Krysbass

Rockschool did a roadshow at one point and after seeing 'Enry at Liverpool's Royal Court, I also later treated myself to a black Thunder 3. Still have it, and still play it regularly since replacing the innards with Bartolini pickups and 3-band eq a few years ago to give it more modern functionality.

Call me an old cynic; but when some pigeon-hole something as a "beginners' bass" it's often simply a combination of it not having the "right" name on the headstock and it not being sufficiently expensive and has little to do with the actual playability, sound or build quality.

Just about high enough to avoid the back of the bass contracting buckle-rash. Wrongly or rightly; that matters to me, but I've been playing long enough to know that this also works for me from an ergonomic perspective.

I was going to say that 50 - 60 years on from when The Beatles were happening; there has been plenty of other music released for radio stations to choose for their playlists. But that can't be right, as there are so many other songs from the last 50-60 years that radio stations still play to death (yawn) even though those songs must be included on most pop/rock compilation albums ever released and therefore widely included in most listeners' music record/CD/download collections.🤐

Eurythmics _ "There must be an angel" With that shrill, insanely overdone, intensely irritating vocal from the get go it is far from being among their best or most representative songs, yet for some unaccountable reason it's the song that seems to get as much radio airplay as all their other songs put together. I can only assume the great British listening public aren't hearing what I hear.😯

Great to see another Westone Thunder III in such good order. Modernised my identical TIII a couple of years ago with Bartolini pickups and pre-amp to give it a new lease of life primarily for my 80s band, only for the band to fold shortly after. Thankfully, well made basses last a lot longer than the flaky, enthusiasm bypass of some band members.😀

I put Bartolini pickups and electronics into my 1984 WestoneThunder III, but only did this because I had no intention of selling the bass having owned it from new plus the fact that even if I did sell it; it was worth disappointingly little, even in mint, original condition. So I decided to give the bass a new lease of life without massively altering the appearance. The Aria bass on the other hand is arguably more sought after and unless the definite intention is to keep it forever; I'd also support the view that it's best not to modify it in any way that can't be reversed.

In covers bands, any song featuring Morrissey was the only thing I ever wanted to veto. My only reason was that his voice and singing style irritate me too much (think dentist’s drill or nails on a blackboard) to allow me to listen to any of his songs long enough to learn it. So it’s with a wry smile to myself that now, at long last, there’s another good reason not to cover Morrissey. Only problem is; I can’t see my band activities resuming post-COVID-19, so I’m unlikely to ever put that argument to the test.😏

I briefly played saxophone then switched to clarinet at school and even played in the school junior orchestra when I was 12 or 13. But neither instrument really gelled with me, mostly due to having to endure the discipline of learning to read music for pieces that I was uninspired by and then play them. A lot of my home practice time was illicitly spent working out songs or lines that I liked - but playing them by ear - rather than the stuff I was supposed to be doing. This was infinitely more enjoyable and satisfying to me. But inevitably my tutor and I had to agree that I was not making the expected level of progress, so I dropped the clarinet lessons and took up competitive swimming instead!😂 I was 19 by the time I realised that bass guitar was my instrument - but again no reading of anything written down and only using my ears to learn songs for the past few decades. But I also bought myself a saxophone a couple of years ago - unfinished business and a chance to learn it the way I wasn’t allowed to all those years ago.

Great value - and curious to see new ReBop DLXs still for sale; given that the DLX version was discontinued around 5 years ago - when I picked up my DLX 5-string for a similarly low price from Thomann.

The nylon washer broke on one of the original machine heads on my Ibanez SR600. Other than the battery clip needing replacing, this is the only thing that has broken in nearly 10 years of heavy use. My solution was to invest in a set of Gotoh GB707s. These seem to be solidly engineered and are a direct upgrade requiring no modification to the headstock - given that these are original hardware on the SR premium models. I’ve fitted Gotoh machine heads to 4 of my basses and use Glued To Music, (UK based) as they usually have a good selection of Gotoh products in stock.

A great and versatile bass IMHO - I’ve owned mine for nearly 10 years now and despite playing since 1982, the SR600 manages to be my most gigged bass.

