guildbass Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 I've been reading bits from this board quite a bit recently, mainly to research people's opinions on various instruments and I've had a nasty attack of Gear Addiction Syndrome... To introduce myself, I've been playing since 1974, albeit with some breaks. I have no particular musical preference (although ironically I do love a bit of Quo!) I started on a '63 Hofner Senator at school but stopped for around 10 years. In the late '80's I bought my Guild 302 off the guy who played Jazz on the QE2 and it's been my main instrument ever since. Inevitably I've been in a bunch of cover bands going from Airy Fairy folk, through full on Glam Rock show band and the inevitable 70's/80's rock cover bands and am currently with a guitarist songwriter working on new stuff... I practice through 'Guitar Rig and phones in extremis, use a little cheap Beheringer guitar starter amp (with simple tone modeling) for strumming in the living room, use an Alesis Bassfire for intimate live stuff and bigger practices and for big stage work run a valve front end Peavey Max bass pre-amp into a Crown MA2400 which in turn sits on a pair of 8" HiFi B and O kevlar coned drivers in a custom cab above an old 1 by 15 Fender cab loaded with a Gauss 15" driver. I ALWAYS practise with a metronome. Lets face it, if your timing isn't impeccable, you are probably a drummer... The Peavey Max is brilliant because it has a sweepable crossover on the output so you can feed the bottom frequencies of the signal to one channel of the power amp and the rest to the other. That way the lighter, responsive HiFi speakers don't get overloaded with monster current from the bottom end and you can effectively tune the cabs. I'm of the opinion that the amps shouldn't colour the instrument...Although ironically in recent years I've been trying to 'modernise' the sound of my Guild 302 by doing just that....I've been trying to get the sound to be a little less dark by emulating something like a Fender Bassman with it's signature front-of-the-note valve crunch sound to get a bit more up front in the mix... Anyhoo...All this has changed because... My guitarist mate came over t'other day with a new Ebay guitar...A very boutique Hutchins Regal....Like a Gibson 335 but with three humbuckers....VERY pretty indeed! That reminded me my ultimate bass since about '91 has been a Warwick Streamer Stage 1. The Guild 302 was my first long scale and the way it hangs puts the 12th fret to the left of your body whereas most other basses put the 12th across the torso and inevitably I'm most comfortable with basses that place the frets where the Guild does...And pretty much the only guitar that does (or so I thought) was the Streamer...Sooo... Looking around on Evilbay to show him a pic of a Streamer I found a very pretty Spector NS 2000 4... I do a bit or research and found the whole Steinburgher/Spector/Warwick saga which was all very interesting but ultimately meant that the Spector NS basses hang and play like the Streamer.... It seemed I could have my modern sound without selling the car after all... This Spector was a virtually mint '97 through neck all maple instrument with a rosewood 'board' a model called the NS 2000 4... And although it's Korean rather than US built, they only made these solid maple thru-necks for 12 months... It went from 'this is what Warwicks look like' to 'I WANT IT!!!' Anyway, I win it....Drive up to Oxford and get it... And it's a really nice instrument which has just the kind of springy modern tone I've been searching for ever since I sat in a Music shop with a Streamer... All should be fine except.....Tonight, I just threw a ridiculously low starting bid on a gen-you-ine Stage 1 Streamer...And Won that... So now I finally own my 'ultimate' bass....along with; deep breath... A '63 Hofner 500/2 A '78 Guild 302 A '92 unique 'one-off Fingerbone Fretless A '90 Warwick Streamer Stage 1 A '97 Spector NS2000 4 A '09 Acoustic Bass with piezo bridge from China A Yamaha bolt neck bass (not actually mine) And some 6 string guitars I'm going to have to take a couple down to the local music shop on commission sale to fund the Warwick's purchase (assuming the Warwick is OK) but if anyone is interested in anything before I do...let me know. I know it's terribly bad form to join a forum to sell stuff and I know it might come over like that but I actually posted most of this on my motorbike list first, mostly because the motorbike, a Kawasaki W650 is so damn reliable we tend to discuss a lot of other stuff instead(!) and the music side of things is picking up a lot now. I'm practising for at least an hour a day at the moment and even doing a bit of teaching... Anyway...Yay...glad to be here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatboyslimfast Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 Afternoon Guildbass. Welcome along to Basschat! You might find that splitting them into individual posts and popping them onto the forsale forum might get you a bit more interest, depending on the price for each of course! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nostromo Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 Hi there guildbass . . and welcome, Good advice above, the seperate "for sale" forums get lots of interest and a lot of sales here ! Out of interest, you might like to know that I'm desperatly seeking a "Guild Bass" . . . . . an original clean 70's Guild M85 Bass to be precise ! So, I guess this is an odd sort of a "bump" . . . if you can offer me any advise in the M85 department please do feel free to reply in my M85 topic . . . then it'll be a real bump ! Seriously, welcome to the club here, I've found there are lots of friendly and very helpful people on tap here and I'm sure you'll be glad you joined. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guildbass Posted July 13, 2011 Author Share Posted July 13, 2011 Thanks chaps! re putting the instruments on the other bit...I'll get to it eventually.. i need to have some time with the Warwick and see if I REALLY want to replace the Guild 302 with it. As regards the other Guild basses.. No idea! The 301's and 302's are extremely high quality set neck instruments, very loud and beautifully tonally balanced...They love going up above the 12th fret and sing like flutes. They also have the most amazing hardware and will stay perfectly in tune over years but as regards other Guild stuff I literally know less than nothing! Anyway, When I get the new Streamer I might do some pics of all of them. The Guild is pretty smart, the Fingerbone is literally a one-off with custom wound Kent Armstrongs under mahogany (!) covers ...It has more Mwah than any fretless I've ever heard...It nails that Paul Young 'Hat' song without any pedals or effects at all...Just interesting things really! Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanbass1 Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 Welcome aboard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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