Russ

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='111229' date='Dec 30 2007, 11:50 PM']Here's some info on Tony Levin's site about his Funkfingers [url="http://www.tonylevin.com/pbtlff.htm"]http://www.tonylevin.com/pbtlff.htm[/url] It looks like he stopped selling them over seven years ago. [/quote] Just as well I got hold of a pair when I did. Never really had much opportunity to use them, though.

[quote name='Pedro1020' post='111083' date='Dec 30 2007, 07:07 PM']Thanks for all the info and suggestions guys, they have been helpful. My intentions are to get warwick (thumb or streamer as they are best shaped for my preference) work with the MEC's and fiddle about, if they don't match my sound intentions....I'll change them. EMG or seymour duncan are on my mind Just out of interest. I had my mind on a warwick streamer lx (second hand) are they good as the streamer stage 1?[/quote] Depends on how you class "as good" - they're very different. The LXs are bolt-on, and some people (me included ) really don't like the chunky profile of Warwick's bolt-on necks, and come with MEC JJ pickups. The Stage I is through-neck (maple), and comes with a totally different electronics package to the LX. It feels and sounds quite different to the LX. To my mind, it also has a much nicer neck profile and a smoother sound. But it's also quite a lot more expensive than the LX (though not as expensive at the Stage II).

Being good works best. Then word of mouth takes care of much of the rest. That's 75% of the battle, right there. As for other ideas, Myspace still has a big (though declining) following, and has most of the tools you'll need to put together a half-decent electronic press kit. It's also a convenient point of reference for most people. Having your own website is also a definite plus, especially if you have forums, etc - helps build a sense of community around the band. Video memes are popular on the internet too - make a video of your band, and stick it on Youtube. Have live performances, but also have silly, more personal stuff too... makes people connect with you more on a personal level. Things like this can end up on Digg, or other such sites, bringing you a whole new set of listeners! You've also got local, internet/cable and specialist radio stations who can promote you, and pretty much everything OldGit mentioned above.

Could well happen. Since that prototype's got a SR5 neck on it, there could be something different in store for the Sterling 5 when it finally surfaces in production form. As for the rest of the Sterling 5, I like it - I hate that horrible big plastic lump of scratchplate that blights the appearance of the SR5. The smaller one here looks much better.

[quote name='ARGH' post='106308' date='Dec 19 2007, 02:45 AM']Whats the problem with the USA Russ,apart from its bloody cold right now?[/quote] There's a laundry list of things I don't like about it here... won't go too in-depth, but I find most of the people I meet to be mind-meltingly shallow, the work situation is stupid (can be fired at any time, 10 days' holiday a year, etc), the money now being nearly worthless internationally, having to drive long distances everywhere, no NHS or anything like it, rubbish TV, for the most part, mobile phones where you have to pay for incoming calls, and loads of other silly and not-so-silly things. And yes, it's bloody cold. Everything outside right now is covered in inches of ice. I want to go home badly, but my missus is American and wants to be here with her family and friends. But I've got a potential job offer back home, maybe that will swing the deal.... EDIT: Sorry to derail the thread... and this isn't meant as offensive to any US readers we have... back on topic now.

Poor you. Moved to the US a while ago and I hate it - I can't wait to get back to the UK. But sell them as a stack, with a "will separate" caveat.

Just two at the moment... the Sei and the Spector. 465 + 2 = [size=5] 467[/size]

Getting: Socks, probably a bit of cash and a US green card. Wants: A ticket home. I really don't like it here.

[quote name='s_u_y_*' post='104823' date='Dec 16 2007, 01:08 AM']Didn't your mother tell you guys? Obviously the good ones end up in Bass Guitar Heaven like these lot, and play Spinal Tap's Big Bottom forevermore. [/quote] I got to play that Alembic Stanley Clarke with the Bigsby trem on the right of the picture a while back... I was in The Gallery, and the guy who'd won it in the auction of all Entwistle's stuff brought it in to get it looked at. Awesome bass... very skinny neck and tight string spacing though. It's kinda weird seeing an old pic of The Ox and being able to say, "I've played that bass"...

You'll get more for it if it's got the wenge neck, as opposed to the newer, inferior ovangkol one... was thinking of picking up a Streamer LX5 if I can find a good, older one at a reasonable price.

A few more (mostly about technique and so on): 13) Play in such a way that you keep your wrists straight (strap height, fretting hand technique, etc) - less chance of RSI or carpal tunnel setting in. 14) Play with a light touch and let your amp take care of the volume. 15) You can play as many notes per bar as you like - as long as they're all in time and in the groove, and if it works with the song. 16) Less isn't always more, but less is usually the better option. 17) Use the technique that's right for the song. If a song will sound better played with a pick, use one. Don't be a technique nazi. 18) It's hard, but try to listen to the song as a whole, without separating out the instruments in your head, and do what's right to make the whole thing sound good. 19) A live gig is a feedback loop - take the crowd's energy and channel it back into your playing. 20) Don't ever get into the mindset that "you only play the bass" - your voice in the band is equally as important as anyone else's. 21) The ability to hang and not to be an ar$ehole is just as important as the music. 22) A gig is worth 20 hours of rehearsal time. 23) Never play for free. You're undervaluing yourself and doing other bands a disservice by setting a precedent that bands will play for free. 24) Record EVERYTHING you do and listen back to it as a group. 25) Never be afraid of constructive criticism. 26) Listen. Then listen some more. A good ear is the most valuable thing a musician can have.

