The Last Bass Outpost
Gear Discussion Forums => Gibson Basses => Topic started by: Chris P. on September 28, 2009, 10:53:05 PM
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Adam Clayton of U2 seems to have some nice Gibsons and Epiphones. According to website http://www.u2-stage-and-studio.com/adam/id8.html he has the following ones:
EPIPHONE // Rivoli // 19xx // natural finish
EPIPHONE // Rivoli // 19xx // tobacco sunburst
GIBSON // Les Paul Signature bass // 1973-1979 (exact vintage to be determined) // gold finish (Use: Mysterious Way during U2:360 tour.)
GIBSON // Thunderbird bass // 19xx // mahogany finish
GIBSON // Thunderbird (reverse) bass // 19xx // mahogany finish
GIBSON // Triumph [aka: Les Paul Recording bass] // vintage from between 1975-1979 // white finish
[I have an short-scale Gibson Les Paul Recording Bass from the ’70s. I don’t know what it is about this one—it’s a very inspiring instrument. The strings very rarely get changed, and I haven’t changed the way it’s set up since I bought it. But I always have it sitting around the studio. When I put it on, I always go somewhere with it, playing little melodies. That’s what I used to play the countermelody on “Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own.” Adam has been using this bass for "One" during shows on the U2:360 tour]
GIBSON // RD Artist Bass // 1977-1981 (vintage uncertain) / natural finish
Of course he also has and uses Fenders, Laklands, Warwicks and more. At this site you can find some pics too.
Today I found this one Facebook:
(http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k165/chrispdekker/7727_139234138354_623538354_2691847.jpg)
(http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k165/chrispdekker/7727_139234148354_623538354_2691849.jpg)
(http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k165/chrispdekker/7727_139234168354_623538354_2691852.jpg)
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By the way, all of the Gibsons that Adam will be playing on U2's current tour were bought from Kevin Borden (kebo on BABP, Kevin Probass Borden on the old Pit). Kevin's new online store is at .... http://www.kebosbassworks.com/Items.aspx?CatId=1
Some tasty stuff there!
(Somebody in the US should jump on that white Greco 'bird)
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That white Triumph is very GAS worthy
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Hey, isn't it time that someone mentions how Clayton can't play?!
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Hey, isn't it time that someone mentions how Clayton can't play?!
Remember the less notes you play the more money you make!
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I would love to be making a living right now doing what Adam Clayton does, rather than what I do...
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LOL! I see Kevin's still trying to sell that EB-650 for $5K. Dare to dream big, I guess.
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Remember the less notes you play the more money you make!
That reminds me of a quote of the late great JAE. He once did a tour with McCartney or Beatles songs or something and he declared he had never earned so much money playing so few notes.
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Clayton was best when Fräulein Campbell was still his squeeze. She's one hot fudge.
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He can't be all that bad if he plays a RD ;)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/Fenderbird/Musicians/3349350794_a70681097b_m.jpg)
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U2's playing here in town October 3rd. If it wasn't for Bono (and the $200+ ticket price) I'd consider thinking about possibly going. Maybe.
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U2's playing here in town October 3rd. If it wasn't for Bono (and the $200+ ticket price) I'd consider thinking about possibly going. Maybe.
Yeah, U2 would be SO much better without Bono. :rolleyes: :P
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Clayton may not be the most clever bass player concerning walkin bass, and stuff. But I think his playing is important to the sound of U2. Not that I've ever cared much for them. But imagine how a bassist like - say - John Entwhistle would have changed the whole concept of that band... Well, maybe that's not such a bad idea...... Don't tell anyone where you first read it...
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U2's music never registered with me, so I couldn't tell you how Clayton plays. Yet the people who criticize Clayton often claim they're not U2 fans. If you really aren't a fan of the band, why would you get worked up over how he plays?
The guy can afford anything, and he chooses to have a number of Gibsons in his collection. 'nuff said.
