silverfoxnik

[quote name='chris_b' post='261257' date='Aug 12 2008, 11:22 PM']Why don't you come along to the SE Bass Bash in Guildford, it's not too far from Reading. You can see a lot of amps and cabs up close and talk to their owners. That's if you can wait that long. Details below: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=22439&hl=bash"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=22439&hl=bash[/url][/quote] Excellent idea! And much better than going to any shop because there'll be more variety and better 'customer service'..

[quote name='wombatboter' post='261025' date='Aug 12 2008, 05:18 PM']I've been playing bass for the last 26 years and I have owned around 85 basses... Last year I had around 29 basses and I realised it was just too much...I started selling and now I have 19 basses...Two years I was an ebay-addict and bought a new bass every month (Sadowsky, 7 Wal basses in one year, Status, etc...). I finally realised that a lot of basses were not used enough and that they deserved to be played.. Now I think I could do with my Fender Marcus Miller, Wal MK I, Lefay Fretless and my Rickenbacker 4001..the others I have are great but I hardly use them (I have a Wal MKII 5 string which I haven't played for more than an hour during the past year, I think that is a shame though)[/quote] In that case, I think it's time I set up the first registered charity for deprived and neglected bass guitars that suffer from a degrading form of the worst kind of social exclusion imaginable... inflicted upon them by greedy and wasteful bass guitar collectors!!! We'll be round in the morning to start 'freeing' up these long-suffering instruments and will work tirelessly to help rehabilitate them back into the community.

Lovely looking bass and I imagine it sounds pretty good too!

[quote name='MB1' post='261028' date='Aug 12 2008, 05:20 PM']MB1. My First proper Bass,possibly 28 years old....older than some Basschatters! [/quote] Very nice bass MB1!! I have an almost identical one (fretless model) sitting right here next to my PC that I bought from pete.young a few months ago and it's a great bass! It came with the original receipt from when Pete first bought it back in 1986 I think... I'm sure Pete won't mind me sharing these photos with you: [attachment=11986:Aria_fretless_1.jpg] [attachment=11987:Aria_fretless_2.jpg] [attachment=11988:Aria_fretless_3.jpg] TBH, it's a much nicer bass than I expected and it's certainly too good for a ham-fisted fretless player like me.. The output from the pick up is really strong and it sounds great, especially for a passive bass!

[quote name='stingrayfan' post='261077' date='Aug 12 2008, 06:48 PM']Nik - any chance of getting someone in who could do set-ups for £s on the day? I've got at least two basses that could do with a good set-up and it would be nice to get them done on-site, while I'm sipping a lager and playing someone else's bass badly. [/quote] Hi Matt Good idea - I'll get back to you on it with some news later this week.. And I'll join you in the 'playing other people's basses badly' antics!

[quote name='doctor_of_the_bass' post='260538' date='Aug 12 2008, 01:20 AM']Allo Does anyone else have over 50 basses? I'm currently at critical mass (seriously) with 57 basses and around 13 guitars. I must stress that this is not in any way shape or form meant to prove anything (other than that I am completely nuts and am about to lose everything {including my mind!} in my quest for furtherage of bass fulfillment!) but I'm intrigued as there are some really great collections out there in Basschat Land. My collection has grown rapidly and having gotten involved here, I've met some really great people with some really amazing basses. Am I mad? Cheers. Nick[/quote] Eleven basses is the most I've ever owned at one time and right now, I have five. If I had the time, money and resources (including enough space and an understanding wife!), then I'd definitely have more basses as it's so much fun collecting and using different basses... In fact, there's definitely a few on my 'wish-list' at the moment! But in answer to the OP, you're definitely not mad; I mean, how many of us have sold or traded basses we really wish we'd kept? You've had the good sense and (maybe) good fortune to keep most of your basses and from my point of view, that's an amazing achievement! So, if anything, congratulations are in order I think...

[quote name='stingrayfan' post='259918' date='Aug 11 2008, 01:18 PM']Forget EBS Nik - get a Trace. [/quote] Does it have a pre-set that eradicates operator error

[quote name='bass_ferret' post='259887' date='Aug 11 2008, 12:55 PM']And of course he was mixing cabs with "unpredictable" results I bet 2 2x12's would have sounded better.[/quote] +1

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='259641' date='Aug 10 2008, 11:36 PM']The EBS gear can cover all grounds and particularly excels at the hifi, zingy, pop and slap thing... but as ferret says, by adjusting the brightness and the treble on the amp and tweeter settings on the cab and you can get a completely different sound. If the guy who owned the rig was using a GB, chances are he had the EBS set pretty flat (with the brightness at 12 o'clock) and was controlling it off the bass. The GB preamp is a lot more tweakable than most and with the amount of boost available on each of the eq bands, the likelihood was that there was a lot of boosted bass and mids going to the amp. Plug in another bass, passive particularly and you are going to end up with a thinner, toppier sound as you describe. My guess is that you needed to tweak the eq on the amp to boost the bass and mid frequencies to get the most out of your passive Fender. In terms of cabs, I find the proline warmer than the neos. I am not the greatest fan of the neo sound - they sound more sterile to my ears... but that's just me. If you were going through neo cabs, with a flat eq set on the amp, it doesn't surprise me that you found the tone not to your taste.[/quote] That's it in a nutshell! He said the same to me about keeping the amp pretty much flat and then using his bass e.q. as required.. if I'd have had more time, I would have probably arrived at the scenario that you and bass_ferret described so I didn't get much time to explore.. That's why I'd like an opportunity to hear it again in a different setting.. And yes, they were the neo cabs..

