risingson

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1376582953' post='2176478'] Lull's look great, but I personally would get a Sadowsky. [/quote] The basses that blew me out the water when I was last in NYC were the Pensas coming out of Rudy's. Their preamp was much less harsh than the Sadowsky stuff, more naturally voiced. The quality of them was exceptional in fact.

I love nickel strings, I can't touch stainless steels anymore they're way too harsh. D'Addarios Nickels are great but they just don't last more than two gigs, which is a shame because they're by far my favourite. I'd be open to suggestions to longer lasting possibilities if anyone knows of any brands.

Interesting, unfortunately it looks a lot like my Gran designed it. Markbass have never been overly keen on aesthetics!

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1376560706' post='2175908'] For THAT kind of money, I'd be straight onto Roger Sadowsky for a custom 5 string. Guaranteed it will be perfect. [/quote] I wanted to love Sadowskys but I was consistently underwhelmed with 80% of ones I've tried, both NYC and Metro. I even swung by the new shop in Queens a few months back. Some lovely stuff but almost nothing to justify me spending. The exception are the (relatively) new Will Lee models with the mid boost. Really helped the preamp along and so easy to play. Mike Lull stuff is doing it for me at the moment.

Just been on the Alleva Coppolo website. I'd still like one.

Vintage P-Basses.

RE roadworn basses, I absolutely love natural wear and tear on old Fenders, I think it's a classic look. I would feel a bit like I'd cheated though if I went and bought something that had been roadworn in a factory in Mexico though. Controversially, I have a real dislike of Sei basses! I've played a few and they sound good but I hate the looks of them. Even more controversially I have an irrational dislike of UK made gear. I prefer American made stuff, literally for no good reason at all. I would make possible exceptions for some Overwater stuff. [quote name='Evil Undead' timestamp='1376516774' post='2175478'] Hehe! My favourite bass tone so far is an Ibanez bass through an ashdown amp. I find it interesting how tastes can differ so much from one person to the next. [/quote] Agreed. My preference for vintage Fender is definitely not something shared by everyone around here!

Ibanez basses. I know they make some good instruments too, so it's very irrational. I'd say Ashdown as well but I don't think it is irrational because based on my own experience I cannot get any note from those amps and I really don't like their EQ's.

I don't but I wish I did, Fender had a finish back in the 80's called Graffiti Yellow and I love it.

[quote name='Toasted' timestamp='1376403630' post='2173422'] The really criminal pictures are the ones of the belly cut and the horn. That's not damage, it's just plain bad woodwork. [/quote] Having read JC's reply to the thread I started to try and figure out how photography might have been used to convey the instrument in the 'worst possible light' (literally). I almost convinced myself it was possible but then I remembered how badly the horn was cut. Yikes. His reply was terribly thought out, absolutely should have been a case of contacting the buyer and dealing with it on a personal level. Then again TB'ers can be rabid. I'm sure he was probably equally pissed off at the level of animosity levelled at him by the keyboard warriors from the forum. Still, not professional at all.

Personally I get on fine with a single H Stingray for a few reasons. I like the simplicity, the classic Stingray sound, and I think the dual humbucker thing on a Stingray looks really nasty. It will definitely open up some more tonal options but the HH Rays I tried have seemed overwhelming powerful and just weren't my thing at all.

I would be seething with anger if this was me. Obviously it would be nice to hear from the man himself but the fact that an instrument could have come out of his workshop having been made that badly and with that price tag actually makes me feel pretty sick.

[quote name='Marvin' timestamp='1376256363' post='2171500'] I disliked the Stingray the most...had no depth for my liking. [/quote] I don't know why people always EQ Stingrays up like that, they can do so much more! Also, welcome back

I started as a fingerstyle player and shunned playing with a pick for years, up until I watched a video of Phil Lynott and got interested in the idea of the attack that a pick could offer on a bass. I scratched the surface a bit and discovered Carol Kaye, Joe Osborn, Wilton Felder, Paul McCartney, Anthony Jackson and a whole new world got opened to me. I've practiced a lot with a pick the past few years and whilst I'm not as adept as with my fingers I can definitely get by with a pick now. It's a totally different discipline and I think the prejudices come from the association of pick bass players with guitar players and this endless envy that seems to go on between the two factions. There's also always the suggestion that it's cheating somehow, although by looking through this post it seems like a lot of people really struggle with pick playing always suggests to me it's tough to master properly - just like good finger style is. Back in the 60's and early 70's Carol Kaye and Joe Osborn did such a good job of studio work with Fender instruments and plectrums that between them they kept a hell of a lot of bass players out of work for quite a while...

