Chris2112

Regarding the above points: 1) The spare room where I usually keep my amp is about half the size of my front room. The amp sits at ground level and faces me and the bed. It sounds very 'tight' and articulate. My Warwick sounds like a sledgehammer there, very direct and articulate. 2) Sadly, I can't dress up my front room by hanging rugs, waffle boxes or foam on the walls. 3) Someone took a snipe at Ashdown above. I make no secret of the fact that most of their amps do nothing for me. But this is the Mark King amp. It's very crisp and clean sounding, with a strong bottom end. It's a bloody good amp, but the problem here seems to be the room. I doubt even Jonas Hellborg's EBS head and some Bergantino cabs would solve the problem... 4) The amp is not playing through the laptop speakers. But getting some headphone and a Pandora may be the best solution yet. I can't take my laptop up to the spare room, simply because down here it is hooked up to my mouse, keyboard and desktop speakers.

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1359539974' post='1956195'] It [i]is[/i] a bit derivative... especially the vocals. Nice to hear the bass played in "normal" registers though - no detuning or five/six string basses. That has become (IMO) so dull in metal in the last few years. [/quote] There was a period where it seemed like every bass was being detuned to stupid new lows in metal. Meaning that records sounded terrible, even on a good hi-fi capable of reproducing some of the bass sound. I have always preferred guitars tuned to E or Eflat for metal tunes. They sound as tight as feck then.

Afternoon, I brought my bass and amp down to the front room this afternoon, having previously had it upstairs in my spare room. I thought I would probably play it more if I could sit down at my laptop with it and jam along to music again, something I haven't done a great deal of since I moved house late last year. Having just sat down with the bass and had a play, it sounds pretty crap. I'm using a Warwick Thumb 5 string, an Ashdown MK500 amp, with the amp positioned directly behind me and my laptop speakers in front of me. The bass sounds very boomy. It didn't have enough definition when I started playing it, so I tweaked the amp to cut some of the bass from the mix and boosted the mids slightly. There was little room between getting a satisfactory low end that wasn't booming round the room and having a bass that didn't sound honky and harsh in the mids. I managed to get a sound that I was happy to play along with, though I was still dissatisfied as the Thumb usually sounds great and is a joy to listen to. The same setup sounds fantastic in my spare room. My front room is pretty big (it runs the length of the house), and it has a laminate wood flooring over a solid concrete floor. The walls are paint on plaster over plasterboard. There are no curtains, just blinds and the only soft furnishing in the room is the sofa. In my spare bedroom, the amp sits on a carpeted floor in a smaller room with a double bed in it to soak up some of the boom. I hasten to add that I've played live in venues just using my amp for sound before, and found a similar problem that was sorted by some high volume mixing. But I don't really want to crank the amp and piss off the neighbours, I am wondering if there is a solution for my problem as it is now. Would something like an Auralex Grammar pad help or not? I don't think it's the floor that is causing the problem, as it should be an excellent launching pad for a good, tight bass sound. I think it's due to the size of the room and the lack of soft furnishings that are causing me problems. I like a really 'tight' sound like you might get from close-mic'ing an amp in a small studio room, and I'm just not getting that in my front room. Any ideas? Obviously I can't carpet the walls, as much as I would like to.

I love that Fodera bass. I have to say, I think I prefer Bona when he is giving it six nowt on some fusion tunes as opposed to this. It's al very safe, and for two fantastic musicians to come together and produce a relatively staid bit of music like this seems a shame to me. I suppose I might get into it more if I watched the whole thing though!

Have you tried calling him? Give him a bell and see what the score is. By and large, I don't think there are many rip off merchants operating here. We seem pretty good at filtering them out. But some people can be a bit lax with their end of the bargain, or he may have some personal stuff going on. A telephone call should motivate him to get this sorted!

Lee Ritenour never struggles to get good guests. I loved some of his 80's, some really great grooves there. What I've heard of this album, despite it's stellar cast list, is a bit 'elevator music', immediately 'switch off-able'. That said, the second video gives it a better showing than that 'Maybe Tomorrow' song, which is a real plodder and probably shows the album at it's worst.

No. I love trying out new sounds, and new instruments. If I wanted one tone that I could have been happy with all my life I would have kept the Kubicki Ex Factor bass I got when I was 16. There is much fun to be had in chasing the tone. Once you find it, you'll decide you want something else!

I have never owned a Shuker bass, but I did once speak to Jon Shuker on the phone. I was in Byker, the skies were grey and I was at work. I was ringing up about buying a bass he had on his website, I think it had been a demo model that he had taken to a music show. Anyway, it looked lovely. Headless, Delano singlecoils, stunning top wood. It was only when I spoke to him on the phone and found out that it had a mahogany neck that I decided sadly it might not be for me. He reckoned the sound was pretty mellow, and at the time I was looking for something that sounded like a razor blade. I ended up with a 1987 Status SII which I enjoyed a lot. I was very thankful to Jon for taking the time to chat to me on the phone, I gather he is a busy man.

Great to hear Jason making music. It's a good song, typical Newsted driving beat, good riffs. Refreshingly honest and lacking in pretensions. I just wish the production was a little more 'heavy'. There is a monster of a groove at 02:10. It's been a while since I listened to metal and thought 'f*** yeah', but there we go.

Did you see that Wal 5 string with the Noll electronics? Sacrilege! Why, oh why would you remove Wal electronics and replace them with some inferior product?

