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New medium scale bass in what is essentially a P bass configuration with passive electronics and a split coil pickup. Like all Alan's work it's a cracker!

Listened to the Detroit mix of the What's Going On album today and lost the whole day to it! The Detroit mix is the original mix, and not the mix found on the released album (which was done in LA a month or so after the Detroit mix). Anyway, Inner City Blues. I've always 'heard' the (Bob Babbitt) bass line in my head as being much simpler/straightforward than it actually is, but listening to it on headphones today there's a ton of stuff going on that I'd not heard/appreciated before. It's such a lovely line; perfect for the song and beautifully played... so, maybe a daft question, but... is there more than one bass on the track?! I know there are vocal comps through the album (initially coming about by accident where the two engineers - Kenneth Sands and Steve Smith - mixed a comp of two vocal takes, which Gaye loved) so is the bass line a similar experiment/outcome? Whatever it is, it's a masterful performance by a wonderful musician? Help a curious pair of ears out here, folks!

and the mothership was out. P-bass and flats to accompany it.

Two lumps of wood, a pickup, bbot and some tuners, just like like any other P bass to me.

Agree with all the comments on this thread that it's probably more about strings and technique than core bass tone, but an Ovation Magnum is just fabulous for reggae / ska - I've never played another bass with such naturally massive low end whilst retaining complete clarity / articulation. Currently using La Bella 750T White tapewounds on my fretless Magnum 1.

@Ricky 4000 I can highly recommend one of these for reggae, I picked it up during the week for a sensible price, it was already fitted with halfrounds , and has a really low action , it’s my first real go at a 5 string, and the low B drops a serious Bassline 🙂

Editing on the pedal only gets you so far. Basically you turn the parameter switch to whichever parameter you want to adjust (cutoff, resonance, etc.). The “data” digit (right-most digit in the display) will show a 5 which corresponds to the stored preset value in the editor (eg a cutoff of 45). Then you turn the encoder dial to adjust either positively or negatively from there. The dot in the display flashes to indicate a change has been made. If you wish to save the change, you need to press the encoder dial. The dot then stops blinking. Repeat for other parameters. It needs to be noted that adjustments on the pedal are always relative to the value of the stored preset as created in the editor. That is, a value of 9 on the pedal isn’t the same for each preset, rather it is a ratio of the original parameter value from the preset as created in the editor. I can’t remember the ratios off the top of my head. Further to this, if the preset created in the editor had a resonance of 0, this would be the value corresponding to 5 on the pedal and dialling in 1, 2, 3 or 4 on the pedal would have no effect whatsoever as resonance can’t go below zero. (Changing to values above 5 on the pedal would have an effect.) The stuff about editing on the pedal is most likely in the quick start guide which isn’t repeated in the bigger manual. Editing on the PC is where the real magic happens as you have complete control over all the oscillator levels, waveshapes and tons of other goodies. You really must hook this thing up and download some other user patches and create your own to get the best out of this pedal.

Finally got myself an NS2! Too bad it is blue, but I can live with that until I find my ultimate NS2X...

I'm feeling immensely fortunate. After some toing and froing with the seller (all very good natured) I've snagged this bass. Built by Marko Ursin, a Finnish Luthier, it was a custom build in 2009 for the original owner, who I've just bought it from. I'd never really imagined having a single cut, but this was just so nice. I'm still getting used to the Aguilar OBP3 / Bartolini G6 combo, but it's such a responsive bass. I'd felt fortunate owning my Fame / Mayones 6 string, but this is every bit as special. Given it's A Finnish bass, crafted by a gent by the name of Ursin, it might gain an appropriate headstock logo. Finnish national animal is the bear and Ursin, must be derived from Ursine, for bear.

I suppose it depends on how much you think wood affects tone once you're plugged in. Personally I think pickup placement and pickup type affect plugged in tone far more than what wood the instrument is made of or what shape the body is.

I just keep watching videos of the pedal and think 'that sounds pretty flipping nice'. I swear by my sansamp and I guess that's the same principle here with just a different flavour pre amp modulation. The only other thing that gives me 'the fear' is that computers sometimes go wrong and what happens if everything suddenly gets wiped before a gig?

Seeing as I would never watch that I wouldn't know, but which MJ does she look like?

Don't they call it 'southern rock'?

I had one of these briefly and while I’ll agree there are many many options if you already have an interface you know and like using (I already do), you have a couple of pedals which you use and enjoy (I already do) and you aren’t likely to be needing your bass to recreate a multitude of amps and cab with a host of I/O options or might not be for you. If you’re a tech geek and love shiny new things with loads of the latest cool tech and don’t mind spending £400+ for the two or three effects you’re realistically going to use then then you’re in trouble 😀 A good suggestion already mentioned is to download the Helix Native software and play about with the effects and amps and if it feesikw value for money to have the Stomp you’ll at least have road tested the actual effects - the hardware is a delight to use but you might find like I did that my limited use of pedals makes the whole package redundant even if it is cool as!

I have a suggestion, but you probably wouldn't like it. 😨 Maybe we should make it a sticky/FAQ, thus ensuring no one will read it. 😩

Nice looking bass. I love the way that the picture sequence looks a bit like a striptease, saving the full reveal to the last shots. Does it sound p-bassey? It strikes me as a nice idea having a traditional sound with modern looks.

I would say at some level we're all influenced by McCartney whether we know it or not, whether we accept it or not.The chain is always going to lead back to McCartney in my opinion. In the States most of us weren't thinking about the electric bass guitar until we saw McCartney in 1964. As a matter of fact we didn't know what an electric bass guitar was. Blue

I've only just bought my first ever instrument, an epiphone toby deluxe iv. Owned it about 6 weeks. Just starting to pick things up off YouTube and stuff. The song I've now learned (not perfect yet) is White Stripes - 7 Nation Army.

