I agree about John Taylor's bass playing, although I am loathe to admit listening to DD in a public forum. But hey, I came of age in the 80's and my girlfriend loved them . . .
From WikiPedia (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Taylor_(bass_guitarist))
The bass guitar most commonly associated with John Taylor is the Japanese Aria Pro II, which he used during the height of Duran Duran's fame; he also promoted the instrument in a series of magazine advertisements. In the mid-1980s, John tried other basses such as Steinberger and Wal (interestingly, although the Wal is considered by many to be one of the world's finest basses, Taylor was unimpressed with his). Taylor eventually settled on Phillip Kubicki's Factor bass with a unique drop-D latch on the head. Taylor also inherited the Music Man StingRay belonging to his idol Bernard Edwards.
As of 2007, Taylor still plays the Aria and the Stingray, but has also been seen playing a 1962 reissue Fender Precision Bass, a Gibson Les Paul bass, a Warwick Thumb 5 and a Peavey Cirrus 5 and 4 string.
Noting Taylor's loyalty to the same Peavey bass guitar onstage with Duran Duran for several years, in early 2006, Peavey Guitars asked Taylor to create a signature 4-string bass guitar. With his design partner Patty Palazzo, and designer Ted McCann, Taylor created the limited-edition Peavey Liberator J84, which featured a detachable amplifier built into a custom-built case. The amp could be expanded into an external speaker or amplifier to increase volume and flexibility. Taylor went on to design a six-string guitar, the Peavey Liberator A435 (named after the main road that led from his childhood home into the city of Birmingham, England), as well. Only 100 each of the numbered-and-signed basses and guitars were made available to the public, in October 2006.
Bass Player Article : (
http://www.bassplayer.com/article/duran-durans-john/dec-07/32777)
Current Basses
Peavey Cirrus 4MFB 4-string & 5MFB 5-string; Bernard Edwards?s ?77 Music Man StingRay and B.C. Rich; Bass Centre Elites Stainless Steel Stadium Series strings (.045?.130)
?80s & ?90s Basses
Aria Pro II SB600, Aria Pro II SB1000; Kubicki Factor; Yamaha and Washburn acoustic bass guitars; Steinberger XM-4; Warwick Thumb 5-string; Carruthers electric upright bass; Gibson Les Paul Basses
More here:
http://www.coreoneproduct.com/pages/featured/WeShare/C1CBlogSpot/JohnTaylor.html
