Spoonie

blaze it up! never beat a japanese precision though! with EMG's, a badass series 2 bridge and some dunlop straplocks and you're toasting!

spoons

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i want a single with 7 re-mixes of the same song. i'll do one of them. except i'll just re-record it, all on bass with me singing!

boom!

spoonie

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i've got the ODB-3. they're alright but i never use it much. it's got too dry a sound. if i was getting some distortion on the go, i'd get a big muff. paul needles plays everything through one and it sounds really meaty. worth the expense. another problem with the ODB-3 is the amount of battery power it drains. you'd not believe it!

spoonie

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as far as amps go, i've never found a trace elliot that i liked. the gallien kreuger that alex was talking about was a beauty and i've played through a couple of ampegs at various rehersal places in glasgow and they really are ace.

monk rocker's right enough about the guitar-bass thing too. the two instruments are completely different. you have a totally different job to do on each instrument and many guitarists move over and get it wrong, but at the same time, everyone has a different style of playing. i tend to play a really 'busy' style like jack bruce whereas i tend to respect people who keep it steady like rod demick or billy cox. in the first band where ginger baker and jack bruce played together, ginger complained that jack was too busy and he didn;t want to play with him. but look how that turned out!

spoonie

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pure wank sir, pure wank! i love it!

spoons

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kent armstrong pickups are fantastic for the price. i had an old Jbass which i put a KA into in the bridge position and i never used the neck pickup agani. what a growl the thing had. funnily enough though, it was fuckin' useless to record on. don't know why but in the studio recordnig last of the silent drive-by's i couldn't use it at all because the sound recorded pish. never understood that!

spoons

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ooh, multi fx........................

it's a dangerous path to take!

i'd be buying a tuner, a dunlop 105Q white crybaby and an electro harmonix bass balls pedal if i were you :-)

spoonie

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i hear you PJ, i'm the same. i often find that the stingray can cut through well but loses the fat. powerful end when it does so. it's mainly because i don't have a good amp. i've only played through about 2 or 3 nice amps and the rest of the time it's utter shite. my own amp is a disgrace! it's over 15 years old and i put overdrive through it so many times, the cone's like confetti!

i've got a warwick streamer std and the neck on it is a beauty. i know how you feel though, when i play my bass, it'm always looking for that way to become closer to what i'm creating. i think guitarists like hendrix and SRV did that when they were playing and it's something that i always strive for. there are some amazing bassists out there through history but there haven't been many who had that kind of connection with their iinstrument. it's a hard thing to achieve. i saw paul lamb and the king snakes (one of my favourite bands of all time) this summmer down in gloucester and paul had control over a harmonica in a way i've never seen with any musician, except maybe paul rose. he plays with absolute conviction and the sounds he can get from a harmonica blew me away. if i could achieve half the level of control over my bass as he has over his harmonica, i'd die a happy man!

spoons

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fenders are made with slabs of wood. they're not fancy and they're not elaborate, just stripped down and raw. i have a '62 reissue japanese precision with EMG's and a badass 2 bridge and it's a real weapon. when you need to play hard, the stingray stays on the wall. the fender is the only bass i own which i would trust to take a proper pounding.

people who play with a heavy groove like donald duck dunn and billy cox. people who play like bass like they want to, not like they think they should. i like simple designs, tonnes of power and big amps so you can feel like you're being crushed by the sound or play something delicate and careful. mixing huge riffs, simple riffs and gentle playing. people who can cover different styles without you even noticing they've changed. players who are a part of their instrument and put every ounce of themselves into playing. that's what it's all about to me

brands i love are really fender, warwick and musicman. warwicks have the simpliciy and the beauty, musicmans have the power and fenders are made to be used like a hammer. i want to achieve total mastery of the instrument. having a bass and knowing without question, exactly what the next sound you're gonna create is, without ever havnig to think about it. it's a near impossibility, but that's what you need to be striving for.

i love bass!

