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At my time of life a super-intimate gig sounds like bliss. I still go to gigs but most of the time the audience irritates the crap out of me and I really could care less about big production for most of the artists I like. And the big-production bands I do love are generally no more, sadly. Saw one of my current favourite artists, Lissie, in a bar year before last and it was one of the best gigs I’ve ever been to. Food for thought this, food for thought! EDIT - my band actually did a free surprise birthday gig (really only a few tunes) at a fan’s house a few years back. It was weird, but kind of cool. I’d happily do that sort of thing again, with a bit more planning.

He stated in an interview that he used specifically used a Fender on To Be Over because he wanted a somewhat more supportive, traditional bass sound on that (or words to that effect), so you are correct. He does sound great on his Jazz though. Parallels is a superb sound, as is the low part on The Fish (apparently also the Jazz).

Early JD Thumb isn’t it? Actually, I think we’re all missing the point. Given that Chris said he went out and bought a a Ric, Marshalls and Rotos because that’s what Entwistle was using at the time and he liked his sound, it’s obviously all Entwistle’s fault.😉

I suspected that this was the problem, that they're all "gritty growl" and therefore much the same. And I do feel much the same about the millions of "back pickup burp" guys, but not really for those reasons; I have a good enough ear to separate them, and I have listened to a lot of jazz and fusion (which is what I grew up with, before I ever discovered Prog), but that approach, bass-wise, has just never really grabbed me, with a few exceptions. I have never, for instance, listened to Jaco and thought "what a great sound!"; in fact I remember listening to "Jaco" (1st solo album) for the first time and thinking his sound was just a blurry mess (yes, I know!). To give some context, I also remember hearing Jack Bruce on the OGWT many years ago and thinking "that bass sounds like a fart!". Ironically I rather like that sound now. I think, for me at least, how a band or instrument or player sounds, in terms of the actual noise being made, rather than just the notes being played, is extremely important to me. If I don't like the sound someone is generating I find it very difficult to listen to them, and even more difficult to enjoy them. Getting back to the original point, I think because most (although by no means all) of my favourite players come under the gritty, trebly heading, its easy for me to see the differences, as it will be for most who have the same leanings. Geddy Lee is absolutely influenced by Chris, and openly admits it. But to me they have very different sounds, just as Chris, who was openly influenced by Entwistle, sounds nothing like Entwistle at any stage of his career. To me, they sound at least as different as Marcus and Stanley; again, whilst Marcus is obviously influenced by Stanley, to me his sound is very, very different. But everyone hears things differently, and I'll admit to being somewhat anal about these things. And of course its all about context.

Oh I know you’re a fan from comments you’ve made. I was just wondering if you had any examples of Squire-a likes? I’m not really hearing any, but as I say, I’m maybe out of the loop a bit. Obviously bands like The Musical Box and Hackett (also Howe in Yes and Lee Pomeroy with the other Yes!). I love the crunchy Ric sound. It’s one of my all-time favourite instrument sounds, from Roger Glover on Machinehead, through Rutherford, Camp, Squire and Lemmy Etc. Many, if not most, of my favourite-sounding bands have a variation on that sound (I’ll also include Made in Europe and almost anything by The Stranglers for a P-Bass variation of the same thing, as well as much of Entwistle’s output). Oh, and Martin Turner on Ric & TBird. I guess I always gravitated towards it. Ironically Chris was probably the last well-known player I heard using that kind of sound, although he instantly became my favourite. I was already using a variation on that sound years before I heard him. But all of the players mentioned above, including others like Geddy, sound different to me. Yes, they’re all trebly & have that grit, and for the most part they’re busy, melodic players, but to me at least, they don’t sound the same at all. l mentioned Jaco and the millions of Jaco disciples before. I hear far more back pickup favouring, 16th playing ghost noted players than anything else. And of course the Marcus-Wannabees....

I saw ‘em with a Nick Beggs and he didn’t. But then Rutherford used one up to and including Selling England, so a Ric makes sense in context.

See to me neither have any sort of Squire approach. A trebly bass sound (e.g. Beggs) does not a Chris Squire clone make.

Of course the other thing I have to say is that for a lot people Chris has the best tone ever, so it’s hard not to want to pinch a bit of it.😉

I don’t think any of the more recent Prog bands I’ve seen have Rics or sound like Chris (although I use Rics and have a version of “that” Ric sound - not the same as Chris’s though - we’re not a Prog band, although we have some Prog influences). What have you been listening to? I’ll admit I’m not up to date on Prog bands, really; as discussed in previous threads, most of the modern Prog bands veer too much into metal territory for my liking (Not that I don’t like metal, but I like my Prog old-school and uplifting, acoustic guitars and Mellotrons). Obviously older bands like Druid and Renaissance have a Squire thing going on, but I can’t really think of anyone modern. Last thing I can think of would probably be Spock’s Beard. I’d be grateful to hear any suggestions. One thing I would say is that you could argue the same about Jaco and certain types of Jazz.

