Rayman

[quote name='GreeneKing' post='564151' date='Aug 9 2009, 02:14 PM']I've just done my 1st gig (ever)[/quote] How did it go Pete?

Well I've pimped my Tony Levin to within an inch of its life, and ended up with a bass that is [i]seriously[/i] superb. However that came at a cost. I had a brass nut, Musicman battery box, a Nordstrand 5.2 pickup and a John East, 3 band EQ fitted costing in excess of £400........yes.....I know, but I had my reasons. The East pre was an amazing improvement with the original pickup, but the addition of the Nordy has made it as good as any Stingray I ever heard, and I've heard/owned a few. If you go down the pimping route it'll be worse for you because you have two pickups to replace, so make sure you really like the bass in the first place, because you'll never recover the outlay if you sell it on. In my case mine was a gift from the Mrs, so it's a keeper anyway, and I wasn't worried about tarting it up. I'm down to two basses now, the Kinal which is my main bass, and the OLP, which is just as great to play, has a different but no less impressive range of tones, and was well worth the effort.

I'm 6'3" and 18st last time I looked, that's just horrendous. I've always been a large chap, but there's no excuse for the size of my belly currently. Believe it or not maybe 6-7 years ago I was fit as a fiddle. I used to go mountain biking and to the gym most nights of the week, but since the kids came along that all went out of the window. I played American football for many years too in the 90s, but that's just resulted in my knees being almost unusable these days, and another excuse for not going out on my bike which is gathering dust in the shed. To top it all, I'm almost certainly about to be confirmed as type 2 diabetic, which will mean a serious change in my diet. So I guess that'll get the weight down a bit.

Wow, that's seriously nice. I can't help you on the info you want, but I'd say it was a steal whatever it is.

Yeah I'm well into the DR Low Riders I have on my Kinal. I've used EB Super Slinkys for years, they're nice and punchy for quite a while, but I sweat like a glass blowers arse live and never wipe them down. I get maybe 3 months out of them before they go off. It remains to be seen if the DRs last any longer, but like CK says, they're expensive, and at the end of the day it might be worth changing cheaper strings more often to keep them bright. Like CK I wonder how much cobblers is spoken about strings. One of my favourite string finds of late turned out to be a rebranded version of a budget string, and they were great.

It's beautiful, and well worth a fettle.

Yep, I saw a pic of myself from last night in another thread, and thought, I know [i]exactly[/i] who ate all the pies. Not only are my basses getting smaller, but all my T shirts have shrunk too.

Great fun once again, although I didn't realize I was quite [i]that[/i] fat, I really must get on a diet. The Maroosh thingy jazz was [i]really[/i] tasty as was the P bass, and of course the Shuker was sublime. Big range of tones available from it, and very easy to play, lovely bass. Good score that one Al, I [i]really[/i] hope you can find the tone you want from it, because it's a cracker.

Superb. The Ibanez K5 I used to have punched well above its weight, awesome bass.

Nice

My '84 BB3000S was pure magic, in fact one of the reasons I have the Kinal I have now is because it reminds me of it. I had [i]Taiwanese[/i] BB1100S, A Jap 400 (I [i]think[/i]) fretless and the BB3000S:

[quote name='silverfoxnik' post='556629' date='Jul 30 2009, 09:49 PM']Very nice indeed! Is that Kinal the one eubassix was selling recently?[/quote] Sure is, I just wish I could've had the fretless off him too.

[i]EEK[/i]......that's something very special indeed, beautiful.

No mate, the strings are EB Super Slinkys. My tech has had them on and off a couple of times while working on the bass. I've used slinkys for years on all my basses, but recently I discovered DR strings, so the Kinal currently has Low Riders on it, and the OLP will end up, probably, with High Beams on it. Yes Al, I have to be careful not to tempt fate with all the trading I've done in the last couple of years, but these are better than I could've hoped. The Kinal is perfect for me, in every way, I love it, even more than the Overwater. The OLP is the biggest surprise. I guess with the work done on it, it [i]should[/i] sound great, and it doesn't disappoint. I'll bring them both next Wednesday if we're still on for that.

Homerplaysbass had an absolutely [i]beautiful[/i] Bongo 5 a handful of years back, still, I think, one of the best basses he's had. It sounded immense and played itself, it was truly stunning. I remember Paul C had/has one too which was also outstanding. Me? I think they look superb. Some colours look more attractive than others, granted, but the shape is just great IMO. Very nearly bought the one on sale from the Netherlands here recently, but just didn't have the brass.

I had the camera out today, so I thought I'd take a couple of pics of my two basses (for this week) together. Kinal MK-5 "Mike" : Aero pickups, Bartolini EQ, Ebony pickup covers & Fretboard, sex on a stick. Even the jack socket cover is made from wood: OLP Tony Levin "Tony" : HEAVILY modded; Nordstrand 5.2 pickup, John East 3 band EQ, 3 way switch for series/parallel etc, Brass nut & Musicman battery compartment, and fully shielded inside. Both absolutely unbelievable basses. The Kinal of course was handmade by Mike Kinal, and speaks for itself. The OLP however, started life as a decent budget bass, bought for me by my wife a couple of years ago, and has been transformed into [i]easily[/i] the best sounding stingray I've ever had my hands on, regardless of who made it. Why spend £400+ pimping an OLP Tony Levin?? Well, as I say, it was a gift from my missus, and I'm a big time Tony Levin fan, so why not eh? Over the moon with them both. Jaw dropping tones and they play themselves, very very happy.

[quote name='niceguyhomer' post='551134' date='Jul 25 2009, 02:39 PM']Not sure what's going to fit what is quite a narrow B saddle[/quote] I'm well impressed with the DR Low Riders I've put on the Kinal. I bought what I thought were Sunbeams as that's what the box said, but the inner packets all said Low Riders on them, a mistake during packing apparently, but I'm very happy with them all the same. No idea on the gauges and whether or not there's a lighter B available. I'll definately be putting some High Beams on the OLP when it's finished. It's going in on Monday to have the Nordstrand pickup fitted. There can't be many OLP Tony Levins with an East 3 band EQ and a Nordstrand pickup dropped in, and the brass nut is a work of art, it's going to be monster in its own right.

Al, that's just stunning, I can't wait to try it out, you must be over the moon.

[quote name='Bay Splayer' post='550350' date='Jul 24 2009, 04:15 PM']claret and blue.....quality colours [/quote] I thought you might say that . It's a pity there isn't a bass with red and white stripes, just like the mighty potters.

Holly has started her bass playing future by trying to learn some of Tina Weymouths basslines on Talking Heads' album Remain In Light. How cool is that?