BASS MEGATHREAD: Beginners, welcome to my ass!

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Dyna Soar: Nov 30, 2006

frankthetank posted:

Hey guys, I play bass in a band and I've been having some issues with cramping and aching that I thought you friendly people might be able to help me with. I play using a pick and it never used to cause me any problems but recently I've been getting cramps in my thumb and fore arm. During a live show a couple of nights ago my entire arm seized up after me trying to play through the cramps/aches and I had to resort to playing with my fingers. Are there any physical exercises/work outs that can help train my arm and hand muscles up? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Yes. You should strech your fingers & wrist before and after playing. Put the tips of your fingers together like you would while plotting evil schemes and push for 15 seconds, then release. Then take each finger separately and pull them backwards carefully so you feel the stretch. Release after 15 seconds and repeat for each finger. For your thumb pull it towards your wrist, again hold 15 seconds and release. Then pull your hands/wrists backward CAREFULLY for 15 seconds and release. Do this at least twice a day, before and after practising. It doesn't hurt to make a habit of doing the whole thing 2-4 times every day even if you're not playing.

For pickstyle, violently jerking off a lot helps too.

Dyna Soar fucked around with this message at 13:41 on Dec 18, 2009

# ? Dec 18, 2009 13:35

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# ? May 13, 2024 11:56

The Bunk: Sep 15, 2007; Oh, I just don't know
where to begin.; Fun Shoe

I'm not a doctor or anything, but you might want to make sure you're not getting dehydrated during shows, especially if you're drinking alcohol.

# ? Dec 18, 2009 14:18

Scarf: Jun 24, 2005; On sight

frankthetank posted:

Hey guys, I play bass in a band and I've been having some issues with cramping and aching that I thought you friendly people might be able to help me with. I play using a pick and it never used to cause me any problems but recently I've been getting cramps in my thumb and fore arm. During a live show a couple of nights ago my entire arm seized up after me trying to play through the cramps/aches and I had to resort to playing with my fingers. Are there any physical exercises/work outs that can help train my arm and hand muscles up? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

So it's in your picking hand? If so I'd say you may be gripping the pick too tightly.

# ? Dec 18, 2009 15:22

scuz: Aug 29, 2003; You can't be angry ALL the time!; Fun Shoe

Scarf posted:

So it's in your picking hand? If so I'd say you may be gripping the pick too tightly.

Yup!

Also are you doing any stretches? MY GOON WIFE (who's a massage therapist) taught me a great stretch to do:

Put your hands palm-to-palm in front of you with your arms parrallel to the ground. Slowly, with your hands palm-to-palm, push your hands heel-first towards the ground as far as is comfortable. In the same position, push your hands left or right to stretch out the tendons in the arms.

I can put up a crudely-drawn MSPaint of what I'm trying to describe later, but this has helped a lot with my arms (I also use a pick).

edit: also: :parrot:

scuz fucked around with this message at 15:47 on Dec 18, 2009

# ? Dec 18, 2009 15:42

Scarf: Jun 24, 2005; On sight

Posted on Talkbass in regards to the new Markbass Super Synth:

quote:

My Markbass Super Synth arrived the other day and I've spent a few hours with it, so I thought I'd give you my initial impressions.

The short answer is: this thing sounds fantastic! Although it uses DSP, it sounds very analog. Think Minimoog, but with three oscillators. The sounds aren't hugely varied, but what it does, it does very well.

First off, I don't have huge experience of other synth pedals. I own an (old style) EHX Bass Microsynth. I had a Boss ME8B. I've played an Akai Deep Impact. I've played lots of analog and digital synths.

This sounds like a real synth, rather than a fuzzy processed version of your bass's sound like the BMS. It sounds fat, unlike the clips I've heard of the Octavius Squeezer, which only has one oscillator.

Here's a quick tour: Slightly corny name. Very solid construction. Pretty big - not as big as the BMS, but close, and is taller. The four knobs are sunk into a groove so they can't get knocked while on the floor. The knobs themselves feel very solid and smooth. Three footswitches, also very solid.

