Chris2112

Those are a rare beast with an excellent electronics package. I've never heard it in a Fender bass but I loved it in my Kubicki basses. Worth hanging onto, I reckon.

Muse, lots of Muse. I don't like them but my mates love them (guitarist and drummer) so I might surprise them.

Streamer LX models are usually pretty good, like the Streamer Jazzman and Pro M, seem to sell for pocket change in comparison what they sell for new. The deflated used Warwick market is insane, there was a Stuart Hamm Streamer on for sale here recently, going nowhere at £1800. That was what, £5000 new a few months ago? I love Warwick basses but they depreciate like milk.

Always loved this one. Clearly, Mark had been listening to 'School Days' when he came up with this one but I find Dune Tune resolves the melody in a much better way. Mark is a phenomenal player, and not just for slap. Remembering that he hadn't been playing all that long when Level 42 kicked off, he had basically matched Stanley Clarke's chops in a couple of years. Bending harmonics, slap, blazing fingerstyle solos - Mark had cracked it. His solo in 'Foundation and Empire' is an absolute blazer and has a strong hint of Stan about it!

Frankly, they were all godawful. The first time I ever heard of The Smiths was when Marilyn Manson was talking about how much he hated them in 'the long hard road out of hell'. He holds a special contempt for Smiths fans, it would seem.

Have you ever had a bass that you couldn't find a reason, or the energy to sell? I have found myself in this strange situation twice in recent months and I'm starting to feel as though I'll never find the energy or inclination to sell a bass ever again! Okay, that may be a bit much but in recent months, I've listed my Ibanez SR3006 for sale twice and had two bites. On both occasions, I'd only listed it for sale because I'd bought another bass and I felt like I should sell something to at least curb the excesses of my profligate tendencies, a desire that inevitably fades after the next paycheque arrives. I am faced with no good reason to sell and no good reason to keep. The SR is clearly at the bottom of my list of preferred instruments. My Cort Rithimic is my favourite. My Bogart has a totally different tone and a monstrous low B that encourages a different style of playing to the Rithimic. My Pentabuzz handles the fretless duties and the Ibanez comes in last. Being a six string gives it some utility over the other basses and I do get it out for the odd bit of UZEB stuff I don't do on the Bogart. I sometimes look at the relatively low valued Ibanez and think 'well, I can take this bass anywhere and not worry', but I never play any shiteholes, so... The fact it's worth maybe £600 used is another factor that means it's likely to stay longer. I paid a little more than that for it from Bass Direct a few years ago, though I've no idea where it came from before it ended up there. I had always wanted an SR3006 after lusting over them in the Ibanez catalogue as a teenager shortly after the turn of the Millennium. As a 'prestige' Ibanez, made in Japan to an exacting standards, with top notch materials and Bartolini electronics, it's a great package. I look around guitar shops for what £600 will get you these days, and it's not very much at all. Does it make much sense to give a great instrument away for so little, even if it just comes out of the case a couple of times a month? I keep thinking back to the summer of 2015 when I bought it, having barely held a bass in three years, after a long time off playing. It was the instrument that instantly brought back my love for playing. I just prefer the process of buying to selling, but I expect that the next time I buy a bass I'll go through the same cycle! I was in discussion to sell it a few days ago and was almost relieved when the deal was called off since it saves me the work of packaging it! Has anyone else ever felt this way or am I uniquely lazy?

Steve Vai was raving about this guy a little while ago but that whole smooth jazz thing does nothing for me. It sounds pretty cheesy and whilst the lad has talent, I'm not hearing great music. Maybe in time he'll produce something with some edge.

Sounds like a great service. I think that pink Lakland Skyline on his website is currently for sale at Bass Direct. There can't be many of those in the UK... I'd be very wary of any trick to lower the customs and import duty. The charges for a small item like a bass guitar are, bollocks, and it's a cheek that HMRC thinks they're entitled to compensation for you getting your hands on a nice bass. That said, I would imagine they'll hang you by your knackkas if they catch you in any sort of swindle or creative importation.

There are so many I could name as I think I change my mind every day about which one I love most. At the moment, I'm in love with Jeff Berlin's solo in 'Joe Frazier Round 3'. He weighs in with a sledgehammer of a tone; a huge overdriven, chorused sound and wails with a really wild, bluesy sort of spirit mixed with gorgeous note choice. If really lifts the song and changes the mood and direction of it. It almost feels like the answer to the blazing solo from Steve Vai. I almost see those two solos as two sides of the same coin; the thematic centre of the music.

