GreeneKing

The bottom two have ACG written all over them imo. Is it just me that sees this?

Maruszczyk (Maroosh 't' chick)

I think it's a bit of Alan under charging while he starts his business rolling and a lot of other luthiers (not all) massively overcharging as is the norm in a luxury goods market.

Are Custom basses worth it? Worth what I ask? If anyone makes a custom bass how do they price it? If you think that they all total the price of the material and the hours taken to construct plus a reasonable percentage profit I think you'll be mistaken. There's a deal of hype and bullshit involved. £3000 is oft quoted as a sort of benchmark in this thread. Well I presently own 3, or maybe 4 if you include my Ric 4001CS and I'd say yes, they're all worth it but the assumption that the more you pay the more you get doesn't hold true. So bottom of the pile price wise would be my "Maroosh't'chick" (Can't spell it for real) Jazz at about 1,000 Euros new. I's happily equate it's quality at Sadowsky levels, having owner a Metro and a US Lakland. Top of the list, excluding the CS would be the Overwater Progress Deluxe III with a present price for new of £2,395. It's a very fine bass indeed. However my ACG Harlot (see avatar) blows them away in terms of materials, construction, tone and playability and comes in very much lower than the Overwater. If anyone doesn't believe me you're welcome to try it out at a bass bash near you. I'd struggle to get a new HH Ray for the price of the ACG and that's madness. I've laid hands on some high priced basses and wouldn't swap with the Harlot even if I didn't feel such loyalty to Alan for his work. If I do bang on a bit I'm not apologising

Thanks guys and welcome back Alan

No string tree:

Cheers HJ Evidence of my Jazz joy, the colour of rice pudding.

I'm biased I have owned 2 ACG01's and fitted and used about half a dozen ACG02's. I did create a thread where I described how they work and how that they allow you to craft a tone rather than simply tweek it. Not everyone is a fan and if you're not prepared to re-learn your tone production then maybe it's not for you. The range of tones is immense and I just leave my amp flat when using the ACG basses. Its a powerhouse of tone in your bass.

[quote name='RhysP' post='534729' date='Jul 7 2009, 02:48 PM']He was being got at because he was acting arrogantly.[/quote] Hmm... maybe some of his posts have been deleted because I can't find where he acts like this. He is a rare breed on BC, not just a professional musician but a very successful one pretty much at the top of the tree. If he's not allowed to state the way he sees things with some authority then who is? I see a lot of BCers acting in a very arrogant manner and it almost seems the norm

There's two themes running through this thread. Pyramid Gold strings and Darkstars. Spooky.

[quote name='silddx' post='534591' date='Jul 7 2009, 12:30 PM']But why does this incivility happen? My only surmise it's because he's in the public eye, recorded with famous musicians, has a column in BGM, plays a £8,000 bass, defends that bass vociferously, has more chops than Jeff Berlin, is the public face of Christian Dior, has sponsorship from Iceland, often papped outside Tiger Tiger and The Ivy, wears too much make up, has fake norks, slags off the Queen in the Mirror, disowned his quintuplets, supports Greenpeace while being seen eating bluefin tuna, is Uri Geller's best mate, has two penises .. you get my drift? As soon as someone gets a bit of notoriety, some people feel they are now a legitimate object for their derision and speculation and can deride them with impunity. It's sort of a British disease. The same thing would happen if Water of Tyne got the Beyoncé gig, or if Big Beef Chief started regularly appearing on Mock The Week.[/quote] A very articulate comment.

Just to add to Alan's observations, the ACG filter pre, although made by John East for Alan is a different beast entirely to the J - Retro. +1 to using it to understand it. An awareness of what it's doing helps a lot too and not just 'twiddle and notice it sounds different' methodology but knowing why. I've written a couple of posts on how the ACG pre works somewhere. Found one [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=41878&hl=ACG01"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=41878&hl=ACG01[/url] Peter

Go with the Gotoh! Villex +1

Is there any chance you can borrow another 8 ohm cab from someone nearby before comitting yourself here? Then if that doesn't do what you want you can start thinking about a new amp.

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='533919' date='Jul 6 2009, 04:51 PM']Peter - I did explain that this might be the case when I re-opened the thread. If you want to discuss it further, please PM me. Thank you.[/quote] That'll teach me to read the tread fully

I'm aware that there are a fair few deleted posts on this page including one that I felt was a non contentious one of mine and another that quoted my original post. Odd? If your post is deleted wouldn't it be nice to be told why? Peter

I have somewhere stuck into my head that so far as classic tone goes a Fender Jazz is a defining instrument. In my quest for a jazz I've owned a few both Fender and Sadowsky, US, CIJ, Marcus Miller, Lakland, Metro and 'allparts'. All of them were good but none stuck around for that long. I saw Tom's (AREA) Maruszczyk Elwood and thought it looked stunning and worth a shot. Build quality wise it's at least at Sadowsky standard with a one piece ash body and high quality hardware. The fit and finish are great and the neck is a real revelation being a slim jazz style and with a zero fret. The action is very low and it's very playable too. Weight wise it's average, certainly no ball buster. It's also completely mint. It's passive with Bass Culture pickups. I love the tone and having played it at two band practices find myself going for the honky bridge pickup sound even when it doesn't suit the song I'll post some photos when I get a chance but there's a couple of shots a few post down on here: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=52281&hl="]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=52281&hl=[/url] So, the only issue I have with the bass is that I don't know how to pronounce it's name Any help there would be appreciated.

I've been away for the weekend, I had a great time exploring Northumbria. I've heard some stuff about this thread so I thought I'd pop in and see what all the fuss is about. You know it seems really odd that I read the responses to a professional bass player's post and then read the guys comments that provoked them. I can't find anything but reasonable and level headed discussion from Janek???? The shooting down of perceived 'bass celebs' is a regular pastime on BC and elsewhere. Is that about them or us? All imo of course and the usual restrictions apply. Peter

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=53162&hl=marvel"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...2&hl=marvel[/url]

Actually thinking back, that's how Richard Bona writes music Thanks for the advice I'll get stuck in.

[quote name='rslaing' post='530901' date='Jul 2 2009, 06:26 PM']Who/what are our favourite bands/tunes?[/quote] Sadly you are talking to the man with possibly the widest taste in music this side of M6 I'm not very keen on some folk or some C&W and don't much care for 'shouting' metal but other than that..... Maybe some blues, I've an early Fleetwood Mac triple album that I'll work on methinks.

I'm totally pants at listening to a song and working out the notes being played. I'm a little better at sorting the rhythm but that still leaves room for improvement. The internet is to blame as I always end up searching for tab or chord charts and working it out from there. Can anyone who teaches give me some ever so simple song recommendations to practice on. A range from easy to moderate would be good. I need to resist the temptation to go to 'Bassmasta' and develop some skills.