WinterMute

Geddy Wee of Gush?

Surely thats Geddy Pee of Rash?

The various Line 6 units are very good too, particularly the rack version.

Deep Purples tribute to the potteries, Stoke on the Water.

I've had a Boss CE-2B Bass chorus since they came out in the early 80s, it's always worked brilliantly for my sound and I've never really used anything else in my rig, I do like a bit of Dimension D on the fretless DI feed, but it b*gg*rs the low end up a bit on the main track. I have mine on an FX loop off the Quad Cortex, switch it in to any patch I need. The Roland Jazz Chorus model on the QC is very good too, especially on a 2 channel bass patch with all the drive and grit on the other channel.

Stacked knobs? Can't say I've noticed guv...

I've tried dynamic clicks in the past, as you note, often more trouble than they're worth, however, the last few years I've been using Beat Detective in Protools to analyse the drummers performance, this works best if you bounce a stereo track into an empty session, then extract a tempo map of the performance and import the component audio into that. This gives you a properly conformed timeline for everyone else to work with and keeps loops and samples honest too, without sacrificing the drummer original feel. Even quantising MIDI performance work to the groove.

William Gibson pretty much nailed this in Idoru, AI holographic pop stars marrying real rock stars, his AI were self aware however, and that is a completely different kettle of fish. Great art is transcendent, I can paint-by numbers, I'll never paint a Monet (insert you favourite dead artist here) similarly I can write a song, but I'll never turn out The Long and Winding Road or While My Guitar Gently Weeps, and neither will AI Until it becomes self aware. That day may come sooner or later and then the problem won't be songs in the pop charts, trust me.

Essential tool for recording, there's so much LF in signals that don't get translated by anything other than the top full range monitor systems, guitars, keys, loops, proximity effect on vocals, it's not just basses that need them. I have a very capable LF extension system on my monitors and I can hear the differences in mixes where LPF's haven't been employed properly. I don't; see live as being any different and a lot of live engineers will use general LPFs on a lot of inputs.

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...