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1359414390' post='1954550'] They don't turn up very often on the used market. Looking on eBay there was an LX 4 recently which reached £620 but didn't sell because it was below the buyer's reserve. Also an LX 5 listed at £799 which didn't sell. . [/quote] I don't think they're all that rare but the pricing issue is a good point. When Guitar Guitar Newcastle first opened (must be maybe ten years now, wow) they had a dark blue Streamer LX at £600. I thought that was a pretty fair price, given that in Sound Control, nothing with a Warwick badge on would sell for less than £1000! Of course, the LX was a trade in but it was like a new instrument. In any event, it was the first Warwick that I really got to sit down and play for any length of time and it was a revelation. Superb quality. That said, their value has fluctuated wildly. Unlike some basses, Warwick prices fluctuate on the used market, maybe because they are essentially the bass world's biggest niche product. Some sellers expect their used Warwicks to command a premium just because they are great instruments, but it just doesn't work like that. Unlike say, flogging a Geddy Lee jazz bass for £500 or whatever, you never know what sort of reception you'll get. When I put my Ltd Edition 1990 Streamer up for £1000, which I thought was a fair price, my inbox nearly burst under the weight of the replies I got.

Ah, but was a neck like a banana not a 'feature' of 70's Fender basses? Useful for a spot of archery on your days off.

Strange, I would have thought a passive jazz would have more than enough oomph, unless your amp is a bit duff? The only bass I have played where I really felt it needed a hotter output to be useful was in fact a stunningly expensive F-Bass! In any event, I have always found Bartolini preamps to be very good. If you do decide to go down that route I would think you'll enjoy the active Bart sound. It's one I keep coming back to!

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1359381413' post='1953797'] I've tried time and again to love the Jazz Bass, but I just don't get on with them. Love the look though. [/quote] There is nothing in particular that draws me back to them either, despite the fact that I've owned and played some really good Jazz basses over the years, particularly a Fender Jaco Pastorius jazz bass. I can take them or leave them.

It has to be fake. Look at the sculpting at the bottom of the body around the bridge on the headless bass. That would require stripping the finish, doing some extensive routing to accommodate the new bridge piece and then refinishing it before putting it all back together. You have to ask, who would bother on a TRB1006? Nobody, I suspect.

[quote name='solo4652' timestamp='1359373038' post='1953593'] . His song suggestions are all from his old band's setlist and are mostly from the 1970's. Wedding-band dad-rock. [/quote] Tell him to take his crap dad rock and f*** off elsewhere.

[quote name='Slimriddim' timestamp='1359369467' post='1953519'] For the money that Warwick's cost you'd expect the neck to be solid. [/quote] Anything can fail though. I've heard of the graphite necks shifting on some Zon basses, resulting in them being unplayable. At best, needing a replacement neck. At worst, one something like a one piece, monocoque Legacy, the whole bass is made useless.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1359322310' post='1953145'] Anyone who still thinks that "Made In Japan" is automatically inferior when it comes to musical instruments is a fool. [/quote] Crazy to think that attitude could ever exist. The Japanese are the master craftsmen of the world. A traditionally strong yen, big shipping costs and lack of a professional player base outside of Japan are probably the reasons why small-time Japanese luthiers haven't made a big dent in the Western market. Yamaha got by through massive distribution networks, yet no-one questions their quality!

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1359130595' post='1950407'] But then you still wouldn't have a PRS... and two basses that wouldn't have the resale value of a PRS. [/quote] I've never known their basses to command a great price at resale. Mainly because they've never been that great in the past and sold very poorly. I doubt these will be a huge seller either. They'll be priced in line with the rest of the PRS range, and with that, I doubt they'll sell a great deal. Bassists looking to spend that sort of money are spoilt for choice now, with the best luthiers in the world ready to take their money. I doubt they will turn to PRS. Whereas PRS have a well established fanbase for their guitars, hence why they don't struggle to sell them.

Or on the contrary, some just can't get on with them as they are too thin! I have heard some people saying they can't get on with Jazz basses as the thin neck exacerbates tendon pain in their wrist if they play them. I've never had that problem, but I do prefer a slightly thicker neck in any event.

It's nothing new. People have been shredding in their bedrooms for years. Who doesn't play their bass alone, at home sometimes? I like to load up iTunes and go through a few songs with my bass. If I filmed it and put it on the net, I'd be doing just the same as most of the people in this thread. Certainly, we're better for having these videos to enjoy. I remember when youtube was a 'new' thing and there were very few videos of bassists on there. It's all changed now!

[quote name='Dr.Dave' timestamp='1359281752' post='1952338'] When Jon was making mine I asked about the advantages of the individual brodge/saddle pieces - he gave me the theoretical blurb then said the real reason he uses them is it doesn't matter if a customer wants a 4 , 5 or 6 string - he just puts his hand in the box and fishes out the correct number without the need to keep tons of different bridges in stock ! [/quote] I suppose if he finds some practical benefit to them then good. When I first got my Ibanez BTB405QM all those years ago, I had the Ibanez catalogue. The monorail bridge was a big feature on the BTB series supposedly because it helped to isolate each string for a better, more even response in sound. Would it have sounded much different with a single piece bridge? I don't know, but it was a great sounding bass all the same!

With Warwicks, you do tend to have to play cleanly to get the best out of them if you're not layered in overdrive. They highlight sloppiness in your playing, simply because of their ability to push through the mix. Where you might get away with some sloppiness on an old passive jazz that can be buried in the mix, a Warwick will keep you front and centre. On the plus side, they sound superb when treat with due care and attention.