Skybone

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.

IIRC, in the original vinyl version of Vol 4, with the booklet inside, Geezer's pictured using a plexi Dan Armstrong. In the Live in Paris video's (circa '70) he's using a Precision, whereas in the Never Say Die video 9circa '79), he's using a Fireglo 4001. He's used a lot of different basses over the years. In numerous interviews, he's always said that his "old faithful" go to bass was a Precision, until he started using the Lakland's.

Fantastic & underrated basses. I always loved the bridge design on them as well, slightly gutted when I saw the recent reissues that didn't have the classic Aria Pro SB bridges.

[quote name='thebigyin' timestamp='1392204033' post='2365851'] He doesn't Drink and tends to make silly mistakes at rehearsals aswell.....I'm beginning to think it's Nerves? But we'll soldier on till the end of the year and see what happens.....Thanks for the interesting views and perspectives.[/quote] Maybe he is just bricking it when you hit stage. OK, mistakes in rehearsals can be laughed off, but then they need to be worked on. Maybe have a quiet chat with him and ask if he does get nervous playing gigs. If he does, maybe try and do something pre-gig that'll help relax him a bit. Just a thought.

Well he did play bass in The Housemartins.

Fender Strings Are: Reasonably priced and quite good.

[quote name='6v6' timestamp='1385476825' post='2288679'] It's interesting you'd say Marshall JCM or Fender Twin, they are pretty different amps IMO. If budget is limited, I'd suggest looking at a Laney VC30, they are excellent for the money, I'd get the 1x12 and swap out the speaker for something better like a Celestion G12H30 when budget allows.[/quote] +1 Another vote for Laney. Something to bear in mind, if you're after a "slightly overdriven" tone, turn the gain down and the volume up, especially if you have an amp with a valve power amp. Front end gain sounds too harsh & brittle, and is a mistake that a lot of players make by simply cranking the gain to get an overdriven sound. All those classic rock albums from the 60's & 70's, where they have a nice smooth overdriven sound is done by turning the amps volume up and letting the power valves break up naturally. If you went for a lower output amp, like the VC30, then the headroom will be lower and the natural power valve overdrive will happen at a lower level. With bigger amps, it's often wise to use an attenuator to get that sound without deafening everyone.

Yamaha BB424?

A very nice looking T'bird there Rik. only ever-so-slightly jealous!

No Firewire interface, so I'll avoid the Saffire then... Looked good as well. Quite impressed with the Lexicon Omega, even though it's bundled with an older version of Cubase LE (4), have seen a couple of the larger UK retailers selling them off at a reasonable price for what you get. OK, so I do realise that this means that the product will no doubt be discontinued in the not too distant future, but even so, it still seems like a good deal. Plus I've used an older version of Cubase, so should be at least a teensy bit familiar with it (in theory of course!). Time to raid the piggy bank (again).

[quote name='dave_bass5' timestamp='1391558297' post='2358692']Ive always thought internal sound cards were better, and i had a M-Audio Fast track that was a nightmare to use a few years ago. With M-Audio not writing any new drivers, specifically for Windows 8 i felt it was time to move on. If on a low budget the Behringer interfaces look really nice, and they are a lot cheaper. [/quote] Didn't know about M-Audio not supporting equipment for Win 8, was looking at the M Track as a possibility as well, but with my new machine running Win 8.1, it sounds like it's one to avoid. I was hoping to get a 4 input interface rather than a 2 channel, partly as a hang-over from the Delta BoB, but partly with the thought that I can record say a drum machine or other source as well as a guitar/bass. The Akai EIE caught my eye (retro design , vu's & switches), as did the Focusrite Scarlett 6i6/Saffire Pro 14 and the Lexicon Lambda/Omega amongst others. More research required I think, but keep those suggestions/recommendations coming, all fuel for the fire...

My third ever bass was an SB Special II, another one I regret selling (especially as I part-exed it for an Encore Strat... WHY!?!?!?!?!?). I picked up an SB900 in the late 90's, owned it for a year or so, then chopped it in for a blonde '89 StingRay. About 10 years ago, I found a beaten up SB Special II on eBay. Very shocked when it arrived, as it was packaged up in nothing more secure than some plastic bags & parcel tape! Thankfully, it was still in 1 piece, and played quite well once I'd cleaned it up & set it up again. Anyone interested in old Aria Pro's should check out: [url]www.matsumoku.org/guitars.html[/url], loads of info including catalogues and a forum.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1391521821' post='2358046'] Actually it's not the pickup that's the problem (these have barely changed from the original version form the late 70s), It's the pitch detection system in the foot controller that comes with the GR77. The great pity is that the synth part is actually rather good - it's essentially a Roland JX8P which was the successor to the Jupiter 8. It depends whether the cable that connects the bass to the foot controller is compatible with the newer pitch to MIDI systems. In the end though pitch to MIDI on its own is a dead end. There will always be an unacceptable lag between playing a note on the bass and the detection circuitry working out what the note actually is, and the lower the note being played the longer it takes to work out what it is. That's simple physics and there's no way around that. IMO the way forward is either the Industrial Radio system which uses fret sensors to work out the pitch and the string pickups just to trigger the notes, alternatively the Roland V system which processes the actual signal from the strings and doesn't bother with trying to extract MIDI information from them. [/quote] It was the current Roland V system and current hex pickup system I meant (VG99/GR55 & GK3). Obviously, you'd loose that "analogue" synth "feel" from those older systems, as the current ones are purely digital of course, but surely they do have analogue synth patches/simulations?