4000

Thanks for the reminder Wilco!

I always thought that the worst piece of design I’ve ever seen was having to take a neck off to adjust a truss rod. Or fit a shim to get the correct neck height/angle.

......and Future Love Paradise by Seal. Don’t know how I forgot that, one of my all-time faves.

Yep, it’s absolutely incredible, probably better than any live version I’ve ever seen Yes (who are my favourite band) do. Rick in particular never seems to use the right key sounds at the end to me, ironic as he played on the original. It needs that massive organ (titter ye not!😂).

Ampeg scroll bass I think.

Saw them live twice last year. They absolutely blew me away. At the end of the second gig, the guy next to me turned to me and said ”how good were they?”. Probably my favourite current band, along with Radiohead. BTW, the second gig they were supported by The Staves. Good grief, they can sing. “Blood I Bled” would be another song I never tire of.

A few out of thousands: Awaken by Yes - and most everything else by them. Find My Way Home - Jon & Vangelis Night Fever - Bee Gees Lost in Music - Sister Sledge Quiet Life - Japan Supper’s Ready by Genesis. Follow You Follow Me by Genesis. A lot of things by Genesis! Most things by ABBA, but particularly Dancing Queen, Eagle, Kisses of Fire, When I Kissed the Teacher. Solsbury Hill, Peter Gabriel. Crash, Primitives. Turning Japanese, Vapors. Basket Case, Green Day. Venice Queen and Give it away, Chilis. Emmylou, First Aid Kit (and lots of others by them) Alchemy, KT Tunstall. Scarborough Fair and Sound of Silence, Simon & Garfunkel. Light My Fire, Riders on the Storm, The End, the Doors. California Dreaming, Mamas & The Papas. Pyramid Song & Street Spirit, Radiohead. Wild West, Lissie. She Moves through the Fair, Fotheringay, Banks of the Nile, Who Knows Where The Time Goes, Nothing More, the Music Weaver - Sandy Denny/Fairport/Fotheringay Stratosfear, Tangerine Dream. Magical Mystery Tour, Beatles (entire album) Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd (entire album) Moonmadness, Camel (entire album) Battle Hymn - Manowar Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Die Young - Black Sabbath Stairway, No Quarter & Battle of Evermore, Led Zeppelin. Rapture - Iio I Feel Love - Donna Summer Man With the Child in His Eyes, Kate Bush Rumours, Fleetwood Mac (entire album) That’ll do for now, otherwise I could be here all night...

The “vintage knob” (no, not JH😉) puts a capacitor inline on the back pickup, like on the old 4001s, hence the more “vintage” tone. For all intents and purposes it simply cuts the low end output on that pickup.

This was my old Triple O, only sold because of my chronic back problems. Incredible bass:

Not sure these quite fit the brief, but here goes: P/x-ing a Pedulla MVP that I loved against a Wal Custom that I never really got along with. Selling said Wal for £550 (ouch!) to a mate in around 1996 (slightly mitigated by the fact that he loved it and so far as I know still has it). Getting rid of a Wal Pro IIE that cost me £1800 a few years back and then realising from footage I’ve shot how great it sounded. It would probably cost me well over £3k to replace now, which I’ll probably never have. I got rid mainly because of the weight but pretty much always play seated these days. Dipstick. Selling my custom Alembic Triple Omega for just under £3k when I’d now probably get almost twice that. With hindsight, much as I love the Triple O look, not getting a Balance K instead (it had only just come out), as I’d have been able to keep it; Triple O was only sold because it was too heavy to play standing and was uncomfortable to play seated due to the cutouts; it broke my heart selling it. Selling my vintage Marshall Superbass in approx 1996 (!) for £150. Probably worth 8 times that now. And not buying a vintage 100w Hiwatt bass head for £200 in approx 1993, but instead buying a rare 375w Marshall 2001 which weighed 100lb, blew up all the time and sounded rubbish. Not quite on topic, but not buying Neil Brewer’s (Druid) ‘72 Ric 4001 for (IIRC) £500 in 1996 (great year for cockups). Hadn’t heard of them at the time, bought their first album a short time later and absolutely loved it. I’m hoping he still has it, which would make me feel better.

The last time I really felt like that I called time on my band; however I fell on my feet and was immediately asked by some friends to join a very interesting band that was light years away from what I had been doing, and it reignited the passion. For me though, I simply have to write and play original music. I don’t know whether this is what you do, but I wouldn’t last a week playing covers, at least without also having an original outlet, because the creativity part is the only thing that really interests me; I have no interest whatsoever in playing for the sake of playing. I consider myself a writer first and a bassist a distant second. Luckily my band of the last few years generally pulls in decent crowds, and age ceased to be a factor as a lucky coincidence of deciding to go “unplugged” and being embraced by the folk (in the broader sense) fraternity, which in turn opened me up to all kinds of new music and artists, thereby further igniting my interest. I still struggle with anxiety when playing (and when not!) and I struggle physically sometimes - I’m 55 with numerous physical issues - but I’ll continue to play whilst I’m/we’re still being creative, unless the physical problems finally get the better of me. There is one other thing though; I think without the creative outlet my personal finish line would become rather too imminent, if you get my drift, as I hate most other aspects of my life.

Best ones I’ve ever played were my 34” scale Seis. I’ve never liked any 35” or 36” scale I’ve played as much.

That H looks great.

I saw them on the Conquest tour. Would have been just before I started playing. Still have the programme. Big Heep fan here, although that was far from their best period. I was most impressed with Chris Slade’s Staccato drums though! Played quite a few of the Alu-necked Kramers back in the day, including a Flying V. Loved the necks on them. Don’t remember them being remotely as heavy as the one Travis Bean I’ve played, but I could be wrong.

I remember thinking “no-one will know who he is”, and then he just banged out a set just about anyone would know.

How very dare you.😉

Yep, and if I had my way I’d do it on every single bloody track, whether it obviously needed it or not. 😉

Loads of drummers struggle playing to a click. In fact loads of musicians do, full stop. It’s generally an acquired skill, i.e. something you really need to practice and get used to doing. I remember doing my first funded album when I first went to London in the ‘80s and joined a band, you know, my “big break” (the album was never finished and never came out). 😉 The drummer put the drum tracks down and then I tried to put the bass on (for some reason I don’t remember there being guide guitar which was a mistake on someone’s part!). It was nigh on impossible. I went back to the hotel that night crushed, convinced I didn’t have what it takes. The next day I went back in and they put up a click track for the first song and I played to that. Got it in one and proceeded to nail the rest with relative ease. When they put a click against the drums they were all over the place. It’s one thing playing along with a drummer when he’s playing, but if his timing isn’t great doing it after the fact can be a nightmare. Although of course these days it’s all easy enough to fix.😉

HJ, HWNN, Seasons in the Sun (used to make me cry as a kid), Winner Takes it All; like all of ‘em. Don’t mind Oasis either. Really interesting seeing how many tracks that I like are cropping up! I’d do a tally if I could be bothered....😂

So Red Red Whine then....?😉

It does sound like taut rubber bands isolated, but I think it sits in the track well, and bear in mind when it was recorded. I listened back to a bunch of isolated tracks from some of my favourite players a while back and the only ones that really stood up solo-ed were Squire, Entwistle & Glover on Machinehead. They all sounded freaking awesome.