Misdee

The Bass Centre in Wapping was the best shop in the world ever. In its heyday they had a stunning array of basses, amps and everything else. Just as important though, was that Barry and the rest of the staff were always very decent people to deal with, whether you were buying or just trying stuff out. There was something about that shop that epitomised playing bass in the 1980s. I went to the other branches in Manchester, Birmingham and LA, and they were all good, but Wapping was the best.

The wonderful Chris Minh Dokey has got one. I know his main bass was a 2024, but now he mainly uses a P34 with a Hipshot D-tuner.

I met Black Sabbath briefly when I was about 12 years old at what must have been the height of their wild days. It's an awfully long time ago but I distinctly remember them all being very deeply suntanned and looking quite leathery.

You know you are getting old when Geezer Butler is on Radio 4 on a Saturday tea time. I bought the book last night and have had a quick dip into it. So far it's living up to my best expectations. 👍 And yes, a truly iconic bass guitarist. Made up the rules for an entire genre. Who could be cooler than Geezer Butler? One of the all-time greats.

Yes, I will stick my neck out and venture that this bass will sound very much like a Fender Jazz Bass.

LaBella flats are the most old school sounding of all the strings mentioned. If you want lower tension then maybe the Low Tension LTF-4A set would be worth a try. They definitely sound more clunky( in a good way) than Thomastiks. There's something in the midrange of LaBella flats that makes them sound so good. Another alternative would be Dunlop flats. They've got a thick, chewy sound but are still very articulate. To my ears they are kind of an amalgamation of LaBella and Thomastiks in terms of tone.

Such a good band. It's stating the obvious but their great strength was the songwriting. They put most other groups of their era to shame with just how clever they were, without ever being grandiose or pretentious. I remember seeing Martin McAloon playing his sunburst Music Man Cutlass back in the day and thinking what a beautiful bass it was. It must have been brand new at the time. Nowadays my lust for that bass is tempered by the knowledge that it probably weighs a ton. I hope he's still got it, though, and will be playing it on tour.

I use a Dunlop Nickel 120 B string on my Yamaha BB2025 and it sounds fine. Tension and tone is enough in keeping with the 40/60/80/100 guages that makes up the rest of the set that it has never bothered me. And to me, a 5 string with an inconsistent, weak B string is as much use as the proverbial chocolate teapot.

The 1024x has got a more distinctive tone than the 734a, to my ears anyway. The 734 is a essentially a generic active PJ. Nothing wrong with that in itself, but the 1024x has got a unique sound that no other bass on the market can replicate. For what it's worth, I can't think of another bass that sounds like the P34 either. The 1024x has got a lush bottom end and sounds like an active bass in certain respects. The P34 by way of contrast, sounds notably lean and precise, but not in a bad way. I don't think you will go far wrong with either. I like the 1024x in so much as I love the 2024x that it's based on, but the P34 sounds great too. Plus it's a Japanese-made Yamaha and that means a superb quality instrument that will last a lifetime.

I love the shape of these basses. A very stylish design all round. They look like beautifully crafted instruments.

I've been aware of John Giblin's playing for almost as long as I've been playing bass. My first bass teacher was a big fan of his playing with Brand X, Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush ect and used to play me records( it was back in the olden days) featuring John's playing to inspire me. If you look at who he played with over the years it's a pretty dazzling array of artists. Seems like he was always amongst the elite of British bass players, and quite rightly so. RIP John Giblin. I like to think that somewhere beyond the Milky Way he is still ripping it up on his fretless Wal and being more interesting than most other bass players could ever hope to be.

He was a terrific bass player with a sound and style that really stood out. Quite literally; that bright P Bass tone with roundwounds and a pick was unmistakable even on medium wave radio and the lo-fi TV sets most folks had back in the day. Such an inventive and creative player. The Smiths wouldn't have been the monumental band they became without his contribution. I'm very sad. RIP Andy Rourke.😟

I wish maple necks were lacquered nowadays as standard, but it suits most manufacturers to put an oil and wax finish on because it's much less work and therefore less cost for them. By the 1970s Fender were using pretty thick laquer on their necks, and I'm sure it had a very significant effect on the tone. That combined with the fact that they were using ad-hoc variations on how they were winding their pickups from batch to batch might well explain why you come across some very raunchy P Basses from that era.

