KevB

Not a member on TB so rarely even look at the site but this was an interesting thread and I think I read most of it. All the usual posturings of recognised forum types, the 'nudge nudge I'm on the inside' expert types to the die hard 'fighting for justice' vigilante types and even whiffs of conspiracy and big dollops of 'it's us little guys against the big corporate machine' mentality. Fascinating. 45 pages of the stuff and it's still not sorted, it's possible that the true facts might never come out which would be a shame as there are still unanswered questions, the main one being is it really a true fake at all?

I was a big Doors fan once upon a time and I knew his name from the Soft Parade stuff but was unfamiliar with his other work. Here's yer man; [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Brooks"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Brooks[/url]

The 4000 would be more suited to that style as you could play fingerstyle with hand well forward and not worry about clanging off a neck PU. That said you could probably give Clarke a length of 2 by 4 with four wires nailed to it and he'd get some thing interesting out of it.

I have to say I've never, ever used fast fret. I'm not convinced it either allows quicker playing (which I think was how it was originally marketed) or cleans the strings significantly. I never clean strings, once they look too grubby and (more importantly) sound dull, lifeless or give uneven responses then I replace them. If the fretboard is rosewood and looks quite crappy, take the strings off and give the fretboard a going over with a light non abrasive cloth and lemon oil. Cleaning the body depends on how it's been finished but if it is a standard nitrocellulose type paint and it's not too thin a rub with a clean cloth shifts most marks or a light detergent. Try on a bit of body out of sight to check the solution isn't bringing any paint off.

A decent foldable sack truck is more useful in my experience, can also use it for other (non music gear) transporting jobs.

I picked up a 2004 MIA S1 jazz 3 or 4 years ago (see avatar) and it rapidly became my main bass. It just happened to also work out at great value (won for less than £400 on ebay including hard case). I've never found it 'flat' in any way. With the S1 button deployed it's a pretty mean machine. The build quality is good but there's no way I'd pay the going rate for a new one.

Didn't know if one of these variants had been posted so here's a recent acquisition of mine:

[quote name='Paul S' post='1064254' date='Dec 20 2010, 07:52 AM']I think I'd quite like a little chorus from time to time - we do 'Waiting For an Alibi' and 'Sweet Emotion' and it seems right for that, but I haven't worked out how to do it to my liking yet.[/quote] I'm pretty sure 'Alibi' is a Flanger, I picked up a cheap S/H one to check and I can get it pretty close to the original sound. But I've not been asked to play that song in a band situation so it stays in the small collection of unused pedals I've accumulated. Most eventually get sold on. Used to have a Boss GT6B and that got sold, I still have a virtually unused Akai Unibass that I should probably move on. They were all bought with good intentions at the time but band situations/projects change and the pedals often find no new use. I don't currently use any out and out effects as such but I always have a Hartke Bass Attack tone pedal in line as it definitely improves the sound of the rig. If I have a tuner and the receiver from the Samson wireless also in the chain I can have 3 'pedals' at a gig and not a single effect among the lot!

Best way to play it: Start Doing SHA, part way through morph it into Werewolves of London and then finish by combining them together as All Summer Long (Kid Rock)

Not had chance to check all previous posts so sorry if this one has already come up. Ticks the boxes for both sad and beautiful for me though:

I expect there's plenty of people I've tried backing at jam sessions who have wanted to do that to me as they left the stage!

[quote name='BigRedX' post='1060676' date='Dec 16 2010, 03:47 PM']BTW what does the Rick-O-Sound socket actually do? Is is simply a way of routing the neck and bridge pickups to separate amplifiers (in which case it should be an easy enough mod to apply to any Rickenfaker) or is there more involved?[/quote] That's pretty much it, more info here: [url="http://www.thegearpage.net/board/archive/index.php/t-363690.html"]http://www.thegearpage.net/board/archive/i...p/t-363690.html[/url] I don't think I've ever seen anyone in pub bands actually do it though, I haven't with my ric. Enough gear to be humping around without a second rig!

They've announced UK dates for end of next year. Not sure if I'll go or not, guess it depends on how the new album shapes up. Saw them with the new singer and he does sound uncannily like Anderson did back in the 70's but it did overrall look a bit like a tribute act at times.

