Rayman

Couldn't make this one, shame, it was good last year. PM'd you mate.

I'm also down to two, and a couple of bangers too. After years of Overwaters, Musicmans, Sadowskys etc etc I'm down to mainly an old early 90s MIJ Precision for almost everything and I've never been happier.

My brother and myself are trying to get a blues band together, purely for a bit of fun, occasional rehearsals, but no gigs planned initially, that'll only happen if we fancy it. Some of you may know me as a bass player on here, but in this project I'm going to be singing and playing guitar, we also have my brother on guitar, a sax/harmonica/flute(??) player and a drummer, we just need a bass player. I must stress, this is purely for fun, no pressure, no politics, and you certainly don't need to be Victor Wooten in fact we'd rather you were a bit less accomplished than that, otherwise you'll be bored to death, so no pro players please, and you certainly don't need posh gear. Age doesn't matter, bloke or bird whatever, the older the better cause we're all in out 40s, but it's not important, but I guess an interest in playing blues would be helpful! Give me a shout if you fancy a bit of fun, no pressure blues playing. We'll be rehearsing in either Macclesfield or Romiley unless you know of somewhere in the area that's better. If you're up for it, song suggestions are welcome too, I'm into newer stuff like Joe Bonnamassa, my brother is into older more traditional stuff. Go on, you know you want to.

I used something similar to paddle a canoe along the Menai Straights recently.

After years of Overwaters, Sadowskys, Musicmans etc I've ended up with a two budget basses: A Fleabass and an old Squier Precision. They're both fabulous, and I couldn't be happier. You can keep yer expensive stuff ta.

They [i]were[/i] expensive, didn't they have a stand at bassday, the one opposite the doors into the main theatre? No point in doing a show like that without offering some good deals, and they certainly didn't, it was all top price stuff. PMT in Salford seems to be ok since taking over Sound Control, better for guitars than basses but not bad. Sounds Great in Heald Green is still the best guitar shop in the NW (and the most expensive), just not a vast stock of basses, but getting better.

Absolutely.

I've had quite a few basses over the years, Overwaters, Musicmans, Fenders, Sadowskys etc, and they were all fantastic everyone of them. Recently I sold my Sado to fund buying a Gretsch g****r to use in a new project. That left me with an old MIJ Squier Precision and an (allbeit highly modded) Fleabass. The Squier was 200 quid off the bay and the Fleabass was 300 quid (before upgrades). Last night I gigged with the two cheaper basses, that's first gig I've done in a long time without some kind of "expensive" bass as my number one. It was a great night, the music went down well, the pub was full, and we played and sounded great. Best of all, was quite a few people commented on my great bass tone throughout, alternating the two basses but mainly using the Flea. OK, the Flea has an EMG in it, but the thing plays great, I'm really pleased with it, it's a cracking bass. I'm really happy with my latest setup, and to me it just proves you [i]really don't [/i]need to have expensive kit to get the job done.

I had a cool and silky smooth transaction with a top bloke. Mick is HIGHLY recommended.

[quote name='Tait' post='750438' date='Feb 19 2010, 12:45 AM']off topic, i know, but how are the pickguards attached to these?[/quote] Double sided tape I believe.

The following link is to an eastern website detailing some customisation of a fleabass with a basslines pup and Auilar 2 band EQ: [url="http://redhotchilipeppersfan.g.hatena.ne.jp/theadmin/?word=*%5BFLEABASS%5D"]http://redhotchilipeppersfan.g.hatena.ne.j...*%5BFLEABASS%5D[/url] Scroll down a bit to get to the pics of the bass. Unfortunately none of the text is in English, but you get the idea. Is [i]this[/i] the bass Flea intends to use live rather than the stock bass you and I can buy? It would make sense.

[quote name='The Funk' post='745912' date='Feb 15 2010, 02:45 PM']The general consensus seems to be that Clapton is god and that Beck is in the way. That was not my reaction at all![/quote] Seen them both a numberof times over the years, and Beck is a much more enoyable gig IMO. Clapton was great the first time I saw him, then subsequent gigs have been dull, although he was great again during an open air gig in Yorkshire a couple of years back, although I was a bit pissed. Jeff has been fabulous every time I've seen him, a true guitar god. How anyone could claim they prefered Clapton over Beck is a mystery to me.

[i]Yeah[/i]....quality clip, he's just brilliant.

Rehearsed with the bass within a band setting a couple of nights ago. Very pleased with it. The sound of the EMG punches through nicely, not the same kind of cut you can get from an active bass of course, but there's a nice click and plenty of bottom end. The band liked it, and in fact the drummer prefered it to the tone of the Sadowsky, so I guess that's a good thing in this basses favour, although I wouldn't agree with him on that particular point, it does sound great though. I like the way it looks, and I like the way it plays, now I like the way it sounds. Yes, I've thrown money at it, but I think it was worth it for the end result. Will I make it active at some point? Nah, it's fine now as it is. It has it's own voice, it sounds different to my other two basses, and I'll be including it in the live set up from now on. Maybe at some point I'll track down a Modulus Flea to sit next to it on the stand, they'd make a great pair.

The EMG is bigger sounding, but still quite middy, it's not exactly bristling with clean top end, but I get a nice clicky, punchy tone similar to a precision with all pots up to full. I have to add that I've replaced [i]all[/i] the electrics, pots, jack and all, just because....well.....just because. I was changing the pup so I thought I might as well do the lot at once. I know what you mean about the young lad and the vid on You Tube, the bass actually sounds better on a couple of his recordings as stock. I'm rehearsing with my Fleabass for the first time within the band on Weds, so I'll update [i]my[/i] thread about the bass after that. [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=71695&hl=fleabass"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...amp;hl=fleabass[/url]