Yep, early 70s P Bass from the Joshua Tree era. Sounded great, looked the part, suited his style.

Proper Pau Ferro is reckoned by some to sound brighter than rosewood but a bit less bright than maple. You would need pretty good ears to be sure of that, though. In my experience maple is noticeably much brighter with a lacquer finish. Unfinished I don't hear that much of a difference from rosewood ect, but there's so many variables it's hard to say definitively. Just buy a bass that sounds good to you !😄

If I'm learning a song at home as an exercise I like to try work out the original bass part, if only as a starting point. Back in the days when I used to play covers in a band I was quite happy to play my rendition, but was always mindful of key elements of the original bass line. However, like the O.P, after a couple of Babychams I may well have decided to share my genius with the audience by embellishing songs with my own ideas. How much of a transgression overplaying might be is a depends greatly on the skill of the bass player. Quite often what is criticized for overplaying is actually bad playing, and lots of it. Playing what's best for the song doesn't necessarily mean playing less, but it does mean playing better. The best players can do whatever they want to and make it work. Some bass players play a lot, some play less. All that matters is how effective the overall sound is. In some circumstances less is more, in others the more the better. Rush wouldn't have been better served if Geddy Lee had taken a more minimalist approach,, for example, but his bass style would have ruined AC/DC.

Losing weight is very difficult, and keeping the weight off after you have lost it is even more difficult. And the older you are, the more difficult it becomes. You have to be really dedicated to the project or it just won't work. It might help if we knew what kind of bass the O.P is using. If it's something unusually light and insubstantial then that might give an insight into the potential remedy. Maybe a bass with a slightly curved body, like a Warwick or Spector, might help. Or a bass with a body substantial enough to flatten an unruly gut, like a Yamaha BB or Jaydee Supernatural. Or a Music Man Stingray. There's plenty of bass players who proudly sport a big belly and play a wide array of basses perfectly well. I'm sure this problem is solvable without resorting to diet and exercise.

I had exactly the same problem about 30 years ago. It took me a while to admit to myself that my belly was the problem. For a long time I blamed the strap I was using at the time. Eventually a combination of self-loathing and vanity enabled me to overcome my "stomach problem", but I'm still fighting to maintain my boyish figure every day. Would deliberately balancing the body of the bass on your upper belly elevate it to about 45 degrees, making it easier to see the fretboard? Just a thought.

I must have been listening to that track and Chuck Rainey's bass line for nigh on forty years. That isolated bass part confirms what I had already suspected, essentially that it sounds difficult to play, but in reality it's even harder than I thought it was.

I can't say I've always wanted to try one, but recently I have been flirting with the idea of a Dingwall Lee Sklar signature model. The thing is, I've never played a Dingwall, or indeed any fanned fret bass, so it would be a bit of a leap in the dark. Also, I'm very particular about string tension, and I would want strings that gave the same feel as a 40-100 set on a regular four string. So I've got a couple of potential hurdles to overcome.

Yes should have packed it in after 90125. Everything since has been a long and torturous contribution by an unwitting public to their retirement fund. Like so many bands.

A big +1 on all these points about the Thumb from me. I fancied one from when they first came out, but every time I played one with a view to buying one it was a no-go. Also bear in mind that all of the ergonomic problems of the four string Thumb are exacerbated in the five string version.

Looking at the background info it looks like EBMM have really tried to make this reissue as accurate as possible. The only grey area is the preamp. I don't know how close it is to the original epoxied ( Baxendale?) one , probably near enough. FWIW, I played a few Stingray Classics and they were superb basses, better than any vintage Stingray I ever had my hands on in terms of sound, playability and construction. The only reason I didn't buy one is I never found a light enough example. Actually I did, but by the time I rang Bass Direct someone else had just bought it!😟 A Stingray Classic would substitute perfectly well for this reissue, and I actually prefer the more generic features of the Classic. Just my personal taste, though.