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I laughed a lot! Superb from Dunlop

TBH anything that isn't a 4 string, long scale bass with either Fender or Squier on the headstock is a niche instrument.

In a lot of music stores BASSES are niche. Full-stop

I realised I’d strayed back on-topic!

Although I think U2 have gone seriously off the boil in the 21st century, they were quite something back in the day. A lot of this was down to the rhythm section - the ultimate safe pair of hands for Edge to create his effected soundscapes and Bono to sing, posture, pontificate and so on. I remember watching the Rattle and Hum video til it wore thin and falling in love with AC's battered Precision bass - for what he does, you don't need bells and whistles (and certainly not a Warwick that looks like melted chewing gum). It nearly fell apart on the Zooropa tour when he went on a big drinking sesh and had to drop a show, replaced by his tech. I believe he was read the riot act by the band and told to clean up his act or else and, to his credit, he has stayed off the dizzy water ever since. Like the other posters have said, it's harder than it looks especially in the stadium era when everything from the lights to the video screens are synced to a click track, and the folks who deride his abilities are generally non-bassists.

Deleted comment because it was irrelevant. How much further off topic was it than outside toilets 😀?

I'm not sure I'll ever be able to top this for pedalboard tetris...

It triggers mine too but less so when I use the my setup like this. However I use this setup mainly if it's a reggae gig and don't have the bass in the PA or it's an outdoor gig. Helps keep the heft in the bottom end. .

Had a fab sell-out show on Saturday night at Teignmouth Pavilion Theatre with Leather & Lace. Here's a little clip of our lovely female singer Tanyth nailing 'Black Velvet'... https://fb.watch/9swAV05Tkf/

Somebody pointed this one out in the Ebay section. After due consideration (which took several days), I decided to have it. Passive, coil-tapped pickups. Controls are pickup selector switch (bridge, both, neck) and two volumes, each with a pull pot which gives the coil tap. The cover at the body end hides the truss rod access, which I haven't delved into. Strings are standard single ball ends with a clamp at the nut end and I think an ETS bridge and tuner system. Although it's 36" scale which gave me a little trepidation, it's easy to play with quite a shallow neck. String spacing is adjustable and currently set to 17.5mm. Fretboard is flat (unradiused). Rather a nice touch - the fret markers cascade across the fretboard. The sound is quite impressive, the coil taps are effective. Appearance-wise, the lines are (to my eye anyway) quite flowing, with an asymmetry that works well. I may adjust the string spacing, not sure about that. I do need to replace the strap pegs with Boston Schaller-compatibles (cue the straplock war).

As of now, I've been asked to play on NYE by eight different venues and with three different bands. This might make sense if I was God's gift to bass playing, but as it happens ...

A Nice story.

Oh my goodness. Watched the live version from 2014, all 13.47 minutes of it. First impressions, great filthy bass sound, guitarist in a prog band who was actually quite understated and didn't just noodle at speed for ten minutes, singer who stood in shadow at the back - just brilliant to see that - and what a drummer!

I have always used a single cable direct from bass to amp, no effects. I've been doing it this way for the last 45 years or more.

Decided after much pondering that the grain is going to irritate me too much, and more importantly that I'm just not enough of a fan of white to make it work, so unfortunately this one is winging it's way back north to Glasgow. Hopefully a sunburst one will be back down in a few days!

The sounds I use, the best pedal I own for each position. Missing is distortion but that is one of the gifts of the SY-1, just about any sound you want is in there somewhere. And with all else in the SY-1's parallel loop the synth effects come through unhindered and at whatever level I choose.

Just saw this one. The finish is called "Metal Flake Clown Vomit Green Finish". Clown vomit? Really? 🥴 Who comes up with such a name and who wants to have a bass with a "clown vomit" finish? Ok, maybe it's a great bass and cheap. So, what's the price you are asking? Well, the price is a whopping £ 3,649. Wow. Well, maybe it sounds amazing and plays well. Never heard of "Blast Cult" but could be good, maybe even very good, not ruling it out, but with a sparkly clown vomit finish? Don't think I will give a try. What about you? https://thebassgallery.com/collections/bass/products/blast-cult-thirty-five

I must remember that next time I see a sonic blue Fender 😀😂

Surely an ideal colour for a Chunderbird?

Some roots from Jammy's

At least its an honest description.

