Daryl Hunt
Your Worst Nightmare
- Banned
- #21
I spent 23 years playing Fenders. Not from Cars or Trucks. And I can't think of a deadlier up close weapon than a Fender Precision.
...or the shorter scale Fender Jazz bass for really close up. Then bury them in an Ampeg SVT cabinet. Plenty of room in there.
On and off (mostly on) I wore that Precision strapped to my neck. It's like having an entire lumber yard hanging from your neck. But the best sounding lumber yard ever devised by man. If you need one sustained note for the entire set, you could pluck it, order a drink, sit down and only have to get up to end that note. Break out the bengay. Never weighed the thing. But the Jazz was a faster instrument by far. Just didn't have the sustain.
I bought a brand new Gibson Les Paul recording bass in '74, before I got out of the Army. Most unwieldy guitar ever made, unless you count those round-back Ovation acoustic guitars that slide off your knee when you're sitting. Bought that, a fender Jazz bass, and a crappy Acoustic solid state amp. Glad I didn't keep the bass, it would only be worth about $2 grand today, which isn't all that much appreciation.
Some of the Fender Stratocasters I had back in the 70's would probably be worth more. Nothing beats a real Strat played at an appreciable volume through a 100 Watt Fender Twin Reverb with 2-12" speakers, or an old Marshall JCM800 with double-stacked cabinets.
I played the Precision out of a Fender Bassman 135 6 tube and a JBL Caberet 15 cabinet. I was part of a warmup band for the "ReEntry of Johnny Rodrigez" tour so Fender sold me the Precision and the Head for dirt bottom. Otherwise I couldn't afford them. Now, I don't know the real power output of the 135 but it wasn't 135 watts. I played bass in a 1 acre club. We tried to feed my bass through the mains but the bass was bottoming out the 15s in the mains. I ended up playing just through the Fender/JBL combo. I spend the first set standing in front of it. But my ears were well above it. But the back of my legs went to sleep from the punishment. I ended up going off to the side for the rest of the evening and never made that mistake again. You can still find a couple or three Cabarets out there for less than a grand. But if you do find a Bassman 6 tube 135 get ready to shell out over 3500 bucks for it in any condition.
And I agree with you on the Fender Twin Reverb 4 tube. At one time, I owned one of those as well. I played a Tele through it. There still isn't anything with the versatility nor the warmth of that amp. Oh, and I am still a strat fan especially when you throw the back pickup out of phase.