Chris2112

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='367665' date='Jan 1 2009, 01:45 PM']Now that's rare - A passive one [/quote] I hate to bring this thread back from the dead but I'm not sure it was a passive one...the tone controls had centre detents and I'm sure you could boost with it... ...never took the backplate off though, so perhaps there was a battery nestled in there?

Shame you had such a bad experience with Alembic, because the bass in the top post looks like a corker. I'd love to get my hands on another Alembic!

It doesn't look as nice now as it did in the first concept pictures. The sound is pretty awful too judging by this video, but I suspect the recording method and the dodgy playing might have something to do with this. This is a bit of a shame IMO, as I really hoped this would be a great bass for new players, especially Flea fans who couldn't stretch to a Stingray, Spector or Modulus...

Yeah, I hear that Windows really used to be something special. If you're after a Roland Synthesizer they are worth checking out but I wouldn't go there looking for great guitars and basses. I remember them having a copies of John Patitucci's VHS tution tapes on the shelves for £30 each! I see they have also taken over the music store in the Yellow mall of the Metro Centre (I think it used to be a Dolphin Music store, where my dad got me my first bass guitar from!). But yeah, Newcastle is the rock and roll capital of the UK IMO (alongside London). Not a huge number of bands but the attitude is spot on!

Ah, good to hear from you again John! Yeah, the guys at Sounds Live have been pretty open to shipping stock in in the past when people have wanted to try it. I nearly ended up buying a Marcus Miller jazz bass from them a few years ago, and they were more than happy to ship one in for me to try out. In the end I never bought it because I ended up with something else (can't remember what now though!). Last time I spoke to you John, your Pedulla had gotten knackered on a flight to Prague or something like that, I just remember you describing the horrific damage to me! I hope it's all fixed up! It was awesome hearing your band warm up with a little bit of Birdland that one time, the bands we used to get in there were mostly cack, so it was always a treat when I spotted that Soldano amp on the stage, I knew you lot were in!

[quote name='Marcus' post='532636' date='Jul 4 2009, 09:06 PM']I have to say Chris..... not my experience with Guitar Guitar, they do move stock between their 3 branches (common sense) and have always (IMO) carried a decent range of Bass gear for a non bass specialist retailer. Steve the Manager is a knowledgable and friendly guy who knows the industry and the Bass scene really well for a Guitardist as for his Staff George (ex Manager of Sound control) is his Asst Mgr now and i've always found him really helpfull in both stores. ATB Mark[/quote] I liked their stock of Sandberg stuff when they first got it in, but aside from that I never thought that their bass stock could match up with their guitar stuff, when they were getting really cool Ibanez and Caparison guitars in. The best bass stuff was always used gear that they got in. I remember an emerald green Spector Euro that they got in that belonged to a bloke (I think his name was Mike) who used to play gigs at a hotel I used to work at. That was a canny bass (I played it through the owners EA rig along with his Pedulla Pentabuzz once). But overall impression of the store was that it was never as good as it should have been, and sadly the staff were rather rude. I recall a friend of mine walking in there with £2000 to spend on a guitar and pretty much walking straight out after being given 5 minutes to demo the guitar he was thinking of buying! He never even asked for an extended test drive, I guess he thought better of it! I haven't seen George in there, but if he was the bloke from SC with the beard, bald head and Dimebag fixation then he was a decent bloke. I see Nick from SC works in Sounds Live now too! I still long for another shop like Howard's to open up though. After it stopped being so smokey it was great! But even before the refurb, it was an excellent place to go. Howard and Pete never moaned if you sat and played for a good while, and they really knew their stuff. Both cracking players too! I used to have a four hour lunch break on fridays when I was at Northumbria Uni and I used to often spend them in Howard's playing bass and chatting away.

I use a Fender triangle Bx3 "Stuart Hamm" pick. It's not thin a flappy, nor is it too thick and chunky. Incidentally, it was given to me by Stuart when I saw him live with Joe Satriani (since I was stood in the front row right in front of Stuart - what a show). I only use it for use in the house though since I'm too scared of losing my idol's pick, especially since he played "Flying in a blue dream" with it! Outside of my bedroom I use a Fender traingle pick which feels roughly the same. I need to buy some more! I'm getting more and more into my pick playing these days. I blame Tony Butler and Big Country for that!

