drTStingray

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1476111002' post='3151390'] After checking out their price tags... I think the farther I am from further Wal contact, the better [/quote] Whatever you do don't play one - if you like Stingrays you'll be hooked........ I'm waiting till they can increase their profit from the favourable export rate to the US, and recycle funds into lowering the price for us UK guys, post Brexit 😏 Lol - strolls into the distance to the strains of Rule Brittania!!! Seriously though, they're awesome and I badly want one!!

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1476022392' post='3150482'] I've recently seen a Musicman Caprice (a 4 string passive bass) for £1900. £1900!!!! I know this is insanely high as I've been following or EBMM gear for years. Initial RRP (shops can discount this) was £1650. 6 months or so back. I am well and truly out of the new bass / guitar / amp / cab game until the prices sort themselves out. I am certain most sane people will be doing the same. Brexit has ruined the market IMO. [/quote] The pound was worth $1.27 last week - 10 yrs ago it was $2.00. Similar issue with the Euro now. In respect of the new Musicman Cutlass and Caprice, these basses have been receiving rave reviews in the US and described as quality on a par with boutique manufacturers and Fender CS - this doesn't surprise me at all and in that context, would be worth that price, particularly in the context of the Sadowski Metro mentioned.

Level 42 in a couple of weeks - at the Apollo - can't wait. This will be the 4th time I've seen them - 1981 (Birmingham Uni Union Bar); 1990 (Ipswich Regent); 2007 (Eastbourne Conquest) and 2016 (Apollo London) - once per decade!!

[quote name='mikeswals' timestamp='1472075173' post='3118379'] I dig shedua, especially with fairly heavy ribboning: And if you like pink, then can't see why you wouldn't like violet either! [IMG]http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f224/Negative7bass/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20160614_152528_zpsblqmbxce.jpg[/IMG] [/quote] That purple 5 string's nice. However I think a shedua faced mk1 with ribboning is what I will eventually go for. I have a Musicman Old Smoothie on order which I've got to pay for the majority of when it finally arrives - so the Wal will have to wait awile!! The articles on the JG series are very interesting - one of my main reasons for interest in Wal basses are Percy Jones, but more particularly Alan Spenner who is probably one of my biggest influences in bass playing - I see his JG listed and appears to be one of the earliest. Can be heard on Roxymusic songs - fabulous. I was lucky enough to see him play the Wal in a Kokomo reunion gig at the Roundhouse at the end of the 70s - the bass sound and playing was fabulous!! Anyhow, maybe later next year for the Wal order...

Superb. Sorry I missed this - and all those Wals as well!!

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1475103213' post='3143158'] Is the shop still there? [/quote] My recollection is that no music stores which were in operation in Birmingham in the 1970s still exist and I suspect few if any in the UK do.... Listening to you guys talking about the Squier v Encore is interesting - I did exactly the opposite and bought my lad the Encore set up for several reasons - firstly it didn't sound any different, secondly it was cheaper, thirdly I knew that if he decided he didn't want to continue with it he could sell it, fourthly if he did make a go of it he'd probably want a shiny new expensive bass, and finally I knew the shop owner who belly ached a lot about one of the 'name' manufacturers forcing him to stock all sorts of extraneous instruments which would clutter his shop for months if not years in order to sell their starter kits - effectively using his showroom as a parking lot for its over-production of instruments - hmmm I had some sympathy with him, having sold me various clarinets and the like for my daughter and seen his shop cluttered with this stuff!! I can quite imagine the shop probably made more money from their own starter kit sale than the Squier. He still has the Encore, which covers his desire for that sort of sound but progressed to Ibanez and Musicman for higher quality instruments. A different perspective perhaps but there you go.

[quote name='Machines' timestamp='1474642135' post='3139540'] Fender P Fender J Musicman Stingray MUSICMAN SABRE G&L L-2000 MUSICMAN CUTLASS [/quote] This indeed is sort of correct (I've added a bit) - but it's a little more complex because as Stingray Pete has said, the twin pick up Deluxe version of the Stingray (Musicman Sabre) appeared in 1978. At that time the firm Musicman was contracting CLF (the factory) to build instruments and amps for them - they were in ongoing dispute about instruments not passing quality control and being returned for correction - it culminated in a whole batch of necks being made with incorrectly shaped truss rods - Musicman sacked the factory CLF and engaged Grover Jackson to build instruments - they (Musicman) eventually went out of business until Ernie Ball bought the company in 1984. CLF spookily started making G and L instruments around the same time, the initial bass, the L2000 being very similar indeed to the Musicman Sabre. You don't need to ask me which is my favourite of the list - the Stingray (was afflicted in about 1978/79). I have tried an ASAT and was impressed with feel, look and sound. They are very very good value for money, as are Stingrays. I have yet to play a pre EB Cutlass (graphite necked Stingray) - the Sabre version (Cutlass 2) must be even more awesome...

