Beedster

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1449836033' post='2927311'] It was done with me playing each bass from behind a curtain - with the amp on stage in front of the curtain - the audience didn`t know what bass I was playing, they just voted purely on what they heard. [/quote] Yes, but if you knew what you were playing, that's 50% of any effect right there....

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1449836753' post='2927328'] They should have been on top of this a loooong time ago... [/quote] Exactly, I find it almost sad to say that if I were looking for a Precision or a Jazz the last place I'd be looking is Fender, especially if buying new, but even I was buying vintage. I've owned/still own 70's Precisions by Yamaha and Ibanez and, despite costing no more than £300 each, both blow 70's Fenders out of the water. My current Yam is better than all of my pre-CBSs. Whilst the current Fender product line is clearly more QC consistent by comparison with earlier eras, so it bloody well should be a for a company that have been doing it for 60+ years. The problem is however that they charge a massive premium for the name. I'm not exaggerating when I say that Yamaha have better instruments in their budget ranges than Fender have in their Custom Shop range. Even Fender's standard MIA offering is creeping up to the level for which you can buy a pretty outstanding instrument from a whole range of better builders like Sadowsky. They're not alone of course, Rics are even worse, at least Fender have their current QC sorted, Ric are still sending unplayable 4003s to shops at close to £2000.

Yamaha

[quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1449658353' post='2925579'] They all sound the same. Vintage Fenders are no better than modern Fenders. It's a myth and, in fact, according to Basschats very own tests, the Mark Hoppus J/P Signature is the best Precision around. Invest the money on a good rig. That'll get you on your way to the sound in your head more than a vintage instrument ever will. Play a £2k instrument through a £50 amp and it'll sound just as rubbish as an EBay beginner bass does. Best of luck! [/quote] [quote name='40hz' timestamp='1449682850' post='2925963'] I agree, a P pretty much sounds like a P. The differences I've heard between vintage and non vintage are negligible. Although the late 70's ones seem to sound a bit more ballsy, it's as basic a design as it gets really. Go down the amp route to get that vintagey sound. [/quote] For some reason I'd like to agree re all Precisions sounding the same, but it's simply not true. A good Precision is a very different thing sonically to a crap one, and I've owned both. I do however agree on spending money on a rig; if you've got £2000 to spend, £500 on a good Precision - MIJ Fender, Yamaha, Lakland, frankly even an upgraded Squier (i.e., upgrade PUPs, circuit and tuners), and £1500 on a cracking rig (Ampeg, Aggie, Boogie) will get you better tone overall than £1500 on a Precision and £500 on the rig. But you will need a decent Precision, or your £1500 rig will also sound crap. And Precisions don't all sound the same

[quote name='colgraff' timestamp='1449590631' post='2924944'] I think of them as the Harley Davidson of basses. And that isn't a compliment! [/quote] It's a valid comparison! Style over performance, reliability and ergonomics, hugely overpriced, completely marmite to the point of controversy, However, whether you like it or not, both are still rare examples of novel, iconic, and classic design.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1449654522' post='2925523'] If you just have to own an old bass just be aware that Leo Fender could put out a turkey and regularly did. There are a lot of myths around Fender basses old and new, so don't believe any "experts" on the internet. There have been good and bad Fenders in all eras. For investment purposes just buy the oldest, cleanest Fender bass you can find, put it under the bed, because it's an investment, and start looking for that Lakland. [/quote] Yep, the question of 'best era' is entirely moot when buying one bass, there were diamonds and dogs in all eras. If I were buying 1000 Fender Precisions from one era (and wouldn't that be nice), I'd be looking at late 60's, but there's no way I could say that any one late 60's PB is going to be better than any one PB from another era. Without question the best Precision I've ever played - and I've owned over 20 including several pre-CBS and late 60s/early 70s - was made by Yamaha in the late 1970s, and cost me less than £300. A Precision Bass is a pretty crude, albeit iconic instrument, and does not require a lot of skill to make well. The big problem with Fender is that an awful lot of the basses that come off their productions lines in the 70's and 80's just weren't made well. Tp my mind, those that are coming off the lines today are more consistent but hugely over-priced for what they are, you can generally build the equal of an MIA Precision from aftermarket parts for a lot less money.

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1449490473' post='2923913'] Chalk and cheese... I bought an Am Deluxe and sent it back. It felt tin-pot compared to the Jake. Both my Jakes are proper luthier-built quality. I can't fault them, or the other Jake I've tried. [/quote] Agree about Deluxe Fenders, quite surprised to see one on your list JT. Sounds like you've got a touch of GAS that needs putting out quick, put a deposit on something decent. Looks like WoT's new squeezes are getting the nod, and you can get your spec and not Fender's?

