SteveXFR

Hanging Tree - Queens Of the Stone Age

Aenima is just a masterpiece of an album. It's up there with my favourite albums of all time.

That's exactly my thoughts. If I don't like it, I'll sell it on again and probably lose nothing or very little. Even with cheaper gear, it only seems to depreciate once and age doesn't seem to be a factor. A six month old Squier P bass seems to cost he same as a 10 year old Squier P bass

Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle - Nirvana

Donut Hell - Okily Dokily (Ned Flanders themed death metal band)

I know the Thunderbird is one of several basses he uses. I've got a VP Thunderbird but rarely play it even though it's my favourite bass to play. The only way to play it is loud and aggressive.

Nancy Boy - Placebo

From memory, the Gibson and Epiphone bodies are made from the same wood, both are neck through and the only difference is the shape is a little different and the Gibson has a 9 piece neck while the Epiphone has a 7 piece neck. I'm not sure that'll make make difference.

They've done a convincing job. It's the right shape for the Epiphone, pickup position is different to Gibson and it's got the cheap pressed tuners and the Epiphone Bridge. Maybe it is just an Epiphone, probably a nicely prepared one but just an Epiphone.

It looks like a completely stock Vintage Pro Thunderbird. I can't imagine Alice Cooper letting his bassist sound sub standard just because he had beef with Gibson. The current Epiphone sounds much closer to the 70's Gibson than the current Gibson does.

50 Million Year Trip - Kyuss

Disco 2000 - Pulp

Do those who object to expensive basses also object to a Porsche 911 Turbo S costing 20 times as much as a Dacia Sandero?

Although expensive basses are nice, it's always quite reassuring when you see a professional using a cheap instrument. Chuck Garrick plays an Epiphone Thunderbird with Alice Cooper. I'm pretty certain he only has to make a quick call to Gibson and they'll send him a truck load of Thunderbirds so he's madea choice to use an Epiphone. Kim Deal used a $100 Aria with Pixies for years. Mike Kerr of Royal Blood used to (possibly still does) use a budget Gretsch and he's a man who's put huge effort in to creating a specific tone.

Sweet young thing ain't sweet no more - Mudhoney

Well it seems Gojira may no longer have my favourite album of the year. Chelsea Wolfe's new album is a dark and twisted masterpiece. I highly recommend having a listen to this one.

This morning I'm really enjoying Bloodmoon:I by Chelsea Wolfe. This has come as quite a surprise, I'm a fan of everything Chelsea has done but this is on another level to the rest of her excellent music. Very dark and constantly moving between heavy, doomy riffs and quiet, almost beautiful verses.

Heavy amp prices depend very much on the model. Old Trace Elliot SMX heads are around £200 while the all valve TE heads are £600+. I'm looking at Orange AD200B, Matamp Green GT200 and Ampeg SVT classic all valve heads at the moment and they start at around a grand.

Yeah, I've seen 5 string US models for around £1200

I would like a US Stingray but I'm in need of an amp upgrade first.

I may be wrong but I think the Ray35/Ray34 use the same wood as the US Ray. Pickups and bridge are different though.

I recently upgraded from a £350 Sterling SUB stingray to a £1000 Sterling Ray35. The quality of finish on the expensive one is much better and the sound is quite a bit better which I think is due to the better pickup and preamp rather than wood. If I wanted the biggest improvement in tone for least cost, I'd go for new speakers in my cab. If I wanted the least improvement for maximum cost, I'd buy some super expensive gold cable. Everyone knows real tone is in the balls anyway.

Is that because he plays simple parts and nothing fancy or because he could improve the way he plays what he does play?

Not sure about a god (Leo existed for a start) but he did give up on that jazz and precision nonsense to invent the Stingray.