Is Henry listening to Gibson fans?

[Granny Gremlin]

If there was a bass with automatic tuners, that wouldn't keep from buying it (or using it, if there is no tuner around). I'd look at it from the entertainment/curiosity aspect. Those automatic tuners couldn't really be any more useless than the expansion and compression units on the RD Artist after all!

The RD fx are far from useless.  At least they contribute to tone.... the bright mode I could live without, but other players seem to really like it.

I haven't seen these tuners in actions, but considering the cost, and purported inability to tune manually, they do seem limiting without providing significant benefit.

[uwe]

Come on, Jake, that compression/expansion mode deadens the sound of an RD beyond belief when switched on! Makes it sound like a 100 Dollar bass with dead strings in a too bright setting. And tone development on an RD is already a bit sluggish as is - even without compression/expansion. I can't use that sound for anything.

[Pilgrim]

He REALLY needs a PR director and coaching on eye movement while on camera.

He doesn't even know whether he should look at the camera or the person throwing him the questions.....or the back wall of the room.

I agree, the sum effect is creepy.  He also talks at the same pace as Vincent Price in a menacing scene.

[westen44]

He REALLY needs a PR director and coaching on eye movement while on camera.

He doesn't even know whether he should look at the camera or the person throwing him the questions.....or the back wall of the room.

I agree, the sum effect is creepy.  He also talks at the same pace as Vincent Price in a menacing scene.

I could definitely imagine him in a movie with Vincent Price or in an Alfred Hitchcock movie.  He has both the look and the mannerisms. 

[Granny Gremlin]

Well we disagree on that, Uwe.  I've had $100 basses.  None of them sounded like my RD.

[westen44]

He could be on that Ancient Aliens show. 

LMAO!

[TBird1958]

That's actually the first I've ever seen Henry J, yep, he's creepy! Bad interview too, but hey, there's only room for one God of Thunder59 

[wellREDman]

I think I must be the only person who lusts after the autotuning guitars, but only because I have to switch between tunings on the guitars the kids use as one group leaves and the other files in
but the thought of letting t them near a £1000 guitar puckers my sphincters so its a moot point even if I had the budget

[uwe]

Well we disagree on that, Uwe.  I've had $100 basses.  None of them sounded like my RD.

I'm not complaining about the RD's regular sound though that is a little on the sterile side for me, certainly not the beast of sound the bass projects visually. But once you switch on compression/expansion, all responsiveness of the bass disappears. But then I'm no fan of compression wherever it comes from. Takes all the fun out of bass playing for me.

[uwe]

I had the same Vincent Price association, but then decided aginst mentioning him out of respect for his legacy! Sure he overacted, but not as bad as Henry J.!



Henry would have been Roger Corman's dream cast.

[Granny Gremlin]

Responsiveness = transient accuracy + dynamic range and a compressor, by definition, limits dynamic range.  It is useful in that capacity, if you are into that sort of thing - you have every right not to be (I certainly don't want it all the time).  The expansion on the bridge pup is genius IMHO even if, again, not something I want all the time (try it playing a chordy riff thru a OD/Distortion pedal, depending on the effect, as in how much it itself compresses, dialing in a bit of compressed neck into the mix for body/sustain can be nice).  I suppose this may have been developed more with rhythm guitards in mind (we know that with Gibson, and most instrument makers, 6 bangers come first), but it works for me, and most other more shreddy bassists who tend to use these things as their main players.  I know you complain about the sluggishness of the signal with the RD (e.g. poor transient response), but it's never been particularly so to me, though I tend to use it on things with longer notes vs fast runs so maybe, and I just don't care/notice it much.

To me, the hallmark of a cheap bass is clank, by which I mean being lean on the lower registers whether or not accompanied by excessive amounts of treble or mids. The RD is not lean in the lower register and not particularly middish.

On the other hand, the most sluggish (unresponsive) instrument ever, was one of the most  expensive one of it's time (the Roland guitar synth (used for bass by the infamous Tony James while a member of Sigue Sigue Sputnik; I remember an interview where he said he had to learn to play a full 16th ahead; not sure if he was exaggerating, but it seems like it - anyway, that explains the lack of complexity in theitr basslines to a great degree).

and you editted and confirmmed my point:

But then I'm no fan of compression wherever it comes from. Takes all the fun out of bass playing for me.

Which is fair enough, but even you must acknowledge that many bass players love compression (some even too much).  Recording engineers love to compress bass too; you'd be hard pressed to name a major label release with no bass compression from the last, say, 10 years.

[westen44]

I had the same Vincent Price association, but then decided aginst mentioning him out of respect for his legacy! Sure he overacted, but not as bad as Henry J.!



Henry would have been Roger Corman's dream cast.

Before girls and music, Vincent Price was my favorite actor.  If you're in the sixth grade and Edgar Allan Poe is your favorite author, that's not surprising.  I certainly got my money's worth from those movies. 

[uwe]

I know, I always have to talk engineers out of using compression on my signal. I'm volume-wise a pretty consistent player, but when I play something consciously louder, I want it to be heard louder too. Compression emasculates me, it contradicts my whole "dive bombing/bird of prey"-approach in my bass playing which aims at playing something once in a while that startles people (and my co-musicians!) "Now what the heck did he do there?!" I'm more like  a lead guitarist in that way which is why I've started to put in my classifieds looking for a band "lead bassist" a long time ago. Except that people always overread it or think it's a joke or a typo. It is not, it's a religion.

[uwe]

Before girls and music, Vincent Price was my favorite actor.  If you're in the sixth grade and Edgar Allan Poe is your favorite author, that's not surprising.  I certainly got my money's worth from those movies.

I enjoyed him a lot, but even as a kid I thought "this guy is way too operatic, it's like he's mocking the genre". Just like Bela Lugosi (Max Schreck as Nosferatu was of course operatic too, but as it was a silent movie he had to be and he was more unsettling than Lugosi ever was). Of the horror flic actors, Boris Karloff was my favorite for the melancholy in his subdued playing. "The Mummy" is grand in that way.



His depiction of the Frankenstein's monster (basically played as if the monster was a mentally challenged, but not evil human) is the only one that goes to the heart - to this day.

Christopher Lee looked great as Dracula, but those early Hammer Films gave his figure no depth, he was like a horror prop in those movies - conveniently pulled out when necessary.

Oh, and I liked Edgar Alan Poe too!


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[Dave W]

This is who I though of when i saw the video. Henry would be a natural for a remake.