No option for battery power. Takes a standard 12v negative tip DC power supply. Mono input, mono or stereo outputs. USB socket for connecting to the Markbass Pedal Controller software.

Markbass describe the bypass as true, and I can hear a relay clicking inside when it switches, so I believe them. It's very clean sounding in either bypass or effect mode. No noticeable hiss.

The first knob is an input gain, with accompanying clip LED. It's nice to have this on the front panel, as I find it's key to getting predictable results when triggering synths or envelope effects. This doesn't get saved with the presets - it's global, which makes sense, as you might want to tweak it for different basses etc.

Next knob is the filter Cutoff frequency, or the octave down level in octaver mode.

Next is Tone - this is a set of 7 factory settings for the oscillators. Think of it as a shortcut to setting the various oscillator controls. There's also a User setting, which can be programmed using the Markbass Pedal Controller software. I panicked initially, thinking that there would be just one User setting for all the presets, but that's not the case - each preset can have its own User tone setting. This knob doubles as the octave up level in octaver mode.

Finally there's the Level knob, which sets the overall output level of the synth. In octaver mode, it sets the level of your dry bass signal.

The first footswitch advances through the presets. The second is the bypass switch. The third switches between synth and octaver modes.

An LED lights when the pedal is not in bypass mode. There's a 6 character 7 segment LED display in the centre of the pedal which displays the preset number and either SNT or OCT for the synth or octaver modes.

There are nine synth presets and three octave presets available, which seems a little stingy. I probably would never use that many presets on one gig, but it would be nice to maybe have a preset bank and a user bank. Any of the presets can be overwritten using the Pedal Controller software.

The presets do a pretty good job of demonstrating the possibilities of the pedal, although I started replacing some of the more wacky ones straight away with meat and potato sounds.

Tracking is very good. There is no noticeable delay between the start of your bass's note and the effect.
This seems to be done by starting the oscillator at its previous pitch while the pedal works out the pitch of the new note. If you play a very high note followed by a very low note, this is just noticeable, as it takes the pedal maybe a tenth of a second to calculate the new pitch. You briefly hear the high pitch before it switches to the low note. The other way around you don't hear a jump, as the pedal can calculate the pitch of a high note very quickly. In practice, this jumping is not obvious, as notes in a bass line tend to be closer together, and the jump is often disguised by the 'squelch' of the filter opening.

This sounds like a problem, but I think it's a really good solution - much better than hearing a delay before the synth sound starts.

Octaver mode is simpler. Just the three controls already mentioned for Octave Down, Octave Up and Dry level. The octave down sound is nice, somewhere between the OC2 and EBS tones. Has a little bit of grit to it.

The octave up sound is not what I expected - it sounds more like a synth than your bass's sound, maybe a sine or heavily filtered sawtooth and is very smooth and even sounding. I had to double check that it's an octave up from my bass's pitch but it is. It blends very nicely with the dry and octave down tones, but it's not very aggressive.

That's it for controls on the unit itself. There's much more inside the box though. Download the Markbass Pedal Controller from the Markbass website, connect to the pedal via USB, and you get access to all the fun parameters. You can't power the pedal from USB - you need to have the DC adapter plugged in too.

All the changes you make to the knobs on the screen affect the sound of the pedal immediately, so this is a great way to experiment. You can load and save patches to and from the pedal. You can also make complete preset files which contain the settings for all the presets, for backup or for different gigs etc. You can't apply these all in one go to the pedal though - you need to store each preset individually.

In synth mode, the effect generates three oscillators based on the pitch from your bass. The three oscillators have the same waveform - a sawtooth, and each can have an interval (plus 31 semitones or minus 32, over two and half octaves each way) plus a detune value. You can set the level of each. You can also pan them between the stereo outputs if you want, or leave them centre for mono use.

There's a portamento control - this glides from one note to the other when you play legato with no gaps between the notes. Very predictable in operation and adds more 'real synth' flavour to the sound. I felt like it softened the attack of the note a little bit, so I would probably turn it off unless I wanted to feature it prominently.

