Herr Trujillo with an 81 Gibson Flying V Bass ...

[lowend1]

Yeah, that is another one! 

And the new state of the art phasers don't really provide that hissy, wet  vintage sound either. I have a Boss state of the art phaser and it sounds nowhere as phaser'ish good as my old piece of shit Ibanez stomper (that mechanial click it had ...  ) did. It's way too dry and clinical - I have meanwhile bequeathed it onto our guitarist who likes it for Stones'y stuff.

I bought an Azor mini Phaser off Amazon for like $25. It would be nice if the slowest speed was a little more so, but otherwise it's great. I also bought a Flamma FC-05, which is a multi-modulation pedal. Very nice, but the Azor sounds better with bass. Tried a TC Electronics Blood Moon as well, but it was way too noisy and I sent it back.

[Basvarken]

in the Lizzy recordings (L&D, BBC) I think the phaser was added by the producer/engineer. Live he didn't use one.

[uwe]

Yeah, in a live setting with louder, more forceful music, phasers - to this day - can be tricky as they have you sacrifice a lot of punch. You're better off with a flanger or a chorus though the effect isn't quite the same.

For the same reason, Jon Lord gave up using Leslie Cabs when DP's music got louder with In Rock and amped his Hammond through Marshall guitar amps which gave him that direct roaring sound - the "Gorgan" as he would jokingly call how his Hammond and Blackmore's Strat sounded together.



In Rock, Fireball and Machine Head were all recorded with that Gorgan sound, he only reverted back to Leslie Cabs with Who Do We Think We Are and later on in the Mk III era because he felt his sonic role in the band had changed and the multiple riffing in Purple's music was no longer as prominent.

If you listen to anything from Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue mid-70ies, the whole band is absolutely drenched in phasing effects.  Even Rob Stoner, the bassist, let that stomp box run all the time.




(Wow, that's Mick Ronson in that vid, I knew he played with Dylan on some legs of the Rolling Thunder Revue, but I've never seen footage.)



I guess the mid-70ies were just the era of the phaser. I got mine around that time too - bought it used off my Jazz Rock/Weather Report-adoring bass teacher. Poor Lothar always gulped when I told him that my bass heroes were Glenn Hughes, Roger Glover, Alan Lancaster, Jim Lea, Martin Turner and Gene Simmons (all pick players - which he hated!). He tried to acquaint me with Jaco, my young ignorant self remained utterly unimpressed. I believe I was his most disappointing pupil ever. He did teach me the circle of fifths and lots of scales though, I'm eternally thankful for that.

[ilan]

The best looking V bass. And FINALLY somene moves the strap button to where it should be.

With the neck pickup solo'ed it sounds almost exactly like my slot headstock EB-0L with the OBL pickup hidden under the mud cover.

[uwe]

Yes, considering a Dutchman did it, it's very tasteful.

[gearHed289]

I recently bought myself a cheap phaser just to play this - and "Stranglehold"...

Haha! That brings back high school memories of borrowing a phaser from whoever when we had a gig so we could play Stranglehold.

[gearHed289]

in the Lizzy recordings (L&D, BBC) I think the phaser was added by the producer/engineer. Live he didn't use one.

He used an MXR Phase 90. He said something along the lines of "It's the only effect I'll allow myself." I read it in a magazine over 40 years ago, so please don't ask what my source for this is.  And I find it funny that some people argue it was a flanger when it is so obviously a phaser on Moonlight.

[lowend1]

He used an MXR Phase 90. He said something along the lines of "It's the only effect I'll allow myself." I read it in a magazine over 40 years ago, so please don't ask what my source for this is.  And I find it funny that some people argue it was a flanger when it is so obviously a phaser on Moonlight.

I just ran across - on Reverb - a previously unpublished interview Phil did with Tony Bacon in 1981 where he discusses his gear. In the midst of raving about his new Dynacord amp, he mentions, "And sometimes I used a flanger. I've gone off using it now, but I used to use a flanger on the bass, just to give it that bit of top without it being clacky."

[uwe]

Flanger, Phaser & Chorus - the Holy Trinity of drippy effects.



May I out myself? These days, my favorite stomper is, indeed, this here ...



In the SHIM position, yes, of all pansy positions and using the tap tempo foot switch. What a douchebag I am, I know. Other people have manly overdrives and distortion (which most of the time I can't really stand), but Uwe plays naive little melodies with a fairey sprinkle dust effect. Go to 09:00 here if you are relaxed with your more feminine side ...



Whenever I use it, I'm the band's laughing stock. The drummer despairs and says "What is this, you're a B-A-S-S-I-S-T, try to sound like one!"  And then mimics a slap bass attack.

[Ken]

Flanger, Phaser & Chorus - the Holy Trinity of drippy effects.



May I out myself? These days, my favorite stomper is this here ...



In the SHIM position, yes, of all pansy positions and using the tap tempo foot switch. What a douchebag I am, I know. Other people have manly overdrives and distortion (which most of the time I can't really stand), but Uwe plays naive little melodies with a fairey sprinkle dust effect. Go to 09:00 here if you are relaxed with your more feminine side ...



Whenever I use it, I'm the band's laughing stock. The drummer despairs and says "What is this, you're a B-A-S-S-I-S-T, try to sound like one!" 

Of course we'll need a Thunderbird demo of it from you.

[uwe]

The neck-thru TBird cello effect I'm always raving about actually goes very well with this. It's not as impressive/dreamy/enchanting with a snappy bass like a Precision or a Stingray at all.

Now you know why I can never underwrite that prevalent statement here "sustain on bass is overrated". If you like me play a lot of slowish melodic lines with lots of thirds, sixths and sevenths and only play root notes as sort of a last resort it is rather key.

[Ken]

Seriously, though, pedal demos rarely apply to Thunderbirds.  And you often can't demo them without buying them.