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='526753' date='Jun 28 2009, 02:57 PM']I bet it was. I sold 'red' through Howard some years back (when it was in mint condition), it then passed through a couple of hands (likely as not back through Howard's 'Bass Place'), collecting some battle scars along the way before I got it back from a fellow BCer down in Bolton. There is/was another 'Toon' see-thru red bass owned by a guy in North Shields that was for sale/sold on eBay a few months back, so it may have been that one either.[/quote] I just remember that when I played it, it had a few scuffs and sounded pretty nice, but the frets were covered in green, oxidised gunk and needed a good polish, and the neck had was a little over-straight making it feel like the strings were miles off the fretboard. Just needed a good setup and clean to be a good 'un though.

The bass shop market in Newcastle has really went down the pan sadly... Air Guitar never have much of interest when it comes to basses, and what they do have is IME poorly set up and not helped by the fact that the place seems to have developed a damp problem since Sound Control went under. Windows usually have a pretty dull stock of lower end basses in, again usually pretty badly setup. You can usually wager on them giving you a rubbish amp to play through and their prices are ridiculously high. Sounds Live have some good staff in and often have interesting items coming in (Rickenbackers when they were rare, Spectors etc etc). It's always worth going in there because you'll always get a good welcome and they're not afraid to let you play through a decent amp either. IMO the stock isn't as good as it used to be but these days you just can't afford to stock really interesting stuff, you just have to buy in what sells. Guitar Guitar often has an interesting item in too, but it seems to be going even more pear shaped than usual around there at the moment. Apparently a lot of their stock has disappeared, probably gone back to the supplier. They would often have a couple of interesting basses in though. I was never that taken by the Sadowsky Metro basses, they never wowed me like everyone said they would, especially when A/b'd against a decent Fender! That said, I've played a couple of nice items there but I'd be wary about shopping there again. Despite the fact that between us, my brother and I have spent over £2000 there, I'm still subject to the same lazy customer service everyone seems to receive. Lazy, arrogant staff who don't really know what they're selling coupled with high prices. It is, however, or at least it was, a good place to try out gear that you can buy cheaper elsewhere. Wish Howard's Bass Place was still open....

The jazz basses are doing nothing me for (I'm a bit past that phase now I think) but the Tribute L-2000 with carved maple top and vintage neck tint is very smart indeed. If it were a natural finish over that top I'd hit the roof with joy.

[quote name='Musicman20' post='532167' date='Jul 4 2009, 12:02 AM']I havent heard him with a P.....but I bet its the way the album was produced that made the P muddy. Probably said 'back off on the bass, be more commercial, sell more records'.[/quote] Funny though, that they didn't have any trouble shifting records in the past!

I used to play .30-.90 for that Mark King sound and feel...good fun, but I'm using slightly thicker strings these days.

I mean, as far as crap lead singles go, [i]Human[/i] has to be one of the worst, but it was sadly the colon-stained peanut on top of mountainous turd of an album. I shudder with embarrassment every time I hear that weak chorus with those dire lyrics. And saying that about the latest effort from one of my favourite bands is pretty painful.

I have always wondered though, what do these qualifications unlock for you? Aside from degrees in music? (which seem a bit of a dead end if I'm honest). It seems the world of music has jobs for businessmen and people in bands (usually flavour of the month). So what does a grading of skill do for you? Because I have friends with degrees in music who are struggling to get jobs (even on graduate schemes) whereas law/psychology/business degree holders seem to be doing alright for jobs. So whats the score?

Yeah, the basswork on Hot Fuss was really moving. "Glamourous Indie Rock and Roll" is the one to see him stretching out on. But even on Sam's Town, I find that the basslines are moving and doing things with great subtlety...there are small nuances and things going on there that the average rock bassist is not doing... I really like Hot Fuss, I LOVE Sam's Town and Sawdust is a belter too (especially Leave The Bourbon on the Shelf), but Day and Age is utter crap. Even "Spaceman" isn't that good! You'll notice that previously he was playing Geddy Lee jazz basses though Day and Age was recorded with a P bass...and the bass tone is crap. Quiet, wooly, flabby but lacking the body his previous tone had. The grind is just gone and even in the dull, dreary songs, the bass just doesn't stand out. Coming from someone who makes a habit of learning Killers albums front to back, Day and Age is a massive letdown on so many levels and I've barely started work on transcribing it.

