Misdee

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.

The Bongo is indeed already a bit of a beast, but I think a graphite neck would make it even more like that.

I've bought my dream bass several times in my life, so many times in fact that I no longer dream about buying basses. I dream about having enough leisure time to play the ones I already have. Some of my dream basses turned out better than others, I must admit, but at least I've ended up with some basses I really like. When it comes to basses, maybe it's a good thing to have a certain amount of unrequited love. Back in the 1980's I pined for a Steinberger XL bass (and a GK800RB to play it through) but never got one. I still get a warm fuzzy feeling from thinking about that combination, and that's probably because it's unsullied by reality or experience. In my imagination everything is still perfect. I wish I had bought a Wal, and a fretless Pedulla when I had the opportunity, though. I think they would both have been very useful and enjoyable instruments. However, at the time it never seemed likely that so many basses would become unobtainable all of a sudden so I don't kick myself too much. In terms of fantasy basses that don't actually exist, I think a Musician Bongo with a graphite neck would be a wonderful thing. Now that Status Graphite are gone, however, it's even more unlikely to ever happen.

Lakland and Sadowsky are both good prospects, going on your stated preferences. The Lakland, however, is a 35 inch scale. With a budget of £2000 you could easily pick up a used Sadowsky Metroline, either made in Japan or, preferably in my opinion, a more recent made in Germany example. I was sceptical when Sadowsky went into partnership with Warwick, but I've been proved completely wrong by the stunning quality of the Metroline basses turned out in Germany. The more recent examples are chambered just like the NYC models and all the hardware and preamp is top notch. They are beautifully put together, too. The five string version is 34 inch scale with 19mm spacing and the low B sounds great.

In terms of a darker sound, an overwound Jazz Bass pickup will give more output with a pronounced midrange and noticeably less treble, and you can then eq in some more bass if required. Aguilar make some pretty good ones. However, so much of getting a good reggae tone is about how you pluck the strings and an overall feel for the music. In some ways having a really good bass makes it harder to get an "authentic" sound. None of the guys in Jamaica were using fancy equipment, just making the most of whatever they had and being creative. FWIW, I've got a Fender '74 AVRI Jazz Bass with Thomastik flats on that came with Fender '74 reissue pickups on and it sounds great for reggae and retro Jazz Bass tones in general.

For my taste, Bowie's backing band during the George Murray-era was one of the greatest of all time, never bettered. George Murray was a major influence when I first started playing during that time, and all these years later I now know enough to understand that he's even better than I thought he was! Such a tasty and inventive player. Nowadays my main bass is a black/tort/rosewood Fender-style PJ, a bit of wish-fulfilment from watching George playing with Bowie on TV back in the day. An enigmatic bass guitar icon. Delighted to see he's doing so well.

Maybe it's entirely appropriate that these basses end up in the hands of collectors rather than players. If your a serious player then get Sadowsky to make a bass that accommodates your own requirements, not Jason Newstead's. The thing about fancy instruments (although this bass is actually quite understated) is that they don't wear particularly well. Once they get dinged up a bit they look shabby rather than glamorous, rather like a stately home in disrepair. A beat-up Fender, on the other hand, is like an ex-council house with some bevvied-up chavs having a barbeque in the garden. Everything looks as it should and no one bats an eyelid.

You can't go wrong with a Stingray for some good honest meat and potatoes bass playing. It'll give you the thump of a P Bass with some added clarity and zing up top, depending on how you play it and set your e.q. Simple but very versatile and so much fun to play. If possible it might be nice to keep a P Bass too, though, just for the contrast.

I've been doing a bit of research and I have good news in so much as there seems to be a lot of variation in the finishes of the individual basses. Sweetwater have got a few blackburst ones in stock and they are all different. One looks like the one at Bass Direct, the others look more like the images that Spector have been disseminating. The downside to that is those inconsistencies mean if you want to buy one you then have to find one with a finish that matches your preference. Not just the right finish but also the right rendition of that finish.

It's actually a pretty tasty bass, except for those skulls on the fingerboard. Not my taste. Apart from that this would be a very useful instrument in any genre of music.

