Geeze man, my first bass was an extremely well made Ibanez copy of a Blonde Rickenbacker back in.. like 1977 or thereabouts.. I would have bought a real rick over the years but I ended up a finger player,.. and bought a Steinberger XL2 that gave me the sound I was looking for. Man, I can't believe it.
I saw Yes in concert in Cincinnati, probably in 1983 or so. Great show. I think I have some negatives from a camera I smuggled in there, and I managed to get a few salvageable shots.
Yes' "90125" album was part of my teenage soundtrack- we listened to that on my BF's parent's hi-fi, with giant high-end Altec Lansing speakers, in their glass-walled living room, overlooking the Cumberland river channel... ahh, those were the DAYS.
The sonic quality and production on that recording raised the bar. Only Peter Gabriel's "So" impacted me in a similar way for its production quality.
I was listening to that CD after my last post at eardrum-blistering level (OK, just DAMN LOUD and I need a new 12" sub speaker now) when my honey came home...
Good shiZnit. They don't make rockn'roll like they used to. I actually had a conversation with a BFF today to that end, and he said "Rock is just a niche now..."
I missed Chris Stapleton recently when he came to the Bijou. His musicianship and songcraft are one of the few I know of now that are worth a listen.
Not to be too off topic, but the bass line here is fantastic. I actually heard him live at the Shed with this band... the guitar bridge will make your hair stand on end.
Good memories! I tuned the first set of speakers I built to the first Boston album. They were nice speakers.
And probably my first engineering success (as a pimply punk assed high school senior). I actually dug into the specs of the woofers, and tried to understand all of them, really understand them.
I finally got to the "efficiency" spec. Which is a measure of how much noise comes out for each watt going in. And I went far enough to understand the units...
What!?!?! You mean that if my efficiency value (measured in decibels) is one number higher (96 DB SPL instead of 95 DB SPL), my 40 watt amp now sounds like an 80 watt amp? Seriously? And by spending an extra $30 for each woofer, I can get 3 digits better SPL?!?!?!? Dang! Sign me up!
Geeze man, my first bass was an extremely well made Ibanez copy of a Blonde Rickenbacker back in.. like 1977 or thereabouts.. I would have bought a real rick over the years but I ended up a finger player,.. and bought a Steinberger XL2 that gave me the sound I was looking for. Man, I can't believe it.
Mike- you don't have that old Ibanez, do you? They made some really nice copies back then. I remember many considered their knockoffs better than the originals in the 1970's.
I also greatly admired Rickenbackers. When I finally got semi-serious about bass playing ~20 years ago, I thought seriously about buying one. I'm a lefty, so finding one wasn't easy. I finally located a brand new one in a shop in Raleigh, NC (~250 miles from me) and went to check it out when we visited my wife's parents who lived nearby. It was absolutely "virgin"; still in the original case and wrapped in tissue paper when the salesman brought it out. 5 minutes later, I quickly figured out it just wouldn't work for me. This one had the "horseshoe"magnets around the main pickup that made placing your plucking hand really awkward. But damn, it was pretty!
Back on topic, RIP Chris. I don't think anyone else could touch him when it came to playing a Ric.
No man... I wish. It was very pretty and played very well. Action was great. I used to sleep with it often. (I think I sold it to a friend years ago) I also got rid of the Steinberger too,... Only because my gf at the time kicked me out and I needed the money. I have a Fender P Deluxe with Ampeg Portaflex PF-500 thru a SWR Triad cab, gets decent variety of sound with heavy strings (Dean Markley Blue Steel 50-105's). I never mastered the 4 string (IMO) so I didn't attempt the 5. But it has been years since I played regular but this news about Chris Squire brings back whirlwind of memories. I am also remembering the dedication I had along with all my aspirations. I just have a small home studio now.
I've seen yes many times in many places and the concert that I always remember was from the 90125 tour at Macky Auditorium in Boulder. At the beginning of "Owner of a Lonely Heart", when the drums and bass kick in, I was standing behind the last row of seats and you could see the sound wave from the drum crash move up the auditorium and then felt a quite impressive thump to the chest as it reached me. About a third of the audience sat unmoving after the last note played in complete awe of what we just heard.