4000

I remember that S&S gig from when it was on the telly all those years ago. I finally listened to their albums last year during lockdown and home working (along with a million other artists). They’ve done some pretty cool stuff, but so far I haven’t managed to love them in the way I love bands like Yes, Genesis, Caravan, Camel and Focus. They’re certainly clever and I enjoy them, but they don’t carry any real emotional impact for me and for me that’s what really matters.

Amazing how when you’re younger you always tend to think everything will still be functioning the same in 20 years time. I’m the same, at no time when I was playing my 12lb plus Jaydee in my early ‘30s did it ever occur to me that I’d one day be struggling with 9lb basses. Gorgeous bass by the way.

In my case (‘60s) at school we got the usual mixture of hymns, classical and popular folk songs, all of which I loved, and which I’m sure influence my tastes to this day. At home? Jazz. My dad was a jazz muso and wouldn’t let anything that wasn’t jazz in the house (apart from our Disney storybook albums); he took his listening so seriously that the family tv was eventually moved into the kitchen so it didn’t interfere. On the radio the stuff that really stuck was The Beatles, the Mamas & The Papas, Simon & Garfunkel, The Doors; my regular stays at my older cousins’ was all Beatles. I probably heard Motown on the radio but it didn’t interest me at all. Then I saw ABBA win Eurovision in ‘74 and fell in lifelong love with them. Finally, at some point in my early/mid teens my older brother came back from Uni with a bunch of Prog albums; I remember walking in from school one day to Shine On You Crazy Diamond and my world changed.

Didn’t know that, I just assumed it was BT (I was never really an EC fan, so probably didn’t pay enough attention at the time).

Nope, never heard of her, sorry. Actually, there was Enid from Girlschool around the time I started (and later Tracey Lamb) but neither were an influence.

I have no idea who that is.

I started playing in 1980. The only female bass players I was aware of at all were Suzy Quatro and Gaye Advert. It could be argued Gaye Advert influenced me though, as I saw a couple of pictures with an Azure 4001 and immediately wanted one; it’s still my favourite bass and colour. As a player though, not so much.😉 Subliminally as a kid, probably all the jazz guys on my dad’s records, particularly Ray Brown, then also McCartney and Rutger Gunnarsson; I’m sure all that moving, melodic bass was going in somewhere. Consciously, first Lemmy, Phil Lynott, Mike Rutherford, Geddy, Geezer, Glenn Hughes on Made in Europe, Roger Glover on Made in Japan, JPJ and JJBurnel. A bit later, John McVie, Stanley Clarke and Leigh Gorman. Later still, Chris Squire, John Entwistle and Joey DeMaio, then Stu Zender, Jon Camp and Matt Garrison. Some other players I really liked at various points, like Mick Karn, Bernard Edwards and Mark King, and I probably tried to cop some stuff, but I’ve never really played anything like them.

All the best, Blue.

Maybe Geddy did it at the same time as his P Bass.

I used a Westone Quantum as my main bass for a good few years. It was a great bass and if I’m honest I got on better with it than some of the more boutique basses I’ve had.

Apart from the nonsensical headstock finish and the knobs, I don’t mind it. Wouldn’t buy one, but I’ve seen far worse.

They have a truss rod. Why would they not have a truss rod because they’re headless?

From what I’d read the issue was there was only 1 groove, not two, but I don’t know how true that is. I play so lightly it’s potentially a non-issue anyway. I don’t really palm mute, I have my own weird damping system.

Result! How do you find the Hipshot? I keep hearing reports of rattling saddles or not being able to get the action low enough, which kind of put me off (particularly the last, given that my action never goes above 2 mm 12 fret E and is frequently half that).

That’s what I’ve also thought with those sound clips. I know from previous discussions we’ve had that we both seem to have a pretty specific kind of tone in mind, Rick-wise. And speaking of Jon Camp, it’s yet another excuse to post this:

Do you have the new bridge, or possibly a Hipshot? That’s one of my least favourite aspects of the traditional bridge, having to recut the bridge slots to adjust individual string height.

Depends what you like. I prefer them to a Jazz profile. I’m not keen on extreme neck taper and I can’t say I spend a huge amount of time on the first few frets. 😉

I had a chance to buy a ‘64 about 2 or 3 years ago, but would have had to sell my Azure ‘72 to help fund it and in the end I just couldn’t do it. I still occasionally wonder whether I should’ve though….

Genesisn’t. I’ll get me coat.

I’ve only played one, which is no real measure of anything, but the only thing that stood out was that it weighed a ton.

BTW, noted your earlier comment about the ergonomics. I must have the weirdest body in the world as I find them pretty much the comfiest thing out there! Although I did learn to play on one…..

Well I love the old screw-top treble pickups on my ‘72s (and the Sergio Silva pickup in my replica) but I might think about getting one (or maybe two?) for future projects. I’m happy with Rick neck toasters so don’t need anything there.

I bought a CA treble pickup for a project I had a few years back, but the project died a death (long and highly unpleasant story) and I donated some of the parts to the repairer involved who’d lost money on it (no fault of mine, I lost even more), so never got to hear it. I wasn’t 100% sure CA were still in business, so that’s good to hear. Did you change to tone pots to 500k too? That should give you even more top.

Well, this is equally true of a P Bass, IMO.

The downside is if anything ever happened to it, I honestly don’t know what I’d do…….