I’ve used the same amps and two 2x10 cabs since around 2008. It packs a punch when needed yet takes up very little floor space and as it’s modular its very portable. So I tend to think it’s better to have it but not need it than to need it but not have it.😋

I learned in my youth that there are other, non-musical equivalents of this. Back when I left school, I did some work experience helping a surveyor at Lime Street station in Liverpool. Armed with a theodolite and taking various readings over a couple of days; I lost count of the number of people compelled to pose for the “camera” in what, to them at least, was a display of epic and inventive comic genius. So in my gigging exploits over the decades since then not much surprises me. And I’m also aware that in any case; it’s mostly the singer and/or guitarist who are the main focus of weird, unwarranted or plain unwanted attention from punters at gigs. I think many non-musical types still struggle to understand what bassists do.

My most recently acquired bass is a Spector ReBop DLX 5-string (EMGpickups). It’s the only Spector I’ve ever played in approaching 40 years as a bassist, but my most gigged bass is an Ibanez SR600. The best recommendation I can give is that I love the core sound of the Spector so much that I keep trying to emulate it on my other basses - with only limited success.😯

It’s the sort of bass that someone might buy to naively help make some sort of statement that they (and/or their band) “push the bounds“. But that will either simply fail abysmally and just look silly, or (much less likely); these basses will become so popular among a certain demographic that they become part of the establishment and don’t push any bounds at all.

I’ve had my SR600 since 2010 and it’s easily my most gigged bass despite playing bass since 1982! A real workhorse and the natural finish hides the inevitable bumps and scratches well. Only repair has been swapping the original tuners for a set of Gotoh GB707s. The acoustic is a more recent addition - as is the rosewood thumb-rest and black tuners to replace the original silver items...

This is a tough one because I’m a fussy sod so there must be a good half-dozen things that would put me off a bass. Best I can do is narrow that down to the two biggest deal-breakers for me which are any sort of pick-guard and maple or other light coloured fretboards. Just those two probably rule out a good 50% of the basses out there.🙄

Here’s hoping🤞 I use UPS regularly in my work and they do seem to have been suffering regular problems since the rise of COVID-19. We’ve had numerous packages to customers arrive several days late and one package going from Liverpool to Blackburn (Lancashire) was routed via Stanford le Hope in Essex for some unexplained reason.🙄

Got to admit FFYL (the Neil Murray version of course) has been a not so guilty pleasure of mine but a work in progress for the last few years. I’ve never played that song live, but I did put the work in for one band to get Neil Murray’s also great bass line on Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City fairly close, only for the song to be dropped by the lead guitarist/band leader. I later found out that my predecessor in the band had kept the bass line very simple, so with that and a few other incidents, I gradually built a suspicion that the lead guitarist didn’t want anyone else in the band to steal his thunder or even share a little of his limelight.😯

I prefer rosewood, ebony or any other dark coloured wood on a fretboard - but this has nothing to do with the sound and everything to do with the look. Then there’s the practical consideration of the frets being more visible in dim lighting. - Something I found more useful in my early years as as bassist.🙂

I folded my last band in June 2019, chiefly because two of the 5 band members became rarely available for the constant stream of gig offers we were getting - so with an empty calendar there was no point continuing. I love gigging and hoped to find a new project, but I’ve been in bands long enough to know that the chances are high of coming up against the frustration of yet more time-wasters with availability or commitment issues. So in the enforced reality of lockdown I have had to rediscover the enjoyment of just playing at home, the challenge of developing my improvisational skills and a growing acceptance that my gigging days may be something to look back on.😏

Yet to break a string in over 37 years of playing. But I always keep the last set of strings removed from each bass in the case, as there’s a first time for everything.

On the subject of the pickups fitted to Rebops; I bought my ReBop 5 DLX new in 2015 and It came fitted with active EMGs (DC I think) rather than the expected passive EMG Hzs. At this point, Spector appeared to have dropped the DLX model in favour of the ReBop MM, so I wonder if they were perhaps going a bit off piste with the parts used on the final DLXs produced?

On the other hand; basses left out of their cases get more dusty more often. This may not be an issue to everyone, but as my time with my basses is very limited, I try to spend as little of it as possible cleaning them.👌