Russ

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.

I'm a lefty who plays righty, and, most of the time it's fine, but I do have a theory that it's easier to sing and play at the same time if you pluck with your dominant hand. The major challenge of singing and playing at the same time is keeping the rhythms together, and keeping my left hand in sync with the vocals seems a lot easier than keeping my right hand in sync. I've considered getting a cheapo lefty bass to see if I can learn to play it for that very reason, but haven't quite got around to it yet. I'm very interested to hear how you get on with it.

I played the SB14 in Guitar Center over here a couple of weeks back. Awesome. I A/B'd it with a proper Musicman Sterling that was also hanging on the wall, and the SB14 actually sounded and felt better... strange. I want to play the Ray35. Now there's a candidate for modding - add a Status MM5 graphite neck and you'll have an absolute monster.

Sligo's a bit out of the way, isn't it? You'd think he'd do a gig in Dublin or Cork or something. Very pretty bit of the country though.

[quote name='Lorne' post='588902' date='Sep 3 2009, 04:51 PM']That would be because Bernards and Chic parted ways in 1983 The Ironbird was designed in 1983 The Warlock 1981 The Bich,ok,1977 The Beast after Bernards death in 1996,the beast came out in 1999[/quote] Smartarse. Just making the point that Bernard Edwards' BC Riches weren't the extreme-shaped "metal" models. He played an Eagle, didn't he?

[quote name='Doddy' post='588739' date='Sep 3 2009, 02:36 PM']If you are playing metal on it then yes,it's a metal bass. But, if you play country on one,it's a country bass. A Bass is not limited to any one style,it's the person who plays it that makes the difference. Bernard Edwards played a B.C. Rich.[/quote] He did, but he didn't play an Ironbird/Warlock/Beast/Bich, etc. They might have a versatile sound, but aesthetically, these more extreme BC Riches only belong in a metal band (and even then, I think they look cheesy). A Mockingbird or Eagle would visually fit most bands, though. Also, the cheaper BC Riches are not particularly good instruments. The US-made ones are great, but the import line are very subpar.

It's not hard to spec up a new Alembic into five-figure territory. The cost for some of the options is insane. I have to keep reminding myself that five figures is pretty much the starting number for a good quality classical instrument, but when other luthiers are making bass guitars that are 95% as good as Alembics at maybe 25% of the price, I wonder how they get away with it. Stunning bass though. I do amuse myself occasionally by looking through the monthly specials on their website. There's some seriously stunning looking instruments on there.

Whatever happened to the original line of Iceni basses? I remember one being reviewed in Bassist magazine - they had graphite necks, a weird 3+1 headstock and a "unique" neck-body joint... the next thing I heard, he'd moved on to the Zoot basses, with nary a bit of graphite in sight.

[quote name='XxBassMastaXx' post='587939' date='Sep 2 2009, 07:42 PM'][url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-ImKQ53C-I"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-ImKQ53C-I[/url][/quote] Ah, from the old Flea bass instructional video... the bits with him being interviewed by a completely wasted River Phoenix are priceless.

[quote name='XxBassMastaXx' post='587881' date='Sep 2 2009, 07:06 PM']thats the thing about stingrays. They all have great deep full tone that i love![/quote] Stingrays do sound great. Just don't think you're going to get the recorded RHCP bass sound with one. I remember when BSSM came out, there were lots of very annoyed bass players who went out and bought Stingrays after hearing it, and were disappointed that they couldn't get anywhere close to the tone on the album...

[quote name='Linus27' post='587763' date='Sep 2 2009, 05:00 PM']Thanks, I am quite surprised by that list, especially the Spector, Wal and Alembic. I wonder why he never used the Spector live.[/quote] He used to, back in the day, before he started using Stingrays. Check out the videos for Taste The Pain, Nobody Weird Like Me, etc (should be on YouTube), and you'll see him with the Spector. He used a strange multi-coloured thing in the Higher Ground video, not sure what that was. Still want a pair of those teddy bear trousers though.

[quote name='cetera' post='587670' date='Sep 2 2009, 04:48 PM']Corrected for you [/quote] *blush* As a fellow Spector owner, I am ashamed!

[quote name='Linus27' post='587654' date='Sep 2 2009, 04:41 PM']Out of interest, what did Flea usually record with?[/quote] Different basses on different albums... this isn't comprehensive, but to summarise, the early albums, up to Mother's Milk were mostly a Spector NS4, BSSM was mostly a Wal (with a 5-string Stingray on two tracks), One Hot Minute was mostly an Alembic Epic (apart from Aeroplane, which was obviously a Stingray), Californication & By The Way were pretty much all the Flea Bass, and Stadium Arcadium was the Flea Bass and a '62 Jazz with flats.