drTStingray

Very sad news - so many top bass players passing away this year. He was never my favourite bassist but having seen Yes multiple times live in the 70s and having heard the albums incessantly for a few years some of those lines are etched in my mind.

I thought they were great - fabulous sound IMO. One of the few bands where you could hear the bass and I was pleasantly surprised to see the bass cam cut in on the solo in My Generation - where many directors in the past have panned in on the lead guitar during it. Much as I'm a lover of the late Ox's music, I was always disappointed that you often couldn't hear what he was playing properly live - well certainly televised - I'm sure it was a great frustration to him. I thought Pino covered the material perfectly and it was the first time I've ever heard some of the bass lines of the 60s stuff properly - I am a little biased as I think Pino is one of the greatest electric bassists in an extremely versatile way. The Who was one of only a handful of acts televised at Glastonbury where you could hear the bass well in the mix (through my standard tele speaker). Well done to them long may they rock! The power of some of those songs is awesome.

[quote name='Modman' timestamp='1435257929' post='2807103'] Good evening one and all, I wan to start playing Jazz standards properly, whether that be in a band or at a Jam night etc but is it a cardinal sin to play an electric bass? Put it another way... Am i going to be sneered and spat at by the Jazzer elites? [/quote] Electric bass has been around in jazz since the early 50s - a lot of the opposition (from jazz officianados and other musicians) evaporated in the 70s and quite honestly there have been countless examples of jazz standards played on electric bass. I stayed in a hotel quite recently where they had someone performing jazz standards on piano in the lounge - accompanied by a bass player playing fretless electric. There was no sneering and no complaints. I think he was using roundwounds judging by the sound. I also saw the Buddy Rich orchestra in the early 70s - with electric bass (and excellent as well). There will always be die hards who have a different view (folk is another genre example) but a lot of what is reported these days is probably an exaggeration - back in the 50s/60s it was certainly true. But there's plenty of musical snobbery around in rock jam sessions to rival anything I've seen in the more esoteric genres. There's a bit of a tendency for people to confuse the current popularity for slavish attempts to mimic eras of historic music (especially the 60s) with a musician simply wanting to play particular songs etc. concentrate on learning the songs - that in itself is hard enough with jazz standards in my view. A presumption that the only way you can play particular songs and music is, for instance, on a specific make of instrument with a particular type of strings is focussing on equipment rather than musicianship - musically speaking its v narrow minded. Fine if it's a stage show depicting a specific band or as a tribute - otherwise not!! Walking bass lines are better on a double bass?? Good grief that's absolute nonsense in my view - the only thing better from the players point of view is you can be quite inaccurate on a double bass without being found out - unlike on a fretless or fretted electric!! Now if you're wanting to join an orchestra or band playing this music then you may find openings for electric bass more limited. My personal view is that jazz sounds better on electric - mainly because you can hear the notes more clearly. I suspect classic Miles Davis (eg Kind of Blue) has been played significantly more on electric bass than on upright, as recorded originally.

Mine is well travelled also originating in the USA from a now deceased EBMM forum member. I'm the third owner, having bought it from a UK based EBMM and Basschat member. Perhaps they all are!! Anyway I'm going to use the Bongo on my next gig and follow your advice on EQ settings to approximate a Precision sound.

[quote name='ras52' timestamp='1434616917' post='2801159'] That actually makes sense, it's saying that the North and the South both have their rogues: [color=#000000][font=proxnov-reg, arial, sans-serif][size=1]In Birmingham they love the governor, boo boo boo[/size][/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=proxnov-reg, arial, sans-serif][size=1]Now we all did what we could do[/size][/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=proxnov-reg, arial, sans-serif][size=1]Now Watergate does not bother me[/size][/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=proxnov-reg, arial, sans-serif][size=1]Does your conscience bother you? Tell the truth[/size][/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=proxnov-reg, arial, sans-serif][size=1]Read more: [url="http://www.metrolyrics.com/sweet-home-alabama-lyrics-lynyrd-skynyrd.html#ixzz3dOw8ukDe"]Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama Lyrics | MetroLyrics[/url] [/size][/font][/color] [/quote] Indeed - but it doesn't explain the reference to the guv'nor below, which suggests concurrence with the courses of action. Even the producer, Al Kooper is quoted as saying they tried at the time to get the references removed from the song. 'Sweet home Alabama, oh, sweet home baby Where the skies are so blue and the governor's true'

