Russ

I'm in Croydon, currently bandless and not adverse to your influences... but I'm probably a bit old for you guys (35)... Plus, I'm generally a 5-stringer these days.

Well, I've exchanged emails with Jon Shuker, and it's looking promising - he can do it, and for the right price. I'm sourcing the pickups and bridge I want, so that's taken the cost down a bit (Sadowsky pickups and circuit, Kahler trem bridge). So, we shall see...

My last band supported Saxon and Blaze Bayley in 2003 (Blaze is a top bloke, but the Saxon guys weren't exactly pleasant), and, in the band I was in before that, we supported a nascent Feeder (their Swim EP had just come out), PJ Harvey, The Crazy Gods Of Endless Noise, Breed 77 (before the 77), and Imogen Heap. Not exactly top-flight stuff, but cool nonetheless.

[quote name='cetera' post='52204' date='Aug 29 2007, 10:36 AM']Jonathan Law at Feline Guitars (www.felineguitars.com)[/quote] I know Jonathan well (I live just around the corner from his workshop) and have been going to him for years for setups and so on. Nothing against him, but most of his experience is with guitars rather than basses, and, to be honest, for an expensive custom instrument, I'd rather go to someone whose speciality is basses. Did you hear that Jonathan's assistant hung himself last week?

This may take a while, and it's definitely going to test my memory! The story begins in early 1991 with... 1) "Axe" 4-string P-type bass. Very cheap, but serviceable as a firstie. Bought it for £60 - last time I saw it, it was on the wall of the local music shop for £175! 2) Bass Collection SB300 - I modded the hell out of this (Seymour Duncan active pickups - the ones with the little switches on - and a Kahler trem) 3) Chris Larkin Reacter 4-string (nice bass, if a bit beaten up) 4) That Bass Collection again (don't ask) Didn't sell it - just stripped it. 5) Westone Thunder 1-A fretless (my first fretless) 6) Hohner cricket-bat (was fun for about 5 minutes) 7) Nightingale 4-string (gorgeous, gorgeous bass - should never have sold it.) 8 ) Bizarre custom 6-string with fanned frets (made by a bloke who went to the London School of Furniture-Making with Martin Petersen... was, well, interesting...) 9) Musicman Stingray (nice, but just couldn't get it to sound right in the band I was in) 10) Fender 1974 Jazz - another one I should never have sold. It had mojo in spades, even after I put EMGs in it. 11) Custom "pseudo-Sei" 4-string (more about this in the "basses you regret selling" thread). This bass probably saved my life... but I lost my job and needed to pay rent, so it had to go. My biggest regret. 12) Sei Flamboyant 4-string. My first fully custom bass - wenge, ziricote, Lane Poors and red LEDs. Shame that it was around this time that I decided I preferred 5-strings. Plus, I lost my job about the same time I got this, so it went back to The Gallery at about the same time I had to sell the other bass. I suppose I never had the time to get attached to it. 13) Cort Curbow 5-string. Nice bass, and my first fiver. Was a stop-gap bass until I got... 14) GB custom 5-string. Bernie did a great job with this one, was very, very custom - custom body shape, two (!) Hipshots... but, like the Stingray, I just couldn't get it to sound good in a band context. 15) Dean Edge 5-string fretless - My second crack at fretless, and it wasn't a bad bass at all. I'd get another one. 16) Carvin BB 5-string. Again, wasn't a bad bass (got it in part-ex for the GB). I think someone here had it at some point... 17) Conklin Groove Tools 5-string. Very nice bass, but was just another stopgap until I got... 18 ) Sei Singlecut 5-string. My current squeeze. Amazing, awesome bass and is only getting better with age. 19) Spector (SSD) NS5CR - my first introduction to the amazing world of Spectors. Was an older Czech 5-string with a gloss black finish. I fitted SimS LEDs to it. 20) Sei fretless 5-string with Wal pickups - Got a good deal on this one, and it's another one I should have kept. Awesome bass, is now living somewhere in Japan! I moved to the US in September 2005, with the intention of staying, so this got sold to lighten the load - I only took two basses with me. 21) Squier P-bass. Xmas present from an ex of mine. Didn't hang around long. Neither did she, as it happens. 22) Warwick Streamer Jazzman 5-string. Got this through an endorsement (my old band were doing pretty well at the time) and paid less than 50% of list price. Just couldn't get on with it (that horrible thick neck was what did it), so I sold it for twice what I paid for it and cancelled the endorsement! 23) Squier Jazz 4-string. Was my attempt to get back to my 4-string roots... modded up with EMGs, etc. Another one I sold when I moved to the US. 24) Spector NS5CRFM. The bass that brought me and my wife together! Still got this one, both for sentimental reasons, and because it sounds and feels amazing. 25) Fake Fender "Jaco" Jazz 4-string. Got this when I came back from the US. It was cheap on eBay, and actually sounded and felt pretty good. 26) Squier VM Jazz 4-string. The 70s one. Nice, but, unfortunately, not my thing. 27) Ibanez ATK405 5-string. Awesome barking rock beast of a bass. Still got this one, as it sounds fantastic when you dig in. ... and that just about brings us up to date. Currently I have the Sei singlecut 5, the Spector NS5CRFM and the ATK405. Big regrets? Selling my "pseudo-Sei" custom is the biggest one, as that bass had serious sentimental value for me. But I also miss the Nightingale, the Sei fretless and the '74 Jazz and would have those back in a heartbeat. The GB was also a lovely bass, and it's a shame it had to go (it was back up on eBay a few months back, but I missed out on it) - the electronics could probably have been tweaked to get a more suitable sound out of it. And that's my story.