The pedal tracks pitches very well. All the way down to low B on my five string! Very occasionally, the pedal jumps to a higher or lower octave than the note played. It doesn't flip back and forward like some older octave pedals I've played. The pedal seemed to hold the note well as the bass note decayed. It also seems to be less sensitive to open strings than, say my EBS Octabass, where open strings present problems for the tracking.

It worked well with several basses, active and passes, fretted and fretless. Slapping, pick - all fine. Even worked great with the piezo pickup on my double bass!

The oscillators are routed through a single filter. This has cutoff and resonance controls. The filter sounds good and can be quite aggressive. Unfortunately the filter can't be made to self-oscillate by turning the resonance all the way up. That's a shame, I wouldn't use it all the time, but it can be useful for special effects or even for faking another oscillator tone.

There's a simple Attack and Release envelope filter that can affect the filter cutoff. Note that this is more like AD - Attack and Decay filter on a real synth, because the decay starts as soon as the attack has finished, not after the note has ended - like most bass synth effects, as soon as your bass note ends, the synth effect ends too.

There's an Envelope parameter which specifies how much the envelope changes the filter. I think this gets 'added' to the Filter Dynamic parameter, with the result that the envelope effect sometimes get lost if you have the Filter Dynamic setting quite high. For a more obvious envelope effect, turn the Filter Dynamic down.

There's also a Mix control, which controls the blend between your dry bass signal and the synth effect.

There are several controls that affect how your playing dynamics affect the sound. For me, this is what makes this pedal great. It really responds to your playing, making it seem like a real instrument. Some people like the fact that the EHX Bass Microsynth is a fixed filter - it doesn't change the filter depending on how loud your notes are. I guess that leads to a more robotic, consistent sound, but it's not what I want.

First of all, there are the Note On and Note Off level controls. These turn the synth on when your bass's signal level goes above the Note On level, and stops the synth when the level goes below the Note Off level. This is similar to the Trigger or Sensitivity control on other pedals, but having both allows the triggering to be customised more precisely.

Set the Note On level too low, and the synth will trigger on all the little muted notes and fret noise that you play, which can sound messy. Set it too high, and the synth might not pick up every note you intend.

The Note Off level would normally be quite low, so that the synth sustains to the end of your bass note. But for a really tight rhythmic sound, I found it cleaned up the synth note lengths to crank this up high.

Next is Amp Dynamic and Filter Dynamic. These control how much of your playing dynamic affects the output level of the synth and the filter cutoff. Turn these all the way down and you get BMS - all notes are the same level and brightness. Turn them up and your playing controls the level and filter. Perfect.

I've already found a couple of things that I don't like or would like to see changed.

There's no way to route your dry bass sound through the filter. That means no envelope filter effects! Agggh! That would have been so obvious to do and could have replaced another pedal on my board along with the synth and octaver. Being cynical, maybe Markbass want to make a separate envelope filter pedal and therefore don't want to lose sales of that to this pedal. Please Markbass, add this as an update!

The filter doesn't self-oscillate. Not a huge deal, but would be nice, maybe also some different filter types - 2 pole, 4 pole.

The oscillators only do one waveform - a sawtooth. This is a pretty good choice, it's the most useful. But a square wave option would expand the palette of sounds further. While they're at it, oscillator sync, ring mod and FM would be nice additions and would allow the pedal to take on 80s 90s and 00s dance music bass sounds.

There's no way to see what the factory Tone settings are for the oscillators. I could probably get close by tweaking and A/Bing, but I'm lazy ;-)

Now a big one. The Mix control doesn't allow for just synth sound and no dry bass. Turn the Mix control all the way up - that maxes the synth. Then turn all the oscillator levels down so they are generating no sound. You should hear nothing, right? Wrong, there's no way to completely eliminate your dry bass signal from the effect.

Now, I usually like some dry bass mixed in with my synth. It gives a little extra weight to the sound, and can get me out of trouble if the tracking fails or a long note ends suddenly on the synth. But you should be able to remove the bass sound completely if you want, surely? This would be easy to fix by Markbass, I'm sure.

