BASS MEGATHREAD: Beginners, welcome to my ass!

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

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Alright bass guys - I'm interested in one of those fancy miniature bass amps (Genz Benz Shuttle, Markbass, I saw an Ampeg one, etc.). I like the idea of something that doesn't take up much room and is very portable, given that I don't play the bass as much as I used to. I've heard pretty positive things about the Shuttle amp line and the 12" Shuttle cabinet, and I was curious if anyone had first-hand experience. I imagine the Shuttle 3.0 would honestly be enough for my needs, but I'd like to hear how some of you are using them.

# ¿ Dec 21, 2012 01:39

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# ¿ May 4, 2024 09:46

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Dominoes posted:

I'm going to start playing again; got my amp setup today.

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?

# ¿ Jan 5, 2013 15:41

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Is there any good option for replacement pickups for a Jazz bass with two neck-width pickups? Everything I've seen won't fit in my bass, and I'm not sure it's worth whatever the cost is for modifying the wood on a Mexican Fender.

# ¿ Oct 26, 2013 18:14

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Ericadia posted:

One more thing: I mentioned earlier that your bass might sound sterile through a keyboard amp: if this turns out to be true, consider getting a bass preamp (rack mount or pedal) to go in your signal chain before it hits the keyboard amp.

Sansamp VT Bass + keyboard amp = good/great idea for this situation?

# ¿ Nov 27, 2013 14:00

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Scarf posted:

I'm pretty sure all of Ibanez's lawsuit basses from that era were dubbed "Silver Series" basses, so I'd search by that. I think that name also applied to their lawsuit guitars as well.

It definitely does apply to the guitars too. I've got a Strat that matches your P-bass, except with a white pickguard and pickups. It's probably the coolest thing I own, but it just doesn't feel right to me

# ¿ Apr 6, 2016 02:44

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Does anyone have experience with the Fender Special Edition Deluxe PJ Bass? I've been thinking about grabbing a new bass, and it looks like exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for (Jazz neck, P + J pickups).

# ¿ Jun 21, 2018 00:19

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

As classy as the white one looks, the sea foam green is obviously the best option here. I'm not hearing any reason not to track down a used one and give it a try for a while.

# ¿ Jun 21, 2018 22:50

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

DrChu posted:

Matt Freeman's tone has almost always been a straight up Fender into mostly clean Ampeg so you should have no problem getting close. However on the ...And Out Come The Wolves songs he used a Jazz instead of a Precision so it's going to be a bit different, you may want to scoop the mids a little to help the P get closer to that tone.

I'll add to this that I saw them live a while back, and he played a regular looking Precision and sounded pretty much the same as the record , so it's definitely possible to get in the ballpark with a P, even if it's not exactly right.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2019 00:44

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

The only JPJ bass I've seen is the Fender Stu Hamm Urge, and I can't tell if I like it or not, but it's probably pretty versatile.

# ¿ Jan 25, 2020 04:01

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

H13 posted:

So which is the ultimate Bass Distortion pedal? Is it the ProCo Rat? Or the ProCo Rat?

Weird how it's also the ultimate guitar distortion pedal

e: though that Brassmaster sounds great

# ¿ Jun 17, 2020 15:07

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Huxley posted:

NBD after a year of messing around with a hand-me-down Yamaha.

Sonic blue Mustang, not a Player but from the run they did right before that. Technically an "Offset Series" but from the era where they were still putting Rosewood on MIMs.

I LOVE it. 30 inches fits me like a glove and the sound is exactly what I have been chasing in my head.

I�ve got the same bass in the same color and it�s been great. Hope you enjoy it!

# ¿ Jan 22, 2022 03:20

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Scarf posted:

I know multi-effects units/processors have come a long way in the last several years, but I still don't think they sound nearly as good as well-made stand-alone pedals.

I've tried out most envelope filters on the market and ended up landing on the Source Audio Spectrum. Try one out if you get a chance, it even has a mode that'll throw an octave down on top of the filter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS1qfHfosXg

That does sound really good! I don't know how much of a use I have for those sounds, but they'd be a ton of fun to just mess around with.

Also, the related C4 synth pedal that he mentions has this amazing moment in the demo (2:30 if it doesn't embed right): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4PmNWI44kw&t=150s

# ¿ Jun 14, 2022 15:28

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Anyone have any experience with the EBMM USA SUB basses? I�ve been thinking about a stingray-like, and I�ve read some pretty good things. Looks like it would save a few hundred, but I�m not sure yet if the differences are worth the price.

