Misdee

Come to think of it, I've also got a Reflex with what is essentially an 18v Bongo preamp in it. However, it has the added intreague of being switchable between active and passive mode. Never noticed much (any) difference in output level between the two, except if you were to crank up the bass and low mids in active mode, probably. I seem to remember that EBMM recommended that the Reflex should always be plugged into your high impedance input, and I would surmise that the same would apply to the Bongo.

I don't think she's a brilliant player. She's a reasonably competent player at an intermediate level. Marcus Miller she ain't. She is, however, a marketable player. If she looked like Olive from On The Busses (I'm showing my age) we would never have heard of her and she wouldn't have a signature bass from Fender.

I've got an HH Bongo and I've recorded with it quite a bit. I've never had a problem with the output, even when I add some EQ from the Bongo preamp. It's definitely very hot, but I've no recollection of it ever unduly overloading enough to cause obvious distortion, and I play moderately hard. No problems through a big amp and 4x10 cabinet either.

I've got a Bongo and a Stingray Special. They are very different basses both in terms of sound and how they feel to play. It would help to know a bit more about the problems you had with your Bongo and what it is that you are dissatisfied with about the Stingray. Regarding 18 volts, I personally have never noticed much difference between 9 volt active EQ and 18 volts in practical terms, but I don't usually crank it up that much. It just depends on the design of the circuit. For example, back in the 1990's I used to have a Status Empathy with an 18 volt circuit. I remember plugging in an old Wal with a 9 volt circuit and comparing the two. The Wal was literally twice as loud. When people talk about extra "headroom" I'm a bit sceptical about how useful that might be in reality. Manufacturers are quite good at solving problems that folks never realised they had. There's plenty of 9 volt circuits that are perfectly good. I've certainly never come across a Stingray that seemed underpowered, going back all the way to the original pre-EBMM instruments. To my ears, the Stingray Special is a good-sounding example of that design, but it's not radically different to any previous Stingray, except it substantially lighter in weight.

Thanks, that's a fascinating read. So many musicians have rediscovered the sublime artistry that went into those old Serge Gainsbourg records that it's about time someone made a proper documentary about it all. London in the late 1960's/early 1970's was such centre for music, it's not surprising there was a thriving workforce of first-rate players to actually make the tracks. Phillips Studios in Marble Arch where Herbie Flowers et al did so much work and those Serge Gainsbourg records were made ended up being bought by Paul Weller, if I remember correctly, and was renamed Solid Bond.

I grew up listening to Jeff Wayne's War Of The Worlds (my older brother was a big fan) and even back when that album came out Herbie Flowers was the elder statesman of British bass players. Regarding whether Herbie played on Melody Nelson, the last I heard was that it had been established that it was definitely Dave Richmond on at least most of the tracks. However, considering Dave Richmond played a Burns bass and Herbie played a Fender, it would be fascinating to listen to the isolated bass tracks and work out if Herbie Flowers is in fact playing on some of the songs. I wouldn't be at all surprised if turned out he did. Thinking about it now, Herbie's distinctive tone, that Jazz Bass with flatwound strings and lots of treble, often played with a pick, would be very fashionable nowadays. That sound stood out so you could always hear what he was playing, and what he played sounded great and made the music better. Herbie was a magnificent bass player in a magnificent era for popular music made in Britain. It says a lot that his death was announced on the BBC national news. I hope he will always get the recognition he deserves.

I remember it well. It was a big deal at the time, and the end of an era.

Led Zeppelin, Knebworth 1979, £7.50. That's the equivalent of £35 today. 20 Embassy Regal, a bottle of cider and a Mars Bar would leave you change out of a tenner (including the price of the ticket) and you had everything you needed for a festival.

Fair enough, you are absolutely right. They should be open and transparent about what you will pay. It's totally unfair not to. To me though, the face value of the ticket is ridiculous to begin with.

I completely agree that the remuneration for artists from streaming is ridiculously unfair. However, I am confident that even if royalties were still paid at pre-streaming rates that concert tickets would still be just as expensive. The reason for the rise in prices to see live music is primarily because the industry has "re-evaluated" the value of its product and decided people can and should pay more to see a band. Put simply, they are charging more because they can get away with it. Everything changed after Live Aid. Pop music entered the mainstream, and with that the whole culture changed. Sooner rather than later the profit motive overtook more antiquated ideals of fairness and accessibility for a typical audience.

Yes, I appreciate that. However, you always have the option not to participate. If Ticketmaster wants to play at silly buggers that's up to them. It can't affect you if you reject the transaction.

More likely that we are nearing the time when only the rich can eat.

I take both points entirely, but Ticketmaster are in business to make a profit. They will do whatever they can get away with. But once you start limiting what they are allowed to do you are on a slippery slope towards an unfair restraint of trade. Ultimately, the most effective leverage is for customers to reject the vendor. Unfortunately, the practical reality is that won't happen. I remember when a ticket to a gig was about the same price as an album, festivals and stadium gigs a bit more. That was and still is about what most bands are worth in my estimation. Prices have gotten progressively more crazy and the public have endorsed that escalation by buying tickets. Until people stop buying the tickets prices won't significantly decrease.

