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organburner posted:does anyone know any good exercises for building up finger strength in the fretting hand? I'm trying to play a thing that requires me to play two notes at once and my ring finger keeps letting me down, I can't hold down the string well enough while my index finger is pressing down as well. So that's 9th fret on the D string and 7th on the G string. A minor third. Building hand strength using the ball exercise will eventually do the trick. In the meantime, you can use your ring and pinkie fingers together on the troublesome note and you should be fine.
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Dec 15, 2015 22:01
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What do you mean, "and?"? There's not much else that the OP could add that would make this momentous event sound any more cool than it is.
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Dec 28, 2015 06:40
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The SansAmp Bass Driver is pretty much the gold standard of DI boxes for bass. I like to think of it kind-of like the DI version of the Precision Bass: it's got a tone that's really good but nothing terribly special, and its greatest asset is that the really good tone it gives you fits in well with drat near any style of music. You can get a pretty good variety of tones out of it with relative ease. You pretty much can't go wrong with this box. When I was gigging in the St. Louis area, almost every small venue DI'ed me with one of these boxes if they didn't want to trust my amp's XLR output, and the results were pretty good. I've never used one as an effect just for the tone, though, because I have an amp that has a great sound.
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Dec 28, 2015 18:55
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Do Not Resuscitate posted:Week three or so with my bass. AC/DC has been great to play along with. It's super easy (I think "Thunderstruck" has only three notes), so I can have fun playing something simple while concentrating on proper plucking, hand position, etc. Starting simply is a good way to go. Because of my background, I was reading music before I ever picked up a bass, so when I decided to learn how to play, I got some transcriptions and went to it. When I'd learned how to play Hangar 18 and no other guitarists my age could even kind-of play it, I realized that maybe I should stick closer to old Sabbath tunes 'n poo poo before I went for the harder stuff. I had a much better time as a result.
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Dec 31, 2015 23:36
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mclast posted:Does anyone have an opinion on taperwound strings? I've been a DR High Beam evangelist for about 8 years but I've been thinking of branching out. I had a set of these once. Didn't buy them on purpose. Two things I remember about them: 1) I didn't really notice much, if any, of a sound difference--they just sounded like new strings to me, and 2) the design of the string causes the action to be lower, and it is likely that you're going to have to adjust your bridge saddles. Honestly, in my humble opinion, taperwound is the same snake oil now that "silked ends" was in the 90s when I was learning how to play. Yeah, it looks different, but I don't know about the claims that it makes things sound any different.
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Jan 10, 2016 06:18
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Manky posted:Ahhhh. I had no idea, my bad Actually, I almost answered the OP's question along that line. FWIW, I have used flatwounds and tapewounds. Flatwounds I tried once because... well, I don't know, I guess I thought it'd be neat. And while I totally get what they're for, I just prefer roundwounds. Part of that is because I've played a lot of hard rock and metal in my days, I'm sure. I didn't care for them all that much. I didn't dig the flat high end, and my fingers didn't glide over the strings like they do with rounds. I'm not in a hurry to try them again. Now, I do use tapewounds on my 5-string fretless. I bought a set from Carvin many years ago, and I haven't changed them. The nylon tape (or whatever it is) mellowed the flatwound sound even more than I was expecting, but it works perfectly on that bass. And, my fingers slide effortlessly over these strings. If I play with my thumb while using my palm to mute the strings (like how many bassists played in the 50s and 60s, not slapping), I can get a fairly decent upright thumping sound.
