silverfoxnik

[quote name='Beedster' post='315422' date='Oct 26 2008, 10:36 PM']SFN is the man [/quote] Cheers guys... That'll be another cheque in the post then Chris?

[quote name='cd_david' post='315513' date='Oct 27 2008, 07:36 AM']What roots 3rds and 5ths, or 12 bar? [/quote] If that's what's best for the song, then yes.. Maybe you don't quite get it after all??

[quote name='bass_ferret' post='315067' date='Oct 26 2008, 02:10 PM']Never mind. The old adage "try before you buy" applies to compressors as well.[/quote] +1 The old Trace Elliot compressors do come up for sale on here from time to time, so keep looking or put a post up in 'Items Wanted'. I had one for a while and was quite pleased with it but I found it did take some low end out of my sound.. So in the end I sold it and bought a DBX MC 6 and that does a great job for me. But like BF says, best to try first if you can because what works for one person will be completely wrong for another...

[quote name='jhk' post='314482' date='Oct 25 2008, 12:13 PM']Just a late reminder about the above.Also don`t forget to put your clocks backward tonight. Website tells me bassday starts about 2.00 P.M[/quote] I went to the Bass Day today but only for the last couple of hours and I have to say,what I saw of it was excellent.. In particular, the hour that I was privileged enough to spend time in the company of Herbie Flowers, was just fabulous. That man is absolutely amazing! To hear his stories about Serge Gainsbourg, David Bowie & Lou Reed, Henry Mancini, Motown and Stax session players etc, etc for just £3 was unbelievable. If you ever get the chance to catch him doing this - with his 1955 tuba, his 1960 Jazz Bass and a wonderful old double bass - do it because it's really inspirational..

[quote name='Beedster' post='315376' date='Oct 26 2008, 09:36 PM']Now Nicholas, the fact that he's written some of the best songs of the last 100 years (questionable) and been a member of [i]one of [/i]the (not [i]the[/i]) most influential bands of all time, does not make him a great bass player. I suspect you're cleverly trying to get me to rate Entwhistle by getting me to campare him with Macca Looking forward to discussing over beers on Dec 11th! Chris[/quote] This whole internet forum discussion thingy is built on the premise that [i]everything's[/i] questionable.. None of us would be here otherwise, as we're all opinionated bar stewards! IMO, Macca's a great bass player because what he plays brings out the best in the song..

[quote name='Deep Thought' post='314917' date='Oct 26 2008, 09:34 AM']I did!-I was first in the queue when he arrived-in fact I [i]was[/i] the queue! I went to see the Stranglers at the Uni the night before (storming night!), and knowing he was going to be there the next day I booked a hotel and got to the show about half an hour before he arrived. I don't think many others knew who he was either-I got the impression I was the only one who was there specifically to meet him. I got to have a bit of a chat with him, got my poster signed and shook his hand-bear in mind this is the bloke who inspired me to take up the bass nearly 30 years ago, been a fan all those years and never got a chance to meet him. He brought Baz Warne, the Stranglers' guitarist with him, so having met JJ I went off to find Baz and have a word with him and shake his hand too, so that was a bonus for me. When I arrived I spoke to the chap on the Rotosound stand to ask when JJ was expected, he turned out to be Jason How, their chief exec, and was a really nice chap and a Stranglers fan too, so I hung around chatting to him until JJ arrived. Having met Baz, I went back to the Rotosound stand to buy some strings ( they were doing two sets for £25, and I felt I ought to buy something!) and in parting I told him how chuffed I was to have finally met JJ, and he was good enough to offer to take a pic of me and the great man on his camera, which he's going to send to me when I email him in a few days. Not surprisingly I went away like a dog with two tails! JJ was apparently only there for a short while, as the band were in Birmingham that night for another gig. Prior to his arrival I had a look around the show (got a poster signed by Jim Marshall as well, another result!). There was a fair bit of bass-related stuff there-I can't say I saw anything that I felt I was going to die if I didn't buy, thankfully. The Ampeg, EBS/GB and Trace stands looked pretty good. I wish I could have stuck around longer and met some of you chaps, but I had to get back to reclaim my daughter from my parents who'd had her overnight-besides by that time I'd run out of dosh![/quote] Sounds like you had a great day! Always a bit daunting meeting someone who's a bit of a hero or inspiration.... The whole day looks like it was really good!