[quote name='Muzz' timestamp='1434561745' post='2800818'] Ummmmm, why would you cringe? Where's the support for racism and violence in there? [/quote] It's a well known and debated controversy, which is a strange juxtaposition with the popularity of the song, which is undeniably a classic and catchy piece of music. The extract from an article below gives a flavour of the controversy:- 'Music historians point out that the choice of Birmingham in connection with the governor (rather than the capital Montgomery) is significant for the controversy as "In 1963, the city was the site of massive civil rights activism, as thousands of demonstrators led by Martin Luther King, Jr. sought to desegregate downtown businesses...[and] was the scene of some of the most violent moments of the Civil Rights Movement. Segregationist police chief Bull Connor unleashed attack dogs and high-pressure water cannons against peaceful marchers, including women and children; just weeks later, Ku Klux Klansmen bombed a black church, killing four little girls."[4]' Sorry to OP re thread drift - this is about Sweet Home Alabama. Brown Sugar's a great song to play but I don't totally buy an argument that it's anything but about sex (which the Stones, like any other young guys, seemed to be obsessed with).

I'd never realised Brown Sugar was anything other than reference to sex of one sort or another (not unusual for a Stones song). However the one I nowadays cringe at playing is Sweet Home Alabama with its Deep South attitude towards racism and support of violent put down of black protest - cringeworthy in my book, in a similar way to a couple of 70s British sit coms which only get shown as clips to demonstrate how society has changed since then - but Sweet Home Alabama goes down a storm presumably because no one takes the lyrics in.

[quote name='Graham' timestamp='1434295092' post='2798371'] Everyone's playing Precisions these days [/quote] Oh yeah, those old planks (basses - not people) - but hey, even some of those have batteries - I've even seen vintage 50s/60s ones played by famous Americans, sporting outboard fixed on pre amp units. However very few semi pros I encounter use Precisions - I'd agree they're wall to wall on the television in name acts. I've noticed a tendency for the bass players, along with the bass sound, to evaporate into the background - apparently a good idea to wear 'background matching' colours to complete the effect of the disappearing bass player. There are notable exceptions - Bob Babbitt in the Funk Brothers band had a great upfront bass sound as I heard on one of their concert videos a few days back - now Motown was an outfit who knew how to use a bass guitar in music.

[quote name='BassBus' timestamp='1434278954' post='2798206'] This idea of keeping notes so you know in advance that when strings will die can only lead to one thing, boredom. How will you ever know what dull strings sound like again if you never hear them as dull. Life has its ups and downs. It is part of what makes life so interesting. When you have a bad gig/practice with bad strings you then have the new strings to look forward to. Perfection is not perfect. Just concentrate on the playing. [/quote] I couldn't agree more, but for one recent gig experience. I decided to crank out my Musicman Bongo 5HHp for this posh country pub bluesy/funky gig - can't remember why - thankfully we did a sound check because what started out in the initial noodle as a fantastic bass sound degenerated to a damp fart sound when the sound check started. And I had no spare batteries and we were a good 30 mins from the nearest purveyor of batteries. Our singer came to my rescue - as a user of radio mikes he had what can only be described as the battery version of an ammunition magazine of sparkly new batteries available!!!! 30 seconds later and the bass was back in working order and ready to shake lady's nether regions with its seismic bass notes!! I've noticed no one has mentioned batteries in this thread except me - has the population of Basschat altered over the last few months?? Or has everyone converted to double bass??

