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Arctic Monkeys - Nick O'Malley - NEW BASS??

I always tell people that isn't a fair statement to either of them. They were both inventive, but in different ways. Burns did some nutty things. A gearbox truss rod adjuster for one, turned by a key inserted from behind the heel of the neck. Circuitry was low-impedance, with transformers inside. The guitar's whammy was kind of amazing, with the bridge baseplate riding on roller bearings--the strings didn't slide across the saddles, the whole unit moved, helping to improve return to proper pitch. Sometimes he was infuriating, though; the pickups had each half wired separately, so with three pickups I once counted at least a couple dozen potential combinations. But only four combinations were provided with the rotary switch, one being the almost useless "Wild Dog" setting.

The Vista Sonic shown is probably also the heaviest bass I own. I don't have an accurate scale, but I think it's close to twelve pounds of solid sycamore.

Ampeg didn't sell many of these. Due to import duties, the prices made them an unattractive purchase compared to domestically built instruments.

Thanks for this - I absolutely love having "those who know" weigh in on a topic! I'm hoping for his sake that the one played by Nick O'Malley is lighter! :D Think about "low-impedance" pu's - it's what EMG has built it's legacy on! (not to mention Alembic) And as far as I know, Burns had the 1st active bass in the early 60's. Different shores but Leo and Jim were not so different, at least in the questioning dept!
 
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Anyone got an idea as to what brand/model of bass this is?
Saw Nick O'Malley playing it live and on Jimmy Fallon last night for the new Arctic Monkeys songs and I love the tones!!

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I don't recall hearing them before, but I have now. I like the sound-- I like alternative stuff anyway. I know nothing about the bass, but thanks for the introduction to someone new!
 
Unfortunately it’s neither. It’s supposed to be a concept album and certainly sounds like it’d be played in a hotel lobby.

Thanks, yeah I just listened to the title track, and realized the same thing so I deleted my post.

I do respect that they change their style every album so well, unfortunately, I miss their older style, lol, damned if you, damned if you don’t I guess.
 
Thanks, yeah I just listened to the title track, and realized the same thing so I deleted my post.

I do respect that they change their style every album so well, unfortunately, I miss their older style, lol, damned if you, damned if you don’t I guess.
Yeah unfortunately, they’re too old to sing about getting into fights in Sheffield now. Especially when half the band has children and the other half is living in LA.
 
That's a cool bass, but I think the new Arctic Monkeys album is a total snooze fest. Not a single up tempo song, and Alex Turner doing his best "David Bowie as a lounge singer" routine. What happened to those guys?

It was almost an Alex Turner solo album and should’ve stayed that way. No point in wasting the bands time IMO.

They’re experimenting. They’re not the sort to stick to one genre.

I understand they change their sound. I have all 5 previous albums in my car and numerous B sides in iTunes. Love them all but the lack of guitars on this one has really killed it for me.
 
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It was almost an Alex Turner solo album and should’ve stayed that way. No point in wasting the bands time IMO.



I understand they change their sound. I have all 5 previous albums in my car and numerous B sides in iTunes. Love them all but the lack of guitars on this one has really killed it for me.
The same here, in relation to albums. I quite like the difference, mainly because it allows the bass to shine.
 
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I love how they change up every album. I wish more bands would do that.

It's true - bands that take chances discover new territory. People evolve through their lives so it's pretty normal to evolve artistically as a band. In the process they may lose part of their old audience but will gain a new audience. It's just part of the tradeoff.
 
It's true - bands that take chances discover new territory. People evolve through their lives so it's pretty normal to evolve artistically as a band. In the process they may lose part of their old audience but will gain a new audience. It's just part of the tradeoff.

Yeah, they lost me. They were my favourite band after “Favourite Worst Nightmare”. I loved everything they did before that album (including B-sides before and after it) and then “Humbug” came out, and I liked it, but not as much as their earlier work. Nearly every album since has fewer and fewer songs I like on it.

It seems they got a lot of new fans for their last album, which is great. I wish them all the best. I saw them twice in concert and they always put on a great show.
 

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