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Okay, at the moment I have a Yamaha RBX...something. The lowest of their low models. I've been offered a Warwick Pro Series Corvette with active pickups for $650 Australian (normally they go for about $1200) So what's going to be the difference? I'm very much a guitar man instead of a bass man. However I'm doing more recording than live playing. I'm satisfied with the sound I get out of my Yamaha, but not impressed by it. So what differences will I notice?
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Nov 27, 2012 09:45
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Alright, after being a guitarist for years and thinking that bass is just that thing in the background...I've noticed that bass is mostly in the foreground of an awesome rock\metal sound. So it's time for me to get a bitchin' bass sound. At the moment I'm using this. It's a Yamaha RBX100. It's the cheapest bass that Yamaha have available.  And I'm going DI. I dont have the funds or the room for a bass amp and cab. I'm only using it for recording, not live. What I'd really like is a fat, but neutral sorta bass tone. Something that gives a lot of weight and power, but distorted metal guitars sit on top of very nicely. I dont really have any specific examples of the bass sound I'm looking for, but if it's any help: Steve Harris from Iron Maiden has the total OPPOSITE of what I want. (Not a stab against Maiden. EVERY self respecting metalhead has to give some love to Maiden and Harris' bass sound is such an integral part of Maiden. It's just that I'm not trying to be Maiden :P). Also, I prefer a clean bass sound rather than an overdriven one. For the record: What I dislike about the bass tone I have at the moment is that it's pretty boomy. It kinda seeps into everything and colours all the other instruments in a way I dont like. Also, the rhythms aren't very distinct. EG: If I'm plucking along straight 8th notes, it sounds like one big long note rather than a string of 8th notes. It's got a good amount of weight and movement to it and I like how fat it is. So I'm looking for an upgrade that'll cost less than $1000. My theories so far ARE: #1) Buy a set of Bareknuckle Pickups: About $350 bucks after installation. I like the way the RBX plays so I'm looking purely for an upgrade to the sound. The Bareknuckles I threw into my guitar are sensational and amazing when it comes to DI\Modelling stuff. #2) Grab a Warwick Corvette Pro Series for about $800 http://www.warwickbass.com/de/Warwick--Instrumente--Made-in-Korea--Pro-Serie--Corvette.html#D0336110001354198221A3575 Sure, it's double the price of the pickups, but changing the pickups on a Yamaha RBX100 might be polishing a turd, rather than getting be bass, sonic awesome. Besides: New Bass is shiny, pretty and even though I like how the RBX plays, these Warwicks do play REALLY drat well. So: What should I look at?
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Apr 25, 2013 10:25
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Seventh Arrow posted:You want something that will sit in a mix well with a bunch of distorted guitars and you want a clean tone. Don't be stubborn, put a bit of fuzz on there and it should give you enough edge to cut through. One of the first things that you learn as a bass player is that the tone that sounds nice coming from your amp in your bedroom isn't necessarily the tone that's going to sound nice in a full band. Especially if the band has distorted guitars and power chords. Rightio, this advice interests me. I've always hated the sound of distorted bass, hence I've never used it with distorted guitars. Is that the trick to getting bass to sit in well with heavy guitars?
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Apr 25, 2013 13:17
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Seventh Arrow posted:It doesn't have to be some monstro-fuzz sound like Billy Sheehan. You just need a touch of fuzz to give it that some of that heavy metal growl. I mean, you can go all the way with it if you want, but you don't necessarily need to. Bryan Beller had an article in Bass Player on this very topic, actually. I'll try to scan it when I get home from work (if I can find it). Okay, this thing here? This is awesome. TopherCStone posted:When EQing, cut out all the lowest frequencies. Let's say below 40hz just annihilate. All those frequencies are hardly audible and just mixing into the kick drum sound too much. Then, to avoid boominess cut your low mids a bit and for clarity boost your high mids as needed. I've got a HPF set to 35hz and my high-mids are given a 2db boost. For the record: My guitars have a HPF at 75-100hz, a cut at around 300-400hz to let the bass come in a bit more and then a LPF at about 17khz. I'm gonna try to explain what I dont like about Harris' tone. I'm going to fail because I'm ATROCIOUSLY bad at describing bass sounds, but gently caress it, we've come this far. I'm not saying you're wrong, rather I'm loving clueless so here's my dodgy attempt at a clearer "explanation". For me, his bass is too middy. It groans a bit too much for my liking and interferes in with the guitars a lot. I'd prefer a solid, smooth rounding off to the bottom end of my guitars, which in turn sit on top of the bass. I like to be able to isolate each instrument in my mixes and go: "That's the bass\guitars\synth\whatever" rather than have the bass tone blend in with the guitar tone.