I've been a fan of Gene Perez's bass playing since I first heard MAW/NuYorican Soul back in 1997. He's the master of this style of bass playing. I love the fact that he's not afraid to play in an aggressive and busy style despite the current orthodoxy that less is more ect. Thing is, hearing this style of music always reminds me of shopping for clothes in trendy boutiques back in the 1990's. I keep expecting some obtuse sales assistant wearing a beret and ripped jeans to sidle up to me and ask if I want to try anything on. I usually just look at the prices and then ask for directions to the nearest branch of Millets. Like Dad, generally speaking I'm not really a fan of music with the thumping big beat- reminds me of trying to get to sleep while the bastard students next door are pretending to be Pete Tong-but I take everything on it's own merits. If it sounds good then fair enough.

I should have known it was too good to be true. Just when I thought I had found the perfect way to dip my toe into the world of Spector basses and live out my darkest 1980's hair metal fantasies. The finishes on the CST basses in the shops are nowhere near what is on the promotional instruments. I will just have to wait and see if Spector responds by improving the finishes, but I doubt they will.

Whether he's skint or not we will probably never know. If you have money, especially if you have lots, the whole world is conspiring to find a way to take it off you one way or another. That's why so many successful people end up broke. Judging by the esoteric nature of a lot of what he's selling though, my gut instinct is that he's just getting rid of stuff to declutter etc. Black album-era Metallica was pretty iconic in the rock bass genre. Jason is a very smart player with an admirable taste in basses. But as people get older they can feel burdened by their possessions more than they enjoy owning things they aren't actually going to use anymore. Maybe Jason is just getting rid of stuff that he just doesn't find useful, appealing or really want anymore. Like a 10 string Alembic that weighs a ton, a double neck Rick ect ect. A lot of the stuff is pretty niche. He's giving someone else the opportunity to find out how useless it is. I haven't seen the complete list of what he is selling, but I hope he is keeping his best stuff though. Like the '81 Spector ect. Last I heard he was putting together a classic heavy rock-style band, and he might need some tasty black basses to do the job.

Was it a four or a five, may I ask?

On the five string, certainly. Drives me crazy.

I like your taste.

If Jason Newstead doesn't want them then I don't either. Don't let me put you off though, this could be your only chance to get that ten string Alembic that you have always dreamt of. And as for the three string Stingray, just get a regular Stingray and take off the G string. See how long it amuses you.

These basses look rather good to me. Very nice indeed.

There really is no excuse for this lot not to have a good wash and smarten themselves up a bit. Maybe they call themselves Idles because they can't be bothered.

In Dad's defence, one of the privelliges of aging is getting to say the kind of things that grown ups used to say when you were young. Just an observation, a lot of so-called dance music is extraordinarily boring and self-indulgent. Some of it makes prog rock sound like the Ramones. And yet the creators get away with it because of the cachet that the genre enjoys. As is so often the case in popular music nowadays, people are listening to a narrative rather than the actual music.

That's fair enough, but isn't it interesting that the safer we have apparently become as a society, the more fearful we seem to be. Let's just hope this country doesn't have to go to war in the foreseeable future.

Absolutely this.

In recent years the best bit of Glastonbury TV for me has been the new and fairly unknown bands. Unfortunately couldn't watch much live this year and such acts not featured much on the BBC iPlayer. Just like every year nowadays, the worst thing about Glastonbury is the relentless Glastonbury fascism we are subjected to every year. I really don't need or want to be told at every possible opportunity about the transcendent magic of the Glastonbury experience. The BBC has paid a huge sum for the broadcast rights and they are hellbent on beating the world into submission that Glastonbury (along with the FA Cup that they have similarly paid over the odds for the broadcast rights) is the most important and best thing ever. From a musical perspective, festivals are not usually a good venue to see a band. From a historical perspective, I preferred festivals when there was as an element of risk involved in attending. How much risk depended on which festival you went to. No cash machines or Vietnamese noodle bowls back in my day. Just a burger van and a couple of St. Johns Ambulance men. The only shower you were likely to get at a festival was if it rained or if someone threw a bottle of piss about in your vicinity. Both were frequent occurrences. I remember when Glastonbury was for people who were too frightened to go to Stonehenge and who would have been bullied by bigger boys at the Reading Festival. It was a era which would have left the current generation of festival-going influencers and poseurs clamouring for therapy and whining about their "mental health" on social media. It was magnificent.