4 Strings

Lovely, thanks for that, hope you have a great time at the w/e, a few of those Murphys and a lot of chat! Oh, and some bass tinkering, of course!

Have used Rotos for many years, never really had any problems. Silk stays intact for a fare few boilings. If you use their round wound strings I can't see that they can be any different to any others, the winding materials is going to be just as hard and the gauge of the winding wire is going to be virtually identical. Any round wound is going to be harsh on your frets, but I've got basses with years of use with Swing Bass in them, still on the original frets with no reason to even think about replacing any of them. I'm one who prefers them after a while, my Stingray could do with new strings but I'm waiting for the end of a batch of gigs in a few weeks to do so. The zing is great if you want to slap. My needs are edging towards halfrounds.

[quote name='redstriper' timestamp='1343602738' post='1752694'] Have you checked this: [url="http://www.youtube.com/user/jamersonshook/videos"]http://www.youtube.c...sonshook/videos[/url] [/quote] Yep, he is the man, No.1 JJ emulator. He's British and on this list too, somewhere.

I think I've had a similar 'Bacharach' moment with 'Nard Edwards. Never really liked what I regarded as 'disco' but I've had a personal soul revival and listening to his playing in Chic and Sister Sledge, more particularly to learn it for my function band, its quite simple but so, so difficult to play with anything like the same feel and groove as Bernard. Thinking of You is my current fave.

+1 fo the listening bit, and it should be all listening to all hat the drummer/guitarist etc can change with you if you want to lead in a direction. Very difficult to achieve.

[quote name='4000' timestamp='1343377369' post='1749661'] For me there seem to be two "typical" Ray sounds (although they'll do lots of other things); the RATM-type sound (clicky, zingy, scooped - to my ears) and the Bernard Edwards sound, which is kind of the opposite. I've used two in various bands and have never been able to get a sound I was happy with. They just seemed kind of isolated from the music I was playing whatever I did with them, which isn't what I'm after, and I found them strangely undynamic to play, although one of them is a friend's bass and it sounds great in his hands & in his band. On the other hand I briefly had a passive OLP that really nailed the Bernard sound, far better than the 2x Rays, strangely enough. I'd still like one though if I could find one that worked, although IME the Streamer Pro M seems to work better for me. [/quote] 'Nard used flats, it would be difficult to get that sound with roundwounds. Lots if definition there though, notwithstanding his expertise in playing.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1343303996' post='1748551'] Brilliant! Stick that in your pipes and smoke it, Fender-knockers! [/quote] Not normally my style but, Discreet, you bring out the worst... [attachment=114089:1MPISCH001_Suzi_QUATRO_6.jpg]

I had a break of some 15 odd years while my lads grew up. Still played at church and at odd occasions but not seriously. I'm now back playing and can honestly say I'm rehearsing or gigging 4/5 nights a week and loving it. Can always come back. 6 months is nothing. I want your Bongo, though.

Ooh, don't know about cynic...

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1343232739' post='1747504'] I have always thought the bassline on Nikita by Elton John ( played by the exellent David Paton) was a superb example of at least one version of the classic Stingray tone. I say at least one version because , as with any bass, the tone is variable according to the eq of the bass, amp , compressor , mixing desk ect, and not least of all the touch and technique of the player themself. On the aforementioned Nikita, for example, it sounds as if the treble is either flat or even rolled off a little to avoid that zingy high end inherent to the Stingray. Whatever way they have eq'd it , the bass sits beautifully in the mix on that track and cuts through even on a rubbish transistor radio. [/quote] Its a lovely thought that what you hear on the radio is the result of a sensitive adjustment of the treble control on the guitar. The bass sound will have been the studied result of the producer, studio engineer, mixing engineer and, to a lesser extent, the mastering engineer. Of course they'd like a good sound to start with, and I'm sure they got it, but there'll be any amount of eq and goodness knows what processing the signal from the bass to ensure it really does sound good on a tranny.

[quote name='KingBollock' timestamp='1343227619' post='1747386'] Good idea! So... what gauge G string do you prefer? [/quote] Bella's

So, Bongoes are unfashionable?