[quote name='jhk' post='314485' date='Oct 25 2008, 01:17 PM']Just to say what a nice fellow nik is.Very knowledgable,and a dream to deal with.I get the feeling that I`m probably not the first to say the above.Hopefuly I`ll get to hear him in his band soon.[/quote] Cheers Jon, Very kind words - cheque's in the post!! Likewise; great to meet you and not only to buy/sell gear, but also to have a great chat about all things bass... See you soon, Nik

[quote name='Beedster' post='314448' date='Oct 25 2008, 11:56 AM']Taste's a funny thing isn't it Nik! You're probably right about Zender not being an innovator, although you could argue he successfully synthesised the styles of the several great '70s funksters you mention, and you could argue that a new synthesis is in fact innovation. Then again, you could also justifiably say that I'm talking complete b*llocks Now, Mr Entwhistle. With few exceptions I always found his lines complex but predictable, a bit like listening to Mozart, you know what's coming next (OK, in both cases the exceptions are pretty exceptional). I also find Who songs [i]generally[/i] relatively easy to play, despite the apparent complexity of the lines. However, I find Jamerson, Flea and Zender's lines mostly pretty susrprising and way different to what I would instinctively have put down (although I have to say that having spent some time listening to lots of Motown recently I'm starting to see a pattern in Jamerson, it's a it of a chaotic patern for sure, but it's certainly there). I'm not for one second saying Entwhistle wasn't one of the greats, he was, but then so are all the others mentioned in all the posts above. Except McCartney of course Chris[/quote] Yes, taste is a funny thing.. I mean; you don't like Jazz basses, so that blots your copybook for a start!! That's definitely a good point... the way Stuart Zender has achieved that synthesis is really good and he has also inspired a lot of players to pick up the bass, so that on it's own gives him a lot of credibility.. My problem is I just can't stand JK or his music so I find listening to Zender difficult because of that barrier.. Your point about Mozart (and this is going way off topic) is one I've heard before, but I'm a huge Leonard Bernstein fan and he rates Mozart as the absolute master of masters, so that's good enough for me! All I can say is you're lucky if you find The Who's stuff easy to play I still think that Entwhistle in the 60's was way ahead of his time. As far as McCartney goes, I'd much rather have his talent than Zender or Fleas's for example.. He's written some of the best songs of the last 100 years and been a member of the most influential band of all time and you can't do much better than that really!

Hi Folks, Just bought a lovely Eden Nemesis head of Derek.. Am happy to say the amp is amazing and everything is as described.. incrediblely fast delivery too!! Would happily deal with Derek again, so even happier to recommend him to the rest of the Basschat fraternity... Thanks D! Nik

Hi Folks, I've just had the pleasure of meeting Jon who has bought my SWR cab and a Peavey T-Max head.. Absolutely brilliantly easy transaction and Jon is a real gent! Fine player too... Thanks Jon; much appreciated and hope to see you around at a gig at some point, Cheers Nik

here you go: [url="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=NyRqQwdN-Lw"]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=NyRqQwdN-Lw[/url]

[quote name='Beedster' post='313390' date='Oct 23 2008, 10:35 PM']Jamerson, Zender, Flea. Boring and predictable now perhaps, but all of them were innovators and cool as f**k. Feel guilty about Entwhistle but, with the exception of one ot two bits of magic, he's just too complex for the majority of the songs. Whereas Flea's, Zender's and Jamerson's lines made the songs, Entwhistle's detracted from them, Great technician but not a great musician... C[/quote] Wow! That's pretty contentious Chris!!! Didn't Entwhistle win that Melody Maker vote in 2000 as the most important / influential bassist of the 20th Century? Obviously, being a British, rock/indie focused magazine, Entwhistle was bound to gain prominence in that kind of Poll over someone like Jamerson for example.. But nonetheless, Entwhistle as a musician has to be viewed in the context of the era in which he played.. And in the early 1960's, what he was doing with the bass guitar was extraordinary! Besides that, I doubt there's any other bass player in the world who could have held their own in a band which had Keith Moon on drums and Townsend on guitar Can't disagree with you about Jamerson who almost single-handedly created a bass playing vocabulary on his own.. But as I've said before many times on this Forum (and been shot down for it), to rate Zender as a innovator in bass playing history is way off the mark, fine a player as he is. Bernard Edwards, Larry Graham & Bootsy have each had considerably more impact on the development of Funk/Soul/R&B bass playing than Zender, who is someone who's style owes a great deal to those three players I think.. Personally, I've never been a fan of the RHCPs or Flea, but I agree that he is an innovator and has had a huge influence. Anyway, the bass players who have influenced my playing style more than any others are: Bernard Edwards (Chic) Leigh Gorman (BowWowWow) James Jamerson (too many to mention..) I'd also have to throw in a special mention for Dennis Dunaway (Alice Cooper), John Gustafson (Roxy Music), Trevor Bolder (David Bowie & The Spiders from Mars) and Paul McCartney all of whom I admire for different reasons...

