Misdee

Those embroidered denim jackets with patches now on display as artefacts at the V&A Fashion Museum. Quite fitting, I thought to myself when I saw that, considering that so many of the blokes that wore them at the time looked like Vikings and Anglo Saxons.

You're not wrong, but for a generation of drummers, particularly British drummers, Cozy will always be an icon.

Another big Joe Jackson/ Graham Maby fan here. I went to a Joe Jackson gig back in those days and at the time it was by far the best gig I had ever seen. Graham was and still is a consummate bass player and has always been a role model for me. Can't say enough good things about his playing. Thinking about that late '70's era, artists like Joe Jackson, Elvis Costello, Ian Dury and The Police were to an extent lumped in with the punk movement. Seems incongruous now, but at the time every new act had to try incorporate some of that punk edginess into their image.

I suspect we were listening to a lot of the same music forty-odd years ago, but hearing very different things in it and coming to different conclusions. I don't think there was anything remotely new about what Peter Hook did on the bass, except that the punk craze (and it was a craze, not the ground-breaking artistic movement it has been elevated to in retrospect) meant his amateurish efforts made it onto record. Anyhow, I've now seen the first episode and it was just as I expected. I still enjoyed it though, and I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the series. I don't dislike Peter Hook as a person, but he is so enamoured of his own "legend" that he has an inflated idea of his importance as a bass player. He seems to think he took playing the bass and improved it with his lack of ability, and that other more accomplished players just don't have the wit and imagination to be like him. Watching the programme, I'm even more convinced he genuinely believes that he invented the idea of using a lower note on an open string as a pedal tone to play a melody over. Do I need to explain how ridiculous that is? It's also interesting to hear Peter Hook rationalising after the fact his use of the Joy Division/ New Order back-catalogue for his live act. FWIW, I personally think he has every right to perform those songs, but I know that there has been a major falling-out with the other remaining members about some of his choices. It's obviously something he's very sensitive about because he keeps revising his reasons for doing so.

EBMM know how to make a nice bass when they want to, no doubt about that. I don't know how much Pino might use his one, but that's not really that relevant. I wish EBMM and Flea would bury the hatchet and bring a Flea Signature Stingray based on his black/ rw 'Ray from the early '90's.They could have my money now.

I wasn't there, but in his explanation of how he managed to run himself over, Brian claimed to have eaten three large tuna and cheese jacket potatoes, the resulting nausea causing him to fall from his reversing car which then ran him over. I cannot help think in light of that event that Italians are wise indeed to insist that cheese should never be included in seafood dishes. Brian's increasingly wretched plight since that unfortunate day is testament to the efficacy of that dietary rule.

There was jacket potato involved, apparently. I met Brian, Tony and their bodyguard when East 17 were in the first flush of their success. They were what you might describe as robust individuals. It's not an act, they are genuine chavs.

These look like basses someone will get a lifetime's worth of pleasure from playing. Just a really nice old-school Stingray, so much fun to be had with that. Three and a half grand-ish is a lot of money, but these basses look pretty good value to me in the current market. A Stingray Special in a nice finish is now over 3k, and compared to Fender Custom Shop basses these EBMM Pino basses are a veritable bargain.

I've got one of these, and yes they are amazingly good for £400. I wish there were basses as good as these for the equivalent money when I was starting out. They really do sound like a vintage Stingray. Mine weighs 9 pounds three ounces, which would be pretty light for a vintage Stingray. If you want to shave some weight off there are some lightweight tuners (Gotoh?) that are a direct retrofit. I thought about getting some myself but can't really be arsed. For £400 I'm not too fussy.

Fair enough! 🙂 I'm not very handy with electronics so swapping the preamp is a bit (a lot) beyond my capabilities anyhow. I only make subtle use of the EQ in any of active my basses, and if by "dimed" you mean everything on full, that's just not me. One question though. Why get a HAZ clone? Why not get a HAZ? Will they not sell them? Talking of attack, wasn't the problem with the TonePump that it had a bit too much enthusiasm in that respect?

