Chris2112

Wow, that is absolutely wretched! In fairness, it's the vocals doing the most damage to the whole affair as Mohini is a fantastic bassist. The more I hear from Will Smith and his talentless kids, the more I think he was a mistake. 

Seriously though, those vocals, urgh. Channeling the Yoko Ono vibes. 

I'll have to do a proper thread for this soon, my recently acquired 2009 Dolphin Pro-I. I've wanted one of these since I was about 15, when I was first getting on Talkbass and seeing all the lovely boutique basses that were at the height of their popularity at the time. I've owned a few Warwicks over the years and played even more and this one is an absolute 10/10. More gushing praise will follow when I give it a full write-up. 

9 hours ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

 

Damn 🤣🤣🤣

Funnily enough I was just speaking to my brother about this very video the other day (as well as another one where he has another extremely ostentatious Warwick custom, a seven string Corvette IIRC). It's an excruciating watch really, to the point where I almost feel bad for the guy. You can see he just wants to hold the bass and bask in it's implied credibility and the nervousness in him is entirely apparent as it becomes clear he's going to be asked to play it on camera. The interviewer almost seems sheepishly reluctant to ask him to play it and the results are... woeful. I suppose it's a bit like turning up to a track day in a Le Mans car only to find your skills are Miata Cup level (if that). 

Given that his two basses are probably commissions both well in excess of £12,000 (at a guess), I was interested in seeing who the guy is as he's not a name you see discussed in bass circles. I note his online biography mentions a host of other, more-lucrative pursuits before stating that he is a musician, which may explain that. Outside of Alembic, I can think of a custom shop more expensive than Warwick. Maybe Fodera, but their builds are maybe less 'jewel-like' these days. 

On 21/04/2024 at 04:39, Musicman666 said:

well of course you can always remove or reinstall training wheels but fretlines are permanent .. I think of them more like the diagram on top of a gear stick, essential at first but once you get the hang of it then not so much, however its good to know that they are there to fall back on when required. I have heard some reasons to not want fretlines such as they put some people off or others like the look of a plain board, but I suspect some just like to flex in front of an audience. If you want that no fretlines experience then you can always turn off the lights, ..so far I never felt the urge. Fretlines look pretty much like frets to me and I'm very comfortable with that particular look.

It's a neverending debate. I prefer fretlines myself as we all have positions where we're less fluid and accurate and the lines are a useful reference to compliment muscle memory, and particularly in any venues where the absolute clarity of the note you're may be compromised! Funnily enough, most lined fretless players don't look at the lines at all once they're playing, I don't think, because even the line on the side of the board is offset from where your fingers will be due to the angle of the neck and fretboard relative to your body. 

FWIW I have two fretless basses, one lined and one unlined and I like them both. There is definitely a 'flex' to playing an unlined board but unless you're Alain Caron it may be good to keep your ego in check. I've seen and heard a couple of guys playing fretless bass on unlined boards over the years who were probably not quite as in-tune as they thought 😂

Promoting your own originals band online must be painful. On the flip side, it amuses me that most listeners would rather go and hear some mediocre covers than something original (good, bad or somewhere in between). 

I used to have one of these, they're absolutely great. Fantastic neck profile and excellent ergonomics..

I've purchased a Warwick Dolphin from Stephen today and I'm pleased to give great feedback on the whole thing. 

Stephen was responsive to my messages and used a bit of a initiative to suggest a good mutual meeting point which saved any faffing on with a courier. The bass is exactly as described and in quite remarkable condition. Payment was handled by PayPal with no issues at the meeting point. 

I can recommend Stephen as a genuine seller and his long history at Basschat reflects that. Do business with confidence! 

On 01/10/2022 at 15:26, stu_g said:

I have one its a really nice bass,Bartolini pickups/electronics,hipshot bridge and schaller tuners with a wenge fret board and flame maple top.

It plays really nice i have never had to touch the setup.

Very cool! Love that. 

It is an absolutely dreadful as a piece of music but interesting to see what AI can do now. Not that that is necessarily a good thing or bad thing, but because the Basschat song sounds so generic and reminiscent of many an advert, one wonders if AI hasn't been churning out these jingles for years 🤣

The Sims Super Quad pickups sort of reminded me of this video:

This Lakland video has always stuck in my mind because I thought it was a brave move for the brand to break away from their longstanding relationship with Bartolini to develop their own pickups and preamp. However, whilst I could see the utility in having one bass that can mimic the sound of a few classics, it doesn't do any of the sounds as well as the basses it seems to emulate (with the exception of the P bass, but really that's neither here nor there, I don't much care for the sound of a Precision anyway).

When I heard the Sims pickups I didn't think they sounded like anything particularly special or great. I would tend to agree with the speculation that most players will tend to find a couple of sounds they like from a bass and settle with them. Certainly for a live situation, I can't imagine many soundmen wanting a bass tone and EQ that is constantly changing at the player-side, as they'll probably just try to squash out the changes at the board if they're at all paying attention. When Mark at Talking Bass moved to his Enfield with the Super Quads in it I was struck at how much more I preferred the sound of the Ibanez SR he used to use. I tend to be a player that wants a bass to do one or two sounds really well and I use each instrument in specific situations where it'll perform well. 

In my own semi-related experience, I used to have an ACG with the absolutely amazing ACG EQ-01 preamp in it. The tones it could produce were just astounding but I was forever fiddling with it. A lot of the time I should have been practicing was just spent noodling and faffing around with the tone controls! These days I value something I can just plug in and get a great sound from immediately. 

