Mastodon2

I could sit here all day and talk about how ridiculous it to suggest you can't get a good fingerstyle tone on stage, or name countless fingerstyle bassists who have great live tone and loads of definition, but that is beside the point - we all know it's false and stupid to suggest otherwise. Gene only says this stuff to keep people talking about him, he is all about the self-promotion. Creating anything of musical value has always been a secondary concern for him.

I quite like the EMG MM pickups, you'd need to put the EMG P with it, but it you don't want active, it's probably too modern a sound for what you're after.

I've sent and received lots of guitars and now basses internationally over the years without issues. I've shipped in gig bags that have been stuffed with bubble wrap inside and then really heavily wrapped outside to secure the instrument, we're talking a lot of layers and a lot of tape. I wouldn't send a hollow body in a gig bag though, as the package needs to be able to withstand not only sudden impact but also heavy weight on top of it, which I wouldn't want for a hollow bass. The ideal for me is to ship in a hardcase with bubble wrap on the outside for impact absorption. It goes without saying, ship insured. When I buy a bass I'm happy to pay extra for insured shipping. I can't recall ever sending an instrument internationally where the buyer didn't go for the full insurance option. Remember that if you're worried about the bass getting rough treatment during international shipping it's worth considering that mishandling is just as likely to happen in the UK by the parcel carrier. Also, it's worth bearing in mind that the horror stories you do hear about are a biased way of assessing the risk of shipping. For ever horror story someone goes online to post, there will have been hundreds of instruments delivered successfully without issue and in the event it does go badly, if you've paid for the insured shipping then no one is left out of pocket at the end.

Was he not saying that a car place quoted him £200 to spray a bass body?

Don't feel guilty about the cash tied up in the gear - if you bought new the value has already been hammered by depreciation so that money is gone. Unless you need that money to feed your kids and pay your bills then you're better off holding onto the gear. As for feeling guilty about not being in a band, assess what you get out of playing bass. For some people it seems that being in a band is the only reason to play and some even go as far as to say they must be doing gigs, even jamming with friends and writing songs isn't enough. I got into playing instruments as a way to understand how music worked, for me playing with others has never been a big priority. I do enjoy the chance to play with others but I'm happy just to play on my own, working bits of songs out, playing along with songs and improving my own bass-craft and musical knowledge. If you only play bass for the sake of getting on stage then maybe it is time to pack it in if your kids will keep you from gigging in the next few years at the least. However, surely you must get some enjoyment from actually having the instrument in your hand and playing it? For that alone, it has to be worth getting it out of the case every now and then and keeping your hands working?

I get my stuff done at Curvy Sounds in Heaton, he always does a good job for me and his prices are reasonable. He does get a bit of a backlog of work in at times so it's always worth ringing around to see who can get your instrument sorted the quickest. The only one I'd dodge would be the guy at Guitar Guitar, he did a total butcher job on an electric guitar of mine years ago and I've never trusted his work since.

I think it's also worth noting that you don't have to "move" to anything. You can settle on any number if strings you feel comfortable with, but there's nothing stopping you from picking up a bass of any other configuration and playing it. You'll get used to switching between them.

Yes and no. Heavier strings are certainly preferable for lower tunings but I'd take a longer scale for that before going for heavy strings. Steve Harris uses flatwound strings and those signature strings are flats, they give a flat, dull sound. Good for "thud rock" tone but not what I'd want for clarity or note definition on stage with loud drums and guitars.

Sorry I probably conflated the issues there - the tweeter going crackly is not related to the amp head, it's due to the crappy tweeters Markbass are using in the cabs. The tweeters in the Alain Caron signature combo are a different type and considered to have much better reliability and longevity.

It's a Raro Guitars TM Bass, built for a member on the this forum from whom I recently acquired it. The pickups are made by MAMA in Italy and are one-off custom jobs. It is an incredible instrument, the low B is the clearest I've ever heard. It would want to be as the bass weighs a tonne!

I use a Little Mark III through a MB 2x10 and I get some crackle on the knobs when turning them and it's been like that since it was new. It's irritating but doesn't affect the functionality of the amp. Like other users, after powering it up it does take a few seconds to actually produce sound. I'd suggest if your amp is noisy for a few seconds that you don't play it in this time and don't worry about it. What does irritate me is the way the tweeter died after 6 months from the amp being new. Now it just crackles so much I have turned it off completely. I don't miss and I can make back the highs with the active preamp on my basses it but it is an annoyance that it broke so quickly. Internet reading suggests it's a very common issue on these amps.