The Level control on the pedal itself is not so useful. It controls the overall level of the synth effect. I've already got loads of gain and volume controls in my signal chain. I'd rather have the Mix control on the front panel, so I can tweak how much dry bass is mixed with the synth.

I really like the Pedal Controller software. But I'm a bit nervous that certain key parameters are only accessible through the software and can't be tweaked on a gig. The main ones are the Note On and Off levels and the Mix level. Everything else is on the front panel or I could live with, but these are key to getting a consistent, predictable performance out of the pedal. In an ideal world, my bass level and how hard I'm playing would always be the same, and I could set the pedal up accordingly. But that's not the real world ;-) Not sure I want to be carrying a laptop around with me at some of the gigs I do!

Don't let these moans put you off trying this pedal. It's a big step up from anything I've heard or played before. I've already started looking sideways at my BMS and EBS Octabass thinking about whether I need them. If Markbass update the pedal and fix some of the above issues, I'll be very happy.

# ? Dec 18, 2009 16:01

Dyna Soar: Nov 30, 2006

hay guys i just bought a fender highway one p. its fuckin awesome.

Seriously this thing has such a beefy sound compared to my lovely old Ibanez. It sounds awesome even from my lovely Harvey Benton practise combo. Can't wait to put this baby through my regular gear.

# ? Dec 18, 2009 17:23

Isnak: Sep 15, 2006; Bonyour!

So I'm looking for a small practice combo to replace my old Laney, I'm looking for something with a DI, mostly, for when I want to play around with my sansamp. Is the Roland Microcube or the CB30 decent? I'm not looking for something to keep up with a drummer, just for times when I can't be bothered dragging my amp home from the practice room.

# ? Dec 18, 2009 17:36

Schatten: Jul 7, 2002; Das ist nicht meine
schnellen Rennwagen

Isnak posted:

So I'm looking for a small practice combo to replace my old Laney, I'm looking for something with a DI, mostly, for when I want to play around with my sansamp. Is the Roland Microcube or the CB30 decent? I'm not looking for something to keep up with a drummer, just for times when I can't be bothered dragging my amp home from the practice room.

Look for one of these on the cheap. Should be able to get one for 150-200 from people that bought a bass and received one for free. Cannot recall if it has a DI.
http://bass-guitars.musiciansfriend...WELAID=28463521

Otherwise, look out for a GK 200MB or similar combo amp. Good sound and a DI.

# ? Dec 18, 2009 17:49

DEUCE SLUICE: Feb 6, 2004; I dreamt I was an old dog, stuck in a honeypot. It was horrifying.

I have a great book with all sorts of posture, stretching, warmup and cooldown things for bass players but I can't remember what it is. I'll post when I get home.

Make sure you stretch, make sure you warm up, drink lots of water, don't smoke, hold the bass at a reasonable height, see whether your instrument is imbalanced and you're leaning on it with your forearm to keep it pointing in the right direction, see if your forearm is resting on the bass while you play (cuts off circulation,) and stand up straight goddamnit.

# ? Dec 18, 2009 18:00

Panax: Aug 16, 2007

Beginner question here: So I have about 3 years experience with self-taught electric guitar and I just started learning bass for my church band.

I've noticed that when I hold down strings on my bass, particularly the thickest one, the low E, I'm getting fret buzz and sometimes the string "shifts" under my finger. I'm using the technique I learned for guitar which is to use your fingertips and basically have your finger be perpendicular the fretboard at the point of contact. But since the strings on my 4-string bass are more spread out, should I be using more of the pads of my fingers than my fingertips to hold down strings (i.e. have the ends my finger be more tangent to the fretboard? Or is using the fingertips correct and I should work on and strengthen that?

# ? Dec 18, 2009 20:33

Schatten: Jul 7, 2002; Das ist nicht meine
schnellen Rennwagen

Panax - the buzz comes from a few things.

