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Fun Stuff => BAND => Topic started by: Bennett the Sage on 24 Jul 2007, 02:49
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Im currently in the market for a new bass. The music store by me has a nice selection of Fender Precisions. Now the actual inquiries go as follows:
Im looking for a sharp, heavy sound; what kind of pickups should I be on the look out for and where should they be placed?
I do have my heart set on a Fender, but is there a model that you think can better accomadate said sound?
And finally, just for fun, whats your favorite Bass player? Mine happens to be a tie between Les Claypool and Victor Wooten
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As far as basses go, imo, you can't really go past a Stingray. Very versatile and quite a sharp, punchy sound. The guy from Isis uses them so you know they own.
Anyway, my favourite bassist would be either Cliff Burton or Noel Redding.
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I'm not sure what my favourite bass player would be. Flea from the Chili Peppers is an amazing player, but I hate his band.
If you want to cut, you want something with a pickup close to the bridge. And your amp settings will effect it too, boosting your mid and high will help, regardless of your bass. But it can of course, only do so much.
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Though like you said, your heart is set on fender, so maybe just an active jazz is what you might want.
NO.
Active Jazz Bass is heresy. Bennett the Sage, you're probably looking for a Jazz bass anyway, but for god's sake do not get the active ones. They sound totally different and, well, they're not Jazz Basses. Ricks would probably do you a lot of good too.
My sugestion is, though, camp out in your local music store and try out every bass they have. Every single one. Until you find what your'e looking for.
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My sugestion is, though, camp out in your local music store and try out every bass they have. Every single one. Until you find what your'e looking for.
That's pretty much the best advice someone can give you.
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Though like you said, your heart is set on fender, so maybe just an active jazz is what you might want.
NO.
Active Jazz Bass is heresy. Bennett the Sage, you're probably looking for a Jazz bass anyway, but for god's sake do not get the active ones. They sound totally different and, well, they're not Jazz Basses. Ricks would probably do you a lot of good too.
My suggestion is, though, camp out in your local music store and try out every bass they have. Every single one. Until you find what your'e looking for.
Active/passive switch! Passive basses are seriously becoming a thing of the past for a good reason, you can do the same thing as a passive, but add more options and more tonal variety on a single bass, how can you lose?
Active basses can sound great, but they place a lot more emphasis on good wiring and shielding, as well as more on quality of electronics so if your on a tight budget it could be a hassel.
I suggest any P bass with an aggressive pick attack at the bridge would yield you a heavier sound, if thats what your after.
Check out the American Precision special - Its got amazing reviews,and plenty of versatility!
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Active/passive switch! Passive basses are seriously becoming a thing of the past for a good reason, you can do the same thing as a passive, but add more options and more tonal variety on a single bass, how can you lose?
I don't mind active basses, I have one myself that is my main bass. The thing is, it's not a Jazz Bass if it's not passive. Active picups on a Jazz bass change the entire thing, and it's just not a Jaz bass anymore. It could be a great bass, sure, but calling it a Fender Jazz Bass when it's active is wrong.
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I've played on one of those and I'd take my 2003 Highway 1 instead any time.
The Delux Percision sounds pretty good, though.
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Go with a Gibson SG bass. If you've ever heard Cream's live cover of "Crossroads," you have heard this bass, and you have beheld the epic skull-crushing power of this instrument.
Or just stop worrying about the instrument (Fender Precision is my bass of choice when I go to Guitar Center) and start worrying about your amp.
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Difference between active and passive?
And I'm guess you can do more crazy hacks to active ones right?
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Ok, neat.
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Active/passive switch! Passive basses are seriously becoming a thing of the past for a good reason, you can do the same thing as a passive, but add more options and more tonal variety on a single bass, how can you lose?
I don't mind active basses, I have one myself that is my main bass. The thing is, it's not a Jazz Bass if it's not passive. Active picups on a Jazz bass change the entire thing, and it's just not a Jaz bass anymore. It could be a great bass, sure, but calling it a Fender Jazz Bass when it's active is wrong.
Most have passive pickups through active preamps, many still call them jazz basses, dig? To me its the curves of the bass!
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I am appalled that nobody has touched on the vital matter of just how cool the bass looks while you're playing it.
In this case, Rickenbackers get an automatic 10.
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Most have passive pickups through active preamps, many still call them jazz basses, dig? To me its the curves of the bass!
Passive and Active Jazz Basses sounds completely different. I do not understand you.
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Well you said active pickups. Pickups aren't active, its the preamp on the bass which is active, this pickups themselves remain themselves. :laugh:
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I know, I'm not talking about that. I'm surprised that you prefer the active Jazz Bass to the passive one.
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Oh why, any reason?
I mean personally jazz basses just don't do it for me, but given a choice I have always liked the active ones better, especially with a passive bypass switch, then you ahve effectively both an active and passive bass.
and because I wanted to ; :mrgreen:
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Personally, I like standup bass better than anything else.
