Russ

[quote name='risingson' post='1104654' date='Jan 27 2011, 02:17 AM']I like Warwicks, I always have, but I think they've played into the hands of a certain market that has now alienated some potential customers that believe that their application as instruments is limited to metal etc. They need a bit of an overhaul image wise, maybe start looking to endorse a wider range of artists that pull a newer crowd of players.[/quote] The thing is, you don't see too many metal guys with them any more. There were loads 5 years ago or so, but either the bands involved have slipped into obscurity or the players have moved on to other instruments or endorsers. The stigma's still there though. On the plus side, it did make for some excellent bass tones on some rock/metal recordings back then - Alex Katunich's SSII tone on the earlier Incubus stuff was fantastic and inspirational, as was Ryan Martinie's stuff on the Mudvayne records. Looking forward to hearing Mike McKeegan's tone on the new Therapy? album, now he's playing Warwicks. Warwick attempted something a little more conventional a few years back with the Katana, and I don't think it's done all that well. I've never seen anyone play one live, not to mention it had a good thrashing with the ugly stick.

It's fashion, basically. Instruments are as subject to the whims of the fashionistas as everything else. Flashy, exotic-wood basses aren't the in thing - it's all about the Fenders right now. Warwick aren't helping matters though - their endorser list is more or less all highbrow jazz-funk and session guys these days. They've jettisoned most of the rock and mainstream guys. Granted, the nu-metal era was something best forgotten, but they sold a lot of basses back then, when they were in the hands of players that people had actually heard of. (I'll excuse Stuart Zender and Adam Clayton from that list - shame their signature basses are fairly tragic). With this change in fashions in mind, I'd be interested to see Warwick's take on a Jazz Bass. And regardless of fashion, if I can find a wenge-necked Streamer Stage II 5-string for a good price, it's mine.

[quote name='Mlucas' post='1096792' date='Jan 20 2011, 08:51 PM']I totally agree on the dependency on the music but i always feel there is a natural discrimination against pick wielders..[/quote] If there is, it's because a lot of the people you see out there who really can't play well are often amateurishly sawing at a bass with a pick. Think the Pete Wentzes and Sid Viciouses of this world. I think it just makes those who really can play with a pick, like Anthony Jackson, Hellmut Hattler and Bobby Vega look even better!

Both. Each technique sounds different and lends itself to different styles and feels, and pick, fingerstyle, slap, thumb-muting, etc are techniques that every bass player should have in their toolkit to be able to use when appropriate.

Love the U-Basses. It's like the ultimate evolution of the old Ashbory basses. They sound awesome too. I'm planning on getting one of the solidbody ones for my son when he's a bit older. Then I can play it when he goes to bed.

[quote name='Clarky' post='1096391' date='Jan 20 2011, 02:33 PM']What a thread! Arrogance, insults, appalling playing, missives from a long-dead bass manufacturing legend. All that is missing is some gratuitous sexism. So I wonder if this bass player has any Youtube clips? [attachment=69448:bikinigirls05.jpg][/quote] This thread definitely delivers.

[quote name='blackmn90' post='1096257' date='Jan 20 2011, 12:52 PM']It says he is an innovative player on his website? I think he will find that when i was 10 and handed a guitar i too was making lots of twangy sounds and playing nothing that makes musical sense. So innovative he is not...... now show me the drummer jokes thread, iv got some great ones[/quote] He's an innovative player in as much as he sometimes plays a bass with more than four strings. Apparently that makes you an innovator. Not sure how that works. I might convince myself I was an innovative artist if I decided to paint a picture using three paintbrushes shoved up my arse - wouldn't matter if the picture was still sh*t. What this boils down to is that he's a very average player with an undeservedly huge ego. If his missives stated, "trying my best to be the best player I can be", instead of "I'm the lovechild of Marcus Miller and Jaco, all kneel and praise me" then nobody would have a problem. Humility doesn't seem to be in his "innovative" repertoire.

[quote name='TomKent' post='1095573' date='Jan 19 2011, 08:05 PM']Respect to him for putting himself out there and making an album, putting videos on YouTube etc etc. Okay, he's not the best, but at least he's trying? [/quote] Very trying. All mouth and no trousers. His slapping has no rhythm, and his melodic playing has no melody. Instant bass FAIL.

Arrogant self-promotion. Putting bravado and bluster ahead of ability. Yep, he's an American.

[quote name='Heathy' post='1094032' date='Jan 18 2011, 04:20 PM']I agree that he's top notch, but would say that he is also a bass god. He may not be a [i]Victor Wooten*[/i] but has definitely sold more records, played to more people and probably inspired many more to start playing. I have gigged Hysteria and New Born. Great fun but totally relentless and hurt like hell. *or insert the virtuoso player of your choice[/quote] Noooo! He can't be a bass god! His strap's too long! He doesn't play fretless or slap! (well, apart from Undisclosed Desires and that doesn't count ) He's in a band people have heard of!

