G.A.S. has reared it's ugly head...

So, as I sit down to write this, it's with a belly full of cake from my youngest's 3rd Birthday...Happy Birthday Riley! You're an awesome little kid! Daddy loves you!

Yeh, so I did a session week before last with Katelyn Dawn for her new E.P. ...pretty cool tunes, be sure to check it when it comes out! A couple of tunes needed something a little...different...so my good buddy Free from Forevertree lent me one of his axes, a Dean 6 string fretless with a an EMG45HZ in the neck spot, and a Seymour Duncan "Basslines" pickup at the bridge. I think the song and a half I used it on (one song has it all the way through, the other I played the chorus and bridge with my MTD Kingston Z5, the verses and the intro and outro were fretless...)

It really made a difference, thanks Free (AKA Geoff Breen!) I had a fretless previously, but I sold it along with some other axes to make room for my MTD Kingstons, of which i now have three...the pre-production rehearsals (glad we did those) and the session (nailed everything first take, just had to do some punchins on the fretless parts) made me realize it may be a good idea to have a fretless about on the regular...while I appreciate the 6 and I'll play it as long as I'm allowed, my fingers ain't long enough to really do it justice...reading up on Andrew Gouche's philosophy I flirted with the idea of a fretted six for a bit...but it just isn't ergonomically feasible (besides, you've probably heard the old saw: "what do you call a 6 string bass player? You don't...well, I guess you do if it's Gouche!!!)

So, I'm in the market for a 5 string fretless. The buyer of my old fretless bass, which indeed is a fine bass and modded with active electronics, has offerred to sell it back to me...however, I find that I'm spoiled by the assymetrical necks on my 'Kingstons(the ergonomic thing again! ). So I've politely declined and started looking about...it'll be awhile before I actually pull the trigger, but I figure I should do the research now rather than last minute!

So I was looking at a fretless MTD Kingston Z5 in Natural Finish at The Perfect Bass (was gonna post the pic, I'm sure James would be cool with it, but thought I better hold off on that for now...if he's cool with it, I'll edit it in later!)

Then though, I heard about the MTD Kingston Saratoga coming out of NAMM...I was super stoked...I had wanted to get one of the MTD J5s (Norm Stockton has number two, the model was later changed to Saratoga 5), but the price would have had me sleeping on the couch or in the car per Ms. Groove! So, here was a chance to get a Saratoga, and (hopefully!) still get tosleep in my nice, warm, quilt top mattressed bed!

The only things that gave me pause was the 34" scale. and the passive electronics...I haven't played a passive axe in over 20 years! Also, I'm pretty used to the 35" scale on my three current basses...going back and forth may not be so cool, y'know?

So I contacted the man himself to see what he thought...in his usual fashion, Mike Tobias was only too gracious and kind enough to take the time to respond to my question: Can you give me an idea of what I could expect tonally from the basswood used in the Saratoga vs. the mahogany/burled maple top in the Z5?


His reply: "The basswood will have a warmer smoother bottom end. The mahogany will have more mid range and a bit more focus on the bottom end."

Thanks Mike!

Still not quite sure...the Saratoga will be at a better price point (which Ms. Groove will appreciate!), but is it the right axe for me? No, don't suggest it...I did consider getting both, but I don't do enough fretless work to justify it...though if that changes, well, yeh sure I will! The goal is to pick the right axe to compliment my two ZXs and my Z5...

...aesthetically, the natural gloss Z5 will be a reverse mirror image of my ZX #26; an translucent black 'Saratoga would be a dark fraternal twin to ZX #31...but the sounds...and Long & McQuade doesn't carry MTDs currently, so I can't try before I buy...I gotta pick right and then live with it...

...so...what do YOU think? Aesthetics? Sound? Pricing? Give me your thoughts on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, or respond here in the comments section, or send me an e-mail...even if you're not a musician, give me your opinion please!

Rev. Groove

(P.S.)Working on a new long term business venture...details to follow soon!

----------------
Now playing: Jarvis Church - Who Will Be Your Man
via FoxyTunes

May Update

Just a quick update, but first, I neglected to post a gig report on the Keys N Krates gig at the Supermarket April 10th...great venue, the place was packed out! Free the Robots started the night off with a killer set, and then the KnK Krew killed it like usual! Great night all around!

Next show is London 17th at the Tap House in London, this is THE May 2-4 bash to be at (okay, this year V-Day is not on the 24th, but that's what we've been calling it since way back in the day!) Definitely worth the trip details here .

Before that though, I'm doing a worship gig this Sunday morning with the Weber's at the Joshua Centre in Hamilton, it's been awhile since I've played with them as we got the fam settled into our new church 24/7 , it'll be nice to play with them again. But if you're in Burlington on a Sunday AM or PM, swing by the old NRG/Kingdom Nightclub...it's in a club, but the church is NOT a club...unlike anything you've seen, totally change your paradigm of church!

So, those are the only two shows on the horizon...but I have a summer gig coming up that I'm really excited about! I won't say anything yet as the rest of the band needs to be finalized, but Tune and I are going to be really busy this summer!

Still working on simplifying the rig. As much as I love Traynor gear, I needed something powerful yet portable, so for now the amp is a GK 2x12 combo (Neo 1001/212), I didn't used to really like GK amps, but Norm Stockton showed me that not only are they great sounding amps, they sound great with MTD Basses! Seth Horan, another killer solo bass player, has recently signed on as a GK endorsee as well.

The bi-amping capablities and the ability to cut those high frequencies that I don't like sold me...plus it's distributed in Canada by Yorkville Sound, so it's still in the family! I still use a Traynor DB300T with a custom 2x12 cab as a house rig at church though, and will pull the combo for smaller gigs.

The rack has been gone for awhile now. Too heavy, and the extra noise added to my signal resulting in arguments with sound guys just got to be too much of a hassle. So I've been looking to add to my pedal board the one effect that left my rack that I feel needed replacing. The dbx 120a Subharmonic Synth was great, but the rack had to go...after some research, I decided on an MXR M-288. There's a wicked player Uriah Duffy that has demo'd it, check out his Youtube clips.

Here's the frustrating thing...they're for sale all over the place. You can get them on E-Bay, theperfectbass.com has them available, different stores in the states...but they're still on backorder here in Canada it seems! What gives??? I'm using an Octaver from a different manufacturer that will remain nameless, it was (a distant) second choice based on my research and sound clips I'd heard...but it really doesn't track well down low...it sounded great when a colleague played a Strat through it, but I wouldn't reccommend it for bass. So, I wait in frustration...no love for the Canadian bass playing consumer, argghhh!!!

Hoping it comes in this week...then I'll be pretty satisfied with the set up...and be looking to a.) do Berklee online sometime next year and get my Bass Specialist Certificate and b.) get that MTD Saratoga 5 string...though if I can find a Czech NOS version I may go for that...

...until next time...



----------------
Now playing: Michael Jackson - Don't Stop Till You Get Enough
via FoxyTunes