Baloney Balderdash

Not a big fan of the Darkglass drives, but the EMG Geezer Butler P pickup is indeed something very special, vintage voiced, but with a slightly higher output, a bit of an upper mids snap/bite, an open and very dynamic response, but while still having a really tight low end response, and with a rich high end, without that in any way making them sound thin, overall resulting in a very well balanced tone, with an extraordinary clarity and an outstanding definition and articulation, which makes them respond very well to effects and further tone shaping, while though sounding genuinely great all on their own as well. And then they are dead silent, even in basses that hasn't otherwise been shielded properly, because they are shielded internally, and all the solderless wiring it comes with, which by the way makes them super easy to install, has the ground running like a braided shield all along the insulated lead. In many ways a modern improved take of the ultimate vintage voiced pickup. And yeah, I know, this ended up sounding like some crazed hyperbole marketing mumbo jumbo, but truth is they really are that great!

This astonishing hauntingly beautiful track, "Kith" by Hilary Woods: Though this upload that doesn't allow embedding sounds better, not nearly as compressed, so do yourself a favor and click this link to hear it on YouTube, rather than playing the above over-compressed version: https://youtu.be/DlgbQ-0F2oo

Close Encounters of the Third Kind? To be honest I'd personally prefer an alien tone to a 70's tone. I guess though it depends of if we are talking E.T or Predator? Are Teletubbies aliens? Cause I am not sure if I'd like a bass with that kind of tone, possibly a bit too childish for my personal taste. But if I had to I would prefer Tinky-Winki over any of the others, or maybe Po. Definitely not Dipsy or Laa-Laa.

Well, I guess I just need to work on getting Yamaha to find me worthy for a signature bass... Seriously though, just at least one short scale offering ought to not be too much to ask, there has never been a better market for short scale basses than currently, and it seems like just about every other big brand offers at least one short scale model, most several. Sorry about hijacking the thread.

Congratulations. I wish Yamaha would make a short scale bass, at this point there is really no good excuse for not offering at least one model. Preferably a short scale version of their BB design, but with just a reverse P pickup, no bridge J pickup, like the signature Peter Hook one, but with pickguard and 24 fret neck. If they did that I would get one as soon as I had the money to spare to do so.

I suppose one not being fond of the fact that basswood is one of the softer hardwoods and the risk for screws stripping, dings e.t.c that comes with is a reasonable enough reason to not like it, though that wouldn't bother me personally. However whether or not the pickups was a great match for the resonance of the basswood though I am rather sceptic on how exactly you would be able to access that, way too many other determining variables to the tone of any given bass be to be able to credit any issues one might have with it to the body wood type vs pickup type/model of said bass with any kind of reasonable certainty.

What is that supposed to mean? Yes, it's a cheap wood, but several high end basses got a basswood body and several professional guitarists and bass players swear by it. Basswood is actually supposed to be a great tonewood (if one believes in that). And the actual price difference from a more expensive wood is a very little percentage of the actual production costs, and even less asking price. That a wood type is cheap has nothing to do with quality, it just means that it is readably available, which again means sustainable and good for the environment. "It sounded and played amazing, BUT the solid colored body was X wood and not Y wood", that just doesn't make any sense, unless you got X-ray vision and listen with your eyes and/or suffers from OCD.

That certainly depend a lot on the band and audience in question, which again to some degree is determined by the specific music played. Generic Top 40 cover band music though, sure, in that case you would probably be right in something like in the proximity of 99% of all cases, except maybe for when there is another bass player in the audience.

Add to that the specific individual instruments in question and not least the specific pickup models they are equipped with. A J Bass with the most P pickup like sounding neck J pickup on the market soloed compared to a P Bass equipped with the most J like sounding P pickup on the market would be very hard to distinguish from each other, not to say completely impossible for the untrained ear or in a busy mix (again of course assuming equipped with the exact same type/brand/model of strings and played through the exact same rig).

Uhm? I don't agree (well except for the sound of P Bass being the archetypical electric bass guitar tone). If anything, as far as I am concerned, J Basses in general has a much more anonymous tone compared to the tone of a typical P Bass, which as far as I am concerned is full of character (and yes, I do love the sound of a P soloed as well). Ever heard The Stranglers, to name just one band where a P Bass has a quite central role, and definitely does a lot more than act as just a support for the other instrument and is quite precent in the mix... And it's not like even something as traditional and historically archetypical P Bass as James Jamerson's works exactly stays in the background either. If anything a J Bass with both pickups full on is likely to get lost in the mix, unless slapped, because of it's inherent mid scoop. Also if you actually listen side by side to respectively a typical P Bass and a typical J neck pickup solo without any other instruments they will sound almost identical (given of course equipped with the same type/brand/model of strings and played through the same rig), the thing that will give the J away would be its somewhat more polished anonymous lack of character in comparison to the P with its somewhat more edgy tone full of character.

