GreeneKing

When some guy in the audience asked Nathan East to do some slap I was close to using some rusty control and restraint techniques to evict him from the theatre

Steve, I was hoping you wouldn't take this as i dig at you in the slightest. You weren't anywhere near my thoughts when I wrote the above and it was great to see you! Please note that by no means everyone who tried a bass came into the above description

[quote name='cureswhatailsye' post='662624' date='Nov 23 2009, 01:26 PM']Hi everyone, I had a great time at Bassday UK yesterday, my particular highlights being Nathan East, Maurizio Rolli and Poogie Bell Band. I wanted to see if anyone else noticed anything about the trade stands, in that I'm not sure I noticed anyone playing anything with fingers or a pick all day? I have nothing against slap (one of my favourite bass lines: Freddie Washington on 'Forget Me Nots'), and I know that everyone has their favourite "shop licks", having worked in a bass shop. However, after 7 hours milling about, I was thoroughly confused ( and in a small amount of ear related pain). Surely if you're trying to demo a bass, you want to show your customers its full palette (sp?) of sounds? Anyway...just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on this thoroughly gripping issue! Ta. [/quote] The 'slapathon' is I feel a sad inevitability of 'Bassday'. Sure there were people who weren't slapping but most of them couldn't even hear themselves play. I don't dislike the concept entirely when it's done well or used appropriately but it seems to me that there's an army of folk (men) who go to bass days to pick up as many basses as possible with no serious intention other than to demonstrate their knuckle to string ability to all within hearing distance or in some cases a long suffering female who is in tow. A typical scenario is: Can I have a go? Yes, the pre-amp is a bit different maybe I can go through it with you? No, I know how it works Okay Then the 'punter' proceeds to do his bit with entirely the wrong tone EQ'd into the bass, twiddles knobs incessantly and puts it down in disgust before moving onto the next stand to repeat a similar process

I caught Nathan East and was blown away. I heard some very positive stuff about you too Adam but sadly missed you although one of my basses saw your masterclass Yolanda Charles was delightful. A great day but much louder, not just the slappers either. If you were the plonker who asked Nathan East to slap put your hand up now I came away GAS free for a change. Very impressed by a prototype two hole P bass active and passive pre amp that John East had designed. Even had it's own 40 Hr rechargeable battery charged through the jack socket and it dropped into passive automatically on low voltage. A clever man is John. The best bit by far was meeting so many familiar faces.

Plek'd? Fret dressing machine? I thought at least some Lakkies had Lindy Fralin before Lakland pups? My BG did.

Bad taste Chav wear though (I can't play that fast WITH a pick)

[quote name='BB2000' post='661225' date='Nov 21 2009, 06:29 PM']Just a good example of how capitalism works. Nowt wrong with that.[/quote] I agree I just choose not to get what I see as 'sucked in' by it all. Yes I've got an AV 62 P RI so not often maybe

Mmmmmm I see what you mmmmmean! Very nice.

I'd be willing to bet that even if 'selected' woods are used then the cutting is still done using CNC machines. So the skills involved in 'every so masterfullike' assembling the simple construction CNC'd items compared to say a real builder cutting and shaping the complete body and neck by hand, fitting body facings, headstock facings and shaping neck pockets etc is like comparing Picasso to a painter and decorator. AND then they go and charge so much more for it. Big 'F', a license to print money?

Nice tale, I'd love to see a photo of your original bass. Bear in mind also that one piece of wood even from the same tree will have a different structure in terms of density and grain and will interact differently from another piece of wood with the same name.

I'm in Kendal if you're passing through Worth travelling for imo. Peter

The MM IV is indeed Japanese made with the V made in the US. If this 'Masterbuilt' (there's been opinions voiced before whether this means built by one 'master builder' or a master builder overseeing some guys) has the standard pre I'd have some reservations however well it's made, especially for £4,600

Hijacked? Or usefully diversified?

Manchester, Sunday.

Yep, as you say Sean, very different. Much as you'd expect too. Are you in Manchester on Sunday? My Spector will likely be on the East stand, the Euro.

Hi I'm Peter and I posted a polite reply about my experience with EMG and John East pre-amps on your TalkBass thread that you rather pointedly ignored Welcome

MrThumb has one (Paul). I've a 500 and interestingly it hasn't got the oomph of my RH450. Cleaner sounding though, less warmth although it has a multitude of variables. Peter

Brilliant, the buzz is great at any age, my 1st gig was in the Summer, about 2 weeks before my 55th - Hehe

I can't access those Sean. Peter

Yes it's not easy. The basses are different but not by a huge amount. The white Euro has I believe alder wings yes. Just caught your edit Sean and you are indeed the wrong way around, 1st NS 2nd Euro. So the U-Retro has indeed become a leveller Peter

Spot that tune? The same line repeated on the NS5XL and the Euro 5 LX. Both basses fitted with a U-Retro with identical settings. Recorded direct into an Edirol R-09HR and saved as a .wav file. Guess which is which? [url="http://www.plunder.com/Spector-Comparison-download-790b8f7a65.htm"]http://www.plunder.com/Spector-Comparison-...-790b8f7a65.htm[/url] Peter

Definitely a great idea Sean. I've found that the Euro has added 'depth' to the tone now. I will back to back the two basses later to see what I think, record them too perhaps for comparison. With my low standard of playing I get a little embarrassed putting up sound clips, but I still do it knowing that being a bad bassist doesn't make me a bad person Peter

[quote name='Toasted' post='657992' date='Nov 18 2009, 12:23 PM'][url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/spector-NS-5XL-Water-Cured-Redwood-Walnut-Bass-NEW_W0QQitemZ230393918429QQcmdZViewItemQQptZGuitar?hash=item35a48c33dd"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/spector-NS-5XL-Water...=item35a48c33dd[/url] *drool*[/quote] Definitely rather nice I put the U-Retro Deluxe into the Euro yesterday and it's totally transformed it as a bass bringing it closer to the NS5XL.

[quote name='Mr.T' post='657863' date='Nov 18 2009, 09:51 AM']Hmmmm... Anyone fancy a quick game of 'Let's stereotype the Biker'?[/quote] Me too on the tongue in cheek, biker for over 35 years.