darkandrew

Probably explains a lot, maybe I should try that with my kids at work tomorrow but somehow I don't think I'd get away with it these days. Actually on the "Seven year itch" DVD they've got a behind the scenes mini documentary and Budgie comes across as being a top bloke.

When I think of my biggest musical influences I'd always include John McGeoch, the Banshees' guitarist on Kaleidoscope, Juju and Dreamhouse. One of those musicians that had a very distictinctive and influential sound but hardly anyone's ever heard of. It's also worth checking out his stuff with Magazine and PiL but, of course, the Banshees' Juju album remains his defining moment.

I've just dug out my Siouxsie and the Banshees "Seven Year Itch" DVD, and played it for the first time in ages, and just been reminded what an absolutely amazing drummer Budgie was!

Jumperoo and car seat provisionally gone. Trike and mini trampoline still looking for homes.

As the thread topic says ... We've got a child's pink trike with a steerable, push along handle on the back and a Graco baby car seat and base that we no longer need (now that our kids have outgrown them). They're going free to anyone that can collect from Chatham in Kent. Just remembered we've also got a jumperoo kiddie bouncer and ELC mini trampoline in the loft wanting a new home if anyone's interested.

If you're looking for a soft synth then you really can't go far wrong with Imposcar 2 - great basses, great pads and great leads. Hardware wise I chose a Kurzweil PC361 because it has a very powerful virtual analogue synth built into it and some great "cinematic" string pads which when played lower down are extremely effective, however its electric bass samples aren't so good but that's not a problem - if I want an electric bass I'll play one (I suppose it's a bit like playing darts on an XBox; if you want to play darts then get a dart board!)

I've got DR Extra Life 45-105 on my SS1 and I'm pretty pleased with it. Even though these are coated strings they don't feel it - I suppose they may feel a little smoother but they don't feel plasticy at all. I have also tried Warwick EMP strings but the DRs do it for me. When comparing the two on the same bass I'd say the DRs are punchier and more "scooped" in terms of sound whereas the Warwicks are pretty flat by comparison. I've been very impressed with the DR extra life strings and also use them on my SB1000 but unfortunately cannot use them on my Spector Euro 5 LX as it requires a tapered "B" to fit in its bridge, otherwise they would be my first choice string for all my basses.

On the topic of Steve Hillage - for me Simple Minds' Sons and Fascination (which he produced) is by far their best album.

Just came across this customised Fender on e-bay: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FENDER-PRECISION-LYTE-BASS-EMG-PJ-X-DEADLIGHT-DESIGN-P-X-POSS-/220866616172?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item336cad1b6c"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FENDER-PRECISION-LYTE-BASS-EMG-PJ-X-DEADLIGHT-DESIGN-P-X-POSS-/220866616172?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item336cad1b6c[/url] What's the concensus on this one? Is it ugly or beautiful?

According to the Warwick website the change from a JAN2 to a JAN3 is straight swap - you just pull off the JAN2 (it may need a little assistance with a stanley blade or similar) and attach the JAN3 with a drop of superglue to fix it in place. My SS1 had the brass JAN1 originally fitted and that too had an inherent design flaw (the screws that the strings sat in would work loose and rattle, genearting weird harmonics) and so I had to change that for a brass JAN3 - that was a little more difficult as the JAN2/3 are about 2mm deeper than the JAN1 but the way I saw it was that first and foremost the bass is for playing and if something is stopping it from playing properly then I should fix it. As for resale value, would you rather buy a secondhand car with the original wornout tyres or one with brand new tyres fitted?

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' timestamp='1318756376' post='1405741'] Cost no object? This; Except I already did. But I'd have another Vigier without hesitation. [/quote] I've read some reviews of the Vigier Passion where it's desribed as "unforgiving". I'm not quite sure what is meant by this, from your experience have you found it to be "unforgiving"?

Thanks guys, some interesting suggestions there. To be honest I hadn't considered Ibanez so I'll be having a look at them - especially the SRT range. As for the Vigier, I actually put a bid in Derek Forbes' Passion on Ebay a few months ago but went on holiday the day the auction closed and was outbid while flying to Menorca! Cheers Andy.

I'd thought of the Peavey Cirrus, the US made neck-throughs are particularly nice but I think they're 35" scale - the same as my Euro 5LX and I was thinking about getting a standard (34") scale as having played 34" scale basses for 20 years or so I don't find the 35" scale to be as intuitive.

Putting the notion of money to one side for the moment, which 5 string would you get if you wanted a narrow, thin neck and a 34" scale?

Yes I've watching that one too, anyone know what the neck is like on these?

Having both a Euro LX and an SS1, I've got to say that I prefer the Euro. I'm not really sure why? I mean the SS1 looks lovely, has adjustable string spacing, an adjustable nut (in fact just about everything is adjustable one way or another), 3 band EQ, etc and the Euro by comparison has a solid one-piece bridge, plastic knobs and is bright orange but is my prefered bass every time. To me it just sounds right - it's probably not quite as dynamically responsive as the SS1, by that I mean it has an almost compressed quality to its sound, but I actually quite like that - again it just sounds "right" for the type of music I play.

[quote name='noelk27' post='1340168' date='Aug 14 2011, 11:12 PM']Well, if you're sticking with the Japanese marques, then Aria introduced the RSB Deluxe 5 in '84, and Yamaha introduced the BB5000 in the same year. Westone had a few 5-ers in its line-up, although the only model I'm certain of was the Spectrum, which first appeared circa '88.[/quote] Westone Spectrum ... my first bass. I remember thinking how futuristic it looked at the time (angular / bevelled pickups, metallic black paint with black hardware, graphite nut, etc), it had the lowest action of any bass I've ever played since and even sounded pretty good with the right strings (strangely it was very sensitive to the strings you put on it, all the nickels I tried sounded awful, Ernie Ball slinkies were all "zing" and no bass and if I remember right I settled with Rotosound Swing Bass which sounded just right but ate the frets up).

Maybe it has been available for a while but I'd never seen one - probably something to do with that £2500 price tag. As for the SB1000JT being a let down, I couldn't really agree with you on that one. I've got a number of fairly half decent basses (Custom shop Warwick SS1, Spector Euro LX, Etc) and the SB1000 holds its own very well against these - not bad considering that the SS1 is shown on Warwick's custom shop gallery as costing its original owner 4500 euros, infact compared to the SS1 the SB1000JT is actually more comfortable and has an equally good, but very different, tone - very well suited for Bernard Edwards/John Taylor style funk/pop. For £1000 less I'd probably consider the SB1000/5b or at least ask my local dealer to get one in for me to demo - by the way Aria are very good like this, they've always been happy to send stuff on approval but I really think they are just pricing themselves out of contention with this one.