Leaderboard

I've been accepted now, the admin accepted me and now Mick's had his post removed but mine is up for all in the group to see/warn them away from Micky boy.

Very chuffed this week! I've wanted one of these for over a year. They allegedly only did 200 in this colour as a special run then discontinued them. So, when this came up I was very lucky. Took a chance and it arrived in unused immaculate condition, still with the plastic coverings on. The colour is stunning. Not obnoxious green, but not subtle! I have a fender player in sunburst so I knew what to expect, but the maple neck is lovely and bright and the whole bass is fantastically balanced and plays superb.

After a bit of a failed attempt of buying a Sadowsky MetroExpress I had some money burning a hole on my pocket. I’ve fancied a 5 string with a P pickup for a while but they don’t crop up that often so I just happened to come across the PMT sale and noticed they had this bad boy with £130 off. Off I popped to the shop and had a play, before I knew it an hour had gone by! The J pickup is a little underpowered on its own, and the sweep on the bass pot all happens in the last tiny part of the travel bit other than that it’s superb! I’ve never had a Jackson bass before and I’m not a huge Megadeth fan either, but this bass is superb! Really happy 😊

I have a bit of thinking and drawing to do on @Matt P 's singlecut before I do anything daft like cut or glue wood - working out control chamber size and position, weight relief chambering, back shape - so just to make sure that my hands don't seize up, a bit more progress on this. AHAH! I bet you thought I'd forgotten So, delving back in the memory, it was all about a potentially twisty neck. And out comes one of those tools that I rarely use but boy are they useful when you do. My mini hand router: What I am doing is levelling the tops of the rosewood packing/strengthening strips, flush with the top of the truss rod: Then I cut the free-bit-of-packing-waste rock maple to size: Then ran a thread of Titebond along the tops of them both and 'you can never have too many clamps': And finally, planed the strip flush with the top of the neck: And the neck is SO much more resistant to twisting So when I get another natural break from the single-cut, it'll be a refit of the fretboard - once I've worked out the best way to clamp it...

Ana Vidovic is quite good.

I visited a guitar tech in Denmark street many years ago which was down a narrow flight of stairs. While I was there Lonnie Donnigan came in and told the tech he was there to have a pickup fitted to his acoustic guitar. He didn’t have a guitar with him though which was puzzling — until a couple of minutes later when his missus entered struggling with a rectangular aluminium covered flight case containing the guitar in question. Perhaps you could keep your existing cabs and, like Lonnie must have done, tell the missus that you’re going to let her become your personal roadie.

But, did you see the same lad rip it up on a Zon? Both of you may have enjoyed it even more 🤷‍♂️. No disrespect, but this has been round the houses many times. Put a great player on a cheapo bass and he/she is gonna be great whatever. Put a crap player on an expensive bass and he/she will still sound crap.

No such thing in any sphere. Ludicrous notion. Individual favourites, yes. Oh hold on....news just in...my wife is the greatest wife of all time.

Eddie Van Halen?

What irks me about articles like these and 'who's the greatest' polls is they assume there's no other music genre of note apart from rock. I could name scores of steel string acoustic, jazz, country, Flamenco and classical players off the top of my noggin who could've played the @r$3 off Prince, Hendrix or pretty much most other rock players. For starters let's go with Segovia, Paco de Lucia, Tommy Emmanuel, Albert Lee, Danny Gatton and Joe Pass.

It's a crowded field, but I've vote for Peter Green. In the early days he could make time stand still.

There can be no one greatest of all time IMO. However, there can be those who are great because they changed the guitar playing landscape. For me these would be: Les Paul, Jimi Hendrix & Eddie Van Halen. This is not to say that others weren’t doing what they did before them, or did it better. But it’s these guys who influenced a bigger majority, altering the way the instrument was played and/or perceived on the wider stage. That said, if the greatest guitar player of all time (to date) was someone who could play in all styles and could leave you slack jawed, I’d have to say it’s Guthrie Govan. Obviously, he’s not a household name, even amongst those who play, but he is truly amazing in his technique and wide ranging abilities in so many styles.

Did you have a gig in a quarry?

