RhysP

Going from the MAG to an Ampeg 450H probably won't solve the problem as they're both solid state amps. If you're already using Ashdown cabs why not get a used Ashdown ABM head? That'll get you closer to the sound you're after due to the valve preamp. They go very cheaply on Ebay & I dare say they turn up for sale on here.

The conflicting comments about the weight in the reviews will obviously be down to how much of a wuss the reviewer is. I'd say just over 8lbs is quite light for a bass, that's certainly no heavier than your average Gibson Les Paul guitar. Heaviest bass I've ever played was a horrible dead plank of a 70s Precision that weighed just over 13lbs!

Zon Legacy Elite (or possibly a Hamer 12 string bass) & an Ampeg SVT stack. [quote name='Happy Jack' post='484659' date='May 10 2009, 09:54 PM']A Chapman Stick and an instruction manual. No need for an amp. I'd have been rescued long before I'd learned to play the thing. [/quote] Believe me, you'd need an amp (or a headphone amp at least) - Sticks have hardly any acoustic sound, all you can hear is the strings clattering on the fret rods. I REALLY wish I hadn't sold my Stick.......

He uses an Avalon U5 Passive DI/Preamp so maybe that's what the box on the amp you're asking about is.

We have a winner! I wish I could get rid of stuff that quickly on Ebay.......

Deon Estus played some great bass on those Wham records. There was one of the Wham singles released as an extended 12" where he played a really great Stanley Clarke style solo. He released a solo album & got a single to number 3 in the US charts.

Because I play bass people sometimes buy me albums by bass players as they think I'd like that sort of thing. Unfortunately listening to them is often like being stuck in a lift for 45 minutes...... I've only played this CD once, and I didn't get to the end because I was rapidly losing the will to live. HOWEVER, I'm sure Mr. Patitucci has a lot of fans out there & I'd be only too glad to send one of them this CD if they'd like to PM me with their address.

[quote name='Kongo' post='482205' date='May 7 2009, 05:37 PM']If your on about Gilbert didn't he always wear those? I thought they were a fashion thing or some kind of HUGE in ear monitoring. Never seen Sheehan wear em so you must be.[/quote] No, Paul Gilbert hasn't always worn the ear protectors. It's a comparatively recent thing (recent to me that is, as I'm probably a LOT older than you).

I'm hoping they tour over here too. I saw them on their first two tours in the UK a LONG time ago & they were absolutely superb. Paul Gilbert is easily my favorite shred guitarist and, along with Billy Sheehan, he's one of the nicest people you could meet. His hearing is TOTALLY f***ed though. If you see him on his solo gigs he wears great big industrial ear protectors to try & save what's left of it.

[quote name='thepurpleblob' post='479077' date='May 4 2009, 04:16 PM']I think there's a general point here (I work in a "proper" University). The whole higher education thing has been diluted by successive Government's desires to get everybody possible off the dole queue and into some sort of education. The trouble is that everybody and his dog now has a degree of some sort. I would suggest that in the good old days some of these music courses would never have got a degree designation at all. I'm not being snobby about degree courses but I actually miss the old tech colleges that taught you an honest profession - *properly*. Now everybody has to be an academic. There's loads more graduates than there are graduate jobs and you're just going to get your hopes raised and then end up working in Asda.[/quote] Abso-bloody-lutely!! 90% of the courses offered by most "Universities" (which are basically Technical colleges with delusions of grandeur) should in no way be classed as degree standard. It's all about bums on seats & performance tables now, so these places offer populist courses with little to no serious academic content just to get the punters (for that's what students are now) in.

I know a few people who have done "popular" music based degrees (guitar schools, music technology etc) & don't know anyone who works as anything other than a self employed teacher, mainly being hired on a freelance basis by Local Councils to teach guitar, drums or whatever. The problem with these niche courses is that the amount of people they churn out with a qualification far outstrips the number of jobs available in a business where who you know is probably more important than anything else. The only person I know who does very well in a music based career ( a good friend of mine & drummer in my old band) is heavily involved in big European music productions such as the Montreaux Jazz festival as well as stage managing & drum teching for some VERY big names - he doesn't have any sort of qualifications whatsoever. He started off as a roadie & learned his craft out on the road, building up a good reputation for himself as he went along.

Why not just ask the seller if he'll take a photo of the back of the headstock? Or ask if there's any writing on the back of the headstock. If it's got the signature on it you'll know for sure it's a Geddy Lee model.

[quote name='Lifer' post='476405' date='Apr 30 2009, 09:24 PM']EDIT: His version of Times Like These is brilliant too[/quote] Indeed it is.

[quote name='beerdragon' post='476253' date='Apr 30 2009, 06:22 PM']I quite like Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) the acoustic version.[/quote] Glen Campbell's version is much better.

[quote name='liamcapleton' post='476049' date='Apr 30 2009, 02:40 PM']I love Anthony's playing, but I do not love his blinkered and ultimately short-sighted bitterness. The future of music could be bright if all the 'has-beens' weren't so tied up in believing that some horrific musical apocalypse was just round the corner. It's the sort of view that serves only to damage people's perception of music in the future, and I think direct criticism of his notion of pessimism in that particular article is well-founded. He actually strikes me as incredibly arrogant anyway in interviews.[/quote] Very well put on both points. He's a superb player no doubt, but there's an inherent arrogance in the vast majority of the articles I've read by him that is really off-putting. The subtext always seems to be "You are all just bass players, but I'M ANTHONY f***ing JACKSON and I inhabit a higher plane than you will ever possibly attain". Jeff Berlin takes a lot of crap for the things he says in print but I think Jackson is far worse.

[quote name='lowdown' post='475798' date='Apr 30 2009, 10:46 AM']So are you into geezers with fat arses? Garry[/quote] That would be great as in "BIG", not "Hey, that's great!" Maybe the use of the word "great" to denote size (it's proper meaning, BTW) does not occur in the colloquial language of Essex.

A VERY little known bass fact: I used to have two Rickenbackers. I Bet nobody would get that right.

Anthony Jackson spouts an incredible amount of horseshit. He's right to be worried about the demise of the large recording studio as they're the only places that can comfortably accommodate his great fat arse.......

The shops in Denmark St. have got nobody but themselves to blame for their decline IMO. The attitude of the staff in all the shops and their prices (the most expensive place to buy a guitar IN THE WORLD,apparently) have been appalling for years, long before the Musicground mafia took over the street. I don't even bother going down there when I'm in London anymore - same old sh*te hanging on the walls, same old w***ers behind the counters.

[quote name='BigBeefChief' post='474324' date='Apr 28 2009, 04:37 PM']How comes?[/quote] Just never really fancied it.

[quote name='john_the_bass' post='474097' date='Apr 28 2009, 12:04 PM']One of these: [/quote] An Aston Martin estate? That's just wrong on SO many levels. I don't drive. Never have, never will. My attitude has always been "If you want me in your band you can bloody well come & pick me up". I haven't been in a band for a while now.......

Bloody hell, you've got some lovely basses. (I'm still mourning the fact that I didn't get the money together in time to buy your Zon Legacy....)