I well remember a member of this forum posting on the Musicman bass forum a copy of his extensive spreadsheet based bass log, which also included dates of battery change and other information - I was not the only member who gasped in amazement at the time. However he had several basses. I have several also and can't remember for the life of me when I replaced each battery. I was also playing one if them a couple of weeks ago and thought - hmmm these strings sound nice and zingy - but I couldn't remember what make or when I installed the roundwounds concerned ........... I fear I'm going to have to resort to the bass geek style spreadsheet - other than carrying a couple of batteries and a spare set of Ernie Ball Cobalt flatwounds in my lead box!!

Also on some bolt on neck basses. The Musicman Reflex is a particular example. It has a mahogany tone block within an otherwise ash body. The guitar version has a chambered tone block. The intention is, as far as I know, to alter the resonance of the body wood. It always make me laugh when I read comments on bass fora about body wood making no difference on an electric instrument - and yet manufacturers go to the expense of adding tone blocks of different types of wood in order to produce a specific tone which wouldn't be available otherwise - or would result in a heavier bass if the tone block wood was used for the whole body.

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1433625116' post='2792663'] I find it amusing that only EBMM disciples have such a reaction to modifications. No other brand has acolytes like that. [/quote] I think you have the wrong end of the stick here. That many people prefer them as stock is no reason why other people shouldn't choose to modify them - that they are in the minority is a fact which is indisputable. But you will find few people who will take great issue with you - that is, possibly until you come to sell the bass - hopefully having made it work for you, you won't be needing to anyway.

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1433622760' post='2792644'] 25 years playing. Not heavy handed. Hundreds of gigs played in everything from jazz to metal to classical orchestra and musical theatre. Band member at the local educational trust. But by all means keep trying to find a reason why I'm wrong and you are right. [/quote] No, on the contrary It's of no great concern to me. I am keen to understand how the new electronics change the sound of the bass though. My feeling, as a player of such basses for 35 yrs + is the construction contributes significantly to the snappiness of the sound - just playing one acoustically highlights this - compare to a precision, which is comparatively lifeless acoustically. For interest my experience with providing a 4 string Ray for a jam session has produced some sensationally bad bass sounds from my position as a temporary audience member - particularly significantly different volume from different strings and notes. None of which has been rectified by EQ. To the extent I was worried it was a dud bass. Then suddenly a decent player came on and got a sensational, well mixed sound. Unfortunately, the Stingray is rather too good at highlighting technique deficiencies - it is not alone there are lots of basses which do this. This is not to suggest any deficiency if technique on Fretmeister's part - if people want to change the sound of their own bass it's entirely their perogative.

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1433526930' post='2791927'] Was the name "Pieceofshitoburst" already taken then? [/quote] The first part of your suggestion is a reasonable description of how 80s Fenders were viewed by many in that keyboard laden era.

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1433448666' post='2791235'] Sounds deeper than the stock pickup, less of the metallic clank - sounds more like a bass! [/quote] Glad you're enjoying it. Fretmeister, you sound like an experienced player but I have to say that the only people I have come across who can't make a Stingray 5 sound like a bass and cant avoid a clanky sound are either extremely heavy handed or have extremely limited technique and ability. This is rather like the car driver who has previously only driven a Corsa trying a Ferrari and leaving the road - no doubt they would argue the car's faulty ............ The other myth in this thread which needs correcting concerns the Musicman forum - the only people banned from it have been the result of them behaving like t*ats - modifying basses is no problem (though not that many find the need with a Musicman) - just don't ask for advice on so doing on a manufacturers forum if you want sensible answers. I recall Steve Pearce had a Stingray 5 with an EMG pick up he used on Madonna recordings amongst others - so the mod is well documented - similarly Guy Pratt has improved a 64 Jazz with EMG pick ups. Would be interested how you get on. Especially with the multi pick up mod.