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1474666529' post='3139813'] While nostalgia and rose-tinted glasses are a wonderful thing, I doubt with all my heart that they were [b][i]legal[/i][/b] tender, no matter how seriously you meant it, There's only very few providers that have ever produced[i] legal tender[/i] in recent years (I've worked at one of them) and a printer making Beatles collectors cards has never been one of them. [/quote] Indeed they are - and I certainly hadn't appreciated you were coming from a professional angle Big Stu - I've corrected the original post which of course should have said 'were considered by some 8 yr olds as legal tender' 😊 Were you a member of the banking, minting or bank note printing industry?

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1474641842' post='3139534'] I think the dark blue fold out was 1990(?). The 1970 folder - which I never got - looked like this: [/quote] Wahay - some great memorabilia on show here. I have one of those somewhere as well - pretty sure it's incomplete though! I do, however recall 1970 being the first World Cup (of far too many groan.....) with an expectation of England being capable of winning - 1966 was simply a bolt out of the blue. And at least there were some decent excuses back then - as you say Mr JF nobbling G Banks, R Moore etc etc - these days the average world class football star is pictured in Tatler or wherever sunning and cavorting on a foreign beach the day after England get beaten before the knockout stage even starts.

[quote name='tredders' timestamp='1474573081' post='3138973'] I had a Big Al a few years ago. Great looking bass and massively versatile, but it was wasted on me - I just set it to sound like a Precision and I already had several of those! I wasn't keen on the neck - a little chunky for me, but plenty of people rave about the necks on these. Looks ace in that colour though! [/quote] The neck on a Big Al is similar to that from a US Sterling - I.e Fender Jazz size - I'm surprised you found it chunky compared to your Precisions 🤔 I agree it looks ace in sky blue though - suits it well.

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1474572792' post='3138967'] This doesn't surprise me - based entirely on this....... Hey Blue!! The "Dr" is chasing after your Sweeping Flashing BS Over-statement Of The Year crown. [/quote] The only problem, Big Stu is it's true - and they got banned from the playground at my school owing to disputes and the like. No doubt you wouldn't believe it because it wasn't in the NME or some other font of all pop history. It's not unusual for crazes of collectables to cause problems at schools - in my kid's day it was Pannini premier league stickers and ninja turtles stuff - in mine it was Beatles merchandise, particularly the picture cards sold with a piece of bubble gum - there were a set of 50 and it was nigh on impossible to get the lot - which of course is what everybody was after!

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1474522472' post='3138509'] Exactly, just like The Beatles would have been to an eight year old kid, but there's been another 50+ years of fading memories about that concert to enhance, enlarge and exaggerate since way back then. [/quote] I'm with Blue - I think you do get a different perspective from real life experience - however where I disagree with him is how much that counts for - I'm certainly of the view you didn't have to be there - however being there gives an understanding latter day commentators are unlikely to comprehend. I was 8 or 9 when I experienced Beatlemania at primary school and I wasn't joking when I said Beatles cards were (considered by many primary school kids) to be legal tender - especially the rare ones. I'm talking 63-64 period. There were other bands and artists at the time but the Beatles continued for several years at the same level of public consciousness - which other band had a live screening of a performance of a single release by satellite on prime time tv at a time when there were only just about three tv channels in the UK? Certainly not Mick and Co!! Their influence on that generation was profound and subsequent generations. It's really quite daft comparing their influence with others - of course there have been loads of influential artists, some more than others - but comparing with the Beatles, whether you like them or not, is really a bit silly (unless you ignore history of course).

I don't think I know a musician personally who has not attempted to play a version of Come Together - I'm guessing many people on this forum will have done despite some of the particular demographics!!

[quote name='Funky Dunky' timestamp='1474397240' post='3137738'] Tell you what - they've done a helluva job. Sounds like legit bass to me. [/quote] Agreed - I was astonished when I got involved in a past thread on here and was told it was a keyboard. It came on the radio the other day and I listened to it very carefully. Sounds like a Fretless bass to me. I liken the sound to a slightly warmer fatter version of the sound on the theme to the TV show Bergerac (which sounds like a Fretless Wal or Musicman to me). Even the slides and vibrato.

