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By "high on the neck" you mean closer to the body, right?
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Jan 2, 2013 09:00
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cactuscarpet posted:By "high on the neck" you mean closer to the body, right? Pretty much. Going "up the neck" means going higher in pitch, so "high on the neck" means playing up nearer to where the neck meets the body of the bass.
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Jan 2, 2013 14:08
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Does anyone have any suggestions to help a bass player break out of the mindset of "play with the guitarist", as opposed to playing along of him? I started playing bass guitar in high school, but at the same time played upright bass in orchestra. In the last couple of years, I've started looking to doing more with it, and joined a hard rock band a few months ago. I've definitely got rhythm, as well as a desire to play a few melodic sections. The problem, if you look at it that way, is that I'm too used to playing the melody at the bottom of the register, that it seems like most of the time that I try to step out from under my guitarist, it just sounds too discordant. At the same time, playing the roots of my guitarist's chords all the time, while sounds decent, just feels boring. I know that there's no such thing as "here is how to play music", but does anyone have any advice/suggestions/references that might be helpful?
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Jan 3, 2013 05:08
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The only think I can think to recommend is to learn by ear basslines from bassists who do just that sort of thing. Then try to pick apart what they do and make it your own. Like if you play pop music, you could learn some basslines by Bruce Thomas, Paul McCartney, Graham Maby, Dee Murray, etc. Or if your music is funk-oriented, then you could learn bass parts from Paul Jackson, Jerry Jemmot, Chuck Rainey, and so on.
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Jan 3, 2013 05:27
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Seventh Arrow posted:The only think I can think to recommend is to learn by ear basslines from bassists who do just that sort of thing. Then try to pick apart what they do and make it your own. Like if you play pop music, you could learn some basslines by Bruce Thomas, Paul McCartney, Graham Maby, Dee Murray, etc. Or if your music is funk-oriented, then you could learn bass parts from Paul Jackson, Jerry Jemmot, Chuck Rainey, and so on. This is good advice. If you're looking for good ways to spice up bass playing under hard rock you ought to check out dudes like Geezer Butler and Jon Stockman.
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Jan 3, 2013 08:07
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How about playing with the drummer instead of the guitarist?CaseFace McGee posted:Pretty much. Going "up the neck" means going higher in pitch, so "high on the neck" means playing up nearer to where the neck meets the body of the bass. I'm just checking since he's a beginner and they often (quite understandably) switch the two around. If the action on his bass is actually higher towards the nut that would suggest a really strange (perhaps impossible) neck angle. cactuscarpet fucked around with this message at 09:36 on Jan 3, 2013 |
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Jan 3, 2013 09:27
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cactuscarpet posted:I'm just checking since he's a beginner and they often (quite understandably) switch the two around. If the action on his bass is actually higher towards the nut that would suggest a really strange (perhaps impossible) neck angle. Not completely impossible, I saw a really hosed up guitar once where the bridge and neck got badly damaged and it some how stayed "playable" but the action got almost reversed because the bridge got pushed into the guitar and the neck and got bent. I still don't know how the hell it happened but there you go, not impossible but highly improbable but I'm betting he would have mentioned any major damage in the post.
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Jan 3, 2013 14:13
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So I'm looking for a low wattage bass amp to be used primarily in my studio for recording purposes. It doesn't need to be loud, just sound good and be fairly versatile. I'm getting bored of only ever going direct in and feel like I could be getting much better sounds with a real amp.
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Jan 3, 2013 14:31
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HollisBrown posted:So I'm looking for a low wattage bass amp to be used primarily in my studio for recording purposes. It doesn't need to be loud, just sound good and be fairly versatile. I'm getting bored of only ever going direct in and feel like I could be getting much better sounds with a real amp. I'd probably just get one of these . I know tastes vary, but I'd rather go through that for an 'ampy' sound than deal with getting a small bass amp (and most small amps aren't great unless you spend a lot of money), bass mic, preamp, etc. It will also give you more versatility. If you still feel like you want to record an actual speaker you can use the VT bass as a pre-amp into a powered monitor, keyboard amp, or something like that. I've used mine direct for recording and it's always on when I play live (into a GK combo).
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Jan 3, 2013 15:44
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HollisBrown posted:So I'm looking for a low wattage bass amp to be used primarily in my studio for recording purposes. It doesn't need to be loud, just sound good and be fairly versatile. I'm getting bored of only ever going direct in and feel like I could be getting much better sounds with a real amp. What's low wattage? Also what kind of sounds? I've got a Guild Thunderbass that sounds great and at about 45w it does it at reasonable volumes unless it's plugged into a big cab. Silverface Fenders are generally pretty easy to get your hands on. And an old 2x6l6 amp, old 15s, and flatwounds are things that sound really good together. You could also check out any number of small guitar heads if you've got a bass cab handy. The tone stacks are usually a bit different than a bass amp but I've had some really good results with bass through guitar amps. Too low power and you might lose some versatility though. Really a good speaker/cab setup is probably going to be as important as whatever you're powering it with though.