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Jan 11, 2016 04:41
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Dyna Soar posted:so... an amplifier? Yeah, gotta go with this response. DI boxes don't drive cabinets; that is actually the whole point of a DI box--it sends your bass signal directly into the mixing board without messing around at all with an amp. It adds some minor effects, like a bit of drive or EQ, and that's done to at least add something to what might be a raw signal, but that's all you should expect. From the DI box, your signal can then be sent to an amp in addition to the board. That way, your amp becomes the bass monitor. Or, in smaller venues, they might turn you down in the mix and let your amp do the lion's share of the driving. The only other option I can think of would be a combo that happens to have a DI out, which many do nowadays. A good sized combo with a DI would be adequate for small gigs, adequate for recording, and when playing larger gigs, the DI allows you to be put in the mix so you're not relying on your personal rig to provide the bass for the whole venue. Honestly, the best idea would be to get a decent multi-effects unit. Zoom makes some pretty good ones, and even the cheap BX1 (and BX1ON, w/ expression pedal) should suffice for your purposes. But, there are a lot more out there that are better for more money. These units almost always have amp simulators in addition to their effects, which is great for recording direct. Hell, I have the BX1ON, and it includes a handful of simulated DI boxes, if that's your thing. These units also power headphones. You'll still want an amp if you want to play out, though, but if someone's willing to lend you theirs (which is rare in my experience), you'll have your sound saved in that pedal.
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Jan 20, 2016 22:06
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Bill Posters posted:The effects pedals that I would consider absolutely must have for bass are: I'd love to agree, but I just can't. Simple fact is, there are many ways to tune your bass that don't involve a tuner pedal, and even cheap basses tend to stay in tune through the course of a gig. Let's say you have the most basic of basic setups already: an amp with virtually no effects. You've got a glorified PA: it's got maybe a 3-band EQ (low, mid, high), and gain or volume. (Not both; that's something else.) You can use anything to tune--a good tuner pedal runs about $100, and you don't want a poo poo one. But a good clip tuner costs $20 and can be used with the volume turned down. When it's time to expand your sound beyond bass + amp, your first dollars should go to compression. Or a limiter. But a compressor of some kind. This will even out your dynamics, and it's something that, when employed well, you won't hear but will miss when it's gone. You don't need a fancy compressor, either. Hell, many bass amps come with a compressor of some kind. My amp has a compressor circuit that is a little unique (high and low frequency compression levels, a compressor/EQ balance, and compression gain), but even the simplest compressor will even out those odd dynamics that even great bassists deal with when playing. Your mileage may vary, but here's my priority for effects if you're buying discrete pedals: 1. Compressor 2. At least a 7-band EQ 3. Fuzz, Overdrive, Distortion (if you already have plans on using it in your band) 4. Chorus 5. Fuzz, Overdrive, Distortion (if you don't already have plans to use it in your band) 6. Wah or Envelope Filter 7. Other Modulation stuff: flanger, phaser, 8. Whatever you like Or, spend some money on a multi-effects unit that has many effects built-in. You can chain effects for a patch, then save several patches that you like. On my unit, I have 10 patches that provide with the sounds I expect to use during a gig, everything from clean with chorus to distorted with wah. The current state of digital effects modeling is pretty good, and the money you spend on a dedicated multi-effects unit will be worth it. And nobody will steal your computer.
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Feb 20, 2016 07:17
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Bill Posters posted:For example, while I mostly agree with your priorities (except for maybe the EQ pedal), the majority of gigging bassists will have no use for any of those effects beyond compression and/or dirt. Well, I was coming from a place of a guy who has a very, very basic amp, something that makes the bass audible but does very little else. If you have a decent-to-good quality bass amp, you probably will not need the EQ at all, and it might even have a passable distortion channel these days. quote:This is a really great idea for those just starting out and a cheap way of figuring out what sort of effects you might like to use. If you're lucky you'll be perfectly happy with the effects on the unit. If you're not lucky you'll just get a taste of what you want and end up deep down the effect pedal rabbit hole. And a rabbit hole it is. It starts with you realizing that the auto-wah on the unit is OK-ish at best, but you need more for this one weird song... then you get an MXR Bass Envelope Filter. Then you notice that your distortion isn't all that great. So you grab a Boss ODB-3. But man, now you've got two pedals and you still need that multi-effect unit for your chorus and compression. You notice that your amp has compression, so now it's just chorus, and you get one. Then you get a board to carry it all around in, and a power unit, and then there's that way pedal customized for bass that you can use if the band ever agrees to let you play "(Anesthesia)—Pulling Teeth," which you totally know how to play perfectly up to the point where the drums kick in, and you can fake it from there. Actuary X posted:The Snark I have is great. Everyone should have one of these, I don't see any advantage of having a tuner pedal (other than it being harder to lose). I actually have a theory on that. See, I'm an old fart. At one point in time, the most commonly available tuners were handheld units with needles (or digital LCD simulations of needles). They had a mic, but you could also plug directly into them to tune up silently. This generally required you to unplug from your rig, though, because many if not most of these models had no pass-through, and even if they did, they were meant to be held or set on a table--they were not the kind of device you'd put on the floor next to things you step on. Then, the tuning pedals popped up and got popular quickly. You could stick these at the front of your rig, and it was mostly a pass-through that could, when you wished, mute your signal so you could tune up mid-song. Nice, bright LEDs told you when you were in tune. The alternative? A usually non-lit meter with a needle on it. People fell in love with the pedals because that was the best thing you could have. Well, I mean, technically, it wasn't--mechanical stroboscopic tuners are the best. But they were $700 or so. The pedal? A little over $100. I think people still use them over the clip tuners for one reason: tradition. It's what they're used to.