Lots of people are always waxing lyrical about flea , mark king , Louis Johnson , Stanley Clark , jack Bruce , jaco so on and so forth ,whilst these bassist are highly praised and worthy , little or no fuss is made of the late great Andy Fraser , former free bassist lyricist . Being a fan of his playing for many years his sound and style of playing is so clever and melodic not only carries the beat but on occasion takes the bass to another level as a lead instrument, with himself paying tribute to binky mckenzie as a driving force to becoming a better player after soaking up his influence, when you hear him lay down bass lines from such a young age of 15 and making such sophisticated recordings of a mature standard, it makes you wonder how many 15 year olds to today could muster these sort of skills , answers… not many . so what I am saying is simple this is a life skill of shear intelligence as a bassist he is so over looked for such a innovative style , dare I say more famous bassist get all the credits , so I am putting out there a bassist is not all about slap slap slap yes of course I love it as well , but don’t pass by and forgot the lesser spoke about genius that was mr Andy Fraser , check him out and pass on the word for the next bassist talent to see how it’s done . Pj

May an eighty year old member of the forum be permitted to say... I think it’s rather good!

As a left-handed, 5-string bassist who plays fretted and fretless (and, God forbid, also upright 4 and 5 string!), I agree that going to an actual shop for anything that's not a Fender, 4 string, fretted bass guitar is a bit of a waste of time. Large, out of town stores are possible exceptions. What I found depressing when I was a beginner student, in my early 40s, was being offered the abovementioned 4-string Fenders even after stating at the very beginning of the conversation that 1. my hands are small, 2. I'm in proportion to my hands, so I don't want a bass with a big body, and 3. I'm actually left-handed, for real, so there's no point in suggesting I learn to play right-handed. The only concession to the above that the salesmen (all men!) would usually do was to offer a Fender Jazz, as opposed to a Precision, because the neck is so thin. What a pity its body is huge, heavy and stupidly shaped... So I think many bass players who want to look beyond Fender have been saved by the internet and the high number of good, higher-end luthiers we have in this country and abroad.

I don't get the hatred of Clayton. Same as the hatred for Mike Kroeger out of Nickelback. They play just what the songs need. Maybe they are told to just play what's needed. If you look at Cliff Williams from AC/DC, he is told to keep it simple. Same with the drumming. No fills or rolls. Just simple. Let Angus take the spotlight. None of these guys care as they are pocketing a fortune and the fans are happy.

4 months later, I can close the loop and thank everyone who chipped in with advice! Mark just sent the infamous wooden floor shots and all being well I’ll get to play this beauty this week.

Yeah, I've poked fun at AC's abilities, but the fact remains that he's made more money playing fewer notes than any other bassist you'd care to mention. Working by the formula Cost per note = Massive wealth / note then he's probably the most expensive bassist on the planet per note.

This topic subject is always going to be a contentious one. Formerly a guitarist first, I have not owned many brands of basses so have virtually no useful personal experience of the differences their construction woods, neck through, set neck or bolt on etc has on their sound. (this is one of the reasons I joined this forum and talkbass). When I decided to have a go at playing bass properly I made my choice from the bass sounds I enjoyed the most in my record collection, and chose the one who's sound i found the most interesting. Hence ended up with high end bass. With that bass I haven't chosen based on any claimed tonal properties of the woods of construction as I have confidence that any bass I buy from their brand will sound fine. If I was to choose to buy another of their basses it would be based on the model and the cosmetic appearance of their body & woods. I would be hard pressed to recall a gig I went on that the bass sound was dreadful, badly mixed ..yes, some I prefer more than others. Buy what you like and your budget allows, enjoy playing it and pay less attention to what others think you should be playing. Life is too short, and really who actually cares about diminishing returns if you are playing a bass you really love engaging with regardless of price point?

Spamming some more UK product development pics. Here are CHB body blanks ready to be routed (and be painted and have necks fitted).