[quote name='Burrito' timestamp='1474401526' post='3137784'] Is this a trick question because if so I'll pitch for Elvis [/quote] Costello? Nah (the NME may have said so for a few weeks in the late 70s). The problem with anyone using the NME as source material is that by the late 70s many people viewed it as a kids paper - which overlooked the fact that the kids of the 60s had matured into an album buying public and the industry expanded out to take account - before the 60s/70s this didn't happen to the same degree. So as a result punk gets hyped up etc etc - the real music fans read the more grown up Melody Maker at the back of which were adverts for used Fender Precisions, Marshall stacks and the like. The NME appealed to a certain demographic as did Jackie magazine - the fact modern day researchers over use it is a barometer tells a misleading story.

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1474399867' post='3137762'] Reggae was pretty strong in clubs in this country before Bob Marley came along. Trojan records were trotting out Records in a big way, although it was all very commercial. Was it real hardcore ? Not really. But it certainly introduced folks to Reggae. [/quote] Back in the 60s reggae (and other versions of it) was big in the Caribbean. The likes of Trojan introduced it here. So in the late 60s the albums under the arm of skinheads and townies were Motown Chartbusters volume 3, Tighten Up Volume 3 etc etc. So groups of white people dug this music. I also recall watching an interview with Chris of Island records who was instrumental in bringing some reggae to the UK - their biggest worry was the bass being too loud and prominent for western tastes........... now there's a thing 🤔 I had the pleasure of working with a black Jamaican group in the 70s and I can tell you their influences were all reggae and soul (the guitarist was also a Hendrix/Isleys fan). I don't recall them being that into Marley to be honest - though I do remember many white people liking him/them if you include the Wailers. Maybe they introduced an audience to reggae though many white people only know the famous stuff - White musicians often play Marley unauthenticly - missing the point in my mind. The Beatles were a teen sensation from 63 onwards (I was about 9 back then) and I mean a sensation - Beatles Bubble gum picture cards were legal tender in the playground and unlike crazes which followed (Bay City Rollers etc) managed to mature musically as their audience did and thus continued to be a phenomena and central to UK if not world culture for a number of years and remain a national treasure. So I've voted Beatles - not least because soulster Billy Preston played with them and I know my70s black band mates knew all the famous songs. Stones were a different animal completely - not a teen craze IMHO (though not to say some 60s teen ladies weren't affected). They were a harder R and B based outfit than the Beatles and to me as a kid were not involved in teen/kids merchandise, more the occasional sultry and rather strange totp performances were about all the exposure there'd be (Radio 1 didn't start till 1967 remember). I started to dig them as I got older but some of the other bands like Fleetwood Mac sounded like better musicians to me (sorry Keef and Co - I love the groove though) - standard of musicianship was always important for non classical/jazz musicians back then - the establishment poo poo'd pop and rock or anything else as mindless nonsense played by idiots (or mimed because sessions musicians were the real deal) - even as long ago as the first Shadows album, there was a track (Nivram) setting out to prove they could all play - and in a very twee late 50s way this is explained on the sleeve notes!!! Marley arrived to most in the mid 70s (during a period dominated by albums from Wings, Lennon, Genesis, Allman Brothers, Eagles etc). The Jamaican community in say, Handsworth (Birmigham) where I grew up, or Notting Hill started in the 50s and was large by the 60s. Look to bands like Inner Circle, Steel Pulse for young UK Caribbean based reggae of the mid/late 70s. Reggae was well and truly here before Marley. The Beatles changed everything. Sorry for the long post but I was a bit pissed off by the Beatles v xyz threads and their contents - just remember amongst other things John Lennon's off the cuff utterance which was televised caused burning of Beatles paraphernalia in the US in the mid 60s, such was their power of communication and the affront felt by evangelists - of course John was right they did have a bigger worldwide audience.......

'Back on the day' when my equipment wasn't in the band's van I used to transport it in my Mini 1275GT - it comprised an Acoustic 370 amp and lead/pedal/extraneous bits box in the boot; a Carlsboro 1 X 15 cabinet (about the size of a 4x10) on the back seat (cunningly, by placing on the front seats, rotating through 180 degrees over the front seat backs on to the back seat), and my Stingray in a hard case behind the front seats - leaving space for bassist (driver) and passenger (roadie/mate/missus variously or jointly!!). A compact set up giving ludicrous volume and definition for the period and entirely suitable for the small to medium venues. I was asked several times by people how I'd got the large cabinet on the back seat!! The Acoustic 301 cabinet - about the height of an Ampeg fridge with designed in casters and handles at the rear - for pushing along like a sack barrow was used for larger venues or additionally to the Carlsboro - extreme loudness and trouser flap - occasionally was transported with the rest of the rig in my dad's mk 1V Cortina!!

