Grassie

+ 1 for Ms. Charles and Mr. Beggs, although I don’t think Mr. King is much of a session player (although he has played on albums for the likes of Nik Kershaw, Midge Ure, Dominic Miller, and David Bowie), he’s obviously more known for his own band. 😊

Having read through everyone’s contributions, and seen a load of names that have made me go “oh yeah!” I’m tempted to make it a top ten… 😁

I would put Marcus down as a session guy. Yes he fronts his own thing, but as mentioned earlier, his early work in the NY scene is massive. And he still does sessions. 😊

Evening all, So who do you regard as the best guns for hire in our world of low end? Our go-to gurus, those unsung heroes of the bass world that lurk in the background either on rekkid or on stage? Heres my 5 in no particular order: Gail Ann Dorsey Guy Pratt Pino Tony Levin Doug Wimbish Some mighty players there, plus some bonafide iconic lines from some (I’m looking at you Pino, Levin, and Pratt). 😎

Done! The Isle of Wight is all mine. 😊

I should add that the bassist is also the band’s MD…

First time we saw them he was playing that Gretcsh, last week he was playing what looked like a Westone Thunder (single split P pickup). Both were inaudible.

Hi all, Last weekend I took Mrs Grassie to see a band called Calling Planet Earth. They are an 80s “tribute” act (more of a review show) and play a lot of stuff from early in that decade like Duran, Spandau, Gary Numan, OMD. They are fantastic, great musicians and put on a decent show. However…. We could hardly hear the bassist. All those fantastic tunes with the bass high in the mix on the originals, but were practically inaudible when CPE played them. It’s the second time we’ve seen them at this venue, and it was the same last time. I had hoped it was an anomaly first time and that we’d be able to hear those impeccable grooves, but alas ‘twas not to be. It looked to me like they were all wearing IEMs as there were no amps visible on stage, and the bassist seems to be enjoying himself, as did everyone else, so I’m assuming what they were hearing was fine. Anyone else seen them, and wondered where the bass was?

A few years back, someone on here sold a Washburn Pat Badger signature prototype. Bantam style body shape, active EMG P/J (with reverse P pup). I could tell how awesome it sounded just by looking at it. It was up for around £450, which I thought was an absolute steal, but missed it by a couple of days.

New song from the upcoming album...

Hamers were very popular with the US rock fraternity during the 80s, so possibly a Hamer Slammer.

The reason I ask is that I had some dealings with the Romford store regarding a damaged used bass a while ago, but the guys there were super-helpful and managed to turn around a repair and despatch (along with a no extra charge upgraded hard shell case) within 48 hours. Very impressive stuff. I would use them again.

@lemmywinks can I ask which branch of PMT you’ve been dealing with?

I’ve also done a stint in scheduling… 😊

Composite lay-up operator here, with resin infusion experience…. 😎

Saw them at the Isle of Wight fest last month, was really surprised at how great they were live. Paul played some really great grooves. RIP.

I haven’t actually sat down and made a list, but I would say with some confidence that his playing on their recorded output is probably 50/50 slap/fingerstyle. Yes, he is one of the most famous slap players on the planet, but as his career progressed, you can hear the histrionics make way for a more restrained (mostly) style.

Surprisingly difficult to find a decent version of this from their mid 80s prime, but this clip of Mr King and Co from 91-92 is great. I love the sound of that Alembic, and the bass break in the middle is awesome. 😎 As much as I adore many other bassists, I simply cannot deny the influence this man and his amazing band had on me. 😊

Very jealous! If I’d have known they were playing the Engine Rooms I would have popped over… A big influence on me is our Cass, I’d just started playing when they broke through. I’d regard them as a British version of RATM - heavy, groovy, politically charged, unique. And I’ve never seen anyone hit the drums as hard as Mark Richardson.

Hi all, I have a G&L Kiloton (Tribute) which I like quite a bit, but I'm after more of a Stingray vibe tone-wise, so the question is can I fit an L1500 active circuit to the bass without having to change the pickup? I'm guessing the answer is "yes", but was wondering if anyone here had done the same thing. As far as I can tell the KT is a passive version of the 1500, so I'm assuming it would just be a case of replacing the wiring loom and adding a battery compartment. Any thoughts?

I would use this if I needed to play slap. I can’t slap with my bass at “standard” height (ie waist height) but can do it when it’s strapped higher (a lá Mark King). Not that I’m much of a slapper to be fair… 😊

A pint is my limit when gigging, primarily because I drive my own gear around, but there have been occasions where I can drink and not worry about driving. The problem I have with that is that after two pints my playing gets progressively worse.

Nearly all of the basses I’ve owned have been just above entry level or mid level instruments, apart from a ‘96 US Fender deluxe Jazz 5er, but I’ve never had anyone sneer “urgh a Squier?”. In fact whenever people talk to me about my gear (ie about twice a year) they always compliment me on my sound, which I put down to my Gallien Krueger rig. Fenders/Squiers have an inherent sound which doesn’t really differ (to my ears anyway) between Affinity’s up to American made basses - that is to say a Precision will always sound like a Precision and the same with their jazz basses. I’ve moved on to G&Ls (tribute series) and I’m still getting people say that they sound great. I noticed a while back that American musicians seem to play decent high quality instruments that aren’t Fenders or Gibsons ie Spector/Warwick/Ernie Ball/Ibanez/Yamaha, and aren’t swayed by what looks “cool” or appropriate for a particular kind of music, whereas most UK bands have bassists and guitarists that will play vintage Fenders or Gibsons and there’s very little variation between bands. Now, whether these bands choose these instruments based on their looks is not for me to say, but maybe that’s a kind of snobbery there…