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Fender Adam Clayton CS Sig P Bass

#61
In a word, overpriced. You could seriously buy or assemble this exact same bass and pay a third the price if you left Fender off the headstock. Although I have to wonder why Clayton, in the span of only a few years, went from Lakland to Warwick and now Fender.
 
#62
sneha1965 said:
Man this thread blows.

Let's talk about the "F"ing bass already.

Start another thread if you want to shred Adam Clayton's bass playing and let's get back to the OT.
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Agree... I like the bass, would buy it if it is priced on $1500-$1600 range considering that price will increase because the paint... but that '' hand select alder'' , vintage cable and custom pickups does not add 4000 USD value in my opinion.
 
#63
I've never had an endorsement deal but I would imagine there would be some insentive for the musician. Usually free gear. I understand this is not how things work with Sadowsky at least in the case of Jason Newsted.

SoonerMatt said:
In a word, overpriced. You could seriously buy or assemble this exact same bass and pay a third the price if you left Fender off the headstock. Although I have to wonder why Clayton, in the span of only a few years, went from Lakland to Warwick and now Fender.
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#65
Interesting bass, especially coming on the heels of his wacky Warwick. Not my style, but that's okay.

As for his playing, he is the perfect bass player for U2. Wooten, Jaco, Clarke, Bootsy, Graham, Entwistle, Squire, Bruce, who would create better U2 bass lines than Adam Clayton? None of the above, nor anyone else. Bass playing, like everything else, is meaningless without context, and for his context, Clayton is better than anyone else in the world.

Or would "News Year's Day" be better with a snaky 6-string fretless line full of ghost notes, false harmonics, diminshed chords, and a scrunchy around the nut? Ha!
 
#66
SoonerMatt said:
In a word, overpriced. You could seriously buy or assemble this exact same bass and pay a third the price if you left Fender off the headstock. Although I have to wonder why Clayton, in the span of only a few years, went from Lakland to Warwick and now Fender.
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Actually, having recently watched the U2 360 tour, Clayton and The Edge change their instrument between every single song. Often they will swap to a matched pair of instruments of the same brand and colour scheme.

So its not a span of a few years that he went from a Lakland, to a Warwick to a Fender, he does that in a span of 20 min in the show.
 
#67
I remember watching Rattle and Hum. Bozo and Edge are talking about the beginnings of the band, and how everyone looked up to Adam because he said words such as, "chord," and "progression", and "downbeat". Later, they found out he was full of s*#!, and didn't know the most basic things about music or composition. They chuckle about it during the "film", but then talk about how their sound developed out of NOT knowing what to do or play.

I'm not a fan of U2, or any of its individual members. Each is mediocre in their own area. However, they are a success story, and more power to them. They were at the right place, and the right time, and became (arguably) one of the world's largest, and most successful bands.
 
#68
I think if you start talking about who the "greatest" rock bands are, it is bound to become highly subjective. If you start to talk about bands that have been together with the same 4 members for over 30 years and continue to sell out football stadiums and release albums that have an impact on radio (what's left of it)- in other words, don't completely rely on their back catalog, you're looking at a very, very small group. Tom Petty, U2, Iron Maiden and who else...? You can count AC/DC I suppose (cut 'em some slack on the lead singer front, right?)- but really, it's all about the old hits with them.

Adam Clayton was a one of the primary melodic elements in the band early on (New Years Day, anyone?) and has adapted his style, becoming more simplistic over the years as the songs called for it. Any bass players who confuse complexity for talent are lost in their own forest and shouldn't spend ay time putting down others. Deal with your own issues first, then worry about what others are doing so poorly.

Nice bass, though. I'm not a big one for sparkly finishes, but I bet it sounds great.
 
#69
I think he's great, supportive, and he's in the most successful band in the world and if they thought he sucked they could probably find a replacement to take the gig. Imagine U2 with the following bass players instead, and tell me if you think the imaginary sound works as well.

Watt
Flea
Lemmy
Jaco
Mingus
Duff
Jamerson
George Porter Jr
JimmyM

Ok, Jimmy could probably rock the gig, but all the other guys as awesome as they are would sound pretty weird.
 
#71
Red Four said:
Interesting bass, especially coming on the heels of his wacky Warwick. Not my style, but that's okay.

As for his playing, he is the perfect bass player for U2. Wooten, Jaco, Clarke, Bootsy, Graham, Entwistle, Squire, Bruce, who would create better U2 bass lines than Adam Clayton? None of the above, nor anyone else. Bass playing, like everything else, is meaningless without context, and for his context, Clayton is better than anyone else in the world.

