Chris2112

[quote name='jazzyvee' post='962628' date='Sep 20 2010, 07:44 PM']If you are unaware of it, you may wanna keep this link so that you are ready when the right pay day comes along :-) [url="http://www.americanguitarsuk.com/bassshop/alembicB.php"]http://www.americanguitarsuk.com/bassshop/alembicB.php[/url] Jazzyvee[/quote] Awesome link, thank you! I love the coco bolo top of one of the Mark King basses but I don't like the stinger tail, if I could have that top on the other body shape I'd be very happy! I'd ideally like one with a flamed or quilted maple top, I'll just keep my eyes open over these next few years!

[quote name='jasethebass' post='961007' date='Sep 19 2010, 10:57 AM']Kubicki I hope. I got one.[/quote] Nice one! Pictures and serial number please! Might as well post mine

My old Stealth there, what a bass that was!

[quote name='marcus bell' post='276281' date='Sep 3 2008, 02:37 PM']Jaydee all the way, i think its the perfect slap bass...the alembic is weird it sounds great on its own but seems to get lost in a band situation, also it seems to sound better played fingerstyle.[/quote] I know this is all the way from the first page but I quoted it because it made me laugh. I'm still on the lookout for a Mark King signature, one of these days I'll find one right around pay day!

I'm not sure I'd agree that Dickens makes Vic look pedestrian, but I do really like his playing (his fingerstyle soloing is fantastic!). Also, I think he's the only person I've really seen use that pluck-hammer-slap thing for playing triplets.

1) Stuart Hamm - I've loved his playing since I was about 15. He's the reason I've owned two Kubicki Ex Factor basses, as I love the tone he got out of them. So to be able to use that sound myself is very cool! He's one of the most complete players around, he is the man. 2) Mark King - Probably the most obvious influence on my playing, I often try to come at things with my Mark King hat on and impart some up front, funky sounds to things. His playing is incredible: awesome slap skills, brilliant burpy fingerstyle lines and impeccable note choice and timing. Others grovel at his feet! 3) Geddy Lee - the master of fingerstyle bass playing. Incredible note choice, dead on timing, brilliant tone (especially with a Wal). He's about as close to a bass god as I can imagine. Amazing song writer too. Power Windows and Hold Your Fire define good music for me. honourable mentions: Jonas Hellborg, Tony Butler, Jaco

It's right up the street of my Alembic, which has the classic ingredient of an ebony fingerboard to help get those mids singing through. I just go and solo the bridge pickup and pluck hard with short, stacatto movements of the right hand. Backing off some of the bass and treble from the EQ can also help. Roundwounds are also a good way forward.

I've always just went with the bass that I felt like playing...a little tweak of the EQ and you can usually get the sound you want in most rooms as long as there isn't a total incompetant running the sound board! IME, anyway!

[quote name='silddx' post='959491' date='Sep 17 2010, 02:25 PM']Who's "Jean" anyway? And why would she want something that looks like it evolved at the bottom of the Mariana Trench?[/quote] That would be Jean Baudin of Nuclear Rabbit. I hate NR but he's done some alright solo stuff (cue brief youtube fame when he did the Mario theme tune on his Joust bass a couple of years ago). I guess you could say he has eclectic taste in basses. I don't like the look of it, but to be given a bass in that manner is pretty cool.

There was a good thread on Giblin just a couple of weeks ago, it turned out that a lot of what I thought was Giblin with Kate Bush was actually someone else! (namely on Wuthering Heights!)

And I dare say many a great basses could do a passable impression of Justin's tone! I just go for the Bongo because it has the 4 band EQ and the humbuckers for that chunky sound! But the issue is a complex one because if you were to suggest a bass to do an impression of Geddy Lee's or Jonas Hellborg's Wal sound then that would be much harder! I'm also giving myself Bongo GAS now!

[quote name='bubinga5' post='956320' date='Sep 14 2010, 06:11 PM']imagine taking this to a rehearsal... i guess its a studio or showroom piece...[/quote] Err.... That bass was a gift to Jean from a number of luthiers and was contributed and as it happens, I think it'd be right up his street! When you've had a bass gifted to you from the bass building elite, do let us know...

Neat trick! Shame the band are awful!

To be honest, I think the same thing can be attained with a MM Bongo. That was the result of a long discussion TB discussion about Justin's tone and how best to emulate it. I passed the advice onto a friend of mine who is a real Tool fanatic. He bought an HH Bongo and presto, instant Chancellor tone. So, it might not have the low pass filter for doing a "wah sweep" but in terms of actual tone, it's so damn close it's unreal. I think a large part of this is that Justin plays with a pick, which does away with the natural Wal tone anyway (round, burpy and middy). Especially when his sound is so often buried in effects...and to an audience, they won't know the difference even if you played the songs with a bloody P bass! But being a pedantic bassist, I'd advise a Bongo. It will easily do a 90% impression of the Wal, if not 99% in terms of playing Tool songs. I'm not suggesting the Bongo is a replacement for a Wal in every situation (IE one where you hear lots of bass upfront played with fingers through a clean channel, you'd never get away with a Bongo there). However, given the rarity of Wal basses and the price of them, the Bongo is an excellent alternative. Not to mention, as much as I love Tool, what a waste of a Wal bass it is...where it's talents are so often hidden!

[quote name='tom5string' post='958386' date='Sep 16 2010, 02:56 PM']Carl Thompson Basses - Les Claypool[/quote] Carl Thompson basses are already really expensive! Very rare too, given the size of Carl's operation, apparently he makes approximately 10 a year! I don't think even think Carl is making instruments now, last I hear a couple of years ago was that he was completing his order book and taking repair and refurb work on basses he had already made. They all seem to circulate in America too and I've not seen one for sale in this country for ages. Alembics, as mentioned, will just hold their value. Some of them have been sold for "giveaway" prices but they are what they are: beautifully finished handmade instruments. There are plenty around too, which is encouraging. If I had a 4 string series I or II I'd be happy man!

I'd have to say Kubicki...as usual! Get your hands on one and keep it as they're getting harder to find now and Phil will be retiring one day! But by all means play it, these things aren't meant to live in cupboards and closets!

Just close your eyes and tilt your head back, moreso when you solo. Then people will think you're "in the moment" and will be jealous of you!

[quote name='4-string-thing' post='957714' date='Sep 15 2010, 09:20 PM']I don't want any zing or top end though....[/quote] Well, I guess some players like to be heard (I do) and some are content to sit in the mix, like wallflowers swaying in the breeze!

[quote name='Huwberry' post='956391' date='Sep 14 2010, 07:07 PM']Recorded this afternoon: (The bass is a Classic 50s Precision, bought from a fellow basschatter a few weeks ago and it's possibly the best impulse purchase I've ever made )[/quote] IIRC Steview Wonder wrote that tune!