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At the risk of sounding like a JJ gear nerd I can add that JJ used Gibson Heavy picks and did indeed switch to flatwound strings for a period around Feline/Aural Sculpture. Prior to the Trace gear and after the valve amps he was using a rack set up with an Ashly SC40 preamp, MXR (I think) 31 band graphic EQ and Yamaha power amps. I remember this rig sounding particularly good live. Snarly but full-bodied with nice mids. He sounds like Burnel whatever rig he's had.

[quote name='Simon.' post='943362' date='Sep 2 2010, 01:40 PM']However, I have to confess to being left utterly despondent on chatting to Guy after the show. I mean, for christ sake, if a player like Guy Pratt is out of work and can't get a gig at the moment, what chance have I got?!! [/quote] You probably have the advantage of being much cheaper Another great session player, Phil Spalding, seems to be branching out into production now. Perhaps the opportunities for real session bassists is diminishing?

A 72 Precision isn't from the 'golden age' of pre-CBS so although desirable, it isn't the holy grail. I've come to the conclusion that - for me anyway - I won't pay sky-high prices for a Precision unless it has clay dots. Keep the better bass.

Definately flats. I'd recommend La Bella 760M for the ultimate fat and furry tone but these are big, thick strings so you may wish to consider La Bella 760FL instead. La Bella's give you that authentic vintage sound like no ther in my book. I'm not sure that I'd agree that the Motown bass sound is all mids... certainly Bob Babbit on Standing In The Shadows of Motown has some deep bottom going on and it sounds great. Playing lightly with fingers over or in front of the pickup will help get you the round, warm tone. A well setup mute system can work wonders increasing the depth and roundness whilst taking out all the things you don't want.

I just found an interview with Guy, and I quote "Pino Palladino told me that as you get older your tone knob creeps down and your right hand goes further up the neck!". LOL. I was wryly beginning to realise that myself recently much to my amusement so that comment really hit home. Guy, did you use Flatwounds with the Floyd?

Yikes! £795? That seems expensive. Luckily, I've gone off graphite anyway - although I could be tempted back if I come across a nice Steinberger L2...

A bonus with the new ones are adjustable pole pieces so that you can get your string volume balance perfect. A crap thing is the bridge as you cannot adjust the height of each string individually without filing the saddles! I find the necks a treat to play. Sound-wise, it's marmite. Sometimes it's the ticket, sometimes not.

Hi Guy - you pop up in some strange places not least with Chris & JC at the 100 Club! Anyway my question is... I didn't think you were a gear smasher... what caused you to destroy the aforementioned bass on the last night of the Roxy tour? Oh and I did love the youtube clips of your disco basslines spoof even though I quite like Maurice Gibb's work!

Herbie hasn't had a manufacturer make a Signature bass (which is a shame, can you imagine a Fender Custom Shop model with the quality of the Pino?) so I got one built. It's Lake Placid Blue but not as dark as that 59. 7.5 inch radius Rio Rosewood fingerboard. It's strung with Trubass 88s. Pickups are Fralins. The custom switch is a series/parallel switcher. I've since removed the thumbrest.

I want to know more about how the bass plays and sounds from someone else's perspective. I wouldn't be too surprised if it was hugely underwhelming considering it's heritage. I also get the impression that Herbie is not the type of guy who would be overly finicky about set ups and stuff. He just plays the things and prefers the upright anyway! What I am noticing though is that there are a few famous recording basses that are set with particularly high action. Maybe the purity of sound wins against the ease of playing for these guys. If you have seen Herbie's playing on 'Show Me How To Play'.com you can isolate the blue Jazz and listen and watch Herbie solo at close quarters. It's really excellent to see him play stuff like Space Oddity. Very pure tone with the 88s. I highly recommend the £1.99 it costs to download that.

Yes, I've just ordered a 55-02 and enjoyed the review. Cheers.

Wow that is a real scoop. I would love a go on that. So it had high action and the black strings yes? I have a 'Herbie tribute' Jazz bass that I like to get as close to his as possible. In particular I do have an issue with those Trubass 88 strings which do tend to creak a lot no matter where the action seems to be. So the action was noticeably high... hmmm. Herbie's one of the greats.

My experience with these is that at any volume it had an attitude! It wasn't clean. I thought it was [i]too[/i] distorted. I tried a couple of Ps. I discovered that you can tame this by flipping up 1 (or 2 can't remember) of the toggles which suddenly gives a bigger, rounder and bassier sound which wasn't as snarly. I much preferred this.

It's dangerous to have a bass conversation with Mike. Top man! He now owns my Ampeg V4B. It's gone to a good home.

Gwilym is a pleasure to deal with. Bought a Markbass bag from me. Very smooth transaction. Thanks.

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