chris_b

For many years I had a great sounding 55-94, with the original Bartolini pickups and pre amp. You could dramatically improve the tone of your 55-02 by upgrading the pickups and/or preamp.

I saw that bass. Martin Kemp's JG with the leather scratch plate and the switch on the pickups. Maybe slightly before 2000. One of the best sounding basses I've ever heard. They wanted £1000 for it, which I thought was too much for me, as a 5 string player, to pay for a 4 string bass. Even one that good. It was gone by the next day. I mentioned it to Pete Stevens and it was bought by someone in South Wales, who had dropped it over to get Pete to look at it, on his way home. Pete thought that those basses sounded so much better because they were made before the switch to metric sized wire. The imperial size wire in the pickups made a difference to the windings and so to the sound.

This. . . I know nothing of KB's political leanings, and care even less, but if extreme political views puts you off you should also be boycotting anything made in China, Russia, the Middle East, the Far East and a lot of what is made in the US, Africa and South America. Doesn't leave much, does it? These people are actually doing nasty stuff rather than just talking about it. Most major companies are run by people you would never ask to tea, and as for politicians and presidents. . . . if you shot every dictator there would be 10 people fighting to take their place. Just appreciate good tunes. No matter where they come from.

On the US airbases in Germany we did 4 x 5 hour gigs and 2 x 6 hour gigs a week and still went out partying afterwards. These days I need a day off after every gig!

Cheap can and often does mean poor quality. That's a fact that has nothing to do with "gear snobbery". Not all good gear is expensive but you need more than just the price to know if anything is good or not.

Cheap is a very poor way to decide what musical gear to buy.

. . . and Earl Palmer, Al Jackson and Roger Hawkins.

I don't understand the use of "basses as decoration". Mine live in their cases unless I need to play them.

Brilliant and very talented drummer. . . though probably not the easiest person to be in a band with.

Obviously very talented and successful. She had/has a great band, but it's not really for me.

I know a drummer who uses mostly IEM's and swears by the Porter Davies drum stool, but, as a bass player, I think I'd put that money into better IEM's.

It is, but the main characters in top US shows are nearer to a million per show.

I've been thinking that for a couple of years and in that time I've checked out at least half a dozen Sadowsky Jazz basses, including a chambered NYC, a Modern, PJ, a Satin and some other Metros. They all sound good, but so far, I'm just preferring the sound of my Metro RV5 Jazz. Now I'm not sure that I need an NYC at all.

You took some of the tiles off our roof as well!!

For over 30 years, KM has been a hugely successful artist selling millions of records and playing to sell out world tours. So why don't you tell us why she doesn't qualify to play the legend spot at Glastonbury. And you've got to come up with a better reason than "I don't like her".

That is because we are all far too sensible at Basschat.

Sorry to nit-pick, but the P bass we know today was the second iteration. Leo Fender was in charge and made all the final decisions, but all his products were the work of many people.

Having said that, I went to Guitar Guitar in Epsom and tried a brand new Sadowsky Satin bass they had in store. I thought my Metro sounded better. So it's all about personal preference and what you can and can't hear in a bass.

Can you? I can't! I would love to release the cash tied up in my instruments so I regularly check out cheaper basses. A couple of months ago I went to Andertons and tried all their Sire and Fender 5 string basses and while they will certainly be someone's pride and joy, I haven't found one that sounds or plays as well as my current £1500 bass. Not even close. So what makes a better bass? What makes one bass more expensive than another? How can someone appreciate a more expensive bass over a cheaper one? IMO for basses the answer is, the quality and build of the components, the ability of the guy making it, the time he can devote to making it and the sound it makes. We all have preferences, so for me the diminishing returns rule depends entirely on the instrument, but I guess starts slowly at about £1000 and really kicks in at £2000.

I bought a 5 string set of TI flats about 2 years ago. I'm hoping to get at least another 10 years out of them!

I think the Sadowsky bit might be responsible for a lot of your happiness.

. . . or maybe they got better!!

I made a change to Youtube settings that disabled the comments. Can't remember what that change was, but I've been comment free for a couple of years.

I know several bands that went right down hill after I left.

The original Fleetwood Mac were astoundingly good. Cream before they discovered America were brilliant. John Mayall was equally good until Mick Taylor arrived. While John Mayall's records were required ownership for a musician in the 60's not many of the bands of this era translated well on to record. Cream and FM in particular never recorded half as well as they played on a gig. IMO both Rod Stewart and Jeff Beck never sounded better than they did in the Jeff Beck Group.