4000

[quote name='BottomEndian' post='685625' date='Dec 15 2009, 07:54 PM']A/Bd my Vintage against WoT's Bergs and warwickhunt's Aguilars a few months back. Not a gig situation or anything, so maybe not the ideal test, but neither the Bergs nor the Aggies really did it for me. A little "thin". But I have to agree totally with the point that it's horses for courses. I mean, personally, I can't grasp why someone would want a tweeter in a bass cab, but people do. It's their choice.[/quote] The only Berg I've tried was at last year's Bass Day and I hated it/them. Couldn't get anything like what I would consider to be a useable gigging tone. I think many people are probably aware of my thoughts about my Aggie GS112s as well. I much prefer my Compact to those. FWIW though we all play differently, eq differently, have different basses, different tone goals, play in different bands; by all means read reviews but ultimately you need to try things yourself. Rich for instance playing one of his basses through his rig sounds completely different to me playing the same bass through the same rig with the same eq. He naturally generates a much bigger tone than me, so he doesn't need the same things from his gear.

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='685408' date='Dec 15 2009, 04:54 PM']To my knowledge I have only witnessed 1 BF cab in the flesh and I am not surprised by Shockwave's observations on lack of bottom-end and finishing quality. The one I saw was put through it's paces against several other pricey cabs and it came out by far the bottom of the heap for sound (hence why Alex sprung to it's defence and offered the unique statement about not being able to hear them properly unless in a live situation), finish quality and (subjectively) aesthetics but it was undeniably the lightest cab in the room.[/quote] Rich, you know my feelings about this. Seriously, eq-d correctly (a point I will keep making!) in a band situation I'd take my Compact (for rock at least) over most of the other cabs I've used, including all those at Moffat. I preferred my early Trace 4x10 (although it didn't handle the lows as well) but it also weighed over 100lbs. Even with my back problems I can carry my Compact with on hand (heck, with one finger!). I'm not keen on the finish and detailing but Alex has made an excellent offer to me in that respect. Ultimately I'm pretty happy with the sound and the weight is an absolute godsend; the rest is just gravy.

[quote name='thepurpleblob' post='651979' date='Nov 11 2009, 08:45 PM']I heard this recently from the deep dark 70s, there's some scary bass playing...... [/quote] What do you expect from the Messiah? Check out 2:59 and 4:33 approx. Seriously though, I always loved Mike's playing on this track and am a big fan of his playing generally. Which brings me to a question; is it considered more important to be a well-rounded player who would cope in a lot of different situations or to be the best possible guy in a particular band and to have a unique voice? Many of my favourite players probably wouldn't cut the mustard anywhere too far removed from their own musical situation, and yet many of the players who are probably great all-rounders I'm not particularly interested in, although I have all the respect in the world for them.

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='651953' date='Nov 11 2009, 08:25 PM']Disagree.... We can all argue over Christopher Isherwood vs Norman Mailer or Shakespeare vs Brecht but noone is going to say Jeffery Archer is a better novelist or Victoria Wood a better playwrite. There are obviously sujective elements to it but it is perfectly defensible to argue that a is better than b. Otherwise everything is great and it most certainly is not. Am I the only one here who sees the value in debate? Some folk seem to think the only 'cool' space to be in is to live and let live and agree that everything is brilliant. Serene but BORING Maybe its a Welsh thing? [/quote] Sadly, I disagree with at least part of the above . Live and let live isn't about thinking everything is brilliant, it's about understanding that your criteria may not match someone else's. For instance I much prefer Lemmy to Laurence Cottle. Laurence has a thousand times the technique and would be much better in 99% of musical situations but Lemmy is unique, which matters far more to me; I also much prefer his tone and approach, even though that will be incomprehensible to some (I'll add I'm also a big fan of jazz, just in case anyone thinks Im purely a rocker). Also you can argue quality by educated consensus/historical impact but ultimately these things are still all subjective and can be affected by all sorts of experiential and cultural issues.

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='636792' date='Oct 26 2009, 11:23 AM']Just to stir things up, I will offer some opinions (I have several) - I think Cottle is overated! What I hear is a man who has learned 1,000 licks off other people and who puts them together to create something, errr, the same. I was impressed with his technique at the early stages of hearing but, once I got past that, there was not a lot of him in there, just losts of other people. I would rather Steve Swallow (yes, I know he's not British) anyday, even though he has half the technique.[/quote] Bilbo, for once we're in agreement. Seen him live a couple of times and he does nothing for me whatsoever. Probably a nice bloke though.

[quote name='6stringbassist' post='365919' date='Dec 30 2008, 12:44 AM']I'd sort of agree with some of your top 10, but Lemmy and John Taylor...mmm, not really what I'd call 'great', Shouldn't Jack Bruce sort of change places with one of them ?.[/quote] Lemmy? Not great? He's a bloody legend. Without him I wouldn't even be playing! Although it's purely personal taste some of my faves are probably (in no particular order) John Entwistle, Chris Squire, John Paul Jones, Leigh Gorman, JJ Burnel, Lemmy, Stu Zender, Geezer Butler, Mark King, John McVie, Gary Thain and Sir Paul.

