Paul S

[quote name='skankdelvar' post='706217' date='Jan 9 2010, 01:06 AM']I'm finding it increasingly difficult to suspend my disbelief when plump, middle-aged white Brits (like me) start banging on about Parchman Farm, chain-gangs and mojo bones. [/quote] Surely that is the nature of being in a covers band? A lot - if not most - music, not just blues, is written buy someone who is communicating some kind of life experience. Do you have to be similarly placed in order to play it? The majority of us middle-aged pentatonic heroes would be struggling to get together a set list from our demography, I would suggest

01. Essexbasscat 02. Lonestar. Fender 4string Jazz Pervy TL5 Markbass2x10 (not very exciting but they're all I have!) 03. molan - Celinder J4 Update, Zon VB4, Spector NS5XL, Epifani Ul510, Bergantio AE1x12's, who knows what else. . . 04. Jerry_B - Westone Spectrum DX (unless I acquire something I like better before the meet). 05. michael-faces - Probably just a Warrior Soldier bass 06. JackLondon - Simnett MK6 (Should have this month), Ibanez BTB556MP, Ibanez SR305 Fretless, GK 1001RBII, Barefaced Compact, Boss GT 10-B, £X, 40 cigarettes, 07. Stingray5 - Selected basses in my sig pic (Music Man, Tune, Fender, Westone); Trace Elliot GP12 SMX rig (depending on venue); Boss GT-6B; donuts... 08. Paul S - Fender Jaguar, Trace Elliot rig. 09. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25

[quote name='fatback' post='705561' date='Jan 8 2010, 03:02 PM']i'm afraid no death moves me if i don't know the person. lack of imagination? I don't know. What i do know is that as you get older (lots of peeps say this) you have to admit to a small sense of relief that the person who's died isn't you.[/quote] To a large extent I feel the same way. I find it hard to understand the huge outpouring of grief when 'celebrities' die. Musicians who you feel have influenced you, actors who acting has moved you - unless you know them personally I don't see how you can feel that upset. Knowing someone, the real person, their humanity, their personality, how they have impinged upon your own life - that is what makes it sad for me when they die. To think that someone for whom you have meaningful feelings and emotions isn't there any more. And, especially as you get older, all the people who were part of your life when you grew up, people who formed the foundation of your existence. Suddenly they get old and die and you find yourself with all that historical reference and grounding missing. That's sad. But people I don't know? Nah. I remember getting lynched, pretty nearly, for saying this on the everlasting Jade Goody thread but there are thousands of people all over the world dying each day that I do not know. You can't feel sorry about all that death - it is just an inevitable and unavoidable part of life.

I would have said that example above was masturbating, nice though it was. But not blues. This is blues.

One of the best bassists I have seen play live - from 70s to more recently. Nothing flashy but his fills are generally very interesting and many of them pretty bloody difficult. And, yes - he does play the occasional bit with his fingers but most of the driving stuff is done with a pick. I remember reading an interview he did where he goes into some detail about various methods he uses to change the sound, too - using the fat end to get a smoother paddling sound (along with palm muting) for the main riff on Black Night, for example. A generally unsung bass hero, IMHO.

Brilliant fun.

Count me in.

Yup, will do on both counts. Just need to work out a good day to travel from SE Essex to Rugby! Cheers.

Thanks all. I think what I will do is buy it, play it for a bit, then decide which I prefer - the p-bass or the Scavenger. If it is the Scavenger that goes, Cetera, I'll let you know.

I have the option of getting one of these to replace a decent quality FrankenFender p-bass as my 2nd bass - but would I do better keeping the p-bass? I know nothing about the Washburn other than it looks pretty cool. This one is in black and seems in great nick. Any pitfalls or known problems? Ta.

Wow! This must be the fastest any thread has ever degenerated into a wooly pulling contest.

Hi Joao - I got it from [url="http://www.auroraproject.co.uk/scratchplate.htm"]Aurora Project[/url] but I think there are several places. I sent them a tracing of the original, just to be sure. It's maybe not as stiff as I would like (ooh err, etc) but looks the business. It was 3 ply BWB. I reckon chrome would look the mutts, too.

[quote name='Huwberry' post='698208' date='Jan 1 2010, 06:15 PM']I do know, however, that I [i]love[/i] the way it looks, and a shallow part of my mind would never, ever allow me to buy an aesthetic disaster, no matter how amazing it is in all other aspects. I hope I'm not alone in feeling this! I'm certain 80-90% (well, a lot anyway) of an instrument's desirability is down to looks alone.[/quote] It is what swung it for me, if I am honest, in a play-off between a USA jazz and the jag. The idea that I have a good quality fender bass that looked a little different from the herd is quite appealing. Mine is black and, with a black pick guard on it, looks even cooler - my Panther! [attachment=39160:jaguarblacksp2.jpg] [attachment=39161:jaguarblacksp3.jpg] [attachment=39159:jaguarblacksp1.jpg]

Only 4. Illnesses, holidays, personnel changes, new band.. still, it was 2 more than 2008, which is when I started. Trying to get a demo recorded is #1 on the list for was early as possible, so we can start getting ourselves out there, but sometimes it seems like getting us all free together on the same night is like trying to organise things around an eclipse of the sun. Plus the drummer has just developed some weird medical condition with lack of feeling on her legs. Not nice.

Passive - you get, front to back: neck pickup on/off bridge pick up on/off series/parallel on/off So you can do any combination of those. I sound better with everything off but find it doesn't cut through the mix too well like that Active, you get a 2 band EQ from the little rollers that will cut or boost. These are a little imprecise, IMHO, and the 'flat' position is difficult to guage. Two knobs - volume and tone, which work for both active and passive. When I first played it I used it active only but, now I am more used to it, use it passive only and get the sound I want from the amp. My only concerns about it are how much of the value of the beast goes into the slightly substandard electronics. Given that I now use it only passively, would I have done better spending the extra on a simple passive guitar? But that's just me. I love the looks and the way it plays and sounds, so I suppose it matters not at the end of the day.

My God, Trouble Funk. I saw them in the 80s too - the bassist was HUGE - looked like he was playing a ukelele not a p-bass.

[quote name='Mr.T' post='692110' date='Dec 23 2009, 09:46 AM']One thing that I noticed when I first played a headless Status.... If I didn't pay attention, I would naturally put my fretting hand two frets further up the neck, although the neck is in exactly the same position as my headed Status. It took a few plays to get used to not having the headstock... [/quote] +1 - I had a Hohner B2A and found that a real issue - my brain was obviously wanting that extra bit of wood at the end so moved my hand to compensate. Plus it had 2 more frets than my fender - the combination of the two did my head in, I couldn't get used it it and moved the bass on. Shame really as I thought it looked the business and the whole headless concept seems to make such good sense.