Chris2112

Urgh, "bass noodling" at its worst. I love a good youtube bedroom slap fest like the rest of us, but this really struck me as aimless and uninspired. The recording was pretty poor and doesn't show off the MM well, as it sounds hollow and lifeless. I didn't enjoy that.

It's always a shame when people receive bad customer service.

[quote name='Dubs' post='941328' date='Aug 31 2010, 08:13 PM']Depends on year/condition, but you could probably expect a bit of change from £1300, even for a very nice condition early Thumb. In the current market you could probably expect to be able to find one for about £900 without too much looking, even cheaper if you're willing to wait.[/quote] I recall there was a fretless NT 6 string Thumb here for £1300 a while ago - that just shows you the huge mark up you get in shops! As it is, NT thumbs are pretty common and finding a good used one shouldn't be too much bother, but £1300 is a lot. I had a BO Thumb from 1999, with a wenge neck and the old neck profile. I loved it, and it definitely wasn't a neck dive nightmare, although I wear my basses "Mark King" style - if you like to wear them low it could be an issue.

I certainly do check out the gear on stage. If I saw P basses and ampegs, I know the band will probably be pretty bad, or at least not to my taste. It's the same deal if I see a Les Paul and a Marshall. If I were to see a Status or an Alembic plugged into a Trace Elliot head, I'd probably think the band would be pretty good - or even if their material was crap, they'd have awesome chops in rehearsal! I used to see a lot more gear when I worked in a hotel. I remember seeing a hugely professional looking band once, they had their own stage rig and everything, a 20' construct with their own light show. Every piece of kit on the stage was top end too, the bassist had a Fodera Emperor 5 string with a beautiful quilted maple top played through a Genz Benz head and 8x10" cab. I bet he was a great fusion player, although the band's material was probably a load of crap, as it often has to be to get hotel party gigs!

[quote name='hillbilly deluxe' post='937958' date='Aug 27 2010, 11:42 AM']Precisions were so called because they have frets,and can be played easily with ............erm precision.[/quote] I know, but they've still never felt terribly precise to me! Perhaps that is the 60 year old design speaking!

It's good, but I think Rise has the most incredible PIL bassline. One of my favourite songs of all time!

It's a shame to hear they're having this problem as I really, really liked the two TC Electronics bass heads I played through.

[quote name='51m0n' post='935534' date='Aug 25 2010, 12:00 AM']That is properly pornographic and no mistake, mind you I'd feel a bit of a t*t getting it out for a jam at the dog'n'duck [/quote] The owner of that used to be on Talkbass when I used the site. IIRC it has a diamond or some sort of jewel embedded in the board around the 12th position. Not the sort of thing you'd take down the Dog and Bollock for fear you might lose it!

I'd still love to sit down with a Fender Jaco signature and have a proper go of one, rather than just 10 minutes in a shop. I fear though I might be disappointed given that the other fretless basses I like are all high tech, hand made affairs. IIRC Guitar Guitar in Newcastle had one a couple of years ago, one of the most beautiful fenders I've seen!

I think ESP made one called the turbot too! The Precision bass has always been a duff name, as I generally think of P basses and Gibsons when people talk about wooly sounding basses that play badly - there is nothing precise about them! Also, not so much the name but the logo of Low End basses is pretty bad. I remember a discussion on Talkbass where people were discussing whether it was supposed to look like an arse or a scrotum. The luthier chimed in and said it was supposed to look like neither. How embarassing.

I guess on the feelings I get from graphite necks and the kubicki neck is a feeling of near invincibility. That's the stability and strength coming in to play. A friend of mine had a Geddy Lee jazz and it was a great player with a nice sound, but that neck was so thin and frail. Even in the modestly temperate North of England, the neck would shift with the weather. The action was low, but you could put it in it's case on a Monday night and it would be buzzing away on a Tuesday evening!

I remember seeing a Wal on sale at the gallery for £1200 a few years ago. It had some mojo but I recall a year later it would likely have appreciated probably 70% in value. It's a funny old game we're in!

I always thought Michael was a great player. Nothing flashy in Van Halen but rock solid backing and he's definitely a name to drop when you're talking about no frills, solid time rock bassists.

