How lucky we are to have so much choice

[OldGit]

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='534082' date='Jul 6 2009, 07:27 PM']I've been playing for over 35 years and have worked in music retail since the early 80s. The instruments now are amazing. My fave for beginners is the Peavey Millennium...unbeatable!

I remember buying an HH amp in the 70s only because it lit up![/quote]


That gimmick worked for Trace too

[Sean]

[quote name='redstriper' post='534065' date='Jul 6 2009, 07:10 PM']There's too much choice in everything these days.
It leads to dissatisfaction and we spend too much time choosing and not enough living/playing.

[/quote]

Great video - I'm a big fan of Schwarz (he could almost be Roger Sadowsky's dad in many ways). You can always beat this dreadful choice issue he talks about and just get a Spector, then all you have to worry about is the redistribution of global wealth.

[spinynorman]

I was thinking, you can't imagine violinists having this discussion .... "In the 1680s all we had was Stradivarius, now we've got Yamaha and Hofner and, er ..."

Then I found this

[url="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1544642/Stradivaris-home-town-fears-cheap-violins.html"]Stradivaris-home-town-fears-cheap-violins.html[/url]

Violin, bow and case for £13. We're being robbed.

[Stylon Pilson]

[quote name='spinynorman' post='535697' date='Jul 8 2009, 02:07 PM']I was thinking, you can't imagine violinists having this discussion .... "In the 1680s all we had was Stradivarius, now we've got Yamaha and Hofner and, er ..."

Then I found this

[url="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1544642/Stradivaris-home-town-fears-cheap-violins.html"]Stradivaris-home-town-fears-cheap-violins.html[/url]

Violin, bow and case for £13. We're being robbed.[/quote]

From the article:

[quote]"I have seen violins with all my hallmarks, the little details I always add in, which were not mine. It is impossible to tell them apart."[/quote]

If it is impossible to tell them apart, then how do you know that they're not actually your violins?

S.P.

[Born 2B Mild]

As a 70s schoolboy, I started on Kay and other copies. Then I went to work and got a 4001 on HP, then a Precision (brand new £275) and another 4001 and a Jazz somewhere a long the line. I then ended the 70s with a new Aria SB700. There was choice, though not so much as now. I recall the choices included Gibson Rippers and Hayman & Shergold, as well as Guild.

HH combo, 1x18 reflex bin (ooh my back) and Peavey amps too.

IMHO the biggest changes have been in the electronics of PAs and backline gear, rather than the bass guitars themselves.

Desks, slaves, speaker enclosures etc. are all so tiny now!

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='Born 2B Mild' post='535723' date='Jul 8 2009, 02:51 PM']HH combo, 1x18 reflex bin (ooh my back) and Peavey amps too.[/quote]
+1

In the 70s I had at various times a Selmer head, a Laney head, a Hiwatt head, Marshall head, HH head & slave, Fender Bassman, Marshall 4x12, Sound City 4x12, Laney 4x12, Hiwatt 2x15, Electrovoice 1x15 reflex bin, and a few others I can't now recall.

I'd say amplification and speakers have improved much more than basses have.



EDITED for spelling and other infelicities.

Edited July 11, 2009 by EssentialTension

[OldGit]

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='536874' date='Jul 9 2009, 11:19 PM']+1

In the 70s I had at various times a Selmer head, a Laney head, a Hiwatt head, Marchall head, HH head & slave, Fender Bassman, Marshall 4x12, Sound City 4x12, Laney 4x12, Hiwatt 2x15, Electrovoice 1x15 reflex bin, Fender Bassman, and a few others I can't now recall.

I'd say amplification and speakers have improved much more than basses have.[/quote]


WEM?

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='OldGit' post='536925' date='Jul 10 2009, 12:27 AM']WEM?

[/quote]
I never had one myself but I remember playing with a guitarist who used a gold top Les Paul through a WEM 200 watt valve PA amp with a pair of Sound City 4x12s.

And of course the PA included a WEM Copicat echo machine.

Edited July 11, 2009 by EssentialTension

[Musicman20]

[quote name='OldGit' post='534106' date='Jul 6 2009, 08:16 PM']That gimmick worked for Trace too [/quote]

This impressed a few girlfriends a few years back. Even recently my girlfriend said 'cool lights, ive always liked Trace'....and she knew what a Fender/Ernie Ball Stingray was. Needless to say im still with her...probably because she 'gets' my love for all things bass.

When I was 17....the cool lights and Trace colous scheme sold it for me. Its now been sold on....but it served me well

[Stacker]

[quote name='chris_b' post='532995' date='Jul 5 2009, 01:44 PM']It was a simpler world. Mostly the preferred choice was Jazz or Precision and Marshall or Hiwatt with Vox in the early days. You did have to decide on either 1 or 2 4x12 cabs though!
Tone was usually a muddy thud or a mid honk but that was bass until guys like Alembic, WAL and Trace came along! The bass world has just built from there and it keeps getting better every year!

It really is a good time to be playing bass![/quote]

I agree with your sentiments. Back in my learnin days - the mid '70s - It WAS Fender copies and truly AWFUL Gibson/Epiphone ones. I remember drooling over a Rick 4000 in an Edinbrugh shop just because it was so different. I had an Ibanez Rick copy right up until the late '70s when i got a Canadian Odyssey. Then, the active bsses and Trace kit hit markets and the rest is history.

[Stacker]

[quote name='OldGit' post='536925' date='Jul 10 2009, 12:27 AM']WEM?

[/quote]

I had a WEM Dominator. It damn near took my arm out of its socket and it meleted my small collection of 45s that I left on top of it one night.