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Apr 25, 2013 17:04
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Good advice so far. Thanks guys  quote:Don't spend $350 on pickups for a $150 bass. If you really think pickups are the problem you can get a great set to fit a PJ for $100-$150. The pickups will cost me about $250 Australian (which are about the same price of a set of EMG bass pickups here) and it'll cost me $100-ish to get them put in. I know it's a pretty simple job to do it yourself, but I prefer paying somebody to do it properly rather than gently caress it up myself. I dont like the idea of spending more money on the pickups than what the bass cost, but that's still cheaper than a whole new bass. I'm using Ernie Ball strings of some description. They came in a bright yellow packet. I'm running it through a Universal Audio 610 Solo tube preamp and then the Amplitube Ampeg modeller. I'm also playing with a pick. I'm very conscious to hit the strings flat rather than get that nasty scratchy sound and to hit the strings with a bit of strength too. quote:You might want to think less about the bass 'interfering' with the guitars and more about them interfering with each other. If you're dialling in a sick guitar tone and then trying to make the bass fit in around that, you might end up with the low end of the guitars stepping all over the bass's sweet spot. The bass has to get out of the way of the kick too, so just make sure you're giving it enough space to breathe. The bass is definitely always going to get its chunky fingers into the guitar sounds as well as the synths I use. Complete and utter seperation would mean I'd have to have a HPF on my guitars at something like 300hz and that would sound like rear end. I'm trying to get the bass to be really supportive of all the instruments in the mix, rather than take a bit of the spotlight and\or compete with the other instruments. I'll have a listen to the isolated tracks when I get home from work tonight. Sounds like a great place to go hunting
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Apr 25, 2013 23:25
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baka kaba posted:It might help to do a search on youtube for 'isolated bass track', have a listen to the actual mixed bass tones on some songs you like. What you'll probably find is a) they sound fuzzier and muddier than you thought (since the guitars are usually handling the higher frequencies) and b) they're not always that bassy either. A lot of the bass tone comes in on the attack in heavy music, and the rhythmic definition especially, so make sure you're letting that sound come through in your mix. A pick can definitely help too, but you can still get a good attack with your fingers Sorry to bring this up again, but I did that, and I found this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On6bE0hDeXM That bass tone at 49 seconds is pretty much what I'm looking for. It's not as smooth as I'd like, but from what you guys have told me, the rough bite to it probably makes it blend in with chunky-rear end guitars better. The other slight niggle I have is that it's got a bit too much pick-attack going on. Even though I'm a pick player myself and do prefer the sound to have that extra bite, this has got a bit too much for me. However, I could probably hit the strings a bit softer or turn down the treble and it'd solve that problem. With that in mind: Is it possible to get that sorta chunky bass tone out of my P-Bass, or will a Warwick with Active J-Bass pickups suit me better? (Or this Bass which has the same type of pickups as his Wal: http://www.warwickbass.com/en/Warwick--Instruments--Made-in-China--Rockbass--Corvette--Corvette-$$--4-string--Pictures.html) H13 fucked around with this message at 02:34 on Apr 27, 2013 |
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Apr 27, 2013 01:53
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Rightio, so by the sounds of things, I'll probably be better off chucking in the new pickups into the Yamaha. Unless somebody knows of a bass around $700 that would definitely do the job better than my Yamaha with awesome pickups?
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Apr 28, 2013 04:21
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Hey all! I'm going bass shopping for my first decent bass. I've played around a bit so I know what I'm looking for, but I don't know which brands make the bass I'm looking for. I'm looking for some sort of J-Bass with active pickups. I'm not too fussed if it's an actual J-Bass body, but the big thing that I'm stuck on at the moment is active J-Bass pickups. I've got a P-Bass already and it's not working out for me so yeah. I've tried a Warwick Corvette and loved how it sounded. However on 2 different Pro Series basses, the neck or fretwork was off. Both times, I thought it was the intonation so I got them to double-check that it was okay. Using a tuner, we checked and the intonation at the 12th fret was spot-on, but on BOTH Warwicks, there was a dodgy fret somewhere that made things sharp elsewhere. On the first one, the G# (4th) was sharp and on the second, it was the A# (6th). Since 2 different Warwicks, both worth about $1600 Australian were off, I'm not too keen on Warwick anymore. So what other basses are out there that have active J pickups?