[quote name='stingrayfan' post='259402' date='Aug 10 2008, 04:52 PM']Operator error, I reckon... [/quote] Yep - definitely was... Marcus, I was using my Fender Roscoe Beck V which is passive?? [quote]That sounds like EBS to me! Good gear but predominantly focused on the 'modern' sound (which ironically is now arguably the dated '80s sound). Alex[/quote] Alex; I think you've got a point there... That is the GB/EBS sound I suppose.. I am definitely an old-fashioned git as I don't particularly like that sound.

[quote name='Gwilym' post='259397' date='Aug 10 2008, 04:42 PM']hey Nik, it sounds like you should try the Fafner, there was plenty of warmth when I tried one some time ago. I've been gassing for one ever since but have yet to pull the trigger, so to speak. I suspect that it may, sound wise, be my ideal head, but the size and weight (relative to all the lightweight gear now on the market) just puts me off. and the chicken head knobs are also an aquired taste.[/quote] Hi Gwil, Just had a look online.. very nice!! I see what you mean about the chicken head knobs but that's modern-day bass marketing for you! Nik

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='259369' date='Aug 10 2008, 03:57 PM']One man's heaven is another man's hell...[/quote] It certainly wasn't hell; that would have been using the Berhinger rig that was there!! It just wasn't absolute, tonal heaven that I was expecting...

[quote name='dub_junkie' post='258654' date='Aug 9 2008, 02:06 AM']+1 on Bill Nelson. 20 odd years ago I bought his album "Chimera". Loved his work ever since.Massively talented and even more prolific. other guitarists I like for being a bit different are Robin Simon(Magazine/Ultravox),John McGeoch (RIP)(Magazine/Banshees) Will Seargant (Echo & The Bunnymen) Johnny Marr (The Smiths,Electronic etc)and Charlie Burchill for his early work with Simple Minds Drummers I like would be Steve Jansen (Japan) and Budgie (banshees) from a songwriting point of view...John Foxx (saw him doing the metamatic album at the Barfly Glasgow last year and it was fantastic)the guy from Anthony and the Johnsons and The Blue Nile I'm not really up on other instruments but i always liked Andy Mckays sax and oboe on the early Roxy music stuff and Billy Currie's keyboard and violin with Ultravox[/quote] +1 for Bill Nelson, the late, great John McGeoch, Budgie, Stewart Copland and Andy Mckay amongst many others.. I've always had a liking for pianists, singers and songwriters and Prince is oustanding in all three of those skills.. And in this area, Stevie Wonder and Kate Bush spring to mind too. I've always been a Carlos Santana fan on the guitar front and love Paco DeLucia also. But the great thing (when you think about it) is just how many wonderful, talented and inspiring musicians there are out there to give us something to enjoy and aspire to!

Hi Folks, We did an outdoor festival yesterday and the bass player in the band before me had the full Bernie Goodfellow/GB Guitars works; lovely hand made GB 4 string all-singing, all-dancing bass, plus an EBS 650 head with a 210 and 115.. To save time with changeover in between their set and ours, the guy very kindly offered me the use of his rig..And bearing in mind the rig provided by the organisers was a Behringer head & cab, I thought I'd suddenly landed in bass heaven. But when it came to setting up I've got to say that I was pretty underwhelmed by the sound of his EBS rig!! At first I thought I was doing something wrong but it really didn't blow me away tonally at all!! It certainly wasn't the best of circumstances in which to try it out and I have heard a similar rig at Bernie's place sound good.. Thinking back, I can only describe it as very 'zingy' tone; sort of glassy highs and bright upper-mids but there didn't seem to be any inherent warmth to it.. I had to use the tube emulator and the 'character' setting to get any of the warmth and depth that I prefer and once I'd done that, it was OK. But I was expecting more?? I know all you EBS users are going to take me to task over this and I feel almost 'Judas' like in offering up a more negative view on what is very highly regarded gear.. So, I'm hoping there'll be something similar at the SE Bash next month so I can try out the EBS stuff again in much better surroundings. No doubt someone there will want to show me the error of my ways.. Nik

[quote name='gary mac' post='258867' date='Aug 9 2008, 03:42 PM']Hope someone can help a stressed out bass chatter. I've just taken delivery of a pair of Wizard pickups for my Jazz and decided I fancied the challenge of installing them myself. So, yesterday I purchased a soldering iron and this morning started the procedure. I am starting to wish I hadn't now. Finally got it all soldered up and put back together, but the neck pickup is not functioning. Checked it all out again and the problem seems to be with the white cable that I've soldered to the middle lug of the neck pot. Just can't seem to get it right. If I attach the white cable to the lug with the red cables (That feed off to the bridge pot) it works but with no control to the volume. Hope I have explained myself clearly, any help would be hugely appreciated. Cheers, all the best Gary.[/quote] Sorry to hear that Gary! I know the feeling - happened to me reinstalling the original p/ups in my Fender Jazz 5 in January.. I am not able to help you I'm afraid as I'm pretty useless at this sort of stuff. But hopefully OBBM, The Burpster or some of the other very clued-up guys will be along soon to advise.. Good luck with it, Nik

The Grabber & the Blazer are great! Nice spector too... But how do you find the time to play when the dog needs so much care & attention?

Outrageous quantities of porn and very nice it is too!!!

Some lovely basses folks! I think real credit must got to Mr Shuker (John??) for his versatility! Love OHM's P5 as I'm a traditionalist at heart, but the sheer variety and craftsmanship is stunning, particularly when you see them all together like this.. If Rich does join in the Status thread as well as this one and the Wal thread, then we might as well all pack up and go home now because that's tooooo much!!

I think from looking at the headstock shape it was a Wal Custom.. Is it just me, or is the singer in the clip really, really irritating??