Misdee

I have to say Russ, I respectfully disagree that a G&L L2000 sounds anything like a Wal. I don't want to sound pedantic, but then again this is a bass guitar forum, so I'm gonna be! I agree with you on the rest, though. G&L needed to do a better job letting the world know about their superb instruments. I hear the same proposition quite often, usually from American bass players who admire Justin Chancellor but can't get hold of a Wal. My theory is that someone first came up with this notion based on the fact that the G&L pickups look a bit similar to those on a Wal. The rest is wishful thinking. Don't get me wrong, an L2K is a wonderful bass in its own right with a powerful and forthright tone, but sonically it's dissimilar to a Wal because of it's inherent mid scoop, both in series and parallel mode. It's got some MusicMan DNA somewhere in those pickups and electronics that give it a bit of a cut in a narrow band of mid frequencies, whereas the Wal has a consistent midrange presence no matter how you set the controls. With or without the filter preamp engaged the Wal has got that rubbery midrange thing going that makes them so great. The G&L might be able to mimic some of the Wal's top end and bass thump,but the mids are what really make the Wal sound.

I really enjoyed hearing that. If anyone needed proof how good Spector basses can sound out in the wild, now they have it. That band sounds tight, and the repertoire really suits your Spector basses. Great job all-round.

Was that the outboard preamp Chris? Buying an outboard Sadowsky preamp would makes good sense for a lot of reasons. That bit of kit makes most basses sound better, cheap and not so cheap, so it may well stay useful if someone upgrades to a more expensive instrument. Even if the Sadowsky preamp doesn't make your cheaper bass sound good enough to satisfy, you can keep it for the next bass. Sooner or later it will be useful and money well-spent.

How do people know? They often don't, they just think they do. If you've got a cheap bass that sounds deficient it's not necessarily the pickups or the preamp that makes it sound deficient. It could be shortcomings in how the bass has been designed and built, the structure of the bass itself. If the bass is active and has a preamp you can bypass and it sounds markedly better when doing so that can be a sign that the preamp is poor or knackered, to use the technical term. If the pickups sound very weak or hum excessively or both then they might be either rubbish pickups and or faulty. Overall, if you play bass unamplified and it sounds lively and dynamic and if you then find that isn't reflected in the amplified sound that can be an indication the bits that produce the amplified sound are not up to the job, but working out where and why can take a bit of investigation and experimentation. Throwing money and replacement parts at an inexpensive bass won't necessarily remedy your dissatisfaction.

I have a sneaking suspicion that these kind of threads are started by Russian bots, now that the Kremlin has decided to further undermine NATO by sewing the seeds of cultural conflict amongst its' bass players. We seem to fall for it every time, me included. Getting back to the O.P, I wouldn't play Fela Kuti covers because I don't like that music played by Fela Kuti, let alone anyone else especially me. But if for whatever reason I did fancy having a go I would, wearing whatever ethnic-inspired outfit I felt like wearing and other folks would be free to like it or lump it. The whole thing is ridiculous. If Slade came out today Noddy Holder would be accused of culturally appropriating a garden gnome. Whatever oppressed peoples in the world anyone is being offended on behalf of, they are unlikely to be further harmed by someone playing their popular music, probably badly. No Biafrans will be napalmed as a result of your dalliance with afro beat. These bourgeois anxieties are a symptom of having too much time to think up things to think about.

These basses look pretty good for a Mexican-made Fender, if a tad pricey. The extra cost has gone on the cosmetics if there's nothing special about the pickup or hardware. Sounds like a decent enough P Bass. In terms of cosmetics these basses would be more period-correct with an off-white pickguard, but tortoiseshell = vintage so that's what we get. I would want to change it for a white one, so add that to the overall cost and it's getting even more expensive for a Mexican Fender Regarding of the neck and overall playability I think the biggest drawback isn't the finish so much as the 1.75 nut width. I know some people like that vintage spec, but I think the majority of players find something closer to the "B" neck at 1.625 much more comfortable. I know I certainly do. I think Fender would sell more of these basses at that spec. The most special thing about these basses is that Fender has deigned them worthy of a colour scheme and lightly-aged look usually reserved for their Custom Shop basses. That's their biggest selling-pojnt.

Listening now, early UB40 were superb, just as good as anything coming out of Jamaica. To me it's authentic because they authentically meant it; their feeling for that music is sincere. That's why they played it so well. The drummer and bass player are so good. I really don't think Sly and Robbie could have done a better job on those first few albums.

The cultural appropriation accusations on that song could get a bit complicated, bearing in mind that Bob Marley was half Welsh, or half English, or half white Jamaican, depending on who you believe.

If musicians want to play some music that's strongly identified with a culture, ethnicity or race that's not their own then that's a wholly positive thing. Whether they make a good job of interpreting and performing the music is an entirely different discussion, but to say that certain music is out-of-bounds is ridiculous. You can't use potential offense as a yardstick for what is and isn't permissable. All kinds of people get offended about all kinds of things. Individuals have a right to cause offense. They may be justified in doing so. Human beings are capable of infinite subtlety and music is one of the sublime expressions of that subtlety. That so many people would give such conscientious consideration to a dogma that places offense and historical grievances above all else is an ominous development. Even if those things were true they would not justify compromising anyone's right to freedom of expression. . If you want to play Fela Kuti then play Fela Kuti. If it sounds crap and/or you look ridiculous playing it, we'll let you know. The responsibility for making a decent job of it is yours.

Is your bass also a five string, may I ask?

