EMG456

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1396026102' post='2409217'] Given that I have never heard one, I would be very interested to hear some description of what this bass sounds like. [/quote] Your wish etc. etc. Here's the excellent John "Rhino" Edwards with the Judie Tzuke band back in the day playing one of his 4040s. I hope this thread isn't sparking huge interest in these - I've been trying to pick up a bargain one for several years now!! Cheers Ed [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXYKkOkJ4QM[/media]

[quote name='White Cloud' timestamp='1395997477' post='2408708'] Yes...but the leg brace is an integral part of the sheer ingenuity of the design. [/quote] Later models have the fold out leg rest but anyway I just play them on the strap, standing or sitting - perfectly balanced - set to any angle- makes no difference.

I've owned one of these since 1978!! The Jazz pickup has been added - they were straight P's. you will probably have to have the fingerboard re-finished - I had mine re-done a few years back - standard fretless maintenance. The body is made of what is sometimes unkindly called plywood - in reality it's more like a sort of mahogany butchers block. You can see the construction of mine in this thread. http://basschat.co.uk/topic/222067-plywood-bodies/page__view__findpost__p__2274488 Currently at £46, it's a massive bargain. Cheers Ed

Rickenbacker Steinberger Alembic Series I/ II Like your SB, they all followed the more parallel neck profile so a bit closer together at the bridge. Quite a lot of early 5 strings had tight spacing also. Probably the tightest will indeed be Kiwi's Steinberger XL2-5 - a five string contained within the dimensions of the already tight 4 string neck - it saved them having to make new moulds!! Cheers Ed

Beautiful! you're a lucky man. Once again I was outbid on one of these on ebay last week. Wonder if it went to anyone on here. One of these years I'll nab one! Cheers Ed

[quote name='MattM' timestamp='1395782898' post='2406353'] Agreed. Something you don't appreciate until you've owned one. [/quote] Well me and my original L2 are coming up on 30 years together later this year so I've seen the whole cycle from Uber-trendy through to complete ridicule. When I take them out now, what I'm finding is a lot of affection for them either from those unfamiliar who think "amazing instrument!" or from those who remember "Wow - don't see many of those about any more - sounds incredible" So I think we've finally got past the 80s fashion statement thing and they are more and more being recognised as the pinnacle of design and functionality that they always genuinely were. Cheers Ed

[quote name='Muzz' timestamp='1395356312' post='2401654'] Thanks for the kind words, but I'm positive. The ergonomics just don't work for me as a pick player - that top edge was cutting into the inside of my right arm within seconds, and the pickup sou [/quote] That's interesting. The Rick bass came to prominence mainly being played by pick players and when I used them, that was how I played also. I found them less useful as I moved across to fingerstyle. If you have always played Fender style basses, the Rick will feel very foreign but by fiddling about with strap height etc. I'm sure you'd be able to find a comfortable position for pick style playing but you're right about the tonality. They sound very different to any Fender type bass and that's something that you just have to accept and work with. For certain scenarios they really work very well but they are certainly not a universal bass in the way of a Fender P or J. Cheers Ed

Hear hear to that. This was my first time at one of these events but hopefully won't be my last. The organisation was flawless and the generosity of all the folks who brought along their amazing and expensive instruments for all to try was a wonderful thing to behold. Didn't help my ACG gas, right enough.,, Cheers Ed

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1395250998' post='2400265'] But you wouldn't do a country gig with an Alembic..that sport of thing.. [/quote] Well I would... or any of my Steinbergers, or a Fender P or J etc. etc. The point here being that this is nothing to do with music and sound and everything to do with visual appearance and fashion. Having never been a follower of fashion, I am free to play whatever bass I like at any point in time. And yes, the trends are cyclical. A few years back, suddenly Rickenbackers were right on trend again and it seemed that every other young band was using one. They seem to be off the boil now although the new walnut/ maple 4003 model may well change that again. The only thing certain in this life is change and the dial is unlikely to be perennially set to Fender! Cheers Ed

