Chris2112

This was mine, many moons ago. I bought it from Greeneking, who was IIRC, funding another ACG at the time. It's a hugely impressive instrument and as finely crafted as any boutique bass I've ever played. My one regret is that I should have played it out more. In fact, I should have spent less time faffing on with the controls and more time just playing! I will have another ACG some day, and I may well order new to my specification.

'Champion' by Jeff Berlin is a good shout. It's an amazing record. 'Pump it!' is arguably even better. Two of my absolute favourites.

Sting should be forced to listen to rubbish like this for eternity, for all the awful tunes he has inflicted on us.

I've had my Markbass Jeff Berlin since March or April this year. I absolutely love it. If you had told me ten years ago that there would be a 15" combo that sounded this rich and musical I would have laughed until I had died. But the proof really is in the pudding. For my tastes, the amp must sound great first, and any other consideration is secondary. The JB has a tremendous tone, but it's also loud and light, two big plus points.

How is Jaco's playing currently innovative? His style was very heavily copied quite shortly after he arrived on the scene. There are plenty of players out there today, established names in their own right, who were disparaged as Jaco-clones in their early years. The ones who remained active forged their own identity, in time. That said, Jaco created such a distinctive voice at the time that his trademarks popped up all over the place. If we bass players are collectively guilty of anything, it's that we tend to overstate Jaco's role in terms of how bass playing changed at the time. Jaco was a great talent but he was merely at the forefront of a wave of innovative bassists, he didn't singlehandedly change everything.

Roll off just a touch of high end or roll back the tone control slightly in future. If done judiciously, it should smooth off the worst excesses of your technique. Some pick noise is all but inevitable in some circumstances, particularly when recording direct to desk. A thicker, less flexible pick will help - notice that Anthony Jackson's stunning technique, thick picks and muted high end produce near flawless picking with an absolute minimum of unwanted noise.

Just trying to get hold one would be bad enough. I'd expect an RRP of close to £4000, if not a bit more once you factor in the gouging costs UK businesses tend to impose. It looks nice enough though, certainly better than that godawful semi-hollow box bass that he was using a few months ago (a bit like that Ibanez Thundercat bass, another monstrosity). That thing was as ugly as sin and sounded rubbish too.

I would love to have played for UZEB in the 80's, though Alain Caron leaves big shoes to fill...

Typically of Gibson, that is absolutely foul.

My brother used to have one of the Boden guitars and quite liked it. I dare say though, I'm not desperate to see a bass version. The body shape looks great in guitar size but it wouldn't appeal to me scaled up to bass guitar proportions.

It depends on what range you want to cover. If you're simply replicating pizzicato parts for the double bass, a 4 string would do. If you want to transcribe parts that were written for other instruments, Conklin Groove Tools Bill Dickens 7 string would give you a great range and a quality instrument to play with.

The bassline to 'all these things that I've done' doesn't really have any tricky or complex parts in it but it is a banger to play, just a great tune. If you're struggling to play it with your fingers, then make sure you know the notes and slow the tricky parts right down, even if you have to practice out of time to get the plucking pattern exactly right. You can then speed it up using a click track (but do not become a slave to the beat, correct your mistakes and go out of time if you need to to make sure you have the notes and the plucking pattern just right). I would also recommend playing closer to the bridge with a lighter touch, where the added tension at the string will help you to quickly detach after plucking. Provided your amp is loud enough, you should practically be able to glide your fingers over the strings with a minute and very light plucking action. This is the key to fast, accurate right hand work. Ultimately, it's a case of building some endurance and dexterity to play the part, which will soon be within your grasp.

I had noticed this trend of late. I just find it all rather naff. It's something of a self-perpetuating nightmare; an algorithim decides clickbait titles are good, so statistics provided to content creators encourage them to use clickbait titles, which produces verification for the algorithm that clickbait titles are great. This is all part of a wider issue of dumbing down. I've mentioned Scott's Bass Lessons before because the decline in quality is most evident there. The videos were usually of good quality with something to say but these days, they're mostly clickbait rubbish, like 'six string basses SUCK and here's why' before saying that they don't really suck. This also speaks to a wider problem with bass education in that it's become so focused on everything but music. 'Here's how to get gigs', 'how to groove', 'two notes that will change EVERYTHING', 'three secrets that will teach you EVERYTHING about walking basslines'. The exponential growth of this rubbish indicates that many bassists will happily consume any amount of dubious material before undertaking proper music based study.