Or would "News Year's Day" be better with a snaky 6-string fretless line full of ghost notes, false harmonics, diminshed chords, and a scrunchy around the nut? Ha!
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I ment my post above as a reply for this post,
Thus: 20 string chapman stick.... :-)

And regarding Jimmy, one thing I'm sure, he will demand an Ampeg, and deliver.
 
#72
Seriously, isn't this like the 3rd or 4th different Adam Clayton "signature" bass that's come on the market, and all put out by different companies?

That's not a slag on Adam (whose playing I actually kinda dig)... but... c'mon already.
 
#73
This just pisses me right off. I mean, why is it that people like Adam Clayton get a signature model when so many oither players deserve it more? U2 was cool at first but after about 2 albums you realized how crap they are. Can you name ONE memorable Adam Clayton bassline? And besides that, he's already got like 3 signature models!!! One JUST MONTHS AGO came out from Warwick!!! I think he's got one from Lakland too!!! WHAT THE HELL?! No Eric Wilson signature bass? The man's been using Fender forever! That's a guy with some awesome bass lines! I mean, they gave Frank Bello TWO signature models! A Fender AND a Squier! WHY?! Flea LOVES Fenders! He used them BEFORE the deal with Ernie Ball, now he's using them again! Why no Flea model?! (Edit): ANother guy above made a good point. How about, oh i dunno, A JAMES JAMERSON MODEL. JAMES F***ING JAMERSON. Used a P bass his ENTIRE career!!! One of the best, most influential, most heard bass players of ALL TIME!!!!

Then there's people like Matt Freeman who get a SQUIER signature model. That's just salt in the wound. That's like Fender saying: "Nah, you're not good enough for a Fender. But Adam Clayton? Rich idiots everywhere love U2! We'll make millions!"

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

/Rant
 
#75
The people who think Clayton's playing is "lame" don't know anything about playing bass in a band. And I think they are full of crap, too. If YOUR band came to you with the song New Year's Day (if you even have a band) would you have come up with Adam's solid and grooving and catchy bassline? No, I bet YOU would have come up with something pretty "lame." Go back to the cozy confines of your bedroom and stay there, rockstar.
 
#76
UnfortunateTony said:
Can you name ONE memorable Adam Clayton bassline?
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Well... take the bass line out of "With or Without You" and you really don't have much of a song left, do you? "New Years Day" is another good example.

The sloppiness of Adam Clayton's technique kind of grates on me, and his tone isn't always really to my liking... but in terms of creativity and fitting what he's playing to the song at hand, he really is in the upper tier AFAIC.
 
#77
I have no problem whatsoever with simple parts that fit well within the context of pop music. Simple = better.

This bass is the opposite of beauty in simplicity, though. It's a garish eyesore that would make Liberace blush. Also, it represents everything I hate about sig basses, which is that they usually represent no great improvement in tone or playability or usefulness, they are just a chance to cash in on a famous name. This pricetag is revolting to me. I should pay that just because it's covered in sparkly gold finish? :eyeroll: I feel the same way about the Roger Waters sig, btw. That's just shameful.

I do, however, approve of the Matt Freeman sig because I was pleased to find out it was appropriately priced and a great instrument, to boot. A very fair deal, that one is.
 
#78
I doubt he has heard any of your work to critique you . :D

About the bass.... I would play something that looks like that for sure.. Love it.... Wont pay 6k for one.. But i love the look.

If playing a blues bar... a sunburst would be fine.. But he is playing STADIUMS.. to 80,000 + people,,, And It is SHOW BIZ.. no matter how you look at it .. its show bizz... So that bass makes a good statement ,, and the glitz is cool in a stadium situation.....


A-Step-Towards said:
Greatest bands in the world? haha.

I dont think many people will line up to pay 6000$ for his bass , i have never been impressed with his work.



Looks neat tho
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#79
I'm curious about the Abigail Ybarra handwound pickup. Anybody know anything about Abigail and why her pickup would be special?

Also, if one of these ever makes it way into the hands of a TB'er, it would be interesting to hear if there were differences between this pickup, the pickup in s standard MIA P, a Fralin, Lollar, etc.

Just wonderin'
 
#80
It amazes me to see how many ways Fender can continue squeezing blood from the stones of the basic P and J designs and the way people eagerly line up to part with their cash. A P-bass is a P-bass and a J-bass is a J-bass no matter how many ways you change the freaking cosmetics.

As Popeye might have put it, I just doesn't understands thisk at all, I tells ya.
 

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