NJE

I learned long ago that a room will change the sound of my amp and how I perceive it dramatically, so there is no amp, in my opinion, that will give me a consistent sound. As such I realised that expensive amps and cabs were a waste of time (I always DI to front of house) and as long as my amp works, I can hear it on stage and it sounds good out front, it doesn’t matter. I don’t know how I got over caring what my onstage sound was like, but it’s liberating when you start to realise it’s only you that really cares and as long as your band sounds good as a whole it’s all that matters.

I follow Chicago music exchange bass department on Instagram and they are at NAMM. One of the main guys there said that it “sounds correct”. I take that to mean this is a good stingray tone so the pickup must be reasonable. Simple enough mod if it’s not though.

Spotted these a few days ago, but is seems they have made their way to one or two shops in the states now. https://www.maxguitarstore.com/products/squier-contemporary-active-jazz-bass-hh-mf-flat-white/ https://www.maxguitarstore.com/products/squier-contemporary-jazz-bass-lrl-dark-metallic-red/

Not quite the same as a signature instrument, but Christian Olde Wolbers and Byron Stroud who both played bass for Feat Factory, both used to play custom modded versions of the Roscoe Beck Signature bass. Apparently they/fender had to ask for permission to use the design and change it. He agreed and thought it was cool metal guys liked the bass.

I have heard that a few times too. In Sterling’s own words on the subject he said “it was about money” as well. Apparently he still uses them and was seen recording with a Sterling so he must still like them as instruments.

It is an American artist series apparently, so judging by the other two Jazz basses (Geddy and Adam Clayton) I would guess around £1900 in the shops.

As a stingray owner and as someone who struggles immensely with Jazz width necks, this has very little interest for me personally, but I thought it would be nice to share. I actually think it looks quite smart after being quite uninspired by it initially.

According to what I believe is a trustworthy source on social media, this is the new Flea American Artist series active bass. As lots of us commented a while ago, it’s the signature bass we thought fender should have released. No news on preamp and pickup but is looking good.

The last few times I sent instruments and cabs I used a company called P4D who act as broker service. I went through the order, checked extra insurance and then actually picked up the phone and spoke to a really nice lady in the office to double check that the items I was sending were not in any way prohibited and there could be no excuses made for not covering the instrument or cab. I was assured and had an email to confirm the couriers would insure to the full value, provided that the items were packaged well. Everything I sell goes in a hard case where possible with bubble wrap and then wrapped in heavy card. If I don't have a hard case I get the factory packaging for a similar sized instrument and send in that. Then I take photos of every stage of packing so that if anything happens I can bombard the courier/broker with how well it was packed. I had one incident where a cab had been dropped hard and damaged it. I wrote to P4D straight away with pictures of packing and damage and explained the only way the damage could have been caused. It was dealt with in a couple of days and I got the full price I insured the cab for no questions asked. Moral of the story...if in doubt ring the courier and check its covered and get written confirmation and the name of whoever you spoke to, sorted!

I seem to have pretty bad body chemistry for strings and have tried a few brands to see what lasts and sounds good. I can only comment on Nickel strings though. Elixirs have been my choice but if you aren’t after coated, probably the best two sets I can recommend are the D’Addario NYXL and the Dunlop Super Brights which did really well considering there is no claim they last longer than any other string. Apart from that everything else I have tried just doesn’t last.

I am not a huge fan of chordal/jazzy solo bass type playing, but I have a lot of time for Janek Gwizdala as a person and musician. I know he’s not everyone’s cup of tea and some folks don’t like the personal aspect of some of his videos, but I really like watching his videos on YouTube and find him a really inspiring person. He seems to have a ridiculous work ethic with his training, practicing, vlog editing and writing books, it’s truly inspiring to me. I wish I had 1/10 of his drive and focus.

I had a rehearsal yesterday and our guitarist said he had bought the flagship Helix board to try instead of his pedal board and valve amp. He went straight to PA (we all go through FOH live) and it was incredibly good with none of the stress of mic’ing up amps and noisy pedal clicks etc. For me it is an excellent live solution and if you read /watch interviews with bands most of them will say the same about Fractal/positive grid/kemper. There isn’t enough difference live to warrant the pedal boards, and big expensive valve amps that need maintenance and care. I think there will always be the pureists, and I love a valve amp as much as the next guy, but in the gigging world I think the nuances of the analog kit is lost.

