chris_b

Read his website. Jamerson claimed Cool Jerk and it was actually Babbitt on bass. Apparently Berry Gordy was a tricky character. Most Motown sessions were documented but some are a little sketchy. Some of the recordings made in LA were Motown masters, but were overdubbed etc in Detroit. Back then a song could have been recorded multiple times, for the single, album or film and many artists would cover the same songs. It is possible that many of these songs would have been recoded in separate sessions and vocals added later. Also the LA guys made demos for Motown. They got paid less because it was a demo, but because these guys were so good the demos had the quality of masters and some of the session guys in LA claimed that their demo sessions were actually used as masters. It's not an exactly clear picture, then add in the AFM Special Payments Fund rules that gave session guys a cut of the "mechanical royalties" of the songs they played on. In typical style the session guys were screwed over, because they were made to claim the sessions they were on and were not given very long to do it. Some had the lists of sessions but wouldn't have known what happened to those songs after they laid the tracks down. It was, and still is, a mess.

PS Of course you could be less picky and grab a bass that sounds and feels OK and play the hell out of it and learn to love it, like we all did in the "old days"!

You want a great Precision bass? Put in the leg-work. Try every bass in xxxx (choose your shop/s) and if you don't find the one you want then wait. More will be along later and you can try all of those. When you've found the "one" it will be all the sweeter because you made the effort to find it.

For tone, 2 good cabs will always beat even the best single cab solution. Adding a Super Midget to your Super Compact will put your tone and potential volume way beyond what any single cab can achieve. An SC and SM will be louder and more flexible, with 3 potential rigs at hand.

Oh dear, while this is sad news it means an awful, cobbled together thrash through Misirlou on the next gig!!

Exactly this.

Everyone's got backups, right?

With a nod to the McCartney thread. . . . check out 14:30. . . . . "I found the Beatles, and boom, everything changed overnight!" Lee Sklar is one of the more inspirational bassists out there. I first noticed him with James Taylor and I wore my Mud Slide Slim album out trying to get those bass runs into my head.

Chaps, forget the fundamental frequencies of notes and strings. It is a irrelevant distraction. Reproducing 31Hz has nothing to do with getting a great sound out of a 5 string bass.

So you're emphasising the One. Has anyone else noticed you do this? I would imagine it sounds fine, but a variety of approaches would probably sound better. I have far too many (bad) habits to list here!

Have you seen the Barefaced online shop? Hats, T shirts and reinforced underpants.

Newton was a lead guitarist. Robert Hooke was a bass player. One did all the work the other took all the glory.

Oh yes. I have an affinity with all the basses I gig. They only have one purpose, they hit the spot or they are moved on. Having said that I am pretty easy about what I'll play and what I'll like. As long as a bass sounds good then I'll put up with an awful lot.

I reckon that B string is tuned down to, maybe A or even lower. It's got no tension so looks impressive when he pulls it like that.

. . . . and Bernard Purdie is claiming he played drums on the first 3 Beatles albums and Ringo didn't!!

I don't disagree. Of the 5 string basses I have owned, 5 were 34" (SR5, Wal mk2 and mk3, Sadowsky and Fender) and 3 were 35" (Mike Lull and Lakland x 2). I don't "dig in" and don't have an answer why IME some of the best 5 string basses are 34" and some are 35".

Didn't Edison take all the credit for the inventions of the guys who worked for him? Just saying!!!!

Good move.

But I believe they do. They influenced the guys who influenced the guys who influenced you. There is a direct line between the Beatles and everyone playing today.

I don't think he's a great technician on the bass. He doesn't either and was quoted in the early days as, "Just following Ringo's bass drum", but as a musician he played exactly what was required. Which is never a bad thing. Then, when the Beatles went into creative overdrive his bass lines kept pace. He changed the way bass players thought about bass lines and empowered all of us to use our elbows and move right up to the front of the song. I think you can talk about McCartney the bass player in the same breath as James Jamerson. They were both imaginative, creative and important to the instrument and they released bass players from the 2/4 "hell" that had been their lot up to that point. They opened that door and made everything we know today, possible.

I've been using ACS moulded plugs for over 10 years and speaking as someone who has buggered their hearing over the previous 40 years I can say I dearly wish I'd found them earlier. They work. My poor damaged hearing has been protected for that time. First I had ER15's and now Pro 17's. If I lost them I'd replace them immediately with more ACS moulded plugs. You're sticking filters in your ears, so of course they make everything sound different. Apparently the one big thing about going deaf is the isolation you experience, so I don't rate any changes to what I hear through the plugs in a band situation as particularly bad. Basically it goes with the territory. As I found out to my cost, hearing can be fine one day and damaged the next! My ACS plugs have minimised the damage and I can still hear everything from a stage whisper to a heavy-hitting drum solo.

Sorry. . . but yes! Replace the amp with something better and improve your sound. IME separates are more flexible when you need to upgrade. IMO a one-handed load in is greatly overrated and shouldn't take precedence over a great sound.

Odd, isn't it! Well maybe we are both right. My experience was nearly 20 years ago but, while I don't spend much time checking the shop price of gear, in the intervening years I have never seen new Mesa gear at discounted prices. If anyone has please enlighten me.

As I posted earlier. That was my experience with Mesa Boogie. They rigidly controlled the prices and the dealer (in my case, the Bass Centre) had no say in the matter.

I'm currently getting a fantastic sound out of my PJ5 through an 800 watt Thunderfunk and 2 Barefaced One10's. This is in my front room and the neighbours don't hear anything.