TrevorR

Love my Faith Neptune Titan. Nice feel and acoustic tone. Great Shadow pickup and preamp. Very simple, one vol, one tone but a shaped EQ rather than just a treble roll off. Seems to go from a scooped tone to a mid boost but at sensible levels across the piece. Then again it sounds great pretty flat.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1488817441' post='3252025'] Has anything happened with this? Has the gig recording been made available to buy and download? Did the MU ever get back to you? [/quote] Was wondering that myself...

[quote name='Huge Hands' timestamp='1488964199' post='3253233'] However, what I really can't do is talk and play. If one of my band colleague asks me something mid song, I end up sounding like a grunting, gurning cave monkey that's had a stroke when I try and reply. [/quote] This, this, so very very this!

Like others, it's the clash of melody and bass line rhythms that does my head in. There are some songs or some lines I just can't sing and play at the same time without the bass line going completely to pot. Back in the covers band days I did a lot of backing vocals and really loved it. Like has been said, it's amazing how much a good backing vocal could add to a song. Some faves were Kinks tunes, because the backing vocals often so daft if you listen to them in isolation but they're an important subliminal part of the song. Listen to Waterloo Sunset to see what I mean. Ray really must have hated his little brother, Dave. Then there was Going Underground which I seemed to unconsciously approach as a piece of punk performance theatre. Out went my nicely manicured Surrey pronunciation and suddenly it was all... "Bu' Oi wan nuffin that serciety wan's! Gaw-win unnerground". On occasion it used to send our female vocalist, who'd known me for years into the giggles so she'd have to step off mic til she got her own backing Vox back under control.

Don't know anything first hand but I've seen a few people from the States on FB groups digging them. From what I can piece together it seems to be a deal where a US company/shop specs up some models, deals direct with a Far East factory to get them built and imports them direct to sell. If so they'll cut out some middle men and can charge a lower price because of the saving made. That MAY be way off beam but the logic held together for me. How good they are and how critical any corner cutting or QA lapses are I couldn't say. They do look pretty though and it's a daft price for a thru neck.

[quote name='Luulox' timestamp='1488886260' post='3252597'] My eyes!! What is wrong with you man, Why must you do this to me! I can't unsee this monstrosity. It may well have ruined music for me for ever. 😂 [/quote] It could be worse, before I got the iPad I did use a... well, you know what!

OnSong lets you add post it notes with notes, comments etc. Here's a couple of examples I used while getting on top of new songs... Is that the sort of thing you had in mind?

I use a Manos Mike stand iPad holder when being a disgrace to all bassists everywhere on stage. Nice and robustly made and easily adjustable. Just attach it to my mic stand. Very pleased with it. https://www.thomann.de/gb/airturn_manos_mount.htm Here's a photo of it ruining the listening experience of the punters... how can I possibly show my face in public... oh the shame...

I use OnSong and love it! Very versatile. You can upload pdfs either in sheet music or lead sheet form, Word files or create new files/convert Word and PDF into a special format which gives you transposable, capo-able chords. You can add annotations. You can then arrange them into set lists and a whole load of other functionality. I then drive mine through a Bluetooth foot pedal to scroll backwards and forwards. Here's how the interface looks... That's obviously a scanned PDF of some sheet music but mostly I use lead sheets/chord sheets. Dead easy. There are other similar apps available but OnSong seems head and shoulder above the rest for me.

[quote name='bassbiscuits' timestamp='1488616106' post='3250434'] I still have an Arion tuner and it still works perfectly well after 30 years! i also had a book by a bloke called Jim Gregory that had a floppy 7" record in it for tuning and backing tracks. [/quote] I learned using that Jim Gregory book too...

[quote name='arthurhenry' timestamp='1488574337' post='3250266'] What about Arion effects? Cheap and cheerful, but the Stage Tuner was a classic and was owned by just about everyone. [/quote] Yup, I had one of those until I upgraded to a TU-2. Considering how (comparitively) cheap it was it was an OK bit of kit. The instruments that I always remember as being cringeworthy were the Kay guitars and basses sold in the likes of Littlewoods and through the Grattan Catalogue. Especially the Les Paul copies with lots of cheesy onboard effects. And then there was the gun shaped guitar that they had in the catalogues too. [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v118/turquoisemoleeater/guitars/KayLPFX.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v118/turquoisemoleeater/guitars/k45.jpg[/IMG]

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1488367780' post='3248257'] 1963 Hofner 500/5 into a 1967 Selmer T&B into an Eden 210XLT cab (bit of a mis-match there). How anyone can remember what bloody lead they used is quite beyond me! I know I didn't use any pedals because I didn't have any. And I do remember very clearly that I quickly discovered that a semi-acoustic large-bodied bass makes a very effective feedback generator. [/quote] Some of us really are that sad... First appearance was a borrowed curly cable, the next was the no name cable I got when I bought my bass... It was red. The third was one of two Klotz cables I bought at the same time as I bought my Boss pedals. One was red, one was blue... Still got them in a box in the garage. No idea how or why I remember this stuff!

