4000

Well, old Peavey gear is my least favourite ever, and I’ve used loads of it over the past nearly 40 years. But my VT500 doesn’t sound pants, to me at least. 😉

Have to say my Tech21 VT500 sounds great, and I’m still discovering new sounds given how interactive the controls are. Does it compare with my old Trace gear? No idea, as I’m currently only playing through a BF One10 (although get my 2nd tomorrow), which although a great cab is a somewhat different beast than my old Trace 4x10.

Fixed.😉

Primus, supporting Rush, Roll the Bones tour at Sheffield. Dan Reed Network supporting the Stones at Maine Road.

First - Possibly Stan Kenton, or Buddy Rich late '70s-ish. Went to several jazz gigs in my early/mid teens and can never remember the order. First non-jazz - Hawkwind '79, Preston. All the jazz gigs had not prepared me for lasers, strobes, volume and the smell of pot. Blew my head off and changed my life. Last - Lissie, Stoller Hall Manchester. Best - Fleetwood Mac at Maine Road. Had always wanted to see them outdoors. Worst - not sure. Stones at Maine Road? Assuming we're taking name bands of course. Seen some truly abysmal cover acts. Loudest - Dragster at Motorheadbangers party at the Ritz, maybe '82-ish. Seen the most - Hawkwind. Most surprising - prob Less Than Jake at Leeds Festival. Had never heard of them. They were fantastic. Actually, scratch that. Manowar, Apollo '84. Went for a laugh and came out a changed man. All hail! Next - Babymetal, Apollo. Wish - ABBA, anything with Sandy Denny but especially Fotheringay, Genesis circa Seconds Out, Hawkwind circa Space Ritual, Zero 7 at Glastonbury, Radiohead at Glastonbury 2017, Kate Bush (especially '79). Saw Whitesnake 1980. In fact saw them a few times in that era. They were a good band then.

Rough mixes of some of the tracks from our next album. 😁

Not one jot.

I seem to be in the minority here who really like Kingy’s voice.😁 Either way, I thought that was great; the band seem as tight as, and Im a big early Level 42 fan (after the excellent World Machine I kind of moved on). Excellent stuff. EDIT: you’re not doing my current Jaydee GAS any good either. Always wanted a Starchild Jaydee, one of the few things I’ve wanted and never had (had 2 Supernaturals).

Loving the BRG. Nearly bought one shortly after they came out.....and then didn’t. Wish I had though.

It always makes me smile when I see people doing stuff like double-thumbing. It always seemed like far more work to me than simply using a plectrum. 😉 I remember many years ago playing in A1 Music in Manchester and one of the assistants coming over asking me how I was doing what I was doing. I just showed him my plectrum.

Never really understood that as although Wals are often heavy, mahogany generally isn’t that heavy really IME. I’ve played many mahogany-only bodied basses that were pretty light. I think size and thickness of body are a big factor. I believe Chris favours heavier ash rather than lighter, although I’m sure he uses both.

That’d be no use at all for me. I’m at the dusty end at least as much as anywhere else. 😉

I really enjoyed my Korean Squier P. Sold it because I was having some issues with my left hand when playing it, and ideally it needed a fretstone, but would happily have it back. In a band it was better than some boutiques I’ve had. I think it was £120, plus a new scratch plate and wiring loom.

Oh I know Dave, I said as much in an earlier post. I was just responding to that particular post about why people are so concerned about weight.

There was a time when I wanted to learn everything and be as good as anybody at everything. Then I grew up.😉 Seriously, I didn’t often need to slap, and although I was not bad at it was never going to be Mark King (which would be pointless anyway unless you were in Level 42), so that pretty much fell by the wayside. My fingerstyle (and the slap to be honest), suffered badly when I started having problems with my right arm, although I was always more of an Entwistle than a 16th/32nd note groove machine. I was never interested in tapping, or certainly tapping whole tunes, which on bass I always thought sounded a bit pointless, so never bothered much with that. Thankfully my pick playing was always very good. I did wrestle for long periods with trying to play other people’s styles, but eventually grew to realise that many of them didn’t feel natural and/or I wasn’t great at them. I play best when I’m being me, and the more I accepted that, the happier I became. I remember Dave Gilmour saying something similar. One pivotal moment for me was playing before Martin Turner at a festival. I played the gig and sat and watched his set. I loved what he was doing in the context he was doing it, the band was great and his sound was great, and I suddenly realised that I actually approach things in a not dissimilar way with a not dissimilar sound. I then realised that if I’d been watching me, I’d have liked what I was doing, which for someone who has always been very self critical was something of an eye opener.

I have a problem with weight because I have a bunch of prolapsed discs in my back. If I put on a 5kg bass I would get nerve pain (feels like electric shocks) through my abdomen and my legs would go numb. Then I would have all sorts of other issues I won’t go into here for the next several weeks at the very least. I’m about an inch away from surgery as it stands. Not everybody has a healthy back. Especially bass players! Personally I’ve often also preferred the sound of lighter basses, which is lucky really!

I guess it must be about the combination of player and instrument. I’ve used all sorts of things, Alembics, Warwicks, Jaydees, Seis, Wals etc etc and everyone always says my Rics sound best. In fact one old band member once said, quite bluntly, “I dont know why you bother using all these other basses because that one sounds miles better than the others”, pointing to my Fireglo ‘72. Another commented on my newly-bought Roadworn Jazz, “that sounds really weak and nasal”, which is the story of me and Jazzes, sadly. They really liked my 8 string Ric though. Great bass.

To be honest I don’t think they do generally sell for a ridiculously low price. No different really than Seis, Shukers, Jaydees Etc. I used to spend a fair bit of time at Overwater, years back. Chris is a lovely, lovely man. Showed me round the whole place once. I’ve always been reasonably indifferent to their basses though. From the conversations I had with Chris, it was plain that the sound they were generally after was a neutral one, hence why many session guys favour them (and also their championing of EA, which I hate). Unfortunately that’s the opposite of what I like. Also, I like “guitar action”, as Chris put it, which doesn’t match their general setup principles. I suppose really I’m a guitaristic bass player, rather than a “real” bass player, so not really their demographic. Many Overwaters are very heavy, but they’ll build you something lighter if you ask and the instruments are very well made. I respect their ethos and product a great deal, the instruments just don’t really grab me; which isn’t to say they couldn’t build something that would.

I sometimes wonder about the people in other people’s bands. In mine, if I bring a different bass, or change my sound, it’s almost always commented upon. They certainly noticed the 8!

Spoken like a man who has never experienced the sonic hugeness an 8 can provide. Think a 12 string guitar but enormous.😉

😁

FWIW, as someone stated above, there’s not likely to be any more 4005 basses while JH is around. He really doesn’t like them and refers to them as tuna boats. I’ve only ever played one. It was ok but the bridge pickup was too near the bridge for me. My 4003s8 on the other hand was awesome.

It’s usually referred to as the potatohead. Just so’s you know. I first saw one about 40 years ago. 😉

Lana Del Rey. It strikes me that apart from when I delve into my old Prog faves, much of the music I listen to these days is very much not about the bass.

I think the E on my Stanley wasn’t so much dead as different in response to what I was used to. Strangely, given the Stanley connection, it was however the best dub bass Ive ever played. Cheers for the offer, I might take you up on that sometime. I’m not getting to a London much currently - still belatedly paying for driving lessons - but I do get down from time to time. I can play 5s and 6s, although my damping will be rubbish these days having not played one for yonks, and I would probably be pretty rusty (to put it mildly) generally.