Bass players, step on in

[blackba]

Since I have been playing bass more again recently I thought I would see what others are doing.

Here is my rig:
Fender MIJ Geddy Lee Jazz Bass
Ampeg SVTIII pro
Korg DTR1000 tuner
Barber Tone Press Compressor
Ampeg SVT 410HLF or BXT210M (When I need a cab I can move myself)

Since my bass rig is over at the practice space. I ran my Jazz bass through my Fender Bandmaster Reverb normal channel into the Ampeg 210 cab. It sounded pretty good, provided you are looking for a growling vintage bass amp sound. Good enough for practice, wouldn't be enough power for a band though.

I did a little research on Thump's Acoustic B200 amp, that seems like a great deal for $350 new for a 200Watt combo. I now know what to recommend to the people at work who ask what bass amp to get.

I do struggle a bit at times with string balance, seems the A string is often a big more cutting on pretty much every bass I have owned. The compressor really helps with this. Also, I find it takes too darn long to get my right hand fingers conditioned to play. After just a half an hour of playing, I think I will have blisters tomorrow

Anyway sorry for the random thoughts, but that is what this thread is for.

Recently jammed with a guy who played a Rick 4003 bass in blue. That was a killer sounding bass, renewed by Rick bass GAS....

 

[Bob Savage]

I'm not a bass player, but my current bass rig is a GK 800RB and SWR Goliath III 4x10. Very cool rig but one of the best rigs I've had/played is the Sansamp RBI and power amp. That Sansamp gets such a killer spank, just enough distortion and bottom end, and sits great in a mix.

 

[Jordon]

I don't play bass, but here's what our bassist uses live:

Music Man 4 and 5 String Stingrays, Fender Jazz and P Basses, Warwick Corvette 5 String

This is the signal chain:
-Alesis 3630
-Boss Bass Chorus set very low
-MXR Bass DI (he just switched to that yesterday after using a Tech 21 Bass DI for a long while)
-MXR effected out goes to his main amp, an SVT 2-Pro with Sovtek tubes, then out to an Ampeg Classic ported 6x10. This handles his highs to low mids.
-MXR parallel out goes to an Ampeg SVT 4-Pro then out to a Hughes and Ketter 4x10 and 1x15 (he's swapping this out soon). This handles his low end and low mids.
-DTR-1000 is in the Tuner Out of the SVT 2-Pro

For smaller gigs, he doesn't use the 4-Pro setup. It sounds amazing, and really fills out the sonic spectrum.

In the studio, it was his Music Man basses into the SVT 2-Pro then to a Peavey 8x10 (had the same speakers that come in the Ampeg classic cabs) miced with an Audio Technica AT4033a. A DI was taken to a Tech 21 RBI, and the output of that was sent straight to the board. Just those 2 tracks, and again, it sounds really great.

 

[FUZZboat]

http://guitargeek.com/browse/bass/

found this link interesting & on topic


NOTE hit the "go" button


I like how blink 182's bassist went "old school"

 

[orangekick]

I have been getting back into playing bass lately. As for string balance, I find that a good set up usually solves that. Lately I have been using:

2007 American Standard Jazz bass
2002 Lakland 55-01

Mesa M-2000 head
Bergantino NV215 cab

I don't usually use effects on bass. I like it clean, loud and low.

 

[JTyson]

I'm not a bass player, but I have a decent rig for guys who come over, and for recording, its a American st. Jazz bass ,Tech 21 preamp into a SWR super Redhead with 2x10 and a sweet tweeter, a SWR 4x10 cab, and a Black Widow 18" sub. It does more than I need it too. I have a good friend who has a Rickenbacker that absolutly KILLS through this rig. I have the same problem with string balance, but after listening to some real bass players play my stuff, I decided it was me I dont hear it when they play, only when I do.

 

[blackba]

Hey Brian, I know exactly what you mean about string balance. I had more of the problem with Jazz Basses, then the problem went away when I had a MusicMan Stringray. I have just recently figured out why this worked that way...