[quote name='BoogieZK' timestamp='1421670610' post='2663726'] Here is mine: [/quote] I know I'm late to the party but that is simply amazing. Beautiful.

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1509719155' post='3401180'] An answer to my own question: Bought this from ebay: Arrived today Looks impressive, huh?...Alembic look-alike, quilted maple finish, stripey wood neck. The quilted finish is a sticker, the p/ups are the worst type of sh*te you have ever seen or heard, switches do nothing other than fill out the front. The nut holding on the jack socket fell off when I opened the box, the individual bridges are made of plastic and not adjustable, even if they were I wouldn't want to risk it as they'd probably fall apart under the pressure from a steel screwdriver. I reckon the most expensive part on it (not sure what part that might be) cost, say a £1. The most expensive piece of firewood ever. Needless to say, I'm opening a case on ebay as soon as... I'll name and shame depending on the sellers response. [/quote] Bloody hell, that sounds wretched. How much did it cost?

The other day, I was reading something by someone trying to say that U2 were a good band because they'd sold lots of records! Pull the f***ing other one! Haha!

I prefer 2+2 for the fact it affords a shorter headstock (think Pedulla Buzz, Zon Sonus, Spector NS etc etc). That doesn't look right on a Fender type shape though. Jazz has to be four inline for me. A bit like nut width though, it's one of those statistics that really makes no difference to me buying a bass.

I've recently bought a Pedulla Pentabuzz that was set up at the Jaydee shop shortly before I got it. They've done a tremendous job, it plays beautifully.

[quote name='pbasspecial' timestamp='1509491861' post='3399469'] Can heartily recommend: Eat 'em and Smile - Dave Lee Roth First 2 Mr Big albums Both Winery Dogs albums [/quote] I'd add Steve Vai's 'Live at the Astoria' to that recommendation. I've seen Vai's band a few times, both with and without Billy, but it was always better with Billy on bass. He's mint.

The starter pack guitars these days are often hopeless. You know, the crap made-for-kids stuff. Some of them might be okay (I started 15 years ago on a Hartke B-15 starter pack, and both the bass and amp worked well) but there are plenty out there that are still awful. My brother used to teach guitar and he hated those cheap starter guitars. It was always easier to get someone off the ground when the instrument wasn't working against them. Difficult to tune, impossible to set up to play cleanly.

[quote name='amnesia' timestamp='1509486926' post='3399418'] Love Trujillo - an excellent bass player, but I have a [b]HUGE[/b] 'man-crush' on Jason. His onstage energy was amazing, and he is one of my biggest influences on how I play. I came to the band long after Cliff passed, so JN was always THE MAN. One thing that Metallica lack now for me is his aggressive backing vocal. Did anyone notice the complete lack of profanity from James? Not one single swear word between songs at Manchester. [/quote] Yes, Jason was my favourite Metallica bass player. He played on my favourite Metallica records and he was brilliant in a live setting. I know some folk say they liked Cliff's style more or they prefer Rob's style now. Jason brought in a new power to the old songs. The pre-Jason records lack a punch in the bass, to my ears. When the band played old RTL or MOP tunes live, Jason added a powerful groove that was lacking before. He might not have been as apt to fly around the neck but I thought Metallica sounded better for it. They finally had a bass player with the tone and attack to match that of Dave Ellefson of Megadeth. Jason also always comes across as a super nice guy, apparently still star-struck by his time playing with his heroes and ultimately, becoming part of the Metallica legend. When you consider that he was a fan of the biggest band in metal who ended up playing bass for them, it's heartening to see that he always appreciated his good fortune.

[quote name='ped' timestamp='1509397451' post='3398651'] Best: My Wingbass. Its a completely inspiring and fun instrument, the ultimate ‘around the house’ bass and I love it. [url=https://ibb.co/dMutbR][/url] [/quote] That is very cool. Did you order direct from Wing Instruments in America?

[quote name='walbassist' timestamp='1509383305' post='3398496'] Best purchase: My Siri Runner up: My new Markbass CMD Super Combo K1 stack. Also stunning [/quote] A tremendous amp. I bought a Markbass CMD 151P Jeff Berlin combo earlier this year and it's tremendous. I don't think I've bought anything sh*t this year at all.