Rayman

[quote name='jmanfunk' post='563796' date='Aug 8 2009, 09:15 PM']I'm in a similar predicament as you as I've owned a lot of basses in the last few years all which I've loved and were adequate but have fallen short in what I'd like in terms of playability and sound. Also, the more basses I've owned and more my playing has developed in a certain direction, it has become much clearer as to what I want in an instrument.[/quote] Ditto. I've been through dozens of basses over the last couple of years, two of which were second hand custom builds. The first one, an Overwater was truly beautiful, not built for me, but it felt like it when I owned it. Letting it go was a mistake. The second custom bass I've owned is the Kinal I now have. Again, second hand, but again it feels like it was made for me, and it maybe suits me even more than the Overwater did. There's something special about a custom made bass, something I've never quite felt from a mass produced brand, and having one built to your own spec by someone like Alan must be even more so I'd say, but as pointed out above, you need to have a pretty certain idea of what you want, that's why I've found buying second hand easier than having to choose woods and hardware etc.

Sure does, and that P bass suits you Peter, Wish I could've come.

Yeah very nice indeed, I like the last group shot. The Sei looks fab, as does the 'ray.

Cracking set up, love the Wal, I'll bet that lot sounds magnificent. What kind of stuff do you play?

I'm just fed up with being in bands full stop. I started back on bass after many years away from it about 10 years ago. The reason I started again was for my own enjoyment, playing along to CDs through headphones at home. I love to do that, and hadn't had a good couple of hours on my own at home for ages as band commitments had taken up most of my time. A few nights ago, I got the Tascam out again and spent a great hour or two grooving along to myself to some Cds, I loved every minute of it, and remembered why I'd picked the bass up in the first place, just for my [i]OWN[/i] pleasure. So, I'm thinking of jacking the band in and just going back to playing with myself again, so to speak . I fancy getting into writing and recording some stuff at home. It's less hassle, less stressful and more enjoyable to me, so why be in a band at all??

[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.