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A pro bass player without GAS


Clarky
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Watched the excellent Nick Cave evening the other day on BBC Four and was struck by the fact that - based on the appearances over the years on Jools Holland's late night show - the Bad Seeds bass player Martyn Casey has used one bass only live for last 20 years - a very relic'ed 62 sunburst Fender P, I think. His amp/cab (Ampeg SVT) also looks to have stayed the same, although I am less certain of that. This means his net expenditure on GAS over the past 20 years has been ... er nil!

When I compare this to my net expenditure (and undoubtedly those of others on this Forum) as we search for the perfect bass/rig it puts me to shame :) I also think its pretty cool getting your set-up and sound and just sticking to it.

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The least GAS Guzzler I can think of is Herbie Flowers. In 1959 he bought a prototype Jazz base, and a double bass ...and that's all he has bought in nearly 50 years. Apart from the Roland combo he bought 30 years a go, and a Trace Elliot 20 years a go. He doesn't change strings in between decades either. Not one to take a walk on the wild side, really!

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I'm 99.99% sure that I've seen footage of him playing a Jazz, although I've seen Nick Cave and/or Bad Seeds/Grinderman live god knows how many times and never seen him playing anything other than that P. Not that I'm an obsessive Cave fan or anything. :)

I love the unintrusive and complementary way Casey plays.

Pluck

Edited by sgt-pluck
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[quote name='sgt-pluck' post='235210' date='Jul 8 2008, 07:33 PM']I'm 99.99% sure that I've seen footage of him playing a Jazz, although I've seen Nick Cave and/or Bad Seeds/Grinderman live god knows how many times and never seen him playing anything other than that P. Not that I'm an obsessive Cave fan or anything. :)

Pluck[/quote]

I've seen him with a Jazz too. It's the same colour scheme as his P Bass.

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[quote name='sgt-pluck' post='235210' date='Jul 8 2008, 07:33 PM']I'm 99.99% sure that I've seen footage of him playing a Jazz, although I've seen Nick Cave and/or Bad Seeds/Grinderman live god knows how many times and never seen him playing anything other than that P. Not that I'm an obsessive Cave fan or anything. :)

Pluck[/quote]
He does indeed have a Jazz (natural/m/n), it was on a stand at the back of the gig they showed on Beeb 4 from the recent tour - but he didn't play it once! Presume its a back-up if he breaks a string .. and that he never breaks a string on his ancient P bass!

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[quote name='wateroftyne' post='235221' date='Jul 8 2008, 07:46 PM']To be fair, if I had a 'burst '62 P, and Ampeg stack and a road-crew to haul it all around, I'd be almost totally GAS-free, too.[/quote]
I don't think you should complaining about owning a beautiful P bass (or three!)

Very jealous of your avatar :)

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Nice when it works out for you.

Until last summer I had had my Wal for 20+ years and TE combo for about 8 or 9.

The TE got sidelined for a BOD Pro xt a couple of years back.

And then last summer I joined BassChat and whoops the TE went (to be fair that had been on the cards as it wasn't getting used) to be replaced by the MB combo & at the same time I bought a SUB5 on here that lasted 6 months to be replaced by the G&L L2500.

So a brief hiatus in a fairly static GAS free bass journey for me, but I could actually quite easily see the Wal, G&L L2500 & MB CMD121H seeing me out now.

If you find a good'un why break something that doesn't need fixing.

Then again I'm no pro :)

Edited by WalMan
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Right - sorry for turning this into a total train-spotters thread - but I've conducted some research :)

Here are my findings:

[list]
[*]There is more than one P-Bass. 'The' P-bass is very old and battered and has cream pups, but there is another, newer sunburst P-bass with black pups.
[*]There is a sunburst Jazz.
[*]There is a natural/cream Jazz
[*]I have footage of the Seeds here with Casey playing a black Jazz.
[/list]

As an aside - here is a picture of Warren Ellis playing what looks like a miniture T-bird.



Thank you for your time!

Pluck

Edited by sgt-pluck
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[quote name='sgt-pluck' post='235252' date='Jul 8 2008, 08:33 PM']Right - sorry for turning this into a total train-spotters thread - but I've conducted some research :)

Here are my findings:

[list]
[*]There is more than one P-Bass. 'The' P-bass is very old and battered and has cream pups, but there is another, newer sunburst P-bass with black pups.
[*]There is a sunburst Jazz.
[*]There is a natural/cream Jazz
[*]I have footage of the Seeds here with Casey playing a black Jazz.
[/list]

As an aside - here is a picture of Warren Ellis playing what looks like a miniture T-bird.



Thank you for your time!

Pluck[/quote]
Blimey, some serious research!

But fact remains he played the battered P bass on every track from every era on Beeb 4 night - and he's still probably spent less than me over the years :huh:

Edited by Clarky
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[quote name='bass_ferret' post='235277' date='Jul 8 2008, 09:15 PM']Instruments are tools for the the pro's. For us amateurs they are toys :)[/quote]
True.....But we still pay a pros price for the custom and 'different'.

I prefer Cave with Blixa onstage...'Loverman' at glasters in 94 was awsome.

Edited by ARGH
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[quote name='Born 2B Mild' post='235146' date='Jul 8 2008, 06:00 PM']The least GAS Guzzler I can think of is Herbie Flowers. In 1959 he bought a prototype Jazz base, and a double bass ...and that's all he has bought in nearly 50 years. Apart from the Roland combo he bought 30 years a go, and a Trace Elliot 20 years a go. He doesn't change strings in between decades either. Not one to take a walk on the wild side, really![/quote]


I like the phrase "Gas Guzzler" in this context!

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[quote name='TheRev' post='236286' date='Jul 10 2008, 08:36 AM']Mickey Quinn from Supergrass is another example - he's been playing the same Ibanez Blazer (or is it a Roadster?) for his whole career.[/quote]

And I've read Mr Quinn also uses the same beaten-up old Carlsbro combo that he's owned for years for recording all those tasty 'Grass basslines... :)

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[quote name='Born 2B Mild' post='235146' date='Jul 8 2008, 06:00 PM']The least GAS Guzzler I can think of is Herbie Flowers. In 1959 he bought a prototype Jazz base, and a double bass ...and that's all he has bought in nearly 50 years. Apart from the Roland combo he bought 30 years a go, and a Trace Elliot 20 years a go. He doesn't change strings in between decades either. Not one to take a walk on the wild side, really![/quote]

I've seen him playing at least two Jazz bass's in the last 8 months. A blue one and a red one that looked like a Squier.

Edited by dave_bass5
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Doesn't old-man McCartney still drag his Hofner around on tour these days?

For a guy worth hundreds of millions, his GAS has been restrained to say the least....

Perhaps he paid off Heather Mills with his bass fund! :)

Edited by rjb
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[quote name='sgt-pluck' post='235252' date='Jul 8 2008, 08:33 PM']As an aside - here is a picture of Warren Ellis playing what looks like a miniture T-bird.



Thank you for your time!

Pluck[/quote]

That's a 4 string Mandobird isn't it?

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