4000

Like many basses, there was a time you couldn’t give them away. All the 4000s I’ve tried have been heavy, far more so than the 3000s or original Energys.

Nah, I agree with Ped. 😉

Used to sing along to the Macc Lads every Friday in my mate’s car, driving between pubs (he was teetotal). I can’t imagine you’d get away with anything they wrote these days.

Nah, Mike says it in an interview. Somewhere else (possibly his autobiography) he makes some reference to the best thing about touring being clean sheets and & cocoa. Or something like that. That’s my kind of rock star. 😉

Oh we get by pretty well, never have any complaints, but it could always be better. As mentioned before, I don’t think our sub matches our tops very well. There’s an area of lower mids that seems to fall between the two, which sadly is where I sit.😉 I actually find it far easier backlining (although most of the time I don’t) as it’s a pain in the proverbials trying to eq back in everything the pa loses. Because we’re an acoustic band with cajon, we don’t have quite the same requirement for big lows that most bands would.

Is Dancing in the Moonlight (Thin Lizzy) too complicated for the thread? That’d be one for me.

Saw Electric Six at Glasgow Green many years ago. They were fab. Once went on a camping site stag do, and on the first morning we were playing some songs on a ghetto blaster (remember them?) and Gay Bar came on. There were some kids there (under ten yrs I’d say) and they started jumping about and singing along. Their parents came running over and actually covered their ears saying “you mustn’t listen!” . It was hilarious and also extremely bizarre.

To be fair, there are also those - not unlike my band - that have a limited budget, no soundman and fairly limited technical knowledge with regards to PAs. Not a recipe for success.

There are plenty of ridiculous or banal lyrics throughout popular music. Is it the wizards and goblins that are upsetting you the most? Because - as evidenced by the popularity of LOTR - lots of people like wizards and goblins. So it stands to reason lots of people will probably like songs about wizards and goblins. 😉 Personally I find the songs about sh*gging and drinking (hello Motley Crue, I’m looking at you) far more irritating, but that’s probably because I never aspired to be “rock’n’roll”. I always related far more to bands like Genesis & Pink Floyd. Like Mike Rutherford complaining that he could never make a proper cup of tea in America, now that’s living. 😁

I imagine it’ll weigh a lot more than that, given an average Thumb 4 weighs approx 10lbs. The wise thing to do would play it sitting down. The more difficult part would likely be carrying it to and from gigs.I love the idea of double-necks, but I’m a big prog head so I would.😉 I could actually do with a twin neck for one of our songs as I play both 12 string guitar and bass on the recording and it would simplify playing it live. I play sat down anyway so the weight shouldn’t be an issue.

Haven’t read all the replies but you want flats and play up at the end of the neck, nowhere near the controls. If it works for Family Man, then it works.😉

I wouldn’t worry too much about giving your age away. Those things came out years after I started playing. In my day it was Kays and Hondos, with the odd CMI or Aria if you were lucky.

We use EV tops and (I think] currently a single Alto 15 sub (we’re an acoustic band). To be honest, I think it’s a bit crap. It’s not very reliable and though it does add sub, it doesn’t compliment the tops very well.

I actually wanted to play guitar, and my playing and tastes probably reflect that to a degree. My dad (a jazzer) refused to lend me any money to help buy a guitar and told me if I played bass I’d get more gigs.

I actually much prefer the usual shape.

Speak for yourself.😉

I have. But I get the impression that every single Fender I’ve owned bar one - and I’ve owned a few - has been a duffer. Bit like other people’s experience of Rics. Like I said, works both ways.

There seem to be quite a few of us who sold Wals when you couldn’t give them away, only for them to go through the roof a few years later. 😕

No worse than my Wal tales of woe!

There have been many, but my worst could be (as noted elsewhere) not buying Neil Brewer’s mapleglo ‘72 Ric 4001 for £500 in 1996. Neil was bassist in a Genesis/Yes-esque band called Druid. I’d never heard of them when I went to try the bass, but after Neil mentioned them I stumbled across a copy of their first album in a local second hand record shop and loved it. I had been intending to buy the bass as a backup for mine but it was a fair bit heavier and wasn’t as open-sounding as mine, so I passed. Wish I’d bought it though as it was still lovely and would have been a piece of history to me. Another was missing out on a jetglo ‘72 in the Bass Centre in Birmingham. The setup needed work but it sounded phenomenal. I’d px-d my Warwick Dolphin Pro 2 against a Status 2000 in Musical Exchanges. I really didnt get on with the Status, so took it back and swapped it back. I then popped round the corner to the Bass Centre and saw & tried the Ric. I should have asked about px-ing the Dolphin against the Ric, or simply got the credit card out.

If it had chequered binding then upwards of £3k now, depending on year. Sorry.😉

I bought one of them. It was a fantastic bass, only sold to fund my custom Alembic. Wish I still had both!

Covered above....

I’m the same. At the Moffat bass bash a few years back there were some who couldn’t play my Seis at all. But in terms of building the neck and getting the right angle, simply build it right in the first place. In terms of the shim, to someone who isn't used to having to do it (like me - I’ve owned far more neck-throughs than bolt-ons, and far more Rics than anything else) it’s a complete pain in the derrière. Just like some of the Ric idiosyncrasies are a pain in the derrière to those who aren’t used to them. It works both ways. 😉

I’ve met the luthiers in person and had everything worked out to a tee - or so I thought -and still sometimes haven’t got on with them!