It’s time to listen through this month’s fine selection of toonage folks, based on the picture chosen by last month’s winner Mr Smalls ( and …. Ahem …myself!) This picture then , chosen by Lenny himself, in his usual eclectic taste, offers a little insight into the image. "A Zulu delegation who came over to the UK to honour those who'd fought at Rourke's Drift, one of whom was my great grandfather (whose grave you can see in the pic).." . 1. @xgsjx I took inspiration from the pic, listened to several Zulu songs & then got the vocal samples from Splice. 2. Lurksalot I've gone for a simple tune this month , I couldn't really get my head around lyrics for it, so I've left it quite empty deliberately, but tried to get the feel. 3. @Dad3353 A solemn occasion, so a sombre mood seemed appropriate, to commemorate the Fallen. A tribal tribute, with a military tinge, and weather to suite. Not really dance-hall stuff; more for reflection on the wisdom of taking the Queen's shilling, or following the Witch Doctor. Sad days for all; there are never any victors. 4. @Nicko I had to look up the battle and when I realised it was what the film Zulu was based on I couldn't get "My Name is Michael Caine" by Madness out of my head. That lead me to doing something vaguely inspired by the UK Ska sound - not sure whether I got there or not. There are two famous paintings of the battle both called "In Defence of Rorke's Drift" which have both been criticised for glorifying empire. I've tried not to make comment on the rights and wrongs of the battle. 5. @Leonard Smalls For some reason this made me think of all the tiny wars going on in our cities - where kids feel the only way they can survive is by carrying a blade... 6. @lowdown I have always had a fascination with the defence of Rorke's Drift, along with the punch up over at Isandlwana earlier in the day and have read dozens of accounts, watched various documentaries and generally, been curious about the whole episode that happened over those two days. This goes back to when my Dad took me to see the opening of the film 'Zulu' in the West End, back in 1964. KwaJimu' is 'Jim's Land' in the Zulu language.. 7. @upside downer The title translates as "Thank you, my friend". The few words are along the lines of "Hello again" and "Thank you", taken from an online English to Zulu site so I apologise if the quality of the translation isn't up to scratch. 8. @Nail Soup I abandoned early on any attempt to incorporate Zulu-based music. Also abandoned an idea to have a narrative based on Leonard's Great-Grandad's story. But two ideas did come to me ...... the "Zulu" in the phonetic alphabet and the reconciliation process which the UK and Zulu descendants have been involved in. These combined to lead me to the young persons word of apology, which in phonetic alphabet is Sierrra Oscar Zulu Zulu. Disclaimer: I didn't, and haven't, checked that those are the correct words for S, O or even Z! One word from Leonard's GGD's life story survives in the lyrics - Himalaya, the name of the boat he sailed to Africa in. Well there we go , another fine selection Voting closes at Midnight on the 30th April ,

https://www.notreble.com/buzz/2021/04/22/old-school-1986-westone-the-rail-bass/

Andres Segovia, Django Reinhardt, Wes Montgomery, Chet Atkins, Larry Carlton and Steve Howe

Speaking as an IT guy who pretends to be a musician 😉 I freely admit that I’ve thrown too much money at questionable upgrades. As a result, experience tells me that a Sterling Ray35 can sound miles better than a ‘proper’ Stingray 5, that a MIM standard Fender P can have more tonal variation in one passive potentiometer than a MIA deluxe P manages with a spare J pickup and a full onboard preamp, that you can have a bass made for you by a very well respected luthier which is an utter disappointment, and that you can pick up the cheapest Ibanez in the ex-demo discount pile and find a genuinely nice instrument which weighs less than a Sandberg SL but has been ignored just because it’s finished in what Dulux might call ‘gravy brown’! Go on an open-minded cheap bass hunt - you never know what you might find! 🙂

Good that he’s out working again and has a legitimate way of repaying everyone what they’re owed! 🙂

I just joined that group as well. Noticed a friends band has put themselves forward. Have messaged him to delete it.

I've requested to join the group and will be posting the link to this thread and the shared posts from Facebook in to the group. Hit him in his pocket before he hits someone else in their's.

Love both of those. Another favourite from 1985 is Husker Du’s Flip Your Wig

Agree, over the last few weeks I’ve sold 3 basses and 2 guitars, only took a hit on the one that I bought new, the rest all went for approx what I paid for them.

Personally I have found if you buy stuff secondhand and at a reasonable price you will get back what you paid for it give or take a couple of quid. Over a long period you may even make a fair bit. Compulsive buying particularly new stuff on the other hand is another matter.