I've got an idea for a custom bass that I've had in my head for quite some time... ever since I sold an old custom bass I had made for me about 10 years back (see the thread about basses you regret selling). Basically, I want to take that body design (I designed it) and get a new 5-string built along the same lines, with the same body shape, with a few custom accoutrements (26 frets, and probably another Kahler). Now, usually I'd go with Martin Petersen and the Sei guys (they did a great job with my singlecut 5), but their recent price hike, along with his reluctance to do anything other than their usual body shapes, is counting them out, at least for this project. So I've narrowed it down to two other contenders - ACG and Shuker. So, for anyone with experience of working with these guys, do you think they'd go for it? Or can you suggest anyone I might have forgotten? [attachment=1973:bb3.jpg] [attachment=1972:bb1.jpg]

I've got an older ATK405, and I love it. The 400 series was the "revised" model - two pickups (J/MM), more versatile electronics, 24 frets, downsized body and smaller headstock. The new reissues aren't bad - they're based on the original 300 series, and if you like the MM tone, they nail it. The neck is pretty chunky, but we're talking P-bass chunky, not Warwick chunky, and it's comfortable. The reissue 300s are great, but I'd say track down a 400 or 405 if you can - they're quite a bit nicer. They're smaller (and lighter), I can nail the MM tone, plus I've got decent facsimiles of a Jazz (both pickups or bridge only) and a P-bass, thanks to the clever switching on the pickups. It's my "go-to" bass for anything rock-ish now, as it's got such a big sound.

Maple. Every rosewood-boarded SR5 I've ever tried sounds dead in comparison. Makes a big difference, to my ears. Much more "alive" sounding, more growl and no loss of bottom end.

They did a really nice upmarket range of bass amps a few years ago called Delta Bass - they weren't bad at all. Two channels, separate powered subs, quite a few bells and whistles. Good tone too. But they were pretty much commercially ignored, despite the fact that there was hardly any Carlsbro branding on them.

[quote name='ped' post='48506' date='Aug 21 2007, 07:55 PM']Looks pretty cool Russ - and the Mesa 1516BE Cabinet hiding just out of shot![/quote] Well, we're talking about basses we regret selling... that's an amp I regret selling (Bass 400+ head slightly out of shot there too).

I had Chris and Martin at The Gallery put together a bass for me about 10 years ago - it wasn't a Sei (couldn't afford one at the time), but rather a custom reworking of a bass body I bought at Brandoni in Wembley. It went from a rather unpleasant-looking, Westone-style pine lump with a 21-fret rosewood fingerboard, to the sleek black bass you see below. It also got to wear a Kahler trem, a Bartolini MME pickup, a Schack active circuit and a 28-fret ebony fingerboard. I sold it back in 2002, as I'd been made redundant and needed to make the rent money. I've regretted it ever since - that bass had serious sentimental value, it got me through some very difficult times, not to mention that it was my first bass that was in any way custom, and was completely unique. Now I'm a man of means again, I would love to track it down, but I have no idea where to begin. I sold it to The Bass Cellar in Denmark St, but they don't have any record of who they sold it to. This is it...

I'll have to go with the consensus here - get a Precision. One caveat though - take someone who knows their Fenders along with you when you go to get it. In the lower end of their price bracket, Fender's quality control is a little suspect. Two models of the same bass may sound and play totally differently - one might sound dead, and the other growly and punchy. Bring someone along who is used to the differences.

