Russ

I think it's because once you've bought the parts and shipped them over from the likes of Warmoth, Allparts, etc, the cost benefits of a parts bass are somewhat eroded. When you've got Jon Shuker, who'll make you a fully custom Jazz for £900, and ordering the Warmoth parts might come to £600 without the cost of assembly or finish, you can see the problem. There is definitely a gap in the market for someone to do this sort of thing though. If someone bought bodies, necks, etc from Warmoth in bulk, there'd be cost savings to be had.

Garrison, Gwizdala, etc do know jazz. But they studied it as a subset of music, which also includes pop, rock, R&B, etc. In order to be a professional musician, you have to take the well-paying gigs. Thanks to their thorough knowledge of music (over and above jazz) they have their pick of gigs. They get paid well to go on stage, play, have fun, and increase their exposure, so they'll probably get more interest in their solo work when they get back off tour and return to their original projects. Someone earlier in the thread mentioned Take That - their bassist, Lee Pomeroy, is an old friend of mine, and, seriously, I've never met another bass player who can compare to him, and I've met lots of bass players. He's shockingly good - he can play any style, can do all the flashy, fast stuff (watching a lefty who plays upside down do superfast machine-gun slapping is incredibly impressive), and has perfect pitch. The guy could play in any band he wanted, in any style, but he's taken the fun, well paying gig. I'm not really a TT fan, but good luck to him - he's also got the bass gig with Rick Wakeman and It Bites for when he's not off playing with TT.

The Cash Converters in Croydon had a Wal Pro II in there back in around 1998... for £250. Even though this was back before Wals became gold dust (ie, when Pete Stevens was still making them, and before Justin Chancellor really popularised them), that's still insanely cheap.

I posted a thread on TB when I first heard about this bass... not impressed. The Chrome-Tone Streamers always looked quite tacky, and this looks like they've put one of those finishes on a Streamer Standard (less body contouring, one-piece bridge, etc). It's a m*nger. What's more, it'll sound just like every other EMG-equipped bass he's ever played. He should have stuck to the Zons.

[quote name='NJE' post='761550' date='Mar 2 2010, 09:46 AM']There are a couple of used Sei Jazzes at the Gallery now and they are very well priced. I am seriously tempted by two of them. I have had quite a few basses over the years but ever since I picked up Bassist magazine 10 years ago when I started playing and saw a Sei Jazz in an advert I knew that was the bass for me. I need to do something about getting one soon.[/quote] There's an amazing 5-string Sei Jazz there in Candy Apple Red, with an ebony fingerboard and blocks, with Basslines pickups. Give that one a go, you'll be blown away. HUGE sound.

I ordered my next Sei a couple of weekends ago. It's going to be a 5-string Jazz, with a lightweight ash body, maple neck with ebony 24-fret fingerboard and block inlays, a very pretty spalted maple top, black hardware, Nordstrand MM3.1 pickups and a John East circuit (with the EQ curves set up to match a Music Man). It is going to cost a pretty penny, but Martin's lead time is currently about 12-14 months, so that's plenty of time to save up. He's also got my singlecut 5 in there at the moment for a tune-up and active circuit replacement. Seriously, you can't go wrong with a Sei.

I had a play through one of these a couple of weeks back in Guitar Center in the US - not bad, although kinda gimmicky. It's the practice amp for someone who bought the big Acoustic with the 8x10" (which is actually rather good, and very cheap in the US). No idea if they'll be selling them outsite the US though. The power supplies are 110V only right now. I also played through the baby Ampeg rig - twice the price, but I'd say probably useful for more than practice.

I don't have any "solo bass"-type vids, so instead, here's my old band's two music videos - hope you like them! We're probably getting back together later this year for a few 10th Anniversary gigs.

[quote name='elom' post='716247' date='Jan 18 2010, 12:42 AM'][/quote] Ohhh god!

I was checking out the Ampeg site today, as it goes, and came across this new combo: [url="http://www.ampeg.com/products/bassamp/ba600/210.html"]http://www.ampeg.com/products/bassamp/ba600/210.html[/url] Looks rather nice, class D power amp with 600W, neodymium speakers, valve preamp, lightweight... but no external speaker out? What's the point of having 600W if you can only shove it through 2 10s? Ampeg missed a trick here - pairing this with one of the new neo 4x10"s could have been a great little rig. Also, where's Ampeg's long-overdue entry into the small/light head market? I'd love an SVT head that was the same size and weight as a LMII!

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.