Dingus

These are very naughty -sounding basses . G&L are always excellent quality , too .

[quote name='dlloyd' timestamp='1377861820' post='2192866'] Yup. There are a relatively limited number of string manufacturers and the smaller brands outsource production. For instance, Ken Smith strings are made by GHS and Sadowsky are made by LaBella. [/quote] Actually , Ken Smith strings are also made by La Bella , unless they have switched production to GHS very recently . GHS do indeed make strings for loads of other people , though , like Lakland , MTD ( I think ) ,Elites , Overwater and many others .

I've been reading through this thread with great interest , and I think most folks are in broad agreement , but there is a certain amount of talking at cross -purposes over what is meant by " investment " . High -end basses are what what would be refererred to as a "complex asset" , in so much as they depreciate and then in certain circumstances re-appreciate in relation to the market , the increases new retail price and overall desirability to the consumer . Quality basses are an investment in the sense that most keep a fairly respectable residual resale value , even if they do not neccesarilly appreciate to a price equal to or above what you paid for them . However , in certain rare cases they [i]do[/i] yield a net profit in real terms , so that is another factor to consider . If you spend two grand on a computer or a used car , in two years it is essentially worthless as an asset . Spend two grand on a prestige bass and in a couple of years you would probably get roughly two-thirds of what you paid back for it , so , by comparison , in that sense a high-end bass is a relatively good investment .

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1378412009' post='2200038'] I can't deny that rosewood is classic, but maple is lovely with the TV logo. Damn, I want my old bass back SO MUCH.... [/quote] Beautiful bass. .

[quote name='Jono Bolton' timestamp='1378409491' post='2199969'] And as a follow up, yuck! That's actually a double whammy, as I don't like white basses, but more so when it's white/tort/maple. [/quote] That looks beautiful to me .

[quote name='Jono Bolton' timestamp='1378408982' post='2199959'] Lord no! Golly gosh yes! [/quote] Tort with Fiesta Red gives me heartburn ! Very , very wrong . Fiesta Red needs a vintage white plate .

[quote name='Gust0o' timestamp='1378413079' post='2200061'] I always thought my old Lakland DJ 4 look quited good with tort and maple... could just be me [/quote] On that theme , I think this looks stunning : Lakland source tortoiseshell that[i] is exactly [/i]the right shade of reddy brown .

The "next big thing " happened about twenty years ago when the consensus of opinion shifted towards the idea that technological and design innovations for bass guitars were largely redundant because for most players in most situations , the existing traditional designs were the best ( or at least the[i] preferred[/i] choice , let's say) tools for the job . This realisation was indeed so "big" and its' impact has been so significant that it shows no signs of receding , as any bass retailer will tell you . For better or worse , the only innovation that will have any impact in the retail sector is finding ways to re-. market those old designs . Hi-tech and radical-design basses will remain marginal for the forseeable future and insignificant in terms of sales. Despite the claims that some folks make for them , lightweight cabs and digital-based amps still have a long way to go in most cases before they can match the sonic attributes of the best traditional-design amplification , but I am sure that in the next twenty years that gap will decrease significantly . There is much more chance that hi-tech amps will continue to prosper than that new -design basses will catch -on in any meaningful way . .

The BB2024's are indeed very special basses . The build quality is second to none , and the sound is sublime . I would rate these Yamaha Super BB's as very good value for money , even at upwards of two grand for a new one. They are easily comparable in every respect to other high-end basses that cost a lot more than that . When I first played one I was surprised by how unlike a Fender they sounded , despite having a traditional PJ configuration . The necks are pretty chunky , but not in a way which ever seems troublesome , even to someone like me who has fairly small hands . Significantly , the nut width is 40mm , which is an excellent compromise between traditional Jazz and Precision Bass dimensions. . A lot of Japanese basses in their "golden era" of the Seventies and Eighties had that nut width , and it seems to work really well . If your money will stretch to one of these , they really are the kind of bass you could keep for the rest of your life and use in any situation . I have noticed they are starting to crop up used nowadays , too , so that is another option . Highly recommended .

I had the Musician Bass back in the 1980's . Looking at them now , these were beautiful basses . I remember playing someone's Roadstar at the time and seem to remember that it had a [u]very [/u]shallow "D" shaped neck profile , not dissimilar in certain ways to an early Music Man bass . I would love to own one of these basses again nowadays myself.

I remember going to see an up and coming heavy rock band called Chevy at a local music venue/ pub in about 1981 and the bass player had an SB1000 and it sounded great . I had just started playing at that time , and in those days an SB1000 was considered to be one of the best basses to have . They had a selection of then in the local music shop , but ,alas ,they were out of my price range .

I've just had another listen to Clockwork Angels . It's awful .

[quote name='noelk27' timestamp='1377109998' post='2183533'] So many ... Neill Murray and Rudy Sarzo, Tony Butler and Marcus Miller, Bruce Foxton and Paul Weller (on Style Council recordings), Les Nemes and Campbell Owens ... [/quote] I never knew Marcus Miller used one .He kept that one quiet !