I actually put that to Ned Steinberger himself, and he said that for all kinds of reasons he will never be involved in reissuing that bass, and most likely no one else would either. It's a shame because if someone were to make a proper reissue of the original L2 then they could have my money, for sure. I'd be very interested to know how you thought the Streamline (and S2) compare to the Steinberger.

I've got a Status Streamline bass, pretty much as a substitute a Steinberger L2. It doesn't really sound that similar, but it's a beautiful design in its own right and it's the closest I'm going to get to the heart's desire of my younger days. I find the Streamline to have a warmer tone that's a bit less strident in the midrange than the inherent Steinberger L2 sound, while retaining a similar graphite-derived clarity. It would've been interesting if the Streamline had been on the market back in the 1980's heyday of the Steinberger. Rob Green would probably have been fighting off customers with the proverbial unsanitary stick.

No , like other players using Fenders, like Ben Shepherd. Come to think of it, the first time I saw Jeff Ament he was playing a fretless Precision, if I remember correctly.

I'm sure that's also a factor. But it was harder to find old Fenders in the U.K, and dealing directly with oversees builders was also much more difficult. Transatlantic phone calls in those days cost more a minute than a lap dance does nowadays. Bass players were limited to what retailers wanted to stock. The internet changed everything. When I first went to the USA in the mid-'80's it was a revelation. The guitar shops were chockablock with Fender basses of every vintage. I'd been on the lookout for ages for a nice ',70's Jazz Bass in the U.K. In America I had literally a dozen to choose from locally.They weren't particularly cheap, but they were certainly plentiful. The biggest problem was how to get one back to the U.K.

Him, and also various young men from Seattle in need of a good wash.

I remember a time when the relevant question would have been are Fender-style basses dead? When it comes to trends in bass design, it's a classic example of that old adage about swings and roundabouts. There was a general consensus that Fenders had become outmoded by such "useful" innovations as active electronics, graphite necks and neck-thru-body construction. I know it's hard to believe nowadays, but it's true. In the mid to late 1980's if you went shopping for a nice new bass (and by nice I mean pretty expensive) in the UK then the shops had plenty of boutique basses but a scant selection of Fender-derived designs. You could go into mainstream retail shops and buy a Wal, Status, a proper German-made Warwick, Jaydee, Overwater Music Man ect but the plethora of fancy Precision and Jazz-style basses that proliferate now just weren't there. The basses Fender were making weren't very appealing to most discerning players, and it was harder to find vintage examples than it is now, for various reasons. At some point in the 1990's someone must have plugged a Fender bass into an amp ( probably an Ampeg), tried playing some songs with a band, and said "Hang on a minute, this actually sounds quite good!" and we've all ended up where we are now.

The Steinberger L2 will always be the bass I wanted most but never got. It's a beautiful object. Some people used to complain the sound lacked the warmth of wood. It was supposed to! These basses had a tone all of their own and it's unique. I love it. I too remember when these basses first came out. In 1982 the UK retail was £999, and Soundwave in Essex were the sole importer. That's about £3500 in today's money. At that time I was lucky if I could muster £9.99, so it was just a dream in those days, but I passed on buying one in the late '80's and the early '90's when I easily could have, and then before you know it thirty years has passed, Steinberger are long gone and it's all ancient history. Regrets? I've had a few.

Jaydee basses might be shaped similarly to Alembics but in terms of sound they are very different. I seem to remember reading a long time ago that Jaydee pickups are essentially P Bass style split humbuckers in a rectangular case. The Jaydee preamp with bass, mid and treble cut and boost is a million miles away from the Alembic filter system. That said, I remember back in the mid 1980's when Jaydee basses first arrived in the USA that Rick Turner, chief designer of the original Alembic basses and as such eminently qualified to make a judgement, reviewed a Jaydee Supernatural bass in Guitar Player Magazine. He commented on the similarities between Alembic basses and the Jaydee especially in terms of the distinct "pop" of overtones you got on both basses because of their extended frequency range. So maybe they are a bit similar in certain respects.

It depends on what constitutes a "boutique" bass. If you mean exotic woods, active electronics, brass bridges made in small numbers by "craftsmen" then...yes but no not really. Looking back now with the balance of hindsight at the days when such basses were considered the pinnacle of acquisition for most self-respecting bassists, a lot of what was considered desirable, and indeed essential, seems pretty preposterous nowadays. Conversely,however, the idea nowadays that I need a very old (probably knackered) Fender P Bass strung with heavy gauge La Bella flats and a vintage Ampeg B15 that breaks down regularly in order to be a hip and savvy bass player is equally preposterous. And the same kind of fashion victims that adhered to boutique basses in the 1980's/90's are extolling the primacy of vintage gear now. If you like boutique basses buy one. If you like vintage ones get one of them. The notes are in the same place on either.

At the risk of stating the obvious, Parliament's definition is political, the Courts definition is legal and guided by Parliament. That makes them partisan, not definitive. Just because they have power and are in control, it doesn't necessarily make them right.

Who could "officially" define what racism is? With what authority? That definition will always be a matter for conjecture. May I also point out, the Oxford English Dictionary is a reference for the English language, not a definitive handbook for reality.

Your definition i.e the one you are presenting as being the "real" definition. My definition is defined in context of the post, and clearly so. This is an argument about nothing. Except that some people are desperate to accuse other people of racism, either explicitly or implicitly, and that's a very serious allegation to make .

What makes you think your definition is definitive? My definition was in relation to the post I was referring to, nothing else.

Okay, thanks for putting me straight. I'll submit to your jurisdiction in future, then.

So what?