[quote name='ezbass' timestamp='1376244005' post='2171244'] The drummer in my band is bloody marvellous and can hold his own against many, many of what we would deem 'top' players (I'm very lucky and I know it). I trust his opinion on other drummers (his top 2 are Jeff Porcaro and Vinnie Collaiuta) and he rates Jordan very highly, especially his work on the cocktail kit he uses with John Mayer on the live DVD; that's good enough for me. [/quote] Yeh absolutely. It's why I said I've 'known' drummers as opposed to 'know' drummers. Usually the people who made the comments were guys who were over players or didn't understand the role of their instrument as much as they liked to make out and made the usual sweeping statements. Generally speaking I won't keep in close professional contact with them. Music isn't a competition. I had a competitive element to me when I was younger trying to learn against other bass players throughout school and university perhaps but it was instinctive and an attempt by me to get work and get noticed. I never tried to outplay other people as it just wasn't my thing, often I probably couldn't either if they were hugely technical players. But the guys that do the best job of playing in bands (at least the kind of music that I like) are often the ones that downplay their own importance and work for the benefit of the music. Pino and Jordan definitely fall into this category, in fact they school people on it. Steve Jordan's kit sound is sublime. Where there are drummers like Colaiuta who have made names for themselves by being precision sharp and very clean, Jordan has made a conscious effort to bridge that gap between great R&B drumming and out and out rock, a minimal kit layout and a really edgy, hard style of playing that makes him kind of a breath of fresh air in the drumming world IMO, although I know he's capable of so much more. The same applies to Abe Laboriel Jr. too.

[quote name='BenTunnicliffe' timestamp='1376242244' post='2171219'] Thanks mate really appreciated, it goes a long way! I enjoy the challenge of trying to get sub sounds and lines to sit well in a mix, it's much harder than I thought before I ever tried it. Cheers! [/quote] I think it's as much of a challenge to think more utilitarian about how to approach a bass part with a song like that as well, which was was I was really impressed with. Nice work

[quote name='BenTunnicliffe' timestamp='1376160163' post='2170432'] [media]http://youtu.be/2nezoStxugk[/media] New video this week playing with the line from Dpat - Touch off the Blurry EP. Overwater at it again but through the Moog MF101 Low Pass filter to get that hefty sub thing going on. Feedback always appreciated! [/quote] Excellent tone and playing, love the tune as well.

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1376239256' post='2171182'] No , you wouldn't . [/quote] I was going to say the same thing. What's funny is that I have known some drummers that would have said the same thing about Steve Jordan, the kind of stuff getting bandied around in this thread like 'overrated' and the suggestion that anyone could do what Jordan could do on kit. They couldn't. Both him and Pino are truly unique on their instruments, replaceable doesn't come into it.

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1374664097' post='2151424'] I am not being critical of PP but I do wonder what he would sound like if someone put a third chord in there? (Meeeeoooow!) Seriously, tho', I have no problem with Pino (he's a Cardiff boy and I did most of my early playing around there) but I think he is possibly the most overrated player in the canon. He is good at what he does but most of it is journeyman playing. If half of us had Steve Jordan (and, indeed, Mayer) to bounce off and played that often as a trio, we would probably sound that good. [/quote] When I spoke to Simon Phillips about Pino he just gushed about him, at the time Anthony Jackson was stood next to both of us and when I asked Anthony about Pino, he just held his hands up, expressed his complete admiration for the guy. Everyone I've read about who's worked with him seem to suggest his playing is just pure gold dust. The man has spanned multiple genres and has redefined bass roles within numerous genres. He is consistently spoken about by his peers with the utmost respect. I get why you might have a bit of a thing against him being less than theoretically 'qualified', it seems to be a constant hang up of yours, but everything points to the contrary when you listen to his playing. Overrated is overrated. Pino isn't overrated.

Cheers for sharing, I'll be the first to say that his style of bass playing doesn't interest me at all but he's clearly good musician. I always find that the bass guitar's voicing doesn't lend itself well to that style of playing, but I appreciate I could be in a minority on this one.

Looks great, and I'm not usually into the anodised look at all. I think the white pickup covers and vol/tone knobs go nicely.

^^ Those Will Lee Sadowskys are the best ones I've tried. The mid 'bump' available at the flick of a switch really is a nice addition to a preamp that really could benefit from a little more in the way of mids. Pricey though.

Cool, that bridge part is monstrous bass playing isn't it!

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1375805125' post='2165939'] That story is most likely completely wrong. Trevor Horn and his production team had been using the Fairlight since 1981. It's all over the first ABC album and Art Of Noise Recordings and so could hardly have been considered "new" when he was making the first Frankie recordings in mid 1983. [/quote] I guessed it was probably a bit of a myth, but it was certainly what I'd heard. I also like that particular version of the story.

the oft repeated story is that Norman Watt Roy was invited by Trevor Horn to try out his new Fairlight CMI. Horn sampled NWR, they had a lot of fun and then the next time NWR heard what Horn had done with the bass he'd sampled it had turned up on Two Tribes, without his permission. It was meant to have been NWR's Alembic unless I'm mistaken.