Bass Corner!

[PhilMulf1.]

Hi All,
Just thought I would start a little 'Bass Corner' here for us low enders! I have three basses with Bare Knuckles in.
1. A 1982 Fender Squier Jazz. It's an early JV serial number bass with a rosewood fingerboard '62 reissue style. I use it every night in the West End Show 'Dirty Dancing'. This sounds full and bright.
2. A 1983 Fender Squier Precision. Again a JV serial number bass with standard wound pickups and a rosewood fingerboard in '62 reissue style. This is one cool bass and sounds funky and greasy!
3. A 1999 USA '57 reissue Fender Precision Bass and therefore it has a maple neck and has 'The Ox' overwounds in it. This is the bass in the 'You Tube' clip.
I have played on quite a few albums with these basses. All of the recent stuff I did with Stone Walters (check him out, he's great) were done on the '57 with The Ox pickups. I think there were 7 tracks that I did recently.
I'm going to do a new 'Jazz Bass' clip for Tim shortly. Check out You Tube.
There are others using the pickups in the West End. Greg Haggar in 'Jersey Boys' has some in his Lakland and my old mate Glyn Evans has some in his 70's Jazz Bass. Glyn used the bass with Ray Davies recently and loved the tone.
Keep them peeled for the next instalment of 'Bass Corner'!
Phil Mulford. :wink

[AndyR]

Welcome to the forum, good to hear about BKPs in action in the west end... :D

I'm primarily a guitarist, but I played bass in a worship band for years.

I only really play bass on home recordings now, for which I use a Variax bass. But I have to admit, a nice Jazz with the appropriate BKPs would be a rather fine luxury to have. I've even considered ripping out the Variax guts and converting it to use standard pickups - but I suspect that I'd miss the Variax side of it, and it would cost more than getting a decent standard bass!

There are some other "bassists" lurking amongst the regular "banjo-playing" posters on here :lol: - not sure how many of them have BKPs in their basses though.

[Fourth Feline]

Yes, welcome indeed !  :)

I do not own / play a Bass, but I will enjoy reading about them - and understanding more .  If I ever changed instruments from the six string, it would be to the Bass guitar and it's inherent disciplines / challenges .   I still think Bass guitarists far too often get a bad rap for them ( and their art ) being somewhat uncomplicated ;  but it astounds me how the skilled bass player moves so fast, embellishes, and holds the other instruments up so well on those telegraph poles you call strings .   Many Bass players I have met, get into theory and the technical side much earlier than their six string counterparts.  

Shake the ground, shake the ground ...  8)

[Philly Q]

Many Bass players I have met, get into theory and the technical side much earlier than their six string counterparts.  

And they're usually much more open to new technology than guitarists are!

I've got a bass, but I can't really play it at all (just like guitar really....).  I do find that the big strings, high action and enormous scale length make the guitar seem physically much easier to play in comparison, which is no bad thing - I need all the help I can get.

No intention of changing the pickups though, because I have no concept really of what's a "good" bass sound, it's too different from the guitar sounds I'm familiar with.

[WezV]

i have a BKP P-bass pickup here waiting to go in a bass... god knows when i will actually finish building it though ;)

[Roobubba]

My guitar is almost a bass, does that count? :D

I've been trying to convert our bassist to BKPs for ages, but he's happy with his EMGs for now :( Such a shame as he has a couple of fantastic basses which would really come alive with a decent set of passives in!

Roo

[HTH AMPS]

The majority of bass players I've worked with use active, or at least some kind of on-board active eq.  I only know one bass player who's old school and uses a Jazz Bass straight up and he has the best tone.

[Afghan Dave]

My Fender Japan P-Bass currently has actives in and it was the biggest mistake fitting those.

My next step is replacing that pickup.

I started on bass and really miss it.  :(

[38thBeatle]

As many will know, I was a bass player for many years. I have a Fender Precision but it is all standard.I like passive basses and would use anything else by choice.I am very old school I know. My brother has a couple of basses with BKPs in though. Welcome to the forum-your Youtube clips might jog me into upgrading my bass.

[St.James]

 8)

Though I am not a BASS PLAYER I do have a couple of FENDER JV"S guitars TWO TELES and ONE STRAT.
IMO when FENDER USA snet those over to JAPAN to give them a trial rn on getting the contrat to continue to make kow end guitars for FENER is turned out that the JV:S were someof the BEST guitars FENDER ever made.

I pid 100.00 for the TELES each in 82 and 150 for the strat...now they're fetching 1,000.00 tpo 1500.00 depending on ORIGINALITY !!!!!!

Though personally I would never change a thing on any of them.

BUT LORD if you could here what the PETER GREEN HUMS did for my CUSTOM SHOP DOUBLE CUT LES PAUL.

I did the PETER GREEN mod to a fewof my own pups and it wa close but TIM nailed it.....so I yanked mine out and in wnet the BK PG;s and it;s been heavenever since.

St.James

[Fourth Feline]

The majority of bass players I've worked with use active, or at least some kind of on-board active eq.  I only know one bass player who's old school and uses a Jazz Bass straight up and he has the best tone.

The Bass player in a Soul / Rock'n'Roll covers band I used to play with, used an 'Old school' rig in the early days, and the notes / riffs that emanated from it were ( in the very best way ) like a crack of sonic thunder.  Sadly, he went for a cheapish 'New school' active in the later times - and  the magic was lost .   I had to put heavy bottom strings on my Strat -  and double up the Bass lines for definition. His 'soft' rig had it's place for the after hours stuff , but old school, still ruled ...   8)

[Afghan Dave]

Welcome St.James...

No NEED to SHOUT randomly... we CAN hear YOU!!  :lol: :lol:

[PhilKing]

I have a 66 Precision with a hot 62 BK P-bass pickup and a Bravewood 61 Jazz with the BK Jazz set.  I'm about to order a Shell Pink 56 P-Bass from Bravewood and that will have the old 4 pole P-Bass pickup that is new to the BK range.

[St.James]

 8)
Sorry Dave,
I use caps sometimes without even noticing..
You see in the past year I have had 5 heart attacks a stroke, and 7 heart surgeries,the lastest on Jan 28th I had a quad bypass and a Pacemaker installed.....so I am a bit beat up.

It almost cost me a record contract with Alligator.
I was due to hand them 16 tracks almost 9 months ago luckily they are nice people and understand.
Had it been my old label Arista they would have sued me....thank god Alligator loves it's artists as much as they do the Blues.
Ok so back to the CAPS.....when in NAMN I got schrapnel in my eyes and it caused damage to the arteries that feed blood to the back of the pupil  to make my eyes focus. I was not getting barely any blood so I could barely see.(focus)

I had my  drivers liscense taken for a few months and could not see my settings on my amps etc....

Since getting the Pacemaker and bringing my heart rate from 37 to 70 has made it a whole lot better but that is still one of the things they are looking at tying to replace the arterie's that feed both eyes so I can see.
Even glasses won't fix this.

My Apologies
St.James

[Afghan Dave]

Once more, I'm very sorry if I've been in anyway overbearing or rude.

Dave