Thanks for posting that. It is indeed very interesting, especially if, like me, you've got a Spector with a Legacy preamp. I am not particularly tormented by the potential differences between a HAZ preamp and the Legacy- I've never compared them side by side but what I can say is that my CST with the Legacy in it is a terrific-sounding bass. I'm perfectly willing to believe the authentic HAZ is better, but at the same time, experience has taught me that differentiating between better and different can be very subjective, especially when it comes to sound. A couple of observations though. The elephant in the room is that the chap who has produced the video has a vested financial interest in sewing the seeds of dissatisfaction with the Darkglass Legacy preamp, despite his stance of scientific neutrality. If it becomes received wisdom that the Legacy preamp is so good that it's not worth changing to a HAZ clone then his sales will inevitable drop-off. If Spector or indeed Darkglass had done their own comparison their presentation of the findings would probably have been very different. Also, it would be interesting if HAZ Labs did their own critique of the clones this chap is selling and how close it sounds to the original in their estimation. He is presenting himself as an authority. If the goal is authenticity, they might have a few things to say about that. Unqualified, whatever this chap has to say is a classic example of the old maxim that in the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. Readings on a graph are one thing but would we actually hear those differences in that way if someone played a Spector bass with the respective preamps in? That is what we need to know next. Hopefully someone will oblige sooner or later.

Allegedly this bass is supposed to be inspired by Steve's main bass pre-modification, like he was playing 50 years ago. I suppose I can see their reasoning, but as others have pointed out, at least put the proper decal on ect. They have retained the maple body, but that also makes the bass very heavy, which will put a lot of folks off. It's a lot of money for a pretty unremarkable Mexican P Bass that weighs a ton. I'm pretty sceptical about "special" boutique P Basses on the whole - they usually end up sounding like a P Bass, surprisingly enough- but this one doesn't even seem to be trying to be special except that it says Steve Harris on it. He is a special bass player though, no doubt about that.

My experience is that when it comes to basses, at whatever price point, Yamaha don't make rubbish. They're always well-designed and as good or better than anything else for that money, be it a budget bass or a high-end one. I remember those RBX basses as fairly decent budget PJ basses. What I also remember is that they were nice and light, which is never a bad thing.

That's the point I'm trying to make in a round-about way; there's a slew of bass players now who are famous for being influencers on YouTube, not playing on records that you hear on the radio or doing gigs ect. They may or may not make recordings and do gigs, but if they do then not with successful bands or artists that most folks have heard of or enjoy. Some of them are very good players, some of them are pretty average players but good at YouTube. Jaco Pastorius burst onto the world stage just short of fifty years ago because of his playing with Pat Metheny, Joni Mitchell, Weather Report and as a solo artist on his self-titled debut. That's some entrance. Contrast that with today. There's high profile bass influencers who have their own signature basses from high-end manufacturers, their own signature strings, merchandise ect. They've never played on a hit record, been in a successful band or done very much except having a social media profile. It's a lot easier to wow fourteen year old kids watching YouTube than it is to impress Joe Zawinul, let me put it to you that way.

I think Danny Sapko is a very decent bass player, and his YT content is okay too. I agree with him quite often. I like his irreverent attitude and Yorkshire sense of humour. How he got voted Bass Player Of The Year is beyond me but I'm old fashioned and think that such awards are for people who make records and do gigs ect. Good for Danny, anyway. You get what you pay for though, and the internet is mainly free so don't be surprised if you have to sift through lots and lots of rubbish to get to the nuggets of gold. Once these guys start doing YT for a living they have to churn out content whether it's worth putting out or not just to have an income. That's usually when things start to go awry. I don't blame Danny or anyone else for giving it a go though; you see so many dismal options when it comes to employment nowadays that I know I would prefer being on YouTube talking about something I love than on a zero hours contract at Spud U Like. Were it not for the restrictions placed on me by my haemorrhoids (and the terms of my probation) I would have probably started my own Only Fans channel before now. I hope that one day Danny's channel is successful enough that he gets to live out the ultimate fantasy for most people from Bradford, i.e to get enough money to move to Leeds. He will need to learn how to dress himself properly first, though.