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Dec 23, 2013 05:33
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So I'm looking for my first decent bass... The two basses that got my attention were Fender Jazz basses and Warwick Corvettes. I loved how the Fender Jazz played, but it didn't have enough bottom end for my liking. The Warwick Corvette had pretty much the exact sound that I'm looking for BUT: I played 2 different Pro Series Warwick Corvettes. BOTH of them had fret issues that made some notes out of tune. At first, I thought it was the intonation, so I had the guys at the store fix the intonation so that it was perfect at the 12th fret. However, on the first Warwick, the 4th fret was STILL pitching the note sharp which had a knock-on effect to the other notes and the second Pro Series it was the 7th. I know Warwicks have a great reputation and all, but these were 2 different, $1500 basses that had poo poo fretwork that you couldn't fix. So even though a Warwick Corvette pretty much fits the bill for what I'm looking for, I'm not going to go back to those. I've played both a Mexi and a US Fender Jazz. The US definitely sounded better, but in terms of playability and everything, I didn't think the Mexi Jazz was a compromise at all. My only complaint is as I said: They don't have enough bottom end for my liking. So: I'm thinking of grabbing a Mexican Fender Jazz standard and replacing the pickups with a set of active EMGs (since that's what they use in the awful expensive Warwicks). All up, that'll set me back about $1300. ALTERNATIVELY: Fender do make Mexi Jazz basses with Active pickups and they seem to go for $1100. What would be your call? Would you prefer to rock a Jazz bass with active Fender pickups or active EMGs? Or is there something else entirely that you would rock?
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Dec 24, 2013 02:00
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So I've almost been playing bass as much as I have guitar recently. I tried out my mates 5 string bass. I think anybody who plays a bass with more than 4 strings on it is loving mental. The neck was goddamn huge! Sure I understand the practicality of it all, but gently caress that!
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Jan 7, 2015 11:16
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Bass Players! Teach a guitar player to be a better bass player! First of all, when a guitar player goes to bass, what makes you cringe? Secondly: I play metal and I'm trying to figure out what to do with chugga-chugga bits. I play with a pick and I'm trying to figure out if I should palm-mute or let the strings breathe on chugs. I'm trying to get my chugs to "pulse" a little which is why I'm leaning towards a palm-mute, but when I do it, it doesn't sound particularly better. I'm willing to bet that I might suck though. Finally! Again with the chugs. If I'm doing quick stuff (EG: Metallica's Battery) is it better to match the triplets or simplify them and just play 8th notes and let the guitar take the stage in that scenario? I'm trying to get everything to move and pulse as much as possible, but I'm aware that bass notes take time to develop. I'm wondering if matching those sorta triplets is cutting off the bass notes too quick and not letting things swing out. If that makes any sense whatsoever. It could be absolute bullshit. H13 fucked around with this message at 10:16 on Nov 5, 2015 |
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Nov 5, 2015 09:33
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Kilometers Davis posted:Copy everything Alex Webster does. ha. hahaha. HAHAHAAAA yeah no. That man is a virtuoso. I'm a hack :P I like the tip with the 8th note swing. That's gonna be good fun to play with. What's the logic behind NOT scooping the mids though? I have pretty mid-focused guitars so I figured scooping the mids on my bass would let the guitars sit in the bass...if that makes any sense.
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Nov 6, 2015 08:10
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So because I'm a guitar player... I want to upgrade the pickups in my bass .I've got an Ibanez soundgear (one of the better ones that isn't a premium model) and it's got Barolini Mk 1 pickups in it. I'm pretty happy with the sound, but I wouldn't mind a little more punch and clarity (which I think is the same as a guitarist going :"I want more gain") The other thing is that the Active EQ on it is fairly useless. The Treble acts more like an extreme presence knob and the bass knob just acts like a "More mud" option. The mids...are fine I guess? But nothing special. Now if this was a normal electric guitar, I'd know exactly what pickups to put into it. However, I have no idea about bass pickup manufacturers, onboard preamps or anything else. Since I AM pretty happy with what I have, I'm wondering if I should even bother upgrading the pickups? Thoughts?
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Jan 4, 2016 04:15
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Right, so I put some new strings on my bass and spent the day with my Axe-FX working on bass sounds. I'm a guitar player so I approached my bass sounds like that. Probably not the best way to do it, so here are the noises I came up with. All suggestions are great https://soundcloud.com/blackhandaus/basstest-all-2
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Feb 21, 2016 01:41
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QUESTION: I've got an Ibanez Soundgear with a set of Bartolinis. I quite like the tone of the Barts, but I wish it was a bit tighter and had a faster response. I play kinda thrashy metal so I'm looking for a really tight bottom end. If I change the pickups from the Bartolinis to a set of Nordstrand Zen Blades, do I also have to change the preamp? Or can I just throw on the Zen Blades and rock that poo poo? Cheers!
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Jan 15, 2019 03:51
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Rugoberta Munchu posted:Not sure if all of the SRs now with active preamps have the pickups plug into the board but definitely go for a 3 band EQ if your model has a 2 band. It's got a 3 Band and a mid frequency selector switch. I generally leave the EQ flat anyway and prefer to get the right sound out of the amp.