[quote name='Barking Spiders' timestamp='1472564513' post='3122140'] I've just plugged in the terms 'learn bass' and 'learn guitar' into Google Trends. From 100% in 2004, there's a year on year decline to 22% in 2016. [/quote] I wonder if the volume of guitar sales shows similar trends .......... Apart from people on forums who are addicted to buying them (though many on here seem more intent on getting a second hand bargain than a new one - unless it's a bargain) ... and retired gentlemen who want to buy a Strat or Gibson simply because they can and lament not having one in their youth - even if they can't play, I do seriously wonder if there's a reduction in interest.

[quote name='steviebee74' timestamp='1472248696' post='3119881'] Ok, as far as I'm aware, the "Slab" P Basses were exclusive to the UK..... [/quote] Well obviously not as Larry Taylor had a black one in Canned Heat in Monterey Pop in 1967/8. Was black a custom colour then as well? He bought it in a regular music store in the US. Which got me thinking - that would be a good build for someone to order from the Fender Custom Shop....Larry Taylor is actually one of my favourite bass players of all time and I still use fills and patterns he played, especially with John Mayall - and especially the album Jazz Blues Fusion........ hmmm an interesting thought - I think I'd have a spare tort guard done though!!

[quote name='TrevorR' timestamp='1472286573' post='3120017'] Or even more specifically... Good reason why she was "Rear of the Year" a few years running! [/quote] In real life those spandex seemed shinier and even more shapely!! I was a fan (big time) of Agnetha. Back on topic, my headlining act at 16 (1970) was Ten Years After, with a supporting cast of Led Zeppelin, Canned Heat, Free, Jethro Tull and Frank Zappa. I didn't play back then but thinking back all those bands had notable bass players!! I didn't get jazz, R and B and funk, which was a gradual process, till about five years later. Possibly influenced by starting to play bass in that period.

[quote name='darkandrew' timestamp='1472068966' post='3118258'] My Warwick and Spector now have a new friend to play with as I've just picked up my new (well, new to me) USA Sterling - black body, black pick-guard with maple fret-board (see previous owner's pic below). Initial impressions are good - I really like the tone (all 3 positions are very useful and very different from my existing basses) and I can't believe how narrow the neck is at the nut. [/quote] Good choice - hope you enjoy it. The parallel sound is like a Stingray on steroids.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1472169455' post='3119163'] Where does Oomph start and end, then? [/quote] Starts when you feel your trousers flapping in the air being shifted!!

[quote name='gjones' timestamp='1472167892' post='3119150'] At around 2.30 on this video you get the Jazz Bass growl http://youtu.be/NDMp3MREoK4 [/quote] Well I never!! It seems growl means different things to different people. To me, growl is for instance the sound my Musicman 5 produces when the body of the guitar reverberates strongly (you can feel it against your body) and that translates to significant reverberation of amplified sound on longer notes. It growls like a bear in other words!! Woody mid range with amplified fret sound on a Fender is not what I would call growl although I've heard other people refer to it as this. Nice video btw.

Punch to me is low mids - they help to make your bass heard in the mix. I have always been of the school of thought that bass links the rythmn, harmony and melody and weaves around accordingly. Thus to me, a bass which thumps (or bass player who solely plays in that way) but does not properly express pitch only fulfils one of those three functional elements. That may be ok sometimes but I feel generally the notes and nuances need to be expressed (and heard) for the bass to perform its function. The kick drum sound is an interesting one - I have recently noticed people on a couple of occasions mixing bass drum with a certain level of added low bass frequency. Having discussed it with other people, we were of the view the sound becomes akin to a very large diameter low tuned drum as you may expect to see/hear in a military or marching band (I.e boom rather than thump) this seems to overload that part of the mix to the detriment of the overall sound, and seems only to happen because with modern PAs you can!! It doesn't help the bass guitar to sit in the mix either. I'm not sure I understand what heft is - it seems to be a word used to describe a perceived difference in output between class D amps and old fashioned valve amps. I'm not sure if this is intended to be an effect at 5ft from the speaker cabinet or at front of house. I appear to be able to drown out the back line of my entire band with my current class D, retaining a focussed sound even at that volume (needless to say I don't do this!!). To my ears, that's a pretty hefty performance. I haven't used a completely valve amp since ditching mine in the 70s for an Acoustic set up - which could keep up with guitarists and others sound without the bass sound breaking up.