Hiya Carl Everyone does things their own way: I've been playing for 25 years this year: first few years playing along to CDs & cassettes (pre-internet), then playing in a gigging band for 10 years - learning scales, chords, modes & about playinh live & locking in with a drummer. For the past few years I've played for myself at home with a quick {unsuccessful) foray with a new band. Wherever you're up to, as long as you find it rewarding, its the right way of doing it. Good luck!

My rehousing project addresses this issue.

Hope there’s not a hole in that logic...

this is my one and only fretless, meeting its maker for the first time in 25 years; Series 2 Progress Elite 1989

So buzzing for tomorrow night, big Mod night gig in Strathclyde Uni Union in Glasgow, with everything raised being donated to the Glasgow Childrens Hospital Charity... FoC, we've managed to secure £18k worth of PA and sound man for the night, via a guitarist mate I know from years back, who is doing the sound, the same guy who does TRNSMT and another guy who has done the sound for Metallica on their last European tour...its all just a bit mental the way it's worked out... Best part, we are a tribute band to The Who, and we are playing the very same stage The Who played just a month shy, almost to the day 50 years ago...! Soooooo excited...

Up here it's Dr Ner.

Re-listening to Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magik (which did not leave my car in the early 90's.....). He was definitely at his peak on this album. I have not heard anything by them since that is this ferocious, funky, complex yet simple and good....... Carry on!

Once I’d cleaned up my hot chocolate, which exploded in a brown powdery haze from the sachet, yes indeed the dream was fully lived 🙃

My Vintage Tony Butler Precision is made of poplar and it’s a great sounding bass - sounds very similar to my US Fenders. Ok it has different pickups/hardware etc but it sounds more like the US ones than would be expected for the money, I don’t think the poplar body detracts from it much.

I'd be interested in anything on luthierie (is that a real word?)

Yes.....😀

Those are the ones that Lakland use as their own-brand flats, aren't they?

Hi guys, I finally managed to get a couple of evenings free to record something. The theme of the song is the 'looking' the window and seeing the breadth of possibilities to improve life if you just make that step. Unfortunately my inability to sing or write lyrics kinda take away abit from that, but we can only use what we've got lol. https://soundcloud.com/rikki-boyes/through-the-window

And Taylor Hawkins on drums I think 🤔

Not the sunshine, because according to Roy Ayres Everybody Loves the Sunshine. It can do no wrong. Oh dear, we all know it was the school caretaker and if was not for you pesky kids he would have gotten away with it.

Re-reading the O/P, my advice would be that if you want a Ric to sound like anything other than a Ric, you've bought the wrong bass. They absolutely have a core tone that, whilst they're extremely versatile around that tone, is in their DNA. It's like a clarinet and an oboe, same sonic range, and good players can create a huge array of tones from each, but whilst at extremes one can sound a but like another, they will never sound the same to the players. And the Ric tone is not just in the PUPs, you can change them but whilst it will sound different, it will do little more than you can do with the tone controls on your amp or Sansamp, it will still sound much like a Ric, and importantly will still play much like a Ric. This isn't to say that your average audience, or even band members are going to notice, although I worked with a singer years ago who begged me to play a Precision over a Ric because in his opinion the Ric sounded wrong for the music (I think he was blagging) - but you as a player need to feel that you're producing the tone that's in your head. A Ric with both PUPs open, strung with flatwounds, and played with a pic through a B-15 is one of the most glorious bass sounds I can imagine, with a beautiful pipey hollowness sitting on top of a powerful fundamental. It's a tone that just draws me in whenever I hear it - irrespective of genre - but a lot of people hate it

Welcome Carlcoops. "Am I better off" depends on what you want from bass. For me, it is a hobby that I'd like to keep free of stress. I get stressed around teachers. I play along to YT clips mainly these days but I am happy to play with others as opportunities come along. TAB is as much as I need to get me going if I am struggling to get a line by ear. Reading notation is no longer on the cards for me for personal reasons. For many others learning standard notation and doing scales is very definitely the way to go. You'll have to try a little of each to find out for yourself.

Is that a different bass to what you started this topic with? There have been some sudden changes if it's the same one. Don't get me wrong, they're both lovely but I am missing the grey one, mainly because I liked the headstock a lot. I thought @Jimothey had secured the reputation for major mid-build design rethinkage.

Still is my metal phase at the moment. Listening to a lot of Mastodon. Amazing to hear them having changed so much over the years. This still rocks, though...

A busker in Crawley doing a pretty good Wonderwall......actually he's just segued into Boulevard Of Broken Dreams by Green Day, that works quite well - might steal it for our band 😁

Update! Glad to be back! My custom Overwater should be here within the month & I've been successfully nominated to the Musicians Union Exec Committee

I'm usually pretty near the front... And in the current band I write about 80% of the music which means I can get away with playing far too many notes.

My D'Addario nickels stay bright for quite a long time, compared to say a set of Fender nickels that sounded dead out of the pack. I take it you're using Rotosound nickels? Coated strings are probably the way forward, e.g. Elixir.

Interestingly I heard this song on the radio the other day and thought exactly the same. The good thing about being the a bass player and the boss, is that you can whack the bass up in the mix and drown out the guitarist. By the way, that's the first time I've heard a Rikky sounding halfway decent live (but still think he should have kept the Yamaha)..

I have run a QSC KW12 as a powered cab and it was very impressive indeed.

Exactly the same experience here, I go Bass > Fishman DI > QSC and still can't believe the low end that little thing puts out. I am wondering if the magic DSP pixies inside need feeding or anything.