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I can't get that picture of the Dude licking Adam's neck out of my head!
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I was joking. He's good enough and his playing not any dumber than most stuff you hear on the radio. Let's face it, people don't find Geddy Lee's bassplaying accessible. Rush's audience is 110 percent male, U2 reaches out to everyone. Except to me that is. I think I'd even prefer a Rush concert and count out odd meters.
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His playing fits the music--it's what I try to do in the studio, also...
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Flash thought: You don't have to be an upfront player like JAE who indeed might have played U2 to pieces. You can be introvert, tasteful and blindingly melodic. Case in point: John Deacon. He would have probably played one little run more on I still haven't found what I'm looking for, but it wouls have made all the difference. OTOH: No one has yet asked The Edge to play the opening run of TYA's I'm going home either, all his effects wouldn't help him on that.
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Dusty Hill is another example, keep it simple = make lots of money!
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I like them and Rush, as does Roshina... I can dig "simple" and "complex"...
... and he plays a natchul RD like mine used to be... ;D
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I don't like everything that U2 does but I can appreciate Adam Clayton's playing in service to the song, the band centers on Bono and Edge, he supports that - Nothing wrong in being a soldier to a good cause, sure wish I a 10th measure of his fame and fortune!
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When are you gonna get an RD in your stable, Mark...?
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Minimalist bass player's oath: I promise to play the root, the whole root and nothing but the root, so help me Dusty Hill. 8)
Uwe, I knew you were joking. It's still true that he gets grief from people who think a star should have more presence than he does.
That's just the way of the world. Anyone who has been around musicians' forums or even just read bass or guitar magazines knows that what gets the most interest are speed and complexity. To my simple mind, neither is necessary for the music to be good.
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love ZZ, eh on U2 and absolutly hate RUSH
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I don't like U2 that much, but I love it he takes a lot of old Gibsons on tour! Can you name any other big band who does that?
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There is always a sports element in instrumental playing and that appeals to a mostly male audience who likes the contest aspect. It's also a macho thing, boys wanna play flash. That has its place as long as it doesn't become the sole modus operandi of a player. Mozart was an adolescent musical show-off who in his compositions tried to show off what he could do (and other contemporaries couldn't) - not everybody liked that at the time or even today.
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It's still true that he gets grief from people who think a star should have more presence than he does.
Same with Entwistle, who just stood in the back or corner playing while everone else is jumping around wind milling.
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JAE would have presence even if he was invisible.
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Same with Entwistle, who just stood in the back or corner playing while everone else is jumping around wind milling.
JAE would have presence even if he was invisible.
Bingo!!!!
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Yeah, Entwhistle just stood there. The calm in the eye of the storm. I remember he once said, in an interview, that he couldn't move like the others, because that meant he would lose the beat in the rhythm. Don't know if he was only joking. Maybe?
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I had no clue who "Adam Clayton" is. Learned something new!
Adam Clayton Powell, I remember just fine! I always claimed him as a long, long-lost relative.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Clayton_Powell,_Jr.
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Entwistle just stood there, but his playing was upfront, to the point of being abrasive, especially towards the end. As regards the roles they adopted, Townshend was more of a tenor bassist/rhythm guitarist while Entwhistle was a lead guitarist tuned down an octave. Townshend even said as much in an interview and it was an apt description. Most non-bassists don't even realize that the My Generation bass solo is not actually Townshend on (baritone) guitar.
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Now that I did not know, but I never was a big Who fan...
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Most non-bassists don't even know which one is the bass.
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I heard people talk about the fat guitar intro of Baba O'Riley. Pete comes in at the second verse...
Entwistle said in an interview that once he decided to move a lot on stage on day just to see what happened. Well, people just looked at him more and that was it. He didn't care, so he stopped after that one gig.
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Just bumping this because Adam Clayton is mentioned in a "best of Craigslist" ad I saw posted elsewhere.