When I read threads like this I sweat and thank my lucky stars I never took music at school! Good luck!

"The Crossing" by Big Country is currently blowing my socks off...not so much "rediscovered" as "just discovered"! It's from well before my time but the songs are amazing and Tony Butler's bass playing and tone are absolutely brilliant...he's a hugely underrated talent. I've always loved Big Country's singles but this is the first time I've dabbled in an album, and I'm very glad I did! EDIT: It also brings out the Scotsman in me.

[quote name='neilmiddlemass' post='529096' date='Jun 30 2009, 09:22 PM']Thanks for advice, appreciate it. Bit stuck with this as I'm after something light,but with rich throaty bass, punchy pit and plinky full top end. I've been told before that the maple neck should brighten up the sound, but would it be at the cost of the growl? Warwick has so many beautiful looking woods available I guess it's easy to get carried away with asthetics (also important though I think!) Is the top or the body wood more important? My communication with Warwick in the end was through a distributor rather than direct so haven't had the benefit of their advice yet, any extra input is appreciated (although I realise every instrument is different). I suppose my questions are: Can you get throat from a maple neck? Can you get a lightweight bass with a defined, clear but powerful bottom end? Which parts have the greatest influence on the overall sounds if any?[/quote] You can easily get growl with a maple neck but it won't be that same unique flavour of growl in the lower midrange that Warwick basses get, it will tend to be more of a honky, upper mid kind of bite like Jazz basses and Spector basses have, IME. You can still get a throaty, powerful sound, but it won't be the kind of sound that a wenge or ovangkol neck will provide. As for a lightweight bass with a clear, defined and powerful bottom end - yes, you can get get them like this. My Status basses have been fantastic examples of this. Parts that have the greatest influence on sound: IMO it's the woods, the the pickups and the pickup placement...just about everything then! Thats why basses can be planks of woods with metal frets and metal strings on and yet sound so different. I'll say for the Thumb though that in terms of wood composition and pickup placement, there is nothing else like it tonally, at least not unless it's made by a custom builder...and even then, it won;t have the look and feel of a Thumb! If you can get your hands on one of the limited edition Thumbs like the Dirty Blonde you'll see that they sound good, but not like the famous "thumb" sound. I find that the Warwick basses that have Wenge or Ovangkol necks and an ash body just don't have the full throated growl of a Thumb. Great basses, but not for that sound that I typically associate with Warwick.

Thats pretty high praise, thank you very much Mark!

I've just sold my Status Matrix to Mark and he has been an absolute pleasure to do business with. Great comms and willing to work around the dire hours I'm doing at work at the moment, which is fantastic as otherwise selling a bass by collection could have been a nightmare! Great stuff Mark, and pass on my regards to Mr Palmer when you see him next.

[quote name='neilmiddlemass' post='528837' date='Jun 30 2009, 05:12 PM']Looking at the posts on here, I've decided that the Thumb is the way to go. Since I made my first post, I've put a call into Warwick to find out about custom models and I'm looking at a Thumb5 with a maple body and neck+fingerboard and Indian apple wood top. Mainly because I want something unique which is really mine. I've chosen these woods for weight and asthetics mainly (the 'Tineo' looks lovely) - not too au fait with the sound characteristics. Anyone got any advice with this sort of thing?[/quote] First of all, I'll tell you right now that even with typical Thumb pickup placement, this is not going to sound like a "normal" thumb bass. The throaty, powerful midrange of the Thumb BO comes from the ovangkol body and the wenge or ovangkol neck. Similarly, the Bubinga of the NT gives you some midrange pop but not as much as the BO has... I'd expect given your wood choices that the top end will sparkle a little more and there will be less of a prounced, characteristic midrange. Did Warwick not advise you on this when you called them?