1) placement of the finger. Make sure it is close to the fret, almost butting up against it. You'll need to practice amplified to see how the action effects buzzing.

2) position of the finger. It should be more parallel to the fretboard rather than perpendicular.

Watch this guy here and his left hand technique: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_GMPbdermI&feature=related

There are a lot of videos out there. Just search "bass left hand technique" and try to learn little bits from each one of them. See what works best for you, because it will differ depending on how high or low your bass is strung, angles, finger strength, length, etc. And a tip from an old Billy Sheehan video - keep the bass strap the same length sitting as standing. Sure, it isn't slung down low like you are playing for Def Leppard, but the angles do not change from sitting to standing up.

# ? Dec 18, 2009 21:02

A MIRACLE: Sep 17, 2007; All right. It's Saturday night; I have no date, a two-liter bottle of Shasta and my all-Rush mix-tape... Let's rock.

p basses are the poo poo. everyone get a p bass let's bring back music

# ? Dec 18, 2009 23:08

Dyna Soar: Nov 30, 2006

A MIRACLE posted:

p basses are the poo poo. everyone get a p bass let's bring back music

i agree

# ? Dec 18, 2009 23:11

Gripen5: Nov 3, 2003; 'Startocaster' is more fun to say than I expected.

A MIRACLE posted:

p basses are the poo poo. everyone get a p bass let's bring back music

What about PJ with the J volume all the way down?

# ? Dec 18, 2009 23:21

Schatten: Jul 7, 2002; Das ist nicht meine
schnellen Rennwagen

A MIRACLE posted:

p basses are the poo poo. everyone get a p bass let's bring back music

+1 Ya gotta have one in your arsenal.

I used to be more of a jazz bass player than a p basser, but it's only been in the last five years that I've really enjoyed p basses. The latest, I just love every time I pick it up. http://www.flickr.com/photos/whoapower/sets/72157622567349183/

In other news...
Last night I had a dream, or rather a nightmare. My jazz bass was going out of tune. The strings then started hitting the frets unnaturally. Around the 5th or 6th fret, the neck bent backwards and cracked, splintering all over the place. I didn't know if it could be repaired or if I needed to order another one. It worried me so. =(

Anyone else have dreams of instrument failures?

# ? Dec 18, 2009 23:22

Schatten: Jul 7, 2002; Das ist nicht meine
schnellen Rennwagen

Gripen5 posted:

What about PJ with the J volume all the way down?

That works too! While a Sadowsky PJ would be cool, my next purchase would probably be a Tony Franklin fretted because of how well matched the P & J pickups are. However, see this thread: http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=600833&highlight= (and page 2) Roger Sadowsky has some interesting notes on the PJ configurations and how they match up, essentially saying the same thing you did.

# ? Dec 18, 2009 23:24

DEUCE SLUICE: Feb 6, 2004; I dreamt I was an old dog, stuck in a honeypot. It was horrifying.

Yeah, as long as you have a split coil J in the bridge you're fine. I had a P special deluxe with a Nordstrand NP4 and single coil NJ4, and it was always kind of weird with both up on full blast. I mean, it sounded great, but it sounded better with one or the other soloed.

# ? Dec 19, 2009 00:30

dancehall: Sep 28, 2001; You say you want a revolution

A MIRACLE posted:

p basses are the poo poo. everyone get a p bass let's bring back music

Too late man, it seems like every band has been using a P since like 2005 at least.

# ? Dec 19, 2009 00:50

scuz: Aug 29, 2003; You can't be angry ALL the time!; Fun Shoe

j-bass supremacy :parrot:

# ? Dec 19, 2009 01:42

Juaguocio: Jun 5, 2005; Oh, David...

Oddly enough, I've come to realize that P-basses don't work for me at all. I'm getting a luthier friend of mine to help me Frankenstein an SX five string into a configuration that will hopefully work better.

