Skybone

[quote name='waynepunkdude' timestamp='1326279718' post='1494758'] Made by a luther with a lazy eye.[/quote] Lax Luther?

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.

[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.

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' timestamp='1326182117' post='1493284'] get whichever one is right for you[/quote] Thumbsup, nods in agreement, etc, etc.

To quote an infamous Twisted Sister video: "What do you want to do with your life?" "I wanna ROCK!" But without the 80's cheese...

Good Matsumoku/Aria/Westone/etc resource. [url="http://www.matsumoku.org/guitars.html"]http://www.matsumoku.org/guitars.html[/url]

[quote name='daz' timestamp='1324313358' post='1472899'] What the ??? [/quote] Indie Prog Rock. Bass: Fender Jazz.

You can replace a knackered nut, but a rubbish recording will be there forever to remind you that you really should have tuned those bongo's.

Those new Modern Player (or whatever they're called) Jazz Basses look very cool... the one with the twin "jazz-bucker" pickups. Saying that, the new twin, chrome covered, pickup Tele Bass looks just as nice, shame it's only available with a maple 'board.

Eeny, meeny, miney, mo..... to which Fender Bass shall I go?

[quote name='TonyBones' timestamp='1323772288' post='1466708'] Aria = Cliff burton, ok he played a Rick as well but in the main the Aria SB [/quote] No, he only played the Aria (SB Elite II) during the Master of Puppets "era", his main bass up to and including "Ride the Lightning" was a Fireglo Ric.

NWOBHM: Fender Precision or anything loaded with a Precision style pickup. 80's Glam/Hair/Shred: Charvel/Jackson "Super P" style body, P & J pickups, pointy headstock. BC Rich Any Model. Lurid colours optional. Thrash: BC Rich Any Model, Ibanez Destroyer, Aria Pro II SB Elite, Ricenbacker 4001/4003, Charvel/Jackson "Super P" (as above).

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.

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.

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.

Just the one at the moment, though I should really trim the guitars down (3 electric, 2 acoustic)... Nah! Do fancy another bass, but haven't seen anything recently that cries out "buy me!!!".

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.

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?

[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...

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.

Korg DT10 or Korg Pitchblack pedals? Both are chromatic pedal type tuners, and have a good range of functions for other alternate tunings. The DT10's built like the proverbial brick outhouse too.