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FeloniousDrunk posted:I'm bass-curious, would a "Squier Vintage Modified Jazz Bass '70s" at $400 be a mistake? I've been monitoring it for a while. Also I have fond memories of GK from about 25 years ago, playing a six-string (not bass) through one. Opinions on a "Gallien-Krueger MB115-II 200W 1X15 Ultralight Bass Combo Amp"? I'm basically a dilettante with a little bit of cash, not too much. Not going to perform for money anytime soon, but jamming with buddies is a possibility. I'm aiming for a setup I won't be disappointed with. GK is a good brand, and 200W 1x15 is the right size for most things. It'll carry over drums without any trouble. $400 for the VM sounds high to me too, usually they're about $350 and you can find 'em for even less, used. It'll be a solid instrument, anyhow.
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Mar 9, 2016 15:32
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buy a head + cab setup rather than a combo. it's much more versatile, you can change the head or the cab separately if you want to upgrade and if you ever start gigging you can only take the head with you.
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Mar 9, 2016 15:38
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OK, as long as my window shopping isn't completely off-base. No rush since I just bought a non-small guitar amp and Mrs. Drunk would probably have a freak if I immediately got a bunch more "clutter", so I can take my time looking for a better deal. Canada, it's the shipping that pushes the price up. Though now I see one for $300US and ships from Ontario... (The SVM I mean) Tad Naff fucked around with this message at 21:37 on Mar 9, 2016 |
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Mar 9, 2016 18:26
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i boughrt a 150w peavey mk III from the early 80s (for 150 bucks) as a backup head for my sound city but i think i'll start using it full time. ridiculously loud & has an ugly but impressive tone, just what i like.
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Mar 9, 2016 21:35
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So what are (or even are there) some decent sounding head/cab setups in roughly the same price range as a ~200w combo?
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Mar 9, 2016 22:08
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AlphaDog posted:So what are (or even are there) some decent sounding head/cab setups in roughly the same price range as a ~200w combo? what price range would that be? you can buy amazing gear for relatively cheap from craigslist if you get lucky. also local music shops are a good place to find good used gear.
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Mar 9, 2016 22:19
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Dyna Soar posted:what price range would that be? you can buy amazing gear for relatively cheap from craigslist if you get lucky. also local music shops are a good place to find good used gear. $500-$1000 or so, which in australia, for new gear, includes combo amps like the Hartke HD-150 and KB15, Fender Rumble 200 (and maybe 500 on sale), TC electronics BG 250 (both 1x15 and 2x10), and stuff like that. I'm keeping an eye out for second hand gear too, but so far it's usually either " Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 23:24 on Mar 9, 2016 |
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Mar 9, 2016 23:17
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Nik West is a bass beast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mv-fqrgC-y8
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Mar 9, 2016 23:17
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Mar 9, 2016 23:25
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She does a great cover of Seinfeld.
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Mar 10, 2016 21:37
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That Nik West video is great, but I notice that slappers tend to have an over-reliance on root-octave-fifth type of patterns. I wonder how stymied they would be over something like an Fmaj7 chord.
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Mar 13, 2016 21:39
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AlphaDog posted:$500-$1000 or so, which in australia, for new gear, includes combo amps like the Hartke HD-150 and KB15, Fender Rumble 200 (and maybe 500 on sale), TC electronics BG 250 (both 1x15 and 2x10), and stuff like that. I'm keeping an eye out for second hand gear too, but so far it's usually either " ah, well i have no idea about what poo poo costs down there. here you can get a decent, entry level G&K or Ashdown or Hartke rig for around 500 euros used. If you get lucky you can get a decent late 70s / early 80s rig for 300 euros or less.
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Mar 13, 2016 21:43
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Dyna Soar posted:ah, well i have no idea about what poo poo costs down there. here you can get a decent, entry level G&K or Ashdown or Hartke rig for around 500 euros used. If you get lucky you can get a decent late 70s / early 80s rig for 300 euros or less. So something like this is what you're talking about? http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/ashburton/guitars-amps/hartke-ha5500-head-and-hydrive-hx410-cab/1106760859 One other thing I've been looking at is the Mark Bass Jeff Berlin Players Choice 151 Combo, does anyone have any comments about that? Reviews seem positive and I did like the way it sounded.
