Fender Mark King Jazz??

[EBS_freak]

Not really - I spoke to him about it in detail. The problem is, he hasn't got his setup industrialised enough to push out the number of basses to satisfy what the demand would have been.

He still gets people now who order because Mark played one though.

[visog]

[quote name='Chris2112' timestamp='1364455277' post='2026639']

Mark ended up switching to GB basses quite quickly. I think he was going through a bad time then, as the GB basses sounded absolutely shocking as well. The first Level 42 record/DVD I got was the [i]Ohne Filter [/i]show. Dear me, his bass sounded f***ing crap there. Flat as f*** tonally. Even the red bass he got out for Mr Pink sounded hopeless. He ended up going back to Status; a smart move as Level 42 took off again soon after and he had left those dire basses buried in the sands of time.
[/quote]

So Level 42 "took off again" because he went back to Status? Interesting definition of 'took off'.

I like Status basses too and have one myself but they're absolutely "Flat as f*** tonally" except for Slap and Tickle. In contrast my GB has gloops of high, mids and lows and can do a passable Alembic to Jazz through a sweep of the pick-ups.

Don't forget that MK's latter output has been recorded on the cheap which wont help the tone...

Can't help feeling you're exorcising some inner demons here...

[Chris2112]

[quote name='visog' timestamp='1364500746' post='2027443']

Can't help feeling you're exorcising some inner demons here...
[/quote]

Can't help but feel you're only saying this as I don't agree with your fanboi opinion of GB basses? As I can see you clearly like them! FWIW, yes, Mark's tone with them was utterly dump. Flat, lacking any zing or punch, and with no depth whatsoever. Maybe it would have suited a pub rock band, but they definitely weren't up to the task of playing in a clean Level 42 mix. Especially as we'd had years of Mark playing Jaydee, Status and Alembic basses before the GB debacle, and the aforementioned basses sounded fantastic. You might love GB basses and I agree, it can be irritating when someone doesn't love your brand of choice but clearly, they didn't work for Mark. Hence him keeping them for five minutes and having another decade with Status afterwards!

Mark King going back to Status was not the reason Level 42 'took off' again, though it was for the better that he was back with Status. He sounded far, far better after ditching the GB's. I don't think Ashdown were the problem either, I wouldn't bother with any of their products other than the MK stuff. I've always thought my MK500 combo was a bloody brilliant little amp, both for recording and monitoring. And on both the occasions I saw Level 42 when Mark was using Status basses and his Ashdown amps he had an incredible tone. Quite frankly, the sort of tone that comes close to defying belief in a live environment!

[EBS_freak]

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha....

Ha

[EBS_freak]

Anyway. Go to the gb guitars website and pick any of say, Stuart Clayton's demos and tell me straight that they lack zing.

[stingrayPete1977]

I wouldn't have a Status over a GB no way, then again I would rather be a pub rocker than a bedroom slapper playing with myself [size=2](backing tracks) [/size]