# ? Dec 19, 2009 01:54

DEUCE SLUICE: Feb 6, 2004; I dreamt I was an old dog, stuck in a honeypot. It was horrifying.

scuz posted:

j-bass supremacy

i almost put this at the bottom of my last post but yeah gonna quote this

# ? Dec 19, 2009 03:17

Scarf: Jun 24, 2005; On sight

Gripen5 posted:

What about PJ with the J volume all the way down?

Well, you can turn the volume down... but you can't remove the magnetic field of the pickup

# ? Dec 19, 2009 04:55

trans fat: Jul 29, 2007

What are some interesting alternate tunings that are still practical? I've tuned my bass to BEAD, CGAD, GDAE, and G#DAEb. I'm not looking for DDD#D#, but I'm not looking for GBEA followed by DGBE et cetera. Something unique, yet practical.

# ? Dec 19, 2009 07:45

Duck and burger: Jul 21, 2006; Never a greater duo

trans fat posted:

What are some interesting alternate tunings that are still practical? I've tuned my bass to BEAD, CGAD, GDAE, and G#DAEb. I'm not looking for DDD#D#, but I'm not looking for GBEA followed by DGBE et cetera. Something unique, yet practical.

I V I IV or maybe I IV I V or I IV I III?

# ? Dec 19, 2009 15:23

trans fat: Jul 29, 2007

Duck and burger posted:

I V I IV or maybe I IV I V or I IV I III?

I was looking for notes in particular.

If you can provide some music in said tunings or uses that'd be cool too.

# ? Dec 19, 2009 20:46

Duck and burger: Jul 21, 2006; Never a greater duo

trans fat posted:

I was looking for notes in particular.

If you can provide some music in said tunings or uses that'd be cool too.

Those are notes. Just pick a key that won't be wacky tension. First one could be drop D - D A D G. The point is to have important bass notes resonate openly.

# ? Dec 19, 2009 23:14

Geisladisk: Sep 15, 2007

Dyna Soar posted:

For pickstyle, violently jerking off a lot helps too.

I'm still giggling at this sentence.

# ? Dec 20, 2009 11:18

FoppSomms: Oct 9, 2007

scuz posted:

j-bass supremacy

My GIRLFRIEND bought me a Squier Classic Vibe 60's Jazz yesterday, and I'm now aboard the J-train. Sooo nice to play and sounds so frikin good. The thin neck is like heaven to my fingers after 7 years playing a p-style neck on my G&L Tribute L-2000. The L-2000 is still my no. 1 bass, but this thing is a killer back-up. Any must-do mods to these basses, or can I just leave everything stock? It seems killer straight out of the box.

I guess it also helps that I'm putting it through my brand-new Orange Terror Bass. So nice! It took me 13 years to upgrade from my Peavey Mark III head, and it was so worth it!

# ? Dec 20, 2009 12:00

I r Pat: Nov 16, 2006; Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.

So what is the overall difference between a p-bass and a j-bass? Is the feel just different or are you getting a completely different tone?

# ? Dec 20, 2009 21:42

Scarf: Jun 24, 2005; On sight

I r Pat posted:

So what is the overall difference between a p-bass and a j-bass? Is the feel just different or are you getting a completely different tone?

Both. Jazz bass has a more contoured body, slimmer nut-width resulting in a slimmer neck.

2 single coil pickups compared to the one split-coil of the P-bass.

# ? Dec 20, 2009 21:55

Dyna Soar: Nov 30, 2006

P is beefier, jazz is more versatile. P is better, jazz is for failed guitarists or people with freakishly tiny hands.

# ? Dec 20, 2009 23:04

C2C - 2.0: May 14, 2006; Dubs In The Key Of Life; Lipstick Apathy

Complete bass noob interested in picking the instrument up:

I've read the OP and I'm still confused as to the difference in the two (P and J), pickup-wise. In my short time perusing different brands, I've noticed a few pickup configurations. The first is the two pickups, one near the bridge and the other nearer the neck, each with two rows of coils per pickup. Likewise, I've seen the same configuration where each pickup only has one row of coils. Then, the other common style I've seen is a single-coil type near the bridge with a "split" single-coil pickup near the neck.