There lies my problem, PJ basses with thick necks are slim on the ground. I think there are only a couple of models Fender have ever done. I stupidly didn’t buy a well priced Hot Rod Precision a year or so ago, and have only seen one since. I think that would be the cheapest way of getting what I want. I think as and when I have the money it will need to be a custom build or mod a standard Precision.

I think I have had 3 proper precision’s and 1 Yamaha with a P bass pickup and I think I am still waiting for that epiphanal moment. I happily gigged a USA precision for years as a teenager and then went through a squier classic vibe and vintage modifies in recent years but thy just don’t stick. It’s something to do with my right hand position when I play and the lack of ‘tightness’ from a bridge pickup. I think a PJ is my ultimate bass because I love the massive fat 50’s/60’s necks.

Actually it has inspired me to dig out some books and get my chops back up to speed. As a down side it has also inspired me to tell my band to buck their ideas up 😄

I have just been delving a little deeper into some of these bands, and it actually makes me a little sad that I am not in a band that good, can’t find musicians that good, and that I am not that good of a bass player.

Love these guys and associated bands, you should check out Pomplamoose too:

I use Flickr for work, I think it works really well.

As others have said, there are a lot of fakes out there and its worth looking at Elixirs new packaging as I remember something about the new design being harder to copy? If they turn out to be genuine Elixirs, give them a call or an email, if there is a fault somewhere they need to know about it to rectify it, and judging by my experience with them, they are a friendly bunch, active on here, and I am sure they will want to help remedy any problems you have. I have to say I have not tried any other coated strings, I love Elixir strings and don't want to risk a good chunk of money on another set to find I don't like them. Saying that, D'Addario NYXL strings are very good for non coated strings, I have had a huge amount of use out of them and my body chemistry destroys regular strings at an alarming rate.

I would have to say probably not. My band is pretty good but I am incredibly picky and if I was watching us I would tear us apart musically for not being as good as a top notch professional band, even though it would be a fairly unfair comparison.

Everyone has their own opinions on conditioning fret-boards and I don't want to disrespect anyone else, but I have avoided lemon oil for a while now after reading a few articles about it not being great for the wood. I have been using Music Nomad F-One oil and think it is brilliant, it makes my fret-board look amazing and doesn't dry out anywhere near as quick as lemon oil used to. Just look at the bottom of the page to see the luthiers using it now: https://www.musicnomadcare.com/Products/Fretboard-F-ONE-Oil-2-oz/

From my humble observations and what I hear from people, venues don’t want space taken up with a full band and large speakers/amps, and they don’t want the deafening volume that a large amount of amateur bands seem to want to play at. Sadly in nice bars/clubs a full band is a bit too much for a lot of punters, but they can tolerate a quiet innofensive acoustic duo who just play ‘background noise’. There is a nice bar in the nearest town to me and they have live music a few nights a week. An acquaintance goes there fairly often with work colleagues etc as the food and drink is good, and overheard him say as soon as the local blues/rock/cover band of choice fire up for the night they all get out as soon as possible. I think a lot of the time people just don’t want to hear another band playing the same old dross or murdering modern pop tunes in their local. I’m guilty, I play in a covers band and despite being pretty good (IMO) I would probably avoid a bar with us or anyone else playing 😂

Best one for me was when I went to one of the London guitar shows, 2007 I think. MarkBass were relatively new I think or at least new to me, and I stumbled onto their stall. I was interested and they pushed me to go and plug in and I was given the demonstrators GB Spitfire 4 String. I played a bit and then just stopped because I could not get over how incredible the neck was on it and how beautifully it played and felt. That has been the benchmark for me quality and neck wise ever since and it has seen off a number very high end American boutique basses that paled in comparison. No chance of owning that one but I came close a few years ago to another spitfire which I nearly bought but it had preamp issues (it was secondhand). An honourable mention should also go to a white Nordy VJ5 I played at Bass Direct years ago. I tried so many basses and that one stood out. I was with my now wife at the time and when we left with the gig bag I wanted she looked a bit quiet. I asked what was wrong and she said “I thought we were going to buy it”. I said I didn’t have anywhere near the money but she said “we could have sorted something out, but the moment has gone now” 😢

A great gig for me is an engaged receptive crowd that dances most of the night, in a really nice venue with a decent amount of space for the band, and lot of applause and a nice chunk of cash at the end of the night. Extra cherries on the cake but not essential would be, some free soft drinks for the band and an invitation to the buffet if it’s that kind of event.