I’m out 😋 After many years fantasising about getting back my old StingRay, I saw it on eBay and just won it back. Huge sentimental value, bought as an 18 year old and was my first proper bass, used for 12 years with loads of good memories. Sadly sold in 2009 when I was having a hard time and made one or two bad decisions. I hoped to last the year in abstinence, but couldn’t be happier now 😁😁😁

I don't believe Stingrays are made by a small tight-knit team of highly experienced craftsmen. Apart from the size, Fender's Corona plant and EBMM's SLO factory are surely pretty similar: semi-skilled, low paid factory workers building the same sort of products out of the same materials, using the same machinery and techniques.

Lots of bits of electronic music in a film about pioneering women in electronic music: https://sisterswithtransistors.com

Transcription for guitar can work very well...

I’ve only had one, a red Forty-Eight. It was great sounding and beautiful to play, but it felt odd to play standing up. I’d love one of the MM/P models one day!

So I've read every post on this thread and it's not clear to me what exactly is the point you're trying to make? GAS for bass gear is no more a "sickness" than buying a season ticket to watch football or taking a fancy foreign holiday every year. Folk are perfectly entitled to spend their money how they like. And if bass gear gives them pleasure, because bass is their passion then that's totally cool. If it becomes an addiction that you can't control and it's causing you financial problems, we'll that's an entirely different matter. Equally it's unquestionably true that improving our bass playing comes mostly from hard work practising and not from more fancy gear: great bass players will make basic gear sound awesome and a beginner is going to be a beginner even on the most high end kit. None of this is new or rocket science.

I don’t think you can have a bass that is too good for you, if it’s something you enjoy and you can afford it and it brings you pleasure, then why not own nice instruments , I’m sure there’s people out there that can play them better than you and I tegs, but it wouldn’t stop me buying what I want 🙂

I started out like many, playing on what I could afford in my early twenties. My second bass was a Japanese Fender Jazz, better then my first (which I believe was a Fernandes). Long story short, after 30+ years of playing and trading up I now own instruments said to be top notch. Brands are Fodera, Zon, Sadowsky etc. I like to think I have a good idea about the quality of instruments BUT... I saw a young lad with lots of talent totally rip **** up on a cheap Squier Jazz the other day. He sounded awesome and I was loving it. So are we simply spoiling ourselves for no real good reason when moving on to "better" instruments? Are the most pricey and iconic brands of instruments for lawyers, dentists, IT folk (me) and alike who pretend to be musicians? I wonder what would happen if I would switch to the cheapest of basses right now. Could I come to terms with playing those again? Has anyone tried this? When thinking back to my early gigging days, I do not think I was having any less fun with those cheap instruments then I am having right now with the pricey ones... Have you ever thought about these things? I am wondering if I am the only one. Any response is welcome.

In 1985, there were available a handful of recent releases which I could have bought then, had I known what I would like, but which I overlooked, and only came to know and love later on: Powerslave - Iron Maiden (Sep 84) Ride The Lightning - Metallica (Jul 84) Killing Is My Business - Megadeth (Jun 85) Cyclone - Vow Wow (sometime 85) Head on the Door - The Cure (Aug 85) Meat Is Murder - The Smiths (Feb 85) First and Last and Always - The Sisters of Mercy (Mar 85) Psychocandy - The Jesus and Mary Chain (Nov 85) But this is what, in 1985, I actually spent my money on: Dream Into Action - Howard Jones

But that's not the question. The question is "best guitar player". If we're taking song writing into account then Richard Thompson must be up there in the top ranks. choose files... Click to choose files

