risingson

Just bought A MTD KS5 from Mike - what a bloke. The bass is in great condition and Mike was so generous with his time upon pickup. Could have sat for hours chatting with him all things bass. Many thanks Mike!

No clue sadly, I can only speak from experience and say it’s fairly tight. Not at all like many short scale basses à la Mustang. Probably lends itself better to being played with a pick than with fingers, although anything is possible.

Just getting through this thread with some interest. Part agree with what you’re saying but I’d disagree with their lack of relevance of late. As mentioned already, Kevin Parker of Tame Impala has quietly put the Violin Bass back on the map in the past 12 years or so and they’ve been picked up by more than a few modern bands, who I suspect have wanted to be seen and heard playing something distinctly different to just another Fender. You’re right of course that McCartney will forever be ubiquitous with the brand and for good reason. They are truly distinctive sounding, played with a pick pretty unbeatable when recorded, that means a lot of bass players and producers alike value the tone of the Hofner still. I also think that they fit a gap for guitarists transitioning to bass given the string spacing and scale length, which gives them an additional target reach.

I really like him, he’s an antidote for the world of social media bassists and musicians in general. He’s carved a niche out for himself, and fair play to him for managing to do it. Musicians have a bit of a habit of taking themselves too seriously and he’s doing a good job of injecting a bit of fun into things without any of the pretence. Like it or not social media as a platform for musicians is going nowhere, so why not someone like him.

Heard similar but more Spector, a brand I’m not at all familiar with though so couldn’t compare. Think the Smith sound will be something to do with the soap bars and pickup placement.

Really lovely. The subtle binding and lollipop tuners make it pop in an under the radar kind of way.

Like you bubinga5 I’m keen to try out the Metro Express stuff. I’ve played virtually every other type of Sadowsky under the sun but I’m not inclined to spend the money on the big brothers so much anymore. I’d really quite like a M5-24. Lakland Skyline to my mind make some of the best Fender style basses pound for pound at that price point of anyone. The JO5s are tremendous instruments. I would say that they do have a slight feel of being not so special or custom made in build quality, something in the travel of the pots on the ones I’ve owned and played, but tone and playability is right up there which is where it matters for me.

I’m really interested to hear more reviews on this, and thanks for those who have shared. I’ll likely hold off until I get more of a sense of other’s opinions. I ended up moving my Black Panel on. I always preferred the tone out of the 1/4” rather than the DI as the non-defeatable cab sim just killed the dynamic range and feel, meaning that my JF Capo easily supplanted it on my board. Two years on and the Capo for me is still the very best preamp I’ve owned so it’ll take something special to swap it out. Given Origin seem to have paid attention to their target market feeling the same and have introduced a proper switch to address the cab-sim, I’m very tempted by this one. I happened to really love the squashy compression of the Black Panel so it’s also interesting to hear from feedback that this sounds a lot ‘quicker’ with less of that natural compression.

I guess the flip side of that is that if you’re a creator, needing to generate traffic for your other content, then you might as well sound the bullhorn for stuff like this. Appreciate his style isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but it’s totally reasonable to call out the fakery, even if it is partially to drive awareness of your content. I do quite like him, I think he’s the ideal antidote to a of of the plastic veneer of the social media world of bass players who are essentially no carbon copies of one another for the most part. He’s at least got the authenticity of the every day bass player down to a tee.

I was immensely lucky to have met him in New York back in 2013. I was only in my early 20s and myself and my girlfriend at the time went to Blue Note to watch Hiromi, really just to catch a glimpse of my bass playing hero. Afterwards I managed to sneak upstairs by the dressing room and got talking to Simon Phillips, who I will attest to this day as one of the nicest musicians I have ever met. After chatting for 10 mins or so, I asked whether AJ was still around. SP mentioned that he was famously shy but that he’d see what he could do. SP proceeded to put his head round the dressing room and explain that he had a really good friend from the UK over that he’d love to introduce. After ushering me in (what a cool bloke for doing that, will never forget it), I got introduced to AJ, who was sitting in this old battered armchair like some demigod. I’d had several cocktails and quite a few beers by this point, but I was dumbstruck and totally lost for words. He was immensely shy, but so generous with his time. I was a young lad so he seemed genuinely enthused by me knowing virtually everything he’d played on in the late 70s and early 80s. I was so very sad to learn of my favourite bass player’s passing today but I’m quite certain his legacy will live on for many years to come. He was to my mind the greatest bass player alive, unmatched and unrivalled - subjective I know but something I really do, did believe.

Honestly his playing is terrifying, in the best way possible. I’m always in awe of musicians that sound totally unfettered by their instrument whilst simultaneously managing to stay incredibly musical, all with immaculate feel and time. I can probably count the number of bass players who I’ve heard who can do all this on one hand, Rob Mullarkey is definitely one of those.