Misdee

It used to exist in the U.K. It was called Income Support.

Regarding boutique P basses, I think the law of diminishing returns is particularly pertinent. Most bang for your buck is to be had at around the USA Fender price point, in my opinion. That is not to say that less expensive versions are not worthwhile. A £5000 Olinto ,on the other hand, might be somebody's forever bass, I'm not putting it down, but despite never having played one myself I would wager that it sounds and feels like...a P Bass. Probably a very good one but essentially still a P Bass. As I've previously mentioned in other threads, there's a certain point with vintage and boutique traditional Fender-style basses where what your paying for is magic realism, not anything tangible or actually necessary in a practical sense.

OCD - controlled exposure and response. It's the only way.

Whether you need a Precision might be the wrong question. Maybe you should ask yourself if you enjoy a Precision. If no one has asked you to provide one in a professional context then in an immediate sense, no you don't need one. Whether you would you get some extra joy from playing one would seem to be the more pertinent question. If you would then it could be a good purchase if you can easily afford it. My go-to bass for well over a decade has been a USA Lakland PJ with a Jazz neck and roundwounds that I use mainly as a P Bass. I've had it a long time and it serves me very well for just about everything. It's boringly reliable and I seldom find it can't sound appropriate for whatever style of music I'm massacring at any given time. Most of the time though just the Precision pickup sounds right for the music, whatever the genre.

It is a guitar, a bass guitar.

I saw the Smiths play live with Andy Rourke using a Trace Elliot rig. What a band, what a bass player. I also remember him using that black Squire P Bass and a Peavy rig in the very early days. I had a JV Squire back then, and it made me happy to see him using one too. I think the Yamaha BB2000 was primarily a recording bass and he used it extensively. A lot of The Smiths album and Meat Is Murder feature that bass heavily. A lot of what people assume is a P Bass is actually that Yamaha.

There's nothing wrong with people being kind, either. It's just if your selling something it's your responsibility to set a price you will be satisfied with, because after that you don't really have any right to a say. That what the buyer gets for their money, the right to say what happens next. Just to clarify, I have never bought a bass or anything else from Basschat, although I have sold one bass that I bought brand new and some assorted sundries over the years. I'm not trying to defend my own actions. It's just that it would never occur to me to take umbridge if anything I had sold was subsequently flipped. If the new owner doubles his money, great. By the same token, if he sells the item on for half what he paid me that's also not my concern, so it works both ways.

Flipping basses for profit on Basschat is perfectly acceptable as far as I'm concerned. There's so much to consider regarding the original sale price, like did the seller need a quick sale and reduce the price accordingly, did they know the true market value of the bass, did they bother to find out? Everyone on Basschat is an adult, making their own decisions. It's a big bad world out there, and Basschat is part of it. You can't infantilize people by protecting them from themselves. It's the sellers responsibility to set a price they can live with. Providing no one has cheated anyone or been intentionally dishonest, that's it. Once the bass is sold it's someone else's property. They can do as they please. If I sold an instrument on Basschat and the buyer then flogged it for more I would be delighted for them, or at worst I would blame myself not the person who made a profit, and learn from it.

Sponji Reggae by Black Uhuru maybe, great tune but perhaps a bit obscure for a mainstream audience. If you want a slower number for a lovers rock kind of vibe, how about Silly Games by Janet Kay.

There was a divide between bass tone on British and American-made music. With UK artists it was brands like Wal, Jaydee and Status you were hearing regularly on records, and ubiquitous Trace Elliot amps and cabs for live rigs. In the States it was more Steinberger, Spector, Alembic, and Fenders always had an enduring popularity with American players. Gallien Krueger amps and still plenty of SVT's about in the States. If you listen, there was huge variety within that modern '80's sound.

Jessie F Keeler?😮 JFK? Why did no one tell me that earlier? Well, that puts a very different complexion on things. Jessie F Keeler! If only I had known. My mistake then, apologies to all concerned.🙂. . I totally get your point a Rickenbacker's eccentric design and marketing philosophies. I'd love for JFK and/or Rickenbacker to explain the ergonomic advantages of this design. Then again, if they weren't a bit Kookie maybe the guitars and basses wouldn't have such a gloriously distinctive sound and look. Few things in this world are as beautiful as a Rickenbacker. I'd love to see Rickenbacker do a faithful reissue of the 4002 rather than (ironically enough) the short scale approximations I've seen. They could have my money for sure. I've seen some really sumptuous one-offs from their custom shop on the internet, too. Sooner or later I'm sure I'll end up pulling the trigger, despite the fact that I should have learnt by now that I can't play on a Rick. I wish I had got one when I first started and couldn't play on any other bass either, so it wouldn't have made any difference.

This whole endeavour by Rickenbacker is just very strange. Where have they got the idea that there is a need and indeed demand for a 30 inch scale bass that is essentially as big as a full-size Rick? It's so weird a project that I could never have imagined it had it not happened. A scaled-down 4003/4001 would have been a sure-fire hit, what with the enduring trend for short scale basses. There isn't going to be overwhelming demand for these 4030 basses, I would predict.

