No, but I've wanted to check them out...are they good (well at least I know the bass will be goodgreenboy said:
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Martin Turner - Wishbone Ash
- Thread starter XsoGol
- Start date
?
- Dec 18, 2000
- 13,201
- 340
- Disclosures
- greenboy designs: fEARful, bassic, dually, crazy88 etc
Well, BP of the time had Mick Abrahams, the first-recorded Tull guitarist, and Andy Lancaster was on saxes, and he ruled. And Andy Pyle did great bass work. I still place them highly, kinda like an early Tull with sax instead of flute.
I saw Wishbone Ash in New Orleans in 1975.Martin was playing his Thunderbird through an Orange Stack. They were fantastic!
Cheers,
Jim
Cheers,
Jim
- Dec 18, 2000
- 13,201
- 340
- Disclosures
- greenboy designs: fEARful, bassic, dually, crazy88 etc
Martin Turner rules! I need to listen to some BP and hear what Andy Pyle is all about...you guys listen to much of the same stuff I do, so I have to give it a shot!!! Thanks for the tip guys!jerry said:
Hmmm...seems Martin recorded on most of the Wishbone Ash albums through a little Pignose amp according to this [Invalid or Expired Link Removed].
Guess it really is all in your fingers.
"Q: One of my favourite Wishbone Ash albums is "There's the rub". I saw Ash at Reading when it was released, and I have always thought the bass playing is particularly brilliant. I play bass myself, and year's on now, I'd really like to know what kit Martin Turner was using when rub was recorded. On some tracks (e.g. FUBB) it sounds as though a distortion unit was used, but on others there is just a nice low end growl (just the natural pickup sound ?). Trevor
A: Trevor, whatever guitar or amp I use it always seems to end up sounding the same - like me, if you know what I'm saying. TTR sessions in Miami I was using 2 old 60s Fender Precision Basses. I used a Fender Concert Amp quite a lot with 4 x 10ins speakers, it was already old and very used, and I am afraid I gave it a right hammering - I don't think its really a bass amp,but it did give the grunge and break up that I was after. Bill Szymczyk (Producer) was always trying to get me to play with a more orthodox sound (a la Eagles etc), and we did differ in our idea of how the bass should sound. What we ended up with was a bit of a compromise between Bill and myself because I was unwilling to go for what I felt was a conservative and unoriginal approach. I concede that it would have made his job easier if I had been more co-operative and maybe even made the band's music arguably more commercial sounding, but I have always been a pushy uncompromising son of a bitch and what you hear on the record is the way I saw it - pretty much. I did acquire a small pig-nose type little amplifier around this time, called: "Dwarf". Designed for Bass about 6ins wide x 10ins high, battery or mains. Controls are: in - jack, out - jack, clean / dirty switch, volume. That's yer lot. I used that little jobbie to record about ten albums with - still got it, but it needs attention.
Its what you call "keep it simple", and you do not need a road crew when you go to the Studio to record. Best Wishes, Martin."
Guess it really is all in your fingers.
"Q: One of my favourite Wishbone Ash albums is "There's the rub". I saw Ash at Reading when it was released, and I have always thought the bass playing is particularly brilliant. I play bass myself, and year's on now, I'd really like to know what kit Martin Turner was using when rub was recorded. On some tracks (e.g. FUBB) it sounds as though a distortion unit was used, but on others there is just a nice low end growl (just the natural pickup sound ?). Trevor
A: Trevor, whatever guitar or amp I use it always seems to end up sounding the same - like me, if you know what I'm saying. TTR sessions in Miami I was using 2 old 60s Fender Precision Basses. I used a Fender Concert Amp quite a lot with 4 x 10ins speakers, it was already old and very used, and I am afraid I gave it a right hammering - I don't think its really a bass amp,but it did give the grunge and break up that I was after. Bill Szymczyk (Producer) was always trying to get me to play with a more orthodox sound (a la Eagles etc), and we did differ in our idea of how the bass should sound. What we ended up with was a bit of a compromise between Bill and myself because I was unwilling to go for what I felt was a conservative and unoriginal approach. I concede that it would have made his job easier if I had been more co-operative and maybe even made the band's music arguably more commercial sounding, but I have always been a pushy uncompromising son of a bitch and what you hear on the record is the way I saw it - pretty much. I did acquire a small pig-nose type little amplifier around this time, called: "Dwarf". Designed for Bass about 6ins wide x 10ins high, battery or mains. Controls are: in - jack, out - jack, clean / dirty switch, volume. That's yer lot. I used that little jobbie to record about ten albums with - still got it, but it needs attention.
Its what you call "keep it simple", and you do not need a road crew when you go to the Studio to record. Best Wishes, Martin."
I loved those guys when I was a kid. Every time they came to NY to play at the Academy of Music they opened for someone else and proceeded to blow the other bands right out of the building. They were a really good, tight band. Martin's lines were always well thought out and well delivered. I still listen to the the double love album once or twice a year to remember those good old days.
Sorry to dig up such an old thread but a key element to MT's tone, on the Tbirds at least, is just using the neck pickup. Don't think anyone else pointed that out so I thought I'd better.
Not my fave, but W4 has some of the greatest bass tones ever, particularly Sorrel. And Everybody Needs A Friend is just heartbreaking.
Not my fave, but W4 has some of the greatest bass tones ever, particularly Sorrel. And Everybody Needs A Friend is just heartbreaking.
Seriously?!?! I never would have guessed that considering the growl and grind he gets at the beginning of "The King Will Come". Holy crap...I could swear there was some bridge pickup action there!Sorry to dig up such an old thread but a key element to MT's tone, on the Tbirds at least, is just using the neck pickup. Don't think anyone else pointed that out so I thought I'd better.
Martin Turner was the reason I switched to Thunderbirds. He's one of those who made me realize how melodic you could be in a rock setting. While I love the early stuff ("Handy", "Jail Bait", "The Phoenix"), you should check out New England. This was one of the Laurie Wisefield/Andy Powell albums (Wisefield later left to work with Tina Turner for quite a while), and has some outstanding songs - "Outward Bound" (maybe one of the best instrumentals around) and "Runaway"
Sorry to dig up such an old thread but a key element to MT's tone, on the Tbirds at least, is just using the neck pickup. Don't think anyone else pointed that out so I thought I'd better.
Lemmy does that with his Rick.
M. Turner is one rare cat! Like Lemmy and Ronnie Lane, he just goes for it and plays the damn thing. No overplaying or underplaying from that guy!
Yep indeed. If you look at pics from the 70's, MT's Tbird has an extra knob where it was modified for stereo output. However he never used this option as he only ever used the neck pickup. You can still see a hole where the knob once was.
You know...after you said this, I went upstairs and plugged in my Jazz bass, turned the bridge pickup all the way down (with the neck pup all the way up), dropped to D, and played the opening to "The King Will Come".
At first, I couldn't get the growl, but the damnedest thing happened....as I started to play closer and closer to the neck with my fingers, the growl started to happen (which seemed kind of counterintuitive to me). As soon as I got into Geezer Butler territory on the fretboard with my plucking fingers, I got the sound!!! Holy crap dude...that it amazing! Thanks for this!
I then turned on my Russian Big Muff Pi...put the Sustain to 12 o'clock with the Tone all the way off. Tubey breakup made the riff even more juicy and cool. Sweet!