Free Concert at Guitar Center (http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/bhm/1119217946.html) :mrgreen:
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Marooned in sicily with a U2 and a Bruce Springsteen Greatest Hits, I've been fortunate enough to delve into Herr Clayton's bass playing more extensively. It's not all uncreative, I notice. On the very early stuff he was a lively new-wavish player, rhythmically much more busy than today. In the middle phase he became a bit complacent/unimaginative, but perked up again on the last three studio albums. That is not root note droning on "It's a beautiful day", but a nicely propulsive melody that carries the song.
Did I mention that Naomi Campbell was hot too?
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... "Too hot to handle..."
Oops... wrong group... ;)
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... "Too hot to handle..."
Oops... wrong group... ;)
U2, UFO.... Hey they both fly, right? ;D
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Not the U2 it didn't. Thanks to the defensive might of the Red Army Airforce vigilantes and their splendid rockets, flightime of that symbol of yankee imperialist agreession was wiped from the stratospheric skies of Mother Russia. !-p
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I remember that...(U2's)...
I had almost forgotten what they really were.
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I remember the b&w pics of the shot down US pilot who luckily survived - was his name Powers or something akin? -, albeit with some bonus time in Russian custody. Chrustchev wasn't amused, quite rightly so as international air space law was clearly on Russia's side here. The pilot was "returned" to the US after a few months or a year or so, no doubt in exchange for Russian spies that had enjoyed similar hospitality in Langley. Did he still have an Air Force career after that?
Whether U2 (the band) actually ever intended to commemorate the spy plane or whether they simply used Prince-write for "You too!" as was popular in the early eighties I don't kow.
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Not the U2 it didn't. Thanks to the defensive might of the Red Army Airforce vigilantes and their splendid rockets, flightime of that symbol of yankee imperialist agreession was wiped from the stratospheric skies of Mother Russia. !-p
But they never got a SR 71 "Blackbird" and for sure they haven't gotten the Blackbird's replacement ;D
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Gary Francis Powers flying a CIA U-2 spy plane.
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All that spying and they "still haven't found what I'm looking for..." (add groan here)
Didn't they give up after the SR71 (for some odd reason the USofA allowed the fastest of them to reside in a UK museum - Duxford) ...
(http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu280/kjrstewart/random%20stuff/2006090359.jpg)
this one... I have more detail shots for the "geeks"...
... and now it's all done by satelite, or by drones "flown" out of Vegas (ish)?
Powers (from my wife's home state) died back in '77, reputedly "sacrificing" himself in a helicopter crash, which could have hit some kids... he was just short of 48... RIP...
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Either the CIA or the KGB got him in the end then.
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(http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r123/petercrossley/Bono1.jpg)
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... and now it's all done by satelite, or by drones "flown" out of Vegas (ish)?
We still fly U2s. A good portion of my basic training flight (from back in 1998) went on to be U2 crew chiefs.
Creech AFB (about an hour North of Las Vegas) is one of the worst places I've ever been. The town consists of two trailer parks, a high school, a gas station, a casino, and oddly enough a pagan temple. There was a sign for a bar somewhere in town, but we could never find the bar.
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All that spying and they "still haven't found what I'm looking for..." (add groan here)
Didn't they give up after the SR71 (for some odd reason the USofA allowed the fastest of them to reside in a UK museum - Duxford) ...
(http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu280/kjrstewart/random%20stuff/2006090359.jpg)
this one... I have more detail shots for the "geeks"...
... and now it's all done by satelite, or by drones "flown" out of Vegas (ish)?
Powers (from my wife's home state) died back in '77, reputedly "sacrificing" himself in a helicopter crash, which could have hit some kids... he was just short of 48... RIP...
Well, that's what they would you have believe ;D Do you really think that there was nothing in the inventory to replace it? Google "Aurora" and see what kind of whacky stuff comes up ;D
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Ahh the "Skunk-Works" hypersonics... bit like the Boeing 2707... ;)
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Oh man, Mark... I'm totally stealing that one!