Pardon me for sounding illiterate, but I'm just trying to inform myself a bit better. For what it's worth, I've been looking at the Ibanez SR/SRX series, the Schecter Stiletto/Omen, Peavey Cirus, and the Spector Rebop.

# ? Dec 21, 2009 00:04

Scarf: Jun 24, 2005; On sight

C2C - 2.0 posted:

Complete bass noob interested in picking the instrument up:

I've read the OP and I'm still confused as to the difference in the two (P and J), pickup-wise. In my short time perusing different brands, I've noticed a few pickup configurations. The first is the two pickups, one near the bridge and the other nearer the neck, each with two rows of coils per pickup. Likewise, I've seen the same configuration where each pickup only has one row of coils. Then, the other common style I've seen is a single-coil type near the bridge with a "split" single-coil pickup near the neck.

Pardon me for sounding illiterate, but I'm just trying to inform myself a bit better. For what it's worth, I've been looking at the Ibanez SR/SRX series, the Schecter Stiletto/Omen, Peavey Cirus, and the Spector Rebop.

The best way to demonstrate it is with audio clips. Check out the clips of these two Lakland basses, one Jazz-style, and the other Precision style.

http://www.lakland.com/ac_usjo.htm

http://www.lakland.com/ac_dunn.htm

As for the P-basses w/ the singlecoil pickup near the bridge, that's just a kind of best-of-both-worlds type deal. You get the big beefiness of the P-pickup, and get some of the tight growl of the singlecoil at the bridge. Here's another example.

http://www.lakland.com/ac_glaubpj.htm

Edit: And what you talk about with the two rows of single-coils is likely a humbucking pickup like a MusicMan stingray.

Scarf fucked around with this message at 00:39 on Dec 21, 2009

# ? Dec 21, 2009 00:24

cpach: Feb 28, 2005

C2C - 2.0 posted:

Complete bass noob interested in picking the instrument up:

I've read the OP and I'm still confused as to the difference in the two (P and J), pickup-wise. In my short time perusing different brands, I've noticed a few pickup configurations. The first is the two pickups, one near the bridge and the other nearer the neck, each with two rows of coils per pickup. Likewise, I've seen the same configuration where each pickup only has one row of coils. Then, the other common style I've seen is a single-coil type near the bridge with a "split" single-coil pickup near the neck.

Pardon me for sounding illiterate, but I'm just trying to inform myself a bit better. For what it's worth, I've been looking at the Ibanez SR/SRX series, the Schecter Stiletto/Omen, Peavey Cirus, and the Spector Rebop.

P pickups are two fat single coils, with one covering the lower strings, and the other covering the upper strings, staggered vertically, and are hum canceling. These are the "split single coils" you mention in your post. They sound fairly fat. A traditional fender P bass has only one of these, mounted in the middle of the bass.

J pickups are thinner single coils, and there are usually two of them on a jazz bass. They aren't quite as fat sounding as a P bass, but two pickups obviously offer a wider variety of sounds, and they can generally sound more articulate.

None of the basses you listed are particularly Fender-like. Ibanez SR series usually feature soapbar pickups with active electronics for a modern, somewhat broadband, sound. SRX series basses have humbucking pickups like Musicman basses, which are a bit bright and agressive. Stilettos also have soapbars (I haven't heard one in a while) and active electronics. Cirruses have active soapbars. Spectors have EMG active soapbars, which are broadband if a bit bright.

These are all modern basses with active EQ (and pickups in some cases) and really none of them sound like a P or a J at all, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. For what it's worth of those I like Ibanez SR series if you don't mind the very thin necks they have.

You should try out some vintage-style basses (Fender P and J, or basses with similar electronics) and compare them to basses with modern electronics, and think of what's more appropriate for the music you want to play. If you like this sound it doesn't mean you have to buy a Fender.

Consider buying used if you can--it'll save money, and you won't lose as much money if/when you decide to resell it. Also, in the beginner friendly price range, I really love the hell out of my Yamaha BB414, which has a P-like pickup in the middle, and a J-like pickup in the bridge, and a P-ish neck, while looking nothing like a fender (or a really sleek modern bass, for that matter). If you get one of the 80s basses it's a reissue of, you win extra cool points.