[quote name='Beedster' post='313292' date='Oct 23 2008, 08:38 PM']Let's do it mate! I'll call you nearer the time Chris[/quote] Definitely! Look forward to it....

Beautiful bass and it sounds amazing in that YouTube clip..

[quote name='Bass_In_Yer_Face' post='312774' date='Oct 23 2008, 10:03 AM']Nice thread about my chosen specialised subject!...while we are talking about dodgy new romantic bands....I like the playing by a band called Fashion. Songs sound horribly dated now but some lovely bass[/quote] + 1 I loved Fashion and did a few gigs with them at a long since gone venue called The Nashville in West Kensington.. Do you mean the first incarnation of the band with Luke, the 6ft 10" tall singer or afterwards when Dee Harris was vocalist? In both cases, it was Mulligan who played bass IIFC and he had a lovely black Ric 4003..

[quote name='dub_junkie' post='312672' date='Oct 23 2008, 01:17 AM']Bowie/Roxy/Velvet Underground/Kraftwerk > Numan/Foxx/Ultravox/Human league > Duran/Japan/depeche Mode etc. Nick rhodes and John taylor said they grew up listening to bands like the velvet underground,roxy and bowie iirc from interviews around the time they first made it big. they did a great live cover of steve harleys cockney rebel "come up and see me" and then the album "thank you" in the mid 90s which shows their influences [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thank_You_(Duran_Duran_album)#Track_listing"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thank_You_(Du...)#Track_listing[/url] (the drummer credits on that album are just mental btw)[/quote] Good point about Cockney Rebel being influential in this particular genre; if anyone's ever heard their song 'Sebastien', it's something any New Romantic band would have been proud of.. I seem to remember Duran Duran saying in an early interview that their template for the band was to cross Chic with the Sex Pistols.. And regarding Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground, the very first incarnation of Adam & The Ants had a song in their set called 'Lou' which was about Lou Reed. One last thought about the New Romantic era is that it was definitely a reaction to Punk in the sense that Punk was supposedly 'anti-fashion' and 'anti-style- whereas New Romantics were obsessive about style and fashion..

[quote name='Beedster' post='312570' date='Oct 22 2008, 10:23 PM']Something tells me you're an expert on this Nik PS we're in Brighton for the Counting Crows on 11th December. Hiope we can catch up C[/quote] Don't know about that Chris, just my 2p worth.. I started playing in my first band in 1977 and though Punk was happening at that time, what came next musically with the whole post-Punk/New Romantic era which was much more interesting to me because it took all those musical elements that everyone has mentioned here, but it also had that Punk attitude that [i]anything [/i]was possible.. Our drummer's going to that gig IIRC.. are you staying over in Brighton that night? If so, then let's hook up before or afterwards.. Be great to see you

I always think of the New Romantic 'sound' as being a synthesis of David Bowie's 'Low' & 'Heroes' albums, Kraftwerk's 'Trans Europe Express' album and the soundtrack to 'Saturday Night Fever'.. It's no surprise that all the so-called 'Blitz Kids' who included Rusty Egan, Boy George and Steve Strange referred to Bowie as their ulimate musical idol and in return for that praise, Bowie featured them in the video to 'Ashes to Ashes'.