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Feb 21, 2016 00:43
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I'm not a Rick fan. I've only played on one a couple of times, since a guy I knew in college had one. They have a good sound, but honestly, so do a lot of basses. It was heavier than I liked, seemed too fancy for its own good, and don't ask me how it happened, but when I played on it, I felt like putting on a white robe with fringe and playing a really long song in 7/4 that had a synth solo that the keyboardist played using 5 keyboards at one time. The Rick is a marriage of art and industry. The Fender, on the other hand, is like that old hammer you got from your dad: it looks and feels like it was designed more for doing a job than looking pretty, you immediately feel like getting to work when you pick one up, and it'll kill almost any drifter in a half-dozen full swings. For modern metal, I'm sure it'd work just fine. I believe they are a bit harder to setup and maintain, though--check out Dave's World of Fun Stuff on YouTube; he has a video where he struggles with one. But the sound? It sound plenty metal with minimal tweaking via EQ, Compression, etc. If that's what you like and you can afford one, it should do just fine.
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Feb 21, 2016 04:23
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Those shields originate from a time when the P-bass had just a simple single-coil pickup, not the split coil it has now that acts like a humbucker. That metal shield, connected to ground and covering the single coil, does cut down on external sources of noise that would otherwise be noticeable in some playing situations and venues. At the time they came out, other instruments occasionally used these kinds of shields. The Telecaster bridge pickup (and bridge) were covered by one of these things, similar to the bridge cover on the original P-bass, and the neck pickup on a Tele has a close-fitting variant to this day. (Pro-tip: this cover responds to vibrations in many cases, so if you yell at it really loud, you can often hear your voice through the amp.) This is one of the design considerations that makes no sense when you assume common playing techniques of today--such a cover gets in the way for most pick users, as the sweet spot is above the pickups, and most fingerstyle players use the pickup as a thumb rest. Truth be told, when the P-bass came out, nobody knew how to play bass guitar, so nobody knew that people would want to attack the strings there. Hell, for that matter, I'm sure you've noticed that finger rest sitting there, useless as a screen door on a submarine. For a time, it was believed that people would mainly play the bass by placing their fingers there and plucking the strings with the sides of their thumbs. And you can totally do that, but it's not exactly SOP. A smarter place, from a modern perspective, would be to place the rest on the other side of the strings for use as a thumb rest.
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Feb 28, 2016 05:53
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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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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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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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Uncle Boogeyman posted:My favorite weird looking bass is the Eastwood EEB-1, based off some old Ampeg bass I think. I kinda regret not buying one when it was on Craigslist for cheap recently. Eastwoods? No. But that bass you link to looks like one of two old Ampeg basses: the AEB-1 and AMB-1, which were essentially the same bass in terms of body and headstock shape. (The AMB-1 was an upgraded AEB-1, from what I've found.) I'm a Fender guy, so I have at least a small affinity for creative headstock shapes. After all, there's no reason for a Fender headstock to look the way it does, but I like it. This AEB-style headstock caught my eye when I was a teenager, though, because of the video for "Remedy" by the Black Crowes. Check it out. It's a good song for one, but also the video spends an uncommonly large amount of time on the bass player, and you can get a few good looks at his bass.
