4000

Dave Gilmour and Andy Latimer, Jimi, John McLaughlin, Paco De Lucia, Eddie Van Halen, Yngwie (yes, Yngwie!) and Scott Gorham, amongst others......Dave G is tops for me, although Andy Latimer's solo on Lunar Sea is one of my faves. As with bassists, some of it comes down to tone. Vai, Satriani & Gilbert are great guitarists, but I'm not overly keen on their tone. Alan Murphy was indeed great, although ironically I'm not a big fan of his hero, Allan Holdsworth (although he's phenomenally talented, don't get me wrong). Oh, I love John Frusciante too.

[quote name='lozbass' post='400165' date='Feb 4 2009, 04:57 PM']That's me sorted out then[/quote] Me too...

[quote name='henry norton' post='400467' date='Feb 4 2009, 09:52 PM']I think it's alot to do with service. I remember going to the Bass Centre in the early ninties and it seemed like they really didn't give a s##t whether I gave them 900 quid of my hard earned cash for a nice Stingray 5 or not. I walked away and never went back again - tossers. If I was to have that sort of money to spend on a bass again (or whatever 900 odd quid in 1990 is now), I wouldn't even look at a music shop. When you invest in a custom bass you're investing in the luthier and getting that personal service you will never get from even the most enthusiastic salesperson. It's like the difference between M&S and Saville Row.[/quote] Of course it may be that M&S suits some people better, for all sorts of reasons. No-one is going to duplicate my 72 Rick 4001, or surpass it in terms of that unique thing that it brings to the table, but they can provide something that maybe fits/works better in other ways. Having said that, I know of many people who've gone the custom route only to end up back with a Fender/Musicman/insert brand, and simply because they actually prefer that bass. Horses for courses really...

I've gigged everything I've owned that was giggable. The only reason I didn't gig my Alembic TO was because it didn't suit my current band, but if it fits the band, I play it (gigged the Stanley Clarke I had previously). I played my Sei 6 in the sort of place pirates fear to go.

Sei Bass. I love Martin's designs aesthetically (more than anyone else's), the workmanship is about as good as it gets, his basses are always built to be extremely comfortable and playable, he'll try to build your perfect bass (albeit in the context of a Sei), and he's about as nice a guy as you'll ever meet; I get on with him extremely well. He's actually the other end of the country from me but does that make a difference? No. Of all the luthiers in the UK, I like Sei basses the best; they generally tick all my boxes more than anyone else's (and by a wide margin).

[quote name='Gwilym' post='399367' date='Feb 3 2009, 08:11 PM']wow, what didn't you like? and which F bass was it you tried? please forgive me if this is slightly off-topic [/quote] It was kind of a trans white, ash (?) body, bound neck. Looked like an F Bass. Weight like a black hole, neck the size of Jupiter. Hideous to play (for me). I didn't like anything at all about it; nothing.

[quote name='lozbass' post='399037' date='Feb 3 2009, 03:22 PM']Thank you! I use a couple of really good luthiers up here in the North, but I don't think you'd get a much better set-up than one done at the Gallery[/quote] You're not wrong there Loz! I've played a few Fodera's and must say none has really grabbed me, but I await trying Loz's with great aniticipation! (I love the MGs). FWIW, I've preferred most of the Seis I've played (don't get me on to F Bass; I played one in the Gallery the other day and it was everything I don't want in an instrument; I haven't liked any of the others I've played either). Interestingly my Sei 4 "melt" originally had a Mike Pope preamp in but it was replaced with the Demeter by its original owner. Apparently he much preferred the Demeter.

[quote name='Wil' post='398914' date='Feb 3 2009, 01:42 PM']I actually preferred the tone of my old wood necked Series 1 to my graphite necked S2, however, so I'd agree its very subjective! The graphite was a far nicer playing surface and felt great, though.[/quote] Ditto. I love the feel of graphite but have always preferred the tone of the wood-necked basses.

