Ruarl

7 hours ago, Hellzero said:

Try this, with the late great Michel Petrucciani, or listen to the album Trio in Tokyo.

 

The first one of those youtube links is dead for me. What's the album? Trio in Tokyo is great! Thanks!

7 hours ago, lowdown said:

Haha, funny enough I was watching this concert earlier today. Steve Gadd & Anthony Jackson are both on it, with Dave Grusin and few other top, top players.

Had a listen to about half of that last night. Amazing stuff. I was kinda hoping for/expecting more small ensemble stuff, but there's nothing floats my boat like a jazz big band, and the rhythm section is clear as day in that recording. Thanks!

I watched an old vid the other day where Steve Gadd is getting some lifetime achievement award, and Anthony Jackson is doing the bit where he talks up how great Steve is. He mentions that the two of them had worked together on a lot of projects. Anyone know of any recordings with these two greats working together? (Or, a place to search for this kind of information!)

Looks amazing. Are there two jacks? What’s the story there? 
 

Also, where in the world are you?

How much does this unusual, lovely bass weight? And how is the balance?

Edit: Also, scale length?

Great story. Always nice to hear about people getting out of financial trouble - good on you.

I'm not familiar with Moolons (I know the name, and the reputation, but not much more): What's the deal with that pickup? Is it a massive humbucker? Or a casing around a more traditional P-bass split? (Or something else) 

I had a noodle on this when I visited to buy another P-bass from bigthumb. It is a doozy. Better than the one I bought, in fact, and less money! If you're after a P-bass, you won't do better for the money.

I love mine too! This is an absolute steal. 

I bought Dan's camera. Not only did the sale go as smoothly as could be imagined, but he's been helping me out with getting to grips with it. Dan is more than a reliable guy to buy stuff from. He's a gem of this community. Thanks Dan!

Sold Phil my old GKMB150. A nice easy trade.Good clear comms. Thanks Phil!

1 hour ago, kwmlondon said:

I have no need for one of these, nor the space nor the money but damn I remember seeing them in the 90s when they came out and wanting one sooooo badly. Still do. GLWTS

Thanks. Teenage Ruarl saved for a long time to get one!

I'm reminded of how keen you were for a rosewood board when I bought that black/maple one off you. This new one looks an absolute treat, and something of the holy grail you've been chasing. Congrats, and enjoy!

Ooh, tempting. How old is this? Have you had it from new? How's the balance? That looks like a meaty headstock.

Edit: Also, do you happen to be planning any trips north any time soon?

For sale, my old GK MB150S. Bought new from the Bass Doc in Newcastle some time in the mid to late nineties. Lightly gigged around the place for a few years, then neglected for many more. A few years ago I took it to a local repairer for an overhaul - there was a noisy pot. (Their name escapes me now. We talked about Jah Wobble...) Today, it's in great condition. I just tried wiggling all the pots and there's no noise at all. Still sounds clean louder than I dare in my terraced house. As you can see from the pics, the cosmetic condition is pretty good. A few scrapes here and there, but not as bad as some of the examples I've seen.

Note - I don't have an IEC cable to go with this. I'm not sure how I managed that, but I don't. I can demo it at home, but the sale is for the amp alone.

I'd prefer collection, or a meet-up somewhere a reasonable distance from Manchester.

I remember playing through this at the 'Bash a few years ago. I was very, very impressed...

"E" seems to be used to indicate "Elite" sometimes too. I guess they've just had various systems over the years.

Thanks folks. That Talkbass thread was the sort of thing I was looking for. And, confirmed my suspicion that the system is not entirely organised. At least, not over the whole history of Smith basses.

Is there a description somewhere of all the codes on Ken Smith basses? I've found the odd reference (mostly on this forum.) But I don't find anything on the Ken Smith website. And certainly nothing exhaustive.

As for some of the extra words they use, I think I've figured out that Burners are made somewhere else with some kind of Ken-endorsement. But I'm puzzled as to what the "Tiger" series are. Are they just nice flamey tops?

Trombone was my first instrument! I had lessons in primary school. When I got to secondary school they persuaded me onto the Tuba. They told me my embouchure was more suited to tuba - I could never get that bright honky trombone sound. I was never particularly interested in the Tuba, so brass went from being something exciting to something I just "did". A couple of years later this new kid joined the school who played guitar. He needed a bass player, I liked Flea. So I started bass and never looked back.

Later, when I was about 17, I went to a Jazz summer school at the Guildhall. That was run by Scott Stroman, a trombone player (and a bloody good one, as you might imagine.) He played with a really soft tone, not at all honky. I still think about that moment to this day. Maybe I should buy @funkgod's Trombone from the For sale section???

Got a ticket for Knower at the end of August. I'm very excited. I've been looking forward to seeing Lousi Cole & crew live for years.

Of the three threads with glowing feedback for Paul, this one has the most balance of recent-ness and activity. So...

I just bought a nice Fender P from Paul. Had great comms leading up to the meet. I hung out in his spare room and we chatted bass for a good while. He accommodated some fairly unreasonable demands from me, like a new set of strings (yes, really!) and a screwdriver to adjust the pickup height. But always cheerful and helpful. An absolutely top fella to do a deal with.

In the absence of a NW Bash, I might come along to this one. Depending on dates, willingness to drive from Manc...

17 hours ago, Hellzero said:

Yep, you are missing something.

 

The harmonics won't be produced where they are supposed to be, but further one way or the other as it's a mathematical position linked to the string length and thickness.

 

So, a badly intonated instrument will be a pain in the *ss to play and a pluck and pray for the harmonics.

I thought we'd be assuming that the player would be doing their best to find the correct spot to make the harmonics sound the best, rather than rely on the positions of the frets (which aren't a very good guide, even on a well-intoned bass, because of equal temperament. So you're saying that if you *do* rely on the fret positions, and don't work to seek the spot to make the harmonic sound the best, then better intonation improves harmonics?

On 11/01/2022 at 18:52, ikay said:

Which raises an interesting question. A lot of bass design features are notionally aimed at improving energy transferrence and increasing sustain (eg. hi-mass bridges, through-body stringing, mitred neck joints etc). But surely this goes against the science? Wouldn't it be better to isolate the entire speaking length of every string from the neck/body structure to minimise energy transferrence? A sort of super rigid frame including tuners, nut, fretboard and bridge which 'floats' on the neck body structure. The neck and body merely being a convenient device to enable the instrument to be handled and played and having no bearing whatsoever on the sound.

 

Of course, all the above, only if you want more ringing sustain and clinically pure harmonic content.

When I first learned about this, I did wonder for a while why everyone didn't play Steinbergers. the carbon fibre construction must be extremely rigid compared to timber. The best answer I've come up with so far is that even though the rigid string is what you start with, it might not necessarily be the best thing. Is Michaelangelo's David better for him having chucked away a load of the marble he started with? That's an extreme example, but I'd love to hear an actual Luthier's take on this. Are any of them working to try and make the body filter the sound in a desirable way? And we haven't even got into the transient effects, which were much harder to measure when I was working on this sort of thing. And they're harder to think about, too!

On 11/01/2022 at 22:03, Hellzero said:

I've noticed that the way I set up instruments (ultra precise intonation up to the highest notes of each string) makes the harmonics jump very very easily, so set up is part of it as well as construction and the type of fingerboard (the harder the more harmonics you seem to get).

I wonder what the connection might be there? Harmonics are a function of the string, not of the tuning system. An out-of-tune bass will produce harmonics almost exactly the same way as if you tuned it. Or am I missing something?