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Mar 27, 2016 18:08
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Jeff Goldblum posted:Eastwood, as I remember, buys up a lot of pre-70s designs from minor companies like Valco's Airline. They use some Asia-based factory for these models so they are probably not the best fit and would require some effort to set up properly if they can be set up at all. It would be better to get a real vintage Ampeg, until then you might want to consider something a bit more reliable, however commonplace. While your comments about Eastwood's QC may be valid (I don't know), I'm personally a big believer in avoiding an Appeal to Vintage. Just because something's old and expensive, that doesn't mean it's worth a poo poo, playability-wise. A lot of instruments from back then, made by a lot of companies (some famous ones), had very dubious quality control. There is no reason to just assume that a 60-year-old bass from a manufacturer who doesn't even make basses anymore* is automatically going to be in better shape than a brand-new bass made in Asia. That said, I'd definitely try to play one before I bought one sight-unseen unless I found a bunch of reviews online--and then, only if I had a reason to believe that the reviews are from actual owners. * yeah, someone might be making Ampeg basses now. But I guarantee you that the group doing it has as much to do with the 1960s Ampeg company as I do.
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Mar 28, 2016 01:56
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Seventh Arrow posted:I was in Brazil on vacation visiting the in-laws, and since I don't speak portuguese they just let me hang out in the music store and try out stuff while my wife and them went out shopping. Buddy of mine had a Warwick that was active. Can't remember the model, though. It was many years ago. I did a quick search, and there's a model called the Corvette. Musician's Friend has one below $700, so something tells me it's near the bottom end of the scale for Warwick--not that that's a bad thing, necessarily. It's EQ is only 2-band, though, which usually means it's going to have a somewhat dead sound in the midrange.
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Apr 5, 2016 21:03
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I love Flea. I love his playing in RHCP. I love his passion for the bass. I could not sit through even a third of that... effort? Just awful. Neat tone, but awful everything else. But full disclosure: when it comes to the anthem, I'm one of those insufferable traditionalists. It's the National loving Anthem, not some random soul song that needs extended vocal runs, time signature shifts, or overwrought embellishment. I don't really care what instrument you use, just play the loving song right. It's difficult to sing, but not difficult to play on most instruments. There are exceptions, of course. Hendrix comes to mind. This wasn't Hendrix-level.
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Apr 14, 2016 20:59
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Avian Pneumonia posted:Anyone have any tips on what bass strings to buy? I tried GHS Bass Boomers many years ago (the 1990s) because Stu Hamm and a bunch of other famous bassists endorsed them. What I found was that they sounded slightly better than the Darco strings I could by at my local music shop (the cheapest brand available at the time), and they stayed bright precisely as long. I can't begin to explain how disappointed I was that strings that cost twice as much still burned for half as long. It was my first endorsement-fueled heartbreak. loving GHS. I gave them two shots because I was an idiot, and I'll never buy them again. OK strings, terrible value. For my fretted basses, I use Fender nickelwound strings. They're not expensive (but not the cheapest), and I actually like the feeling of the strings under my fingers--and I might be in the minority on that. They have a pretty cool vintage tone, they don't mess up your frets much, and they last longer than many other brands, though not by much. For fretless, I get nylon tapewound strings. The brand here is less important. If I need new strings now and I'm just about broke, I get an Earnie Ball Slinky set. They're OK strings, but they do not stay bright all that long.
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May 1, 2016 16:41
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baka kaba posted:Has anyone ever actually broken a bass string? Outside of an industrial accident or something I've broken A strings on multiple occasions. Not often, mind you, but I'm pretty sure it was always that loving string. And it's such an important one!
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May 12, 2016 18:07
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Scarf posted:Not really sure of which thread this really belongs in, so I figured I'd share it with my fellow bassists: I call bullshit on your entire post. And you should listen to me, too, because back in the day? I was listed in Who's Who Among American High School Students. I was selected as a Who's Who student back in 1991 or so, one of only 75% of my fellow students to be so nominated, and for a small fee, I secured my place in that sacred tome. So maybe you should simmer down and enjoy your totally valid award.