[quote name='paul h' post='1093349' date='Jan 18 2011, 01:13 AM']tumblr is pretty hot right now. Certainly in terms of graphic design and art. I imagine there is a similar audience there for music too.[/quote] If you want to have an "integrated" online presence, you have to pull in resources from different sites. One thing I've been seeing a bit of is people using AOL's new homepage service, About.me to set up homepages, then using that page to link to their various profiles elsewhere, eg, using Facebook for general "friending" and networking, Twitter for live updates and staying in touch with the zeitgeist, Tumblr for blogging and Bandcamp for music hosting. Granted, Myspazz does almost all of these things, but not very well. I think that was part of its downfall - it tried to do everything, instead of concentrating on doing one or two things very well. I think having separate sites that concentrate on doing one thing very well is the way forward, especially since, with their APIs, they can all now "talk" to each other (eg, Twitter update going straight to Facebook, Tumblr blog going straight to Twitter, etc).

They're "intermediate" level, I'd say. If you can master that whole bouncing from the octave to an open string thing he does a lot (Hysteria, Invincible, etc) then you're most of the way there.

Bandcamp's great for hosting your stuff and generating sales - much better than ReverbNation. As far as promotion goes, having a Facebook presence is great, but she should definitely add Twitter to her social media repertoire - that's where the "zeitgeist" is right now.

Go Squier. Better built, better fit and finish, more easily upgradeable, better resale value if you choose to upgrade to a better bass (or quit ). I'd go for a Vintage Modified Jazz - fantastic bass for the money. You sometimes see them come up for sale on here secondhand for £150-200, but they're only £300 or so new. Seems Squier is almost a unanimous choice!

The Drophead combos are obviously Ashdown's answer to the Ampeg B-15 reissues. They look nice. Plus Ashdown have finally come out with a 6x10"!

[quote name='Chris2112' post='1085889' date='Jan 11 2011, 06:44 PM']Yes, they still make the B-2 but I'm no Entwistle nut so I'm not sure what the connection between John and the instrument is. I'm not sure why Dean are the only company they felt comfortable with though, maybe they were offering the most money? Since I don't think John himself had any connection with them. I'm not a huge fan of Dean though, I thought it was cool when they were doing the USA made Jeff Berlin model because it seemed like a really "different" signature model, very much Jeff's creation in a way. Then they discontinued it and brought it back as a cheap model, which Jeff was unhappy with and even said something along the lines of "upgrade the pickups to USA Bartolinis and you'll have a very good instrument for a good price" about it![/quote] Chris E just posted this on TB: [quote]Unfortunately Warwick were only supposed to get the rights to produce the Wooden buzzard. The estate solicitors, with remarkable short sightedness, increased that to anything remotely to do with bass guitars. Relations with Status were damaged severely due to this, with my profound regrets. Possible in the future? Always open to discussions.[/quote]

[quote name='Johnston' post='1085872' date='Jan 11 2011, 06:28 PM']Anyone come across what sort of price these are going to be??[/quote] The Spiders are going to be ridiculously expensive, since they're only making 25 of them, but the others should be under a grand. Chris Entwistle has just chipped in on the subject over on TB... apparently Dean was the only company the Entwistle estate felt comfortable dealing with.

[quote name='Chris2112' post='1085665' date='Jan 11 2011, 04:15 PM']Funny, that he considered the Status the evolution of the Buzzard which is why he was playing it and kept his Warwick basses at home. But of course. Warwick could throw a lot of money to the Entwistle estate, because they managed to acquire the rights to the Buzzard shape and stopped Status making them. And from what I've heard, speaking to knowledgeable parties, Status will never make their Buzzard again. I am not sure, but I have heard that the molds used to lay up the graphite fibres have been destroyed, so Status couldn't even make one if they wanted to. A lot of money has been made of John since he died, I guess! Anyone interested in his gear should check out the "Bass Book". I'm not an Entwistle fan but I got it as a birthday present from my brother a couple of years ago. It's a stunning book with some awesome basses in it, looks great on the downstairs bookshelf too![/quote] It's just been pointed out to me that apparently Status still make the B-2 - I thought the same as you, that they had to destroy all the graphite moulds, but that must have just been for the original Buzzard. It's still on the Status website, but there's no mention of John Entwistle.