First public appearance on bass... Church service in 1981. Borrowed Fender Musicmaster and Carlsboro Amp. First performance with paying punters, 1984, Christian Union rock opera at university... Aria SB700, Arion Stage Tuner Pedal (Anyone remember Arion?), Laney Linebacker 75W 1x15 combo. First paid gig, 1989, residency at a local comedy club in a folk band supporting Eddie Izzard, Linda Smith (RIP), Mark Steel and Bill Bailey... Aria SB700, Boss TU-2 tuner, Boss CE-2B chorus, Trace Elliott Series 6 1215, 200W, 1x15 combo. Still have the Aria and the TU-2. Still use the CE-2B on my pedal board!

[size=3][font="Calibri"][color="#000000"]Lewis, keep all the Jazz basses and sell the Yamahas instead. The Yammys just aren’t as “prog rock” as the Jazz basses! [/color][/font][/size]

Blue, check to see if the permissions on the video and the post you uploaded it on in FB are set to "Public" then anyone should be able to see it and the link should work. Fingers crossed.

No worries about what instruments are used to make music... some electronica I don't care for, some I do. But then name any other genre. Some rock/blues/indie/jazz I don't care for , some I do. However, I do wonder whether some modern recording techniques are having a negative effect on the quality of the music we're hearing and which is being produced. There's over-compression for a start in the never ending search for more punch in the recording - and in that direction lies the dreaded loudness wars and CDs/MP3s which are unlistenable irrespective of the quality of the songwriting and performance (Alex, Geddy and Neil, I'm looking at you! Sadly). Or how about the ease of cutting and pasting in ProTools which creates a more homogenised product. Back in the day if you had a song with a structure like, say, AABABACABB each of those verses, choruses, the middle 8 and the intro and outro had to be played individually by a real person. That meant, however tight and disciplined the band or the producer the song would be littered with micro-inconsistencies in in timing, feel, tone, pitch (let's not get into Autotune!). They may not have been consciously perceptible as "errors" but they would have meant that no two sections of the track were exactly the same. As I get older I'm more convinced that matters to us as human beings on some sort of conscious level and that we can tell there's something artificial about tracks where the ideal verse and chorus are cut and pasted across the song. The homogeneity maybe removes the soul from the music? Three chums were in a girl country band called "Hummingbird" and did a song called "Pearls" about nostalgia, vinyl nostalgia and songs being the soundtrack of our lives... One of the lyrics seemed quite poignant in this context. It went... "The say that the new stuff don't sound like the old stuff. It's digital and sampled, perfect and complete. But where's the singer breathing, where's the engineer sneezing, where's the tape hissing and the drummer's missing beat".

[quote name='kulit17' timestamp='1486833048' post='3234901'] COR?? [/quote] http://youtu.be/z84nRqgl5ws

I know it's not actually London but it's close by... You could also consider ACM at Guildford. Well established, good facilities and good reputation (AFAIK).

Great idea... my gigging set up as follows... BASSES: Wal Mk 1 Custom Series, 1985, shedua facings, gold hardware Wal Pro Series ProIIE, 1979, ash body, trans raspberry finish (both with La Bella 760FL flatwound strings) Cleartone cables PEDALS: When two basses used together: Lehle 3@1 switcher pedal Pedalboard featuring... TC Electronics PolyTune Joyo Vintage Overdrive (hopefully to be replaced by an EHX Bass Soul Food later in the year - only used for mild grit and to feed the...) Morley Dual Bass Wah EHX Pulsar tremolo Boss CE-2B chorus Tech 21 Sansamp VTDI (feed to the PA) Connectors by Cleartone, OBBM; Pedaltrain pedalboard, T-Rex Fuel Tank power supply AMP: (when not going amp free) MarkBass Little Mark II MarkBass Traveller 2x10 cab ...and for larger gigs adding a MarkBass Traveller 1x15 cab to make a mini stack ACCESSORIES: All cables by Cleartone and OBBM Dunlop Straploks Italia Leathers 4" straps QuikLok A-frame guitar stands Air-Turn pedal for iPad OnSong software on iPad Shire Beta 57 vocal mic Ultimate Ears UE11 (I think) in ears Fischer Amps belt pack amplifier Hipshot Xtender EB-4 detuner just added to both basses. Pre-pedalboard... [font=Calibri][size=3][color=#000000][/color][/size][/font] [font=Calibri][size=3][color=#000000]Pedalboard pre-overdrive pedal...[/color][/size][/font] [font=Calibri][size=3][color=#000000][/color][/size][/font]