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Mar 13, 2016 23:15
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AlphaDog posted:So something like this is what you're talking about? http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/ashburton/guitars-amps/hartke-ha5500-head-and-hydrive-hx410-cab/1106760859 Yeah man, that's a solid workhorse amp with a p. good range that will serve you well for years to come. Personally I'd get that one over any similar level combo myself, but then again I'm really not a fan of combos for bass at all. Here's a couple of threads on talkbass, everyone loves it: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/hartke-ha-5500-head-opinions.166733/ and https://www.talkbass.com/threads/hartke-ha5500.150405/
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Mar 13, 2016 23:34
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If I had the cash on hand then I'd probably be buying it right now. I think it'll be gone pretty quick at that price though.
Elector_Nerdlingen fucked around with this message at 00:07 on Mar 14, 2016 |
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Mar 14, 2016 00:04
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AlphaDog posted:One other thing I've been looking at is the Mark Bass Jeff Berlin Players Choice 151 Combo, does anyone have any comments about that? Reviews seem positive and I did like the way it sounded. You can also easily add a second speaker cabinet to get the full power out of the amp.
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Mar 14, 2016 02:28
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DrChu posted:People tend to hate on combos but that one is basically their Little Mark III amp built into a cabinet. You can even remove the head if you want to use it on other things (though you'll want a top plate for it): https://www.talkbass.com/threads/question-for-markbass-experts-resolution.538387/ The one I've been looking at isn't that model, it's the "player's school" one. I've read it's the same exact head in there, and though I'm not sure if you can just take it out like that, it looks like the rear of the combo has 2 speaker-out ports, one of which usually connects to the attached cab but can be disconnected. Now I'm probably going to show my ignorance of how amps and cabinets work, but this is what I've understood about that particular combo and the ability to attach an extension or disconnect the internal speaker: The combo runs150w to the 8 ohm internal speaker. If you connect an 8 ohm extension, then (apparently, according to the spec sheet) the amp outputs 250w at 4 ohms. What I'm not sure about - if you disconnect the internal speaker and hook up a single 4 ohm cab instead, would the amp output 250w @ 4 ohms (which is what I assume a Little Mark 250w head does in the same situation)?
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Mar 14, 2016 05:48
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The players school combo and the mini head do 150 @ 8 ohms, 250 @ 4 ohms. You're correct, they output more power with less resistance. It will recognize the rating of the cab and put out the appropriate amount of power. Or you can plug in 2, 8 ohm cabs, for a total of 4 ohms, and MORE POWER. Pokey Araya fucked around with this message at 06:13 on Mar 14, 2016 |
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Mar 14, 2016 06:01
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I've had a Markbass CMD121p for 8 years now, with the LM2 head in it. It's smaller than the Jeff Berlin version but even with a 12" speaker it's a great sounding amp. I've stacked it on top of a Ampeg 210HE for years and it can get brutally loud (for the size) as well.
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Mar 14, 2016 17:31
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Question for the few metal guys here: when there's a blast beat do you play every single time the kick drum hits? (Same for double bass) One of the few founding tenets of bass playing I learned was "always strike a note when the bass drum hits" and holy moly is it exhausting to do so at high speeds and also it can sound kinda flubby and farty.
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Mar 18, 2016 22:06
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Spanish Manlove posted:Question for the few metal guys here: when there's a blast beat do you play every single time the kick drum hits? (Same for double bass) Last thing first: "always strike a note when the bass drum hits" is OK as a general rule of thumb, but it's not scripture. You're going to play a bunch of notes when the bass drum isn't, and the bass drum will kick here and there while you're doing something else. It happens. As for the blast beat stuff, well, in many cases, it's probably more important to... (sigh)... « tarlibone looks around to see if any guitarists are watching »... ... double the rhythm guitar, or tacet. Now, the rhythm guitar will probably be chugging away some palm-muted power chords in time with the drums, hitting 8th, 16th, or whatever notes with the snare and bass drums. So in the end, you'll be playing with the bass drum, but you're also playing with the snare drum. But it really depends on the actual context.
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Mar 18, 2016 23:27
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When the bass drum starts hitting 16+ hits a second, there's no way you'll keep up with it. Don't worry about that, instead focus on what the beat feel is of the song, what rhythms the guitars are doing. My rule of thumb is to play enough that it sounds good, but not so much that I keep loving up or ruining the tight feel. If that means you need to play half of that blistering tempo, so be it. You know what? It usually still sounds good. If you have the kind of tone that blends in and doesn't emphasize pick/pluck sounds, no one will even notice you're doing half-time. If you do have a clear attack sound (my preferred sound), tightness is even more important, and you'll probably want to keep it under control anyway. If you still hate the idea of doing that, find creative ways to do it. Break up the half-time with full speed fills, or alternate speeds between riffs. It not only gets the job done but you will astonish with your creativity! (or not) But above all, do service to the song, not any one instrument.
