ChrisLovatt

I have a Fleabass that I wished they made higher end models of. 

I get why the company shut down but it's got a real unique sound that with better pickups and better woods/construction would've been a killer intermediate bass.

Ive spent the majority of my time using a 5 string and only recently gone back to using 4 strings. 

Even when jamming to a drop D song I've never dropped the E down because I like the sound of the B string on the D, and grooving below the D was also fun in some songs. BDADG got a bit confusing for me so I stuck with standard so my memory of scales and all that wasn't messed up.

If I'm using a 4 string there's not really any other choice in going drop D but I tend to find it makes the string a bit floppy.

Each to their own though I guess

Little jam I did for a contest on Instagram

Holy hell that is stunning. My god.

8 minutes ago, thodrik said:

There is a lot of good stuff on Stadium Arcadium. It does get a bit samey in places but it has some of Frusciante's best playing in my opinion after he abandoned the 'less is more' approach on By The Way. It is also the album where Flea started to use a passive jazz bass for most of the album, so it is a much different tone to his previous albums.

By The Way has some of my favourite RHCP tracks (This is the place, Can't Stop and Don't Forget Me, even though the latter is basically Other Side pt ii in terms of chord structure) but also most of my least favourite/meh RHCP tracks (Cabron, Universally Speaking, Throw Away Your Television, I Could Die for You, most of it actually).

I love jamming to Throw Away Your Television though, got a nice minor groove in the verses.

Yeah some tracks on By The Way and Californication leave a lot to be desired, sometimes I like the simplicity of them, as I understand it Frusciante had literally just gotten clean for Californication and had "lost" his skill level. 

BSSM was his 1st major progression into writing melodically driven basslines, I think Rick Rubin gave him an acoustic guitar at the time and said "try writing songs on this" or something.

"Mellowship Slinky" is probably my favourite bassline off that album. Love it.

For me though Stadium Arcadium is a big collection of everything that Flea can do, its got some slap in there (that isn't too balls to the wall) as well as some gorgeous lines like "If". 
And I'm damned if I can muster the stamina up to play "C'Mon Girl" all the way through.

I started playing around 8 years ago and it was "RHCP - I'm with you" album that made me finally pick up a bass after playing guitar for a few years.

The first song I learned was The Adventures of Raindance Maggie, followed by Factory of Faith and Dani California... Then the rest of their discography 😂

Final design looks alright, not exactly blown away by it but its nice enough.

Can't help but feel you could probably get a similar tone if you just stuck some flatwounds on a stingray though. 
£1500 is a bit much for me, and where the heck is the tone control?

1 hour ago, fretmeister said:

Anyone seen the Active Flea out in the wild yet?

 

Im really drawn to it!

Haven't seen one in any shops yet and there's only a few clips on YouTube so far. Another month I guess before it gets out. Maybe.

That is gorgeous.

GLWTS

I live in Stoke on Trent and over the past 10 years most music shops around me have either downsized or shut down completely, there's 3 main ones left now but their selection of basses is pretty lacklustre. Nice people and that but they tend to focus on the guitars instead.

Recently went over to RichToneMusic in Sheffield to sell my Warwick and their selection of basses was really great. Spent about an hour in there noodling around on a Stingray.

I'm in love with that colour, never seen it on a Stingray before. Lovely bass.

GLWTS

Weirdly enough I have barely any calluses on my fretting hand (mainly on the 1st and pinky) but my plucking fingers are very hard and tough on the tips, heavy technique in both fingerstyle and slapping I guess.

Hurt a fair bit when I started playing but they glide over the strings now.

32 minutes ago, Soledad said:

Me too, so far. Got a gen1 V7 a few days ago. I grew up on passives anyway and modern amps have plenty of tone shaping (too much if you're heavy handed). I expect to spend some more time later with the mid sweep (a smart feature I think) but the bass sounds really good passive, and it's faster to get from one sound to another. Re weight it feels about the same as my Precisions (but see below).

Here's the bottom line (IMHO) - a Sire of your choice is all you need. Get one, stop there and work on playing, technique and sound. Changing string gauge or just one cab will make a bigger difference than the next shiny bass.
If you want a Lakland recognise that it's a want, not a need... 

WEIGHT: my V7 - 4 (gen1) is 9.6Kg

That's roughly what I reckon

Yeah mine's a tad heavy but I've been playing heavy 5 strings for years so I'm used to it.

Nice! Got myself one of these in white over Xmas. (Because what better time of the year to buy yourself a new bass)

Gotta say I barely touch the pre-amp, sounds really great just passive

On 19/02/2019 at 07:01, rsint said:

Since nobody has said it yet.......buy a Dingwall.

I’ve never heard such a true low B.

This. Every B string on every other bass I've tried after owning one of these pales in comparison. The 37" scale makes a difference. Imo anyway.

I'm in love. Must sell a kidney. 

GLWTS

Damn. That is beyond gorgeous.

If I had the money I'd snap that right up.

GLWTS!

Damn man Warwick and a stingray sound combined? 😍

The missus would kill me but GLWTS

I didn't know Del Boy played bass

14 minutes ago, mcnach said:

I suspect that a lot of the entries will be much more interesting that what he played there... which might actually be the point!

 

I don't get his constant quest to play something that resembles a Stingray, without being a Stingray  

I'd just take a Stingray and modify it to taste. Well, that's probably what his Modulus was, to be fair.

 

Having said that, I'm a fan. I like how there's never "this is the ultimate". Tastes change, and he does different things on different basses, even using a Precision in some cases... 

Yeah some of the entries are pretty cool, I spent about 2 weeks writing mine haha

And I guess Fender want to keep him on brand so they make pretty much whatever he wants

Evenin' all, 

So there's a contest going on right now on Instagram to win one of Flea's new signature active basses, just wondering if anyone else is participating/heard of it?

The bass looks interesting, not something I'd pay £1500 for but its worth a shot, had a lot of fun writing my version

@jebroad

Looks like I am having a shift change at work so I should be able to come, will confirm next week once I've confirmed it with work then I'll let you know 👍

I have a Sire V7 bass I can bring along, and maybe some carrot cake 😎

£3k? Modulus Funk bass. Either that or a new Stingray.

Or a custom one from Alpher Instruments. Damn they make some nice stuff.