thodrik

This is going back a few years, but when I A/B a Skyline to a Sandberg I much preferred the Sandberg in terms of playability. However I am very much a Fender-design fan so I am at home with anything in that style. In terms of pickups and preamp, it really comes to personal taste. To me the Sandberg MM pickup in the JM position doesn't give a proper MM type feel (to me it is more like a really powerful jazz bass pickup, which I really like). So if you want pickup that can more accurately copy a single classic MM sound then Lakland might be a better shout for pure versatility. The Sandberg MM pickup though to me really blends well with the front pickup. In the end I bought a Sadowsky Metro, back when you could buy one for £1600. The Sandberg JM was a close second. My nephew actually has the Sandberg MM, which essentially to MM pickups. It is a beast of a bass.

Nope, never happened. I totally imagined seeing him use one on the 97 reunion show I saw on video when I was 12 which inspired me to eventually buy one six years later. Of course, some retro bands really want to focus on vintage gear, so want people to use instruments the band used in the 1970s rather than what they used in the 1990s.

Most basses are versatile. My problem has generally been that a lot of times I have been in groups where the band leader really wants a bass that is either a Fender or looks really like a Fender. If I didn't bring something like that to the initial rehearsal then there was the chance that I wouldn't get the gig. It is absolutely ridiculous but it does happen and has cost me money in the past when I didn't bring my old trusted Fender Precision to the initial try out rehearsal. The reverse happens as well ('oh god, not another Fender!') but is less common in my experience. For example, I didn't get a gig in a Black Sabbath/Deep Purple cover band because apparently my bass didn't look right and they wanted something that looked like a Fender, despite the fact that Roger Glover has played a Vigier Excess for decades and the bass that I brought to the initial rehearsal was...my Vigier Excess. If you don't anticipate that kind of thing being an issue then just get whatever you like. Rather than specific makes I would consider: - do you want/need traditional J style pickups in traditional 60s or 70s positions, or do you want/need a humbucker pickup - how many frets do you need? - (if you have a distinct preference) what string spacing do you like? - do you want/need a two band or three band EQ? - what kind of radius do you like on the fingerboard (something like a Warwick will have a very flat radius, a traditional Fender jazz type will generally (not always) have a more rounded radius. Generally if you are at the 'what should I get stage' then it would be worth trying different makes of basses.

My brother gave me that one too!

I listened to Electric Ladyland through my laptop from a YouTube video and was really unimpressed. It really didn’t compare to my memory of the first time I heard it on my dad’s really expensive hifi system in the early 1990s. I was particularly aggrieved when the solo to Crosstown Traffic was interrupted by an advert for a Nic Cage film.

Well, the Fender Board are just operating in mysterious ways and still haven’t found what they are looking for in terms of profits.

When I was really hard up, my Trace Elliot 1x15 functioned as both my gigging cabinet and as my principal living room coffee table.

I'm guessing that Mike McCready is switching to playing a Telecaster and just bought a Line 6 Helix, rendering all the gear he trashed to be utterly redundant.

I'm not aware of the stinky poo bass overdrive, unless that is the new nickname given to the Boss ODB 3.

I have always fancied stacking a Way Huge Swollen Pickle straight into a Malekko Barker Assmaster.

Just went on the website and all the amps are still there. They are just lumped in with with all the pedals and guitar stuff under the Musician product category. They have also been owned by Behringer for a considerable period of time.

Tate FX 'Brexit means Brexit' Rat based pedal and I am really sad that I didn't buy it.

I had an Aguilar Agro for years. It is really good but doesn't have a blend knob. It doesn't cut bass, however it doesn't give that 'ooomph' low end push you get with some drives. More of an 'always on' drive. On low gain settings it doubles up well for a mild overdrive 'clank'. I only sold it because after nearly ten years I was just needed to try something new. My pal also made me a GCI Bass Brutalist. Essentially it is a DIY bass distortion that is similar to a Rat circuit. Very greasy and dirty. Andertons also stock the Frost Giant Bass Mountain overdrive, which frankly is such an awesome combination of words that I really want one irrespective of how good they are. Catalinbread SFT might be worth a shout if you want an 'Ampeg in a box' kind of sound which is not a Tech 21 Bass Driver/VT Bass type pedal. I also tried a ZVex Basstortion for a similar vibe but didn't like it for the price.

