risingson

I've just got a new one, not a scratch on it, 2010 model with the alnico pup. It's really great, I've absolutely loved playing it live. Still need a Sadowsky though, I do miss the jazz bass style layout, it's my favourite.

Trick question, doesn't exist!

For some reason I hate music being referred to as 'art'. It devalues it, doesn't do justice. I personally know that the sum of the parts is what is important in music, it doesn't really ever matter how it is that music is created. Better and worse is subjective as it's only how much stock an individual invests into a song that really matters, even if we as musicians would like to think John Coltrane should be far more celebrated as a musician than Olly Murs. That's not the way it works.

[quote name='Inti' timestamp='1356979784' post='1916075'] You obviously played here during the 90's. That's not the way it looks here now. It doesn't sound as you've lived in Stockholm either. Who cares anyway, music is lost to the "entertainers" a long time ago. [/quote] I've toured Sweden from east to west, Gothenburg to Stockholm, from 2007 till next week when I'm back over for a week or so. Funnily enough I borrowed a 5'er from a friend of mine to play Scandinavium Arena to, I should imagine you've come across this venue in your travels In short, you're talking absolute nonsense! I suspect you know it as well.

I'll add here that I've played around Sweden extensively and know of some of the best working bass players I've come across using 5 stringers, almost exclusively. There's just no truth in that they don't. Silly...

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1356954837' post='1915477'] I knew a guy who was a great bass player who got his 1st tv work backing up Madonna on Wogan. He was miming a keyboard bass which he couldn't play. All that practising paid off then.... I also know a drummer who auditioned for a gig backing someone on tv and was filmed, and not listened to at all, to see if he 'looked the part'. Puts it in perspective, doesn't it. [/quote] It does, but then is is surprising that we should be surprised about popular music being massively image conscious? I thought it was kind of obvious really!

Hi Jerry, don't ever feel like you need to keep a tally or score of how good you are. It's just not something you need to do, we all progress at different speeds and whilst you might feel like a 6/10 today, you might feel like 2/10 tomorrow once you hear a bass player that really blows your brains out and 8/10 the day after once you're feeling more confident with the kind of player you are. Just my opinion, not having a pop or anything. Concentrate on something you know you're not good at. Can you read and get along with scales, arpeggios, knowing the notes on your fretboard? If not then that's something to look at, character building and IMO essential stuff you should be learning if you're describing yourself as an intermediate bass player.

I've considered doing it before but most of the work is of course based down south. Plenty of friends have done it, one mate even appeared as an acoustic guitar player on the X-Factor despite being a bassist! People still need to make up the work during the time they're not touring and/or playing.

I've never had a problem with it. Equally I don't mind playing 4 either, I'm not exclusively a 5 string player and the kind of people who would ask me to change back to my 4 are going to be the people that I won't be working with, I've just got better things to be doing. Luckily no one I work with has ever mentioned anything, I'd like to think they trust me to know what I think works best in any given situation. For example I'm off to Sweden next week to play with a symphony orchestra to do some rare later Beatles numbers, I won't be taking the Stingray 5 along as it won't work for me. It's different if it's an image or a sonic thing and that's what I've my P-Bass 4 for.

I think I just read that Mitch Mitchell was a rubbish drummer. It was about that time I gave up reading anyone else's responses when I remembered that threads like this are absolute trash.

Back to the OP, the 'music is my drug' thing is fine, but it doesn't pose any health risks like a strong addiction to cocaine or heroin would, so the acceptability and the impact to those around you isn't as comparable. The stage at which drug use becomes unacceptable is when it damages relationships, causes you health implications and lands you in trouble with the law. You take drugs and you risk dealing with at least one or possibly all three of these things sooner or later, those with an addictive personality will find out sooner than those without.

^^that's a Stingray if ever I heard one IMO, certainly for the slapped part. I think even Flea confirmed he'd used a Stingray on that, although I'm aware that he used an Epic the rest of the album, in fact I think he was still using his Wal as well after BSSM.

[quote name='bassman344' timestamp='1356376418' post='1909745'] I bow to a lot of knowledge here and I respect that Alembic did it all and laid the groundwork for more, so hats off to them. No complaints or dispute. But why spend so much hard saved money to have a delicate bass with a likely to be problematic truss rod system and electronics that NASA would be happy to orbit the earth with. [/quote] They can probably trade a lot on their name, it's no different to Fender in this respect is the assertion of QC issues is true.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1356374445' post='1909721'] Or buy something more affordable. I just don't like the look of them. Or Fedoras. Or Ken Smiths. I fully realise this makes me crass and shallow, but there it is. [/quote] I'm pretty much the same. Personally I don't have a problem with the price of any bass, it's worth as much as you're willing to pay for it. Fodera, KS, Alembic or whatever. I will say though that the Alembic looks have definitely not aged well to my eyes.

All about how much you consider a bass to be a personal investment, all in the eyes of the beholder, if you're unhappy with a price of an instrument then perhaps it's an indication for you to grab your lathe and woodwork tools and make yourself a similar thing, or maybe keep on saving. Alembics don't interest me, Mark King's sound is probably the polar opposite of the kind of thing I go for. Jimmy Johnson on the other hand gets an incredible tone from his and it briefly piqued my interest, until my interest slumped again but moments later.

Okay, I had a think: Something - The Beatles - Macca For Once In My Life - Stevie Wonder - Jamerson Rock With You - Michael Jackson - Bobby Watson Sloop John B - Beach Boys - Carol Kaye This list will literally change from day to day.

[quote] [b] your 4 favorite bass lines.?[/b] [/quote] Literally where to start with this.

Bakithi Kumalo is one of my all time favourite bass players, he managed to craft himself a distinctive fretless sound that was unique at the time, not an easy feat considering how many fretless players he was competing with. His playing on Graceland is really nothing short of phenomenal.

In: Musicman 2010 Stingray 5 Squier 90's Japanese P-Bass TC Electronics RH750 TC Electronics RS212 Out: Lakland DJ4 (lovely bass, gone to Gusto) Eden WT800 + 410XLT Need a Sadowsky still, hopefully that'll be 2013. Then I'm done, I'll most likely be happy with what I've got for a long time.

Stingrays for me are pretty much made by the electronics that they use, it's why I love them.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1356203742' post='1907978'] As for the op Each to their own so you either need to find a passive bass you like or find an active one and gut it, which has variable results ime. I have never seen active basses as being higher end ever in fact most of the passive basses I have tried in recent times have been expensive ones, how much is a circuit to the manufacturers £2? [/quote] I don't think it has anything to do necessarily with the inherent value of the active circuitry, but I think it's viewed on a subconscious level as preferable or even maybe to justify the price of an expensive bass. Just food for thought really, I think manufacturers will most certainly think of these kinds of things.

[quote name='mr zed' timestamp='1356199105' post='1907922'] this made me laugh [/quote] Witty although he's left himself open to the grammar Nazis!

Hahaha Love Wiggo. Absolute hero!

In response to the OP, yes you're missing quite a lot. There are loads of quality passive basses out there, seems to me though that active basses can sometimes (wrongly) be thought of as higher quality in the eyes of both high end luthiers and consumers alike, that is to say that I think high end basses with active EQs would likely sell more than a similar model with passive electronics.