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May 19, 2016 19:50
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The band I'm in now does a lot of stuff that's tuned down a half step, Drop D a half step down, tuned down a whole step, and drop D down a whole step. That last tuning (C G C F [A D]) they like to call "Open C." Currently, I play most of the low stuff on my 5-string, and a lot of the other on my 4-string. And there's a lot of retuning. I've got them mostly convinced that we should just pick a tuning and go with it--since we're doing covers, arranging sets around changing instruments and frequent tuning is just nuts. To that end, we're going to start doing everything in the down one step tuning, dropping the bottom string to C for the drop-tuned songs. That means I'll be able to use my 4-string more of the time, which I like because it's a Precision Bass Special and has nice, hot pickups. But, it means my current strings aren't up to the task. I got out the ol' digital caliper, and my strings are 45 - 100's. Now... I'm looking for something that'll be less floppy in D (and drop C), but something that I can tune up to standard if my fancy is tickled a certain way. I've seen sets of 115's, but the DR DDT Heavier set... I don't know. Everywhere I look, people talk about how they break a lot more often than other strings, and that's no good. But also, 115's will require some setup work, guaranteed. I can do it, but I don't like messing with it. Does anyone have experience using 110's on a bass that's tuned down a whole step? I figure that should tighten things up nicely, but also be OK for drop-C. I don't want to go nuts with a 125 or something, because that means I can't use my 4-string for standard tuning.
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May 24, 2016 23:11
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Well if it was OK with a low C, then that's good, because low C is the lowest we'd be going. I just know I'd have to file the nut slot if I went with 115's, and I could only find a couple of sets that go that big--the DR DDT's that even the people giving it 4 star reviews say tend to break, and the GHS Boomers which I know will only last for about seven days before they sound dead. (Seriously. Boomers have as much life as Super Slinky's, except they cost twice as much.) Hell, I might have to widen the slot a bit to squeeze the 110 in there. But that's not a big deal.
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May 25, 2016 03:21
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Spanish Manlove posted:May I suggest using a five string instead? I do, sometimes. But I'd have to tune the entire thing up three half steps to match their tuning, sometimes dropping the B string all the way "down" to C. Why match their tuning at all? I'll get to that in just a second. CaseFace McGee posted:Or do what I do, and do everything in standard and laugh as guitar players fumble with capos and constant retuning. Depends on your genre I suppose, but I've done enough pit orchestra tunes and sightread enough gigs arranged by center-of-attention vocalists to gobble up any key bullshit that's come my way. I'd do everything in standard tuning if so many of the songs we play weren't very much geared toward using a drop tuning. Songs written for drop D tuning can often be easy to play at tempo in that tuning, and hard (or impossible) to do smoothly on a standard 5. For a good example of this, try ripping through Tool's Forty Six & 2 on your trusty 5-string in instead of a 4-string in DADA. Or, if you're an old fart like me, pull out Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger and listen to Outshined and Jesus Christ Pose. Both are in drop D. One can be played on a 5-string easily. One can't be played on a standard-tuned 5 at all. Now, the reason I don't want to slap a 5th string in the 4th string spot is, well, that's a huge commitment. You must file the nut slot for that to work, and that's permanent. You're saying to your bass, "this is what you are now, this hybrid creature!" If you want to ever play that bass in standard tuning, you're going to have to restring it. Since I only have one other 4-string, and it's fretless, that's a problem.
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May 25, 2016 04:35
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DrChu posted:110s should work fine a whole step down. Also, you may want to look for strings with a hex core as those will feel less floppy than round ones. I've got some 110's on order. If I'm not happy with them, I'll give those Dunlop ones a try. Has anyone ever used these? I didn't get them initially because I couldn't find much info about them.
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May 26, 2016 03:17
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Seventh Arrow posted:I remember hearing about a German heavy metal band where the bassist stopped the song entirely because the audience was clapping out of time. It may be heavy metal, but the dude's still German. Clapping out-of-time has been proven to reduce entertainment efficiency and has even been known to cause accuracy to fall by up to 10 points.
