gjones

The opposite is also true. It's much easier for me to say things that may offend others, from behind the safety of my keyboard. My policy is, if I wouldn't say it to somebody's face, then I'm better off not posting it on the internet.

I'll pass on the bass but that drummer is tight as a ducks derrière.

I played one and found it quite twangy. The sound of a Jazz Bass does depend on how the pickups are set up. I own a road worn Jazz, which initially sounded pretty nasal. I adjusted the neck pickup, so that it was closer to the strings and lowered the bridge pickup, and this darkened the tone considerably.

Precisions and ashdowns do sound good. I played an R&B festival in 2015 and the amp supplied was an elderly looking Mag 300 and tatty 410. It looked underwhelming until I plugged my P bass into it and it sounded great. The year before, when I played the festival, they provided a valve ampeg and 8x10. The old ashdown sounded better. I snapped up a, UK built, ABM 500 head on Ebay recently. I haven't had the chance to play it live yet but I'm pretty certain it will bring a smile to my face when I do.

Exactly. I have 6 Jazzes (6!!!! how did that happen?) and they all sound different.

Mad drummer who was convinced I was too loud. Every gig he would moan about how I was too loud, until one day I turned my volume down completely to zero (as an experiment) and he still complained I was overpowering everything. At that stage I realised he was mad as a f**king hatter and decided he had to go. Luckily he got sacked at our next gig for stopping in the middle of a song because (you guessed it) I was too loud???? He' was a good drummer but obviously delusional. He joined another band and persuaded them to get rid of the bass player. Eventually, the penny dropped, and they got rid of him.

Excellent. Something that might be worth adding, as fundamental advice for a bassist or a drummer, is to sync up the bass and the bass drum. If they're not in sync, the rhythm can sound weak and disjointed, when they're in sync even very simple and sparse arrangements can sound very powerful.

I really liked my Ashdown Electric Blue 150. It was pretty loud and quite light (compared to a Peavey TNT). The Peavey TNT I used to own, was as heavy as a small planet, but was probably louder than the Ashdown.

Well I've played the MIM Precision Deluxe and I own the Fender Elite Precision. I actually prefer the Deluxe, as the onboard preamp is the same, as are the pickups, you get a Jazz neck, it's really well made and it's 2/3 of the price of the Elite.

When I get to hell, The Ukulele Orchestra Of Great Britain will there be waiting for me (shudder 😱 ).

Years ago I played in a duo with my brother in law. We were booked to play a gig in a small bar. When we arrived it was empty, except for the landlord and a little guy, obviously drunk, sitting at the bar. We sat and played, for about 30 mins, to an almost empty bar. This was bad enough, but suddenly the guy at the bar starting howling along to the music like a dog. Eventually I got so whizzed off, with the drunken leprechaun, that I put my bass down, walked over to him, picked him up bodily and threw him out the door. Of course it wasn't long before he scuttled back in and went back to his pint at the bar (but with no howling this time). We finished the gig and, although astoundingly the landlord asked us to play again the next week, we never went back.

Doesn't the guy in Royal Blood play something similar?

About 15 years ago I had a year's break from playing. When I eventually joined a band, I found my plucking hand regularly cramped up. I bought one of those hand strenthener gizmos, from a sports shop, which i used to build up the muscles in my hands. That did the trick and I've not had any cramps since (although I did end up with carpal tunnel but that's another story).

My philosophy is, when in doubt..........play nowt.

I like the neck on a Jazz and the clarity of tone. The ideal bass sound, that I hear in my head, is the sound of a Jazz. So when I play in my Blues/Rock band, I play a Jazz. But I also play in a country band and the Precision sound fits that genre very well. So when I play in the county band, I take my Precision. But saying that, I saw a video of my Blues/Rock band the other day, and in it, I was playing my Precision. It sounded pretty ballsy.

Edinburgh twice!!!!!

Watching the videos, I've noticed, that Gail Ann Dorsey didn't always play the exact basslines of many of the songs she played live with Bowie. He didn't seem to care.

Like throwing pearls to swine, pearls to swine 😱

I bought a USA, 75 reissue, FSR, from Bass Direct. They really know how to set a bass up! It had the lowest action I've ever seen on a bass. I have the feeling they could make an Argos own brand play like a Custom Shop.

Wellllll.........I walked into a crappy bar in New York where a band were playing. I sat down with a pint and listened to them playing pretty good Jazz Rock. I said to myself, that guitarist is obviously a big fan of Jeff Beck. I later found out that the girl on drums was Kim Thompson (Beyonce's drummer), The bassist was the one and only anthony Jackson, (steely Dan, Madonna, Buddy Rich) and the guitarist was Mike Stern (Miles Davis). They would have probably have gone down like cold sick in the Dog & Duck (can you not play any Oasis?).

I'd check what other bands they are playing with. Nothing worse than having a great drummer in the band who can never commit to gigs because they're too busy with other outfits. Let the other guys down easy, because you may need their services in the future.

If those prices are in £, then I can see why I bought a Yamaha back in 1992, rather than a USA Fender Jazz. It set me back about £400. Edit : The other price lists on that page are in $. So I suspect this one is too. In 1992 you could get, almost, two $ to the £. Which means an American Jazz would have been about £400. I wonder why I didn't buy one?

I dislike seeing lumps and bumps on a new bass. It gives the impression that it hasn't been looked after or that the owner is accident prone. I wouldn't personally buy a bass like that unless it was seriously cheap, because if I needed to sell it at a future date it would be difficult. An older bass will probably have some signs of use and it wouldn't bother me if it looked a bit roadworn.

If it actual had been in a fire and retrieved from the ashes, it could be seen as cool. On the other hand, if somebody just had a go at it with a blowtorch......then nah.