I've got a NYE gig this year at the Cheese & Grain in Frome, with the ska band, supporting an Abba trib. Something tells me it's going to be a brilliant night. Can. Not. Wait. *jumps up and down like excited 5 year old*

If we applied the same sort of approach to electric instruments as orchestral players do, why is it then that orchestral players may pay £10s of k for their instruments or even hire one which has even more value, when for anyone who has children who learn instruments will know student instruments can be had for the outlay of £100s rather than £1000s + (thankfully)? It would be interesting to hear the sound of an entire symphony orchestra playing student instruments - I think sound and it’s appreciation is a very subjective thing and works also at the margins where, to some people, an imperceptible difference is a massive chasm to others. When I hear people say, of bass sounds, it’ll not be detectable in the mix, well that’s certainly true in some mixes (especially some pop music of the last decade or more) but ask it to do a more fundamental job in the music performed (rather than background plodding and mush) and place it higher in the mix, I’m afraid I completely disagree. That’s where your sound is crucial. It’s also fundamentally important to the player that they are happy with their instrument and the sound it makes - regardless of how much it cost. Some people work on the basis of getting great satisfaction out of a financial bargain - good luck to them - but that’s no reason to suggest others are paying through the nose to achieve value which is not part of the bargain hunters’ core requirements. I once played in a tribute band to an early 60s famous pop outfit - the other guys were from an earlier generation and I always used to inwardly snigger as they loaded their newish Mercedes cars with flight cases to protect their cheap Mexican Fender instruments and wreck the inside of their expensive cars - but the idea of buying a Custom Shop Strat was to them anathema and an extravagance - a sort of an austerity attitude to their musical hobby and anything else would be an indulgence - whereas the cars demonstrated a different approach!!! The world would be a very boring place if we were all the same (especially if we all played Sunburst P basses 😂 - a sort of free market musical version of the Trabant to the motoring market)

Those five string basses, just new fangled fancy malarkey, never catch on

Where have I seen that Verso headstsock design before....?

Also, I could be wrong and just being prejudice, but the first thing that springs to mind is an old shop selling violins and pianos going 'oh, these new fangled electric things will never take on, and who is Hendrix anyway, sounds like a washing machine to me'!

Colonel Mustard in the Library with the Lead Pipe.

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Maybe Clayton is a victim of association, it's not really his playing that some folks have a problem with, it's just that he's in a band with Bonob.

Brilliant! Was just thinking the other day how most descriptions are quite boring. At least this gets your attention in more ways than one. Clown vomit... could be a good name for a band!

Looks fine to me. It's very close to what I ended up with on the BC MKIII, which works well.

If it works .......leave it well alone. Dave

I always think this when folk slag off players. Im sure they are worried about your opinion as they drive their Lotus into their massive driveway.

Practice really, scales and intervals up the dusty end. When I used to play jazz on my fretless, I'd approach the melody like a singer. Judicious slides into certain notes, I not too much vibrato, lots of space, I also found that playing round about frets 7-12 were good for me for intonation, anything from the 14th fret up I'd struggle with my sausage fingers.

I've tried the washer solution and it worked perfectly! Pretty strange that he didn't try it out, maybe he was afraid of damaging the bass.

It's a P bass, what more can be said? Perfect simplicity, the way God (or Leo Fender at least) intended it. I'm sure it will man! I seem to have come to a disturbing conclusion regarding mine. I bought a Seymour Duncan SPB-4 Steve Harris pickup for mine... And have returned it. This bass is absolutely outstanding, even without taking into account the low price. Even stock it's all the P bass I'd ever need or want. The stock pickup really does sound that good, it's everything you'd expect from a 50's style P and so much more. So far I've used it for mucking about with everything. Country, Rock, Blues, Funk and it does EVERYTHING perfectly. I honestly cannot praise this bass enough. Seriously, it is just that good.

First gig since pre-covid on Saturday, at a local social club. Band a bit rusty after only three rehearsals spaced out over about 6 weeks, but nothing any non-musicians would notice. And we have revamped the set a bit during the downtime so some stuff was first performance. Went down well, in the way that always seems to be the routine for cover bands at these social club gigs - audience sitting at tables drinking, with polite applause after each number for the first set and half the second, and then up dancing and cheering for the last 5 or 6 songs. Then wanting more! Punters, staff and band all ended the evening happy though, so successful comeback gig. No pictures of band surfaced yet, but this was the gear after setup.

Overkill? BTII, BBII, Alembic In-2, F2-B, SF-2, Crown XLS1502 power amp.

We played a very short notice wedding gig on Saturday as a last minute replacement for another band who had to cancel due to covid. The landlady of the pub we'd played the previous Saturday recommended us and we got the call on Thursday evening. We had to get a dep drummer we'd never used before who turned out to be excellent. In the end we had a really good gig, plenty of guests up and dancing, free drink and buffet and the venue was amazing. The Old Palace at Hatfield House, Herts, built in 1485, this must be the oldest venue I've ever played at.