LukeFRC

I like them, I think on a well made bass they are a big plus- very easy to use

[quote name='AnalogBomb' timestamp='1347671871' post='1803971'] To this end, I am going to spend £280 cash in Leeds on a fretless Squier jazz ( jaco style body!) What say you? [/quote] if it's the one in PMT Leeds you're going to buy - it's a nice one. Given the string marking on the fretboard it's been there long enough to get some money off!

This is so funny. The guy gets good advice, true to follow it and for whatever reason it doesn't work as expected, but pointing out that this may be through lack of experience is "emotional blackmail" and gets me sworn at. I can't play drums, man you can decribe how to do it all you want and I follow that advice to the letter, but that doesn't mean its wrong for a drummer to suggest i could improve my technique. Flabberggasted

I've had some DR fatbeams on my P for 2 years now, I switched some other strings on to test and they had a bit more zing- but the DR's still didn't sound dead!

[quote name='wishface' timestamp='1347694431' post='1804018'] The neck wasn't really twisted at all. Certainly not to the naked eye. [/quote] then it is your lack of ability that stops you setting it up correctly. By now you will have realised that you are out of your depth. Save up 30 or so it takes and pay a tech. Its a 30 min job

Personally although their pr is way way better, and the YouTube stuff is good i don't think they are that good at advertising and branding.

I last commented on this thread in 2008 ! I was wondering what on earth that preamp was - bongo one? It's not exactly cutting edge the way it's been made is it! But keep going it will be finished eventually. about 12 years ago I had a mate who I used to go and visist and in his work room/study he had a plan to build a MM sterling, he had all the bits and a real neck he got off ebay and had a guitar building friend who was going to make a body and put it together for him. I was speaking to him the other day... all the bits are still in a cupboard somewhere!

ah well, we'll see, a few things need to drop into place before I can buy. (and it may go by then!)

[quote name='stu_g' timestamp='1347656778' post='1803801'] i think the most overkill i saw was a pub gig whre the bassist had 3 basses on stands if i remember it was a rickenbacker a stingray and a fender all normally tuned looks nice, but when i was gigging my main bass and a backup in the van sometimes, i also had a fancy topped g&l usa but i was afraid to play it it looked too nice so sold it on [/quote] yeah.... that sounds overkill!

nothing compared in what way? I tend to look for 3 things, how well it's made, how nice it feels and how it sounds

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1347652870' post='1803735'] McVie and Entwhisle aren't fancy players but played Alembic..but yeah, roots on a fancy top is a bit naff. The basses are a bit 'look at me' so you should have a bit of a trick or two...IMO. [/quote] BTW the bass I was looking at in the sales forum wasn't a Alembic, it was the ACG

1 MM 2 PJ 3 JJ

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1347628392' post='1803263'] I think people have very different ideas of what constitutes a "fancy" bass; to some people having a proper Fender is considered an extravagance, whereas to others having one of the more junior models in the Ken Smith or Alembic catalogue is seen as a utalitarian choice. In relation to your o.p , Alembic are an interesting point in case. I would consider them one of the more worthwhile fancy bass makers in so much as nothing else sounds quite like an Alembic- there is a significant end result to their design philosophy and their formiddable history as innovative guitar builders . The other side of the coin is the myryad of lesser bass builders nowadays who set out to make an exotic wood bass for the sake of it, on the basis that thats what fancy basses should look like because allegedly exotic wood yields an exotic tone and then if stick fancy bridge and pickups on their and then you have another fancy bass to compete with all the other fancy basses on the market. As a bass player in the audience watching other bass players , I would have to see which fancy bass they were playing, decide why they were playing it , and then make my decision on how ridiculous they might look. I have seen plenty of bass players who looked ridiculous with not- very -fancy basses, but that's a subject for another thread. In relation to your original question, I don't think you have to be a flamboyant player to have a more upmarket bass , and whats more, I don't think you have to have a fancy bass to be a flamboyant player. Look at what Billy Sheehan did on his old beat up Fender, or Jaco or Marcus Miller. [/quote] that's a good balanced answer there!

