Frank Blank

Everyone brings their own amplification, I suppose it depends how much room there is!

Indeed so, I’m a great admirer of his playing.

Excellent, he’s superb.

The very acme of good bass playing for me, simple and song-serving, a far more important skill than virtuosity, for me.

I concur, a Jazz. This reminds me of the great bass tone on early Public Image Ltd recordings, especially Metal Box, Jah Wobble with the Ovation Magnum Bass. Allegedly he played through an Ampeg rig that faced the wall of the studio and had a microphone behind. I wish I knew which basses and rigs were used by Floyd Lawson and Vivian Weathers on Linton Kwesi Johnson’s second and third albums Forces of Victory and Bass Culture, my very favourite bass on any reggae album. I’m putting the Samsara video up (again) but only because I’m not sure what bass he’s playing..?

Excellent!

QSC K12.2 and a Fishman Platinum Pro preamp.

Just try my 12.2, you'll buy one the next day.

*waves*

I’m in Southend but I can come to you, I’m never comfortable in a shop to really put a piece of kit through it’s paces, if you’d feel more comfortable at your gaff then it’s no problem, I’d be very happy to help out.

Why not bring your bass over and try it through my QSC K12.2? The only real way to settle this is to try one, surely?

Luckily for me my basses are used in a form of music that’s crying out for the tone of the bass alone, I sometimes think I’d like to try out a Helix just for a gas but I’m actually rather glad I don’t have to use effects in my band. Also I wonder if the reason I struggled for years to get the tone I wanted was simply because I had never heard my basses uncoloured so I had no real fundamental ‘starting’ tone from which to build. If you have never heard your bass amplified without ‘colour’ how can you really effectively alter the tone? I am attracted to the amp and cab sims, like I say, just for the fun of it really but yes, bass -> (colourless FRFR) gives me the pure tone of the instrument, I add a touch of mid, a touch of bass and a little compression on the preamp and I am totally happy. I have played both basses straight into the QSC without the preamp and it still sounds better to me than any dedicated bass amp I’ve ever heard and I’d be perfectly happy to gig plugged directly into the QSC and DI from it directly into the desk.

This is exactly why I use an FRFR setup, it is the tone of the instrument that I want as simply and colourlessly amplified as possible. I play a Rob Allen Mouse with LaBella flats and a Godin A4, both of which have very distinctive acoustic tones that I want to reproduce with as little ‘interference’ (apologies for my lack of tech terms) as possible.

I kind of think of my FRFR set up as ‘separates’ in a sense, the QSC K12.2 as an FRFR ‘cab’ and the preamp as the eq section of a ‘head’. In over thirty years of playing I never found a combo or seperates on which I could dial a tone I really liked, it is entirely possible this is down to my lack of technical knowledge but still, within half an hour of getting the QSC and Fishman preamp set up I had a tone I was completely happy with. It’s so versatile, I can use it as backline or as a monitor live, in fact I haven’t yet found a situation where it was problematic from playing with a noisy five-piece punk band through to my usual acoustic duo. In the end, as with anything, it’s just personal preference. I was always seeking to get the least ‘interfered with’ sound as possible from any amplification, I want the particular sound of the basses I’ve chosen just louder and my FRFR setup gives me that. An FRFR setup is not for everyone and endless technical discussions, as interesting and informative as they are, aren’t (imho) the final reason we settle on an amplification set up, it’s a set of far less tangible factors alongside practical considerations. For me FRFR is flexible and uncoloured and that’s why I like it. As much as I bang on about it I realise it isn’t for everyone, it’s just an option in the raft of possible options that I’m not sure everyone considers.

Mark Sandman from the excellent band Morphine usually played a one or two stringed bass with a slide...

Heft is a subjective term, not something inherent in the equipment (fnar) otherwise there would be a heft pot on amps. Until someone comes up with a definitive answer backed up with physics it's subjective, like me saying my amp has floral notes and fruity undertones, this may be the case for me but be experienced totally differently by someone else.

This is a great opportunity to go for an FRFR setup and join the Rock n Roll killers.

He sure will, as long as it’s dark/black. This is v exciting!

Ooooffftt...

Such awful news, RIP. Obviously...

Bring it...

Same for me Public Image by PiL