One word: Minging. And two others: Cash-in. I remember being surprised when Warwick came out with the Buzzard again after he died, since he ditched them years before. What was wrong with the Status Buzzards? Those were the last basses he played while he was still alive. Also, for the "Fenderbird" fans, there's far better examples out there. This lot make a "proper" one with original Fender and Gibson parts: [url="http://www.cataldobasses.com/"]http://www.cataldobasses.com/[/url]

[quote name='Chris2112' post='1084624' date='Jan 10 2011, 07:50 PM']Apparently this is Les' new bass and it will be offered as a production model (although I'm not sure by who). I have to say, the wood working looks even worse than on a Carl Thompson! And those basses have had some shoddy fit and finish jobs, from some accounts. However, upon seeing the pictures and seeing Les dressed up in his weird outfits, I was more struck by the fact that he has apparently become a pardoy of himself and is now like a bass hermit, pedalling the same tired crap and failing to do anything inventive in over a decade. He's a relic of the 90's, how strange that he doesn't just retire![/quote] Chris, have you ever played a CT? There's something about the ergonomics of them that's just "right", plus they're incredibly light (most weigh in at around 6-7lbs). The "artisan" style of woodworking they use is an acquired taste, but they are incredibly well built, feel great and sound awesome. I had the good fortune to try out a 7-string fretted CT in a music shop in NYC recently - it was also something like a 38" scale, but it felt great, wasn't hard to play at all, and, again, was very, very light for what it was (seriously, the bass couldn't have been more than 14-15mm thick). I'm not really a fan of Les's ventures outside Primus - some of it is a little too self-indulgently strange, and I have no interest in the whole "jam band" thing that he's been doing, but I appreciate that he's a one-of-a-kind innovator, and inspired a lot of people to bring the bass front and centre.

[quote name='KevB' post='1084267' date='Jan 10 2011, 03:39 PM']Not a member on TB so rarely even look at the site but this was an interesting thread and I think I read most of it. All the usual posturings of recognised forum types, the 'nudge nudge I'm on the inside' expert types to the die hard 'fighting for justice' vigilante types and even whiffs of conspiracy and big dollops of 'it's us little guys against the big corporate machine' mentality. Fascinating. 45 pages of the stuff and it's still not sorted, it's possible that the true facts might never come out which would be a shame as there are still unanswered questions, the main one being is it really a true fake at all?[/quote] I think they're waiting on the final word from Jens Ritter - he's gone over to NAMM and apparently they haven't been able to get hold of him yet for a proper comment.

[quote name='Chris2112' post='1083831' date='Jan 10 2011, 02:30 AM']Ibanez fakes have been big news for about 5 years now, maybe more. There is a big market for older Ibanez, particularly the "shred boom" era models of the late 80's and early 90's. Things like Steve Vai signature Jem and Universe guitars and the Joe Satriani Signature models with the exotic paintjobs were commanding high prices (they still continue to appreciate too) along with other models from the era. I think it was initially revealed when a Chinese Ebay seller was offloading a number of the paint swirl Universe and Jem models. Now, these are fairly rare anyway and to have such a number was a giveaway. It's really only Ibanezrules.com and the Jem site that get decent numbers of second hand paint swirl models coming through. A couple of people spotted them and it was pretty obvious they were dodgy fakes. However, a few had worked their way around the world and iffy Ibanez guitars were beginning to appear in America. Ibanez were made aware of it and have been warning about dodgy Ibanez guitars ever since. In fact, at one point they had a buyers guide up with the advice of "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is". These things were being made on a large scale, there must have been a factory producing them. I remember seeing a fake Jem7V at a shop in Newcastle. It was very hokey and obviously fake from a mile away (as it's £200 price tag suggested) with some very iffy electronics, a woeful knock off tremolo and some incredibly poor inlay and fretwork.[/quote] There's actually some rather nice looking Jem and Universe ripoffs available from that Tradetang site - here's a nice Jem7V ripoff.... [url="http://www.tradetang.com/for-sale/Free-shipping-new-seven-strings-electric-guitar-for-sale-electric-guitar-/137320-2203578.html"]http://www.tradetang.com/for-sale/Free-shi...20-2203578.html[/url] I'm wondering if there's a market for stuff like John Turner's fake Ritter, for those of us who own custom basses - we could get cheaper versions made to take out and gig with, leaving the valuable original instruments at home!

[quote name='icastle' post='1083822' date='Jan 10 2011, 02:23 AM']Ritter aren't the only ones being faked. I see that Ibanez have a Counterfeit Warning on their homepage...[/quote] If you look at a Chinese wholesale goods website like [url="http://www.tradetang.com"]http://www.tradetang.com[/url] , you'll find all sorts of counterfeit instruments. The most popular styles to rip off seem to be Musicmen, Rickys and yep, Ibanezes. Beware though, you'll see a huge amount of stuff on a site like that - gets very tempting to consider starting an imported instruments business.

[quote name='Chris2112' post='1083813' date='Jan 10 2011, 01:50 AM']It sounds like John Turner has really been made a mug of here. The topwood on the "fake" is better than the wood on his bass![/quote] I've read the whole thread... seriously, Jens Ritter needs to give whomever made that bass a job.