I guess it meant having to lug another instrument around & in a concert scenario he's going to be playing other songs in the same "sitting". In any case, did they have another PBass? From what I understand, even the VI was "stolen/ borrowed" from "someone who wouldn't miss it" Was reading through this & had a light bulb moment. Effectively he does still play Primary with a 6 string bass. That's what the UltraCure is after all.
That would make sense. No point in have 3 basses on the go at once & it's easy to hear the chord runs a whole octave higher than those played on a VI.
Primary was played with a PBass and 2 bass VI in 1990 !!!
Exactly. & what was gained? Nothing really. Robert only really touched his to play the "lead" parts. He could have left all the work to Porl. But now he's utilising the talent around him & adding a guitar layer.
Just look at the 6 string bass as a big fat guitar tuned a whole octave below a regular guitar. If you have Trilogy, take a look at the Disintegration set. Robert uses it a lot in there. For all intents & purposes it looks like a regular axe, but it's meatier. Some of the set lists posted by pillowman from the xmas shows actually detail in which songs RS has the VI, except whoever typed them typed "v1" Then take a version of Primary from say, one of the Reflections shows & then one from the xmas shows. The "lead" parts are an octave higher than the Reflections "lead" parts.
Ok, I get most of that now. But if he had the VI at Xmas, they wouldn't be an octave higher?
That's right. He has 2 of those horrid Schecter UltraCure signatures. One's a regular guitar & one's a VI. The VI has an extra set of pickup switches below the strings & is a little bit bigger. Both weigh as much as a car Neither sound like the Fender