Beedster

I tend to do what Andy suggests and as the result bought a couple of cracking basses from him 👍

So yes, he can play 👍

This this this........

There's a lot of talk about boutique amps and a lot of money that can be spent on tubey stuff, but despite owning at one time or another the most expensive all-tube amps that both Mesa and Ampeg produce - silly money in the case of the former (north of £3000) - as well as loads of top end hybrid/non-tube gear by Aguilar, Mesa, PJB, Markbass etc (and don;t get me started on how many expensive cabs I've owned), without doubt the best bass tone I ever had was from an early 70's WEM 15" combo that cost me £300 🤔

Word 👍

The mid-90's precursor to the Modulus Flea. I was very much into RHCP when I owned it so was playing very bright rounds with the highs bumped also which probably biases my recollection, the comment above referred to playing it live, if a Pre-EB 'ray with flats and a rosewood board is something of a mellow Labrador, the Sonic Hammer was an angry Rottweiler! I moved it on a bought a Modulus Flea which seemed a pretty similar beast to the point that I should have kept the Hammer and experimented with strings and tone a bit more, especially given I found the Flea to be a wonderful instrument with flats

That's best Barry, I don't need the visceral clout of the bass, that's what i want the punters to experience 👍 God bless Mesa cabs

Yep, I used to feel short changed if I didn't have bass and treble at least most of the way up for that very hifi scoop reason. As was also been said above, flats can also really change/improve the vibe of a 'ray (or a Flea, oddly enough my first Flea came strung with flats, I took them off with a look of disgust and replaced them with zingy rounds, found that the latter were way too bright for the instrument and slowly worked my way back to the flats which stayed on for a few years), although I still think flats find their most effective home on a Precision 👍 Big thing for me which I had to learn to get over was my habit of playing certain types of bass a certain way. I might be overstating what were some relatively minor differences but I know that for many years I approached basses as follows: Precision: Dull and uninspiring workhorse, sits in the mix and gets the job done in a reliable and safe manner. Jazz: For those gigs when I wanted to stand out a bit from the band, show some some chops, hit a few chords and get up the dusty end, and find tonal nirvana wherever possible Stingray/Flea/Hammer: Wouldn't go on stage with it unless I really meant business and was gonna be front of stage foot on monitor giving it large. No ballads, no root notes Of course, I got over it and realised as per the post above that you can do pretty much anything on any bass, but even then it often felt more 'right' to play a Jaco line on a fretless Jazz than a fretless Precision (even with a J-PUP at the bridge), and even mid-gig I would occasionally look down at a Precision and think "I shouldn't be slapping this, where's my Flea"

My '80 was oddly Precision-like for a 'Ray, very different to all the later models I played, much mellower and woody

Dangerous talk my friend, dangerous talk 🤣

Fair enough, missed the tongue in cheek element, and there’s of course a whole lot of truth in the Nashville thing, although it was as much about ‘that’ C&W Precision tone and the ease of achieving it without messing about as the instrument itself. The Precision I was referring was a pretty outstanding and modified instrument by comparison with some, but I stand by my original comment; setup, strings, EQ, amplification and technique account for a substantial if not definitive percentage of how a bass sounds in a noisy band mix, the SR was too brittle even when tamed and the Flea just a bit too prominent and unforgiving, I just think the Precision was the best bass for the job - maple board, lively rounds, Badass, very low action, P-Retro and IIRC a Nordy PUP all helped for sure. Like the O/P I always wanted a Stingray to do the job and I certainly tried more than a few, the one I loved the most was a Pre EB with a rosewood board, very mellow and toneful but capable of really monstrous tone when needed. And don’t even ask about the Sonic Hammer 🤔