# Recommend a Steve Harris/Geddy Lee fan a bass



## caughtinamosh (Mar 18, 2009)

Hi guys,

Well, I've been messing around on a friend's bass a lot recently, and I'd like to add one to my own arsenal of instruments. Soundwise, I'm going for a Geddy Lee/Stever Harris vibe - plenty of clank and bite. I know both of these guys use Fender basses, but that's somewhat out of my price league, and I'm not sure I could trust Squier (or am I wrong?). I'd be more than content with 4 strings, and my upper price limit would be somewhere around £400. Another aspect I'm concered about is that of swapping the pickups, should I want to. How do I make sure the stock pickups in the bass could be swapped out later on, sizewise?

Cheers for your help,

caughtinamosh

EDIT: I eventually settled on a Squier Vintage Modified Jazz bass. Here is the NBD thread - http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/bass-guitar-discussion/87296-ciams-belated-new-bass-day.html


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## thedonutman (Mar 18, 2009)

Sounds like you need a Jazz bass:







The Squier VM Jazz Bass is pretty cheap, it's very well built. The quality is comparable to a MIM instrument, and is only half the price. Plus it's got the awesome black blocks and binding, for the Geddy vibe. Squier have really worked on their newest instruments - way better than the older ones.

Most Jazz bass pickups are the same size, the bridge pickup is usually slightly longer and most replacement sets will account for that.

For £400 you could also keep an eye out for a used Geddy Lee Signature, those are made in Japan and are really good quality. Infact, any Japanese made Fender would be pretty good. Steve Harris had/has a signature P-bass too, but IMO it doesn't have enough unique features to justify it. If you really want the Steve Harris Vibe any P-bass with a maple fretboard would do it.

Bear in mind though, 90% of those players' tone comes from their technique.


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## caughtinamosh (Mar 18, 2009)

Thank you ^ .

Yeah, as I said, I was looking at Squier, but they get a lot of bad press, but if you say they've sorted themselves out, I'll have a look.

As far as other brands are concerned, how do their pickup sizes match up to fitting new pickups? Thinking especially about Ibanez "soapbar" style pickups.


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## thedonutman (Mar 18, 2009)

caughtinamosh said:


> Thank you ^ .
> 
> Yeah, as I said, I was looking at Squier, but they get a lot of bad press, but if you say they've sorted themselves out, I'll have a look.
> 
> As far as other brands are concerned, how do their pickup sizes match up to fitting new pickups? Thinking especially about Ibanez "soapbar" style pickups.



You'll have to look them up, but Seymour Duncan, Bartolini and EMG all make similar sized soapbars.

Some Ibbys come with "Duncan Designed" pickups, and Seymour Duncan make a corresponding "proper" version of the same size. I think the same might apply to their OEM Bartolini and EMG stuff


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## caughtinamosh (Mar 18, 2009)

The way things are looking just now, it's going to be a Squier Jazz Bass whose pickups I will replace with Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounders, should the stockies prove to be poor. Has anyone else had any experience with a Squier Jazz Bass?


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## blackgecko (Mar 18, 2009)

what about this ??










and it is only 180 USD plus case and shipping


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## caughtinamosh (Mar 18, 2009)

First of all, what is it? 

I'd quite like to stretch my budget out to it's limit (or thereabouts). I'm looking at the Warmoth website just now, as it allows almost complete control over specifications.


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## MFB (Mar 18, 2009)

What about this badboy? Not necessarily the SH/GL design but still got that "I'm a bassist and I mean business" look...and I guess it's kind of got the Geddy fingerboard

Buy Schecter 004 Bass Guitar | 4 String Electric Bass | Musician's Friend


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## blackgecko (Mar 18, 2009)

caughtinamosh said:


> First of all, what is it?
> 
> I'd quite like to stretch my budget out to it's limit (or thereabouts). I'm looking at the Warmoth website just now, as it allows almost complete control over specifications.



Rondo Music Home Page very popular around here. it is a SX SJB-75 LTD NA

or if you want to go up

this is 299USD
Brice HXB-406 6-String Nat Bubinga at HomeOld





or this 499 USD
Brice Z6 Zebra at HomeOld


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## Jason (Mar 18, 2009)

Get the j bass from rondo and call it a day


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## ghoti (Mar 18, 2009)

The problem is that those two guys play very different instruments and setups. Geddy plays a J with rounds; Harris plays a P with flats. Also their styles are pretty different.

I'm a little biased towards more strings, but I'd say a 5 would be a good way to go for some flexibility (nowadays I'm not sure how I ever got by on 4). Something like this to get you started maybe.

SX SJB-75 4+1 Nat at HomeOld


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## caughtinamosh (Mar 19, 2009)

Hmm, those Rondo basses look pretty cool... I guess I never contemplated them outside of 8 string Intrepids . The long scale 6 string is VERY appealing...

EDIT: And yeah, I guess I wasn't clear about the whole Steve Harris/Geddy Lee thing. As far as tone goes, It's all about Geddy Lee, for me. It's his bite and almost "djent" tone that does it for me.Steve Harris' tone is similar, but I think it's more to do with his technique - allowing the strings to hit the frets. As far as looks are concerned, I'm not too fussed about whether it looks like either of these two bassists'. In fact, I probably have more desire for a "cleaner" and more "modern" looking instrument.


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## xtrustisyoursx (Mar 19, 2009)

go with the squier vintage modified. I've played almost all the vintage modified series and they are all outstanding.


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## Bevo (Mar 19, 2009)

I have a Squire 5 string and a 4 string Fender HWY1 and the stock Squire sounds better to me. The benifit of a 4 is that it feels smaller and you think its easier to play.
If you play a 5 or more and use a floating thumb style it is not harder at all.

Go five so you have more flexability.

Heard that Geddy gets his tone by realy hard finger picking and of course some special touches on his gear. This was from his bass tech, search around on Talkbass and you will find a huge thread about his gear and guitar.

Bev


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## EliNoPants (Mar 19, 2009)

if you're okay with a used one, find a Fender Aerodyne Jazz on ebay, they've jacked the new price on them to like $750 or more now, but used ones can run down as far as $400 on the BIN sometimes...it's got a P+J pickup set, which would give you the option of both sounds somewhat, and IMO gives an awesomely full yet biting tone, and were the J pup not so noisy, i'd probably leave them stock forever, still not sure what i'll upgrade to eventually though...the only thing i can say for sure, is that the stock Fender bridge SUCKS, and to replace it immediately with a Badass II, because it adds more sustain, punch, clarity, and fullness to the tone, it is an improvement in every possible way over the stock one

it's also THE sexiest thing Fender has ever made...now if only they'd slap 2 more strings and 4 more frets on it, i'd be about the happiest dude on the planet


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## SargeantVomit (Apr 3, 2009)

A used MIJ Geddy Lee signature model should be easily found in your price range. If there are none available locally on CL or Evilbay then get the SX jazz, buy a badass II and some new pups/pots/etc to clean it up and you'll be on your way.


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## vampiregenocide (Apr 3, 2009)

Any Warwick, but a Corvette STD Ash probs best


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## SargeantVomit (Apr 3, 2009)

'vette's cost about the same as a Geddy new. For someone who wants to sound like Geddy, why would they buy a wick?


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## DevinShidaker (Apr 4, 2009)

I have played about 10 of the Geddy Lee basses and all of them had real bad neck problems, some of which were able to be fixed with a truss rod adjustment, but more than half had to be sent back to fender from our store because of how bad they were. the neck is insanely thin on those basses.


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