When they dropped the L from the name and got rid of Noddy, then started doing lounge jazz I really lost respect for them I'm afraid...

Thanks for the positive responses. I did a fill in stint for Rich (OTPJ) yesterday at a jam session and the P got a good workout and a few nods of approval. The jazz then got borrowed by one of the house band to do a jazz gig in the evening. Poor thing won't know what's hit it having to play all those interesting lines instead of the repeptitive three or four note thrashes I beat out of it when I play! Maybe there should be a yellow bass thread?

Yes I first spotted her on the later show too, as said before she does have the Karen Carpenter sound (maybe a bit of Dusty in there too?) as she sings in quite a low register for a woman. Also heard a bit of her on Wogan's R2 Sunday afternoon show yesterday. And a bit of a babe which does no harm... Slow's a good song but I prefer this one:

You think that's tricky? I've got to fill in for OTPJ in the house band he's in at a weekly jam session while he's doing his yearly panto stint! I probably know less than a tenth of the stuff he does. I nipped in last week to hear their warm up set knowing full well they could play 10 such sets and never play the same thing twice!

Roy occasionally used to pop in to the Sat rock nights at Rock City in Nottm when I was a regular. Someone reckoned he'd moved into a place in Derbyshire. Never gave it the 'look at me, big star' guff. He'd just turn up on his own or with a couple of mates and have a few beers and chat with people. I was slightly awestruck but approached him (in a very non fanboy kind of way) just to say thanks for all the great music through the years and he seemed genuinely quite touched by it and was extremely down to earth. Top bloke.

Still can't get over WOT getting his own riser and TWO monitors...utterly spoilt

[quote name='merello' post='1047793' date='Dec 4 2010, 09:38 PM']Often one of the guitarists uses a short scale Gibson EB that looks like an SG.[/quote] Yep, the blond haired bloke who looks like he should be Steve Tyler's brother. He's usually doing bass when PM is either on guitar or piano.

[quote name='alanbass1' post='1038690' date='Nov 27 2010, 11:57 AM']Also....does 'off white' count? [/quote] I think I've seen it all now, someone who carries a *spare* Chris Squire Ric!

Liked my jazz I've had a few years so much that I dabbled with the idea of picking up a P bass 'partner' (OK one is passive and other isn't) and this came up recently on eBay so thought I'd take a punt. They are both from around the same year. The finish on the P is thinner which shows more of the wood grain. Barely had time to do much sonically with it but there are plenty of options with the extra pickup and has separate bass, mid and treble boost/cut knobs and a blend for mixing as much or as little of the separate pickuos as you want. Neck plays very nicely too.

I checked the serial number, it's 2003 which in fact puts it to within a year of my jazz so I'm quite happy. I think £600 may be a slight undervaluation anyway as it was a little over twice this price when purchased new and is in pretty mint condition bar a few dirty marks that'll rub off. When I clean it up and get a strap on it I'll post a pic of the pair in the porn section. Popped a couple of new batteries in for a quick tune up and check the action - it's a beast!

[quote name='bottlebassman' post='1046116' date='Dec 3 2010, 10:53 AM']Just learnt this to play at our xmas gigs, its a good bass line to play, should be fun![/quote] It is, I learned it for a works xmas party about 7 or 8 yrs ago. If you can get the drummer to do that military type beat it's great to get a bouncy bassline playing off it. Someone in the band said he'd never taken much notice of the bassline until I played it, that might not necessarily have been a compliment though

[quote name='risingson' post='1045804' date='Dec 2 2010, 11:07 PM']I only read the intro but it's wrong, walks down to a D in the original, not a G on the 3rd fret of your E, THEN walks around G, Bm, D chords in the verse. Unfortunately IMO it's why tab can't be trusted. It's one of my favourite Xmas tunes though [/quote] Ooops, think I posted a wrong link, I was lookingat several versions before posting. I think that has just been transposed to a different key from the original but the basic pattern is OK, this is the one I was going to post; [url="http://www.bassmasta.net/s/slade/103435.html"]http://www.bassmasta.net/s/slade/103435.html[/url]