Delberthot

For me it was for the hell of it. It began with a bad gig in 2007 when I couldn't hear myself properly so I sold everything and started again. At the time I had a Trace T-bass 5 string fretless, black Musicman Stingray 5, Gallien Krueger 800RB and Trace 2x10". I've been largely lucky in that during my time of buying and selling the profits have balanced out the losses so it hasn't really cost me anything. Some basses - like the 7 Rickenbackers, 8 Stingrays, Geddy Lee Jazz, Warwick Thumb NT5 and Modulus Flea have been bought because some of my favourite players played these. The 6 strings were purely for the hell of it as I never ever needed a high C but Nathan East played one at the time so that was good enough for me to have 4 or 5 of them. The Precisions were because I love the look of the Precision, same for the '51 reissues, '73 Telecaster bass, Epi Thunderbirds and Explorer. The 8 and 12vers were bought during my Cheap Trick / Kings X phase The others were probably because they were shiny. Cabs have been 1x10", 2x10", 4x10", 8x10", 2x12", 1x15", 2x15", 1x18" 130+ basses later I have a black Musicman Sterling, Musicman SUB5, GK MB500 and a Barefaced One 10 so I've ended up coming full circle back to roughly what I had when I first pushed the revolving door of gear. It's been a lot of fun and the most expensive basses weren't always the best but now I can look at a bass for sale that I've had 5 of and know that I don't need another one

Many moons ago I had an Epiphone Explorer bass and struggled to find a bag for it - the solution from our friends in the US was to use a padded shotgun bag

I've used both pedal and rack mount compressors in the past and didn't really notice any difference in my overall sound until I got to the 'squashed' setting so haven't tried again. Once thing that keeps popping up is that people refer to compressors giving them a fatness to their sound - my sound is set up exactly the way I want it so wouldn't want to add this as it isn't required - would there be a way to use a compressor without giving the sound the fatness that has been described previously? For someone wanting to give a compressor another go, are there different models suited to different playing styles or do they all work exactly the same way? I'd theoretically be looking at a pedal one but the amount of controls on them varies from one brand to another

It hasn't changed except that a lot of the clubs have closed down. There are exceptions but not many of them

I use one of these for both of my basses - 2 years old and still looks like new. Really comfortable to carry using the shoulder straps as well https://www.normans.co.uk/product/tgi-extreme-series-electric-bass-guitar-gigbag

The NX410 4x10" cab that I had was better than any Trace or Ashdown equivalent cab that I ever owned. Just a pity that no one knows about them or gives them a try because of the name. MArine grade ply, Celestion neo drivers. Really well made, solid cabs and a lot lighter than their counterparts

Who said anything about making sense? Take the strings off and you had a good makeshift ironing board. There was a guy years ago on Ebay in the USA doing the DR coloured strings as singles in all of the colours so I bought one of each just for the hell of it. It was an outrageous bass so might as well make it even more so

This - is a wide neck

We're currently auditioning for a new drummer and chose this song as a test to see how they got on with the bit where it speeds up and every single drummer plays if completely differently. I've found that as long as the band can follow the drums then it doesn't really matter where the drummer speeds it up as long as the tempo is right at the point before it goes back to the chorus

Pick a bass you like the sound of and comfortable to play for long periods. Then pick an amp & cab / combo that you like the sound of. That's really it. I've played in wedding/function bands for 23 years and in that time I've had 100+ basses, all of which I've gigged in those kind of bands. 4, 5, 6 & 8 strings, fretted, fretless & semi acoustic - ranging from ones I got for free to £3,000+ Examples would be - Epiphone Thunderbird, Yamaha TRB6 fretless, Modulus Flea, Warwick Thumb NT5, Shine 8 string, Squier VM Jazz fretted & fretless & Fender '51 reissue Precision as completely polar examples. I'm using the most compact rig I have ever used. At one time I was running Trace 2x15" and 4x12" V-type cabs, 2 Ashdown MAG 4x10"s with Gallien Krueger, Hartke, Trace etc amps. In a function band the audience are generally (but not always) not there to see you, they are there to be at a wedding, get drunk, dance around, catch up with old friends and so on so as long as you like what you are playing and it fits in with the rest of the band then pick whatever you like the most. There's a lot of choice out there - have fun

I would try Ebay

I find anything simple and repetititve difficult as I get bored and zone out and start thinking about having coffee and wedding cake at the break

What I see is the headstock from a Peavey Grind, top horn from a precision, lower horn from a Stingray, cut down scratchplate from a Gibson Grabber, bridge from an Ibanez ATK and a single jazz pickup mounted there for some reason but it has the one thing that I always wanted - access to the 25th fret. That one detail makes up for it looking like the picture was taken using a fisheye lens and a bad perspective Sometimes the whole is not even close to being greater than the sum of its parts

I was going to say the Sterling as well if you can find one cheap enough. The Geddy Lee Jazz has the slimmest neck I've ever played - I had an FSR Precision Special and rumour had it that it had the same neck dimensions and granted it was mighty slim.

Fantastic - I've been proven wrong regarding the punchiness thing so it it down to the actual bass then? Is a Stingray with a naturally more in your face tone than a Fender the way to go if you want a punchy fretless sound? Off the top of my head some of the fretless basses I've owned over the years have been: Bass Collection passive Yamaha TRB6 - converted to fretless Musicman Stingray Fender Jazz Squier VM Jazz Harmony - Gibson Grabber copy maple fretless Ibanez SR370 EF 70s Fernandes Jazz with EMGs Antoria PJ Aria ZZB Trace Elliott T-Bass 5 string Out of all of them I always thought the Stingray was the best but at the time I couldn't put my finger on what made it better than the rest

Do you have a list of which songs he played fretless on in the studio? i was under the impression that he only played '39 live with a maple fretless

Hmm - maybe I have a different definition of punchiness in my head - to me that isn't punchy in the slightest

This is what I keep my Sterling in. The original problem being that the Musicman case is so big I couldn't fit it into my last car (even less chance in my current car) Mine will be 2 years old at the end of the month and looks as good as new and is really comfy when worn on your back

It's funny you should mention Whitesnake as for years I was convinced Fool For Your Loving was a fretless. I never understood the draw to Jaco myself either but that's for another thread. My main problem with fretless is that it just does not have the same punch and attack that a fretted bass has. I've listened to loads of live recordings of Pino and Tony Franklin and great players as they are there's just no punchiness to the sound. I know that's not the point of a fretless, it's more of a soft swell rather than a hard attacking sound.

I was just thinking that perhaps less than 0.1% of the music I own has a fretless bass in the recording yet I've had maybe 20 of them over the years. My main inflences and bands I listen to are Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Yes, Motorhead, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith but there are loads of others - how many have featured a fretless? I can only think of Hey You by Pink Floyd out of those So is there a reason that most of us on the forum have or have had a thing for fretless basses?

Have you had a bad experience with them?

I always use UPS through Interparcel. I wouldn't use anyone else

Or an extra £60 gets you a sunburst one now https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Greg-Bennett-Royale-RLB-3-Bass-Guitar-Sunburst/1IC7 I've been contemplating a semi acoustic for some time but havent come across these before