Cool, thanks for the answer. I’d love to know how Alan arrived at 31.5”! I have to say, maybe because I learned to play on a slightly shorter scale length than the typical 34”, I’ve never really found any benefit from 34”, and less still from anything longer. The only disadvantage of the various 30”s I’ve played have typically been a bit of a dead E, but I’m sure that’s just a feature of the individual basses. I guess the most interesting for me have been the medium and short scale Alembics, which I’ve generally preferred to the longer scales. I’d really like to try a 31.5”, I’d be really interested to see how it felt and sounded.

Speaking as someone whose range has been dropping slightly the last few years, even at 56, I just take it for granted that many vocalists will struggle as they get older. It doesn’t really bother me.

You’ve obviously never seen me dance. Imagine a hippo that’s just been shot with a sedative. 😉

Still the best. I am not worthy.

I probably have almost all of the stubs from the gigs I’ve seen, except for a few where they took the whole thing and the odd one I lost. There’ll be a few missing, but not many. That reminds me actually, I separated the tickets from the programmes some time ago, but I’ll match them up again, that way I’m less likely to lose them. I always wore my T-shirt’s to death and then binned them. Shame. Don’t think I bought any Maiden stuff either the times I saw them, which looks like it was a bad idea! I stopped buying programmes for all but my favourite bands when they started charging stupid money.

I had a pair of jeans signed by the original Blizzard of Ozz, all except Randy Rhoads. I met him, shook hands and chatted, but for some reason didn’t get him to sign anything. Ironic really! I embroidered over the signatures, and then proceeded to wear and wash them until the sigs were no more. Numpty. Thankfully I did get Ozzy to sign my copy of Sabs Vol4, with original picture inserts, which I still have. I also have a promo copy of Crazy Train from the gig. I have quite a lot of signed stuff, and loads of stubs, programmes etc, but I don’t think I could sell any of it as most of it was signed in person. My most treasured is probably my Space Ritual vinyl, signed by Lemmy, as I learned to play by playing along with that. Have a lot of Motörhead stuff signed by the 3 amigos. Lots of Yes stuff too. Oh, I also have a cassette letter from Joey DeMaio of Manowar that he sent in response to a letter from me. That was awesome!🤟

Johnny Marr’s a huge fan too. Also, when Hendrix was once asked what it was like being the best guitarist in the world, he supposedly said “I don’t know, ask Rory Gallagher”. Met Rory and the band once at a motorway service station with my family. I was about 18 I guess. My mum said to me “who is Rory Gallagher? There’s a guy over there with a Rory Gallagher t shirt on”. Turned round and there was the band. Bit of a jaw drop moment as he was one of the first people I got into when thinking of learning guitar (prior to ending up on bass). I went over and asked if I could possibly have his autograph. He was lovely, no airs at all. Went to see him that night in Manchester. Still have the autograph; thought Id lost it years ago who but it happily turned up last year. Shame we haven’t still got Rory. Legend.

I meant more in terms of being awesome. 😁 I actually much preferred them to Rush that night (shhhhhh! I didn’t say that!).

Saw them MP at Deeside Leisure Centre. Couldn’t hear a note Alex played all night. It was all Geddy’s Ric, which was fine by me. 😉 Saw them on the Roll the Bones tour too (still couldn’t hear Alex!), I think at Sheffield? Primus supported and blew my head off.

I thought that was by far the worst.... I don’t play Jazzes - haven’t touched one in years - so didn’t really have that much of a reference, but I got 2. Mixed up the Sire and the HB. I thought the Sandberg was easily the best.

It’s a fantastic colour! I don’t get on with Jazzes and still want one.😂

Read it first thing this morning on Flea’s Twitter feed, of all places. I cried. Rush were a major influence and if I’m honest, I can’t quite believe it.

One of the nicest Wals I’ve seen.

Just out of interest, how did you arrive at that scale length?

The Ric (particularly his Ric) is definitely a huge part of his tone, although he’s pretty obviously Chris on everything he plays. But I do think his tone goes beyond what you normally hear from a Ric, which the video shows quite clearly. There’s a combination of clarity and growl that few other people really nail. I think if you’re playing in mono it’s very difficult to get each pickup working the way they do in stereo. For instance the neck pickup sound in the vid is pretty similar to mine, but I can’t get my treble pickup anything like that bright at the same time with the same eq. I guess it’s also that the pickups don’t interact in the same way either. Weirdly in all my years of owning (many) Rics I’ve never bothered with stereo, simply because it’s more hassle in terms of gear, but I may have a dabble on the next cd after watching this (would have done with the one we’re recording now but the bass parts are already done). May have a dabble on the home recording setup too. Wish I had all the gear in the vid! BTW, massive Lem fan here too. Particularly love his early tone.

Thanks for the thanks, but I think the first comment comes across as somewhat dismissive. That’s like saying a Jazz sounds like a Jazz, or a P like a P. Of course they do, but they don’t all sound the same. Chris’s sound is actually pretty difficult to replicate, Ric or no. Chris, Geddy, Glover, Foxton etc might all have a trebly, distorted sound but they all sound completely different. I figured this might give some insight to those who might be interested.