Skybone

Will you be getting a Stacia tribute dancer as well?

Celtic Frost are/were superb IMO, the first 3 records (Morbid Tales, Emperor's Return & To Mega Therion) were just raw slabs of intense metal, and all the better for it. Pandemonium was a bit more refined and a lot more experimental, but they also started to go a bit more "glam" as well. Shame. "Vanity Nemesis" wasn't too bad thankfully. I was deeply disappointed with the Apollyon Sun albums. "Monotheist" was a good comeback, but was diluted a bit too much IMO, and didn't capture the essential "Frost-y-ness". However, IMO, Tom's return in Triptykon saw an excellent return to form, and I am really looking forward to the new album coming out in April. As for Twisted Sister, was never really a fan, though they were a bit of fun. To this day, I am convinced that Lady GaGa is the offspring of Dee Snyder.

Lord of Light and Spiral Galaxy and.....

[quote name='Twincam' timestamp='1395249364' post='2400224']However recently and despite buying a new bass too, I've suffered from bass playing melancholy I love looking at the bass but am not In anyway enjoying playing or practicing. I've lately made a few short little bass tunes which is cool I guess and have felt more comfortable playing and made little advances in playing too. Interestingly I've also been not interested in music as I once was... I don't want to give up. But frankly I don't want to waste my time if I just feel frustrated. I'm also extremely skint (again) and what little cash I would raise would come in handy. I know someone who plays guitar they have for 30 years they spend a lot of time and money on it and frankly he is still rubbish. I don't want to be that guy.[/quote] It sounds to me as though you've bought a bass with your eyes & heart rather than your fingers and head (believe me, anyone who plays guitar/bass will have been there, done that, bought the t-shirt etc.), I assume that your old bass was chopped in for the new one? You don't say what bass you bought, or what your old bass was, but it could be that you'd got used to how your old one felt & played, and maybe the new one doesn't feel the same or is missing that certain "something" we all look for in an instrument, the "mojo" that makes you want to pick it up and play regardless. As I'm sure you're aware from perusing this site, not all basses are created equal, and even same brand models can be quite different too, having many different variations on a theme. To share a recent experience, I bought a mid-price Fender Jazz Bass to replace an expensive US made brand bass (that shall remain nameless on these pages!), and even though I've owned & played various Jazz basses, I really didn't get on with this one. It was played a few times, but then spent most of it's time back in the case. I ended up selling it and buying something similar to the expensive US made brand bass (that shall remain nameless on these pages!). This one feels much better than the Jazz did, and I certainly want to play it more often, even if it is just picking it up for 5 minutes here & there. The moral of the story is to stick with it, and welcome to GAS.

What's the RickenFaker opinion regarding replacement pickups and their sounds? Do they get near that Ric sound, or are they a different beast altogether?

Tried both Schaller's and the metal Dunlop's, but I much prefer the Schallers. Easier to fit, easier to use and cheaper.

As for the video, at least there are some distractions from actually watching Mr Bubble. But the bass does look like a Rockinbetter, and the guitar is an ESP EC (LP-a-like; 3 control knobs & reduced cutaway).

Jason Newstead's bass sound on the three Voivod albums after leaving Metallica. Excellent tone and more importantly, after his tenure in Metallica, you could actually hear his bass lines.

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1394183210' post='2388730'] I can. Morrisey's voice. Ruins every thing he attempts to sing on for me. Otherwise I might have liked a few Smiths tunes, in fact I'm looking at This Charming Man to put in the band's set. I can also recall the types of people who liked The Smiths when I was at college in the early to mid 80's. Shouldn't condemn a band by their fans of course but sometimes... [/quote] I can also recall the typical Smiths fans from the mid/late 80's... even the Goths hated them.

My Rickenfaker mods so far: Replaced control knobs from generic Jazz Bass style knobs to Matamp chickenheads (don't care, I love 'em). Turning into my "standard" mod on all electric guitars! Schaller strap locks. Another "standard" mod. Replaced the bridge pickup surround from the standard Rockinbetter "flat" plate, to a raised/contoured plate. Kept pickup "cover" on. Thinking about swapping the pickups for aftermarket ones (SD's being the most likely candidates), and possibly swapping the scratchplate. Both undecided as of yet.

Great start & hopefully you can collect info of many more Ric copies, especially the Ibanez ones. That Greco's gorgeous, and the Kay's just weird (copy or just weird interpretation?).

