Funky Dunky

Really nice bass. Those things sound wicked - how are the necks?

There will likely never be a pinnacle of bass playing, because there will always be someone who comes along with a fresh twist on an old theme or a new idea or someone will push the boundary. There will always be innovation from somebody, somewhere. There will be heydays for the instrument and hiatus periods, sure - somel say the instrument peaked with Jaco, some say no, Jaco started the birth of modern electric bass and gave birth to a new wave of innovators. I'm sorry, the notion of 'pinnacle' has already been dismissed in this thread enough times without my twobob'sworth. But my opinion is only that of one man, and not particularly interesting, therefore if that's my twobob'sworth, maybe I should get change back.

And indeed, Kudos on the beard.

Just catching up with it now - FWIW I can't abide Sam Smith and his depressing balladry. But that bassist is right good, he shone on the covers, sneaking in a peach of a fill on 'Le Freak'. Really tight with the drummer.

One P bass and one Jazz. That was it. Both four string, both USA Standard models.

I feel the OP's pain - I'm an impatient fella when it comes to receiving bought goods. I remember when I bought my Sterling from Thomann and I was checking the tracking infor every couple of hours! Having said that, the general consensus here is correct - it's not Thomann's fault and there's no point in raging down a telephone at them, as there's absolutely nowt they can do, nor are you entitled to any compensation. Sadly, you're a victim of rotten circumstance and you'll just have to play the waiting game. I sent my Sterling back to them last Wednesday for a warranty repair - I dare say they haven't received it yet.

The event as a whole was a wee bit disappointing IMO, although it was free so I'd have a cheek to complain. Roughly half a dozen Fender instruments dotted around, three of them plugged into small amps with headphones for you to have a bash - and only two basses. Highlight was easily the Fender band - Yolanda Charles is a fantastic bassist and genuinely looked like she was loving every second of it. As a Jamiroquai fan, getting to see Rob Harris on guitar was a treat - great player, and from the instant his pick first came into contact with his strings, his tone was gorgeous. All Fender gear, of course I left during JJ Rosa's set so I missed the Q&A and any other delights, unfortunately.

Yeah, some of the Jamerson lines are unpredictable and tricky. Wonderful, but tricky.

[quote name='Simon.' timestamp='1436263996' post='2816466'] Whilst it's not TAB (but most of it isn't too hard to work), there is a huge and very good resource of soul transcriptions here: [url="http://freebasspart.pv24.pagesperso-orange.fr/Bass_Players.htm"]http://freebasspart.pv24.pagesperso-orange.fr/Bass_Players.htm[/url] It's Stax/Atlantic based, rather than Motown, but should keep you occupied for a good while. Plenty of Duck Dunn lines to get stuck in to. [/quote] Fantastic, thanks for this!

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1436215033' post='2816140'] [i]Hal Leonard R&B Bass Bible [/i]has a mix of Motown and Stax/Atlantic material in tab and notation. [/quote] Thanks for this, just checked it on Amazon and it's ideal. I'm having that!

Cheers guys, yeah, I saw that and ummed and ahhed a bit over the notation-only factor, but I know it would serve to make me a better musician. I can pick it up cheap on Amazon so I'll get that ordered. I will have a look for What Duck Done also. Can't believe there aren't more bass anthologies for Motown though. Bizarre.

I was looking for something like a Motown bass tab anthology, but so far can only find the Hal Leonard Motown Classics book (which contains 21 songs). had a search on Google and Amazon but books of full song transcriptions for bass seem to be thin on the ground! Can this really be, with giants like Jamerson, Dunn and Babbit providing the low end on all those hits? I thought there would loads to choose from, but apparently not! I can learn a lot of these songs by ear but it would take a whole lot longer. I was hoping to learn three or four a week via tabs, but tab books appear to be surprisingly hard to come by.

Not a dealbreaker, but a pity. Still, great wee amp.

Headphone jack? No? I'm almost ready to pounce on one of these, just need to find a light 2x10 cab to run it through which will get me the max output (under £250). After much to-ing and fro-ing I reckon lightweight separates are the way to go, and at that money I just can't see past the Markbass.

Indeed it is, and so is adjusting the saddles. Quite why it's still not right escapes me. I will lower the pickup and try adjusting the set up again when I get it back, but if I'm not happy with it I'll move it on.

Gene Si......nah, not even in jest. Sorry.

Bakithi Kumalo. Love his Graceland stuff - and I detest fretless bass most of the time, but his stuff is fabulous imo.

Do you know, you never seem to see anything about them in Basschat. All I know is that Alisha Moore owns a Boomslang and loves it (she's a YouTube cover artist in the vein of Marta Altesa etc).

Plus, I think in truth that it needs the nut filed down a tad. The advantage of paying an expert is that they can look at it and see, "yes it needs this and that, or no it doesn't need that but it needs this" etc.

I have followed some cracking guidelines from BC members and given it a try myself but I can't get the action low (even spec low) without fretbuzz above the 12th

If I were putting a preamp in a bass and had a few quid to spend, it would be the Aguilar OBP-1 or a Spector Tone Pump. Both of those are monsters.

What's best, the models with Duncan Designed pups or the Fender pups? I've only heard videos on Youtube, but to me the DD pickups are a good bit nicer sounding. Any idea why Squier stopped using them?

Gone back to Thomann to have the preamp fixed. Can't decide whether to keep it and pay for a decent set up or sell it and get a Jazz bass. I'm definitely leaning toward the latter, but I feel like I haven't given it a fair crack of the whip. That said, it'll still need at least a hundred quid to get it right (cost of a set up plus a Stinger preamp). I could lower the pickup and see if that helps the farting (when you boost the bass it's horrific - apparently not all SUB Rays do it, but the ones that do should be fixed free of charge - this is unacceptable!) But I would still need to shell out on a set up. Wonder what the turnaround will be on the repair from Thomann. Anybody had a bass repaired by them?