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Jan 3, 2013 17:11
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FancyMike posted:What's low wattage? Also what kind of sounds? I've got a Guild Thunderbass that sounds great and at about 45w it does it at reasonable volumes unless it's plugged into a big cab. Silverface Fenders are generally pretty easy to get your hands on. And an old 2x6l6 amp, old 15s, and flatwounds are things that sound really good together. You could also check out any number of small guitar heads if you've got a bass cab handy. The tone stacks are usually a bit different than a bass amp but I've had some really good results with bass through guitar amps. Too low power and you might lose some versatility though. This leads into a weird question I've been pondering over the past few days. I have my eye on an old 4x12 slant cab down at the local shop. The price is right, since the tolex and grille are beat to Hell, and I can redo all that junk myself. The thing is that I don't need a 4x12 for goofing off in my house. Then I thought, since I play bass and guitar, maybe I could just put 2x12 guitar, and 2x12 bass speakers in the thing, and wire them up to separate inputs. Two heads on top, one stop music corner, and I save some floorspace. Is this a remotely reasonable thing to do?
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Jan 4, 2013 03:30
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The Bunk posted:I'd probably just get one of these . I know tastes vary, but I'd rather go through that for an 'ampy' sound than deal with getting a small bass amp (and most small amps aren't great unless you spend a lot of money), bass mic, preamp, etc. It will also give you more versatility. If you still feel like you want to record an actual speaker you can use the VT bass as a pre-amp into a powered monitor, keyboard amp, or something like that. I've used mine direct for recording and it's always on when I play live (into a GK combo). So I got $100 Gift Certificate to
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Jan 4, 2013 04:15
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Clitch posted:This leads into a weird question I've been pondering over the past few days. I have my eye on an old 4x12 slant cab down at the local shop. The price is right, since the tolex and grille are beat to Hell, and I can redo all that junk myself. The thing is that I don't need a 4x12 for goofing off in my house. Then I thought, since I play bass and guitar, maybe I could just put 2x12 guitar, and 2x12 bass speakers in the thing, and wire them up to separate inputs. Two heads on top, one stop music corner, and I save some floorspace. Is this a remotely reasonable thing to do? This will only work if its a sealed cab (or maybe half sealed if the bottom is fully sealed) and you can find a pair of bass speakers designed to fit the volume of the cabinet. Even then you'll get some unwanted effects from the underpowered speakers (when using it either way). Some guitar cabs go low enough to be useable for bass. Since its just for messing around at home try using it as-is first before going crazy with rewiring it.
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Jan 4, 2013 04:23
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Clitch posted:This leads into a weird question I've been pondering over the past few days. I have my eye on an old 4x12 slant cab down at the local shop. The price is right, since the tolex and grille are beat to Hell, and I can redo all that junk myself. The thing is that I don't need a 4x12 for goofing off in my house. Then I thought, since I play bass and guitar, maybe I could just put 2x12 guitar, and 2x12 bass speakers in the thing, and wire them up to separate inputs. Two heads on top, one stop music corner, and I save some floorspace. Is this a remotely reasonable thing to do? The problem you would run into is that most 12" bass speakers are not meant for sealed enclosures, so they won't sound as good as they could or go as low as they could. The exterior dimensions for one compartment of a sealed 4x10 I have at home is 27x15x12, and that's for 2x10" speakers meant to go in a sealed box. 12" speakers would require more volume. However if you're just messing around at home, that might not be a problem.
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Jan 4, 2013 20:19
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DrChu posted:This will only work if its a sealed cab (or maybe half sealed if the bottom is fully sealed) and you can find a pair of bass speakers designed to fit the volume of the cabinet. Even then you'll get some unwanted effects from the underpowered speakers (when using it either way). It's sealed. I figured I could slot a divider in there, run the bass speakers in the bottom, and the guitar speakers on top. I could even make a new bracket, and run a single 15" or something, depending on the room i have to work with. The DIY stuff doesnt deter me from the project.
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Jan 4, 2013 20:20
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I'm going to start playing again; got my amp setup today.
Dominoes fucked around with this message at 03:03 on Jan 5, 2013 |
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Jan 5, 2013 03:01
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Dominoes posted:I'm going to start playing again; got my amp setup today. Nice rig. The drive control is set way too low though. 