I learned to play bass from watching live Rush videos. Geddy rests his thumb on the neck pickup on his Jazz Bass, so that's how I always did it too. When I switch to the Stringray, I was forced to move my hand back towards the bridge, since the only pickup on that bass was the bridge humbucker. Long story short, that's what fixed it. Plucking close to the bridge evens out the differences in plucking and stuff. It makes me much more consistent. With that said, I'd still like to get a compressor pedal.

Right now, I'm mainly running my USA Jazz Bass (all stock) into my Acoustic B200 combo and that's it. No effects or anything else. I also have that Warwick Corvette fretless that's pretty cool, but I haven't been using it much.

Another thing I just figured out is that I really like flatwound bass strings. I'm running D'Addario "Chromes" on both basses and I dig it.

I will give plucking by the bridge pickup a try. When I played earlier today I didn't have much issue with string balance (didn't have my compressor here either). But when I jammed with my band a few weeks ago it was bad unless I turned on the compressor. Interestingly I had the most trouble with the MM sterling I used to have. I would still really like to get another MM Sterling or a Rick.

I highly recommend the Barber tone press, it works well for guitar too, so if you switch back you don't have to put it up for sale.

Here is an old picture of my rig. The RNC compressor on the top is not there anymore. Also, all the guitar amps in the picture are long gone (Vox AC15TBX, Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue, and Vox VBM1)

 

[Digital Jams]

I agree with Thump, the tighter the strings are where you pluck will straighten out that A string issue. If you are resting your finger on that neck pup you will dig in harder on the A.

Cannot say enough about SVT stuff, love them.

 

[blackba]

I'm not a bass player, but I have a decent rig for guys who come over, and for recording, its a American st. Jazz bass ,Tech 21 preamp into a SWR super Redhead with 2x10 and a sweet tweeter, a SWR 4x10 cab, and a Black Widow 18" sub. It does more than I need it too. I have a good friend who has a Rickenbacker that absolutly KILLS through this rig. I have the same problem with string balance, but after listening to some real bass players play my stuff, I decided it was me I dont hear it when they play, only when I do.

You have an awesome rig for not being a bass player. I know what you are saying about the string balance, I notice it much more when I play, but don't notice it much when others play.

I have been in a number of bands on bass, I think alot of it is technique that I just have to relearn again....

 

[Digital Jams]

The ONLY thing I regret selling, my mid 80s black 4001 No other bass sounds like one.

 

[rsm]

Here's my ADA Bass Rig (see sig) that I've had since the early 90's:

and the rack:

I'm using a Trace Elliot MP11 preamp. I just found the Trace Elliot SMX compressor pedal which is the same circuit that was in the GP12SMX preamp (and amps) of the day. I picked one up on ebay, should be here in the week. AFAIK it was in the end of the signal, so I plan to try it in front and in the effects loop to see where it works best. Like everything else its going into my Bose L1 (it sounds great IMO, wish the guitar tone quest was as easy as the bass solution was!)

Here's a pic of the MP11 (with my old Ultra

Using an '80s stock Steinberger L2 bass; I have a Ric 4003 fireglo on order since 9/2006 which I hope will be here soon. I have an American custom BC Rich Spider (Widow) 4 string bass that I had made in '93 (SPAM: for sale) which I used in my metal years. I take it out regularly to make sure its working fine.

 

[rsm]

On the dynamics / control issue:

The compressor / limiter will help. The Trace Elliot compressor is nice in that it has a low pass and high pass compression in separate signal flows, and a balance knob. Problem with most compressors not made for bass is that you don't really need or want a full range, one-setting fits all compressor. The Trace Elliot manuals recommend minimal high range compression unless you are using it for the effect, not to manage the dynamics. When I had my GP12SMX with this compression circuit, it worked well, exactly as the manual described. High compression is what adds noise/hiss and its usually not the top end where you need compression on bass, blah, blah, blah. If you have a compressor where you can set the frequency or use a crossover / split the signal and compress only the low end, etc. are some alternatives...