Oh, and Current 93 of course:

Two completely different animals, though both amazing sounding, and loved both and very much regret being stupid enough to sell, even if the Trace Elliot would be fairly easy and cheap to find a replacement for: Ampeg B-15S, the 1968 version, 60W all tube amp, and a legendary amp, this is the highest wattage model of the B-15's, with the original 1 x 15" flip top cab, though I think the original speaker was replaced, not sure for which speaker unit exactly though Trace Elliot GP7SM, 130W, 1 x 15", combo, an all SS state amp obviously Both which had no trouble keeping up with the loud rock bands I played them in, even playing up small bar sized venues with no PA support, though the B-15 did have to be driven at it's max capacity for that, but the 130W Trace never above noon, actually even always bellow noon. Both did however weight about a ton. Though I am actually also really satisfied with my current "amp-less" setup: Ibanez GSRM20 neck + GSRM20B body Mikro Bass (with the stock P + J pickup pulled out and replaced for a single EMG Geezer Butler P pickup, wired directly to the output jack socket, tuned in F# standard tuning, that is 2 half steps above regular 4 string bass E standard tuning, and strung with regular Elixir Nanoweb coated nickel-plated roundwound hex steel core guitar strings of the gauges .080 - .062 - .046 - .036) ->> As the very first thing in the chain, right after the bass : ->> XVive V16 Undulator (tremolo, though never actually engaged, used exclusively for it's really effective buffer) ->> EHX Black Finger (tube driven optical compressor, though only dialed in to deliver a very subtle compression and primarily functioning as a tube preamp stage, with its 2 EHX 12AX7EH preamp tubes, operating at proper high 300V plate voltage, driven to just on the verge of breakup) ->> Then as the very last thing in the signal chain, before the poweramp and FRFR PA speaker : ->> Zoom B1Xon (which is mainly used for various reverb effects, including an always on subtle reverb, consisting of a very subtle plate reverb stacked into a subtle spring reverb) ->> NUX MLD Bass Preamp + DI (NBP-5) (using the Aguilar Tone Hammer amp emulation and the Ampeg SV212 IR cab simulation, with the post IR EQ filters set as follows: HPF set at 40Hz, and the LPF set at just below 14kHz, the amp EQ controls set as follows: Bass (40Hz) at about 2 o'clock (70=~+6dB), Middle at about 3 o'clock (84=~+10dB), with the middle Freq at about 1 o'clock (398Hz), Treble (4kHz) at about 1 o'clock (54=~+1dB), and the Drive engaged, with the Drive control set at 9 o'clock (13), and clean/drive Blend control at noon position (50=50/50)) ->> ART Tube MP Project Series (tube preamp and DI, with its build in, fixed at 40Hz -12dB/Oct, HPF engaged, and its EHX 12AX7EH preamp tube driven to just on the verge of breakup) ->> // ->> Band rehearsal/jamming/gigging // ->> Home practice // ->> Home recordings // : // ->> Band rehearsal/jamming/gigging ->> Effects Return (poweramp input) of a Peavey Solo Special 112 (160W combo amp, with the build in speaker disconnect and instead hooked up to a passive PA speaker) ->> The Box PA 502 (passive full range flat frequency response PA speaker with 1x 15" woofer/mids driver + 1.7" high frequency tweeter horn) // ->> Home practice ->> The T.Mix Mix 502 (mixer) ->> Sennheiser HD 380 Pro (studio grade, that is FRFR, headphones) // ->> Home recordings ->> M-Audio Fast Track (audio interface) ->> Reaper (DAW) //

Swap the stock pickup for an EMG Geezer Butler P, wire it directly to the output jack socket of the bass, apply a 40Hz -12dB/Oct HPF, done!