Most of my bands have had t-shirts but I have never kept (or in many cases - acquired) any of them. Mostly because they were made for selling and if each band member kept one it would eat into the profit margin (the realities of being in small original alternative rock/metal bands post 2008 credit crunch). I have never kept a show/tour poster either, even though a few of them were very cool. This isn't a 'me not being sentimental' thing so much as a 'me moving a lot and not wanting to acquire too much stuff' thing. I would try to keep a copy of my complimentary CD for every release but some of them have been lost in home moves too. Some of my bands released vinyl records and tapes but I never kept them as I didn't own a tape player or record player to listen to them on! I thought I would start to collect more stuff after purchasing a home in 2018. However, my most recent band released an album last year and I have already lost my complimentary copy. Also lockdown and fatherhood has really limited my gigging in any event. The most I will do is maybe Google the band name so I can re-listen to the stuff on Bandcamp/Spotify or the like.

I used to say get a set of four string Elixirs in your preferred gauge and the buy the high C string. However I have found it difficult to source the said high C string for nearly a year as they seem to be permanently out of stock at Strings Direct.

Steve Albini actually does offer affordable rates to indie bands. He does work to scale which has always made him somewhat attainable to bands. However you are very much getting a ‘sound of your band playing live in a room’ type of recording rather than a highly polished product.

My old Fender is brilliant for stacking one fuzz on top of the other. I can’t get the same raucous OTT fuzz on the Sadowsky even when using it in passive mode. For general ‘sitting in the mix’ medium overdrive though I prefer the Sadowsky. Also the Fender is falling to bits after twenty years of owning it!

A Sadowsky Metro (made by Warwick) might be a good option. I use a ten year old Sadowsky Metro Not for full on doom but it could definitely cover whatever ground you want. Looks vintage enough but can get somewhere close to vintage Fender tones if you want. For heavy fuzz tones I actually prefer passive basses. Edit: Sandberg might be worth a look too.

Honestly a P bass is the perfect place to start. it really depends how far into the ‘aesthetics’ you want to go. An all valve amp and an 8x10 would be the traditional route but it isn’t exactly practical. In terms of traditional doom basses maybe a Rickenbacker would fit the look of old school doom too, but frankly you can pretty much use anything you like. A Warwick could definitely be a good doom bass.

They exist in the USA but not in the UK. Probably production issues not dissimilar to what is happening with Mesa.

If it was given to him at Live Aid in 1985 then he wouldn’t have had it for the ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ video shoot in 1984.

The lack of case/protection for the valves, horrendous layout of controls and difficult to read handwritten markings would make it a 'no' for me, even if it was priced at £800.

An overdrive pedal with a built in webcam!

An announcement that they will from now on exclusively build all valve amps and matching 4x12s and 2x15 cabs would perhaps be unlikely. I would guess that they announce a range of class D amps that can also act as an audio interface, perhaps also including an inbuilt cab sim. Something like that.

With spare amps, my main consideration is getting something that is easy to carry around and generally is only needed in an emergency. If I was looking for a brand new spare amp in that price bracket I would probably be looking at an Aguilar Tone Hammer (probably the smaller 350 watt version just to save space). Into the £700 bracket maybe the Darkglass 500 amps. I would mention the Mesa D350 or 800 but I would doubt any will be in stock. Maybe the EBS Reidmar as well. Being honest though I would not spend that much on a backup amp I would rarely use. I would probably buy something like the TC Electronic BQ 500 or TE Elf if buying new, given the chances of an ABM 600 going wrong on a gig is fairly minimal. That way it would be a minimal outlay. If weight is not an option then generally I would just get whatever I can find second hand for about £300-£500 on Ebay, Reverb or BC marketplace. That is why I ended up with an old Trace Elliot SMX head as a backup for years, which I sold because it was a pain to carry around an amp that I never used!