70's Punk - whats the ideal bass ?

[dmccombe7]

8 minutes ago, Cat Burrito said:

They all seem to play identikit low slung white Precisions these days. I'd rip up the rule book by playing a headless 6 string bass with LEDs, right up high! Surely punk is about not having rules? 😂

I could use this. My Custom Overwater fretless 6er. 

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, PaulWarning said:

on the subject of Rics in punk, I can think of 3 players that changed from Rics to P basses, Michael Bradley of the Undertones, Bruce Foxton, and Glen Matlock, can't think of any that went the other way, though someone will not doubt think of one

That's a really good point Paul. I started off really wanting the Ric mainly because i just love the look of them and i'm a Geddy fan but the more i delve into this the more i'm leaning towards the P bass. Even Geddy moved back to his Fenders.

So many great responses to this question and its all been taken on board.

 

One thing i have picked up on was that some of those early punk bands had some really great musicians in them. Guy from Eddie and Hot Rods was pretty good and i challenge any bass player to play Ramones songs almost all done on the downstroke with a pick. I really struggle with that down stroke style. I've found The Clash to be a really interesting band and watching their large stadium gigs they did an amazing job verging on the U2 sound at times. 

The thing that sticks out most for me is the levels of energy that comes across. Its like playing Deep Purple Burn on steroids. 

 

Anyways i'm leaning more towards the P bass and looking at a Vintera mainly because i preferred the neck on them but i have come across Modern Vintage basses in Bass Direct and checked reviews on them they come across as quite good value for the money. Made in Korea to 60's spec Fenders with roasted necks etc  Anyone got any experience with them. ? Maybe best start a new thread on that one. LOL

Dave

[PaulWarning]

1 minute ago, dmccombe7 said:

 

 

One thing i have picked up on was that some of those early punk bands had some really great musicians in them. Guy from Eddie and Hot Rods was pretty good and i challenge any bass player to play Ramones songs almost all done on the downstroke with a pick. I really struggle with that down stroke style. I've found The Clash to be a really interesting band and watching their large stadium gigs they did an amazing job verging on the U2 sound at times. 

The thing that sticks out most for me is the levels of energy that comes across. Its like playing Deep Purple Burn on steroids. 

 

 

it was the story put our by Maclaren that the Sex Pistols couldn't play, totally untrue of course, and it sort of stuck for all punk bands, in 1977 all the first wave of punk bands had been around for a while so had learnt to play, although it was fairly basic rock and roll it was well played at speed and some interesting bass lines as well, listen to some of the tracks on the Rezillos first album, it was a year or two later that punk emerged where they couldn't play very well, I know, I was one of them 😊

 

[SteveXFR]

 

Klaus from Dead Kennedys plays a Jazz bass. The bassist in The Members uses a hollow body Epiphone. Paul from The Damned uses something different every time I've seen them. The bassist in Vice Squad uses an old Ibanez SR800 and there's several who use Thunderbirds. 

There's also Gerry Only from Misfits who makes his own bases and they sound awful.

[dmccombe7]

29 minutes ago, PaulWarning said:

it was the story put our by Maclaren that the Sex Pistols couldn't play, totally untrue of course, and it sort of stuck for all punk bands, in 1977 all the first wave of punk bands had been around for a while so had learnt to play, although it was fairly basic rock and roll it was well played at speed and some interesting bass lines as well, listen to some of the tracks on the Rezillos first album, it was a year or two later that punk emerged where they couldn't play very well, I know, I was one of them 😊

 

Great example. We do TOTP's and Cant Stand My Baby from Rezillos. Great bass lines.

[SteveXFR]

42 minutes ago, PaulWarning said:

it was the story put our by Maclaren that the Sex Pistols couldn't play, totally untrue of course, and it sort of stuck for all punk bands, in 1977 all the first wave of punk bands had been around for a while so had learnt to play, although it was fairly basic rock and roll it was well played at speed and some interesting bass lines as well, listen to some of the tracks on the Rezillos first album, it was a year or two later that punk emerged where they couldn't play very well, I know, I was one of them 😊

 

 

Malcolm McLaren made a lot of wild claims which were completely untrue. He claimed to have invented punk and he claimed the first punk song was God Save The Queen. Both those were untrue.

