Cosmo Valdemar

The guy from Carcass used to play one of these. In black, of course!
Bump for a great bass at a ridiculous price.

Bah! Interested in this too I was.

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1326839480' post='1502773']
That's no party trick..! It ain't a party without your Chapman stick.


[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM2oFkQmyPk&feature=related[/media]


Garry
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I would have thought someone with the talent and dedication to play one of those things would at least learn the piece properly. Wrong notes galore.

Still, it's not like I could play anything even remotely like that, my brain boggles just looking at it.

My first amp was a little 'Prime' combo probably a 10" speaker. Did the job for learning the bass, sadly I don't have it anymore as a guitarist friend borrowed and it and proceeded to vanish off the face of the Earth.

Next up, a Trace Elliot Commando combo, 100w I think. Used for jamming in garages. Just about audible on full whack over the drummer. I always liked this amp, I could get a great distortion tone with the gain up. Alas this was it's undoing as the speaker blew. Very heavy amp.

Next, a Trace Elliot amp and matching 1x15 cab. Not sure of the model name of the head but it had the UV light, graphic EQ and everything. Purchased second hand from my local music shop for £350. I always hated this setup, it was as far away from the sound in my head as could be. As I knew sod all about amps at the time, I have a feeling the head and cab weren't ideal partners as if I was playing at gig volume I had to go easy on the bass and low mids or else the speaker would make a nasty popping sound. I later added a Trace 4x10 which helped a lot. Still hated the sound though. Ridiculously heavy.

I found an old Marshall Superbass 100w and had a couple of 4x12s built by Matamp, in quest of sounding like Roger Glover. This was an absolute disaster, in order to get anything approaching gig volume the amp had to be pushed into Lemmy territory. This setup lasted for two gigs and was soon sold to a very happy guitarist in a doom band. Very heavy amp.

Trace Stack sold, I next went for a Peavey Firebass 700 and matching 4x10. Indestructable and comically loud and powerful, but again, I found the tone too sterile and clean, and had to rely on a variety of pedals and devices for drive and warmth. Incredibly heavy.

I next went into a very productive and fruitful relationship with Ashdown and played them for years - always an ABM500 head but with a variety of cabs, my favourite was the 8x10. For a time, the perfect sound for me.

Since leaving that band I sold all my Ashdown stuff, partly because I have nowhere to keep it but mainly because I want to explore new sonic avenues. Currently i play through a Line 6 Lowdown 110 at home and it's a wonderful little amp - my Rickenbacker 4003 throught the Marshall setting is just heaven.

Once I have a few pennies saved I will be investing in a new rig. I'm pretty set on going down the lightweight route, looking at TC Electronic, GK, Ibanez and so on.

I don't know if it's still there but I used to visit the Southend store from time to time, actually bought quite a bit of stuff from them over the years. Never had any problem with them.
I remember popping in once and Phil Jupitus was in ther buying a guitar. The staff were all being very helpful and attentive and he was treating them all like dirt. Arrogant tosser.

But I digress.

Put it up for trade. There may be someone lurking on here with a 2 pickup Ray who wishes they had bought the single pickup.I had a Spector 5 string but would have preferred a 4, put out a feeler on here and had a trade arranged within a couple of days.

In the words of Kiss, you got, you got, you got nothin' to lose.

I love the Classic Doublecut and the Retro Firebird. Gorgeous.

If you are offering the bass for sale, you need to state a price!
Gorgeous bass, love the colour.

[quote name='danweb22' timestamp='1326370308' post='1496104']


DW Guitars in Maidstone, on Lucerne Street
[/quote]

Cheers! I'll have a gander.

[quote name='waynepunkdude' timestamp='1325872765' post='1489249']
DW is just down the road from you and is top notch.
[/quote]

Who is DW?

[quote name='Evil Undead' timestamp='1326227457' post='1494183']
I've always felt more physically comfortable on a 4, but that B comes in really handy on occasion. And it certainly will if I play in a metal band in the future.

[/quote]

It sounds like you have it stuck in your head that to play metal you need access to a B string. You might end up in a traditional thrash band that riffs away happily in E!
If you really do need access to the lower notes, just re-string you 4 as BEAD - or, do as we did in the 90s and just tune down! As long as you've got at least a 110 you'll be ok tuning down to B. It will be floppy and rattly but it can work very well for certain types of metal and can be very brutal.

I'm sure Chris will be very pleased to have some windows finally!

[quote name='Scotticus' timestamp='1326055576' post='1491750']
Spot on Cosmo, the huge wookie-like guitar player is Richie.Nope, we haven't gigged with Sons of Merrick, but would be chuffed to do so. Shoot me a PM if you chaps ever need an opener.
[/quote]

Alas I haven't been their bass player since June. But things are rolling on very nicely for them! Keep an ear open for the new album, should be out in the next couple of months - I'm on that.

[quote name='fluffo' timestamp='1325872683' post='1489245']
There is only one luthier that I would ever use and he is in kent, gravesend.
Hes repaired Mark Kings basses Mark knoffners schecter and I have used him for years and he aint silly money

Andy Warnock 01474 537264
[/quote]

Is he really as good as everyone makes out? I emailed him and I'm afraid he did quote me silly money, far more that anyone else.