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Jun 21, 2016 18:25
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Christabel posted:Last night a bass player broke his E string halfway through a song - he wasn't thrashing it or anything, it just kind of snapped. He didn't have another bass and no one had extra strings so he kind of had to play without it. I felt so bad for him, but now I resolve to never be without an extra set of strings. Yeah, every time a bass string has broken on me, it wasn't because I was playing especially--or even a little--rough. It just snapped. The core did, anyway. The wrappings keep it together a bit, but it drops way out of tune and goes slack, and then you notice the windings unraveling. Sucks.
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Jul 8, 2016 15:51
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Frog 1.0 posted:I'm a little lost with difference with amp min impedance and speakers. I have a marshall 100w head that is set to 8ohms and it handle my Orange 2x12" 120 watts that as 16 ohms inputs fine. I got this new Traynor speaker cabinet with 2x10". At the back it says impedance of 8ohms in parallel. Speaker cabinets aren't labeled with math problems, much less electronic engineering math problems, particularly when the target consumers are guitarists or bassists. The "parallel" on the label denotes how the speakers are wired internally. But whether it's wired as parallel or in a series, if it says 8 ohms on the cabinet, then just consider that cabinet to be a single 8 ohm load. If it has two 1/4" jacks on it, you can use one to go to the head and the other to daisy chain up to another cabinet; if that other cabinet is 8 ohms, then the total load on the amplifier is 4 ohms, since these 1/4" jacks are wired in parallel.
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Aug 4, 2016 16:26
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BonHair posted:But speaking of effects, can someone make me understand what a compressor actually does and why I'd like one? If you get no other effect ever, get a good compressor. A compressor compresses. Imagine your playing dynamics--meaning, imagine the loudness and softness of your playing. Either on purpose or because of poor technique, or somewhere in between, you play some things too softly and other things too loudly. Enter the compressor! A compressor evens out your dynamics. When you play something that's above a certain threshold (that you usually set), the signal is compressed--that is to say, it's made less loud. So you may have put 10 decibels of force into that B♭, but thanks to your compressor, it is only going to get 2 db of force (assuming a ratio of 5:1). This will make it match with the rest of your dynamics. So, if you have a habit of hitting certain notes way too loud, a compressor can help. But that's not the only reason to use one. Most compressors sort-of amplify the quieter passages you're playing, especially if you set the threshold really low. This lets you come up in the mix fairly well, but it also squashes your tone and prevents you from hitting accented notes really noticeably. If you set the threshold fairly high, then it'll just muffle down those really hard notes you occasionally hit, and that's good if you're having trouble hitting the occasional snap and/or pop and keeping it below a certain volume level. Compressors have anywhere from one to several knobs. Threshold sets the loudness level at which the compressor starts working (lower level = higher volume and more compression, higher level = regular volume and compression on only the hardest notes). Compression level or Ratio knobs will let you dial in how much compression actually is being applied; higher values mean higher levels of compression once the threshold is set (higher ratio/compression = more squashing of notes louder than the threshold). Some models have an attack setting that lets you set the delay: a higher value means that the compressor takes longer to start working after the threshold is met (this is useful if you want your pick attacks, slaps, and pops to come through more). Likewise, there's sometimes a release or decay setting that lets you decide how long the compressor keeps working (short values squash the sound, longer values give more sustain). There are sometimes other options, but these are the basic ones. BTW, a similar effect is a Limiter. Limiters are compressors but they generally have really high ratios either hardwired or available. A ratio of ∞:1 is often available. Limiters will totally prevent you from exceeding a certain threshold, and depending on where you set that threshold, this can either be used mostly as a safety valve or as something that will squash your tone to the point of almost being distorted.
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Aug 20, 2016 22:08
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Scarf posted:I have a Boss LMB-3 Limiter as my only compression, and I really only use it in conjunction with my Enigma envelope filter to help tame the resonant spikes. I'm assuming that you have the filter before the limiter, then?