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Jan 5, 2013 04:08
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Clitch posted:It's sealed. I figured I could slot a divider in there, run the bass speakers in the bottom, and the guitar speakers on top. I could even make a new bracket, and run a single 15" or something, depending on the room i have to work with. The DIY stuff doesnt deter me from the project. If you can get the specs of some potential speakers and the measurements of the two compartments, you can use a program like WinISD (http://www.linearteam.dk/default.aspx?pageid=winisd) to see how well they would work.
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Jan 5, 2013 04:12
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Dominoes posted:I'm going to start playing again; got my amp setup today.
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Jan 5, 2013 15:41
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The Leck posted:Can I get specifics on that? It looks like about the size I'd like to have, ideally. Do you use it to play with other people? I love no longer having to deal with heavy equipment. I went from a 50lb ampeg SVP preamp + 80s QSC 1100 watt amp setup to this 4lb head. It uses a class-D switching amp. Dominoes fucked around with this message at 16:01 on Jan 5, 2013 |
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Jan 5, 2013 15:48
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Cross-posting from the new equipment thread, but I'm finally getting back into playing bass. Fender Mexican Jazz and an Ampeg BA112
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Jan 6, 2013 05:00
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Kinfolk Jones posted:Cross-posting from the new equipment thread, but I'm finally getting back into playing bass. I had the 210 variant of that amp a few years ago, I liked it. It was lacking a bit on the volume, but it was capable of nice tone. My upright sounded much better than I expected when I played it through that amp.
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Jan 6, 2013 22:21
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Dominoes posted:I'm going to start playing again; got my amp setup today. Excellent choices all around.
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Jan 7, 2013 08:36
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Has anyone ever bought a bass or guitar, that reeked of cigarette smoke? My new jazz has a very distinct smell, that I can only assume is from cigarettes, even though it doesn't smell nearly as bad as cig smoke. My dad thought it was the nicotine specifically. Anyway, its bugging the poo poo out of me. I smell it all over my hands and clothes after I play it. Are there any sprays, waxes that help? My wax spray has a pretty weak fresh scent that just isn't cutting it. I just put a poo poo ton of dryer sheets in the case to help out, if that doesn't help then I all out of ideas.
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Jan 7, 2013 18:22
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Constipated posted:
This is the best guitar polish I've ever used: http://lizardspit.com/ The first 30 second you polish it, it's going to smell TERRIBLE. Absolutely awful, and then it will be lemon-y fresh. I sweat incredibly hard at my gigs over my bass and this absolutely gets rid of it.
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Jan 7, 2013 20:08
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Noise Machine posted:This is the best guitar polish I've ever used: http://lizardspit.com/ hmmm i should really look into this for my rickenbacker. it looks pretty when it's polished, and yeah, i sweat all over it, put it back in the case then it smells kinda bad when i take it out. which products do you use from them?
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Jan 7, 2013 20:59
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niff posted:
I got the guitar polish as a gift but I'm so impressed by it I wouldn't hesitate to try another product.
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Jan 7, 2013 21:38
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Keeping in the spirit of things, I'm also starting to play bass again. My cousin basically gave away his old Mexi J-bass to me, but I'm bummed out that he didn't have a better amp than what I've got. In the meantime, I'm making the slow conversion from having played lead guitar for over a year, and wasting money on a small fortune of effects. Most bassists seem to advocate clarity over effects. I'll probably hang on to most of them for when I want to play around on the tele, but I am not going to bring my pedalboard around when I'm expecting mostly just plug and play. So, somebody help me figure out what one (max. two) pedal I would take out of my pedalboard to use with the bass. Amplifiers may vary. The Competitors Zvex Box of Rock (Distortion/Boost, adds Marshall-esque tubey gain, very Creamy) MXR 10-Band EQ (haven't used it much before, its got gain and EQ) The Less-Than-Likely's Electro-Harmonix The Clone Theory (Chorus, because every bassist wants to be Peter Hook) Roland RE-20 Space Echo (not the big one, "Hey ma, I'm Pink Floyd!") The Default Korg Pitchblack Tuner (Not sure how often I'll fall out of tune, but good to have if the amp doesn't have a tuner.) I've experimented with the tones, but I can't really vouch for anything when I'm using a Jeff Goldblum fucked around with this message at 11:24 on Jan 8, 2013 |
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Jan 7, 2013 23:45
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Box of Rock sounds good on bass, especially for surf rock. I find it hard to believe you'd keep up with drums with a 15w practice amp at all, though. edit: i can't read ignore me about the practice amp bit. I can't live without a tuner and some dirt in every band I play with, so that's my vote! You could also use, depending on the balance/mix in your band, the MXR 10-band as a boost before or after the Box of Rock for a mid-bump if you want to cut through for a bass lick or somesuch. niff fucked around with this message at 00:23 on Jan 8, 2013 |
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Jan 8, 2013 00:20
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No, the practice amp does have to go. I've been taking my sweet time about it because practices have been so few and far between. But, there's no better time than the present to start looking into a new step up. For instance, while I understand that Acoustic is now part of the Bane Capital umbrella of Guitar Center brand-owned crap, there's a used 200 watt head for $170. Now how would I expect to manage against a drummer and a Fender 65 Princeton Reverb if I were to put that on a 1x15? a 2x10? a 4x10? There's also a 200w SWR Workingman and a 600w Acoustic head for $250, but if I'm going to buy a cabinet too, I'd like to keep the price down until the band starts making more headway. I figure the head is the way to go because I can accrue more cabs and mix and match according to shows.