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Mar 19, 2016 02:02
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NarkyBark posted:When the bass drum starts hitting 16+ hits a second, there's no way you'll keep up with it. Don't worry about that, instead focus on what the beat feel is of the song, what rhythms the guitars are doing. My rule of thumb is to play enough that it sounds good, but not so much that I keep loving up or ruining the tight feel. If that means you need to play half of that blistering tempo, so be it. You know what? It usually still sounds good. If you have the kind of tone that blends in and doesn't emphasize pick/pluck sounds, no one will even notice you're doing half-time. If you do have a clear attack sound (my preferred sound), tightness is even more important, and you'll probably want to keep it under control anyway. At 240bpm 16ths are easily doable for me with a pick but its fatiguing to do so for more than a minute or so, and I'm not quite good enough to fingerpick that fast even with the alex webster three finger technique that I'm still working on. I was thinking of doing half time but it seems like I'm just going to have to practice bass a lot more. And here I thought I could just not play it for years and come back to it and be a master. Edit: also that video kinda says what you guys are saying with "yeah follow the bass drum but honestly just wing it and go with what you feel is right" Spanish Manlove fucked around with this message at 03:11 on Mar 19, 2016 |
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Mar 19, 2016 03:04
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Blast beat drumming really dominates the bass of a song already so you're better off pushing into the midrange with a really agressive tone. You don't have to parallel the rhythm the guitar but you can certainly take a cue from it. The efficient use of your space is what will really make you shine through. Start with whole notes, maybe add a quick triplet or arpeggio to keep the key or transition, find ways to borrow from both the rhythm and the lead guitar to create a melody that doesn't mimic but can be situated alongside them.
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Mar 19, 2016 03:43
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I have another "help, I have no idea what I'm doing" question about amplifiers and cabinets Let's say I end up getting that Little Mark 250. 150w @ 8ohms, 250w @ 4 ohms. Now I get a cabinet that's rated 200w @ 8 ohms. I connect it to the amp, we're all good, the cab is getting 150w @ 8 ohms. I buy another identical cabinet and connect it. The amp's now outputting 250w. Is that per cab, or is it 125w to each cab, or is it something else? Intuition tells me it's not outputting 250w to each cabinet, but a week ago I had absolutely no idea how any of this stuff worked.
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Mar 20, 2016 05:58
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AlphaDog posted:I have another "help, I have no idea what I'm doing" question about amplifiers and cabinets The amp is putting out 250 total, so 125 per cab. If somebody doesn't flake again, I'm going to have a practice tomorrow with a huge old full stack bass rig. The amp is a 300 watt solid state, so I'm going to bring my Little Mark III and push 500 watts of awesomeness through a speaker stack as tall as I am  or I might dig out my A/B box and run one amp through each cab.
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Mar 20, 2016 06:10
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CaseFace McGee posted:The amp is putting out 250 total, so 125 per cab. Thanks! Just so I'm clear, the way it works is that when you connect two cabinets of the same resistance, power from the amp goes evenly to each? If I'm lucky, I'll be picking up a cheapish Little Mark 250 this week then, and I should be able to get a cheap used Hartke 2x10 200w cab at the same time.
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Mar 20, 2016 06:20
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AlphaDog posted:Thanks! Just so I'm clear, the way it works is that when you connect two cabinets of the same resistance, power from the amp goes evenly to each? Yup. If you (theoretically, don't do this unless you know what you're doing) use two cabs of different impedance, one will receive more power than the other. Think of it somewhat like a faucet and hoses. Your amp can put out 250 gallons per minute total (  ) into one large hose of 4 ohm diameter, or split that between two smaller hoses of 8 ohm diameter. With only one smaller 8 ohm hose, it can only move 150 gallons per minute.
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Mar 20, 2016 16:34
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I'm lazily shopping around for a new bass, and everything raises questions. Why are there so few cool looking basses for one? I want something that's not just a P/J or a ripoff of those or a guitar model that looks stupid, is that so hard? But more importantly: what's the deal with active electronics? I play on a Washburn Taurus model, which has tone and volume for both pickups, all passive. But everything I look at has active pickups and EQs and what have you. Ideally, I just want a volume knob and possibly some pickup switches, and the EQ it afterwards. Am I wrong? Is active pickups and Eq built in great? And while I'm at it, are humbuckers worth it if I'm playing with distortion? And lastly, do I care about neck construction and wood and stuff, or is that mostly fluff?
