Beedster

Who Are You is such a great, if occasionally flawed, album 👍

The problem is the same as with so many bands. They come together through an organic selection process because in the early days they complement each other, Moon's loose approach to timing and Townsend's gloriously tight guitar playing supported by JE's mediational/translational bass lines walking the middle way so to speak, and Daltrey benefitting from it all. Jones was was a tight timing drummer - JE said at the time it was the first tiome he's ever played with a drummer sho could keep time - but like putting Nile Rodgers in the New York Dolls or Babyshambles, he didn't fit The Who. Suddenly the glue that was provided by JE wasn't necessary so he started to play not because what he played was needed but because he could, same I suspect with Townsend. Out of necessity Daltrey became more a traditional front man then I think?

This guys sells some interesting Entwhistle-style bitsas/hybrids https://reverb.com/uk/shop/januszs-gear-depot-5

I was referring to the Buzzard, it is of course not possible to have too many basses

And that's exactly the tone I'm going for. I tried winding up a LOT of tubes and several cabs with new roundwounds on a maple board Precision recently. It got close, but no VC10. I suspect the B2 through the same rig is going to less VC-10 and more this....

Yep, they were a pretty decent album band but man they nailed it live, and you're absolutely right, that is at the very least a challenging, theatrical, diverse, and at times almost mediaeval, piece of music, that as @Cosmo Valdemarpointed out, was pretty straight and almost throwaway in the studio but massive and visceral live (and while I prefer the version above, the Live at Leeds version is also pretty special). For me it's the complete engagement and investment from the band that makes it so, you get the sense that at times they're on the edge of it completely falling apart, but that it's held together by their complete absorption. It's hard to reconcile the reputation of Moon with the almost cherubic innocence he seems to display in this. OK, there's acting and showmanship, but nonetheless........... And Townsend, yes, a genius 👍

I suspect I'm going to find what I have is m ore than enough to be going on with

Many thanks @Wolverinebass 🙏 Yep, that all sounds like what I'm starting to experience! I am a Precision with flats kinda guy, but then this is a different type of instrument all together. I'm going to give it a very good clean at the weekend and then start looking at the action (there's a couple of minor repairs needed also). The mids when engaged are are, well, present aren't they! It's like standing at the end of the runway as a jet takes off. it was reading about the tone - plus it meeting all my other 'Bass 3' criteria - that really convinced me that this was the way to go (I'm moving on a couple of equally lovely yet less sedate basses to pay for it). Of course, a bass so well designed and engineered that action can goes madly low is never a bad thing either. I'm looking forward to hearing this through some Mesa tubes very soon 👍

Something like that, as someone suggested earlier, I’m not gonna be using this baby for jazz gigs 🤔

It is a big instrument, I felt like I was 14 again, picking up a bass for the first time! I think the electrics are quite common on Statii, the only major difference might be that the mid are controlled by a sweepable frequency control with a three-way switch allowing cut/off/boost. It seems quite crude given there could have been both frequency and level options (there's no shortage of space after all), but I suspect like any other circuit, you quickly adapt and find a way of making it work. There's a slight glitch with this mid circuit which is going to require a visit to Status (if Rob's willing and able to do so), to get it checked over as while it might simply a pot in need of a bit of a clean, it might need a little more. Takes 3 x PP3 !!!!!!!!

Which ultimately is what music is for 👍

You'd probably right, although I'm not looking for this thing to sound all that nice 👍

I was hoping the BC collective was going to tell me that the Jag was absolutely 100% without question the bass I needed............

Can’t argue with any of that 🙂

Until recently I had Zep down as the greatest rhythm section of all time, but despite their genius and versatility, they were sterile compared to The Who. Townsend and especially Moon were utterly visceral and in the moment players, they needed someone as powerful and creative as JE to glue them together. Daltrey had the relatively easy job. Music has in many respects come a long way since 1966, but in so many other respects has faded and stagnated in comparison.

I feel immensely privileged, surprised, and guilty all in equal measure to own this thing. Years ago I posted here that my Modulus Sonic Hammer was something of a Rottweiler, this things makes that bass look like a Chihuahua, it is huge in dimensions, sound, and ambition. Gonna have to hope I can do it justice........

Takes you to a different place doesn't it 👍

Likewise mate, likewise. These are the reasons music still feels magical, mysterious, and magnificent 😆

So, opted for this……..

Makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up 👍

I'm gonna go back to Rotos for a while, see how they do 👍

I don't think you can, there is something about all four of them that is sublime. Moon is so in the moment that he seems like a child, but his power and timing are incredible. Townsend's theatrical guitar playing is extraordinary, while JE's bass part drives the whole thing with an apparently - although in real terms deceptively - simple bass part. Daltrey, despite being one of the greatest rock vocalist of all time, is almost a bit part player in this performance 👍

Moon is simply glorious, the passion, energy, and life in him are extraordinary 🙏

My sense with the 4v5 thing is that 4s work for most players most of the time, and i think it's that simple. For those for whom it doesn't work, 5s/6s are a solution, but that doesn't - as is perhaps suggested by the OP - mean that 4s are an anachronistic or limited instrument. I've owned 5s by Yamaha (TRB5, beautiful), EBMM (SR5, dull), and Status (between the other two), but never needed to gig them, 4s have always done the trick. I also briefly owned a stunning Yamaha TRB6, and first time I took it to rehearsal I was told to give it back to whichever NY-based pop/funk/soul session player I'd borrowed it from....... 🤫

It is mad, it really f*****g is mad. Stupid and impulsive buy that it was, like many others in my long bass playing history, je ne regrette rien, because there is real magic here. The first 10 minutes of playing was almost like picking up a new instrument, not unlike the first time I picked up a DB; same tuning, notes all in the same place, same lines/parts/ideas work, but it feels so different. Still keep getting completely lost in the upper register of the two 8ve neck, the 12th fret is where the 7th should be, the volume control's in completely the wrong place, and I keep bashing the headstock on everything. But being someone who likes a graphite neck I have to say that this is among the best I've played, thick, fat, flat, and long. And it has piano-like clarity, even with some rather old and tired blue (anyone know what make/model?) strings, it sings and rings beautifully. A part of the decision for me also was that, having played DB almost exclusively for two years, moving beck to electric has been quite a shock, my right hand has lost a lot of speed and my left hand has lost a lot of fine motor control/precision. By comparison with my PBass, this baby - like my Modulus Flea years ago - makes stuff I want to play a whole lot more playable. Just gonna need a fretless now 👍