Not exactly a classic as this is from 2012, but non the less a no less than astonishing track, from the Danish, but fairly internationally well known Neo Folk band, "Of The Wand & The Moon" :

If you haven't already tried one you should absolutely get yourself an Ibanez Mikro Bass, the GSRM20B version in Weathered Black finish (basically open pore matte black) and black hardware even looks pretty damn nice. I love mine to bits, it's really such a great joy to play with its' just 28.6" scale length, and the quality is generally pretty amazing for the money asked. You should be prepared to swap the stock pickups and electronics though, but if done you will get a not only great playing but also genuinely great sounding bass.

Actually the next logical step would be a 9 string bass, not a 12 string. Jaco = 4 strings Felix = 6 strings = 4 strings + (4 strings/2) Felix's son = 6 strings + (6 strings/2) = 9 strings So, yes, statistically Felix's son should be playing a 9 string bass.

You get a higher chance of getting what you pay for with paying more, at least (except sometimes not with certain Fender and Gibson productions). Also when reaching a certain threshold you generally really get a lot less more than you would otherwise think for the amount of extra money paid. Plenty of genuinely great instruments to be had a lower prices, you just have to be a bit more patient finding the lukcy ones out of a budget production, and be ready to eventual do a few relatively cheap and minor upgrades to get it up to standards. It's not like they specifically do an effort of consistently making as crappy instruments as possible, as that would actually raise production costs, it's just that the outcome quality will be somewhat more random, as well as the quality control, that is the quality of the instruments that are allowed to leave the factory, will be somewhat lacking with budget instruments. That said the "getting what you pay for" sentiment certainly is more true with acoustic instruments than electric amplified ones.

I care for one, but I don't judge. I think it is awesome that you own and play all these different takes on the bass instrument and would love to hear examples of you playing them. I own and play both an acoustic and an electric guitar, regular 34" 4 string bass, and respectively a short scale 28.6" scale 4 and 5 string bass, tuned in F# standard tuning (that is 2 half steps above regular E standard tuning), and Bass VI. I also own and play a small collection of other non string instruments. And while I do feel most at home on short scale 4 string bass, I'd love to own a regular 34" scale 6 string bass, a short scale 8 string "octave" bass, an acoustic upright bass, a baritone guitar, and a slide lap steel guitar as well, along with a lot of other types of instruments.

I meant try looking up "Felix Pastorius", not "Monster player". A very accurate description, he seems to have a consistent very focused aim of covering as much completely random knob traveling as humanly possible rather than to be of any actual use at demonstrating what the knobs in fact do. Curious, if not very service minded, priority...

He also pulled the frets out of his bass using a butterknife, provoked a bouncer at a bar to beat him to death, and was mentally ill. Not that that makes him any less of a genius bass player, or any lesser of a human being and person for that matter, just maybe not one to blindly follow as a flawless example. Also I don't think he ever actually stated so, lots of people after him though have used that fact, that "Jaco only needed 4 strings", as some kind of ultimate universal truth, as a supposed ultimate proof for it also to be true for everyone else and in any possible context. His son Felix Pastorius plays 6 string bass. Try looking him up, he's a monster player as well.

Looking at that photo it very much looks like you were indeed correct. Great piece of detective work!

Off topic, but just read your old thread about your acoustic bass, and: Thomann and Harley Benton are notorious for not updating specs on their sites, the reason why the fretboard is so dark is like in fact really Purple Heart (also know as Amaranth), which they started using as fretboard wood on a lot of their instruments instead of that thermally treated Maple, Roseacer as they call it, and the good news it is that Purple Heart is a lot harder and stiffer wood than Maple, very close in terms of stiffness to Ebony and slightly harder than Rosewood, which ought to make for a lot more durable fretboard and overall more stable neck. Pretty certain it is in fact Purple Heart, cause it looks just like the fretboard on my Harley Benton GuitarBass, which also was listed to have a Roseacer fretboard, but that I got confirmed in a mail from Harley Benton themself, after asking, they started using Purple Heart for instead, and that this would be the case for my bass according to when it, according to the serial number, was produced. I know Purple Heart/Amaranth is supposed to have purple-brown hue, but after it has been sealed and treated it becomes more of a very dark grey, almost black, color, which you can see on photos of other instruments that features a Purple Heart/Amaranth fretboard as well.

This album is pretty damn astonishing! And I love the cover artwork as well! Thank you for making me aware of its existence.

You might very well be right, but to me it just doesn't look the pickups in that picture are textured with a blank middle bar as these ones, but honestly hard to tell from the size and resolution of the photo, and it does add up with the one pickup height screw on one side of the pickup rings and then two on the other.