Lemmy of course, driven Marshall Super Bass 100's... Vaguely remember hearing some excellent fuzz bass playing on a number of Dub Syndicate records, though can't remember who played on them (or what the albums were called!). Seem to recall a superb driven bass sound on the ISIS album "Celestial", obviously they turned the SVT up full blast, you can just hear those valves glowing. I remember shopping for a distortion/fuzz pedal in the late 80's, and getting some disparaging looks & comments from the obviously shred guitar/hair "metal" worshipping salesmen when I said I played bass... Music shops these days just aren't what they used to be... with their friendly, inclusive and helpful manners.

Good find on the Rockinbetter, they are fantastic IMO, very close to the 4003.

How about:

Have any of the Rockinbetter owners changed the scratchplate on theirs?

Quite fancy a Yamaha BB, like the 424 & 424x. Reality dictates that there are far more pressing prioriities though.

I'm still convinced that Lady GaGa is Dee Snyder's love child...

EMS in Doncaster always have a good selection of basses in stock, and it's only half an hour away on the train.

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1392905227' post='2373992']James Cordon was on radio 2 yesterday morning saying he wasn't going to do it again... It doesn't really matter how funny you try to be everything just falls flat.[/quote] Sums up James Corden really, it doesnt matter how funny he tries to be, everything just falls flat.

James Corden is the new Ricky Gervais... a complete an utter, unfunny arse. However, the highlight was Kylie.

[quote name='allighatt0r' timestamp='1392633453' post='2370767'] Sacrilege! Be gone from this place foul heathen. Joking aside, it's your bass, you can do what you like with it! Westone basses are hardly collectors pieces, there are plenty around. On one condition though, you must start a build diary thread with lots of pictures. [/quote] Actually, there is the inklings of a minor collectors market for the MIJ Matsumoku built instruments, like the Westones & Aria Pro's. Mainly nostalgia driven by folk who used to own such instruments, who have then traded up and regretted selling their "Jap Crap", because they were so good. You just have to look at the collectors of "vintage" Ibanez and the like from the late 70's. Although they're not as "desirable" as say a 50's/60's Gibson or Fender, but they're still relatively sought after by people who value decent, well made instruments that have stood the test of time. So yes, someone probably would cry if the bass got chopped up, and it's most likely the chopper-upper, because they realise they've completely ruined the resale value of a good instrument. Just my tuppence ha'pennies worth.

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1392473583' post='2369151']According to the inflation calculator, £700 was the equivalent of £2546 today. However, such conversions are misleading as they do not take into account the amount of disposable income people have in the respective eras. Far more people have £2546 to spend on a bass in 2014 than there were people with £700 to put down on one in 1980.[/quote] That kind of ties in with current US built BC Rich's (the ones I've looked at anyway). They still retail for around £2,500-ish. [quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1392473583' post='2369151']Then for a while you couldn't give them away, and then Slash used a Mockingbird guitar in the video for "You Could Be Mine" and the used market took off again, it seemed like .[/quote] Don't forget though, at the time, late 80's/early 90's when GnR were huge, there was also demand for BC Rich's from the other "Hair Metal" bands (Poison et al all used BC's at some point), as well as all the Thrash & Death Metal bands of the same time. Messrs King, Hanneman & Araya were long time BC users at that point.

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1392318265' post='2367361'] Yes, although he says that the night that Never Say Die concert video was recorded was the only time he ever used that Rickenbacker, and he only did so that night because he had forgotten to bring his own bass , which was a custom black and white striped JayDee by that time ( 1978). .[/quote] Erm... I know they were "somewhat fuddled" during those years, but "forgetting to bring your own bass" to your own gig? Classic. I did hear the tale that he'd got that Ric from Glenn Hughes. Geezer's certainly used a lot of different basses through the years, but has always managed to sound like Geezer. I got into some bother on another guitar effects-centric forum by stating that, IMO, the Sabbath guitar sound was pretty dreadful until around Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. The songs and atmosphere of those early albums is absolutely classic and engraved on my psych forever, and no matter how much I love them anyway, if you listen to those albums objectively and critically, the guitar tone sucks.

Got to be honest here, and say that I was completely underwhelmed by the sound when I got my MP. All the reviews were saying "like a Jazz, but with extra girth", all I heard was a Jazz with a marginally bigger waist-line squeezed into the same sized trousers, but it also looses some of that Jazz "zing", which is the reason you buy a Jazz. The bass itself is well made and everything, it just doesn't deliver sound-wise IMO.