And regarding the ticket prices, it's all a bit of a red herring as far as I am concerned. If people are daft enough to pay inflated prices then they have only really got themselves to blame. No one needs to buy an Oasis ticket. ( I would love it if no one did, leaving Noel frantically searching for Plan B to pay for his divorce.) In a truly free society people can ask whatever they like for commercial goods and services and the consumer is at liberty to accept or reject that price. Just because someone asks £6000 for an Oasis ticket doesn't mean someone has to actually pay it. (But yes, left to their own devices some dimwit probably would.) True to form, the new government are intent on saving people from themselves. I can put my used underpants on eBay for six grand, it doesn't necessarily warrant a government enquiry.

The fact that Oasis and their music are epochal for the mid 1990's speaks volumes about how abject a time that was. They were the pop group Britain deserved, but not in a good way. To me, it's exasperating the way Oasis's reunion is being feted by the media as if they are a national treasure to be universally celebrated. Yesterday Oasis tickets was lead item on the BBC1 Six O'clock news. No doubt Noel will see all this as definite confirmation of his own omniscience.

I fell for it too.

I too remember when modding old (although they weren't that old at the time) Fender basses was de rigueur. It was mainly because Fender basses were deemed to be outmoded by more modern designs with active EQ, heavy brass bridges, exotic woods etc. It took a while before someone actually played a stock Fender and said "Hang on a minute, this sounds alright as it is!" Funny thing is, I also remember back in the 1980s it seemed a lot harder to find nice Fender basses than nowadays. Jazz Basses in particular were in very short supply. When I first went to the USA in the mid-1980s the abundance of used Fender basses was a revelation. They weren't particularly cheap, but there was plenty of choice. I know the internet has helped concentrate the marketplace, but even allowing for that it was much harder to locate used Fender basses in the 1980s. So many vintage Fenders seem to have surfaced subsequently I'd like to know where they were hiding!

May I ask, when you mention the EBMM Reflex do you mean the Game Changer version the with the software-based EQ ect, or the actual Reflex bass, with it's more straightforward pickup switching options?

Is this an anecdote she told you about when she was a teen back in the 1980's or you mean this happened when you were already married back in those days? Either way... It's interesting to consider that in these days of snowflake sensibilities if I as a middle-aged man, with the best of intentions,were to send my underpants to a nubile female pop star I would probably be hunted down and charged with an act of terrorism. Just another example of political correctness gone mad I think it's definitely Pino on this track. He's credited with it, and it sounds like him or a brilliant impression of him. The other bass player on this album was Andy Brown, a top session player of the day who I'm very sorry to say died of cancer in 2000. I remember when this song came out as if it were yesterday. I'd just got my first fretless bass and the extent of my inability to play it was starting to drawn on me. This was one of many songs in the charts of that time featuring prominent fretless bass that was tormenting me and my crap out of tune playing. Not like nowadays, of course.

Regarding Botox and fillers etc, or any similar "procedures", they aren't going to make you look younger or fool anybody that you are eternally youthful. At best you will just look like another silly middle-aged bloke who has had botox and fillers to try and hold onto the past. Do you really want to pretend that you are eternally in your twenties? It's no more convincing than someone who is going bald having a comb-over. There's nothing wrong with wanting to look good whatever age you are, but the secret to looking your best is to embrace the inevitable changes and make the most of whatever age you are. Self-consciously trying to look younger will just make you look a pillock. Society has changed so much that you don't even need to change your style that much as you age. Fifty years ago an OAP would have looked ridiculous wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Nowadays no one would notice. You don't have to become an old man just because you are over fourty anymore. If you can maintain a healthy weight then that's a big help as you get older, not just to look good but also because of the health benefits. There's nothing like middle-aged spread to make you look middle-aged. Other than that, you can find a personalised style that makes you look fashionable in a classic way, not necessarily following the latest trend. It's true that age is just a number, but it's a number that signifies how old you are, and how old you are makes profound differences to your life whether you acknowledge it or not. Trying too hard to be younger than your years never works, it just makes you look desperate. You can still look great as you get older, but you have to acknowledge the fact that things are changing and make allowances for that.

Totally get where you are coming from with this. There's something very liberating about enjoying a bass that isn't holding you to randsome. I'm looking at getting a Sire or similar for that very reason.

I watched the Bullythakid review on YT. His criticisms seems to be based on the assumption that the pan pot is wired the wrong way round. It isn't. He doesn't know what he's talking about. That's the way that Sadowsky basses are supposed to be.

If you can cope with the G string sliding off the edge of the fingerboard, same as all the EBMM five string basses.

If you like slightly tighter (18 mm)string spacing then another option might be a used Yamaha BB NE2. Jazz Bass pickups, superb preamp and build quality is as good as it gets at any price, no exaggeration. Sounds amazing, plays effortlessly, usually weighs somewhere between about 9 1/2 and 10 pounds.