# ¿ Jun 26, 2022 00:16

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Turbinosamente posted:

Neat song, apparently made for an action kung fu flick of the time starring George Lazenby, so that explains why it sounds like 70s James Bond in the beginning.

Hey, I've seen that movie! It's pretty fun, and a great example of 70's Australian action movies. Definitely recommended. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_from_Hong_Kong

# ¿ Sep 10, 2022 12:46

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

So I recently got a classy tuxedo stingray, and it�s great, but I noticed one odd thing about it. I�m not sure if this is normal or not, but the string spacing is a bit weird - the middle two strings are closer together than they are to the outer strings, and the saddles are offset a bit. Is this expected? If not, anything I need to do to fix it?

# ¿ Sep 24, 2022 17:31

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Thanks all, looks like it will be really simple to take care of when I change strings. I think this must be the site with all the bridge info (and everything else): http://www.musicmanbass.global/bridges-pre-eb-eb/

# ¿ Sep 25, 2022 12:42

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

muike posted:

if it gets dry mineral oil will do the trick. as far as boiling strings, i've never tried it so i'll defer to more experienced people, but i'd personally rather just get a new set, but I also use super bright rear end strings as a rule

Yeah, I haven't heard of boiling strings in years, but I'm definitely at the point in my life where I would just buy another set. Or switch to flats and never change them again.

# ¿ Dec 31, 2022 14:10

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

muike posted:

what do you guys consider the "standard" string gauge. like how for guitars it's usually 10s for gibson scale and and 9s for fender

I think of 45-105, though I feel like I see 45-100 more often now. Maybe tastes have changed a little. As far as I knew, 10s were the standard guitar string when I started, and now it seems to have dropped down to 9s.

# ¿ Jan 13, 2023 20:18

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Turbinosamente posted:

I'm not taking the book as gospel; re read it and besides the 200w min for a coffee shop, there is a suggestion that your wattage needs to be 3 times that of the guitarist's amp. Examples given are if the guitarist has 100w you should have 300w and if you have two guitarists at 100w each then you need 600w. The very, very citation needed reason is that it takes three times the amount of energy to make a bass note at the same volume as the guitar. Which is beginning to sound more than a little bullshit, or at least a working around tube amps kind of thing.

I bought this book for the idiot's explanations of intervals, chord tones, and other music theory poo poo anyways. Having trouble understanding poo poo because I am a dumb.

This �3x power rule� was sort of the common knowledge/accepted wisdom when I was starting out. Then for a while it was more along the lines of �I would never play without at least a 700W head� and now the required wattage seems to be coming back down a bit. I mostly just play at home, but I�m interested in where these thought trends get started and how they stick around.

# ¿ Jan 23, 2023 15:53

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

petit choux posted:

Hey bass thread, not a bass player but I just scored what looks like a half decent bass amp. Ampeg B-15N? Any good? Powers up!

You can't see it very well but one of the tubes glows.

Coincidentally, this popped up in my youtube recs. Not exactly the same, but pretty close!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6IlJjaP-ls

# ¿ Jun 22, 2023 15:49

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Sockington posted:

I have an undying love of Matt Freeman stuff and can�t tell you how pumped I am to have had one come up locally.

I think this absolutely would have been my first instrument if it had existed when I started. He's still probably my biggest bass hero / influence, for better or worse.

# ¿ Jul 5, 2023 03:32

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

BizarroAzrael posted:

I should also compare against my current "proper" bass, the Gretsch Electromatic Jet 2220 , shortscale with a pair of minihumbuckers. I like it quite a bit but I think I might like the contoured offset over the boxy LP style. I could look at going to a mid- or full-scale bass rather than doubling on short, but I don't know how well I'll get on with a larger scale yet.

About those minihumbuckers... apparently they're not!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl6NNewD5ZY

# ¿ Aug 24, 2023 21:23

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Risky Bisquick posted:

On a budget for the sound you could also look for the USA made SUBs from the early 2000s, and refinish the neck to be like a stingray for pretty cheap. These were US stingrays in all but fit and finish selling at a lower price point which is kind of cool.

