Misdee

I am familiar with both these basses and there's pros and cons to either. The Fender sounds hefty with the active EQ and P/H pickup configuration. It does classic Fender tone with a bit of a modern twist. It does not however, sound much like a Stingray on the rear humbucker. It's much more of a chunky Fender tone than the typical scooped-out Music Man zing. The early model of that bass ( late90's early 2000's) had a very big chunky neck, but the one pictured looks to have a narrower nut width. It's worth investigating if the neck profile suits you, though. The Bongo is an entirely different proposition. It's a big, beefy and very modern tone with loads of punch and attitude. On the five string model though, I would be aware that the G string is usually very close to the edge of the fingerboard and has a tendency towards slipping off the edge. It's a major irritation to a lot of players, myself included. The 17.5mm string spacing is also a little tight to some people. Other than those idiosyncrasies it's a superb bass. Sounds as good if not better than any modern boutique bass on the market in my opinion. If you specifically want a modern non-Fender kind of sound it's a very good proposition.

That's a bit like Bez offering a critique of Mozart.

I'm so tempted to reel off a list of bassists who are chronically overrated, not least of all by themselves, but for once I am going to try and be nice. Suffice to say then, that in any music there is a huge gap between having the knowledge and manual dexterity to execute the playing and having the necessary imagination to create meaningful work that will speak to others on a deep level. YouTube is awash with musos who have great ability who will never be significant artists in their own right because they have no idea how to do something interesting with what they have learnt. There's also loads of famous and semi-famous bass players who can't play effectively because they are fundamentally not very good at playing the instrument but have garnered a disproportionate reputation as a bass player through means other than their musical ability.

I have owned a wide array of supposedly top quality basses over the years and Japanese-made Yamaha's are up there with the absolute best. The construction quality is as good as it gets and the designs are really clever. And it's always been that way. More than 40 years ago Yamaha solved the issue of the inherent imbalance between the P and J pickups. Not many other bass builders have managed the same trick even now. The BB2000 is an intrinsically lively sounding bass, but in a good way, I hasten to add. If I were to analyse it I would say that compared to a traditional Fender-style PJ bass the BB basses have a much wider frequency range, I.e the bass goes deeper and the treble much higher. There's a Fender lurking in there somewhere but it's just one element of the unique BB tone.

Yamaha, like Fender, has never really excelled when it comes to active circuits (with the very notable notable exception of the NE 1). By the late 1980's the idea that active basses were inherently superior was pretty much received wisdom. Yamaha were just catering to a trend by offering the active option rather than addressing any deficiency in the original model. In reality the BB3000 was just fine as it was. No need to mess with it. A truly classic bass. Like so many things in life, I wish I had known back then what I know now, because in those days I wouldn't have looked at a Yamaha bass, based purely on my prejudices and preconceptions.

Sadowsky offer something similar with their Super P and Super J pickups. The Sadowsky pickups sound very good to me and would be my first choice. I have no idea which came first, the Sims or Sadowsky or how similar they are in reality, and then there's the Fishman Fluence pickups that are also similar in certain respects to these Sims. However, I am in total agreement that versatility is of exaggerated importance. Most players just find a good sound from a bass and use it. That's what's so great about a Precision, a Jazz and a Stingray. You can find a sound on any of those basses that will sound good with any combination of fingers, pick or slap playing without having to change any settings while you are playing.

I too roll my eyes every time someone trots out that old story originally told by Nile Rogers about Bernard Edwards being so cool because he didn't know what kind of strings came as stock on a new Music man bass and he had never changed them. So what? Of course he hadn't changed them, they were flat wounds and he was featuring that sound on big hit records. He subsequently did change to round wounds on that bass by the time of the third Chic album in 1980. People don't tell that part of the story quite so much. Considering how much ghost notes and muting were part of Bernard's signature style it's not that surprising that he could sound like himself regardless of what bass and what strings he was using. I can see how a P Bass would suit him just as well as a Stingray.

It just shows how much tastes can differ because I am not at all keen on Fender-style basses with exotic wood finishes. They don't fulfill the traditional Fender aesthetic, but because they are essentially Fender designs they aren't really boutique basses either, no matter what fancy wood you use. They end up being neither one thing or the other. Burl maple is a beautiful wood, but these basses will probably sound like any old Jazz Bass, albeit a pretty good one I would hope considering the price they will retail for.

The new Stingray Specials solve a lot of the ergonomic shortcomings of the older Stingrays. They also sound magnificent and EBMM have addressed the problem of the weak G ect with the introduction of the neodymium pickup. Specials are light and comfortable to play with a powerful and punchy tone, everything you could want from a Stingray. Some folks think the Specials sound slightly mellower than the older Stingrays but all I can say is that to my ears the Specials are still very aggressive sounding basses if you want to use them that way. I used to have a very nice pre-EBMM Stingray and I don't remember it sounding significantly better (or even much different) to my Stingray Special.

I think Jonas is one of those exceptional players who has very definite ideas about what he wants, but his choices and preferences are not necessarily that suited to the mainstream.

The Hellborg amp at Wal headquarters back in the day isn't the Warwick-era version. It's a short-lived mid-1980's combo that I seem to remember was made in Italy. They had that amp in the workshop at High Wycombe back in the '80's. Jonas' had a signature bass made by an Italian company at that time too, might well have been the same company.

