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Skybone

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Posts posted by Skybone

    Line6 Podxt

    in Effects

    Posted

    I mainly use the HiWatt & Plexi amp models, with a mixture of 4x10 & 4x12 cab models. There is always the Fender Bassman model if they don't do anything for you, it was originally a Bass amp anyway.

    But as with any amp/modeller, get in there, mess about with various settings/models/cabs, and find something that sounds good to you.

    Rickenbacker or Fender Jazz?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    [quote name='smurfitt' timestamp='1326035795' post='1491323']
    Hi all,
    need some info:
    Which has the skinniest neck and shortest in length (the ric looks pretty darn long to me yet both have 20 frets).
    Which is better for a wide variety of music[/quote]

    Sounds like you already answered your own question. If that's your search criteria, then just try out loads of different Fender Jazz Basses.

    I just ordered a Matamp :D

    in Amps and Cabs

    Posted

    Matamp built the early Ashdown valve bass heads and the some of the early Ashdown/Hayden valve guitar amps.

    Dave Green "left" Matamp, then some months later went to work for Ashdown/Hayden.

    Have a Matamp guitar head & cabs, and they are absolutely fantastic, would love one of the GT200 bass heads & cabs, but they're definitely out of my price range! Top quality build, top quality kit, fantastic sounding gear, absolutely top quality customer service and all round top blokes. :)

    Gigging with Earplugs

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Got some ER20s' a while back to replace the foam type ones, which although they killed a higher level of sound, they didn't filter evenly. The ER20s' do...

    Still have tinnitus mind (but that is after 30-odd years of aural abuse). It started not going away after a day or so, a few years back, even with wearing earplugs. It's a real PITA, though it is totally my own fault. :)

    Anyone not using earplugs in their teens & twenties, playing in bands is risking getting permanent tinnitus by the time they're 40. And I'm afraid that is not lecturing, that's bitter experience.

    What do you hate about certain basses you own or have owned ?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Owned quite a few, mainly actives...

    Kay P Copy: POS.
    Westone Raider: m/ m/ Very much a "hair metal" 80's colour scheme, but a great shape. Single P pickup, nice sound, but prone to headstock dive.
    Aria SB Special II: Not too much variety in the tone. Great looking & playing bass.
    Westone Thunder 1A: very heavy & prone to headstock dive. Great sounding & playing bass though.
    Washburn MB4: It was alright, nothing spectacular.
    Tobias ?: Again, it was alright. Nice & light, reasonable sound, but not great.
    StingRay 2EQ: Fantastic, why did I sell it? 1989 blonde, 4 bolt maple neck, beaten up, but sounded gorgeous & played superbly.
    Aria SB Special II: Again. Love the shape & playability. Couldn't get the right sound dialled in.
    Aria SB1000: Always wanted one, beatiful to look at & play, but a complete let down sound-wise.
    StingRay 2EQ: Late 90's, rosewood board, 6 bolt birdseye neck. Nice to play, but sounded awful.
    Mex Jazz: Brilliant. Only flaw was the join between the scratch plate & control plate weren't quite flush.
    Ric 4003: Superb. Bit heavy, but great sound & fantastic player.

    So.. what was Geddy Lee's last great bassline...?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Saw them on the "Hold Your Fire" tour, and although it was a great gig, the songs off HYF/Power Windows/Grace Under Pressure were, let's say, not the highlights of the night.

    Anyways, been listening to Vapour Trails in the car a lot recently, and the bass lines in Peacable Kingdom & Earthshine really stand out for me. The bass line for the verse of How It Is is great, but the chorus is a wee bit too safe, and instantly forgettable.

    Kind of like watching "Later..." and seeing one of the "big name", crtiically acclaimed singer/songwriters, who's plugging their brand new, critically acclaimed record, where the music is safely within chordal progressions and is simply there to back up the "heart-felt/tortured soul" lyrics. Meh.

    Been revisting a lot of my old CD's recently, and updating the missing parts of back catalogue albums from various bands, including Rush. Got to say that I never really rated Moving Pictures before, but listening to it again really puts it up there as one of their great albums. Counterparts for me, although not a bad album, is playing it safe. Test for Echo is a bit better. But for me, Vapour Trails and Snakes & Arrows are both superb albums by a great band.

    Got hold of the Beyond the Lighted Stage DVD recently too, highly recommended veiwing if you're in anyway interested in Rush.

    What do certain makes of bass say to you?

    in Bass Guitars

    Posted · Edited by Skybone

    Rickenbacker: Macca, Geddy, Lemmy, Cliff Burton, Scott Reeder & countless others can't be wrong.
    Jazz Bass: slim neck & great tone.
    Precision Bass: tree trunk neck & great tone. Simple but good.
    Warwick: great for slap style, not much else unless your name is John Entwistle.
    Overwater: drool-worthy but expensive.
    Gibson Thunderbird: solid, great tone, neck heavy.
    Gibson V & Explorer: "Are you ready to rock...?"
    Aria Pro: Bring back the classic SB's
    MusicMan StingRay: great looking and playing, but they all sound the same.
    Alembic: sexy, but expensive. For well off Stanley Clarke/Mark King fans only?

