BioBiro

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='336488' date='Nov 25 2008, 05:48 PM']Hmm... I think that would be a bit unrewarding. The last thing a fretless P needs - or any P, for that matter, is more thump. IMO. If you're intent on adding another pup, and you can face dropping a battery in there, I'd add a piezo... a Graphtech Ghost, maybe? That would sound fab. FWIW, I toyed with doing 'something' to my Fretless P for a while now, but in the end I replaced the flats with halfs, and decided it's just fine.[/quote] Cool idea! - i'd never thought of putting a piezo pickup in, but having had a look at the 'Ghost' it seems like a nice bit of kit to have. It's especially interesting that it calls itself an acoustic-amp, as the bass always had a nicer tone unplugged than amplified. Having had a bit more of a sniff around, I noticed some talk over this great clip from a [url="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=iYOVxK-6ZSE"]Lou Reed performance in 1982[/url]. Fernando Saunders' fretless P sounds amazing IMO, and i'm guessing that rubbery sound is mostly coming from the (single coil?) bridge pickup.

A while ago I bought a Japanese 70's-made fretless P copy, which still had the original split-p pickup and electronics in it. The wiring has now failed (the tone pot no longer works at all), and I bought a Seymour Duncan SPB-1 as a tasty replacement pickup. After finding out I wasn't as clever as I thought I was with a soldering iron, i'm taking it to a tech to put new passive wiring in and sort it all out, but I also want to add another pickup(s) to give it something extra. So - any recommendations on good additional pickup(s) for this thing? Most people put a jazz pickup in at the bridge for more 'mwah', but what happens if I add a second precision pickup at the bridge instead (and what if it was turned round the other way, if you know what I mean?). Do musicman-style pickups sound good for this type of thing? Could I add a set of jazz pickups at the neck and bridge - is the neck jazz pickup too redundant if this is the case? Also, what sort of fancy series/parallel switches and knobs and things could I have in the bass - giving maximum tonal options but keeping it all passive?

[quote name='Faithless' post='324573' date='Nov 7 2008, 10:59 PM'] When watching other live version, I've found this... Look at the comments below - it seems like Sade's drummer... [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwusTuUnQ70&NR=1"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwusTuUnQ70&NR=1[/url] And, btw, Mr. Denman seemed to enjoy playing ala Mr. Jamerson - one finger picking, two fingers only when there's a need of 16th notes, or triplets, etc... watch about 2:47 for this.. 2nd Btw - I'm doing this song at the moment - believe me, it's quite a challenge - little trifles in probably every section.. I mean, it's more of a challenge to remember all those mini-changes...[/quote] I absolutely love the 'Diamond Life' album - I think i've played every song on it on bass to death. The live version of Smooth Operator posted is indeed great, but if your really want a challenge, try learning 'Snakebite' (including the solo) :-). [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7Ct3kXgw2U"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7Ct3kXgw2U[/url]

I don't know where ALC is in Bradford, but I have a Christian friend who was invited to fill in on keyboards for a group playing at a fairly deshelved-looking church in the centre of Bradford. Half the band were American, and I must admit they were professional and talented musicians. Indeed it was one of those 'sing-a-long' things, where they projected the lyrics of the song onto a screen above the band, and I was amazed to see all these people in the church dancing around and clapping their hands. It was evident though, that they were enjoying the music because it was good music (sounded just as good in rehearsal to me), not because of anything else (but being an Atheist I would say that, wouldn't I?). My mate told me afterwards that it was one of the crazier church's he'd been to, as it startled me when I saw people getting on the floor, waving purple(?) flags around, saying "Hi!" to me even though they'd never met me before, and the lecturer-bloke telling me that as long as "I have Jesus in my heart, my finances will be ok" .

[quote name='BassManKev' post='305805' date='Oct 13 2008, 09:25 PM']how the driving test go mate?? and more importantly, hows the bass? [/quote] Thanks for asking - I passed! The Jazz Bass is awesome, my fingers hurt a bit already having been playing flatwounds for so long. I think it's improved my slap technique noticabley in just the 2 days that i've had it...

A nice chap in another thread asked me to introduce myself, so here we go. I'm 19, and I've been playing keys for more years than I can remember, but about a year and a half ago I started playing air-bass, and decided it might be wise to invest in a bass guitar. I always loved the sound of fretless bass's, but a guitar-playing friend advised me to buy a fretted bass to start with - so out of the store I went with my shiny new Tanglewood Rebel 4K. After a year or so of playing this thing, I got fed up with the lack of fretlessness and got a Stanley knife and prized all the frets out of it (but never filled in the slots because i'm lazy). Long story short, sometime later I screwed the thing up by trying to convert it into a 5 string, and eventually bought a bizzare 70's-made Japanese copy (made by Antoria!) of a fretless P-Bass, which weighs an absolute ton, and has a beautiful natural wood body. In the future I wood like to put a Jazz pickup in at the bridge for more of the 'mwah' sound lower down. Yesterday I ordered a MIM Fender Jazz Bass which i'm picking up on Monday. Unfortunately i've got my driving test on Saturday, so if I pass then it's a present well earned, if not, then it'll cheer me up for failing. Either way i'm excited! Happy to be here, Steve.

[quote name='Big Bass Man' post='302338' date='Oct 8 2008, 04:57 PM']I played on a load of basses and really liked the new Squier Jazz Classic Vibe in Olympic White, it was quality and only £249! What was the price for the 70's Classic Jazz bass you refer to?[/quote] The Fender Classic 70's Jazz Bass was about £479 I think.

Woo, first post . I went in there today to see if they had any MIM Jazz basses in stock, and the bloke who handled everything was great. He seemed to be a fan of the new Fender Classic 70s Jazz Bass thingy, but apart from a cosmetically nicer neck I couldn't tell the difference between that and the standard MIM Jazz Bass I bought. For those who want to know where it is on foot (as I got a bit lost trying to find it), go straight out of the train station and turn left, and then turn left again past the bloke who sells the newspapers. Follow 'Wellington Street' I think it is for 5-10 minutes, and you'll go under the A58 along the way. When you spot the Staples store on the left, it's just next to that.