WinterMute

I have tickets for the Barbican date, don't much care about the prices and I'd buy the book anyway. I've heard Geddy Lee speak on a few occasions and he's excellent, I'm looking forward to it.

Exactly why I considered it (briefly), I have played an original 10 string Stick, well, I say "played", it was certainly making a noise... Nope, 5 strings is plenty.

Started playing 5 string in 1987 after playing precision/ricky copies since 1980, bought a Warwick Thumb that, unbeknownst to me at the time, had a legendarily thunderous B, tight as duck's whatsit in a sandstorm... I loved that bass, sold the Wal and the JD Supernatural and never looked back, playing originals is sessions and occasionally in bands 5 string just suits what I do. I stopped playing for 5 years and sold it. Went back to playing a few years later and started with a Geddy Lee Jazz and a Squire jazz fretless, both really nice basses, loved the Geddy neck, but I consistently missed having a B string, and so eventually picked up a Tony Levin OLP for a steal, a MM necked SR5 hybrid 5er. I've found that I have to pay close attention no neck profile as I have small hands., string spacing becomes very important, I find 18mm to wide, the Thumb was 16mm, the SR5's are 17mm, which works with the slim profile very well. When Alan Cringean built my fretless a couple of years ago he built it to 17mm with his asymmetric neck carve that feels very natural to me, contrasting with the Bongo that is just a little too chunky in my hands. I don't think I'd ever go back to 4 strings, 34" scale B strings on a rigid bass design are clear and tight, although you do need to keep the strings fresh. I'm never going to be playing covers or in the kind of band that demands a particular bass for the look, so 5 suits me just fine. Oddly I've never been tempted to even try a 6, although I did think about an NS Stick then they came out...

That's correct, I looked up the email Warwick sent me.

The serial numbers was stamped into the wood on the end of the headstock. This was my 87 Thumb, the K148 is the model reference and month, ie K14 is the 5 string thumb through neck, 8 is August (I think that's right) 87 is the year. (obvs). I sold this bass a few years ago, and I think that's what Warwick came back with when the buyer enquired.

Furman power distro/cleaner because you can't have enough clean power, everything on the audio circuit is powered through this. UAD2 A16 interface for the summing mixer output and more inputs than I need. Pheonix N16 Mk2 summing mixer for some class A analogue goodness on mix down. RND Shelford channel for my main mono input for mic and line. Patchbay because they are insanely useful. Amek 9098 Compressor limiter, Input compressor and buss compressor on mix down. The Amphion unit on the top is the amp/crossover for the FlexBass 25 sub behind the desk.

I'd like Universal Audio to integrate EUCON into their excellent Luna DAW... I'd switch from Protools in a heartbeat, but it's pointless as my S3 will only talk to it over HUI, which isn't as useful.

I really admire Mark King's playing, but I never got on with Level 42. I don't get the Chillie Peppers at all, not even when they've got socks on their c*cks... I ought to like Muse, but I don't, Chris Wolstenholme is a monster player though.

I don't remember if the Westone had neck-dive problems, it was the bolt on, not the through neck, so I wonder its that made a difference. The Wal sounded great, but I didn't like its dimensions as much. I p/ex'd it against a Thumb 5 string in 1988, kept that for 25 years.

The Bergatino 2x12 is pretty good.

I had a Thunder 1a Fretless in black, my first fretless bass, very underrated basses at the time, i think they get the recognition these days. I P/ex'd it against a Wal Pro 1 fretless, which was a better built bass but didn't play as well.

Distortion/drive will definitely help, as will a slower attack time on your compressor as others have suggested, although I also find that an LA2A style opto set to limit rather than compress makes the bass sit right up front. This is an old vid from a while back, tracking in Monkey Puzzle, RotoSound Swing bass rounds, LA2A Limiter and a bit of filth from the Ampeg STV model in the old Line6 Pod XT Pro. Add the aggressive striking of the stings to get the clank and it cuts well. Sorry about the ropey playing. IMG_1284 (1).mov

Play harder, hit the strings rather than plucking them, Geddy Lee and The Ox didn't need no stinkin' plectrums... Seriously, I've played aggressive finger style for decades, no lack of attack but you do build up some calluses and you get blisters if you don't play for a while.

I used a Crown XLS1500 bridged into mono with a Series 1 Big Twin for a long time, and monstrous it was too, I varied the pre-amp a bit, the Line6 Pod XT Pro rack gave way to a Geddy Lee 2112 then back to modelling with an XT Stomp. Once I stopped gigging, I moved it on as I really don't have space in the studio, and now I have a QSC K12.2 and a Quad Cortex, largely for rehearsal prior to recording. The XLS/Big Twin combination was easily the best stage rig I've ever owned, particularly while using the Pod XT, if I ever went back to gigging I'd grab a BT3 and a Crown XLS in a heartbeat.

Thanks for clearing that up, I've always wondered where they go and why they never seem to be in the same place...

I find my fretlesses completely mysterious, in that it's a complete mystery where the notes are...

Bit of Geddy solo, Moving to Bohemia.

I absolutely use amp and cab models, have done for years, Line 6 Bass Pod XT Pro, Line 6 Stomp, Helix and now the Quad Cortex, but I always capture a DI track to, a good DI input can save a bass recording in a difficult mix. I tend to run the DI through UA's Eden World traveller model for a bit of cab and room, but I've also been experimenting with "re-amping" back through the QC at mix down too.

> Shelford Channel DI > UAD2 Line input > TB2 to computer Bass > Shelford Channel Link > Quad Cortex > UAD2 Line input > TB2 to computer Tracking 2 mono channels, 1 clean DI with EQ and a touch of compression from the Shelford, 1 fully modelled rig w Amps, cabs, FX etc. I've listened to the USB output from the Quad Cortex, and I prefer the analogue output, plus I don't have to worry about phase accuracy with the Shelford channel output.

I have the twin Hercules AGS stand, works for anything with a headstock. Not much use with a Steinberger however...

The model styles are fairly consistent, a Krell is the same shape given the scale length and variations in things like fingerboard radius, but the electronics vary depending on the original choice, I think OP wants to have a play with the filter based pre-amp and the multi-coil pickups.

I'm in Iver near Windsor, with a fretless ACG Krell 5 string, but it's got narrow string spacing so I didn't go with the MC series pick-ups, as they can't be anything but 18mm spacing. I have RFB's and the DFM 4K. it's this one: https://acguitars.co.uk/project/0431krellfretless5-34/

Saw them in Birmingham at the weekend, Levin looks like he's having a ball... Shame the PA didn't have the LF to bring out his work properly, sounded great for the more delicate stuff, but lacked weight. Excellent gig though.

I was singing in a school mates band and the bassist left, Steve said "you can play bass, it's only one note at a time" so I did. He taught me to play a major scale and a minor scale and I learnt a bunch of songs and just got on with it. I'm sure I could be a much better player if I took advantage of all the resources now, but the need has never arisen and I've spent the last 45 years playing on sessions and in studio based bands, mostly doing other stuff at the same time, mainly engineering and producing.

Both, onstage monitor is an FRFR cab with a parallel feed sent to the PA from a Helix floor unit.