spoonie

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why bother when someone's gone to the trouble. it's good practice to do it yourself from time to time, but if you need it in a hurry, the best way is to get the tab and away you go!

spoonie

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there are bass atbs for 6 GUK songs at www.basstabarchive.com but not that one again i'm afraid

spoonie

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len atom does backing and plays drums and he's got a fantastic voice as well as being an excellent drummer. it can work if you want it to. also, there's no reason why a drummer shouldn't sing lead vox if they want to. it makes it more difficult to hold the audience, because you're generally at the back behind the kit, but that's just another challenge

spoonie

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you guys did glasgow too. maybe not in the musical sense, but there were sarbeni's!

spoonie

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bass players always know best all the time!

good to see an aberdeen-music board getting used properly for a change!

spoonie

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i bet the people who don't buy the EP get it in the ass less than betsy though!

spoons

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what about 2nd gig atom. 3rd december 1998? who's servin' up the portions now bitches? that's right, it's me!

i have also had sexual relations with mac, joe, len, rass and erskine (unwillingly.)

you'll never match it homies, never! (apart from the members of black atom, who have clearly been associated with the band for longer!)

i could tell the tales of evading the police in edzell (whilst listening to the newly recorded atom work) and then giving chase, before finally hiding in my granny's garden, but it'd be too much! the quality of the choonz has changed a hell of a lot, but the banter's still as bad!

spoonie

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sound control is about a minute from the door of my house and ross is right enough to suggest them. they also do great repair work etc. i had a series 2 badass bridge put on my fender and i got them to set it up too and it plays like a dream now.

also, i was just looking at the soundslive page and their prices are excellent. if you're wanting a new bass now and it's a jazz that takes your fancy, you're looking it 350 plus 9 delivery from them to get a sage green standard jazz bass. it's mexican so it's not got the same credibility as the US Standard models, but a great buy nonetheless

spoonie

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it's a pretty hefty price for stuff like that. it'd be 300 for my stingray if i only wanted the face done and 400 for the top too. i considered getting one of the warwicks with that as standard (like your boy from the bizkit plays!) but decided against it in the end.

it would be a pretty cool thing to get though! i've just been looking at the gallery and the guitars and basses look pretty mint with them fitted! the new purple lights would be sweet on my bass.

i've got a bricker!

spoonie

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i would hold back just now for getting a new bass. i reckon the best way is to learn your craft on a shitpiece of a bass whilst saving up for something special. if you learn on an instrument which isn't the best to play and doesn't have the best sound but manage to get to a stage where you can get play it well and make it sound good, moving up to a good bass will make it seem easy and you can concentrate on playin like jaco!

the best plan is to look around, speak to other bassists, ask in shops etc. till you get an idea of exactly what you want. look at the bassists you admire, try out the basses they play, see what you can get the right sound from and what feels good, then go about saving for it. it might take a while (i worked 10 hours a day, 7 days a week for most of a summer for my stingray!) but you appreciate it more when you get it then and it's a sweet feeling.moving up one bass at a time ends up being costly and you find too many faults with the cheaper basses you buy. by saving longer and buying something you really want is better in the long run.

just my opinion though. if you ever want to chat to someone who wanks over his basses every night before he goes to bed, just drop me a PM!

spoons

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2 gigs lined up and a hell of a lot of partying to be fitted in!

you best believe there's gonna be a party goin' on!

spoonie

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stir it up - bob marley

sweetest bassline of all time? perhaps so!

spoonie

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old samuel you say? why i don't mind if i do!

i have great plans for that very beverage for this festive period! bottles shall appear at every occasion, as if by magic! crowds at gigs and parties shall regail its glory!

empty sky still has the same kick it did the day i heard a dodgy live recording outside lava on joe's minidisc player a fair while back. probably over a year and half.

the magic is still there!

spoonie

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p.s. whats the new year plan this year? i was considering heading northwards

empty sky - favourite song? just ask mac and joe about last new year!

spoonie

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