Bass players can control the dynamics just as guitar players can control the attack with practice. I play finger style and pop n slap (rarely use a pick) just for that reason. Using your fingers its easier to feel what you are doing and much easier to control the dynamics over time. For some of the the speed metal / thrash / fast death metal that I played back in the day, I had presets in the MB-1 set for different finger styles. Some presets had no compression and I would play with full force, hooking slightly under the strings (without popping) - it was raw, aggressive loud bass that could provide a snarl/growl out of the ADA rig whenever I wanted, just by varying my attack. Other presets had some compression and higher gain; here I used a "tapping" technique where you ride on top of the strings using a percussive tapping (not over a pickup) as if you were tapping your fingers on a table. This would give me a lighter, faster, albeit more percussive, even tone for solos and lightning fast runs over the entire range of the bass. Both my Steinberger and BC Rich Spider have active EMGs which made tapping more viable, I haven't tried this with passive pups.

Finally, if you find you have a bass setup where some notes are too powerful and others are too weak, you can use your graphic or parametric eq (the ADA MB-1, and my various Trace Elliot preamps do this well). You determine the frequencies of the uneven notes and boost / cut the eq where needed. This works when you don't have the compressor or finger dynamics down...but the downside is that it impacts your tone. I rarely use effects on bass and used EQ for tone shaping rather than compensating for bass deficiencies. The Steinberger is the most even playing bass I've ever played no dead spots, no hot spots no major dynamics flaws at all - it is so playable and even that you could find yourself losing your finger dynamics technique! It is that good IMO. I only wish I kept a white one I had, and that I purchased a fretless L2 from the original '80s early 90s era when I had the chance (but not the funds!)

Regarding effects, other than compressor / limiter with bass. I used light chorus for fretless on occasion though only when I played live to ease the inevitable intonation errors as I was jumping around the stage!

 

[Juggernaut]

I'm using a Trace Elliot MP11 preamp. I just found the Trace Elliot SMX compressor pedal which is the same circuit that was in the GP12SMX preamp (and amps) of the day. I picked one up on ebay, should be here in the week. AFAIK it was in the end of the signal, so I plan to try it in front and in the effects loop to see where it works best. Like everything else its going into my Bose L1 (it sounds great IMO, wish the guitar tone quest was as easy as the bass solution was!)

Here's a pic of the MP11 (with my old Ultra

Using an '80s stock Steinberger L2 bass; I have a Ric 4003 fireglo on order since 9/2006 which I hope will be here soon. I have an American custom BC Rich Spider (Widow) 4 string bass that I had made in '93 (SPAM: for sale) which I used in my metal years. I take it out regularly to make sure its working fine.

what the hell is that TE piece? I've never seen that one before......

 

[rsm]

juggernaut,

That's the Trace Elliot MP11 preamp. It is a fairly rare piece. It has an 11-band graphic EQ (fine for 4 string at 440 which is what I play) and input and out put levels. It has twenty presets (10 factory presets where you can change and store the levels, and 10 User presets where you can store levels and EQ settings).

I always liked the original Trace Elliot sound, but I went with ADA back in the day since I wanted to have presets that I could call up at any time. All the other Trace Elliot gear was manual, to change your tone, you had to reset everything manually, not very convenient live, plus it was too easy to accidently move something and not notice it (like on the GP12SMX preamp that I had). The MP11 has that TE tone magic with the ability to have 20 predefined presets. The other reason was cost, as the TE gear was more than the ADA back then too.

 

[Juggernaut]

Cool just curious, I had an old Quatra-Valve years ago, loved that head, I should've kept it. TE used to make some GREAT gear, don't know much about any of their new stuff.....


My next project will be getting my bass rig going, still trying to decide if I'm gonna keep my Aguilar 1x12, and get 3 more, or sell it, and buy a pair of Dr. Bass 2x12s...