I remember only too well how unwanted flat wound bass strings were back in the day. Most shops had Rotosound Jazz Bass flats in stock, from what I remember, just on the off chance a masochist walked in off the street wanting to restring his bass. I bought a set out of curiosity and found them completely unplayable. I didn't buy another set of flats for 30 years until I finally relented and got some Thomastiks about ten years ago. I can easily envisage Alan Spenner using old rounds and making them sound akin to flats in certain situations, either intentionally or otherwise. Re Bernard Edwards and the flats on his Stingray, he definitely changed to round wounds on that bass, I think after the second Chic album.

Rob made Jonas' bass from Utile and included the switchable parametric sweepable mid control to try give the bass a similar tone to his Wal. Can't remember if it was Rob or Jonas who mentioned it, but it's was one of the other.

That bass has been doing the rounds for years. I tried to buy it from someone in Norfolk in about 1995 from a classified advert in Melody Maker (those were the days...) but it had already sold. It was £500-ish, if I remember correctly. There was no mention of it being Nick Beggs old bass at that time, though. It's only subsequently that came to light.

Rob went on to make a few with graphite necks as special orders.

Alan Spenner really featured the characteristic sound of a Wal bass on those Roxy albums. I'd love to get a definitive answer on whether he used rounds or flats on that bass. It's very difficult to tell. Anyhow, it sounds great, and what a player he was. Died tragically young and I think if he had lived longer he would have got the widespread recognition and respect he deserved. A superb musician. I have to respectfully disagree that a Stingray can approach the tone of a Wal; I have long thought the two of being the antithesis of one another. The Stingray has got that baked-in zing and a hollowness in the mids that is it's calling card. I think what they do have in common is that both basses sound big and hefty. In their own respective ways they've got an inherently beefy tone.

They say the best deals are when everyone walks away happy and this sounds like one of those occasions. 11k? I expect you treated yourself to fish and chips that night.😊

Jonas' signature Status bass was designed to sound as close as possible to his Wal, apparently. I think Wal basses most certainly do have a unique tone, and I have yet to hear any of the would-be imitators nail that sound. Just because a bass has a filter preamp that doesn't mean that it will sound like a Wal. It might sound good in it's own right, but Wal basses have got their own sonic identity. Alembic basses, by way of contrast, use a filter preamp and have a wonderful tone of their own, but they sound nothing like a Wal. Construction ( as well as electronics) also plays a significant role in the overall tone of the instrument. Wal basses have got that fat midrange that is so useful for a bass guitar. It's a beautiful thing, for sure.

Lots of basses, both new and "vintage"" are overpriced in the current market. Wal basses are a prime example, but I think 1970's Fenders are also ridiculously expensive considering what someone is actually getting for the money. Partly it's a generational thing. If you weren't playing bass in the late '70s into the late '80s then certain instruments can hold a certain mystique. That's because of famous players who use(d) them and romantic associations we make with that music. If you were immersed in all things bass back in those days then there's much more chance that you have experience of the mundane reality of those"classic" instruments. Yes, they had certain strengths but they also had potential drawbacks and pitfalls. Allowing for inflation, they were also proportionately much less expensive. £6000+ for a used Wal Custom is a bit ridiculous to me, but it's more understandable than £2000 -£3000 for a late '70's Fender in so much as Wal basses have a unique tone. By comparison, those Fenders have neither an otherwise unattainable sound or substantial build quality. If you want a Fender-style bass you can do better elsewhere. Whether used Wal prices have peaked, I doubt,. That's because there's a buoyant market for them fuelled by influential big-name players, limited supply of new instruments and big demand particularly from the USA. A strong dollar means that UK-based Wal basses up for sale are appealing to American buyers.

I remember seeing Jimmy Bain playing a BB1200 with Wild Horses back in the late '70's. He must have progressed on to the BB2000 and subsequently BB3000. Regarding the BB2000, maybe there's something about a reverse P pickup that works well for a grindy rock pick tone; look at the Spector NS2/ Warwick Streamer ect.

I just watched that video. In those lighting conditions the (ahem ..) Mantis Green doesn't look quite so virulent. I still couldn't say I like it, but it's not so bad as in the photo.

Would be nice if that's how things progress. I'd love a Bongo with a maple board and a vivid colour scheme, just not one that burns my retinas and makes me wince every time I look at it.

Considering what everyday things cost in the UK nowadays, I would say so, yes. Young people (most likely to be beginners)in particular spend ridiculous amounts of their parents money on things like smashed avocado, Starbucks and McDonald's et al. that £500 for a bass is not untoward. What does a decent coat cost nowadays? If I was twelve years old again I would demand a family meeting to tell my parents in no uncertain terms that they need to get me one of these basses or the likelihood is that I will become yet another tragic victim of knife crime on the blood-soaked streets of Broken Britain. I'm sure they would see sense.

Well that has fair upset me. Three new colours for the Bongo and they're all crap. Lime green? I'm a middle aged man with prostate issues, not a skateboard kid in a punky ska band. If it was Seafoam Green with a maple board EBMM could have my money right now. Or Fiesta Red or something else a bit more classic. EBMM Blood Orange is essentially Cherry Sunburst ( not my thing)and Titan Grey is not my cup of tea either. What a waste. And presumably the Bongo is excluded from the custom options they are threatening for the Stingray Special.

Relatively inexpensive basses have been a revelation to me since I got my Harley Benton Shorty. Okay, so the tuning pegs fell off when I went to change the strings for the first time but so what? For £80 it's got a right to self-destruct at some point. In the meantime I have had all kinds of fun playing it. If your a proper muso then playing a cheap bass is a bit like riding a moped i.e it's very enjoyable until someone you want to impress sees you doing it. 👍🙂