OutToPlayJazz

As usual, it's horses for courses. I've played a couple of Wals & they're really nice basses. Not my personal cup of tea, but very well crafted and thought out instruments with a massive range of tonal variance. Their relative scarcity will guarantee the prices stay very high & the overall effect is not unlike Status in terms of quality and exclusivity. Yes, we can all make do with a Fender or a MusicMan or whatever mass produced bass, but something special from one of these low volume makers is a very nice thing to have & it's always nice to play a higher tier instrument. As for the starting price of £3200, yes it's on the high side for most of us, but if you really want a Wal above all else and want to be part of that exclusive 'club', then it's worth whatever price tag they put on it at the end of the day.

I'm in South Ferriby, up near the Humber Bridge, but all I have is a set of Rotos in 45-105. Any good to you for a quick fix? Rich.

Sad to hear, but the SP here is not to loan your bass to anyone. Period. I gig my basses professionally all the time, but I always take extra special care of them. I hate scratches and dings.

As my old friend Moo on statii.com said recently... Dear Santa... For Christmas I would like a Status KB Mk II. Now I've asked you quite a few times over the years for a Status bass and as yet, you have failed to deliver. I'm afraid my patience is running out so if I don't get one this year I'm going to come to the North Pole and kick you right in the ****! Love and kisses, moo P.S. I HAVE BEEN A GOOD BOY!!! Ah yes, it would be nice...

Congrats, Andy! Things seem to go in trends around here - Everyone's buying 70's Precisions at the moment.

[quote]Allo! Tonight was opening night for `Dick Whittington And His Cat', at the Key Theatre, Peterborough - we've had two and a half days worth of tech/dress rehearsal and the show went off really well! Anyone else started yet? (I know mine brother Richard of Out To Play Jazzeth is supplying biblical tones for Toyah Wilcox in Sheffield!). Ciao! Nick (not widow tw an key!)[/quote] Indeed I am, brother! We're starting on Monday at the Sheffield Lyceum & going through two shows a day until January 10th. Will report more when we get cracking...

Congrats! These are one of the best sounding and playing jazz basses out there (in any price range!)

I look stupid in hats so the world gets to see my bald head. Hope I've not dazzled anyone!

Congrats on a lovely bass! Stunner

[quote name='gafbass02' post='673679' date='Dec 3 2009, 09:42 PM']pics up and now i can see the bridge earth route!! Doh!! its been a stessful week lol![/quote] Lovely looking bass body, that one - I'd definitely go for the transparent guard. You'll see more of that lovely walnut grain...

You'll be wanting to visit Alex at the Bass Gallery in Camden, then. He's a lovely guy & they have just about the most comprehensive stock in the area. And for the record, yes you can be lucky with mail order, but I like to try before I buy. Mass produced basses especially are very variable from instrument to instrument.

Nice setup you have there, throwoff

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='673582' date='Dec 3 2009, 08:10 PM']To be honest, I think it was when I saw Pino's name, I lost the will to live. Take those blinkers off...please.[/quote] Heh! I know what you mean. There's just no talking to some people! All the top players that have been ripped up and berated on this thread are basically [b][u]musican's musicians[/u][/b]. Whereas if you just want something to sound nice, that's fine as well. Just blend in with Joe Public if you like... Many years ago, I somehow ended up playing g****r in a crap trio. The lead singer/bass player was possibly the worst bass player I've ever heard. Singing wasn't much better, either. He'd play root notes and nothing else. No fills. No life. No sparkle. Dull, dull, dull. But it worked. The drummer could manage an eight-beat rock rhythm and a dodgy fill around the kit. Nothing more. My 6-stringing was hardly inspiring stuff, either (basic bar chords, 7ths & 9ths and the odd pentatonic/minor blues solo.) But we earned a fortune. Because out in pub/club land it doesn't matter how technically brilliant you are (or not, as the case may be!). Joe Public just likes to hum/sing along or dance to a tune he knows. Simple as that. My point? Don't berate some of the world's greatest players just because they don't fit in with your tastes. Taste is one thing. Musicality, technical skill and inspiring others towards greatness is another thing altogether and should only be celebrated. If these amazing musicians didn't exist to push the envelope of our chosen instrument, we'd all be doomed to mediocrity with Joe Public, playing nice tunes we all know and nothing else. No sparkle, no life. As two old hecklers used to shout from the back of a blues pub in Nottingham many moons ago... "Play something we know!" If the band was crap they'd shout, "Play something YOU know!" Those who still want to give Victor Wooten, Mark King, Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller, Jaco Pastorius, etc a good kicking should instead remove their blinkers as mentioned above, use their flight cases as canoes and use their basses to paddle themselves off the end of the world (which incidentally lies just beyond Skegness!) like the flat-earthers they are.

[quote name='bigthumb' post='673524' date='Dec 3 2009, 06:41 PM']Lovely! But could do with some relic'in!! [/quote] No problem - If you buy one, I'll happily kick it around a gravel carpark for you!

Congrats, John. You're a lucky man in more ways than one!

[quote name='Rayman' post='673451' date='Dec 3 2009, 05:37 PM']Well it's all been said above really, but [i]for me[/i] I had my Stingrays with the EQ set flat and a set of Ernie Ball Super Slinkys, and they sounded the mutts nuts. Turn the treble boost up at your peril , it will turn your bass into a noise monster. Try turning the treble boost up full during a gig, and watch the audience wince in pain, it's hilarious.[/quote] Quite true in a lot of ways. At the end of the day, all preamps are different. For instance, the Status preamp operates at a very different frequency, so maxed treble and bass is very rich sounding and not unpleasant at all. My Sadossky pre is different again. 50 percent boost on treble and bass is ample for all situations and anything more is harsh and distorted. The bass boost on the Stingrays is quite creamy so it's nice sounding when used amply, but the treble frequency as others have said can be an ear splitter. Interesting how all these pres are tuned to different frequencies, eh?

If you're after a really thick sound from your Stingray, try adding a lot of bass boost on the preamp. I tend to run mine at full bass with just a touch of treble. Obviously, results will vary from bass to bass, but the Ray is a very trebly beast. If you want to reduce fret noise, try some coated strings like DR black beauties or suchlike. I use DR fatheams on mine as I like a bright sound, but want a rounded thickness as well. I don't know if the preamp is different in the five string Ray, but the main difference between the two is that the fiver uses ceramic magnets like the Sterling, as opposed to the alnico magnets in the four.

The Jazz bass? It's the original large bodied, thin necked, solid bass with the original scooped sound and that out of phase 'burp' when both pickups are on full. Utterly brilliant. I'd like to know if they created that sound on purpose or whether they found it quite by accident.

Lots of nice stuff there! How playable were the £10-£40 basses?

Congrats on your new purchase, LeWynX. Always seems to be the way with mass produced instruments. You sometimes seem to hit lucky on one, no matter whether it's the cheap or expensive variant. I had the same experience with my black Ray 34 - All the "real" Stingrays I played at the time seemed inferior in sound & playability. Now I've hit lucky with a nine year old Stingray piezo, but that's another story! Show us some pics of it...

Transparent perspex sounds good to me. Would look cool like a Bacchus J.

I haven't noticed that problem on either of my Stingrays, either. When did they stop having the varied height raised pole pieces, btw? My 2000 piezo Ray has these and it seems to have a much broader spectrum of sound from the single humbucker than the flush pole pieces ones I've played.