The world is a poorer place without Anthony Jackson in it. I first came across him on the credits for Paul Simon's Greatest Hits album in the very early '80's. He played bass on Slip Sliding Away, and I was blown away by how he alternated between low notes and high-register passages played round the vocals. It's still one of my favourites. I know AJ is feted for his work on the 6 string contrabass, I love that, but I really enjoy his earlier work played mainly on Fender basses. Everybody knows For The Love Of Money, but he did some equally dazzling and inventive playing with a whole host of artists on the four string. And he was funky as anybody else you could name from back in those days, of course in his own inimitable way:

Funnily enough, I've thought about putting flats on my Bongo, if I ever get round to it. I think it could work pretty well!

If Adam Clayton doesn't want them then I don't either. Besides which, wearing a Rolex is just asking for trouble nowadays apparently. According to the Daily Mail, in central London you might just as well chop your own arm off with a chainsaw.

Not everybody's cup of tea, but definitely my cup of tea. I love a Bongo. That finish looks like Egyptian Smoke, if I'm not mistaken. The colour scheme on these earlier Bongos was inspired by the available colours for BMW cars at that time in the early-mid 2000's. Makes sense in light of the BMW connection. Anyhow, lovely bass, I hope you have a lot of fun playing it.

Him too.

It's a bit naieve to think that the demand for tickets was entirely unexpected and that these extra shows have been hastily arranged to accomodate that demand. They will have been scheduled at the same time as the other shows, and yes more shows and Europe will inevitably follow. This triumphant return will have been carefully choreographed. And regarding Niel Peart's family giving their wholehearted endorsement, I would be very surprised if they hadn't been shown proper consideration by Rush and given a cut of the proceeds to acknowledge Niel's part-ownership of the Rush brand. Nothing wrong with that, though.

One of the things I love about AJ is he was brilliant in every genre of music anyone threw at him and he had a different approach for each one. Soul/pop music with the O'Jays, big band jazz with Buddy Rich, singer songwriters like Paul Simon, jazz fusion with so many artists it's hard to know where to start. That would be enough, but I especially loved when he played rock with a pick on albums like Electric Rendezvous by Al Di Meola. He really excelled at that style and he obviously enjoyed playing that way. I read in an interview once that Anthony was a big Entwistle fan and used to practise with a pick playing along to Who records, as well as Jefferson Airplane. I know that Joe Osborn was also a big influence on his pick playing.

A titan of the bass guitar, and probably my all-time favourite bass player. Irreplaceable, unique, a one-off, the genuine article. Anthony was a true virtuoso of the instrument, no one else comes close to him. I'm properly upset by this news.

Colin Moulding? Where do you want to start! What a brilliant musician, bass player, songwriter, you name it. If he weren't such a self-effacing chap he would have a very different profile. I honestly believe he could have had a career as a top session musician if he had wanted. I cannot think of a better bassist that any record producer or artist could hire to interpret and compliment their music in a novel and interesting way. Colin's such a creative bass player without ever conspicuously drawing attention to himself. He could have done the same job Pino Palladino has done for so many artists, albeit in his own inimitable way. The way he plays the bass is so exciting and quite fascinating. XTC were just breaking through around the time I started playing and Colin Moulding has always been a major role model for me. It seems like such a waste he's not out there making music much anymore because he's a unique talent.

Those pink JayDees came out in about early 1987 and along with other pastel shade pearlescent finishes like blue and yellow. My dad warned me at the time that if I bought an expensive bass in a colour like that I wouln never be able to sell it again. I heeded his warning and got a cherry red custom-made JD Mk3 MK. It was mega, much better than the production models in the shops at the time. John Diggins himself made it for me, and he was a superb craftsman, and a very nice chap too in all my dealings with him. I was very sad to hear that he had died. Regarding Mark King's sound, without wishing to court controversy, I have long been of the conviction that his tone is seriously compromised by the super light gauge strings he uses. It's just a case of how much each bass compensates for the lack of body in those thin strings. Whatever bass he uses he sounds remarkably similar to me. Don't get me wrong, I really admire Mark King and enjoy lots of things about his playing even though Level 42 aren't really my cup of tea, but his whole style and sound is defined by those strings.

Status used essentially the same electronics package in an exotic wood body for the Barracuda bass, I seem to remember. That was one of the wooden necked basses, too. Back in the mid-1990's the UK bass market wasn't flooded with super- Fender-style basses like it is now.The T-Bass was actually quite novel, not just in its quirky design but also as an available way for UK bass players to get their hands on an active souped-up Jazz Bass style instrument.I remember seeing the bass player out of Black Grape playing a black one with a tort plate at the time and it looked really good. I wanted to buy one just like that but never got round to it somehow. I had a Status Empathy back in those days so I was very open to another Status-built bass at that time It feels pretty strange to me talking about the mid-1990's as if it was the old days, but I suppose it is now!

When it comes to fretless I'm looking for something that can withstand the abrasion of roundwound strings. My fretless Lakland has got a polyester-coated ebony board and I really love the sound and feel of it. Pau ferro is supposed to be pretty hard, but everything will wear out sooner or later if you use roundwounds, as I'm sure you are already well-aware.