I believe Status will still make you a B-2 (the same as the one on eBay) - this is also an authorised Entwistle design, has most of the features of Status' original all-graphite Buzzard (including his pickups and circuit), and has the cachet of being his last authorised design. It just doesn't have quite as outlandish looks as the original. I've played the Warwicks too... they were hugely disappointing.

I've just redone those high vocals in the middle-eight... I listened back to them and they sound bloody awful... slightly out of key and way too loud in the mix. So I'll upload that version shortly. EDIT: The new version's up. No more embarassing out-of-tune vocals.

I've been toying with the idea of a solo project for a while, so recently I finally got my sh*t together, and recorded a few tunes. What's more, I've finally finished one! It's at www.myspace.com/recursemusic . It's kinda a techno-rock number, all fuzzy guitars, bleepy synths and moody vocals. It was done on my Mac, with GarageBand, a Tascam US-122, an old Yamaha MIDI synth, a Bass POD XT Live, a cheapo guitar, and my Ibanez ATK405 bass (amazing recording bass, by the way). Oh, and that is me on vocals. What do you think? Be gentle with me, it's my first proper attempt...

Go and join Freecycle (www.freecycle.org) - it's basically a mailing list where people advertise the stuff they don't need anymore for free. I've had a pair of speakers, a 19" monitor, a coffee table and a 2-seat sofa off there recently, all locally, and all for nothing!

Both here, probably about 70% fingers and 30% other techniques (pick/slap/etc). I'll use whatever gets the job done to get the tone and feel I want in a song. Having good pick technique is just another tool in your arsenal, another set of tones with another set of possibilities.

[quote name='thedontcarebear' post='34964' date='Jul 20 2007, 09:38 PM']Why is it never mentioned in the specs? I also read a review saying that he wished it had delay, very confusing. "5 Essential Bass Effects: Synth, Compressor, Envelope Filter, Octaver, and Chorus" Can't see it on here either.... [url="http://cachepe.samedaymusic.com/media/quality,85/brand,sameday/4viewHiRez-ae7f153036038afa1423adae8f6f9d9e.jpg"]http://cachepe.samedaymusic.com/media/qual...dae8f6f9d9e.jpg[/url] If there was a delay I'd be even more interested.[/quote] Hmmm.... just took a look at the Line6 site and you're right... I swear the one I played had delay and reverb on it. Maybe they've updated it - the one I played didn't have the envelope filter or octaver, it had the same effects as the Spider II guitar amp.

[quote name='thedontcarebear' post='34493' date='Jul 20 2007, 10:15 AM']They don't have delay though do they?[/quote] Yep, they do - it's on the effects knob (about the first quarter turn is delay and reverb). The knob also gives you chorus and flanger. I think you've got more options (combining effects, etc) if you get the FBV pedalboard.

[quote name='alexclaber' post='34180' date='Jul 19 2007, 03:46 PM']Interesting. What was the wood selection? Alex[/quote] Fairly simple really... swamp ash body, quilt maple top, maple fingerboard, maple/walnut laminate neck. To be honest, I'm not sure it was just the woods (I've had other basses with similar wood selections, and not had a problem with them), I think the voicing of the pickups and the preamp were just as much at fault.

Cool little amp. Worth it just for the SVT model and the nice built-in delays. The synth, as mentioned before, is rather toilet, the distortion model is fairly useless and some of the tones have a tendency towards muddiness. Other than that, they're bloody good, and not bad value either. I wish they'd do it in a head/cabs configuration.

I used to have a (very) custom Rumour 5-string, and it was a great bass... but, as wth all things custom, you never quite know how the bass is going to sound in a band environment until you actually get it. My Rumour just didn't cut it in a loud rock band - the tone got totally lost in the mix, even after some Bernie doing some tweaks to the EQ to get more mids out of it. So it ended up getting sold, alas. It was a shame - it was a fantastic bass, a real labour of love too, as the body shape was unique, even the headstock was reshaped to accomodate two Hipshots. In retrospect, I'd have gone with a very different wood selection. I say go for it, but only if you're sure you'll get the right tone for your band. Bernie may well loan you one to rehearse with, just to be sure.

[quote name='Sibob' post='33365' date='Jul 17 2007, 11:27 PM']But then he was probably doing it before you were born lol I think i saw it in his Bass Player mag interview a couple of years ago Si[/quote] I'm older than him! I missed that issue, couldn't find it anywhere.... (that was the one with him painted blue, wasn't it?)