The Universe Speaks...

[cyoungnashville]

...... and i do my best to listen. im in guitar center for one reason or another a few times a week. ive heard people rag on 'em, but i gotta say, i actually love that store. maybe the one in nashville is particularly good, or im an idiot, or a mixture of the two, but i pray to god they are getting filthy rich and never leave me. the amount of cool sh!t they have in stock is pretty mind boggling. a lot of times ill go in just to see if there is something new that makes a groovy sound i can use. that leads me to the point of this thread. last night i was in the store and turned the corner into the bass room, and see this beauty swingin from the rafters, all the way up on the highest peg. of course the room is full of professional tire kickers, all making bass popcorn at excruciating speed / sound pressure levels. each one trying to outlast the other. i know they aint gonna buy anything, they know they aint gonna buy anything, and im pretty sure the salesmen know it too, but, here we all are together doin the dance. its just part of the deal, and i dont mind the deal whatsoever if it keeps this store in business. so after being treated to about 20 minutes of atonal wanking, i manage to make eye contact with saleskid, which is not easy to do, cause eyes are so last year, and he's got that "a bengal tiger tried to eat me, but only got my head" hairstyle, and he is also running from one popcorn machine to the next, hoping that maybe one of them has some money. finally, he gets a ladder and retrieves the big albert. i plugged in to the markbass jeff berlin 15" combo, which is insane, and fearing they might all form a sacrificial circle around me and stab me with their bracelets, if i play something with a melody, i launch into gothic bass popcorn at full whack. it was a lot of fun. then i went home, so i could actually hear the thing. guitar center was very kind and let me borrow their one and only big al. where else can you get that kind of service??? thanks to them, i now know what the big albert fuss is all about. thank you dudley and crew of wizards cause once again, its got signature ebmm tone, but still totally distinct from any and all of the other mm models, and has a ton of completely useful, musical, tone combos. here's a goth inspired iphone rendering of big al. i dedicate this to all the dark lords of popcorn i was fortunate enough to spend a friday evening with and live to tell about it. stay dark kids!!!

 

[bovinehost]

Next band I'm in is definitely being called "The Dark Lords of Popcorn".

(Or maybe "Telescoping Squeegee Killers", not sure.)

Engage the bridge pickup in active, bump the bass up about 10% and prepare to be tossed into the snarling bass wormhole of doom!

 

[cyoungnashville]

ok, which button is that??? kidding, i finally figured it all out, but that was pretty funny last night. yeah man, you were right, that combo's got teeth, and a growl ive not ever heard before. wicked. i am happy to finally be able to debunk, for myself at least, the notion that its a pbass or a jazz clone. knowing bp, and dudleys work, and the fact that being such forward thinkers, its not at all in their nature to rehash the past, i just never really believed that for a minute. i am very happy to find that it definitely is neither. the big al is no clone. its got its own thing going on and sits in a mix totally different than either, and has totally different unique harmonic overtones that i could never get out of my p or jazz..

 

[Mabongohogany]

Oh, so now you like the Big AL too...?
Lessee, that's the Reflex, StingRay, ERB Bongo you've loved, and now the Big Al...
What's next??!!!! A Silhouette???
Or...or... A STERLING?

And oh yeah; popcorn.

Try 4 days at NAMM between the FLEA Bass and TecAmp Booths.

Orville Redenbacher woulda rejoiced...

 

[Grand Wazoo]

So which one are you getting, 4 /5, H or SSS? Beware of the B string on a Big Al 5 SSS played with all the buttons in the up position, active mode.

You'll end up going coockoo trying to figure out how can so much power come out of a single coil pickup.

 

[projectapollo]

Try all buttons up, active for the machines signature sound. Also try first two buttons down for a very useful more classic tone. Great story, btw.

 

[cyoungnashville]

Oh, so now you like the Big AL too...?
Lessee, that's the Reflex, StingRay, ERB Bongo you've loved, and now the Big Al...
What's next??!!!! A Silhouette???
Or...or... A STERLING?

And oh yeah; popcorn.

Try 4 days at NAMM between the FLEA Bass and TecAmp Booths.

Orville Redenbacher woulda rejoiced...

i have the same problem with women. its really really hard to pick your absolute favorite cause just when you think you have it all figured out...... new model comes along.

 

[Mabongohogany]

i have the same problem with women. its really really hard to pick your absolute favorite cause just when you think you have it all figured out...... new model comes along.

Yeah Man!