[quote name='ThePapabull' timestamp='1395268511' post='2400602'] thanks gjones……. really appreciate your comments…… and that makes loads of sense too…… but i really want to enjoy my sound. i tend to play betters when my sound is good [/quote] I absolutely agree with you on this. Your on stage sound can be crucial to the success of your musical performance so work to get it right for yourself first. On a gig you have virtually no chance of being able to judge what the sound balance is for the audience at any given point so leave that up to the front of house engineer or chance if there isn't one and aim for your own happiness. Good strong usable tone is shaped by many factors. Try going back to basics and setting all your EQ flat. This includes the eq on your bass also. Then make small changes to your taste and see how they work out. Don't go overboard on large boosts particularly to the bottom end- powerful eq can easily use up all of the overhead in your power amp and speakers and suck the life and punch out of your tone and yes, the JRetro preamp is powerful enough to do that too. Other factors to look at: What pickup balance do you favour on your Jazz? Both on equally can cause a mid-scooped sound that some folks can find troublesome. Where are you picking on the strings? Picking right over a pickup's pole pieces will create a much more dynamic and punchy sound than picking away from the pickup. Are you for some reason hitting the strings differently on the gig to what you do in rehearsal- we probably all do to some extent- you may be "digging in" more or playing a bit more timidly. Apologies if this is all stating the obvious to you but you cite lack of experience yourself as a possible factor so I'm just trying to point out some things to think about or try. Lastly, I have no experience of Mark Bass gear but it gets a good reputation so I'd imagine that you should be able to get a workable sound out of it. Sometimes however, a particular speaker set up will just not work well in a particular room and it's just one of those things you have to accept. Hope some of this helps. Cheers Ed

I see the shoes have the old checkerboard binding...

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1394806574' post='2395448'] I would, in the interest of full disclosure , like to point out that I do not [i]necessarily[/i] follow my own advice on any subject I may be offering the benefit of my considerable wisdom on, and never was that more true than on this subject of how unnecessary expensive basses are. [/quote]

All of this is rarely about need rather than desire. Never underestimate the power of a headstock decal. We don't "outgrow" our instruments - they don't actually do anything without our input - we give different input, they'll do different things. The fact is that we see something that looks nice, we want it. We see someone who's playing style/ ability/ technique/ image/ coolness factor is something we like and we think maybe some of that will rub off if we buy a similar instrument. It's just human nature and it can take a long time for us to work this out - some never do. I have instruments from all points of the price scale and they all have one thing in common - I like them. No bass is too expensive or too cheap for me to take out on a gig - they all do the same job and each is as valid as the other. Cheers Ed

Excellent stuff- I'll go and organise that now.

I'm on my way from Glasgow down to Leeds for a few days on Sunday - never been to one of these. Is it ok to come along but not bring any basses/ gear? Cheers Ed

[quote name='dmccombe7' timestamp='1394357981' post='2390531'] can anyone help. When I select a quote it doesn't appear in my reply to it. It used to be ok and I haven't changed any settings anywhere. Also when I type the 2nd line it misses letters or spacesat times Any ideas. I hve to type 1 lette a a t or I end up like thi ???? Dave [/quote] The javascript text editor doesn't work with the latest versions of IE. If you don't want to load up other browsers on your pc, just toggle the "fancy" editor off while you work with it and your quotes will work and your typing will not be interrupted. It's the first button at the top-left of the text editor toolbar. Cheers Ed

I was a complete Rick nut when I started out - had three for a while including a 4080 double neck!! From the Prog side of things, the guy who I reckon had the best Rick sound at the time - Neil Brewer of Druid. Detuned to D as well... unfortunately no video here but what a sound. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOq_NEc8LMw[/media] Also, rather better known, Jon Camp of Renaissance, here in a live Sight and Sound show... [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B578LuXbPI[/media] If you prefer a flatwound kind of thing, 10cc's Graham Gouldman - the first few albums were basically all Rick and interestingly I noticed video of GG and 10cc at Fairport's Cropredy festival in 2013 and lo and behold there was a black Rick again! [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rla4XoBRHY0[/media] Lastly but not leastly in the flats category, David Paton of Pilot - Magic as they say. Mr P also played on Kate Bush's first album and although alledgedly the bass on Wuthering Heights was played by producer Andrew Powell, it sounds suspiciously like Paton's Rick to me and indeed Paton says he played on it - funny old world. Cheers Ed [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe5Hd3eGMKw[/media]

