Doddy

Most guitar pedals work fine with bass. Some pedals lose low end, but most of my favourite pedals aren't bass specific. I wasn't a big fan of the SYB-5. The tracking isn't great, and the sounds aren't the best. I think it's a bit womble really. Edit.... since when is womble a good substitute for 'w@nk?'

If all you need is chorus and drive, I'd just buy a chorus and an overdrive. Something like a Earthquaker Plumes and a TC June 60 would sound really good and not break the bank.

Nate Wood is great. He's been the drummer in Kneebody for years, and he regularly plays bass or drums with guys like Wayne Krantz and Donny McCaslin. Before he got in to the modern instrumental stuff, he was the drummer in The Calling, and played guitar with Taylor Hawkins & the Coattail Riders.

Bass Direct are the only place, but I think Spencer at 3 Leaf is having some distribution issues.

The MXR vintage is based on one of Janek Gwizdalas OC2s. The Octabvre is an OC2 on one side and a Mutron on the other.

No. In fact, more often than not, bands who are used to hearing a bass player without effects, love it when I use them. One guy I regularly work for has even asked for specific sounds, and has written out some charts with effects markings.

Both those guys have been using the 3 Leaf Audio Octabvre. Interestingly, Tim was telling me that lately he often puts the tone knob over to the Mutron side. Looking at some pics of Stu Brooks' board, it looks like he sometimes does the same. I've got a few octave pedals, but I've used an original Octabvre on nearly every gig in the last 5 years. It sounds spot on to my old OC2, and the Mutron side gives it more versatility. The solo sub switch is a brilliant addition, because I don't have to keep bending down and turning knobs like I did on the Boss. It's great to be able to kick it in for the odd note or line. I own quite a lot of pedals, but this is my absolute favourite.

I totally agree that multi effects are a good starting point if you don't really know what you want. I just always recommend individual pedals because I don't like menu diving. 😆 Yeah, it's a pretty big collection really. What can I say? I love pedals.

Do you need effects? It depends what gigs you're doing. Personally, I use effects on nearly all of my gigs. My standard set up is octave, envelope filter, and overdrive, but I'll often add in chorus, fuzz, sub, and synth pedals. I could probably do most of my gigs with clean bass if I wanted to but bandleaders tend to love it when I bring my effects, and some have even asked for certain sounds. You can get some great multi effects, but I prefer individual pedals because I find them easier to use and I generally prefer how they sound. I've got a nice little pedal collection going on.

Underrated pedal. It was Prince's fuzz of choice for bass, and Larry Graham and Rhonda Smith also used it when they were touring with him. I liked the Daddy O overdrive too, but I lent it out years ago and never got it back. I've still got a Fab Tone though.

Go with whatever tuning you want. As long as you know where the notes are, it doesn't really matter.

Don't get me wrong, I generally favour active preamps, but I don't think Precisions are particularly less defined. To me, it just has a different character. I think there are a bunch of players who have really good, defined tone on a P Bass.

I don't think Precision basses have any issue with definition. Players like Pops Popwell, Ready Freddie, and more recently Michael League and Kevin Scott all play fusion influenced music on a Precision, and they all sound great.

Why? It's as relevant as any other band that gets mentioned on here.

Getting chords to sound clear is as much to do with the players note choices as it is the bass. I think it's the nature of the instrument that close voiced chords down low are generally going to sound muddy. That's why a lot of people will raise the 3rd an octave and play 10ths, or will miss out the 5th when playing 7 chords- it cleans things up and gives a bit more definition to the chords. Close voiced triads generally sound better and clearer when you go in to the upper register of the bass. Of course, power chords (with or without the octave) can sound great in the lower register, but I still think they start to lose definition if your root is down low on the E string.

Whether I take a spare bass or not really depends on the situation. For theatres and arena shows, I'll have a spare: for local pub gigs, I won't. When I was doing cruises, I'd fly out with one bass to play 3-5 sets a night for 3 months. Even if you've got a spare, sometimes you don't have time to swap instruments, and there has been a couple of occasions where I've snapped a string and had to carry on until the end of the set.

Most basses tend to sound muddy if you play closely voiced chords down low. In certain situations I tend to play quite a lot of double stopped 10th and 3 note 7th chords so I just want a bass that has clarity over the entire range with enough sustain to let them ring out. I'd also generally go for something with a good active preamp with a 34-35" scale.

I did have one where the clip broke, but I put that down to being used solidly on gigs for years and general wear and tear. I bought a Hercules to replace it, and the locking yoke broke after a couple of months. I've got 4 Ultimate stands now, and they are pretty much all I've used live for the last 20 years.

For wooden stands, these looks smart but not cheap https://ruach-music.com/product-category/guitar-stands/# Personally, I've used Ultimate Stands for years. I find them to be more solid than Hercules.

I seem to go the opposite way of the Basschat weight trend, and like an instrument that is ideally 9-10lbs. I don't mind a bit either way, as long as they aren't super heavy or light.

I had an Ibanez BTB 6 string but sold it because it felt massive and wasn't as nice as my other 6. I've generally found that the basses that disappoint me the most are in the US Fender/ Stingray area. I always feel underwhelmed when I play new Fenders as they never feel significantly better than my older Japanese models, yet are far more expensive. I love the look and sound of Stingrays, but they just don't feel 'right' for me.

That's exactly who I was going to say. They really know their stuff.

The feel of the neck is one of the most important things, as far as I'm concerned. I'm not particularly fussed with regards to width or shape and I can normally adjust to most necks (as long as it isn't crazy wide), but I am picky about the finish of the neck. That's the main reason I got rid of a Squier Classic Vibe Precision, and a Fender Modern Player Jazz. I really didn't like how the finish felt.

I don't think that's the reason there are nice instruments for sale. I know of a lot of working musicians who have had to sell off some gear because of the lack of work and/or getting screwed over by the SEISS payments. On the opposite side, Fender have just had their best year ever, and a couple of luthiers who I've spoken to said that they have been busier than usual. Gear is obviously selling, but it appears to be mainly working players who are selling through necessity rather than affluent amateurs cutting back.

Not wanting to be too pedantic, but the Blues scale is just a minor pentatonic with an added flat 5, so E G A Bb B D The thing with Bass Guitar is that it's actually transposed an octave below whats written. So on a piano score like this, the pitch of the low F that's 4 ledger lines down would be the 1st fret of the E string, but on a bass guitar part that same note would be written an octave higher as the F just under the stave. If your reading isn't relatively strong and you're still learning, I'd avoid piano scores for a bit and look for actual bass parts for this very reason.