Frank Blank

I have (or at least had) a £1k limit on the amount spent on a single instrument, simply because they are tools of work and as such, in the course of playing and transport, liable to get knocked about and past a grand I think I'd be worrying about damaging it... I totally agree with this only I have never desired a high end bass, not really high end anyway, my recent found love of Rob Allen basses means I'll be purchasing one from him direct quite soon but I've never lusted after a more expensive bass... apart from a Wal maybe but I'm sensible enough to know that my Wal desire stems from a love of Mick Karn and his playing and I'm not him nor do I want to sound like him when I play. Wal basses reminds me of seeing Japan and digging those albums. I found a classical guitar under the stairs in my house, turns out it had been there for the best part of eighteen years and cost about £50 back then. I took it up to the fellow who sets up my guitars expecting him to write it off but he said that under the dirt there was a nice guitar, so he set it up for me and it's lovely. I returned to him with a bass for set up and he showed me a £6k flamenco guitar that was hand built in Spain, he showed me all the bad things about it, why it was actually a dog, "I'd much rather have your guitar from under the stairs". Likewise I have a Fender Modern Player that I had fitted with q fretless MIM neck and it sounds just as good as any of the high end fretless basses I've ever played. Personally I don't understand the desire for really expensive instruments, but then I have always felt like an arriviste in any specialist field!

Done. Nice to see an online community working like this, cockles, heart etc.

Apologies dude!

Oh bollards, I put Sir first time and quickly changed it, no point changing it back, I’ve already pi55ed in my chips.

You, Madam, have class.

How odd, I was just going to comment that Joe Morello’s solo in Take Five is one of the very few enjoyable drum solos... ...in fact Joe M takes more than one solo during these four songs and they are all inventive and interesting...

I want to take down the entire Wikipedia entry for Jazz and replace it with...

*waves*

There might be huge technical ‘evidence’ as to why one ‘thing’ (wood, pedal, make, mode, bass) is better than another but in the end I think the majority of people make their decisions according to something far more mysterious, the vibe or the feeling they get from whatever ‘thing’ it is. There are endless threads on here (extremely helpful threads I hasten to add) on the merits of all sorts of ‘things’ that go into huge technical detail but I remain convinced that the final decisions we make about what equipment we choose is based, usually, upon highly subjective and nebulous criteria that it’s difficult to name, let alone define.

Just PMd you.

...current working title of my autobiography, there.

Well the SWB-Pro has arrived and after a few days of playing I have realised it just isn't the bass for me, this is a great shame as it is a beautiful thing. It will be up for sale on here by the end of the week.

This.

Björk - excellent The Breeders - excellent Lump - excellent

My amp has all the settings at 12 O/C, I plug straight in with no effects and I play my bass, really quite badly. Sometimes my duo partner tweaks one or two of those controls, she doesn't even bother telling me what she's doing anymore. Almost everything else bass related I run past the infinite wisdom and knowledge of the Basschat collective, via that wisdom I've found the perfect bass and the perfect amp for me and I learn so much on here, it's so cool. So I too feel very random and amateur indeed but I also know that if I get in any kind of bass quandary I have this incredible resource to hand... *sheds tear, waves hankie at brave husband from sylvan garden as he heads out over the Channel in a Spitfire* Fade to black during Lark Ascending.

A shrubbery!

Having just purchased a Chowny I have to say that the quality you get for the money is astonishing.

This bass looks super fabulous to me and it’s a one-off colour wise.