I picked up one of these a while back, and it seems super solid, looking forward to finding some people to play it with. A few things to note about them that are different from the standard US stingrays:

1) They have the painted neck, as mentioned here. It seems like a good number of the ones I've seen for sale have had the paint stripped off and refinished.
2) They have a textured matte finish on the body, and while there are a few non-black ones, they seem to almost all be black. I like it, but it's maybe a bit divisive. It feels EXTREMELY tough, even by general instrument finish standards.
3) They have a ridiculous metal pickguard - mine was replaced with a normal 3 ply white one and looks very classy, but you can see what the original looks like in the reverb listing below for the blue one.
4) 2 band EQ instead of 3. Again, some people love it, some hate it, I don't know that I care that much honestly.
5) Slab body, so no comfort carves. This and the 2 band EQ make it seem partway to the Stingray Classic to me.
6) Body is made of poplar, I will not start the tonewood debate.

None of these are strictly negatives, but they are differences that you might want to be aware of if you decide to go for one.

They're fairly difficult to search for on reverb, because all the words in the name also refer to other instruments, but they are out there, though the deals aren't as great as they apparently used to be:
https://reverb.com/item/66294370-ernie-ball-music-man-usa-sub-stingray-bass-teal-2003-textured
https://reverb.com/item/70027067-musicman-stingray-sr4-usa-sub-2004-black

# ¿ Sep 17, 2023 18:06

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Looks awesome! I wish I had any reason at all to have something like that, but I'll just live vicariously through you.

# ¿ Oct 6, 2023 20:18

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Bottom Liner posted:

oh hell no

Reminds me of this from a bass book I've had for ages. I'm not sure there's anywhere on planes with that much legroom anymore! Also, notice that this is page 10, some of the earliest advice in the book.

# ¿ Oct 16, 2023 23:59

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

This is really cool to see, thanks for sharing the process!

# ¿ Dec 4, 2023 13:10

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Wowporn posted:

According to weirdos on other forums an important factor is pickup location, the neck pickup on a Rick is noticeably further from the bridge relative to it's scale length than it is on most other basses with neck pickups, landing where the 24th fret would go if it had one. Case in point, this lunatic's 4 pickup jazz bass (he also added a bridge to where the 36th fret would be but that seemed less important)

https://modwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=188208

Makes me wanna try getting one of those Epiphone eb0 basses no one likes and replacing the comically square humbucker with a P pickup since it is jammed right up to the neck

I feel like I must have gotten this video from this thread, but it's worth posting again - lots of pickup positions and combinations, compared! And the 24th fret position is where the strat and les paul neck pickups go, so I'm honestly a little surprised it's not a standard bass placement too, since it's a nice number at 1/4 of the scale length.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTc2vdkPM0w

# ¿ Jan 12, 2024 23:16

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

I got the gold on black squier 40th anniversary p bass to complement my J Mascis Jazzmaster, and it it wonderful.

# ¿ Jan 15, 2024 22:51

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

Rectal Placenta posted:

My first bass was a J, and I guess I never left the J gang? I at least added a parallel/series switch. The list:

J Bass
Fretless Jaco-ish J Bass
Lakland 5 string J
Ibanez SR 6 string
Warwick 6 string fretless
Cort fretless
Crappy Ibanez 5 string acoustic (sitting on the couch bass)
Bass VI, which honestly is just a very baritone guitar to me

So upon further review I need a P bass AND a stingray now

I only have a P and a stingray, want to hang out?

Also, my Squier P is doing basically everything I want from a bass, and I'm thinking about dropping the Stingray. I thought I'd be jazz for life, but I guess things change.

# ¿ Jan 19, 2024 19:04

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# ¿ May 4, 2024 09:46

The Leck: Feb 27, 2001

H13 posted:

Envelope filter is on the list...

I kinda hate synth pedals so I'll pass on that front, but cheers for the recommendation

I keep hearing about Octave pedals on bass, but...I don't get why? Can somebody provide a kickass example of when somebody's used Octave on a Bass guitar to make something awesome?

(Also, I'm gonna grab a Digitech Ricochet Whammy at some point)

I found this pretty helpful at answering the "why would I possibly want an octave pedal?" question
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWrPWi1Qtrs
or the tl;dr version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCekyZLAZUc

H13 posted:

I wasn't convinced until I heard Earth Song. I always wondered how they got that huge bass sound.

Rightio, Octave and Envelope filter are on the list. The MXR pedals of each seem pretty killer (especially for the price). Anything else I should consider?

I'm far from an expert on these things, but I got a Boss OC-5 and it's been super fun for making organ sounds by adding +1 and -1 octave, in addition to the more usual uses (0 direct sound, maximum -1 octave seems to be the most common). I've resisted picking up the MXR envelope filter so far, but it might be the next addition.

# ¿ Apr 22, 2024 22:51

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