Burn the Heretic!

[white_cloud]

What you are saying then Graeme is that Geddy lee is basically a wimp, hee hee! Now I think of it he doesnt look like he works out. I think he should work out and get an Alembic..a custom made two series would suit him beautifully, Im sure he could afford it! P.s. sorry Geddy if you see this, Im just kidding

[olieoliver]

It all boils down to economics. Rush doesn't sell out football stadiums any longer so they need to supplement their income any way they can.
Not only will Fender give Geddy Jazz basses for free they probably will pay him good money to be seen playing them.  
While Rush is not as popular as they were say in the 80?s, Geddy is still one of the more recognized bassist in the world so it benefits Fender for him to be seen playing  their basses.
Now this may not actually be the case in this scenario but it is a good possibility.
 
Olie

[white_cloud]

I think you are right Olie, money is behind most motives..Sad but true!

[keith_h]

While I'm sure the endorsement is involved, Geddy has used Fender basses for years. While he used the Ricknbacker's live most if his early 80's recordings were done with a Jazz Bass. He started using other basses in the mid-80's and believe he went back to Jazz Basses in the early 90's. I think he kind of proves the old adage that the bassist has more to do with the sound than the instrument.  
 
Keith

[olieoliver]

That kind of fuels the endorsement theory. Maybe he was being payed to play the Rick's in public during the 80's altough he obviously prefered the Jazz's therfore that's what he recorded with.  
 
I am by no means knocking him for doing that either. I'd do the same same thing were I in his shoes. Gotta pay the bills man!
 
In fact if Fender would like to give me an endorsement I am open for discussion.  
 
Have their people call my people and we'll see what we can work out,  
Olie
 
I agree Keith, the player has more to do with the sound than the instrument itself.

[keith_h]

I thought I read in an interview somewhere that he used the Rick's as they were better at reproducing the studio sound while playing live.  
 
Anyway endorsements or not I'll never be part of the crowd that has to worry about them. I can safely say that music will be a cash outflow for me for the remainder of my years. :-)
 
Keith

[alembic_doctor]

The only way to end up with a million dollars in this business is to start out with two million

[olieoliver]

The closest thing I've ever had to an endorsement is free beer while we played. LOL

[white_cloud]

Consider yourself lucky Olie, all I got free was the empty beer cans thrown at me

[olieoliver]

I have that too John,  excewpt they were bottles.

[keith_h]

Isn't this why they invented chicken wire for the front of the stage? The stories are starting to remind of an old bar called the Rustic Inn just outside West Chicago, Il. There were usually a couple of airborne bottles shortly before the crowd tumbled into the parking lot.  
 
Keith

[2400wattman]

You guys ought to come out to some of these Fraternity parties we play. We do a 2 hour show straight with no break. These kids want us to play until we have to stop(2-3 A.M.) and we don't do that. So what you have is a bunch of drunk, unruly spoiled brats pissed because we're not a juke box band that will play all hours of the night.It makes for an interesting evening when you have to call the cops for fear of your own safety being compromised, and it's happened many times.  
Oh yes and Geddy's Jazz tone has more low end than the Wal's but not as much clarity.

[white_cloud]

Chicken wire?? Reminds me of the old movie roadhouse with Jeff Heally sitting in the firing line..man! Funny enough, its always the spoiled priveliged kids that are the worst when they dont get what they want. I recently read the Jaco Pastorious biography and had to chuckle when I read about some of the abuse he dished out to audiences when gigs started to fall apart around him during his sad meltdown..definite case of the shoe being on the other foot! I think Geddys sound has a really cutting, raspy edge to it..effective at pushing his sound through the mix but not the best tone in the world by far! Wal basses always had a lovely tone and beats the Fender hands down in my opinion.

[bigbadbill]

There's only one bass for Geddy in my opinion and that's the Ric. I actually think the Wal is his worst sound by far. I've seen him live using the Ric and the Wal and the Wal wasn't even close. I love aggressive sounds though, my favourite bassists include Chris Squire, Entwistle, Lemmy, Jean Jacques Burnel, early Mike Rutherford and Roger Glover (Ric-era) etc. I do like Wals but I don't feel the sound fits Rush all that well.  
 
Getting back on thread, as I discussed with Graeme at Bass Day UK I'm a big Motorhead fan so Lem can do little wrong in my eyes (in fact I actually had a M/head t-shirt on whilst talking to you Graeme!). I also vastly prefer Stan to Marcus. It's funny, Marcus is a legend and eveything, but I've just never been able to get into him all that much. I don't really like his sound or his style, but I would have loved to have seen his show though. It's always a pleasure seeing anyone of that calibre live whether they're your cup of tea or not; for instance Jeff Berlin saved Bass Day for me, although I wouldn't have said I'm his biggest fan. FWIW I didn't think it was a patch on last year.  
 
BTW Graeme, that Spector went back......it sounded terrible at home! One of those sounds great in the shop moments.....I thought I was past those!

[jacko]

I thought you were going to say Mrs BBB threatened you with something sharp unless it went back ;-) Shame - it looked a really nice instrument.
Most of the comments in other forums around Bassday have been to do with getting some other styles in next time. I'll agree, jeff was superb and incredibly professional considering all the power went off after his first song. I don't know if you stayed till the end but Hadrien feraud was an eyeopener. only 23 and playing with john mclaughlin. I still can't get over his technique. He was a really nice guy to talk to after the show too.  
 
Graeme