risingson

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.

I’m familiar and have played a lot with at least one of the artists that has been ripped off. There’s basically no excuse for it, it’s straight plagiarism. I was gobsmacked when I watched the Sapko video in full, very difficult to argue it. I also think this is a kind of Great Oz moment and sums up the soullessness of where social media has taken a lot of performance. There is just something thin and plastic about the guy’s stuff anyway. The equivalent of putting an Insta filter over some timeless records and passing it on as something new. To then find out it’s just the lad lifting other people’s licks, repeatedly, is just grim.

I’m neither of those things, so where do I fit?

I’m not that sentimental about basses anymore. If it does come to sell then I’d sooner not modify it.

I bought my CS 63 Precision last year. Was horrified when I unboxed it because the set up was abysmal, it had had no love in the shop. Once I had it properly set up to my preference and strung with TI flats I’ve not really looked back, it’s a great instrument, very well made. Some bits of it are insane. The sanding down on the neck feels great but it doesn’t look natural. To get to the truss rod, it’s the old Fender style where you have to unscrew the entire neck. I’d have thought Fender might have considered binning that off at the expense of some of the vintage vibe they’re trying to achieve. But other than that I love it. Do I think it’s £2000 better than the American Vintage series or whatever. Yes and no. I owned a 2014 AVRI Precision which I liked but didn’t love, it lacked character to my ears, and so I do think it’s better in that respect. But my other P-Bass which I recently sold was an old battered Squier, one of the cheap ones from the 90s. That had a phenomenal sound / tone, and that cost me £50 second hand. That makes my CS over 60 times more expensive, which kind of puts things into perspective. I’m a semi-professional musician now, once a fully professional one but no longer - career and all that, and so I’m not at a stage in my 30s where I can afford a bass which I’ve wanted for a long time without having to eat only Pot Noodles for the next 12 months to afford. I get the reluctance around CS from some people who’d prefer to buy something that isn’t artificially aged and that would be perfect for them. But for me I’m very happy to own such a nice instrument.

My experience below, plus a shameless plug as I do actually have my 64 Black Panel up for sale here. On the Black Panel, it’s great on IEMs but of course it depends on what you’re after. I’m going for more of a late 60s / early 70s sound for the most part. It has a really lovely natural compression and is probably the best I’ve heard at emulating a proper old valve amp. Through the DI you get the 15 inch speaker emulation, through the 1/4” out you don’t, and so just the Bassman / Showman amp head. The latter means you don’t get the benefit of the DI signal but I got round this frequently by running mine into a Radial DI. You do introduce a bit of noise into your signal going out the 1/4” alone. The tone stack is a Fender style, not one you can spend ages dialling in as it’s fairly rudimentary but it does it so well. The Bassman side has more of a mid character, the Showman channel is more naturally scooped sounding. I’ve not actually yet played the Super Vintage but I would really love to.

Does sounds like the Super Vintage would be the one for you based on your description. I’ve had the Black Panel for 2 years or so. I love it but it’s got its drawbacks. The non-defeatable cab sim on the DI is problematic because I like the tone straight out the 1/4” a lot more. Unfortunately that creates noise in the signal which makes it challenging for recording, and in certain live situations it’s also been a problem. On the plus side, the thing just sounds phenomenal. The tube-like quality of it as you’ve mentioned takes some beating, it sounds amazing just before breakup at gain stage. I’ve also got the Jad Freer Capo on my board which I’d probably describe as more versatile an EQ, but it does not have the same level of quality to the tube emulation. The Fender tone stack in the Black Panel is fairly limited in range but it’s totally unique for the tone I want which is pretty vintage. I’m also a P-Bass player but use flatwounds. Match made in heaven tonally for me. Sadly because I don’t use it as my main DI and just as a preamp, the noise from the 1/4” has rendered it a bit obsolete as of late. I’ve not spent any considerable time with the Super Vintage, but I’d say the cab sim on the DI feels more usable given it’s meant to emulate the 8x10. Would be interested to own one at some stage.

No regrets on buying mine. Most flexible preamp I’ve had to date. The interplay between the mid sweep and the J and F circuits is amazing, loads to dig into.

As others have said, service lift at the back - access a bit tricky with a van but you should be able to unload there with ease and then park it across the road in one of the side alleys. Free after 6pm. House amps, they used to have a hefty Orange bass rig in there with so you wouldn’t struggle with level on stage. Wedges at the front around the stage in the back room. Front room more cramped and a bit more challenging sound wise from monitoring pov. It’s not the original venue but I used to play there most weeks and it’s still got some magic about it. Pretty touristy and mixed crowd, a lot of international visitors and always used to have a good feel of a weekend. Have fun.

I’ve owned a 74 Jazz in the past which sounded great but on the heavy side. Any later I’ve found the quality to be inconsistent and seemingly from the late 70s onwards very much so. I think the AVRIs are really good and especially the ones they made in the early 2010s. I’d also consider a custom shop second hand for your budget. I know this might prove controversial but my experience is that if you want an older feeling instrument they do walk a pretty good line on replicating it.