[quote name='bremen' timestamp='1347631978' post='1803336'] uh? Surely if there's a vacuum inside it'll just suck the cones up against the magnets and they can only move forwards? What's the problem it's trying to solve? [/quote] no idea, i don't think the force will be that large though, it's sealed- so the force inwards is the airpressure on the cones from the outside. I guess it means that the back of the cones arn't moving anything so no need for porting or anything? No idea! intrigued now

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1347623824' post='1803182'] True, he was...basically an advance on the P bass...which I can see where that comes from. But, if he wanted a P bass but active, he failed and rather randomly created one of the best bass guitar tones known to man...sweetspot humbucker with the Ray EQ. The P to me sounds a hell of a lot warmer, less defined, it does get aggressive but it doesn't kick you in the face like a Stingray with the treble dialed up. [/quote] If you listen to where a P bass will typically sit in rock music mix, and then a Jazz bass. Then compare it to a ray- then the ray is very close to the feel of the P - in the mix. - but with added variety - I really really do not think that this was random chance - the fact that most ray copies can't really pull it off suggests the sound is the result of many things in the design, not a random fluke.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1347624472' post='1803199'] According to my (very rough) calculations filling an Ampeg 8x10 with Helium instead of air will make it approximately 350g lighter. [/quote] how much does the sealant weigh? did you factor that in too?

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1347623242' post='1803154'] I only play what could probably be classed as 'fancy" basses - Gus, Overwater, Sei, Yamaha BJ 5B - and I mostly play fairly simple thing on them these days. Do I care? Do I f***! [/quote] I'm sure you've said elsewhere that image is an important part of music though.

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1347622028' post='1803115'] My ACG isn't for particularly "fancy" music... atleast ever never heard death metal called "fancy" before. I play with a pick and I play it HARD! [/quote] do you have a pic of you playing it live at all?

unless the aim of the helium was to make it lighter and ive got the wrong end of the stick!

[quote name='KingBollock' timestamp='1347621411' post='1803104'] It would be interesting to hear what effect the Helium would have considering sound travels faster through it then normal air. Even in a sealed cab it's got to make a difference I would imagine. [/quote]My parents have these Hi-fi speakers that are sealed and have a vacuum inside, at some point they will pop and stop working but it's an interesting speaker design idea.

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1347622054' post='1803116'] Oh yes, but totally totally different sound [/quote] I dunno, it is utterly different - but I think he was aiming for the same thing musically.

There's a bass in the sale forum that's got my attention at the moment. It's got fancy wood tops, and backs a non traditional shape, (single cut) and looks... well not very much like a fender! In most cases it represents everything I dislike about bass design... except it's been done very very well. I also tried an alembic last year- which despite being as heavy as a heavy thing caused me to rethink a lot of my predujuces as... well it looked like a collision between a glue truck and a wood truck - but man did it play well - I found myself doing things I had never tried on a bass before - and this is trying somehting out in a shop. but at the moment, I'm not a fancy player, I don't play chords or tap, or slap much... my main bass is a warwick SS1 which looks a bit different to a fender style bass, but does look 'right'. And every youtube clip, (well 90% of them) of people playing single cuts, play sat down it seems..... and yeah, where do the rest of you play your more fancy basses? and do you have them and play gigs where you may just be playing root notes the whole time (cos that's what the music demands) (btw this isnt a "lets slag off the fancy basses, Leo got it right in 1957 so why change" type thread- more wondering where nad when folk play their stuff)

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1347617760' post='1803046'] nice one During my first year at university in this country, I had some coursework for the Ecology class that involved writing short essays a couple of pages long, as the answer to a number of points. These were done over a period of several weeks, so usually I'd do one at a time. I submitted the whole thing when asked, and when it came back, section 8 had a note from my teacher written at the top in red: "wrong language, I'm afraid, but I'm sure you are right anyway!" I had written that section in Spanish... and he still gave me full marks for it. [/quote] By the way Jose, I was thinking last night, did you ever get that pickup fixed? I think I had half a dream of you and loads and loads of wire everywhere. Why I was dreaming that I don't know!