[pete.young]

4 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

 

 

 

I guess (from recall) everyone who played bass locally used flats and in hindsight, ponk was the thing; I didn't even know roundwound strings existed until I broke a flatwound G and replaced it with a roundwound because the local music shop (Adam Music, Staines/RIP) only sold singles in rounds.  I couldn't get over how zingy it sounded and I then went on to play almost everything on the G-string.  Happy days.

 

I think it must have been around 1979 when Rotosound Piano-wound became available, the ones where just the central core passes over the saddle. I remember being amazed at how clear the tone suddenly became with a set of those bad boys on my BB800 .

 

Prior to that it had all be flatwounds, and even those bloody awful Black DIamond nylon tape-wound sound-killers.

[4000]

10 minutes ago, pete.young said:

I think it must have been around 1979 when Rotosound Piano-wound became available, the ones where just the central core passes over the saddle. I remember being amazed at how clear the tone suddenly became with a set of those bad boys on my BB800 .

 

Prior to that it had all be flatwounds, and even those bloody awful Black DIamond nylon tape-wound sound-killers.

I started in 1980 and although my first bass (a new Rick) came with flats - soon replaced - I didn’t know anyone else who used flats. 
 

I used the Superwounds for quite a while, they were nice strings. 
 

Edited October 6, 2021 by 4000

[Stub Mandrel]

2 hours ago, 2020Jazz said:

 

Why is Darth Vader standing behind Hugh Cornwell?

[2020Jazz]

9 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

Why is Darth Vader standing behind Hugh Cornwell?

That must be The Ghost of Darth...

[Supernaut]

3 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

 

Leamington Spa's most famous band. 

 

Disagree.

 

 

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, SteveXFR said:

 

Malcolm McLaren made a lot of wild claims which were completely untrue. He claimed to have invented punk and he claimed the first punk song was God Save The Queen. Both those were untrue.

I've always assumed it was The Ramones altho they are a US band. 74 they started but i'm new to this punk thing so stand to be corrected.

Dave

[i.clarke]

2 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

I've always assumed it was The Ramones altho they are a US band. 74 they started but i'm new to this punk thing so stand to be corrected.

Dave

The Damned undoubtably had the first UK punk single with New Rose 

[i.clarke]

1 hour ago, 4000 said:

I started in 1980 and although my first bass (a new Rick) came with flats - soon replaced - I didn’t know anyone else who used flats. 
 

I used the Superwounds for quite a while, they were nice strings. 
 

The first clash album was a ric with flats  

[Marky L]

2 hours ago, PaulWarning said:

it was the story put our by Maclaren that the Sex Pistols couldn't play, totally untrue of course, and it sort of stuck for all punk bands, in 1977 all the first wave of punk bands had been around for a while so had learnt to play, although it was fairly basic rock and roll it was well played at speed and some interesting bass lines as well, listen to some of the tracks on the Rezillos first album, it was a year or two later that punk emerged where they couldn't play very well, I know, I was one of them 😊

 

Oh yeah! The bass playing on Can't Stand The Rezillos is great! Love it! And a couple of bass intros too inc. the fun to play Sculptures (as above).

[Marky L]

2 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

 

Klaus from Dead Kennedys plays a Jazz bass. The bassist in The Members uses a hollow body Epiphone. Paul from The Damned uses something different every time I've seen them. The bassist in Vice Squad uses an old Ibanez SR800 and there's several who use Thunderbirds. 

There's also Gerry Only from Misfits who makes his own bases and they sound awful.

Paul Gray is almost exclusively a Ric player but with some Thunderbird action when in UFO. Yes, he does have the odd one or two others (currently selling a Hagstrom 8 string on eBay).

[SteveXFR]

9 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

I've always assumed it was The Ramones altho they are a US band. 74 they started but i'm new to this punk thing so stand to be corrected.

Dave

 

It's impossible to identify the first ever punk song but MC5 and Stooges had songs the could be described as punk in the early 70's and maybe even late 60's.

The label "punk" originated with a couple young lads who wrote a fanzine to sell at CBGB 

[tegs07]

4 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

 

It's impossible to identify the first ever punk song but MC5 and Stooges had songs the could be described as punk in the early 70's and maybe even late 60's.

The label "punk" originated with a couple young lads who wrote a fanzine to sell at CBGB 

Beat me to it. New York Dolls as well?