,,,and like Womens, with MM Basses all models must be played first; then HAD!!!




Edit- Verdict is out on the Roasted Neck Option as far as the gurlz....haha

 

[bovinehost]

ok, which button is that???

You have to press in on the volume knob while simultaneously moving your clothes down on to the lower peg immediately after lunch before you write your letter home, if you’re not getting your hair cut, unless you’ve got a younger brother who is going out this weekend as the guest of another boy, in which case collect his note before lunch, put it in your letter after you’ve had your hair cut, and make sure he moves your clothes down onto the lower peg for you.

 

[cyoungnashville]

You have to press in on the volume knob while simultaneously moving your clothes down on to the lower peg immediately after lunch before you write your letter home, if you’re not getting your hair cut, unless you’ve got a younger brother who is going out this weekend as the guest of another boy, in which case collect his note before lunch, put it in your letter after you’ve had your hair cut, and make sure he moves your clothes down onto the lower peg for you.

dambn, this actually made sense to me. not a proud moment.

 

[Aussie Mark]

Good choice of colour, Craig. The Big Al worked nicely for me in the studio last week ....

 

[cyoungnashville]

So which one are you getting, 4 /5, H or SSS? Beware of the B string on a Big Al 5 SSS played with all the buttons in the up position, active mode.

You'll end up going coockoo trying to figure out how can so much power come out of a single coil pickup.

i dont know bro. i havent played a 5 yet, but i know jacksons 5'er gives his bongos a run for the money, so there must be somthin pretty special about a ba5. it really is amazing how fat and warm these single coils are.

 

[cyoungnashville]

Good choice of colour, Craig. The Big Al worked nicely for me in the studio last week ....

i believe it, you can get an insane amount of really beautiful tones out of it. i really favor the middle pickup in active mode for some reason, but all of the options are so musical, and can see where each one would be just the ticket for the different musical tasks i face regularly. definitely a swiss army knife / bass. that session looked like so much fun. wish all of mine were like that. hope u soaked up every bit of fun, and get to do more soon mark.

 

[Smallmouth_Bass]

So...
do you have to bring the bass back or is it yours now?

I love the black/tort/rosewood combo! That's what mine is.

 

[Big Poppa]

The Big AL...was supposed to bome out in 1993...but the single pickups that we could come up with just didnt make my coffee sweet....So we took the body and neck and made the Sterling because Dudley and Tommy wlaker had been delving into the not trendy but still sonically fabulous ceramic magnet pickup. (Alnico is fine but its funny how well the sterling 5 sells now that it has the ceramic and the stingray5 has the alnico) It just seemed like a tonal no brainer to make a "strat bass" It was not to be a P or J....but it does that as a side note.

THe real fun of that bass is the intuitive switching and the blending of the four band. Design objectives included matching the output between active and passive when the active is flat. THat gives you the option really of presetting a boost in some of the freqs and actually getting a solo setting when you go to active. The Prototype had the bass in off moe with all switches up and I insisted that the volume control works fine for that and why give up another two positions (active and passive) TYhe funny thing is that the switches up and active are very much the Music Man DNA I love it in passive in that setting.

It has once again become a cult bass....too scary and complicated for the masses. Like the Bongo I will stand by it till they toss some dirt on the box they put me in. Not being a hero just lov e both of the basses. Im going to post a thread about a show I saw last night with old friends Huey Lewis and the News. (mm content)

 

[adouglas]

No wonder the BA appeals to me. I'm a cult kind o' guy….

 

[Smallmouth_Bass]

It has once again become a cult bass....too scary and complicated for the masses.

Interestingly, the retailer that I had ordered mine from had never had a Big Al (4 or 5). And this is coming from a place that has had a Bongo 5-string HS Dargie II, a couple of Olive Gold basses, an Electric Blue Bongo HH and two 25th Anniversary basses. I guess it's hard to predict what will move when they've never had it.

 

[projectapollo]

BP- I love these insider stories! I love my Big Al, the variety of useful push-and-play tones is terrific. Even fascinating. Add the George Jetson looks and the cult following and you have another time capsule instrument, here.

 

[EdFriedland]

Wow, an 8lb SSS Sterling would be more than I could stand!

 

[Holdsg]

Nashville GC sounds like a decent enough store. Only other GC store I ever saw a Big Al was Hollywood, and I got to play it, right before I bought my used one. It was also black with tort, but a 4-banger. Cult status or not, I am a true believer in the power of the Al.