# ? Dec 21, 2009 00:40

C2C - 2.0: May 14, 2006; Dubs In The Key Of Life; Lipstick Apathy

Thanks for the quick replies; I've had this thread underneath the thumb of a steady F-5 and y'all certainly didn't disappoint.

This certainly is a lot of information (at least for me) to consider and parse. I'll take a listen to the examples posted and see what's what. I'd heard the phrase "soapbar" mentioned before, but I didn't necessarily know how it related to P and J. My tastes run between Meshuggah and Sleep, so a bit of territory covered there. The reason I mentioned the models that I did is because, in my research, those basses tended toward the tone I'm looking for and were skewed somewhat more toward what I'm looking to invest at the moment. I do, however, understand that tone can be shaped a bit via amp/effects, so I know that comfort/ergonomics are also an important consideration.

Anyway, I'll get to the business of reading/listening based on everything y'all have posted so far. As soon as I've made a decision and jumped into it, I'll post with the goods.

# ? Dec 21, 2009 01:35

Scarf: Jun 24, 2005; On sight

C2C - 2.0 posted:

I'd heard the phrase "soapbar" mentioned before, but I didn't necessarily know how it related to P and J.

They don't. Soapbar pickups are humbucking pickups whose size/shape kind of resemble a bar of soap. You find them a lot in Gibson and Ibanez basses.

# ? Dec 21, 2009 02:20

Scarf: Jun 24, 2005; On sight

This would probably be some good information to have in the OP if anyone wants to compile a list of different pickups and their characteristics and a picture of each.

Big ones that I can think of off the top of my head:

- Single coil J-bass pickups
- Split coil P-bass pickup
- Musicman style humbucker
- Soapbar humbucker
- Mudbucker/Sidewinder (Gibson EBs, Fender Telebass, etc.)
- Darkstar/Hagstrom single-coils
- Piezo

# ? Dec 21, 2009 02:27

cpach: Feb 28, 2005

C2C - 2.0 posted:

This certainly is a lot of information (at least for me) to consider and parse. I'll take a listen to the examples posted and see what's what. I'd heard the phrase "soapbar" mentioned before, but I didn't necessarily know how it related to P and J. My tastes run between Meshuggah and Sleep, so a bit of territory covered there. The reason I mentioned the models that I did is because, in my research, those basses tended toward the tone I'm looking for and were skewed somewhat more toward what I'm looking to invest at the moment. I do, however, understand that tone can be shaped a bit via amp/effects, so I know that comfort/ergonomics are also an important consideration.

Soapbar is honestly kind of a general term. It generally means a rectangularly shaped pickup that's fatter than a J bass pickup. Electronically, they're sometimes humbuckers, sometimes singlecoils, sometimes side by side coil designs, etc. Some of them are active (EMGs). The basses you mentioned, I think are all humbuckers, and the Peavey has in-house active pickups, while some Spectors sport passive or active EMGs (depending on model). Soapbars generally tend to have a more high fidelity, broadband response, but this is a generalization.

It sounds like you like modern heavy music. I am not an expert on it at all, but that means you're likely to want a more modern sounding bass, of which all those you mentioned are probably a good match for.

cpach fucked around with this message at 03:39 on Dec 21, 2009

# ? Dec 21, 2009 03:37

cpach: Feb 28, 2005

edit: quote is not edit

# ? Dec 21, 2009 03:38

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# ? May 13, 2024 11:56

Dyna Soar: Nov 30, 2006

Has any of you guys ever ordered a pickguard online? I want to replace the stock white one with a black or dark green one.

Also what kind of a pickguard does the Highway One P-bass use? I looked through a few online shops and they only had separate categories for american standard, mexican standard and american deluxe.

# ? Dec 21, 2009 10:01

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > No More Drake > Musician's Lounge > BASS MEGATHREAD: Beginners, welcome to my ass!

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