I've always enjoyed the Yellowjackets. It still seems a bit strange to see them without Jimmy Haslip in the band!

I'm glad that you came out and said it as I hadn't a clue what that first post was all about!

After a couple of weeks with the Bogart, I'm absolutely in love with it. Status Graphite had always been the benchmark for graphite basses for me. I'd had a Zoot and a Zon in the past, both of which were good basses (the Zon particularly so), but I always held Status in the highest regard. I know it's silly to typify these wildly different instruments but one common aspect of construction but they can be lumped together by virtue of being a bit niche. Bogart had always kept a low profile on my radar because they're fairly rare in the UK but I'm just astounded by getting my hands on this one. I now want more! And an SKC Slapper and a Schack and a... I couldn't believe it, measuring from the bridge to the nut, that it's 34" scale. The string tension has fooled me, because I usually play .40 strings. These must be .45, and the feel is very different but they're a joy to play fast triplets on. I've got to grips with the preamp, and pretty much just leave the bridge pickup on solo with a hair's adjustment to the mid control, giving the very slightest boost at the amp, but the main aim is just to brink a little bit of honk to the forefront. The natural character of the bass is for a huge, even-tempered response. 'Piano-like' is an oft-used term in describing bass guitar tones, but the tone in this instance rides roughshod over any accusation of cliché. If you have ever played a Modulus Quantum with Bartolini pickups, you'll recognise the phenomenon I'm talking about. Bloody hell, it's good.

I believe this would be a 'Matrix' model but it's not marked as such. I had one a few years ago and that didn't have the logo on the headstock (whereas the Stealth I later owned did have). Not sure what the preamp is though, since it has that stacked control. The model history is a bit confusing. I think the Matrix model was discontinued in the mid 90's, being replaced by the Energy series.

My Pentabuzz and Bogart, trying to decide which one is my second favourite bass!

He is an absolutely furious player but I still don't 'feel' his voice as a player. I had thought that, when he exploded into the scene a decade ago, that this was something that would develop in time. I'm no stranger to fast bebop lines and fusion playing but Hadrien's playing still misses the mark with me, a lot of the time. Perhaps part of the problem is that, unlike the fusion greats who established themselves a few years ago, he hasn't really been in an amazing band with other bandmates to bring him up. His tenure with McLaughlin was pretty short and he hasn't had the launchpad of a UZEB, Bruford or Weather Report type outfit in which to really develop as a band player.

'Equilibré' by Michael Manring and David Cullen. A fantastic blend of Cullen's delightful nylon string guitar and Manring's wonderful fretless playing - and none of the party trick tuning changes and other frippery. Just try finding a copy though!

It may be. I paid £600 for it, I think. Was the seller called James, I wonder? I think he had a guitar shop he ran with his dad and needed cash to pay for an imminently custom build.

My old Epic looked like this. Wenge top, unlined fretless five. I have lost most of the good photos I had of it, and the ones I still have were taken with an ancient camera phone (it would be close to ten years since I sold it). However, I can still remember the furterbil.

Glad to hear your first trip out with it went well! I really dig my old Epic 5 and I've often wanted a fretted model but always seem to find something I want more when I'm looking to buy! The thing I always liked about the Series electronics was that you could shelf the bass at a limit where your cabs could reproduce it. Then you could get into the real meat of the tone shaping, around the midrange! I always want mids!

I might give Stuart a shout to seen if he has any photographs of it before it was repainted. I actually really like those abstract 'scribble' and splatter type finishes. I think they are fun in a very German sort of way. But wherever Stuart went to get this Bogart refinished, they did an excellent job. It has a very smooth, deep paint on it that speaks of good prep work being done beforehand. I always like to find out the history of my basses, where I can. After a bit of digging last year, I found an old picture of my Pentabuzz on Google, as well as previous listing from when it was sold at Bass Direct (which I knew nothing about). The photo on Google was even more of a mystery. I haven't read the metadata, it just showed up when I was looking for peacock blue Pedullas. I was able to identify it as being my bass by matching the grain like a fingerprint.

My phone's useless autocorrect! I was supposed to type 'further up' there.