Shaggy

There's a fine line between John Entwhistle "cool" and Bill Wyman "catatonia".

What a deeply cool amp. And there's just NOTHING like an 18" for disrupting concrete foundations, and causing spontanous bowel movements in anyone it's pointed at.

[quote name='SJA' post='67526' date='Sep 29 2007, 10:50 PM']I wondered about that one- turns out he (Barry Adamson) was bending strings on a fretted (Ovation Magnum), with chorus on it- [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlnOGL-7dV4"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlnOGL-7dV4[/url] sounds good on fretless though. what a band, way before their time.[/quote] You're absolutely right of course, hadn't mentioned it as (a) they're totally obscure now, and ( I've banged on about the god-like genius of Barry Adamson on this forum way too much. He's the reason I bought a Magnum (not the choc-ice!) What fabulous atmouspheric music he, John McGeogh (guitar) and Dave Formula (keyboards) made - Howard Devoto's vocals could grate, but top songwriter. Superb live band. [quote name='ARGH' post='67570' date='Sep 30 2007, 08:37 AM']I dunno,If you wanna hear fretless in Death metal you cant go far wrong with 'Individual thought patterns' by Death. Steve D's work with Sadus is hot too.[/quote] I'll check that out for sure, and I guess what I meant was the more subtle and "moody" the music is, the more fretless becomes appropriate - probably digging a deeper hole for myself here! I'm basically a fretless player, but my main band at the moment is a covers band, we do a couple of hard-rock numbers and I find I can only get the aggressive upper-neck riffing nicely on my fretted Sabre (Avatar), so use it for the whole set as I can never be arsed to gig 2 basses...........hmmm .....double neck maybe? [quote name='ARGH' post='67571' date='Sep 30 2007, 08:39 AM']Sorry ,but best David J track for me is 'Shes in parties' ......great intro,the BBC session version is the best.[/quote] Saw Bauhaus in the v early '80's and can only recall the singer (Pete Murphy?) wearing a very holey black all-in-one underwear thingy. Did an astonishing version of "Bela Lugosi's dead" that went on for ever....... I think one thing aparent from this thread that the late '70's - '80's was the main era for fretless, or am I wrong?

Black Velvet / Alannah Myles Permafrost / Magazine Walk on the wild side / Lou Reed (Herbie Flowers probably not on fretless, but shoud have been!) "Gentlemen take polaroids" album / Japan (also "Quiet life" as posted above) Lots of Peter Gabriel with Tony Levin on The "No Parlez" Paul Young album (Pino again!) Generally find anything short of balls-out rock, and especially balllads/acoustic numbers, works better on fretless so long as you keep it subtle.

[quote name='andy67' post='67426' date='Sep 29 2007, 05:42 PM']different situation withs valves add more cabs bigger sounds! seriously my 220 watt V4 is never cranked above 40% and it cuts through anything![/quote] Andy is telling you the good stuff here. Our drummer regularly breaks 4 + sticks a gig he's that physical and the Trace twin copes without breaking a sweat - hooked up to 600W RMS worth of cab. I'm seriously thinking about getting another and bi-amping my stereo Ovation Magnum!

Any tune is coverable, so long as a completely new take is done on it, like that “Mad World” thingy a while back or the aforementioned “Love will tear us apart” (one of the very greatest songs in the universe). Driving in this morning Bob Harris played the British Ukelele Orchestra’s version of the Shadows “Wonderful Land” and it was truly fab! But if a cover is a mere re-hash, then any band with a truly distinctive sound and high level of musicianship should be considered untouchable; this would include Zeppelin, Queen, Hendrix, the Jam, and Cream among many others. (We do "Mustang Sally" too by the way, but I recntly refused to do "Brown eyed girl" any more!)

