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Hi all,
Long time lurker (I want to thank each and every one of the comunity that gave me ideas/info etc. Cheers!) and New Member from UK here. It's great to finally be a part of this great club/forum. Hi to you all.
OK, a bit about me:
I've been playing bass for 20odd years and have never looked back (I started out as a drummer and still play occasionaly. Rhythm section guys!)
My old man was a singer and trumpet player in jazz bands in the 60's/70's and when he found out I was switching to bass (I suppose he thought a second hand bass was a cheaper and quieter alternative than buying me a used kit!) he bought me a crappy 2nd hand Vox thing. I'm pretty sure it was black & red. Dreadful thing it was too but I persevered and bought a busted up Marlyn Sidewinder P/J bass from a friend for £10.
It played OK but the pickup selector had failed so all I had was the neck P pup so I kinda got used to that sound.
After a while I decided to invest in decent gear as all I had to play through was this crappy low-watt practice amp (I think that may well have been a Marlyn too!) so I got a bank loan and invested in some decent gear.
I bought a Trace Elliot MKV AH150, a 1048 and a 1518 and a CIJ 57 Precision bass in tobacco burst (which I still have but mostly gathers dust now!) This was 1986. Gotta say folks, I f**king love the old school TE sound!
A few years later I was reading Guitarist Magazine and came across a review of a fretless bass by a (then) completely unknown luthier called Chris Larkin. By that time I'd done a Jaco and pulled all the frets out of the Marlyn (but without the epoxy!) and fell in love with the fretless sound and this beautiful looking instrument that was being reviewed.
I got in touch with Chris in 1989 and had him build me a fretless bass. A beautiful Larkin Reacter Frettless B4 which I still have to this day.
An absolutelly beautiful pice of craftsmanship: 2 piece mahogany body, quarter-sawn glued in mahogany neck, (I still have the spec sheet somewhere!) book-matched Irish walnut veneer, black Shaller hardware, custom wound Kent Armstrong humbuckers, active/passive push-pull, 3 band EQ (can't remember who made the preamp back then but I know he fits Aguilar's now) and a lined ebony board. I fel in love with her (and still am in love with her!) as soon as I got my hands on her!
Between the end of the 90's til around 2008 i really didnt do anything at all. I'd pick up a bass if there was company/a party but never actually done anything 'in anger' if you know what I mean.
Late 2008 I had an offer of playing in a band so I decided to buy some new stuff. I went to GuitarGuitar and picked up two Squier VM Jazz basses - the fretted '75RI copy & the fretless Jaco copy - for £500 for the pair. Not a bad deal actually!
Having never played Jazz basses before I have to say I was stunned! I have never looked back and am a total Jazz bass convert! They are so versatile (unlike P's IMO!) and easy to play!
I ended up selling the Squier 75RI copy and bought a brand new American Fender '75RI Jazz which is now my main bass.
I still have all the (vintage?) TE stuff and still use it to this day though the rig depends on the size of the gig. (I also bought a TE Boxer 65 and a Roland MicroCube for those "Intimate" gigs!)
Well that pretty much covers it for me I think.
I hope this hasn't been too boring and I look forward to chatting with you all at some point.
Take care.
J
PS Cant wait to start posting pics/joining clubs!
Last edited by JohnDeereJack : 01-25-2011 at 06:56 PM.
Reason: Additional info
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