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Aug 27, 2016 19:36
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Sockington posted:Ordered a MXR M87 bass compressor and will see how that works out Yeah, that one has a lot of bells and whistles and it generally gets really good reviews. It's such a nice compressor that MXR released the same exact circuit as a guitar compressor because guitarists didn't want to dirty their precious little pedal boards with a box that had the word "bass" on it. Scarf posted:Can't go wrong with MXR. And that pretty much goes for all their equipment. MXR is the loving workhorse of effects pedals. My main effects unit is a Zoom multi-unit because I'm not rich. But I do have a couple of pedals. One is an ancient bass chorus (can't remember the brand), and the other is an MXR bass envelope filter. It's pretty fun to fart around with. Those pedals are built like a tank. The only thing I don't like is that if you want to use batteries, you have to take the entire bottom of the pedal off--there's no compartment you can get at quickly.
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Aug 29, 2016 05:50
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Hedningen posted:Looking to add a bass to my little home studio/practice space, and I was hoping for some guidance. While I've fooled around with them in the past, the bass I previously owned was sold to a friend, who has embraced it wholeheartedly as an instrument and is now a really good player - however, transport to and from the practice space is getting to be an issue, so I'd like to add an instrument that is both usable for recording reference parts and sounds a little different than the standard P-bass that we've got. You can't go wrong with a Fender Jazz bass. It's got a more versatile tone than the Precision--it's more clear and it's easier to tweak with some EQ. If you're looking for a good bass to use for versatility in the studio, it's probably your best bet, and a used MIM model is in your budget. There's a reason that many boutique basses that cost upwards of $5000 are basically Jazz bases.
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Aug 29, 2016 22:45
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Juaguocio posted:Jazz basses also have a small neck profile that a lot of people prefer, myself included. They make this, actually. The Precision Bass Special is basically a P-bass with a J-pickup at the bridge and the J-bass neck. I'd have to look again, but pretty much every P-bass that has a bridge pickup in addition to the standard split coil uses a J-bass neck.
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Aug 30, 2016 06:07
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Oh yeah, Precision. I have my Made in USA Fender Precision Special, and my Imported From the Orient Squier Fretless Precision Bass.
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Aug 31, 2016 05:11
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Splinter posted:Guitar player here. I'm looking to buy a bass primarily for recording some bass tracks to accompany my guitar. I plan on using it exclusively DI into a DAW, maybe run through an amp sim (I have GuitarRig, which has a bass amp sim). I'll be primarily playing with a pick or finger picking. Looking for an old school funk/soul sound. I'm thinking the tapered neck of the Jazz Bass would be easier for my tiny ravioli guitar player hands to handle. I haven't played the 70s or 77 Jazz Basses, but I do know that the VM series is really good for the price. Jazz basses, by design, have a skinnier neck up at the nut. Good for short fingers. Precision basses have a wider nut. Different 4-string instruments will either be Jazz width or Precision width. You can't go wrong with a P-bass. Squier seems to have a wide selection of Precision Bass Specials, which add a J-pickup at the bridge. They have a Jazz Bass neck and a Precision Bass body and pickup. As has been noted, Precision basses aren't all that versatile--they only have one tone--but it is a great tone that works great with picking, finger picking, and old school funk/soul. And rock. And... well, pretty much everything else.
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Sep 2, 2016 02:24
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AlphaDog posted:Fretless conversion Not a terrible idea. The electronics in an Affinity P-bass are so cheap that I'm pretty sure the manufacturers actually pay Fender to use them in the basses. Just terrible. But, you can get excellent replacement pickups for about $70 (I'm talking made-in-USA Fender pickups here), and for about $30 more, a very high quality wiring kit. and again... a fretless conversion? Not a bad idea at all.
