Cosmo Valdemar

I can see John Rostill playing with a pick...

I've just ordered a Brassmaster kit to help me try to replicate it!

It's note-perfect from start to finish. Surprisingly, it doesn't feature much of what we consider the classic Squire Rickenbacker tone.

Fantastic.

I had a listen on Spotify, out of morbid curiosity. It wasn't pleasant. In a similar mindset I watched some recent footage of the band playing Gates of Delirium. Absolute car crash viewing. The whole thing threatens to derail several times causing Steve Howe to visibly conduct the rest of the band back into order. Geoff Downes simply isn't up to playing Moraz's parts (or Wakeman's for that matter) and bemusedly stumbles through. Davison and Sherwood are competent but complete charisma vacuums. And saddest of all is poor old Alan White, literally propped up beside a small drum kit next to the main one, limply tapping away. I know he's been unwell, but come on. I try to never begrudge an artist from continuing to tour their material, even if it no longer interests me (Brian May and Roger Taylor). But the current Yes is pretty shameful.

Vevey? Did they let you have a go on the organ?

Well with Geoffrey Downes in command it's sure to be a virtuosic masterpiece.

Favourite? The Yes Album. I remember hearing it for the first time when I was 14 as a budding bass player, sitting there with my Eros EB copy and listening to Chris Squire and wondering how the hell he did it. That perfect time when they were really breaking free from their constraints and starting to realise their potential, still full of youthful abandon but before they realised their genius. The joy of this album is palpable. And Chris Squire's bass playing is just wonderful - that little run up to the high registers on Starship Trooper is still my favourite Squire moment. The production is still quite raw and basic but this allows each instrument to shine, but there is still a lot of space for everything to breathe, something they had forgotten about when they got to Tormato As for their best, it has to be Close To The Edge. The very pinnacle of the genre, unsurpassable.

Mature? What's that?! PM me if you do...

It doesn't scream 'fake' to me. Look at the rest of the pics on the link - the scratchplate only looks of in the OP shot due to the angle. I don't think it's a Geddy as the bridge pickup looks like it's on the 60s position. It looks like a Geddy neck from my memory of owning one, but without a close up of the headstock it's hard to say - the pic in the OP makes the headstock logo look a bit off but again that might just be the angle.

The picture is of Mike Oldfield.

Mike Oldfield?!

Oooh! Which ones did you go for?

Such a cool bass. That scratchplate is growing on me.

Tsunamis or Waveriders probably. My friend/luthier always uses Gemini and recommends them very highly.

Interested to hear how you get on. I'm having a pair of Geminis in a custom build I'm lining up.

That's good to know... Last time I saw them he used his Lulls throughout. It just wasn't right!

I wish Eddie jackson would figure this out as well!

I used to have the 5 string version back in the 90s. I loved it, apart from a couple of problems: Extremely narrow string spacing, VERY floppy B, J pickup that didn't read the A string very well. Being young and daft I fell for the salesman spiel about this being 'normal' for a 5 string as it was a 4 string pickup, and even Warwicks had the same issue. He also advised me to use the P pickup as that was the 'rock and roll pickup'. I later took the pass apart to create a 4 string 'Fenderbird' and discovered that the neck pocket was the same width as the neck form my Encore Precision copy. Never got round to it in the end and sold it in bits. I always liked the tone though... Let me know if you decide to sell!

Best? Probably a toss up between Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures. It's a tricky one as has been mentioned before as they evolved so much throughout their career. Personal favourite? Probably Signals. Easily my favourite GL bass tone (well the Rickenbacker songs anyway).

Most of my tone controls are little more than on/off knobs...

I'm not familiar with the Greasebucket. What does it do?