Cosmo Valdemar

I'm not a player of the Jazz, but I still think they look incredible - that pink one particularly so. That said, should the bridge pickup be sticking out that far from the cover?

When I tried the Alembic, I found my fingers flying all over the neck. I tried a little fiddly bass run I've always struggled to play cleanly - the bass/synth run in Yes' Machind Messiah - and I did it! It's not all guff you know.

I recently had the chance to spend some time playing a couple of extreme high end basses - a 70s Alembic and a more recent Fodera. They're often mentioned in the same breath but the only thing they really had in common was the sheer quality of the instruments. The Alembic looks and sounds like nothing else, everything about it is making a statement. The Fodera in comparison is very refined in appearance and tone, undoubtedly a class instrument but a bit too polite for me - there was nothing that shouted "this is the Fodera sound", unlike the highly idioyncratic Alembic. And the Fodera neck was too slim for me but that's just my preference.

Little White Bull - Tommy Steele

My 10 year old daughter has no interest in playing bass. She knows who Davie504 is. He's doing something right.

Gently Johnny - Paul Giovanni

Breakfast in Mayfair - Fairport Convention

I wish I'd bought one of these when I had the chance!

Maid in Heaven - Be Bop Deluxe

Bad Ground - Type O Negative

New Moon Rising - Wolfmother

Nightmare/The Dreamtime - Motorhead

The Butterfly Ball - Roger Glover

Absolutely stunning. Leave the gold, I say!

La La Lies - the 'oo

The Spark is an amazing pedal. I bought one in a sale a couple of years ago, never tried it and forgot all about it. When I finally gave it a go - blimey! There's some real juju in it, one of those rare "makes everything sound better" pedals.

Pineapple - Sparks

Apples and Oranges - The Pink Floyd

I always used 50-110 in my drop C days. Plenty of rattle but I liked that - I was playing COC/Down-esque metal so that extra growl and flexibility was great when improvising under the guitar solos I'll admit, I only went for that gauge as they were heavier than normal. I didn't realise you could get heavier sets back then, but I was perfectly happy with them.

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway - Genesis

Eat It Up Worms Hero - Cardiacs

Dandy - The Kinks

I Can See For Miles - The 'oo

What?!

Just like Eddie - Heinz