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Sep 20, 2016 14:05
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Southern Heel posted:For realises you guys who play 5-strings, how often do you dip into that lower fifth? I've been considering getting back into basstronautics and I really need something that attracts me - I had a CV 60's P-Bass (and like the CV 50's Telecaster) it just didn't grab me and make me play. The majority of the music I enjoy is either in E, Eb or D-standard and while I think it would be gratifying to play in a Doom band with a low F# I don't think this is ever going to be a reality. On the other hand, if there's not much to lose, I may provision for it anyway? I've dealt with this a lot, actually. First question: How often do I dip into that lower fifth? (It's the lower fifth string; if you're talking intervals, it's a lower fourth, but I know what you mean.) The answer will really depend on what you play. Things that are in standard tuning down 1/2 or 1 step (which is what I assume you mean by "Eb or D standard") can obviously be handled on a 5-string, but many songs are written with the assumption that certain notes are on open strings--often, the open 4th string. That note is used as a pedal point, and when the bass line leaves that note, it may be written so that the player's fretting hand is in, say, the 5th or 6th position. So you're bouncing C's and D's and E's and F's on the G and C strings off of the open low D string. Now... you can play that on a 5-string, but it's much harder, and it won't sound as smooth. That said, not all songs written in those tunings are like that. I was in a band years ago that played "Fly" by the band Loudmouth. That song was in Drop D -1/2 Step, something the guitarists would have to tune to. I played it in standard tuning on a 5-string with very little difficulty. So for the purposes of playing songs written in altered tunings like D- and Eb-standard on a 5-string in standard tuning, it's going to be hit and miss. But, that 5th string makes songs that were written in standard tuning more fun to play. I'm currently in a band that does the Shinedown song "Second Chance", and the chorus is a really basic C - Eb - F - Ab progression. I don't need to play this on my 5-string, but I do. Why? Well, I can make the chorus more interesting by playing that progression in the normal range the first time (Starting on C on the 3rd fret of the A string and going up for each new chord), switching the last two notes down an octave the 2nd time, and on the 3rd time, and then playing the whole thing down an octave on the 3rd time through, with the C and Eb on the low B string. It gives it some additional weight. Not only can you add spice by replacing the occasional note with its octave-lower twin, but having the low B can open up some new keys if you're a songwriter. Notably, as has been mentioned, C# Minor, which is the relative minor of E Major. Or B Minor, which is relative to D Major. Tons of fun.
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Sep 21, 2016 02:28
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Scuffing it first should work OK, but you should use primer if you go that route. Primer loves scratched up shiny surfaces, and paint loves primer. If you want to go down to bare wood, which will be the best route, you should use stripper. Sanding by hand will take too much effort, and using any power sander will eat up tons of sandpaper and will either remove wood (which is bad) or could even burn the wood. Funner still, it could make the wood wavy and uneven. It is stripper that you need. Strip it as far as you can, then sand it. Just remember, this isn't a fence you're painting. Watch some videos about finishing guitars before you tackle this if it's your first time.
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Oct 6, 2016 06:01
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muike posted:Do any of you guys (or gals i dont care use) three (or more)fingers to play fingerstyle? If you do, what's your approach? Do you play straight RMI or IMR or do you alternate R and M? I use a third finger in a few situations. Sometimes, I am skipping a couple of strings and need to hit that note right on time--if my ring finger is close to it, I'll use it for that. This is very situational, though. Most of the time, I only use three fingers when doing a galloping beat really fast, or for 16th note sextuplets, like in "Killing in the Name" by Rage Against the Machine. Usually, the pattern is R-M-I. During the finale of a song, for tremolo plucking, I'll use three or maybe four fingers. There's no patter here--I try to keep it R-M-I or P-R-M-I, but since I'm mainly going for speed and noise instead of finesse, that pattern usually gets flubbed up a bit. (For most of my playing, it's just two fingers, though.)
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Oct 22, 2016 05:10
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| # ¿ May 22, 2024 13:52 |
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For a single amp that does a good job for bass and guitar, get a good keyboard amp. A Peavey KB300 (discontinued, but very popular and available used) is a good choice: it's got a 15" driver and a horn driver as well. And, 3 inputs, usually. The only built in effect is reverb. You'll need an effects unit for your guitar, and you should have one for bass, too. But, since keyboard amps are designed to cover a very, very wide spectrum, this should do the job if you want a single amp that does an OK to good job for both instruments. They're basically a small PA system with a speaker system built in. But, this will do an OK job. A good job at best. For a great job, you need dedicated amps.
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Nov 30, 2016 07:27
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