06 PM']Well, I do have the haircut and I have latterly been doing theatre shows. [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=61956"]My Ad.[/url] An intriguing challenge for sure. [/quote] Grow a big moustache and you'd be perfect.

Norwood = legend. In a towel.

To use an analogy, there's going to be a big difference in fit, materials, attention to detail and overall quality if you get a tailored Saville Row suit instead of picking up something off the rail at M&S. Exactly the same thing with basses. I've always found, as time has gone on and I've tried more and more basses, that I find myself thinking, "well, I like the sound of this one, but prefer the neck of that one", or something to that effect. Going custom allows you to get the best of both worlds, without compromise. Plus, you get to inject a bit of your own personality into the instrument, with wood choice, inlays, finishes and so on. Plus, for me, it's good to know I have a bass that's uniquely "me" and there isn't another one like it anywhere. All of that together makes a custom bass worth the money to me.

I'm not exactly great at singing and playing at the same time (I have a theory that it's something to do with handedness - I posted about that in another thread), but I can do it, and there's a few things that have really helped me get somewhere with it. Firstly, get a recording of the song. Record the vocals separately, then practice along with the recording. If you've got a proper multitrack recording on your computer, you can also turn your bass part and your vocal part up in the mix so you can hear them better for practice. Then just do a bit at a time, and work until you can get the parts together. If you can hear the vocals and bass well, you'll hear where they meet and where they diverge, so you can work harder on those bits. Secondly, you need to be able to hear yourself well, especially if you're doing harmonies. So spend a bit of time at rehearsal getting the levels right, even if it involves everyone having to turn down a bit. And thirdly, for some reason, I find it easier to sing and play together if I'm playing with a pick. Not sure why. It's annoying, because I play about 90% fingerstyle most of the time. But, if you're primarily a pick player, you might have an easier time with it.

I had a go with the Lowdown LD400 2x10" combo a couple of weeks back. Extremely versatile, loads of sounds and tweakability, but, as a former Ampeg owner, never quite nails the SVT tone. Which is weird, as my Bass POD XT Live does a bloody good job of it. Overall, a solid bit of kit, but not an SVT replacement. Then again, very few things are. Ampeg need to get on the lightweight bandwagon. I'd love Ampeg's take on the Little Mark type of amp. Speaking of which, I also had a go with the new valve version of the Little Mark the other week, and that was ridiculously good.

I bought a bass "body-in-white" (complete with through-neck, etc) from them years ago (subsequently transformed by Chris McIntyre, when he worked at The Gallery, into a lovely custom bass). Nice guys, cheap too. They seem to have bits for almost every conceivable type of guitar or bass there, so you should be able to gather the bits for your dream P-Bass without too many issues.

Must be popular - the new website's bandwidth limit has been exceeded!

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='617504' date='Oct 5 2009, 03:01 PM']But £3200 is the starting price... It will be interesting to see if this is another round of Wal hysteria... and when it has all calmed down, whether or not they will be classes as "real Wals". It could be like the Pre-CBS Fender thing all over again. When is a Fender really a Fender? Or is anything a Fender if it has Fender on the headstock? And so the arguments begin...[/quote] True... probably a 4-string Mk1. I wonder what Paul would charge for a 5-string Mk3 now? Might have to drop him a line and ask him. I can't imagine it'd be hugely more, since I'd imagine most of that £3200 would be tied up in paying for the custom hardware, pickups, circuit, etc which wouldn't differ significantly from bass to bass.

£3200 is about right, counting in inflation. I got a quote in 2000 for a Mk3 5-string and it was £2600! Then again, this was before the second coming of Wal hysteria, when you used to find secondhand ones in the Bass Centre for £600. £3200 is about what you'd pay for a high-spec Sei or Overwater, or a GB with all the trimmings (LED controller, etc) so it is competitive with other UK luthiers.

The Sterlings are awesome instruments. Tried out the Ray35 and the SB14 a couple of weeks back. Tonally, they're indistinguishable from the "real thing", and the feel is exactly the same. The SB14 actually sounded quite a bit better than an actual MM Sterling that was hanging on the wall next to it! Give it a few months, and the Sterlings will be hitting the used market for £400 or so. Then you'll have a real bargain.

Mutes, 2-band EQ, retro logo... awesome. I wonder if they'll sound like an older Ray though? The old ones sound so much nicer than the newer ones. How about a 5-string in that style (ie, more like the 5-string SUB)?

[quote name='henry norton' post='604559' date='Sep 21 2009, 02:17 PM']I always liked the theory of Alembics - advanced electronics, luthiery(?) etc. but in practice I don't understand why they didn't apply a bit of that thought to making them lighter and better balanced. There again I couldn't ever imagine having a spare 4 grand burning a hole in my pocket so I couldn't say I never would. I'd want alot of other things first though, and not just bass related stuff [/quote] Alembic have moved on since the early days - I had the good luck to try out a Balance-K Series I in New York recently. The new body shape balances much better than the older shapes, is lighter (it's nice to play an Alembic that's under 10lbs) and is a lot more comfortable, not to mention more contemporary-looking. I'd love one if they weren't so bloody expensive. £4k is actually fairly cheap for a new Alembic! You can option them up to over £10k.

[quote name='retroman' post='598378' date='Sep 14 2009, 03:40 PM']That's lower than low dude, take it your not mates anymore? [/quote] Absolutely not. The bloke was lucky I didn't break his fingers. It was my first ever guitar, and had sentimental value. The worst bit is, knowing Crack Converters, he probably only got about £30 for it. You live and learn, and all that.

I lent a guitar to a friend of mine years ago, since his was broken and he had a gig coming up. Didn't see him for several weeks afterwards, turned out he flogged it to Cash Converters so he could buy weed. I think I learned my lesson there... altruism doesn't always mean good karma.