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Jan 15, 2019 09:37
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Rifter17 posted:I feel like maybe this is a job for a compressor. I always think of a really mid-rangey tone when I think of Bartolinis. A compressor would help tame the mids and allow you to increase the overall gain of the bass. With a compressor you can then use the on board EQ to tweak how the compressor reacts. Cheers for the suggestion. I'm kinda scooping the poo poo out of the mids on the amp. I don't have a problem with the mids, more that the bottom end blooms a little instead of a big chunky solid DUNNN.
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Jan 15, 2019 23:52
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Hey all. I'm looking for a bass amp that I'll use for home recording in my studio. I'm wanting to record an Amp DI and then I'll use IRs to simulate a cab. Rack-mounted is required due to room available in my studio. I also prefer Solid State amps for bass because I like the immediate and consistent response. Specifically, I've been looking at GK RBs. Mostly because I'm an utterly shameless Tool fanboy and did you know Tool put out a new song recently? I KNOW RIGHT. But realistically speaking they seem to have everything I want out of the amp. I play metal and blues so I'm looking for something a tad versatile, but I'd imagine a clean solid-state bass tone will fit in with most genres. (Also: Yes I'm aware that Justin Chancellor has an unholy amount of stuff going on for his bass rig and you'd kinda need a physics degree to understand it. I'm not expecting to plug my bass in and go "OMFG 46&2 SPIRAL OUT BOYS" but I've seen how cheap GK heads go for on Reverb compared to say...Ampeg SVT Pros.) Since I'm running the amps silently, I don't have to worry about volume from the amp. Which brings me to my main question: Does wattage impact tone on a solid state amp? Or does it just determine how loud it can go? Specifically: Is there any tonal difference between the GK700RB and the GK1001RB? (Note: Also if there's any other amp I'm overlooking, do let me know )
H13 fucked around with this message at 01:19 on Aug 10, 2019 |
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Aug 10, 2019 01:13
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WELL. With that question in mind, I just found out that some people do a JPJ setup. In other words, both single coils from a J, with a P-Bass pickup wedged in between (usually on a P Bass) Can somebody explain why that would be a bad idea? Why is this not done more often?
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Jan 24, 2020 08:19
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Alright tone nuts. I'm playing with bass distortion. Using a bunch of plugins. Ergo I have options and hopefully somebody out there has a solution to my gripe. The issue I am finding is that either I have just enough distortion on my low strings, which then creates WAY too much distortion up top, OR: I have just enough distortion on the high strings, but not enough down low. How do I balance the distortion\gain between high and low strings? Is there a clever dick way of doing that or is this just kinda the nature of the beast?
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Apr 30, 2020 07:15
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So which is the ultimate Bass Distortion pedal? Is it the ProCo Rat? Or the ProCo Rat?
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Jun 17, 2020 09:20
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YO. If you could only record with ONE bass cab for the rest of your life, and it had to work for every genre and it couldn't be an Ampeg Fridge... What would you go for? I've been eyeing off the Ampeg 212SVTAV....
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Apr 30, 2021 16:02
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Question about Darkglass... Are their amps basically just the respective pedal hooked into a clean power amp? AKA: If I took my B7k, ran it into a clean power amp, then ran it into a cab, would I get basically the same results?
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Jul 18, 2021 02:17
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YO. I am working on a bass pedalboard. I have a mothership of a guitar pedalboard but so far my bass pedalboard is a bit bare. THAT'S COOL but while I'm riding this GAS, I figured I'd ask for ideas. CURRENT BOARD: - Morley Power Fuzz Wah Yes I am a Metallica tragic. However the Fuzz on this Wah pedal is surprisingly tasteful. The fuzz on this pedal is my "Rock" distortion and when combined with my metal distortion pedal, it's my over-the-top fuzz sound. - VT Bass This is my "metal" distorted sound. Gets surprisingly aggressive with the character turned up and it has plenty of drive to make things gnarly, clanky and fun. - Ampeg Opto Comp Very straightforward nice sounding compressor. It's always on. - Moog Flanger How else am I gonna play 46&2 without a flanger? I am a very unique individual and not a cliche in the slightest So with these 4 pedals I've got Clean bass (just with the comp), Rock bass (Fuzz from the Fuzz Wah), Metal Bass (VT Bass), Stupid Fuzz (Fuzz + VT Bass) and Modulation (Flanger) and all of them play nice together. Any other cool poo poo or ideas I should add to my pedalboard?
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Apr 19, 2024 01:24
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Dang It Bhabhi! posted:Octave. Envelope follower. Synth. 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)
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Apr 19, 2024 02:38
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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?
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Apr 22, 2024 02:20
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