 

[blackba]

I'm using a Trace Elliot MP11 preamp. I just found the Trace Elliot SMX compressor pedal which is the same circuit that was in the GP12SMX preamp (and amps) of the day. I picked one up on ebay, should be here in the week. AFAIK it was in the end of the signal, so I plan to try it in front and in the effects loop to see where it works best. Like everything else its going into my Bose L1 (it sounds great IMO, wish the guitar tone quest was as easy as the bass solution was!)

Please post a review when you get your SMX compressor in and let me know if you see another one for sale and can find an adapter that will work. I am willing to give it a try, looks like they only go for $50-70 or so.

 

[rsm]

I'm using a Trace Elliot MP11 preamp. I just found the Trace Elliot SMX compressor pedal which is the same circuit that was in the GP12SMX preamp (and amps) of the day. I picked one up on ebay, should be here in the week. AFAIK it was in the end of the signal, so I plan to try it in front and in the effects loop to see where it works best. Like everything else its going into my Bose L1 (it sounds great IMO, wish the guitar tone quest was as easy as the bass solution was!)

Please post a review when you get your SMX compressor in and let me know if you see another one for sale and can find an adapter that will work. I am willing to give it a try, looks like they only go for $50-70 or so.

Will do. British Audio Service, http://www.britishaudioservice.com/shop_main_trace.shtml has new TE adapters but they want $50! I heard RadioShack has and adapter that may work too? (I hope!)

edit: FWIW, I had this "same" compressor circuit in the TE GP12SMX preamp I owned, that;s why I jumped on this. (the controls and even the colors look identical, in fact it is named the "Trace Elliot SMX Dual Compressor". If it doesn't work the same as in the one built into the GP12SMX, I'll let you know, but this is the bass compressor I wished my MP11 had in it, I didn't even know they made these in pedal form! I'm sure it will work well with non-Trace Elliot gear too?

 

[grimmchaos]

I'm currently using a Gallien-Krueger 700RBII with an RBX210, though I want to get a 410. Lately I've been primarily playing bass in the band I'm in. Basses (though I plan on moving a few) are:

G&L Tribute L-2000
SX 5 string Jazz Bass
Peavey Cirrus BXP 5 string (probably going to sell)
Warwick Corvette Fretless 5 string (probably going to sell)

Only effect I'm using is a compressor which is on for when I'm playing with fingers. I split about half my time with fingers/the other half with a pick, depending on what the song calls for and sounds best with to my ears.

Nice rigs guys!

 

[grimmchaos]

I'm currently using a Gallien-Krueger 700RBII with an RBX210, though I want to get a 410. Lately I've been primarily playing bass in the band I'm in. Basses (though I plan on moving a few) are:

G&L Tribute L-2000
SX 5 string Jazz Bass
Peavey Cirrus BXP 5 string (probably going to sell)
Warwick Corvette Fretless 5 string (probably going to sell)

Only effect I'm using is a compressor which is on for when I'm playing with fingers. I split about half my time with fingers/the other half with a pick, depending on what the song calls for and sounds best with to my ears.

Nice rigs guys!

I had a VERY good time with the GK 700RBII and an Avatar Neo 2x10" cab. I used to gig that in the last band I played bass in and it rocked. Super portable and great tone. I was going to get that rig again when I thought I'd try this Acoustic combo. So far, I'm really happy with it (which surprised me.)

I see those popping up from time to time in my local Guitar Center, the next time I'm in I will have to try them out.

What's really surprising is the versatility of the G&L. I haven't had a chance to run it through my rig at practice yet (just got the bass last night), but with the preamp and the two huge humbuckers there are a lot of tones you can coax out. Granted it doesn't sound like a precison or jazz bass, but I think it can get relatively close, especially with the preamp off. It gives me the impression of a Fender on steroids.

 

[Copperhead]

You guys are probably going to kill me on this one, but I absolutely loved the Peavey BAM 210. It was relatively small enough to transport without much issue and it was freakin' loud. The first day I brought it home with a Peavey Millenium 5 string, my wife was sooooo upset, 'cause I was knocking things off the shelves at the other end of the house! I don't know why they quit making those.