Always been in originals bands, and don't see myself wanting to do covers anytime in the future. The fun in music for me is the creative process - playing other people's music just doesn't do it for me. If I can't write the bassline, I'm not interested. If that means I'm condemned to working in front of a computer screen for the rest of my life, only fitting in music on the evenings and weekends, then so be it. As for what I've learned... here's a few sage tips. 1) Save the drinking until after the set. If people liked your set they'll buy you drinks. 2) Pick anyone who will be working for the band carefully (management, etc) - the wrong person will totally change the band dynamic and mess things up badly. 3) If playing in a band stops being fun, get out. 4) Lead singers are always pr!cks. Deal with it. 5) Loud is good. If you think it's too loud, don't turn down, get earplugs. 6) Always be pleasant and humble, and ready to talk to people. You never know who you might meet. 7) NEVER take a pay-to-play gig. 8) Having 50,000 friends on your Myspace is pointless if only 50 of them have bothered listening to you. 9) iTunes is your new best friend as an originals band. 10) Make time to socialise with the band members away from the band. 11) The rock press have only one good feature - their expense accounts. Make them buy you drinks. 12) Don't bother slogging your guts out all the time, gigging at the same old crappy venues. Only take the quality gigs where you'll play to more than your mates. .. if I think of any more, I'll post them.

My custom Sei singlecut 5 has a MM+P pickup config (the P is in a humbucker-type housing though). I requested it specifically, as I wanted the bite of the MM pickup combined with the low-mid thud of the P. Works brilliantly, wish there were more basses with that configuration.

[quote name='3V17C' post='54065' date='Sep 1 2007, 11:54 PM']woah! they were a cool band with some nice bass playing - saw em at reading and went and bought the album..still sounds quite good[/quote] I think the gig we did with them was at the Harlow Square, around 1996-ish. Yep, the bassist was also the co-lead singer, and played fretted and fretless 5-string Wals. Great player. We had a short bass-related conversation afterwards, if I recall. I wonder what became of them? They were pretty bloody good back in the day.

Saw some live Santana on TV recently, and, at least some of the time, he has two bassists (although one switches to guitar on some songs). The main bassist plays various Laklands in a more traditional manner, and the other guy plays a Modulus and does lots of high chording and so on.

[quote name='Brother Jones' post='91191' date='Nov 19 2007, 11:51 PM']I owned a couple of Rays about ten years ago and although they nailed one thing really well, I found them really limiting. Could never seem to get good harmonics out of them and they always seemed to end up sounding a bit treble-bass-nothing-in-between. Always liked Sterlings though - never played a bad one. Although I'm very much a Jazzer, might have to give a Sterling a try. Wish they made a 5 string Sterling....[/quote] The Stingray 5-string is more or less a 5-string Sterling, what with the coil-switching, the dummy humcancelling coil in the pickup, and the same 3-band EQ. Although I do hear that a proper Sterling 5 is on its way. Hopefully it doesn't have that huge, ugly expanse of scratchplate that the Stingray 5 has.

[quote name='birdy' post='94169' date='Nov 25 2007, 04:41 PM']From Wikipedia.... Flea's main basses have almost always been ones with active electronics. His signature live bass up until Californication was the Music Man StingRay, which he also used to record the albums The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Freaky Styley. In the studios for The Uplift Mofo Party Plan and Mother's Milk Flea used a Spector bass. Blood Sugar Sex Magik was recorded with a Wal Mach II, Stingray 5 string and One Hot Minute with an Alembic Epic. From Californication onwards, he received a signature model from Modulus Guitars, which is based on the StingRay. For Stadium Arcadium, he used a '61 Fender Jazz bass. The Jazz Bass was initially used during the subsequent Stadium Arcadium tour, but Flea later decided that he wasn't cutting through enough, and went back to using his Modulus Signature. Flea can be heard using several different effects pedals throughout his career; current pedals listed below. This was pretty much my understanding also before reading this after various threads on the subject on talkbass. Steve[/quote] This is more or less correct. I believe the bass he used on RHCP and Freaky Styley was, in fact, a Musicman Cutlass (basically a Stingray with a Modulus Graphite neck - this is the bass the Flea Bass was based on). Other than that, yep, it's all pretty much right, apart from the fact that Stadium Arcadium is roughly half-and-half the '61 Jazz and the Modulus. The '61 J was strung with flats and sounds very different to the Modulus Flea - you can seriously hear the difference between the two basses on the album tracks.

I know he has one of his Jazzes strung up in BEAD tuning, so that might be what you have to do...