I remember Pete Trevawas from Marillion playing one , and Trevor Horn ,

I came across this last night , and it looks like it could be a lot of fun . I've got a yearning for a shorter scale bass at the moment , and this looks like a beautiful design that would sound great too : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7x9QPEK0m40

If you can start playing again , I would expect choice of strings , setup and even scale length might be important in easing back into things . I would think that it would be very much a case of the less tension /resistance the better . The good news is that there are plenty of options on the market nowadays to fascilitate those kinds of choices .

[quote name='iceonaboy' timestamp='1377095580' post='2183292'] Who exactly is the bench mark for a great band that constantly delivers over a period of 40 years? I really would like to know because it sure isn't the Stones. I struggle to think of any band who has gone that long and still manages to delight album after album, with no slightly "off" songs. I think its amazing that they have stayed together making music. Ok, some say they drifted off form for a while, but the new album is arguably one of their best ever, so they have managed to produce again. 40 years is a long time to keep writing quality songs [/quote] You are absolutely right . Which band has made consistantly great albums for 40 years ? I can't think of anybody , either . Maybe a lot of bands carry on way too long , but , then again , you can see why they do But what any band creates at any given time can only be judged on its' respective merits , and , to my ears, recent Rush albums have precious little to merit them , I am sorry to say . I don't doubt that legions of Rush fans will vehmently disagree with me - they always did inspire a loyal following - and maybe Clockwork Angels isn't as bad as their other more recent efforts ( I will give it another listen a.s.a.p and let you know what I think . Maybe I am missing something ) , but that is faint praise for a group of musicians with the unique talents of Lee , Lifeson and Peart . The World is still the same , water still doesn't flow uphill and the sun comes up every day , so there is no real reason why they can't rediscover their true potential , at least one more time .

Good luck with getting back into playing , Sam . Once a bass player , always a bass player .I hope the operation has done the trick .

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1377087182' post='2183141'] I don't get this return to form thing. I would have detested it if they had decided to return to the styles of their heyday, it would have sounded so contrived. I think they made the album they wanted to make. [/quote] A return to form is not neccesarilly a return to their old styles . The simple fact is that , like so many ( nearly all , in fact ) bands , they had a creative phase when they turned out consistantly great work . Since the end of that fertile period , they have suffered from a relative paucity of good material . It's not a question of them doing it like they used to . It's that they don't do it [i]as well [/i]as they used to . The whole point is that they used to evolve from one album to the next in a significant and artistically rewarding way . The plain fact is that for a long time the most part their albums have had way too many tracks on that were just filler , and their overall musical direction seems confused and ill-judged . They went off the boil decades ago , and mainly trade on their ( deserved) reputation and back catalogue , both of which are formiddable .

London Transport could [u]never [/u]be that cool !

If you want to sound like a Precision Bass , a Music Man won't do that for you . You can certainly get plenty of thump out of them , but they will always lack something of that gritty , growly low-midrange prescence that you get from a good P Bass . The Music Man 5 string sounds great in its' own right , but it's a very different sound to a Fender -style bass . The Yamaha BB's are a good option , although , ironically enough , the cheaper ones sound more like a Fender than the more expensive " Super BB" range , which sound more like the old neck-thru BB's that , despite being a PJ configuration , had a much wider frequency response than a traditional Fender . There's something of a Fender lurking in there somewhere , but overall the sound is far less muted and much more modern than a traditional Fender -style bass . All the BB's are well worth checking out though , regardless . As for the Lakland option , the Bob Glaub is indeed a nice bass , and they offer five string Skyline nowadays , but as with all Lakland Skyline 5's , make sure you can live with the 35 inch scale . I personally prefer the Hanson /Lakland Neo Punch pickup to the Fralins because it sounds a little bit beefier and has a hint of compression , but ultimately , you probably wouldn't hear much difference between them anyway . The both sound overwhelmingly like Precision Basses . The Skyline Glaub 5 strings all have a hybrid Hanson pickup as standard unless they were a custom order . On the other hand , the Lakland 55-02 is , as others have mentioned , a very versatile bass with a wide range of sounds that offers both Fender and Music Man tones , so might be worth seeking out . There seem to be plenty of used ones at sensible money for sale on Basschat .

Scarily good . No doubt it's only a matter of time before someone unearths a nine year- old Geddy Lee - clone and makes us all feel inadequate .

Still no sign of my free bass .

[quote name='Urban Bassman' timestamp='1376941360' post='2181331'] I've put a set of Dunlop Stainless Steels on my P (45 to 105) and I'm be underwhelmed if I'm honest. So I won't be using them again. I'll be reading this post with great interest to see where I go next. However I've used DR Sunbeams and various flavours of La Bella strings I think I'll mainly be looking at these guys going froward. [/quote] I would say that Dunlop Nickel are nowhere near as good -sounding as Sunbeams , and certainly don't last anything like as long . I would venture that the same could be said for the stainless steel counterparts of each brand .

Me next . What kind of gigs are you doing that someone would [i] nick that waistcoat [/i] (!) ? That means you are playing in venues where the audience and/or staff are so economically and aesthetically deprived that they would covet a garment that ( no offence intended) looks like it was fashioned out of recycled offcuts of chamois leather and sold off at a discount in Matalan as part of their autumn 1993 Collection for people recently released on License . Were you doing a lot of gigs in the Humberside area , by any chance ? I know in Hull that look never really went out of fashion . There is probably a dodgy window cleaner out there somewhere still getting the benefit of your pilfered garment to this very day .