[quote name='Deep Thought' post='689729' date='Dec 20 2009, 01:45 PM']Sometimes it can't be helped, things happen you don't bargain for. I know some pillocks really don't mind who they muck about, but sometimes sh*t happens.[/quote] You can say that again; just happened to me!

Far more. No car, don't drive.

[quote name='lozbass' post='687059' date='Dec 17 2009, 09:49 AM']Interesting this, now I think about it, I've had loads of pairs over the years - must be something I do semi- or sub-consciously. I've moved a lot of stuff recently, but current pairs are these (non-identical twins...err...in no particular order) [attachment=38435:IMG_1460a.jpg][/quote] Loz, you already know this but those Alembics are sooooo gorgeous.....

My pair of non-identical twins; Sei 4 & 5 and 2 Rick 4001s ('72 Fireglo and '73 Azureglo restoration, both checkerbound with full-width crushed pearl inlays).

[quote name='silverfoxnik' post='684481' date='Dec 14 2009, 08:51 PM']+3 The guy wrote some of the best songs of the 20th Century IMO and will probably be the only electric bass player remembered in 100 or 200 years time..[/quote] I'm certainly not going to argue with any of that......

[quote name='Buzz' post='682665' date='Dec 13 2009, 12:05 AM']No, but if I was buying one to play and spending nearly a grand on it, I think I'd much rather buy a better specc'd MIA Standard for roughly the same price and find a good one of those, what with it having a better bridge, graphite reinforced neck for stability and the lovely rolled fingerboard edges.[/quote] Graphite reinforced necks doesn't necessarily give you better stability 100% of the time. Wal used to use them and abandoned them because they didn't feel they worked and by far the most unstable neck I've ever had on any bass I've owned was graphite reinforced. I'll also add that for some inexplicable reason I'm not keen on the look of a brand new Fender; I always prefer them worn-in looking.

I'd sooner a past it Macca than anything that's ever been on X Factor by a country mile. Although if Leona Lewis fancies coming round to teach me the error of my ways I might be persuaded to change my mind.

The ones I've seen are great. I'll also add that one of the best Ps I've ever played was a MIM; this MIM, MIJ, MIA stuff only matters if you think it does. If the instrument works for you it doesn't matter where it comes from. One of the best Jazzes I've ever played was a Geddy; way better for me than any of the US ones I've played. Judge it with your hands and your ears and forget where it was made.

They're playing Blackpool tomorrow and I'll be missing them too. Watched the gig on the Beeb and thought they were great; JPJ seemed to really be enjoying himself.

Despite the fact I used to buy it regularly I never liked the tone of the magazine much in the first place; it always felt like Bass Playing for Civil Servants. Having recently picked up a couple of issues in Smiths I did what others in this thread have done and put them straight down again.

Maybe he liked being a big fish in a small pond rather than the other way round (it's a control thing) or maybe he's just scared of gigging or doing it simply for something to do rather than to be in a proper gigging band. Or maybe your band just simply aren't his "vibe".

[quote name='Wolverinebass' post='678568' date='Dec 8 2009, 10:24 PM']From my experience the hardest sound to get right is his late 70's sound where it was still reasonably clean and he was using the Alembic Explorers. It's just impossible to get that tone even with Alembic I have. On the other hand that's not my favourite tone of his.[/quote] It's by far [i]my[/i] favourite tone of his.

[quote name='4 Strings' post='676672' date='Dec 7 2009, 01:13 PM']To look the part I think the mopst distinctive is the Thunderbird body and Precision neck basses (didn't he call them 'Fenderbirds'?) made for him by his favourite luthier - name escapes me.[/quote] Peter Cook.

I agree that the most iconic Entwistle image is probably the Exploiter, but he did specifically ask about the Live at Leeds sound, which is all P. Of course an Exploiter might cost a bit more.

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='675709' date='Dec 6 2009, 02:18 PM']I was thinking on the lines of a Precision with a rosewood board and a Wizard Thumper on board. Can't think of anything darker and boomier... Except...I had a Yamaha BB714BS for a short while. That was the deepest & darkest sounding bass I've ever heard! That mudbucker at the neck makes for an earth shattering bass frequency. [/quote] When I saw the Yamaha stand at Bassday I was really hoping to try one of these, but they didn't appear to have a single one.

[quote name='maxrossell' post='675636' date='Dec 6 2009, 01:11 PM']If it's for use in a tribute band I'd mainly look at getting the image right, so some sort of P bass or an Explorer bass or a Buzzard. Beyond that, I think that as long as you get a bit of a decent warm boomy retro tone most audiences will be delighted. There's no need to be ultra-specific about it.[/quote] In a tribute band I'd think it's very much about getting at least [i]pretty[/i] specific about it. Maybe not in a typical cover band.