BassAgent

So I was recording an episode of my podcast with Dutch bass legend Rinus Gerritsen of Golden Earring, and I'd heard about him having a shortscale Rickenbacker 4001, of which many people *know* doesn't exist. So I asked him about it, he smiled and said "oh yeah that thing. I was in Chicago and a guy came up to me and said 'hey, you play those cheapo Danelectro basses, shouldn't you play a Rickenbacker?' I didn't really like Rics so I said 'nah the Danelectros are great, and by the way, who are you?' The guy said 'I'm a Ric representative'. So to be sure to get rid of the guy I said 'sorry man I'm a shortscale guy'. The Ric rep said 'oh but we have a shortscale, actually we have two! One was built for this country music guy, so if you tell me at which hotel you're staying I'll have it delivered to you'. So the next day there was a guy with a guitar case and there it was. One of two shortscale Rickenbacker 4001 basses ever built."

And here it is. Mapleglo, walnut headstock wings, and it feels...weird. It feels like Ric but...different. Shorter, of course, but also...special. It is of course absolutely unique. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I'm not a big Rickenbacker guy but this is quite something.

So uhm I've decided to keep the five string and to also order the exact same bass as a four string. Can't wait.

The Warwick website isn't very clear about that: it says "J style pickup" and if they're 'actual' Jazz pickups, they're singles.

9 hours ago, lonestar said:

Forgot to say that’s a great bass part! Rutger Gunnarsson? Top bassman 

The gig was an ABBA tribute gig and boy, all those Gunnarsson bass parts are absolutely amazing.

I really didn't hear any humming on the pickups. It might also be because I'm used to badly shielded Fender-ish basses (the JMJ is, as @ezbass mentioned, also poorly shielded and my two old Fenders are pretty hummy as well) so I have a finger connected to the strings at all times, or the volume turned all the way down. Neither me or the sound guy noticed any humming. Even when we played One Of Us (ABBA song, bridge pickup only) there were no issues.

Oh man, so sorry to hear this. RIP MB1. 

So my review isn't due to print for a few weeks so a translated version will have to wait a while too, but I can say I liked it so much I'm going to order a four string version of the bass I have here. I already own an amazing five string Jazz (with my De Gier Bebop) so a fiver won't get used a lot here, but a four string version will definitely get a lot of hours. 

I took the fiver to a gig a few weeks ago and my face pretty much tells how that went...😁

8 hours ago, Ricky Rioli said:

 

Everyone has the right to like what they like, to prefer what they prefer, I'm not arguing with your right to want things how you want them, but you wrote "maaaaaaaaajor flaw", "WRONG", "a flaw in design" and "You people are weird".

 

Either you felt your personal preferences to be the only choices with any validity, or you were too impatient to work out why it was wired differently to your expectations. Some people's personal preference is for commentary that prioritises curiosity and understanding over opinion and judgement — but perhaps that, too, makes them "weird"? 😘

 

You take my exaggarations way too seriously😄 But okay, I might have overdone it this time. Sorry 'bout that. But it still feels weird. On the other hand: I did a gig tonight with this bass and it is absolutely awesome. Sounds great, the weight is really a big plus and I didn't even fail when switching pickups  

Turn a knob towards the bridge, I'd expect to hear the bridge pickup. That makes more sense to me 

You people are weird

(Not really, and I could probably get used to it as it would be my only bass with a balance pot).

As long as it sounds great, looks cool and plays nice, it's all good with me😎

I know it's standard but it still feels like a flaw in design   I've had the bass open and of course it's easy to flip the wires, but still... 

Well, I've been working for De Bassist for quite a few years now and I recognize absolutely nothing of what you say. I know the chief editor quite well and I can't imagine he did this on purpose. I am 100% sure that if you'd e-mail him now you'd get a free sub anyway. Claiming it's "the worst magazine on the planet run by a totally incompetent publishing company" by one experience is IMO waaaaay to harsh and completely unnecessary.

Anyway, the Sadowsky is in and I am quite impressed. Sounds great, feels awesome, is super light and has one maaaaaaaaajor flaw: the pickup balance knob is reversed. Turning it counterclockwise gives me the neck pickup. WRONG. But still: great bass. I might buy one. The review will be in Dutch of course but if you guys ask reeeeally nicely, I might translate it

I'm getting one in tomorrow to review for De Bassist (Dutch bass magazine); a fiver with maple fretboard. I've read up a little about the MetroExpress series and am now extra curious about this one. I was actually considering buying a four string as a backup for my vintage Fender.

And sounds nice too 😇

I played on the Dutch national radio yesterday!

Thanks all! I got a tip from a friend: Coversforall (coversforall.de), a German company that also makes amp covers in leather, with padding

A while back, I bought this awesome 1974 Bassman head, but I'd love to have a decent padded cover for it. Somehow I can't seem to find a (affordable) cover for it. Does anyone know where I can get one?

8 hours ago, WHUFC BASS said:

Personally I really don't think that wood has much bearing on the sound of guitars or basses.

I have had quite some lenghty conversations with excellent luthiers that are absolutely convinced it does. More than anything.

Aaaaaanyway. I was on Dutch national radio yesterday. Brought three basses for three songs. I can't embed the video (and I hope it can be viewed abroad) but here is the first one, where I used my Blade that's currently armed with Lollar pickups and an Aguilar OBP-1: clickyclick

And here's the other one, with my Mustang: clickyclick

We recorded the third one for the podcast of this radio show. Don't know if it's coming online as a video as well.

Wow, they look great! I honestly thought I'd seen all Yamaha models but have never seen this one. Great looking thing.

Let me know what you think (and there are more English spoken episodes if you like it  ), enjoy!

I interviewed Pino about his gear, his new album and everything else, released last Thursday as an episode of my podcast:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/65MAcnzE1Ja59w5DoXweCx?si=TaQ1xT5uR3eL6Uv50RZYGA&dl_branch=1

Still waiting for some power cables but otherwise finished. I've added the octaver and compressor this week and very happy with the board as it is. The Boss is there when I play guitar, the grey pedal is a custom built bass tube screamer that sounds absolutely killer.

20 hours ago, Quatschmacher said:

 

I’m using an MXR Vintage Bass Octave which is great, but I really want the Octabvre for the dry kill switch. 

I'm honestly probably going to use the MXR I just bought mainly without the dry signal😅

6 hours ago, CliveT said:

MXR Bass Octave Deluxe. 

Good tracking, 2 different octave voices so can give a wide variety of tones from OC2 ish to EBS ish, clean mid boost. 

This is an exact description of what I was looking for. I was at the local music store here in Amsterdam and they had one in stock. I tested it and bought it immediately. Killer pedal.