Are you the thunder and lightning in your band (or house, garage, or bedroom)? Whose been your main influence? What's you main gear?

Mine:

Fender Jazz.......Bassman

Influences:

Geddy Lee (plays bass like a lead guitar)
Michael Anthony (I don't give a damn what anyone says, his last name may not be Van Halen, but VH would not be VH without this guy!)
John Paul Jones
Geezer Butler
Billy Sheehan
Sting
Paul McCartney
and many others......

Heck yea! Bass is my first love and still is my favorite. When I got back into music I started playing bass again. I am now playing guitar and keys in my band (I joined the band to play bass), but that was out of reluctance as we needed to fill the void. Whenever people come over to jam I will play bass all day long. Playing live it is so much more fun for me.

I really didn’t have any bass playing influences directly when I started playing. I was into McCartney, Queen, Police, Boingo, and the general early 80’s pop, guitar oriented new wave, and metal stuff.

For years I played a 4001 and loved it. I used to break a lot of strings when I played, as I did one night in an LA club. I tossed my Rick to a buddy mid-song and I picked up my backup P-bass. My buddy dropped the axe and it split down the body at the neckline. My buddy turned white! Ah, crap happens. Now I have a custom P-bass and a Godin fretless that I use. Man, just typing this makes me want to play bass in a band again!

I use a modified Acoustic 2-15 cab to play. I dropped the top 15 speaker down to the bottom so the lower half has 2-15’s, then I put in 2-10’s up top. I still run the acoustic 320 head, but I take the line out, run it through a crossover, then an effects unit just for the top end. The lower goes straight back into the 320 power amp and the upper goes into a small stereo power amp. I generally play with a light chorus at all times, but I never liked how it interfered with the low end. With this config I get a great stereo chorus effect through the 2-10’s and a clean, unmodified signal through the 2-15’s. It works well for small clubs and such.

I'm a half breed; Half guitarist, half bassist.. But the bass player is taking over!.. lol.
My early influences where WIDE! Dee Dee Ramone, John Entwhistle, Chris Squire, Geddy Lee, Steve Harris, blah blah blah.
Here is my posting from Harmony central on my rig;

Price Paid: US $350.00
Purchased from: N/A
Sam Ash, Paramus NJ

Features: 6
2001 Mexican J-Bass Standard. 20 jumbo frets, 4 strings, 2 volume controlls ( 1 for each passive single coil ) & 1 common tone controll.
Poplar body, maple neck, rosewood fretboard. Black finish (as ALL my guitars are).
Pretty basic features, & you really MUST switch out the stock bridge, I put a Badass II on this ASAP & WHAT a difference! The stock single coils are peforming quite nicely so far, but I may swap them for Duncan Vintage J's. Out of the box the set up was ok, but in replacing the bridge it's now balls-on!

Sound: 9
I play hard rock & this baby just shines live! I play through a Hartke 3000 head. My cab is 2x12 & 2x10. For effects I use a B-30. Playing in a trio, I tend to go for a slightly brighter tone & this bass achieves that tone effortlessly. I tend to leave the neck (?) pickup on 10, & roll just a notch or so back off the bridge pickup. I float with the tone knob between 50% to 75%. I can get virtually any sound I want with this guitar.
The only thing I didnt like with this bass is it's a little heavy, but after taking it to the stage & playing my first 45 minute set with it, It quickly became apparent to me that the other bass's I've had before where just crap in comparison. So, I just work out a little more, no big deal.
What I love about the Jazz Bass is that at first play I noticed just how much the strings resonate through the body! This was before I even plugged in.

Action, Fit, & Finish: 6
Again, I had this bass worked on by a luthier when he replaced the bridge. he set it up to my specs the way he knows I like it. I will say that it was set up very well out of the box.

Reliability/Durability: 10
So far I've only played out with the Jazz Bass once, but it perfomed like a DIAMOND! I played with no back-up & strongly doubt I will ever need to. Needless to say, I'm selling the piece of shit Ibenez I previously gigged with. I put Schaller strap locks on it because I feel safe with them.

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 10
I've been playing bass since 1980 & have gone through some great, & not so great instruments. The Jazz Bass has, in it's short tenure, become my # 1 bass! I have always bought used, inexpensive bass's because I am also a guitarist & usually spent the lions share on my 6 strings. I've been in my current band going on 3 years now & the time was right for me to make a purchase. I've played Peavey, Guild, Gibson, and Ibenez bass's in the past.. The Jazz is hands down the top of the heap.

Submitted by Plstrcast at 05/31/2002 09:40

i've got a Jazz copy that i picked up cheep (actually traded a CD changer for it...) and i've been trying to get my fingers back in shape. i went back to the first thing i played on the bass, the Police box set...

I used to play bass fairly regularly, but I've kinda lost interest in recent months...

Originally posted by Diver Down NJ:
I used to play bass fairly regularly, but I've kinda lost interest in recent months...Diver Down NJ: Pick it back up! You won't regret it! graemlins/thumb.gif

Smudge NYC - you got a pretty nice rig there, as does tripoutski.

There are two kinds of basses - Jazz basses and those that try to copy that Jazz sound. I would like to have a Rick 4001, though. A friend of mine has a Wal and a Carvin, and they are both nice as hell also. I know another guy with a Tobias and I don't care too much for it.

i'd like to find a Kubicki Factor bass...or maybe a USA Spector...