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='936978' date='Aug 26 2010, 11:33 AM']I'm tempted to give Graphite a go... I'll still stay with my opinion that the circuit has the biggest influence on the sound of the bass though. The stability and the fact that it is something different really appeals to me. Perhaps I should do an AB test on the same bass to see where we end up.[/quote] Of course, if you put some piss poor Precision pickups into a Status bass it'll sound dire. But with my Stealth bass, it was so ridiculously stable. It was a fair sized bass too and yet it weighed very little, yet felt like it could withstand a tank driving over it. I'm in talks over a new (to me) Status bass at the moment now!

I must have about 2K worth of gear, I've been fortunate though and have traded and sold on many basses so I've had plenty to play with without having to spend loads of cash after the initial outlay.

I must have about 2K worth of gear, I've been fortunate though and have traded and sold on many basses so I've had plenty to play with without having to spend loads of cash after the initial outlay.

The hum of an industrial ventilation unit, White noise can be so soothing.

Tony Butler of Big Country never got a signature guitar. He played a few Fender P's in the days when Fender didn't make signature basses (that would have to wait until 1992 for the Fender Urge with Stuart Hamm). He did notably play a hell of a lot of Aria basses, I'm surprised they didn't make him one! Hell of a player too, as good as rock players get and one of my favourites!

I know P basses sound old and wooly and Status Kingbasses are bright and snappy, but between that there are too many variables! I still stand by my love of graphite necks though, they are cool beyond cool.

I think unfortunately we've evolved our craft too far, too quickly to actually be able to assess objectively what things sound like. Does maple sound brighter than rosewood? To my ears, yes, but perhaps this is just programming my ears have came to accept to fit whats being told to my brain. I've seen some real "experts" on Talkbass looking buffoons over "is it a P or a J" blind tests.

I should also mention my Sabre "Special" custom bass here. This is a great one too: lovely fat Sabre neck, beautiful woodworking, great SD pickup and preamp. Fantastic for fat, burpy funky bass tones. It doesn't see as much playing time as the Alembic but it is a nice one to fall back on when I just want to play a 4 string. bagged it for £500 too, quite the steal!

[quote name='Vibrating G String' post='934362' date='Aug 24 2010, 02:04 AM']That's very interesting that it would sound like graphite to someone (ignoring the 32" scale here) as the Kubicki has a lot in common with some graphite necks, as it's many 1/16" layers bonded together making it a composite neck. Using cellulose where the graphite necks use carbon. Funny how the old Moses necks are said to sound like graphite when the overwhelming majority of the neck is resin. If a "graphite composite" neck is the sound of graphite is a phenolic fingerboard the sound of paper?[/quote] I think with graphite necks, or indeed "resin" necks, what you're hearing is the general tonal properties of materials that are stiffer and more resonant than woods. With the Kubicki, I feel some of "graphite like" quality comes from the fact that it is naturally a very bright sounding bass with the ebony fretboard, maple body and well voiced active electronics. Furthermore, the 6 position preamp has some very bright sounds, especially in the basic active mode. In the hands of Stuart Hamm, the Ex Factor's most prominent user, it sounded very bright. Bright, but always full and resonant and never thin or clackety. With Vail Johnson, it sounded even fatter, but still incredibly well voiced and articulate - it would be easy to mistake it for sounding like it had a graphite neck and indeed, that was something that Phil looked at and eventually turned away from in order to find a more cost effective solution to having strong and highly resonant necks.

Wal are an obvious one, and I'd rank my fretless Alembic Epic up there with the best of them. Flawless construction, incredible playability, ergonomically pleasing - it's an absolutely brilliant bass. It has what I like in fretless basses: burpy, middy sound which is pleasing "poppy" and pronounced without being thin or harsh and effortlessly low action meaning it plays itself and produces expressive vibrato with the greatest of ease and plenty of room between the strings at the bridge end for Jaco style 16th note finger funk lines. Every time I sit down with that bass I am pleasantly reminded of how good an instrument it is, and much like my Kubicki it's a pleasure to own. I'm very proud of that one, it's been through a few good studio jams now.