    The sad decline of Denmark St for bass players

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    [quote]Am I getting old and cynical or does the Musicground chain of the street seem a bit limited[/quote]

    No, MusicGround have always been crap at catering for the customer, though they've always been excellent at overcharging for everything, especially in their northern stores. Don't forget that they also own HiWatt AND JMI amps. I know a number of people who've ordered the new JMI ToneBender MkII Fuzz boxes from MusicGround (either eBay or the shop), paid for them, and then had to wait around 2-3 months for them to be delivered.

    I was incredibly saddened to hear that they'd got such a foothold in Denmark St (ie owning about 80% of the shops - which is why they all had the same kit in stock), and last time I went down there for a nosey, you could tell all the identi-kit MusicGround shops because of their identi-kit stock sold by identi-kit staff. This rant is of course IMO... :)

    Westone Thunder / Cort T34

    in Bass Guitars

    Posted

    I'd personally vote for the Westone Thunder 1/1A, seriously good basses for the money, and yeah, OK, there is a fair bit of dewey eyed nostalgia going on there, cos I had one many moons ago and it was great.

    The downside with the Westone is that you may well need to get the tools out and give it a damn good set up when it lands, invariably, over the last 20-odd years it'll have been used, abused and generally not looked after that well.

    You could always look out for an old Aria SB bass as well. Another underrated classic IMO.

    Is it me or is the current music scene CRAP!

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    [quote name='"escholl"']anyone who's in the originals scene just to make money is doing it for all the wrong reasons anyways.[/quote]

    That is not what I was saying.

    In an ideal world, we wouldn't need money, music would be free and we'd all get along, no wars, no famine, no poverty. Unfortunately, in this society that we live in, money is king. Look at what's happened in the last 6 to 9 months. I along with many others lost my job, though I'm fortunate enough to have found another one, but my family and I've had to relocate, and I've had to leave my band when we were starting to make a name for ourselves.

    Who paid for your last bout of GAS? Who put petrol/diesel in the vehicle that you travelled to your last rehearsal/gig? Who paid for your last recording session? Who paid for those CD's you give away? Who did the artwork for those CD's? Who's internet account are you using?

    Being in a band costs. It costs time and effort, as well as money. Unfortunately, the time and effort that you put into a band cannot be quantified, the only measure you can put on it is what you personally get out of it. I put heart and soul into my last band, and I also funded it. I paid for the recording sessions, I travelled 140 miles round trip to rehearse, I bought a lot of gear, as did the other guys, and I got a lot of satisfaction out of it. We got a lot of positive feedback from gigs and from reviews of the CD's we released. I sold more CD's and t-shirts to mainland Europe and America than to the UK, as well as giving a shed load away for promotion to zines/sites/promoters/etc and didn't make a penny on any of it, everything was ploughed back into the band, but still people expect us to give our music away.

    It won't stop me from making music in the future, it won't stop me from trying to get my music heard by anyone who wants to listen, it'll make me think twice about trying to make a serious go of things again though.

    Is it me or is the current music scene CRAP!

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    [quote]I think you also need to take a look at ways of making money out of the massive audience the internet affords.[/quote]

    Believe me, I've tried all that, and even then, I kept getting asked for free downloads. You try to explain that you're doing this off your own back, at no profit, but the question keeps coming back "why can't I download this for free?".

    [quote]Don't know if you have any objective proof that this is the reason for this happening? I reckon the independent record shops were more likely put out of business by amazon (and online retailing) than by mp3s and filesharing.[/quote]
    [quote]Sorry, but none of what you've just said is true. It's the same line the industry has been whining about for years -- the fact is they brought it on themselves by refusing to embrace the new technology, refusing to consider new licensing options, and charging 15.99 for a CD that has maybe a few good tracks on it?[/quote]

    A good point, online traders and supermarkets are having their hand in helping to kill smaller record shops off too, but the downloaders & file sharer's are effectively helping to bump up the over the counter prices by making the record companies produce stuff in smaller batches, and charging the distributor's more for their product. Those increased margins are helping to push up the costs for the shops, and they're charging us more. Can't find the link to the BBC article, but it was pretty objective.

    [quote]You want me to see you live? Then make it worth my while, and don't charge some absurd price. Want me to buy the CD? Give me a reason -- because the reason I and many others buy CD's is not for the music, it's the whole package -- music, album art, any extras, etc. Not like most artists make a whole lot from every CD sold anyways, if you really want to support a band, see them live and buy a shirt -- they'll make much more that way.[/quote]

    Very true, but this is also effecting the underground music scene too, where you can get into a gig for £5.00 and see 3, 4 or more bands. Last show I played, there were 10 bands playing an all dayer, it cost £6.00 on the door. Do the maths, £6.00 to see 10 bands? Sounds like a bargain to me. There were also about 10 or 15 people there who'd travelled over from mainland Europe to see some of the bands, there were at least 20 people who'd travelled up from the south of England to Yorkshire for the show, excluding the bands who'd done the same journey.

    My point exactly is that you buy an album for the whole package, and most bands will go the extra mile to make that package worthwhile for the people who put their (male chicken) on the block, and get their hands in their pockets to support a band.

    There's using the internet to establish your band, but at the end of the day, if you can afford to spend time, money and effort to write and record the best songs you can, then great. Unfortunately, most of us out there have to get jobs, so that we can not only support our families, but also to simply carry on doing something that we all love doing, making music.

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