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well it depends on what kinda sound you are after. PersonallyI stick with fenderjazzes cause they handlepretty much anything, except for some of the more prog stuff, for that a warwick corvette $$ might be a better fit. My fave bassist of alltime is jack bruce, and most of my fave bands use vintage gear, so I tend to go for passive basses as a result. If you want a good thick humbucking sound, go for an epiphone thunderbird, and italia make some great basses in the semi-hollow category,I have a black/creme mondial.. the thing just screams retro. But yeah if it's a workhorse for any situation a fender precision or jazz won't let you down, just make sure it's not a mexi, they use inferior pickups than the US standard. 8-)
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99% of your bass tone will come from your amp. The other 1% comes from where on the bass you pluck the string.
This is utter heresy to the millions of pretentious bass playing fucks who insist that ovangkol necks sound different than wenge, but it's true.
Find a bass amp whose tone you like. Then buy your bass.
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99% of your bass tone will come from your amp. The other 1% comes from where on the bass you pluck the string.
Not necessarialy. I've played both my Stingray and my Jazz Bass through a shitty old Fender 30W amp (not Rumble, the way older models) and they both sounded great. My Jazz Bass even had a better tone on it then on my Fender Rumble 60W amp.
They're sound was pretty amazing when my bass teacher played on them through the same amp.
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99% of your bass tone will come from your amp. The other 1% comes from where on the bass you pluck the string.
This is utter heresy to the millions of pretentious bass playing fucks who insist that ovangkol necks sound different than wenge, but it's true.
Find a bass amp whose tone you like. Then buy your bass.
This, while much truer with guitar gear, is really NOT so with bass gear, in my experience. They both color your sound but the amp plays much less of a role than guitar amps do.
On the other hand speaker sizes and cab choices are more important - the logical explanation is a lot of bass is felt as well as heard, as opposed to guitars or other amplified mediums.
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Several relevant points here;
first lets address this;
My amp is an old kustom V-PA, so its not exactly meant to be used as a guitar amp, but I do, its old, and pretty transparent.
Is transparent, and its not a guitar amp, so both aren't really contributing factors to that argument, hardly a bad thing, it may very well rock socks. However plug a start into a marshall/VHT/HiWatt/Splawn/etc and the amp - assuming its made to a certain stanard (IE its got to be a valve amp, thats not completely dead) and it will still sound like a marshall/HiWatt.VHT/etc. But the guiitar might not always sound like a strat!
It's the status quo in the guitar community that the Amp is more important than the guitar, and that an amps tone shines more than a guitars one. That is far from saying a guitar doesn't p[lay a part though - this isn't just random, people who know more about this than either you or I know this.
Also, often the argument with bass amping is, that the amp is for you on stage.
Anyone in the crowd hears your bass di'd and through the house PA.
Again there are several factors;
1. Many, MANY heads have DI's built in now, so while cabs may not be as relevant the amp itself stilll is.
2. Di'ing is far from the most appropriate option, especially non area venues playing an actuall non DI'd amp sounds better and works well.
3. The assumtion you've made is EVERYONE, ONLY hears the house mix - what about the first 20 metres of audience?
I mean you could very well be right in many a circumstance, but there are alot of factors and other scenarios that make your statements void.
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Just don't get a Behringer and its really pretty irrelevant what bass amp you have.
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3. The assumtion you've made is EVERYONE, ONLY hears the house mix - what about the first 20 metres of audience?
If people in the first 20 metres hear anything other than the house mix, either the sound guy isn't doing his job or they need to redo their PA system.
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Jeph- I tend to disagree on the amp= tone when it comes to bass, mainly because, unlike a guitar, basses are generally played without effects. Not that you can't do it of course. For instance, there's an obvious difference between the woody tone of a Warwick versus the more rounded sound of a p bass. Also, just like on a guitar, the single coils of a j pickup tend to be a little less bass heavy and have more attack than a p style humbucker, while a MusicMan style pickup is a sort of comination of the two, but the frquency range is vastly wider than either.
That said, I think what you're looking for is a G&L L2000. It's made by Leo Fender, so it has that Fender vibe, only with vastly superior MusicMan style hardware and electronics. It's active/passive and has coil taps. DO NOT BUY A TRIBUTE! Also, the newer ones have gotten outrageously expensive. I think the older ones are generally better quality and can be picked up on ebay in the $500-$600 range. I had an '89 with see-through white finish for a long time that I loved.
With regard to amps, I agree, find what you like. Ashdwon, Ampeg, Eden, SWR etc. are the obvious names. However, with regard to the Behringer comment, I tested a Behringer 4210a, essentially a 2x10 with a 400 watt amp, and bought it. I had been playing on a huge rig with an Ampeg SVT 3pro, an Ampeg 1x15 and a Trace 4x10. The Behringer gave me the same power and clarity in a much smaller package. The speakers, however, are pure unadulterated garbage. I knew that going into it, so I replaced them with Eminences and got a hell of a versatile, powerful combo for slightly over $400. I sold my whole rig after that, and now gigs are much easier.
Just my .02.
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I use a Behringer BX4500. Lots of power, great sound, cheap as chips... I've never understood people's hatred of them, other than the fact that they do have a tendency to break quickly or not work straight off, although admittedly I've not used their speakers since my cab's a Peavey. And if you do get one that works and doesn't crap out on you in the first week or so you're set for a fraction of what it would cost to get a comparable piece of kit from any of the more respected names.