Thanks for posting this. I was lucky enough to see the Brothers Johnson live around 1980 and they were great - LJ used an Alembic and did a fabulous solo (it was the start of their encore and involved him coming on stage on his own). I think I know what you mean JTUK by his playing being loose as some of the slap licks on the instruction video when at full speed sound a little on the edge (though no more so than some of Marcus Miller's live stuff) - however listen to him on Brothers Johnson or any of the Quincy Jones produced albums of that era and he is anything but loose - his finger style playing is superb as well. There is no doubt he influenced both Flea and Mark King significantly (I think Flea has said so). Notice, like Bernard Edwards, Louis Johnson plays finger style between the bridge and the pick up on the Musicman - I've tried that recently and it makes quite a distinctive sound particularly if you pluck hard. I'm afraid that posting all this slap stuff has also got me trying some of those crazy licks - I may be in trouble next time I get a bass solo in a gig ........... my fave slap machine is an HH Stingray with rosewood board - it simply has the best slap sound of all my MM basses.

Wow that is gorgeous. Enjoy.

Tug bar on mine was in black plastic held on with two chrome screws a la Fender of that time. If you look at the picture I sent you, it appears to sit slightly lower on the scratch plate than a Fender one would.

I had mine for about 8 yrs and for part of that played in a very busy covers band touring the country - it was totally reliable and seemingly well built. I took the covers off mine as soon as I got it - the last thing I wanted was something that reflected the 50s or 60s - no one had covers on Fender basses by the early 70s - not only were they restrictive of playing styles but at that stage anything 50s or 60s was deeply uncool and out of date. They had yet to become items of nostalgia.

[quote name='Coldflows' timestamp='1430344312' post='2760600'] Really? All the pics I found have the style that I used, I'd love to see what a full ashtray cover would look like! Can you dig it out and take a photo if you still have it? Id much prefer to use the correct parts! [/quote] As Bassassin's post shows, that is the cover style my bass came with. I'll try and find it at the week end.

[quote name='Coldflows' timestamp='1430339814' post='2760536'] So currently- Found a bridge cover that fits Ordered a vintage thumb rest to stay in keeping with the bass. [url=http://postimg.org/image/58yv1lfct/full/][/url] [url=http://postimage.org/app.php]print screen windows 7[/url] To do- Find a similar bass pickup Replace the missing pickup Replace the jack If anyone has a maxon pickup anywhere in their spares box I would be so grateful! I also need to look at the action and repair the bridge as one of the saddles is sat on a nut. [url=http://postimg.org/image/6uiq744kv/full/][/url] [url=http://postimage.org/]free photo upload[/url] Ben [/quote] FYI mine had a Fender Jazz sized bridge pick up cover - basically identical but without the f - it had a strip of foam rubber inside it. I took the cover off and used it ........... as an ashtray!!! I sold the bass around 1980 for £100 having replaced it with a brand new Stingray. However the cover wasn't sold with the bass and I think I still have it somewhere packed away in a box. The bass came with black tape wound strings as new.

Haven't a clue what the answer is but I had an Antoria Jazz Bass with the same pickups. Body was walnut coloured and apart from that truss rod cover was v similar. I've never seen another one like it before or since so your photos are quite evocative! I recall that a year or two after I had mine (new in 1973), they started selling Antorias which copied the jazz bass more exactly, including the pick ups.

[quote name='ianrendall' timestamp='1429817923' post='2755347'] Currently doing a week run of 'Oliver' with a Bernard Edwards tone! [/quote] That sounds great fun but also try the Paul Denman tone - it's good as well (see Sade live clip posted). I played for two years in a Cliff and the Shads tribute band using generally only a coral red 2 band Stingray - sounded great (much better than a Precision, which are generally too honky sounding against the Hank B guitar in a live setting - unless you can get tone off to sit in the mix - which implies full FOH and sound mixing capability - and even then it may be less than audible)

[quote name='badboy1984' timestamp='1429860471' post='2755562'] The mids on the stingray is so good that the notes is not muddy, even when the bass eq push up to mix on the preamp. [/quote] Glad you're enjoying - the Stingray has a lot of variation in sound in skilled hands (have a look at the new post I just made)

I have to learn this for a show and came across this live version - what a sublime bass tone and sound in the mix http://youtu.be/ZhijV9i5bXU Also, for Mr Discreet if he's around and Hiram K Hackenbacker - link to a nice white Stingray for sale - post #8 is the one that made me think about you guys!! http://forums.ernieball.com/music-man-basses/19780-sale-trade.html