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Jan 8, 2013 11:31
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Coworker finished building my fEARful 12/6/1. Trip report: thing sounds beautiful. Using a Genz Benz Shuttle 9.0 and can crank it to 11 while still sounding clean. Time to wage war on my downstairs neighbor's dubstep parties.
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Jan 8, 2013 11:42
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My neighbor has a acoustic head and 4x10, and I thought it sounded pretty nice. Sounds about the same as my Ampeg B2-RE head and cab.
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Jan 8, 2013 13:06
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Does anyone have any experience with the Ampeg Micro-VR stack? I've been looking for a smaller rig and think it would be a nice fit. I also posted a link to my band's EP if anyone is interested: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3526974
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Jan 8, 2013 20:11
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Jeff Goldblum posted:No, the practice amp does have to go. I've been taking my sweet time about it because practices have been so few and far between. But, there's no better time than the present to start looking into a new step up. What year/make are the Acoustics? GC from what I hear tends to have a whole shitload of old gear flood in and they sell it on for far too much. For mid-level surf rock amps I'd recommend checking out your local craigslists for a cheap 70s Acoustic or Sunn solid state head. Cheap, plentiful, powerful and run at quite a few different impedances for matching cabs. They also have a really nice natural dirt to them. however, I am a sucker for old gear and tones, so I may be biased - you may even like the ultra-clean tones of the SWR. I would recommend a 1x15 or 2x10 as a mid-level bass cab as well. fits in the back seat of a car, easy to add another if you need more speaker area. comedy option: 
niff fucked around with this message at 22:08 on Jan 8, 2013 |
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Jan 8, 2013 21:46
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Yeah new acoustic poo poo is garbage and old acoustic poo poo can be found on the used market for great prices so I'd be on the lookout for that.
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Jan 9, 2013 15:35
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Those used heads at guitar center were more recent models. You can always tell by the consistent use of flat black uninteresting designs. I did a little searching and found the metallic blues of some vintage acoustics. One is a 150b a few towns over for 95 bucks. The other is a 220 in this interesting wood exterior for 220 bucks, but it is much further away. I'm in the process of inquiring about the condition of the exterior, I want to make sure the wood is intentionally exposed and lacquered and not just from tearing away the tolex. But the 150b is an appealing and nearby deal, could I get a loud enough sound with that? EDIT: the 150b just got less appealing as the owner is reporting a hissing sound. Gotta love how people say that can be "easily fixed" when it typically can't. 
Jeff Goldblum fucked around with this message at 00:02 on Jan 10, 2013 |
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Jan 9, 2013 23:12
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anyone want a ricky wallpaper? shot from one of my gigs. all credit goes to Kate Syme Photography for these. can see a corner of my sunn cabinet in this one:  who needs a pedalboard? surely not me. pictured: tuner, double true bypass looper, VFE mini mu, Bluebeard and El Oso 
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Jan 10, 2013 00:47
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I came into this thread to ask about that same or a very similar Acoustic head http://www.musiciansfriend.com/amplifiers-effects/acoustic-b200h-200w-bass-head On CL local for $150 bucks. Couple guys I know who have used them say that they don't quite get to where they want, but if I buy it I'll run it with a 410 and split that with an Ashdown 115 @ 180 watts. One for grit, one for low end.
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Jan 10, 2013 01:40
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I can't stress enough the difference between 70s acoustic and new acoustic.. see if you can hold out/find one of the older ones! I've seen full stacks of them (head and cab) on CL go for $200 in great condition.
niff fucked around with this message at 02:06 on Jan 10, 2013 |
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Jan 10, 2013 02:02
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I sold a nice, clean 70's Acoustic 370 head a few years back for like $250. It was mighty fine, real good and loud. If you run across one of those, scoop it up- they don't go for a whole lot of money, and they hold up well.
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Jan 10, 2013 03:53
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