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1449489166' post='2923889'] Very good! As I have long suspected, being a tight and together band is not about simply following the drums. A good band will sound tight and play in time with or without drums. It's not enough to leave rhythmic duties to the drummer, it's the responsibility of the whole band. And if you get a particularly crap drummer of the type that merely 'plays along' rather than taking that responsibility, you have a very sloppy dog's breakfast indeed. Everything should flow naturally - as a bass player, you shouldn't have to push and pull the timing to keep everything afloat, it's very tiring and makes the whole business unpleasant when it should be fun. Which is why playing with a competent drummer is such a pleasure. [/quote] Agreed, but a lot of people really do need convincing of the above, many preferring to play in a sloppy band with drums that a tight one without. For many bands there's also a big difference between rehearsing and/or 'gigging without our drummer' (subtext 'it won't be as tight as it normally is but we'll/you'll have to live with it'), and 'we don't have a drummer' (subtext 'this is us and as good as we get so we all have to make it as tight as possible'). In the former scenario bands often assume that when the drummer returns things will become naturally/organically tighter, which is of course not always the case. Personally, I'm loving the new role, I eyeball the guys the message "OK, we're taking it up", get their attention and up it goes, no need to go through the third party (drummer), or have it happen drummer-led without any warming whatsoever, which was the problem in the old days!

What I most like about playing without a drummer is that the whole band have to become far more rhythmically/percussively aware and tight, which means they have to listen to each other more than is often the case when simply staying with the thud and snap of a kick/snare. I play DB at the left of the angle to variously 45-90 degrees to the stage so that I make strong eye contact, and they can also see what my hands are doing even if they can't hear all that well, which occasionally happens. If you hear us recorded, you get the feel there's a drum or at least percussion in there somewhere, but it's just the sound of a lot of instruments playing tightly together.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1449403188' post='2923156'] That's interesting. Is the DB amplified or can you be adequately heard acoustically? [/quote] Rehearsals to small gigs unplugged, moderate gigs (up to 50 is so punters) into a PJB Briefcase, large gigs Ampeg or Aguilar. I've adopted a rather agricultural slap style that is essentially a snare on the 2 and 4, and play with action as high as possible to get a big thump on the 1 and 3. Of course, it varies with song and I don't play it in all (we do some Tom Waits that just doesn't need it), be even with tracks on which you wouldn't expect it to work, such as Paul Simon's Late in the Evening, it holds thing together nicely. Puts me in charge of holding rhythm and bass together, which reduces slippage to a huge degree, especially live.

I learned to play slap DB so we could be drummerless, so much less hassle, very little loss tonally and much tighter rhythmically.

Lovely, well done, great playing C

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1448035366' post='2912582'] Although the album was released in 1979, this track didn't hit the UK charts until 1980. Does that count? Narada Michael Walden (Killer Bass line and tricky to nail). 02:50, there is a breakdown of just Bass and Drums, and the Bass really jumps out http://youtu.be/dFSB_tbHb6Q [/quote] That is bass

You might find someone prepared to do it through Shipley. I had a Mesa 2x15 moved from one end of the country to the other by a guy who was doing the opposite journey to deliver a dog. Cost next to nothing compared to a courier

Excuse the Ric TRC, it;s coming off to be replaced by the original which i found yesterday [URL=http://s80.photobucket.com/user/Beedster/media/2015-10-24%2012.45.43_zpsbwxjlxnk.jpg.html][IMG]http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j199/Beedster/2015-10-24%2012.45.43_zpsbwxjlxnk.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

I have a set of quite nice DB strings that the previous owner cut to fit an EUB (a fact he neglected to mention when he sold them to me). I forget the brand but they are decent quality and flexible in a TI Jazz flats way. Anyway, you're welcome to them if it helps ease the transition to DB. C

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1447765661' post='2910103'] I'm of the view that all this "sensitivity" about specific things after a particular event is all nonsense and annoyingly it seems to be a growing trend in recent years. Something is either in acceptable taste or its not (and I don't have a strong view one was or the other over the mag cover). If someone was directly affected by the events in paris I doubt very much that the cover of a bass magazine, or what songs are being played on ex-factor is (who apparently dropped some songs) of much concern to them. [/quote] I agree with your sentiment to an extent. There is a counter argument however, that the growing trend in sensitivity runs parallel with other growing trends, such as lower tolerance of violence in many parts of the world (I know that this seems a little poor given this weekend's events, but it is apparently the case). Other sensitivities, no matter how annoying those who express them may be, also appear to parallel greater tolerance of those with disabilities, or of those with different sexual orientation, colour skin etc. As someone said above, the picture in question is in poor taste irrespective of immediate media context, and perhaps I'm an old flower child or something, but I've generally associated music and musicians with more peaceable iconography, so I found it quite sad, more so than had I seen it in a biker magazine for example (I remember reading very young how performing even very aggressive music was a cathartic experience for the majority of musicians and therefore quite good for society - probably a load of tosh but it made sense to me at the time). With the exception of those who live in South Africa, the only friends I have who say that they feel unsafe on a day to day basis are those that live in the USA, and that is because the gun culture, propagated whether we like it or not in the photo in question, is an everyday life-changing and life-taking reality there. Paris was an unbelievable shock on a par to me with the shock of 9/11. But, without knowing the total cost in lives associated with disaffected individuals losing it and picking up a gun, the numbers killed in both these horrific events probably fade into insignificance when placed in the context of the total lives taken in 'routine' MacDonalds/Cinema/Campus/Postal Depot shootings in the USA. I'll happily dig out some evidence for the above if anyone needs it! I should add that I really do not mean to offend any of our USA members with the above, but the data are freely available.