OutToPlayJazz

For a pure Precision, I liked my AV62 best of all. It just had something about it that none of the others seem to possess. In terms of what I like personally as a player, the ultimate Precision has to be the new American Deluxe. The sound is to die for & the oreamp has been improved so much compared to the old one, it's almost unreal. It's a definite must try bass if you get the chance.

[quote name='MB1' post='931151' date='Aug 20 2010, 05:32 PM']MB1. ...Have you any Idea how much it costs to get a "Thousand Naked ladies Dancing?". ...My Vote goes to Status!...They are Local.... and do do some Exceedingly Good Graphite!..(Not Good with Cakes though?)..apparently?[/quote] I've never had a cake at the Status factory, but yes, the products are indeed exceedingly good! The price difference on the various different manufacturers are odd yes, but a lot of it is down to the wildly fluctuating currencies these days. Both that and the fact that US manufacturers think they just need to change the pound sign for the dollar sign to make a quick buck. They all do it. As for graphite technology, Status is roughly twenty years ahead of the competition in technological terms and the quality control as you all know by now is peerless. Rich.

As part of the overall picture, it seems that big business was hit hard last year and this year it seems to be our turn. It's a knock on effect, but the initial post about a lack of cheap credit & people being careful is quite correct. In the contracts I deal with, councils have been cutting back this year (teaching contracts), but corporate clients are beginning to come out of the walls again. (Functions, etc.) So yes, there is less money around & we're all more loathed to spend it!

[quote name='fabbabass' post='930644' date='Aug 20 2010, 10:09 AM']I was working in a music shop/sound company in Pompey and picked up a fretless S2000 in that beautiful petrol blue colour,(#120). It's fantastic and I used it on a Jim Diamond album. I had a Wal at the time, but every fretted S2000 sounded fantastic, (I was also working as a sound engineer at the time too). I took the bass to Rob to see about having it fretted. After he played it, he remarked what a peach it was, with a very slim neck and how rare it was. The decision was made to buy another Status, right there and then. I was extremely lucky to be able to put a deposit on Rob's Empathy (#004), that he had built and was in the process of going to all of the World's music fares. After a few weeks and the bass finishing its 'tour', I went to pick it up and also pick up the fretless, (which had the brass re-finshed). A few years after that I also purchased an SII, 5 string, headed, from the Essex area, that was built by Rob for his dentist!!! The bass had been used on Anny Lennox's Album. I sold it around 8 years ago. I'll post pictures one day, along with the other guitars I seem to be acquiring.[/quote] There are some fabulous stories around Status-Graphite and their products, aren't there? Lovely to hear you've still got the Status bug!

[quote name='zero9' post='931168' date='Aug 20 2010, 05:46 PM']Strata #09 [attachment=57076:Strata_09.JPG][/quote] That is a truly magnificent specimen. Did you put it up on the Strata register at statii.com yet? Rich

[quote name='stenobass' post='930042' date='Aug 19 2010, 05:00 PM']Hi, just noticed this thread so here are some pics of my 3 beloved Statii, sorry for the bad quality... From left to right: KingBass Artist; KingBass MKII; Series II #56[/quote] Hi Stenobass! Good to see another Statii member over here! Lovely collection, too!

No, not at all - I've had expensive custom made stuff & cheap as chips stuff. In every walk of life you'll find a diamond. I just know what I like to play best, that's all and because it's my living, I play the best...

@ Bilbo & Clarky... Have you listened to the Bauble version of Moondance in any detail? I actually had the chance to play the arrangement, as Jeff Hooper has the charts - While I played it, I thought to myself, "What a load of nonsense chaff!" But on hearing it back, as a whole, the seriously odd bassline doesn't work in straight harmony - It works on a completely different level - Almost via the overtones. Whether it was originally a player's line, or a very clever arrangement, I'm not sure, but definitely worth a listen.

I'd personally be going for the ADGC option. Tenor bass is a great sounding solo instrument - Think of it as a 6-string with a third of the neck missing!

I just wanted to say that on the Status forum, the product is nearly always so perfect that we sit around making music tracks in which we call eachother pricks! One prominent member received a KingBass Retroglide which had a slight mis-shape to the graphite weave in the neck. Rob Green was mortified and made him a whole new bass! Yes, Sterling Ball can be a bit sharp at times, but as others have mentioned, it's a corporate forum at the end of the day, so it's mainly there for the big fan boys who buy a lot of basses.

To my mind, a "bad player" (imagine me doing the quotes with my fingers here!) is someone with awful technique, no sense of rhythm, harmony or taste who clearly does not listen or adapt to the players around them. I had a feeling this thread would degenerate into yet another "Let's all show how jealous of the virtuoso players we are and give anything we don't understand a good ignorant kicking!" Perhaps those knocking Tal Wilkenfeld, Mark King, et al, should look a little closer to home for the bad bassist first...

The only thing you'll need to watch for on a headless singlecut is whether the maker has but a nice thumb recess behind the joined top "horn". The Streamline has one of these and it makes playing in the higher reaches of the neck a pure pleasure. You really need this groove above the neck curve if you want a single cut. As far as I can tell, there is no difference in rigidity between a headless and headed bass. If anything, the headless bass has more string tension - Particularly in the case of my headless 5's with a hugely tight B-string - Or perhaps that's the rigidity of the graphite neck coming into play? So, being the third Streamline owner on this thread, I can also highly recommend headless singlecuts

[quote name='Mcgiver69' post='924817' date='Aug 14 2010, 12:33 PM']Good lord I can't believe none of you have even mentioned this beauty. Human Base Roxy B5, you can get this one brand new from Thomann for £944 I'm not going to start raving about it and will let Ed Friedland do the talking. [/quote] Agreed absolutely on this one. Still planning on getting one of these myself.

It's very nice, but why do you people keep buying heavy gear?