bnt

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='70258' date='Oct 6 2007, 11:45 AM']IMO though, at the core of (almost) all Rush songs is a darn good tune![/quote] +1 for that - and the new album is stuffed with great tuneage IMO. This week I've had [i]Armor & Sword[/i], [i]Good News First[/i] and [i]We Hold On[/i] on rotation in my cranium.

[quote name='guitarnbass' post='68600' date='Oct 2 2007, 12:34 PM']Oh.. In that case I guess I'll do without for a while.[/quote] What about [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Beautiful-Boosey-Hawkes-3-4-Size-Double-Bass_W0QQitemZ190158981880QQihZ009QQcategoryZ16222QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem"]this one[/url] at £450? Or, add £9000 to that, for [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Pollmann-Poellmann-3-4-Busseto-German-Double-Bass_W0QQitemZ110175191929QQihZ001QQcategoryZ16222QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem"]this one[/url]? Ow...

[quote name='zero9' post='54710' date='Sep 3 2007, 01:16 PM']Thanks for the clip. Sorry to hear about Eberhard, hope he makes a full recovery. Wil[/quote] It's looking very good indeed: he's playing with Jan Garbarek next week, here in Dublin! ([url="http://www.thehelix.ie/2007_season3/jan_garbarek_group.htm"]link[/url]) Even better, I've actually found out in time (a nice change), and am now entitled to a student discount on tickets.

[quote name='cai!' post='70177' date='Oct 5 2007, 11:50 PM']i wana know what bass he uses in the "smooth criminal" video [/quote] According to [url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-126884.html"]this thread[/url] on TalkBass, it's by Ken Lawrence, though Tye has other basses as described. He's no longer in AAF, though - decided to get a college education instead!

Check out that guy's profile: he also has a G-K rig, lots of pedals, Fender Geddy Lee Jazz, and a Wal that features in most of his videos... in his living room!

When I found a bargain Hohner B2 and bought it, I found that was what had been done to it: it was the fretless B2Afl model with the phenolic fretboard, that had been fretted, and badly. I had them off in a matter of days, and filled the slots with epoxy. It was as if the bass gods were telling me "you've been talking about trying the fretless, now you've got no more excuse"!

[quote name='paul, the' post='68453' date='Oct 1 2007, 11:52 PM']... No Doubt - It's My Life ... Marvin Gaye - Yesterday ... TATU - How Soon Is Now? ... Hillary Duff - My Generation ... Johnny Cash - Personal Jesus ... If anyone mentions Feeling Good they may well get a slappin [/quote] You're having a laugh, right? Trevor Horn - a bassist himself - should hang his head in shame for letting TATU do the Smiths. By halfway through the first line, you can tell they don't understand what they are singing: "I am the [b]son[/b]..." ! As for No Doubt's remake of [i]It's My Life[/i]: could have been worse, but the original is still close to perfect in my estimation, making the remake just exploitation. OTOH, Muse's rendition of [i]Feeling Good[/i] is not half bad...

Bass was my first instrument, but I have dabbled on keyboards & other high-tech gear, and still own a Kawai K5000S and Akal MPC1000. Weirdest of all: I learned the Highland bagpipes, under the guidance of a Black Watch veteran, in South Africa, though I no longer keep that up. (It has to be the most limited, and limiting, musical instrument in existence.)

[quote name='grosa' post='69569' date='Oct 4 2007, 04:50 PM']who spells it johny?oddball[/quote] I know a guy who does: he's Belgian, or Flemish to be more accurate.

I'm not much of a Fender expert, or fan, but even I know that block markers and that headstock shape definitively rule out the 50s and 60s.. but 70s? If the guy had done the slightest bit of homework, he'd know that you don't try to date a Fender without examining the information under the joint. Fender will sell you a replacement decal, so the refinishing is not a deal-breaker - assuming it is a Fender in the first place, which I have my doubts about. PS: when did post-CBS Fenders from the 70s become collectors items? I must have missed that meeting, because I'm old enough to remember when they were considered worthless. I know who to blame: Geddy Lee and Marcus Miller.

Talk Talk's [i]It's My Life[/i] album: not just the title track, there several great fretless tracks on there, such as [i]Tomorrow Started[/i] and [i]Renee[/i]. [i]Happiness Is Easy[/i] has a guest acoustic appearance by Danny Thompson.

The main one is [url="http://www.primusville.com/"]Primus[/url] e.g. [i]Sailing The Seas Of Cheese[/i], but he also has various side projects. If you can find the [url="http://www.lesclaypool.com/discography/sausage/"]Sausage[/url] album [i]Riddles Are Abound Tonight[/i], jump on it - it was kind of a reunion of the original Primus, stripped down to basics and all the better for it IMHO.

I used to think [url="http://www.bryanbeller.com/"]Bryan Beller[/url] was underrated, through the years he's worked with [url="http://www.keneally.com/"]Mike Keneally[/url]. Well, I suppose touring with Steve Vai this summer pushes him over in to the Rated category...

Just about anything by Peter Gabriel, I think. Or King Crimson - hard to imagine that...