[size=3][font="Calibri"][color="#000000"]I’d agree that you should definitely shop around and explore as many different types of bass before plumping if you have £6+k to spend. You might surprise yourself and/or you might just fall in love…[/color][/font][/size] [size=3][font="Calibri"][color="#000000"] [/color][/font][/size] [size=3][font="Calibri"][color="#000000"]Definitely get along to Bass Direct, The Gallery and Andy Baxter’s shops – all of which will expose you to a wide range of different styles and makes and present a number of vintage options to look at – there will certainly be vintage Jazzes around their inventory.[/color][/font][/size] [size=3][font="Calibri"][color="#000000"] [/color][/font][/size] [size=3][font="Calibri"][color="#000000"]With your budget you are comfortably in the ball park for any “dream bass” or custom instrument (ACGs, Wals, Overwaters, Dingwalls etc etc etc)so the choice is so wide that it may be more difficult to narrow down – unless you just choose to decide “Vintage 60s Jazz it is!” and stick with those blinkers (meant in a “focus” way not a perjorative way).[/color][/font][/size] [size=3][font="Calibri"][color="#000000"] [/color][/font][/size] [size=3][font="Calibri"][color="#000000"]Should you be interested in exploring Wals as you mentioned above, the three shops above quite often have them in stock second hand to try and for any info on the Wals have a look at the ling in my signature below to the blog I write on the brand which is pretty much as comprehensive and definitive an info source as you will find anywhere.[/color][/font][/size] [size=3][font="Calibri"][color="#000000"] [/color][/font][/size] [size=3][font="Calibri"][color="#000000"]Happy hunting. What a lovely problem to have![/color][/font][/size]

[quote name='Lw.' timestamp='1487774116' post='3242700'] Or he could just get a Squire & spend the rest of the budget on a nice watch? [/quote] But what would he do with a young horse looker after-er if he's not got a horse (or a watch)?

[quote name='Number6' timestamp='1487716372' post='3242198'] +1 for Phil Lynott.....i feel he's the coolest bass/frontman of all time. [/quote] And he had the most rock and roll leather trousers in the history of rock and roll! #liveanddangerous

Rhys, I think I'm thinking about the previous Dan the Bass... TBH it's a few years now since I really checked out Magenta... [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HplzqfUDWY[/media]

[size=3][font="Calibri"][color="#000000"]That does seem like pretty odd and controlling behaviour from the band leader (something to watch, methinks!). Of all the basses to take against visually as “not fitting in a modern prog band” the Attitude is an odd one to choose – pretty blue colour or not. It’s a pertty conventional bass overall, as a P/J bass derivative (albeit with tweaks, twirls and additions). In fact, I would have pegged it a pretty nu-proggy overall myself. Odd. Considering other nu-prog bassists the Magenta guy is all Stingrays and the odd jazz, Pete Gee from Pendragon is a Wal player, Pete Trewavas (Transatlantic hat on) loves his Warwicks and Ibanezes right now, Steve from Threshold plays a Sei, Dave Meros from Spock’s Bears likes Ricky’s Sterlings and custom made basses, Jonas Reingold of the Flower Kings loves a Yammy… That’s a pretty broad church into which an Attitude in blue really ought to fit nicely.[/color][/font][/size] [size=3][font="Calibri"][color="#000000"] [/color][/font][/size] [size=3][font="Calibri"][color="#000000"]A bit of cyber-stalking of the band’s (absolutely woeful IMHO – they really need to sort that, especially the cover photo on FB which truncates ¼ of their name… d’uh!) website and Facebook page suggests that their previous bassist was a straight down the line traditional finish P and J guy so I guess that’s where their expectations have been set. The other guitars in their were both (pretty boring looking) Strats. So maybe he’s just a retrogressive progressive rocker![/color][/font][/size] [size=3][font="Calibri"][color="#000000"] [/color][/font][/size] [size=3][font="Calibri"][color="#000000"]If you like the music and like the band, of course you may not want to rock the boat. However, if it were me, that sort of behaviour/attitude is something I would want to have at my mind and keep an eye on over time…[/color][/font][/size]

Saw Chuck Berry in 1983. The bass player in [size=3][font="Calibri"][color="#000000"]his pick up band was playing a purple Ibanez Explorer bass… Sounded fine (and less out of tune than Chuck’s guitar!).[/color][/font][/size]