I rewatched Gimme Danger the other day on Prime. The Stooges were years ahead with their sound, look and attitude.

Edited October 6, 2021 by tegs07

[Marky L]

2 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

That's a really good point Paul. I started off really wanting the Ric mainly because i just love the look of them and i'm a Geddy fan but the more i delve into this the more i'm leaning towards the P bass. Even Geddy moved back to his Fenders.

So many great responses to this question and its all been taken on board.

 

One thing i have picked up on was that some of those early punk bands had some really great musicians in them. Guy from Eddie and Hot Rods was pretty good and i challenge any bass player to play Ramones songs almost all done on the downstroke with a pick. I really struggle with that down stroke style. I've found The Clash to be a really interesting band and watching their large stadium gigs they did an amazing job verging on the U2 sound at times. 

The thing that sticks out most for me is the levels of energy that comes across. Its like playing Deep Purple Burn on steroids. 

 

Anyways i'm leaning more towards the P bass and looking at a Vintera mainly because i preferred the neck on them but i have come across Modern Vintage basses in Bass Direct and checked reviews on them they come across as quite good value for the money. Made in Korea to 60's spec Fenders with roasted necks etc  Anyone got any experience with them. ? Maybe best start a new thread on that one. LOL

Dave

The downstroke only Ramones style is f'ing hard work especially when you get to some of the silly live speeds they ended up doing. Part of the secret (outside of endless practice) is to have your bass low so your right arm is pretty much fully extended and that way all the action is from your wrist and not your arm.

[Marky L]

2 minutes ago, tegs07 said:

Beat me to it. New York Dolls as well?

I rewatched Gimme Danger the other day on Prime. The Stooges were years ahead with their sound, look and attitude.

It's what seems to get labelled as "proto punk". I think it put the fire in the blood of the UK musicians that took it and created punk as we know it.

[i.clarke]

32 minutes ago, Marky L said:

Paul Gray is almost exclusively a Ric player but with some Thunderbird action when in UFO. Yes, he does have the odd one or two others (currently selling a Hagstrom 8 string on eBay).

 

23 minutes ago, Marky L said:

It's what seems to get labelled as "proto punk". I think it put the fire in the blood of the UK musicians that took it and created punk as we know it.

Always played a ric during his time with the damned .. apart from the early 90’s when he rejoined when he used his thunderbird .. there’s the odd YouTube of him playing someone else’s gear but that when he did the odd song here and there as a guest 

[dmccombe7]

13 minutes ago, i.clarke said:

 

Always played a ric during his time with the damned .. apart from the early 90’s when he rejoined when he used his thunderbird .. there’s the odd YouTube of him playing someone else’s gear but that when he did the odd song here and there as a guest 

Every clip i've watched live he's used a P or in one clip it was a P shape but pickguard was an odd shape and i couldn't see the pick up config. Looked like a Gibson Victory bass i think it was called.

Was looking at 70's and 80's clips. Here's the 80's one. The 70's one was a white P bass. Also seen him with a white Guild and a violin bass on the clips i've watched.

After a wee google search these might not be Paul Gray ????

 

 

Edited October 6, 2021 by dmccombe7

[Rich]

For the punkier numbers in my ska band's set -- Rancid etc -- I get a great tone from the neck pickup on my Jazz-ish bass (it's a massively hot Schaller pickup, something like 13K..!), played with a pick and using a cranked SVT model on my Zoom multistomp. A really hard, aggressive tone with an edge of dirt. It's become my go-to tone for anything nasty.

[SteveXFR]

3 minutes ago, Rich said:

For the punkier numbers in my ska band's set -- Rancid etc -- I get a great tone from the neck pickup on my Jazz-ish bass (it's a massively hot Schaller pickup, something like 13K..!), played with a pick and using a cranked SVT model on my Zoom multistomp. A really hard, aggressive tone with an edge of dirt. It's become my go-to tone for anything nasty.

 

My favourite punk bassist, Klaus Flouride of Dead Kennedys uses a Jazz bass. He was using the same 60's jazz from 1978 to 2013 when it was lost by a South American airline. He's replaced it with another jazz. His bass sound is brilliantly disgusting. 

[Musicman666]

Safe bet is to get a pbass with the jazz bass pickup so it looks the part and covers a lot of ground sonically, hopefully quite cheap so you can knock it about a bit.