There are companies coming up with new ways to produce existing effects, e.g. Gamechanger Audio do a pedal that uses plasma discharge to generate distortion, and one that uses light to enhance reverb. And there are new ways to control existing effects, like Rainger FX's liquid-controlled overdrive, various gesture-based alternatives to expression pedals, etc. But genuinely new effects? I reckon we may have exhausted them all. What can you do to an audio wave? Change the frequency, amplitude, and phase - that's your pitchshifter, your tremolo/volume pedal/compressor and (almost) your phaser. You can add in some noise with harmonics and clipping to get your various flavours of dirt. You can introduce additional copies of the wave, to get delay/echo/flanger, and then phaser if you change the phase on the copy. Isn't everything else just some combination of these? EQ/filtering is just adjusting the amplitude of specific frequencies, instead of all frequencies. Add in the ability to apply that EQ differently based on the incoming signal amplitude, and you've got an envelope filter. An octave pedal is just a copy of the wave with the frequency halved. And so on. Once you move from analogue to digital and you're sampling the wave, you can do things like fiddle with the encoding to get a bit crusher effect. And some things probably just can't be implemented in an analogue circuit, like the harmonisers itu mentioned - you might be able to get a second signal at a different pitch, but I'm guessing not the smarts of having it change the interval based on the pitch of the input and the selected key. My hunch is there are still plenty of interesting things to be done with sound in the digital world, but it's all combinations of effects that already exist - just applied/combined/controlled in new ways. Things like shimmer and granular particle reverb feel "modern" to me, but even those have been around for donkey's years now. Well anyway that's my 2p. I am not an expert and could be talking out of my derrière!

Bass Collection or maybe a Bass Collection. You will not get s better "bang for your buck" than a second hand BC. Crated in Japan, Gotoh Hardwear and light as a feather.

Price is invariably equated with quality, and marketing people know this all too well. Unfortunately, a lot of consumers don't. This is why I do my research and buy a bass or other at a reasonable price to get the best quality at the lowest price. Nowadays you really can get an awesome quality bass at a low cost because of the level of technology available and manufacturing centres in the East. Therefore, all of my basses are each under £200. There is literally no reason why I need to spend above that that will offer anything more than the basses that I have already. I don't really see the point of paying £567 for a packet of biscuits when I can get good quality biscuits for significantly less, although some people buy into the idea that a £576 packet of biscuits with a prestigious brand name on the packet will give them the best quality biscuits that money can buy.

What we don't necessarily appreciate is how good "budget" gear is today compared to what was around when we started playing. I started playing in the early/mid 80s and TBH a lot of the used gear that was available was garbage. Nowadays, I keep finding budget gear that is surprisingly good. Like many here I am financially stable with disposable income so, for me, spending it on myself and my hobbies is completely justifiable. Whenever I've had high end gear I've been too precious with it so had trouble justifying having it sitting in a case rather than using it. I believe that there is a psychological benefit from using high end gear - having nice gear makes me want to play more and I get more satisfaction from playing. I'm glad that young people have access to resources that weren't available when I started playing. Anything that highlights the Bass guitar (over geeetars) is a good thing in my mind.

Started using a Messa Subway 800 and 2x Barefaced 110's. Super light, very portable and sounds great. As the head goes down to 2ohm, I've always got the option of adding more cabs. Another pair of 10's would do nicely. Modular and loud enough to play most stages.

Hendrix for me too, maybe it's age related, saw him a few times live, long before anybody had even heard of Prince 😎 Playing 1983 a merman I should turn to be just a few minutes ago 🎸

Looks like it’s been wrapped in gaffa tape and thrown on a barbecue. I wonder if Fender Custom Shop relic’ers could replicate that... could start a new fashion.

I used to pop-in occasionally as my office is just across the road. I think I was greeted just once. I only buy bits and pieces, though I'm a generally interested punter, and very occasionally the shop has something that might be of interest, for example the Precision Special. The general lack of interest in the customer (and apparently in sales) is odd, and I'm a little surprised that the shop has survived this long. Given its location, it's a prime target for another take-away. I'd be sad to see Johnny Roadhouse disappear given it's place in Manchester music history, though I wouldn't be at all shocked. And that Jazz... has it been toasted/barbecued? I quite like the '75 look but there's a lot needs to be done to get that particular example back into decent shape

The gloomy mid 80s indie kid party pack

I always loved The Smiths but thought Morrisey was a bit of a tool. I really gave up on him when reading his autobiography. How many grudges can anyone hold for so long? It was when he was whining on whilst living in LA having bought a house that I think belonged to Clarke Gable or some other silver screen mega star that I just didn’t want to hear anymore from him.

I like to buy knackered old basses and parts off the internet and make Bitsa’s. I like the research and the physical process complements my paid job which doesn’t lead to a tangible end product. I now have too many basses and as a result of a few bargains online a couple of basses that are far too good for my skills as a player. People are strange and complex. If collecting basses, Marvel figures, stamps or whatever brings them some pleasure then why not? I get your point but try not to over think the world. You will never make sense of humans as we are a fundamentally flawed species.

Something like this, perhaps? 😎