molan

In one covers band I was in I encountered a singer who couldn't hit a lot of the high notes so we agreed to knock a swathe of songs down by a fair bit. I found a lot of songs 'dropping off the end of the board' so I took a five string to the next rehearsal. It wasn't anything flamboyant, simple overwater J bass in faded Oly white with a tort guard. I was amazed at the negativity I encountered! Started with a comment from a guitarist about the last bass player he worked with that had a 5 string was a complete w***er. Then I was asked, repeatedly, why I couldn't learn to play elsewhere on the fretboard on my 4 string and whether anyone in an audience would actually be able to hear the difference on the low notes if I played on a 4 rather than the 5. Moved on to a claim that they'd be listening carefully to see if I started making mistakes on the 5. Most of this came from a guitarist with an array of guitars and a bank or rack effects that regularly robbed his guitar of any quality tone! Anyway, I ignored it all and just played the 5 from then on. Still got some negative comments now & then but I let it go over my head. Eventually the singer left and we moved a lot of songs back to their original keys, where they sounded better, and I moved back to my favourite old 4.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1356899035' post='1914973'] Ah I see! I quite like the idea of seeing someone playing a Bootsy star bass in a pit [/quote] I had one of those for a while - from a practical point of view you can't play them sitting down, lol

Zon VB is, in my opionion, a far better all round bass than the XL2, especially from an ergonomic perspective (both seated and standing). The XL2 is one of the few rare high end bases I've never fancied owning - and I like headless basses as well! As Kiwi has mentioned, Kubickis are great value at the moment and the ergonomics of these are great

I've played that bass a few times - it's not a photoshop job, in fact the photos don't really do the color justice. It's even nicer in the flesh! Jimmy Coppolo makes amazing basses based on classic vintage Fenders but without the foibles of an old Fender. Big money but used by lots of top US session pros - he sells everything he can make and has a long waiting list for anything new

Having tried just about every light weight head out there I decided on Tone Hammer 500 - has the right combination of clean power with the potential to warm up really quickly with some judicious use of the drive control One of the biggest differentiators in terms of cab is going to be whether you want a more traditional ceramic magnet loaded one or a lighter weight neodymium. I really like the Aguilar 4x10's but both the GS and DB are fairly weighty. They did make a light weight SL for a while but it's been discontinued. Guitar Guitar still have a couple though. My personal favourite pairing with the TH500 is a pair of Aggie's SL 112's. having 2 matching cabs gives options for smaller / larger venues but its beginning to get expensive for this set up.

I can't paste the pics from my phone but this black cherry metallic Alleva Coppolo has a nice purple hue to it in the right light: http://www.bassgear.co.uk/products-page/alleva-coppolo1/alleva-coppolo-kbp4-custom-black-cherry-metallic-burst-pre-owned/

Let's not forget that this song is 16 years old so not that 'modern'

I seem to remember US soul/R&B guys always playing Eden or SWR and always through a matching 4x10. Could just be that this is what they specified in their tour rider when they came to the UK as it would have been fairly easy to find and been a 'known quantity' for them. Definitely super-jazz territory as well. First time I saw Sadowsky's live on stage was around this era with some of the great US session guys on tour with 'big name' artists.

I've tried just about everything out there in the small/lightweight market. I settled on an Aguilar Tone Hammer 500 (the 350 is even smaller, lighter and cheaper but sounds the same if you don't need the 500w head). After trying lots of cabs I settled on a Markbass 2x10 Traveller. One of the main, and very simple, reasons for this cab is that it stands vertically and is just nicely wide enough for a head to sit on top. Having the extra height brings the 2nd speaker up a little and I find it really helps me to hear myself without excessive volume. I keep thinking of getting a 2nd matching cab and stacking them both vertically but I haven't needed one yet. With a gig bag for the head I can easily manage cab in one hand, bass over my shoulder and head either on the other shoulder or other hand. The cab really is a simple one handed lift For combos I liked the Markbass 1x12 but found it needed to come up off the floor to be heard really well. The Carvin 1x15 or 2x10 combos are a very good low cost (£450) idea if you want the most bang for your buck.

Whoever that bloke in Muse is.

Should have popped into Bassgear - I was minding the fort today Dealt with one happy customer by telling him his custom ordered Carvin was ready 2 weeks early and then spent a cheerful half an hour discussing the merits of Chris Squire and Mike Rutherford, The joys of trying to get a good sound out of a classic Ricky, how to play Moog Taurus pedals etc etc. I love just chatting all things bass with customers when they come in or call the shop - I can never understand these people who work in guitar shops and can't be bothered to spend time with potential customers or give them help and advice on potential purchases.

Forgot to say - if you hunt around you can pick up 2011 Fender J's for £800-£900 in the UK. I know of a nice one priced at £800 but it's sunburst

[quote name='Gully35' timestamp='1356567053' post='1911327'] Sweetwater aren't allowed to ship fender products internationally they say. Maybe to do with the price? The 2012 jazz USA standards are £1066.00 on all UK websites. [/quote] US Fender dealers are not allowed to ship new basses overseas as part of their preferential price dealership agreements. However, some of them will sell 'ex demo' or 'used' models - in some of these cases the 'demo' consists of them taking it out of the box and looking at it. . .

I've bought n loads of basses without trying them first and can't really remember having had a problem. However, Fenders (even the new ones) can vary tremendously in terms of tonal quality and I'd be extremely wary of buying one without hearing it first. Overall QC is much better now but I've been really surprised at how different a simple J or P can sound from a seemingly identical bass. Friend of mine recently picked up a fabulous Fender P and wanted to buy another that sounded as good. Fender UK have been unable to replicate it so far and they've been trying for 2 months now! Although you'll have a 7 day return option you won't have anything to compare with directly Personally I'd buy a used one in mint condition from someone here that knows what they are talking about and can be honest about sound and feel. Failing that I'd try to test at least 3-4 Fenders back to back in a store. If nothing else it'll let you see if you can hear the differences between different basses and decide how important this is to you. I have to say that I'd always want a bass that's been taken out of the box, checked for dings, hardware and truss rod tested, basic action adjusted etc rather than take something that's unchecked since it left the factory. I've seen plenty of brand new basses with transit damage so would at least want to know the shop had checked it first.

Now there's a classic old school spam headline!

There are some good relic finishers out there who can reproduce things to look really natural. Then there are those, as described by the OP, who take a sander and a chisel to an instrument and it looks totally fake. Somewhere in between are the mass market cheaper makers who just sand away certain sections and it simply doesn't look real. I saw what should have been a nice bass recently that had been fake relic'd and not only did it look fake but some of the wear marks are in places that would simply not have natural wear so it looked totally wrong!

BMW Z4 Markbass Traveller 2x10 takes up the entire boot space. Aguilar TH500 in a gig bag in the front seat and bass (or 2) in a gig bag slotted into the footwell. What more do you need

[quote name='Jacqueslemac' timestamp='1356342167' post='1909259'] For me, jazz is a bit like sprouts. I feel I ought to like it, but every time I try it, I still go "yuk". I don't get it. I'll have a listen and see what happens this time. [/quote] That's almost the same as me - except that I do like sprouts

Sweat - let 'em age the way Leo intended

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1356267883' post='1908524'] Yup, but that's no great hardship. Rather harder is working out why the other band members (whether or not computer illiterate) seem entirely incapable of referring to said calendar, and claim that they can't add dates to it because "it won't let them". Does your band have an IT Department? [/quote] We do have a software engineer - maybe that'll help