Kiwi

I had a status necked 'ray, a Modulus Sonic Hammer and three cutlass basses (one of which OBBM owned). Graphite necks seem to promote the mid bark that is so characteristic of stingrays so the overall effect is a slightly more aggressive sounding instrument but results may vary according to the density and rigidity of the body wood. I've found that the softer the ash, the warmer and less aggressive the sound can be. With very dense ash, the results can be very aggressive. I've also had Modulus Quantum Sweet Spot basses with light alder bodies that have sounded completely gutless.

[quote name='redstriper' post='739609' date='Feb 9 2010, 12:32 AM']I have tried (and mistakenly bought) a number of basses that just don't have my tone and I can't get on with them, no matter how playable, comfortable or pretty they are. Rather than try to get my tone via outboard eq and fx, I'd rather have a bass that does my sound naturally - simple solutions are always best. I want playability, comfort, tone and looks and I want them all rather than choosing one over another. Oh, I want it to be as cheap as possible too...........[/quote] Me too! My collection is in two parts, those basses with MY sound and those basses that have a well known sound. Then there's the Shuker which is a tool (although not *my* sound exactly, it's a very even and muscley sounding instrument now I've replaced the Delanos with my custom Wizards.)

Previous owner of three smiths, three modulii, yada yada yada and you can see the stuff I own in my sig. I still prefer the sound of my 600 quid modded Czech Spectors. The core sound is in the wood, supported by design and specification that bring out the best in that instrument. You don't have to pay thousands for an awesome sounding bass, but if you want lots of features or to be considered "cool" then the chances you'll pay thousands is greater. BTW Alembic used to tune the preamps of their Series basses so that it would get the best out of each individual instrument. This was inspite of a design that supposed to isolate the vibration of the string from other components in the instrument.

it would depend on the design of the cabs but I would expect for average designed boxes that you'd get tight growly mids and the bass would be a bit flabby and boomy unless you had an accurate enough eq to dial out anything below 40-60Hz.

Nile is in the process of writing his memoirs and his status on Facebook is being regularly updated with discovery of old masters and demo tapes of stuff that never made it onto the albums he and Bernard produced. I'm really looking forward to it being published. Nile had a tremendous amount of respect for 'Nard and I don't think he'd ever dream of replacing him. BTW, it was 'Nard who suggested the now famous funky rhythmic strumming style to Nile one day early on while they were in the studio. BTW, that line sounds like 'Nard to me and the year is about right. He had a distinctive way of accenting the first beat in every bar and playing as far behind the beat as was possible without losing the pocket. Not many out there come close to sounding as laid back as he does.

its like sucking the marrow out of life.

what about IEMs?

LOL We'll see about that...

Its not necessarily the soundz that make the pedal good, its the tracking. Although it plays like it has a target frequency around the A string (440hz) and tends to track stingrays and P-basses best. Doesn't track two pickup basses so well, maybe because of the mid scoop?

[quote name='Davetbass' post='737441' date='Feb 6 2010, 06:54 PM']Where can I buy that...[/quote] You'd better have a trim belly before you put that on, girlfriend.

[quote name='Greydad' post='736816' date='Feb 5 2010, 11:52 PM']What more can you want? [/quote] Decent beer for starters.

I was in contact with the NZ and Aussie distributors this week to see if I could get mine repaired - the power track on the PCB has lifted off and broken repeatedly. The Aussie distributor said he didn't think there were parts available. The NZ distributor was really friendly and said he'd put in an RFI to Akai to see what the situation was currently. No way I was prepared to spend 60 quid an hour for the repair in London.

[quote name='Steff' post='732620' date='Feb 2 2010, 10:02 AM']I am sorry If my first post seems offending in some way. No offense meant at all.[/quote] No offence caused at all, if anything I should apologise for giving you an unintentional scare despite having benign and humorous intentions. Nice rawk pose in that first pic BTW. We should probably start another thread of rawk poses...

The SWR Redhead is a sweet amp and amazing value if you can get one imported from the US...HOWEVER, it's a real back breaker. As a studio amp, it hasn't been designed for portability. Not sure you'll be able to land one in the UK for less than £500 unless you find someone virtually giving it away. I'd suggest the GK RB700 2x10 wedge combo and I admit to a personal bias for these amps. I had the 1x15 version (two of them in fact) and they were fantastic, apart from the weight (which was managable but not for me back at 3am up two flights of stairs). Make sure the wheels aren't buggered (a fault with the spec of the rubber that GK aren't prepared to admit to other than sending out replacement wheels that they can't guarantee won't bugger themselves again). Alternatively there are offerings from Warwick which are OK but a bit coloured towards Warwick basses and stingrays. The hArtke Hydrive might be worth investigating as well but it looks like you're already aware of them.

I've had a begrudging admiration for the Soundgear/Tune/Yamaha Motion body shape, if you're aiming for ergonomics its hard to come up with shape that is significantly different.

Just tell her you're not interested in doing the gig anymore because she's turning it into a complete ball ache. Keep it simple for yourselves and don't get sucked into her maelstrom of disorganisation and incompetence. Unfortunately these people crop up in all walks of life from CEOs right down to scatty college girls.

[quote name='BB2000' post='733644' date='Feb 2 2010, 11:54 PM']In addition very heavy (cheap) ash was often used for ash bodies at this time, instead of the expensive swamp ash used earlier (14lb jazz basses are not unknown)[/quote] Swamp ash was originally used because it was cheap and plentiful, not because people liked the sound of it. Fender was set up for mass production from the first moment, tone was secondary and this tends to get forgotten amongst all the vintage hype. Fender had the production values similar to many far eastern factories today. That some of the basses sound good is probably a happy accident due more to good engineering than materials choice.

Welcome Steff, who you've played with doesn't count for much around here I'm afraid, unless you own a coffee table sized bass that cost millions to make, has 100,000 year old mammoth ivory inlays, an LED monitor mounted on the back of the headstock for breaks during the guitar solos and a spalted crotch quilt burl top made from the last remaining Truffula tree. Gear pics please and don't disappoint us...

What part of NJ Lady Kari? I got distant relatives in Wayne.

Assuming that you're all talking about the same thing...its a product of a specific band of frequencies being more prominent than others. The instrument alone isn't enough to get it in my experience, it also depends on how well the amp and speakers pass on that same set of frequencies. Those frequencies are typically boosted to a point on the verge of being overdriven and the overdrive is what gives the growl, preferably through the speakers more than the amp though. GK have a boost feature on their amps that is pretty much the same thing although I don't think their cabs contribute as much to the sound as they could.