Recently bought of these on the forum as a back-up amp (£275 – a bit scruffy exterior but working fine and recently serviced). With these amps becoming vintage and rare, what it’s worth becomes less about “book price” and more about how much you want it – I reckon you’d be lucky to find one at all let alone at £250. It’s got much more of a modern “hi-fi” tone than say, my old Bassman,, at the time I don’t think TE were out to create any kind of retro product but a really clean top-end amp. I bought it as a back-up, but my passive fretless basses sound so wonderful and buttery through it I use it all the time for fretless, whereas my Music Man for some reason sounds better through my all-digital Yamaha BT-500H amp, maybe because it’s active. I’d love one of the four or hex valve versions, but to be honest for the gigs I play this has plenty enough grunt. Link for service manual; [url="http://britishaudioservice.com/schem...s%206/Twin.pdf"]http://britishaudioservice.com/schem...s%206/Twin.pdf[/url]

Blimey, first "proper" bassline I learned nearly 30 years ago - no tabs then! As I remember it was much easier to play than it sounded/looked as almost all the notes are doubled. Top bass-line, top group.

Could have been worse - could have found some bullet holes a la "Some like it Hot!"

When I used to play a lot of flamenco guitar I used this stuff called Tuffnail (from Boots etc) that you rub into the base of the nail daily -it really did work. Also drink lots of milk - high protein & calcium - sounds daft but true. When I'm concentrating on bass I tend to keep them v short and use only the finger pad - find nails too "clicky" - but I mainly play fretless.

Haven't heard of him, though I saw the Skids back in '80 (Liverpool Uni), great gig and probably the best support band I've ever seen (Fingerprinz). +1 on John McGeogh - saw him around the same time play with Magazine pre-Siouxsie & the Banshees - absolutely unique, and so often played around the strong bass-lines of Barry Adamson rather than vice-versa.

I did worry when I bought a bass to match a very cool strap that I had. But hey, I’m in touch with my feminine side!

[quote name='mr pablo' post='63379' date='Sep 20 2007, 11:15 PM']This is my cure for G.A.S and I'll have it by the end of october Sorry if this causes anyone else to G.A.S terribly [attachment=2424:whole1_copy.jpg][/quote] Those RD Artists are bee-yewtiful, I so nearly bought one but they weigh a ton. Has it still got the Moog electronics? Like was said recently in another thread - basically there’s no cure for GAS; the symptoms can merely be alleviated by intensive gigging / jamming. Makes you appreciate what you got, and you’re too busy / knackered to go “cold turkey”. Let’s face it, if you’re on this forum then you’re more obsessed about all things bass than is normal for a well-balanced human being. Accept it, and enjoy it.

[quote name='Soulfinger' post='63289' date='Sep 20 2007, 07:52 PM']27 years or not... [url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=65288&d=1186251352"]Father says NO![/url] [/quote]

Tony Levin - Peter Gabriel's arrangements vary from the spare to the "wall of sound", but the bass is always integral to the music and at the front of the mix.

E-mail being sent to Gordon Brown to say students are getting FAR too much money these days! OK, for me; as first specs above with - Quilt maple top in blue-burst Cream pick-up covers Gold hardware with Kahler vibrato bridge Not pink, unless your band has a regular spot at the Blue Oyster Club! The Trace rocks, by the way.

[quote name='wotnwhy' post='58871' date='Sep 11 2007, 06:22 PM']for me, gigging is a whole package. sound, look and presence are very important when live. if you play to a crowd like you play in rehersal they might as well buy a CD because they're not going to get much more from seeing you on stage. Performance in terms of looks and actions are as important as performance in terms of sound (for me at least. obviously not everyones views are the same). and so as you might have guessed. dressing up is a big part of playing for me. we have bin bags and boxes overflowing with dressing up clothes, and choosing what to wear before a show with the band can sometimes be almost as much of a laugh as playing! obviously, the venue being played and the crowd being played to are a big factor of whats to be worn. ranging from a bit of simple, plain style: to somthing a bit more outlandish for a bigger occasion to full on outrageous for parties and the like [/quote] Ah, we're back to "bassists in hats", one of the best threads ever!

[quote name='paul, the' post='58235' date='Sep 10 2007, 03:09 PM']Isn't there another instrument with a similar crazy horn but with a scroll?[/quote] I think that was an Antoria - they certainly did a guitar in in the late '70's which was a take on the Gibson "F-type" mandolin with the scrolly bits - could have done a bass version. Fairly sure there was an Epiphone too around the same time with a scrolled upper horn (oo-er missus!)