neepheid

I think I would go nuts if had a particular sound in my head I was chasing. To me all basses sound "bassy", otherwise they're pretty useless basses! That may sound infantile in its simplicity but I have a pretty broad spectrum of what "good" sounds like to me, because when it comes to playing with other musicians, in different locations, through different rigs if using house gear/gear share, to various quantities of people/room meat, with the FOH sound not in my control anyway - all that carefully researched and planned sonic calculation goes right out the window! As long as the basic tone of the instrument has some bassy heft to it and I'm able to get a bit of twang out of it for note definition and general "being heard over the ruckus" (thus eliminating some more old school designs - got shot of a Fender Starcaster after playing 1 gig with it for instance - plenty bass but not enough top even on the bridge pickup) then I'm happy.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1461199912' post='3032443'] No,but an option to consider. Blue [/quote] Presumably you still need a lead from the bass to the transmitter and from the receiver to the amp though, yes?

OBBM for the [i]n[/i]th time

G&L (Tribute or USA) SB-2. G&L (USA only) SB-1 if you don't want the J pickup. Familiar, but different. Body been cut down/reshaped subtly. Jazz width neck on Tribute/choice of neck profiles on USA models. Butt-kicking MFD pickup(s).

First bass was a cherry red Epiphone EB-3. I don't have it any more and I don't miss it.

The Epiphone Jack Casady signature is a good example of signature bass done right IMO: Jack used to play the Gibson Les Paul Signature bass (upon which the JC Sig is based), Jack had direct involvement in the development (the pickup design for instance) and perhaps most crucially of all, he actually plays his signature bass live and in a professional capacity to this day - straight from the factory, "no ringers" as he puts it.

[quote name='luckydog' timestamp='1460569534' post='3026937'] [font="Calibri"][size="3"][color="#000000"]My 2p worth is that it’s good to both rehearse and gig with the same sound and playability, so always the same rig and guitar for a given project. [/color][/size][/font] [font="Calibri"][size="3"][color="#000000"]LD[/color][/size][/font] [/quote] Sort of agree, in that I tend to make sure I do the rehearsal before a gig/recording with the bass I intend to use, but probably for superstitious/creature of habit/routine reasons rather than anything else. But it changes for every gig, I agree with BRX in that live, they all sound like basses. The FOH sound tends to be out of my control anyway, so I might as well pick the bass which makes me smile the most, or which one matches my shirt or one I haven't had an outing with for a while.

Whichever one takes my fancy on the night, based purely upon aesthetics and it not being the one I used last time.

As long as it doesn't look like it's going to fall apart if I breathe on it wrong, or looks like I might catch something from touching it, I don't care a jot. Sound and reliability are my primary concerns.

We've had worse responses to our EP

[quote name='dmckee' timestamp='1460103667' post='3022531'] I know some G&L owners think putting a plate on the L/M2000s is heresy but I think it makes them look better! [/quote] If they do, then they're no better than any other bunch of over-zealous, evangelising, aggressively advocating, blinkered aficionados. Not thinking of any particular bunch, of course It's your bass, crack on!

Thanks everyone for the advice. I think it's clear that I need to be a bit more assertive in getting what I want out of recording instead of sitting there like a rabbit in the headlights going "ooh, we made a recording" while not wanting to bug the guy doing the recording because self esteem issues etc. I'm happy with the arrangements and how we sound live. I think the sound I'm looking for comes from the fact that I use a compact 250W 1x10 combo in rehearsals and I do push it quite hard to be heard in amongst the rest of the band in the same room so I get that slightly boxy, "pushing the amp a bit" type of sound. Performing live is a bit of a crapshoot most of the time because I'm often using house gear because I'm lazy, plus the FOH is out of my hands anyway. Perhaps I should get in touch with the guy and see what he thinks about me playing through my wee box and he takes a DI out of it (and maybe mic it up too?), but on the other hand I don't like the idea that the sound I'm hearing is tied to this one amp which isn't made any more and will die at some as yet undetermined day in the future. I still think that using the overdrive pedal at source will at least allow me to influence things from the off and having it on/off at my feet does add an extra texture option to proceedings that I think I'll employ going forward anyway.

I got a Bass Soul Food and have been impressed with it so far - it's fully adjustable from zero effect to a decent amount of overdrive, and that's exactly what I was looking for.

Similar story here, Green album was a bit of a disappointment, Maladroit was a return to form of sorts but then I kinda checked out. Won't have a word said against the Blue album and Pinkerton though (only kidding, you're entitled to your opinon ). Haven't listened to the white album yet. As an aside, at my recent 40th birthday bash, my friends in the band Das McManus (you should check them out BTW) as a surprise became Weezer for the night and played nearly the whole of the Blue album for their set - was totally blown away by that and I'll never forget it!

[quote name='Spoombung' timestamp='1459870430' post='3020430'] Why do you think a thin neck means a thin sound and chunky neck means a solid tone? [/quote] I guess that's the worm can opened now

I'm due to go into the recording studio in a couple of weeks and I'd like to make my bassy contributions better than last time. I like what I played, but in the final output I felt that the bass was really smooth and as such kinda - mushy is the wrong word but lacking in edges and definition if you know what I mean. (results of last time - https://theinevitableteaspoons.bandcamp.com/ or search The Inevitable Teaspoons on Spotify) I'm not doing the mixing, so I figure the only way to influence this is to change what goes into the mix at source. Last time I used a Gibson Victory Artist which is an old school active bass then through an Ampeg Portaflex PF-500 head and the DI from that (don't quote me, it was nearly a year ago). It's the same studio and I'm guessing my route to the desk will not have changed in a year. My thinking this time is to use a passive bass (thinking about the G&L Tribute SB-2 but haven't ruled out the Gibson Ripper yet) through a Bass Soul Food pedal just to give a little dash of overdrive to the sound. I don't want super distortion or fuzz, but just a bit of old school "pushing the preamp just a smidge too hard" type sound. Am I thinking about this right, or should I be a bit more assertive when it comes to getting what I want out of the mixing process? Any thoughts welcome.

Get a Jazz and stick a Precision neck on it - job done? Plenty of folk gone the other way - why is it that P neck on J body seems (to my limited statistical analysis) far less common?

[quote name='Marvin' timestamp='1459850588' post='3020163'] I had a Rockbass Corvette a while back. They have a 38mm nut but the neck is like a bass ball bat. [/quote] That's the exact type of bass which made me realise that it wasn't nut width/string spacing which was bugging me

Preference for chunky necks here. Not too thin please, and by thin I mean overall mass. I can deal with the narrow nut if there's a decent chunk of wood back to front.

[quote name='keefbaker' timestamp='1459766460' post='3019271'] My knees cry at the idea of a 4 hour set. [/quote] Our audience cries at the idea of a 4 hour set too. Imagine putting up with our nonsense for that long!

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1459368963' post='3015957'] Is it just me, or is there a touch of Hayman 4040 influence in the look of these? [/quote] I think it's like a nicer, more rounded take on a Jaguar.

[quote name='RockfordStone' timestamp='1459764545' post='3019243'] indeed, and i think in a lot of cases it turns out to be the case... but some of the comments here would have us think that only a special few ever get anywhere [/quote] In the real world, where my band - with the best will in the world - doesn't matter/exist to that many people, it's nice to know that someone out there thinks we're special

Let's form a supergroup of people who have started a band from nothing and miraculously managed to get gigs called The Exceptions

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1459714310' post='3018930'] Most start up bands don't stay together long enough to see they're fist gig. Any band you join that has no gigs probably will not get any gigs. Blue [/quote] Poppycock!