[quote name='Dick' timestamp='1343028824' post='1743842'] BTW The 4X10 bass cabs from Thomann to go with the 500 head seem to be crazy low money at £140 a pop. I was thinking of buying two of these so that all bases (poo pun) are covered. To my uneducated thinking, that gives me 1k driver headroom to 500 watts output at 4 ohms. Lots of air movement too! Are these cabs OK? This might be another thread right here so soz if it is. Just linking to the Harley Benton part of the topic. [/quote] The cabs look so similar to the Hartke XL range, I could be forgiven for thinking that Hartke just used these generic cabs for their ally drivers. The Hartke XL are great cabs btw, if the HB drivers are any good these are fab bargains.

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1343203797' post='1746838'] Honestly i've never laughed so loud at a quip on BC [/quote] +1!

Amazingly, this is our lead singer when she was much younger: http://youtu.be/jdvWWhFGFTo

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1343159662' post='1746411'] Synth bass is not necessarily a replacement for the bass guitar just as the bass guitar is not really a replacement for the upright bass. They all have different strengths and weaknesses and should be used appropriately. [/quote] Yup, agree. We should all become Nate Watts and do both!

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1343145653' post='1746060'] At the end of the day it changes nothing. Bass players have been in theory under fire since "I Feel Love" was recorded, but we're all still here playing and recording. [/quote] But in greatly reduced numbers. If every synth bass track was done by a bass guitar we'd all be laughing.

[quote name='Gust0o' timestamp='1342725638' post='1740124'] Ah, Google, why didn't I think of you? £2,200 sound right? Not as bad as I'd thought, all told. [/quote] Could buy an excellent Pre-EB Sabre for that. Given the choice, well, there wouldn't be one.

Shouldn't this be in the 'What are really unfashionable at the moment' thread? Without doubt these are excellent basses, my advice would be to hang onto for a while it if he can to have a chance of realising its true value.

This is a threat, yes, but hear me out. Our keyboard player has some excellent bass guitar sounds, yep, they sound great, very impressive. Thing is, its only impressive because, if it was a bass guitarist, it would be. It isn't, its just another synth sound and so there is little skill in achieving that fab tone, just pressing a key. Once you get over it being a keyboard its back to sipping coffee. You can hear ridiculously fast kickdrums in some drum tracks, but it is impressive? If its a drummer, yes, if its a programme, well who cares? Also, the argument about it being only as good as the player is irrelevant. Bit like having a computer programme to paint like a classic artist, say Constable, its only as good as it's programmer. Thing is, the result is only impressive if its actually painted by Constable. The value of the output of the computer version is virtually nil, just a bit interesting for a short while. The face of Stanley, Victor and the other names he dropped will be impassioned as they (should) know that if someone wants to hear bass guitar they won't want to pay to see someone playing or programming a keyboard. Here's the threat, I'm sure plenty of pop studios will turn out product with something like this pretending to be a bass guitar as its cheaper than hiring a bass guitarist and recording an actual instrument and musician, just as they already do, especially with programmed drums so, yes there is a threat to jobbing bass players. We're getting djs at festivals now after all, and listen to the robotic vocals on Radio 1, the direction is still to plasticise music despite the move to classic equipment. There will be room for both. Bass players will be squeezing up to make room, just as they have been, along with drummers, brass players and string players for a long time now.

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1343119858' post='1745379'] That's daft. You want one, get one. You're probably a better player than you think you are. [/quote] Probably a better player than me, I've got two. Not sure I'm proud of that, but I have. One day I'll do a concerted A-B when I put new strings on both

[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1341826166' post='1724512'] From LushFest 2012 yesterday, playing guitar with sitarist Sheema Mukherjee. You may enjoy the dancers [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH3uJc8K8qg[/media] [/quote] Wow, I wouldn't know where to start putting a guitar to this! Amazing.

[quote name='skidder652003' timestamp='1342988503' post='1743578'] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX1A2aDJugA&feature=relateIts[/media] all here guys [/quote] Great thanks!

[quote name='Dandelion' timestamp='1342895277' post='1742570'] "The cult live at the lyceum" has the MM sound in spades IMO. Have a peep on you tube cos I cant access it at work. [/quote] Yep, shovel and spades, despite the pick and the chorus (actually, these seem to add to that hf sweetness). I'm getting there now! >edit, just looked at the pics for the cover etc, they show a 'P'. Doesn't sound like one. DId he use a MM?