[quote name='NAS' post='14974' date='Jun 10 2007, 09:50 AM']Just found this thread, as bit late! Watching BBC2 late night education TV recently (the schedule says it was on between 02:00 and 04:00 on 27 May 2007) I saw a series of programmes about making things which must be part of a schools design and technology course. The series is called "Techno - Making It" for 11-14 year olds. The items were quite short, about 20 minutes. The first was about go-carts and the second was about bass guitars, the item was called "The Bass". And lo, who should be featured but Martin Petersen and Chris McIntyre making a SeiBass for a young female bass player (Yolanda?). Must have been some time ago because they both look like teenagers (to me) and I know Chris left The Gallery 3 or so years ago. Sadly I've failed to find any more details on the BBC website, but it's out there somewhere! Nick S[/quote] I keep meaning to ask Martin if he's got a copy of that. I emailed the Beeb a while back and was completely ignored.

[quote name='William James Easton' post='394814' date='Jan 29 2009, 07:02 PM']don't like trace gear. never have. dont know why just one of them things.[/quote] You ever tried the cabs with a different head? I've never hear an 1153 sound bad with anything for a rock sound; read Tom Bowlus's review on Talkbass. Plus you'll get one for about £150 s/h. I got to play a Schroeder in the Gallery the other day (not sure if it was a 1210 or 1212), using an LMK head. Tried various basses through it, from my CS through Warwick to Sei; it was very honky and had no bottom to speak of, and must say I didn't find it tremendously articulate. Obviously I realise they're for live; I'd be interested see what one was like in the band. Rather ironically given previous experience I really liked the Epi 902 through an Epi 410 cab, that turned out to be much more my bag (the opposite of what I'd expected).

[quote name='bubinga5' post='397698' date='Feb 2 2009, 11:33 AM']Surely your there to play bass, not to worry about how you look!!?? Just wear it the way you need to able to play the bass most comfortably I think IMHO, it looks stupid with bass around your knees and its bad for, back, etc You dont see many pro's with the bass round by there knees..[/quote] However you do see them with their basses up high, which really screws up my back, my neck (admittedly I already have medical problems in these areas) and my right wrist if I'm playing fingerstyle. The higher my bass is, the worse my back gets. The lower, the better it is. I tend to wear mine roughly over the stomach as a compromise.

If we all stuck to our traditional roles we'd be living in caves and throwing rocks at mammoths.

If we all stuck to our traditional roles we'd still be living in caves and throwing rocks at mammoths.

[quote name='niceguyhomer' post='393934' date='Jan 28 2009, 06:53 PM']I've got room in my car - where are you?[/quote] Cleveleys near Blackpool....

I really, really like what I've seen of W&T basses. If the pound hadn't recently collapsed against the euro, I'd be seriously considering one for my next bass.

[quote name='alexclaber' post='393505' date='Jan 28 2009, 10:44 AM']Boominess is not found in the true lows but resides in the mid-high bass region around 150Hz. The reason that most bass players think that adding too much bottom makes the sound boomy is not because there is too much bottom happening (i.e. too much in the sub 100Hz region) but because when you ask any speaker to provide more bottom you increase its excursion. As most bass cabs don't have much clean cone excursion ability you quickly run into the region of higher distortion. When you distort a sound you effectively synthesise additional harmonic content, so if you distort a 55Hz note you'll get a whole load of extra 110Hz and 165Hz and 220Hz etc output. So by cranking up the bass knob you end up adding more midbass than anything, and that's why things start getting boomy. Now if you were using a rig with much greater Vd (volume displacement, which equals cone area x undistorted cone excursion) then you'd be able to boost the lows more and get more bottom without it turning into boom. And that has been one of my main focuses with my cab designs - even if they're not naturally big bassy soundings beasts they have sufficient Vd to accept LF boost at high SPL so if you want big bottom you can get it without boom. Now you know! Alex[/quote] You know, I wish someone had sat me down 20 years ago and explained all this stuff...

As it looks like my Alembic is going, I'm considering a new custom bass. Various things are running through my head, but I was wondering about pickups; particularly the Q-Tuners, which I think look amazing if nothing else. What do they bring to the table compared to something like Nordys (which I'm considering) or Barts (which I've pretty much written off due to past experience)?. Any other suggestions while we're at it?

BTW, I'd bring something if I could get down but I can't drive! You'll have to post some good reports....