Lozz196

I`ve had a few sig basses, all have been good but the best one for me - and one which I sold only last weekend - was the Fender Dee Dee Ramone Precision. Others were Mike Dirnt Precision, Matt Freeman Precision, and Duff McKagan Jazz Bass Special. The quality on all of the instruments was great, in all honesty the only one I bought for association to the artist was the Duff. The others were bought purely on the fact that they were Precisions - a must - and that the colour schemes were right. But back to the Dee Dee, why did I like it so much. Well yes love The Ramones, but at the time I bought it I just wanted a white/black/maple Precision, and that one came along so I snapped it up, wasn`t fussed about the sig. The neck was nice and chunky, and the bass sounded great. Really well put together, aside from no thru-body stinging it would be hard to tell it apart from a US Precision. Was Dee Dee that prolific a player, maybe, maybe not. Did Fender get it right, in terms of playability yes, in terms of colour debatable, as many shots I`ve seen of his bass it sported a red/tort scratchplate not black. But as a punk icon he was recognisable for his low slung Precision as much as his "1-2-3-4" call.

If you`re happy with the Ashdown sound, check out their Rootmaster range. Nice and portable, not very expensive, and a great sound.You can get a 500w amp head, and a 410 speaker for around £800 new - possibly less by shopping around used on evilbay or gumtree.

Nail, head. Couldn`t have put it better myself, and in fact was my own exact experience when I bought my first Precision.I`d grwon up listening to Bruce Foxton, JJ Burnell etc make such great sounds with their Precisions but when I played mine, at home through my practice amp I was underwhelmed. And then I took it to band practice and it all made sense. The Jazz on its own is a wonderful sound, much more articulate, better defined low end, add to that active pickups it`s going to have a good all round sound. Plus some players are better suited to certain types of instruments, our old producer once commented that I`m a Precision player through and through, probably why a great sounding Jazz or Stingray is made to sound so poor in my hands.

For me an artist should only really have a Sig Instrument if they are synonymous with that instrument. Duff McKagan for example, he`s just about the only famous person playing a Fender Jazz Bass Special, easily identifiable to him. Similarly Steve Jones from The Sex Pistols, his Gibson Les Paul was pretty unique with the two femme fatale stickers, he`s played it - or versions of it - throughout his career. So makes sense for these two imo. Whereas artists who have a different make/model of instrument every tour, well it`s like replica football shirts and having to have a new design every season to get the most from the fans as possible. A sig instrument should be - again imo - something that is identifiable over the length of an artists career, that you know they`re going to be playing the next time you see them live.

Good points there Dood, I find that most strings lose that initial brightness quickly, and I`m in the camp of being able to put up with partially killed strings, so maybe going less bright but staying like that for longer is the way to go. Will have to give it a try methinks.

Agree, B Edwards is the classic example of flats on a `Ray. Re the sound, if finding the bottom end a bit thumpy on rounds I`d be tempted to go down a gauge if going to flats, so if using a 105 round E, go 100 on flats.

Get a DHA VT and use it with your current gear. For that traditional warm valve sound it`s the nearest I`ve heard.

Has the Mex P got a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder in it, as from the description that`s what it sounds like to me. If so I`d look to more "standardise" the Mex to make it a backup to the Dirnt, as bein in a Green Day tribute surely that has to be the go-to bass.

It`s always difficult, but if you leave the best/catchiest/danciest numbers til last there`s always a chance that you`ve lost the crowd by then.

Darn fine bassist, great tone, great inventive playing. I`ve a few Elvis Costello albums, bought mainly for Bruces bass playing.

The Sex Pistols.

Most punters don`t care about the sound of the bass until they hear a sound they like is more my opinion. If they hear something that grabs them they`re quite happy to mention it. How do I know this, well since I bought a Tech21 Para Driver the amount of comments I now get about my sound is rather flattering.

Being a big Duff fan this looks great, the original one was always too 80s/rock for me but this one, well one may well just find its way into my home. Interesting that Duff also uses the GK MB800 now (in conjunction with the Fender Bassman).

No experience of BK Pickups, but re bridges I favour the Gotoh 201 - it looks much like the original BBOT (bent bit of tin) but has slotted grooves in it to stop the saddles slipping, so helpful to hard-hitters. Direct replacement, no mods required to the bass. Fender themselves now make a hi-mass bridge that looks very much like the Badass that fits MIM basses, but is much more reasonably priced. Thomann have them.

A few years back our punk covers band were paid £800 for NYE. The pub held 160 people, the landlord charged a tenner to get in, split equally between the band & the bar staff, the pub getting the bar sales. If a pub is paying regular Sat night fees then I`d also expect that pub to not be charging entry - unless they always do and that isn`t changing either. But of suddenly a free to get in pub is now a tenner to get in, well why should the fee for the band stay the same.

The main difference is the ABM has more eq options for shaping/eliminating boom, plus at higher volumes there`s more clarity on the notes. The ABM also has a lower bass frequency (60 v 100) so on the larger stages you get more of that "shake your belly" solidity. Only reason I`m offloading is I use so many provided cabs that can`t handle the 1000s power.

I agree with Dave, the Rootmasters are incredibly powerful - I have the 500 version and it has so much oomph behind it. Once pushed, on large stages, the ABMs - dare I say the word - heft becomes apparent in comparison, but in regular pub/club sized venues the RMs are more than worthy. Or, and shameless plug here, I`m selling an ABM1000 - ABM tone with Class D weight, and for not much money, £395. There`s little chance of that ever running out of steam.

A lot of the weakness in many musicians is attitude. Bass Guitar Mag had a great article a couple of editions ago where a bassist was interviewed and he said that there are many better players out there than him, but do they have the right attitude to sit in a tour bus, gig endlessly, be away from family at Xmas etc. Over the past weekend my band have secured a couple of pretty decent gigs - am keeping quiet as to what/where at present - whereas many of the people I`ve been in bands with previously would have baulked at these, and found so many reasons to not do them, whereas all in the band only found reasons why we should. So someone who can play great can hold you back equally as much, if not more, than an adequate player.

I`ve found that Sansamps pair very well with Ashdown amps. The Rootmaster 500-EVO, whilst not having a graphic has pretty good eq, it`s a loud amp as well.

My bass once stopped working at the end of the last song in the set, turned out to be a dodgy pot, hence why I always take a backup bass. You never know when a solder-joint may break or whatever. Another time, again at the end of the set, the strap-button on my bass just came out, no warning at all, my bass just dived headstock first to the floor. So not exactly mid-gig, but enough to convince me that backups are worthwhile taking to all gigs, but especially ones where you`re the only band playing.

We found that individually micing drums is essential, as if one mic is carrying both say a rack tom and a cymbal, in order to get the tom loud enough the cymbal then can dominate, and there`s nowt that can be done about it. Whereas if each were miced, up one, down the other, sorted.

Yes the necks on MIJ Fenders are, imo, their selling point. All of the Japanese Fenders I`ve either owned or played have been incredible on this aspect. That said, as Marc has pinted out the Road Worn necks are amazing, just like those comfy old slippers/jogging bottoms you ahve, just so comfortable from the start.