There are no rules, you don't have to "master" or even play a 4 string. You can have as many or as few strings as you want. That's a bit like a the old-fashioned "My dad says I can have an electric guitar once I've learned to play acoustic" stuff I used to hear when I played electric guitar. There are only 12 semi tones in western music, extended range instruments just give you more options for how and where to play those notes. How you access and utilise those 12 notes is up to you.

From a purely illogical perspective, I love the fact that my Markbass rig looks good, which is an important consideration when it's going to be sitting around my house. Some amps just look ugly, like there was absolutely no consideration given to how it looked when it was designed. From a more logical perspective I love the fact my new bass has a precision pickup, two jazz bars and three Musicman bars and can make just about any combination of the pickups. At the moment I'm particularly liking the precision on the neck of coupled with a Musicman humbucker on the bridge. It also has a John East 5 knob preamp with bass, mid, treble, mid sweep, bright knob and pickup pan so it can do just about anything I ask of of it. Not only is the flexibility great but the quality of the tones is just superb. I believe I have found "the one.

I love that, great pickup arrangement and the top is superb.

Ha, that's a pretty good shop. Whenever I hear people saying things like "Jeff Berlin / Victor Wooten / Jaco only need(ed) 4 strings" it does make me think that myself, the person saying it and an overwhelmingly huge majority of the musical community are not even 1/10th of the ability of those musical giants. And yes, they've all played 5s at one time or another. When I see the deftness and ultimate fluidity of someone like Jeff Berlin, coupled with his incredible musical knowledge, I think I'll take any little extra help I can get

Stick some roundwounds on and listen to that bass come alive. You won't believe what you've been missing. If you want the bass to stay in brand new condition, use flats. Maybe consider not even playing it at all.

Here's a couple more of my Adamovic Jupiter 4

The screenshot of the Status website above showing the T bass page is something I remember from their website going back some 13 years or so and I'm not sure how long it had been up before I first saw it. I'm not sure how long Lodestone have been doing it. I have lusted over that picture of the honey burst T bass with the gold hardware many a time, I'd love one.

I'm not a fan of burst finishes in general, particularly when applied to nice woods where they black the edges of the top right out, waste of a good piece of timber I think.

08:30 - 17:30 5 days a week? How long are the lunch breaks? For those sort of hours, I'd expect a lunch time finish on the Friday. Interesting to note that they don't consider knowledge of musical equipment to be essential, or even desirable.

Because it was 35" and I prefer 34".

Unless you absolutely must have a new one, which have some minor differences (Aguilar pickups as an option, different tuners and black plastic knobs), they go cheap used. This one was bought and sold for £950 and apart from some mild discolouration on the bridge, which is par for the course for gold hardware, it was in fantastic condition. There was not a mark on it, the fretboard was perfectly cleaned and hydrated and the frets were perfect. If only it had been 34", it could have been my #1.

I do love Spectors, they are superb instruments. I remember many years ago my brother had a Rebop 4 string, I think it was made of zebrano wood, with EMGs and it sounded great. I'd always wanted Spector of my own, so after making the jump full time from guitar to bass last year, I snapped one up when I saw a shared advert for a Euro 5 string in poplar burl, owned by another member here.I had seen the advert and the photos checked out so I agreed to buy immediately and the deal was done. What an instrument. Ultimately, two things killed it for me and I sold it, it was 35" and I just prefer 34" and the tonepump preamp isn't the greatest thing - yes I know you can overcome it's shortcomings by adjusting the EQ on the amp, but I don't see why I can't have a mid control on the bass. I did have to turn the preamp output down to about 50%, as it was just too hot and would clip my amp like crazy on the full output as I received it. Once dialed back it had such an even, loud and authoritative tone, it would have been perfect for gospel. The build quality was fantastic, the gloss finish was perfectly applied, it was like glass and was as good a finish as I've seen on any instrument at any price point. If I could get a 34" Spector 5 with a Hazlab preamp I'd be very happy with that, but the majority of Spector 5s seem to be 35".

Worth bearing in mind though that Manring's bass has a composite neck, phenowood board and an epoxy coating. I've only seen Streve playing his Elricks and they all had wooden necks and didn't look like they had the thick epoxy coat ala a Zon Hyperbass or Pedulla Buzz, which IMO is a big component in the process of getting that bright sound. In this comparison, rounds and flats are only part of the story as Manring's bass is so heavily geared towards a bright sound.

Roundwounds will mark the board a little bit, but shouldn't cause significant damage, it's even less of an issue on boards that have been treated with an epoxy resin coat or impregnation into the wood. I much prefer rounds for their brighter, more lively sound.