I must be about the 4th person here to cite Talk Talk's [i]It's My Life[/i] - a big push towards the fretless for me, and one of those basslines that has you grinning like a loon when you crack it. No Doubt? No Point. Old School: Beach Boys - [i]Wouldn't It Be Nice[/i] (Pet Sounds) (Carol Kaye) Beatles - Fixing A Hole (Sgt. Pepper's) Big Country - [i]Inwards[/i] (The Crossing) ([url="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=0m83u_O6P7s"]link to video[/url]: caution, contains Kilts From the progressive dept: Radiohead - [i]Airbag[/i] (OK Computer) Yes - [i]Our Song[/i] (90125) Rush - [i]Leave That Thing Alone[/i] (Counterparts) Marillion - [i]Gazpacho[/i] (Afraid Of Sunlight) Peter Gabriel - Don't Give Up (So) (T-Lev's "Super Wonder Nappy Bass")

BTW, in Ireland the place to look seems to be the [url="http://boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=171"]Bands & Musicians[/url] forum on boards.ie. I haven't gigged for 15 years now, since I returned to the UK from South Africa, then moved to Dublin in 1999. For most of that time I've been working (busy), or looking for work (skint), and I don't drive (which makes transporting gear very problematic). Excuses, you might be tempted to say, but gigging is not something I [i]have[/i] to do, obviously, not if it makes life harder than it already is. I have had the experience of trying to carry gear to and on the Tube, then being nearly unable to play because the 50lb combo amp screwed my hands up. So the availability of the new light combos (MiniMark, Briefcase etc.) might give me some hope - if only I hadn't just started university, and need to save all my money for rent. Yeah, I know - excuses, excuses... Edit: just spotted the Briefcase on eBay: opening at £300: [url="http://cgi.ebay.com/Phil-Jones-Briefcase-Bass-Amplifier-100W-Combo_W0QQitemZ150163909772QQihZ005QQcategoryZ58719QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD2VQQcmdZViewItem"]link[/url]. Hmmm... BassChatter?

[quote name='ste_m3' post='17145' date='Jun 13 2007, 07:40 PM']Aha, ive always had a few issues with how to say some manufactures names! like... Pedulla... Pedyula or pedyoola Behringer... Bay-Ring-er or Ber-inj-er Epifani... Epi-Fanny or Epi-farn-ee[/quote] I always thought Pedulla rhymes with Medulla (as in Oblongata) i.e. [i]peh-Doo-la[/i]? Don't know how Mike Pedulla says his name, or how Epifani says their company name, but I have to disagree about the origin of that one. It's an alternative spelling of Epiphany, which can be traced back to ancient Greek, and is usually pronounced [i]eh-Pih-fah-nee[/i].

[quote name='3V17C' post='64814' date='Sep 24 2007, 03:50 PM']that video clip of JPJ is sweeeeet. was that nuno bettencourt playing the explorer?[/quote] 'twas indeed. I wonder if JPJ actually had 9 strings on there, a single G? I personally "rediscovered" JPJ after I found a bargain copy of [i]The Sporting Life[/i], the album he did with Diamanda Galas. A lot of 8-string on there too, and he needs it, for Ms. Galas is quite mad...

Believe it or not, my Hohner B2Afl (headless & fretless) has one as standard. There's a little isolation / impedance matching transformer between it and the rest of the circuitry, because XLRs on mixing desks are low impedance (typically 470Ω or 600Ω, some lower). Just two wires from the standard output.

[quote name='Tee' post='64843' date='Sep 24 2007, 04:36 PM']What, no 'Stick it Out'? ^_^[/quote] No, Leave That Thing Alone!

I've got one book I can add to the Library: who wants to read Tony Levin's [i]Beyond The Bass Clef[/i]?

I've sold one item on eBay, but it went OK. It was a TL-Audio FAT-1 preamp/compressor in excellent condition. I put a reserve on it, but I needn't have - it went for a little more than I'd paid for it new, a few years earlier.

In my experience, you can roughly generalise Rush fans in to two categories: those who think Rush stopped doing anything worthwhile in 1981 (with [i]Exit Stage Left[/i]), and those who think they've been doing good stuff all along. I'm in the latter camp, and didn't even discover them until [i]Power Windows[/i] in 1985. That was the album where Geddy first used a Wal, the lightly-strung one belonging to producer Peter Collins. I used to be on The National Midday Sun ([url="http://www.t-n-m-s.com/"]TNMS[/url]), the UK Rush forum, which has a good proportion of members who say Rush is their favourite band, yet have very little good to say about anything they've released in the last 25 years, and wish they'd play only old tunes in concert. Well, if a band's Progressive, they're naturally going to Progress, and fans don't get to pick the direction they Progress in...

I know Jim Glennie of James plays a Sterling, and I like the clear yet smooth tone he gets from it - never a problem hearing it at a gig. Here's a bassier example.

[quote name='MB1' post='64150' date='Sep 22 2007, 07:47 PM']JPJ has been using Manson basses for years he has several multistrung manson basses. Ive never actually seen any body else endorse Manson but JPJ.So this comes as no suprise, really!.[/quote] For an idea of what JPJ can get up to with his Manson 10-string, have a look at [url="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=sGHWxLruLvA"]this[/url]. He's not exactly "the guy at the back of the stage" any more... PS: There is one other famous Manson endorser: Muse's Matt Bellamy. I think Matt tapped Manson because he grew up in Devon, where Manson is based.