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Mar 25, 2016 18:25
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A lot of "Active" basses aren't as such. My Ibanez gsr205 (and a lot of other low end 'active' Basses) has passive pickups then goes through a little active pre-amp, which when turned up slightly boosts the bass and treble in a smiley curve- think the "Megabass" button on a car stero kinda thing. When the active knob is all the way down its just the pure sound of the pickups and its a bit growly like a P or J, sounds more… processed is the closest word when the active circuit is on. The eq knob on this is pretty much a tone knob thats more focussed on midrange. Its useful to quickly change tone, but the active circuit adds a lot of output volume so you need to bear that in mind. A long time ago I had an original fully active Ibanez K5 (shut up its a good bass) that 16 year-old me couldn't really get my head round with dual concentric knobs and all that poo poo that I still kick myself for selling now that I know what I'm doing a a lot better in regards to that sort of thing. On low range basses many people will either swap out or disconnect the active preamp, personally I just leave it on full, mids knob on full and only adjust pickup blend. Humbuckers are good for distortion, its shockingly easy to make a P or J feedback howl so like with a guitar if you arent into that then humbuck it up.
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Mar 25, 2016 20:06
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Active basses usually have a two-band or three-band eq, as opposed to a single high-cut knob you find on passive instruments. Also, they can boost, as well as cut, signal, and usually have a notch halfway through rotation for zero setting I like the three band eq, usually roll off the mid and boost the others a hair past notch
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Mar 25, 2016 20:27
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i play a p-bass because gently caress all those useless eq's
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Mar 25, 2016 20:29
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Dyna Soar posted:i play a p-bass because gently caress all those useless eq's Same but a J since I like the feel of the necks better. Also because rolling off the treble pickup a tiny bit thickens it up a lot and gets this awesome chunking sound when you pluck forcefully.
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Mar 25, 2016 20:44
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Dyna Soar posted:i play a p-bass because gently caress all those useless eq's This, pretty much. I have a single active bass, my Ibanez 5-string fretless Soundgear. I got it shortly before the 3-band EQ became the norm, so it's got volume, bass cut/boost, treble cut/boost, and pickup balance. And it tends to sound hollow because the mids just aren't there--it's a very cold, dry tone that can only be warmed up so much. I prefer my Squier P-bass fretless.
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Mar 25, 2016 20:54
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Dyna Soar posted:i play a p-bass because gently caress all those useless eq's I used to have a Bongo and honestly the active eq kicked rear end and could get me any tone imaginable but a bog standard Precision is going to fit nearly any song and do it without any tweaking. I really gotta grab a cheap one soon. My Squier VM70 J needs a buddy and Ps are perfection.
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Mar 25, 2016 22:14
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tokai hard puncher baby
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Mar 25, 2016 22:25
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Something has been eating at me for a while. I've been really trying to get away from anchoring with my thumb on the pickup, especially since I did a real number on the top of the guitar with my thumb nail at some point. If anyone is familiar with Warwick or swamp rear end basses, there's no laminate, it's just a dark oil treatment over very light wood. So, now it looks like there's a big white gash next to my pickup and I don't know what to do with it except just be mad at myself. I could try going over it with something, but I feel I would never get the color right, even if it is "black."
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Mar 26, 2016 00:36
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Find out what oil was used to finish the bass originally and dab some on? Put a grippy sticker on it? It's an instrument, use it and modify it to play more comfortably, don't contort your fingers in vain trying to keep the finish perfect. If it's gonna be worth money in a few decades time it'll change colour and be covered in worn spots anyway.
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Mar 26, 2016 00:46
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Jeff Goldblum posted:Something has been eating at me for a while. I've been really trying to get away from anchoring with my thumb on the pickup, especially since I did a real number on the top of the guitar with my thumb nail at some point. If anyone is familiar with Warwick or swamp rear end basses, there's no laminate, it's just a dark oil treatment over very light wood. So, now it looks like there's a big white gash next to my pickup and I don't know what to do with it except just be mad at myself. I could try going over it with something, but I feel I would never get the color right, even if it is "black." Spend a few hours a week looking at Willie Nelson's guitar Trigger until you realize that weathered played in instruments are badass.
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Mar 26, 2016 02:16
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Kilometers Davis posted:Spend a few hours a week looking at Willie Nelson's guitar Trigger until you realize that weathered played in instruments are badass. This. Exactly this. Dude... people pay money to get brand new Fenders that look like old, beat-up Fenders. Yeah, it's goofy as all hell, but there's a reason why the Fender executive who thought of that goofy-rear end poo poo got a big-rear end bonus. That is your bass. There are many like it, but that one is yours.
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Mar 26, 2016 03:21
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