I've heard people say that their bass is the exception to the norm and that it has a thunderous low B with less than 34" scale. I've heard some 33" scales pull it off to a degree but at less than that, I remain unconvinced.

That said, when I think of the best low B strings I've heard in my life they were all on 34" scale basses! 

On 10/02/2024 at 16:19, Russ said:

I recall that his signature Status had crazy 36V electronics, with four batteries! I loved the design, with the downsized body - shame it was during Status' wooden neck phase (which they appear to have gone back to), would have loved to have seen one with a graphite neck. 

I'm sure he could have had one with a graphite neck if he had wanted. It must be the case that he preferred wooden necks, although that odd semi-hollow six string he had made had a graphite neck and he never seemed to do much with it. That one ended up on sale on this forum and was around for a while before it sold. There were a few Hellborg basses made with graphite necks in later years although none with the 36v preamp as far as I know.

Indeed I'd never heard anything about his Status signature bass being designed to sound like a Wal. Surely, multicoil pickups and a filter preamp would be needed for that. The famed 36v preamp was inspired by his love of a Neve desk with a boatload of headroom. The Status pickups were very clear and rich sounding. Even though his Warwick signature sounded fantastic, his tone with the Status basses when he was playing live with Shawn Lane and Jeff Super in the mid 90's was by far his best. Some of the best bass tone ever put to record, I think. 

On 05/01/2024 at 13:50, dmccombe7 said:

Oohh sparkly..............i like that. Would be good in my Glam covers band.

Dave

It's too nice a bass to put it through that 😂

Sick of all this cool gear turning up for sale in Newcastle 🤣

Thank you for the detailed replies! Very interesting and I'm glad to share this music on the forum. 

I definitely think it's a Clavinet and I'm glad you do too because that makes me a little more certain. One of those sounds, a bit like a Rhodes, that is great in a contemporary setting but you couldn't really use it everywhere. 

I often listen to this piece from Yoshihiro Naruse's 1981 'Mythique' album. At 00:11 seconds the keys player comes in with a really funky sound that reminds me of the Hohner Clavinet Model C, as used by Stevie Wonder on 'Superstition'. I don't profess to be an expert on that variety of instruments from that era and I'd like to know exactly what they used here on the track so I thought the seasoned listeners here could say whether or not in right in my guess (as your keys playing friends too, if you like). 

For us bass lads, you may be interested to know that the bass track was recorded on a fretless Alembic Distillate bass, and surely must be one of the first recorded instances of slapping on a fretless bass. 

Sad news. John will be remembered as a legend of the industry, not just for making a splash with his own enduring designs at a time when the bass world was really taking off, but for continuing to work at the highest level for decades after. I was only just saying the other day that Jaydee remained surprisingly affordable for a handmade British instrument, constructed to the highest standards. 

My thoughts are with his family, who I hope will find some comfort in knowing how well thought of John was. 

On 02/01/2024 at 13:16, Henrythe8 said:

I registered for this year's edition again, and I can't recommend enough the trip if you can. 

Last year with Craig Blundell and Alex Skolnick and Mohini Dey was exceptionnal. 

 

This year, drums duty will be in the hands of Dennis Chambers, so it's a great opportunity to improve your groove. 

 

 

The chance to play with Dennis Chambers is worth the asking alone. 

Just host them on Imgur and link to them if your phone can't manage it. 

I have to say, I really like those Flea jazz basses. 

Definitely stop.drop.rewind for me. I first saw them when Facebook showed me their 'we write a Midwest Emo song in 60 seconds' video, a very funny and clever little insight into a quickfire writing process that actually turned out a great song. Having followed that, I saw some of the short videos that bassist Kris Lohn had made where he was showing off some Geddy Lee parts from tunes like 'Red Barchetta'. I was inspired to look more deeply into their music and found their brand of 'nerd rock' to be much to my liking. It's uniquely complex and yet simple at the same time, because the sense of melody in each of their songs is so strong. When you start to look a little more closely you'll see the intricacies in the music; all shifting time signatures, counterpoint basslines, amazing harmony and big hooks. I think they're absolutely awesome, just an insanely good three-piece making something really fresh and cool. 

First of all, I think any band that would let this happen, namely, allowing an amateur to take the role of the professional, displays a general disregard for the value of the role they're undermining. Would the drummer, the most obvious ally of your would-be usurper, be happy for his enthusiastic wife to pound the skins for a 'few songs', come what may? I doubt it. But in many bands, the bass is seen as a lowly function. Admittedly, by the efforts of the bassists in a lot of cover and wedding bands I've seen, the reputation is often earned. The fact that she vaguely says she wants to play 'a few songs' suggests she'll want to play as many as she can get away with. And you will what, presumably stand around like a chump whilst all this goes on? 

Just tell her respectfully no, and suggest she find a different place to pursue her bass playing. 

It must be crap being without a bass. I can easily go a couple of weeks without even picking one up but whenever I get back to it I'm reminded of why I love it. Isn't that much the same for all of us? Hopefully your financial situation can be worked out. Are you working? Are you able to bang in a bit of overtime and earmark the cash specifically for a new bass? 

I had imagined this thread was going to be about those creepy pimp-style long nails that druggies use to sniff their coke. Not ideal for playing bass!