I'd kill for that Marshall head... Are you open to trades?

Forgive the daftness but what is a power conditioner?

Is that Richie on guitar? I used to bump into him a lot at our gigs. In fact we might even have gigged with you at some point - my memory is awful.

[quote name='hairyhaw' timestamp='1325257679' post='1481416']
I was considering buying this month's mag till you said that about the Rick. Does the Squire article take a different slant to the usual? I only ask as it’s it’s getting difficult to say anything new about CS’s Rose Morris short of a doing a photo essay with the bass being taken apart. I’m surprised Squire himself isn’t fed up of talking about it.
[/quote]

Nah, if you've even a passing interest in Squire or Yes you will have read it all before - wallpaper covering, picking each note then brushing it with his thumb. Probably why he didn't get the cover (which he deserves) and a picture of a bass and amp did.

The picture they used on his gear list was of a recent 60s reissue, with the reverse headstock.

I'm subscribed and always look forward to reading it each month, but I'm amazed at the amount of sloppy mistakes they make - in the Chris Squire interview they used a picture of Rickenbacker bass he doesn't play, and in the Novoselic interview they used a picture of a modern Ripper reissue and a generic jazz bass. Surely it isn't hard to find a picture of the actual bass they played? Or at least a live shot of them using it? Laziness!

It's not as bad as the now legendary '50 basses you must play before you die' issue, where most of the pictures accompanying the article were of the wrong bass.

I really like the Lost Trident Sessions CD, it's the album they recorded after Birds of Fire but never released as the band felt the live versions were far better. It doesn't flow as well as the first two albums, and side two has a track by each band member alone (due to a dispute over songwriting credits) but the two lengthy pieces are superb. The production is excellent too, definitely the best for hearing Rick Laird's bass.

Check out the riff at 5:00, and the ensuing violin and guitar solo duel. It's astonishing.

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1WEQq6iPZM"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1WEQq6iPZM[/url]

I was lucky enough to have an endorsement deal with Ashdown a few years back, I was about to buy one of their amps but a mate who worked for Sound Control at the time knew their artist relations guy and put me in touch with him. He liked my band and offered me an artist's deal - I didn't get anything free but was able to buy stuff at really reduced prices.
This suited me down to the ground as I was going to buy their stuff anyway. I don't use it anymore as I left the band and decided I wanted to explore new avenues of sound. Although my band toured quite a bit up and down the country we were never 'big', they just either liked our music or saw some potential for exposure there somewhere! They looked after me really well and it felt great to be honest, one of my proudest moments. I'm still on the Ashdown website though, hidden away...

But remember, "[b][size="2"]Mat Mathias made mondo high voltage look like something you want to run your tongue accross[/size][/b]".

[quote name='spongebob' timestamp='1324401382' post='1473879']
Glad to see this thread back!

Superb album, still remember the day I bought it - felt timeless on release, and still sounds great.

IMHO, the best set of lyrics to any album...so affecting. How JDB sang them is beyond me - if you listen with the lyric sheet, it's phenomenal, and so amazingly powerful...the references, the imagery...

I've always been in the Ric camp - but TBH, the album could be a mix of P and Ric. He played a P on the dates around the release, and on a bootleg I'd thought it was a Ric until I saw some footage, and it was a P! I suppose it's the amp, the eq...maybe we'll never know for sure.
[/quote]

I remember when I first heard it, one of the defining moments of my teenage years. At that time I was a fully commited metal head, and then this came along and just totally outstripped any Slayer record in terms of imagery, dread and sheer horror. Truly a landmark album, and one that hasn't aged at all. Every time I listen to it I'm astonished, especially considering they purposefully chose to record it in a cheap and dingy studio in Cardiff - a deliberate reaction to the 'rock star' excesses of the previous album.

As for the lyrics, Richey (and to a lesser extent Nicky) gave no thought to how his words would fit into a 'conventional' song structure, and it was then up to James and Sean to wrestle and distort them to fit, resulting in the jarring and alien emphasis and pronounciation.

[quote name='Cosmo Valdemar' timestamp='1324305075' post='1472791']
I still maintain, to my ears at least, it's predominantly a Rickenbacker. Revol might be a P, at a push.

There are several moments which just scream Rick to me, these being the outro of Archives of Pain, the little bass fill toward the end of 4st 7lb, and The Intense Humming of Evil. A Precision bass just doesn't sound like that.
[/quote]

Examples:

From 1:10 onward:

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbITPljzybE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbITPljzybE[/url]

Intro and outro in particular:

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiG7lxhJ0-0&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiG7lxhJ0-0&feature=related[/url]

This one sounds like a Rick in stereo - one amp bassy and clipping, the other clanky and slightly overdriven. The outro seems a lot more distorted.

I still maintain, to my ears at least, it's predominantly a Rickenbacker. Revol might be a P, at a push.

There are several moments which just scream Rick to me, these being the outro of Archives of Pain, the little bass fill toward the end of 4st 7lb, and The Intense Humming of Evil. A Precision bass just doesn't sound like that.