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1394178768' post='2388671'] I like a bit of fret buzz too. It feels more lively. I set my bass up so that it's clean when I play gently, and buzzes a bit when I play hard. [/quote] Exactly this - I started playing in the era of Chris Squire and you couldn't tell where the fret buzz ended and the distortion began! Whilst that sound doesn't generally work for every kind of music, my basses are all set up to buzz when I want them to for a bit of growl. Also, where would a fretless be without buzz? Cheers Ed

Me too, pretty much. I think that the more you travel down the line, the less focused on the minutia of the tiny details like instrument setups, amplification rigs etc. you become and it is more about the music you are making and the folks you are making it with. That's not to say that I don't care - I'm extremely picky about amp rigs for example and when it's time for a change, exhaustively try out many combinations till I find the right one for me but I then forget about it until something happens to force me to change. This means that since I found the first rig that I thought "this is the one" way back in the mid seventies (Acoustic 370/ 301) I have had precisely another two rigs. Likewise with instruments - when I started out I was constantly fiddling with setups on my basses, could only play this song with that bass, needed this or that effect etc. etc. Now, it virtually doesn't matter. Again, it's not that I've lost interest - like many on here I have way more basses and other instruments than I actually need - but they all sound like me playing a bass and that's all that the guys I work with are bothered about. So yes - pretty happy and settled. Doesn't entirely stop the GAS though. :-( Cheers Ed

[quote name='JazzBassfreak' timestamp='1393882333' post='2385515'] . I am just not a fan of P pickups in general. Just being honest. [/quote] Maybe over time, seduced by the dulcet tones of the EMG/ Fodera combo, you will start to enjoy the old split pickup and a whole new world of prospective bass purchases will be opened up to you! Whatever happens enjoy your new bass- it looks great! Cheers Ed

Just checked back in here again. Yeah, the guy obviously had been doing some sniffing around on the net and declared that we'd have to add a zero to the price! I gave him a bit of background and told him that with it's general beat up condition and the broken headstock etc. it would not fetch top dollar and if he got an offer of a couple of hundred for it he should snap it up. He said he'll likely put it back on for £200. An Ibanez version has since appeared on ebay in the states looking for about £900! Guess what- it didn't sell and is now relisted for a tiny bit less. I had totally forgotten Jon Camp played one of these for a time. The other guy I remember was the guy from the Commodores. Cheers Ed

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1393953547' post='2386228'] Works for me.. [/quote] What a cracking looking bass! Gold hardware is much maligned on here but then often anything that's not a Fender Precision is ill appreciated also! I have four basses fitted with gold plated hardware and two of those I had made like that! Variety is the spice of life! Cheers Ed

Sara - there is a current fashion for bass players to use flatwound strings on all basses and a few on this thread have advised you to go that way. Both of the players you have quoted as the sort of sound you are after used roundwound strings on their basses so bear that in mind. I've played fretless regularly for longer than I care to remember now and apart from the set of black nylon tapewound strings which actually came fitted to my first fretless bass ("Oh look," said the drummer, "Ed's got a new bass and he hasn't taken the strings out of their packets yet!") a flatwound string has never been near any of my fretlesses and unless I have an unlikely change of heart, never will. Only trouble is roundwounds will wear the fingerboard more quickly - you need to slightly treat it as a consumable and just have some work done to it every so often. If you only play it for a couple of songs a night, it'll be years before it needs it. Also, the action on a fretless is crucial to generating the type of sound you want - lower action, more mwah, more sustain, higher action, less mwah, less sustain but a bit cleaner sounding. All need tied in to your own style of playing, how hard you hit the strings, where you like to pick etc - lots of variables and fantastic fun when you get it right. Main thing is rejoice in the fretlessness of it and the punters seem to love it! Cheers Ed

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1393876773' post='2385428'] How can having options be a crisis?? I, like many others, just use them in rotation - it's nice to be surprised by your "old friends" who you haven't used in a while.. [/quote] ^^This exactly. Plus (assuming like me you enjoy the zing of a roundwound string) you never have to suffer that last minute "Oh no, I forgot the strings are dead on this" moment - you just go and dig out another bass and use that one instead. Which is fine... until you get to the last one. Then it all gets a bit expensive... Cheers Ed