Frank Blank

All opinions clearly welcome I see...

I am of the opinion (many may disagree) that the fretless tone (certainly the tone I was after) comes from the instrument, the amplification messes with that tone. Unlike most other folk I buy my basses based on their tone unplugged, even electric basses (I mostly play acoustic/piezo basses), and I was always dissatisfied with their amplified sound because I just wanted the tone of the unplugged instrument but louder. That’s why after the best part of forty years being dissatisfied with amps it took me all of two minutes to decide on a powered speaker. I plugged my RA Mouse into the QSC, played about five notes and got my wallet out, it was exactly what I’d been after for years. It kind of unlocks the genuine sound of the instrument. I found myself always battling the controls of a trad amp to find a tone that was essentially unavailable due to the colouring inherent in the amplifier. I think people struggle to find a tone they like because they have no idea of what the instrument sounds like either un-amplified or amplified without colour (i.e FRFR) so they are seeking an theoretical artificial sound without knowing how the bass sounds fundamentally. All the eq on a bass amp set to the mid-point isn’t the tone from which to build a sound because it’s already coloured so you are probably already working with a disparity between the tone of the instrument and the colour of the amp.

Welcome @Foureyes

A good question, in most interviews, and indeed his book, he just says he used ‘whatever amps were around’. He played Travis Bean and Kramer basses prior to his WAL phase.

Welcome @Bjam

No worries.

Well if you don’t get a chance to try one out before things improve let me know and you are welcome to try mine out. I’m taking it you have taken a look at this thread...

Don’t buy a trad amp/cab until you have tried an FRFR setup. I play a Rob Allen fretless, my first serious foray into fretless, a part of that decision was seeing that video of Nardis, another part was my forty year long love of Mick Karn! I used to play through an AER amp but nothing (imho) compares to a decent FRFR setup. I go through a HX Stomp into a QSC K12.2 and it’s superb but in all honesty it sounds delicious going straight into the QSC.

I love it, never going back to a trad rig. Quieter gigs it can be used as a monitor or backline but louder gigs it’s fine as a monitor, you don’t need anything else imho.

Excellent, looks very, very similar to mine. (QSC K12.2 / HX Stomp).

Go FRFR and never look at another amp or cab again!

Welcome @BassAdder27

Me too now, your fault...

Exactly this. I ordered a case from Rob Allen in California which zoomed efficiently across the world only to be mislaid in my local post office. I had to direct the staff from behind the counter to actually move something before they found it, utterly hopeless.

Indeed so, your moniker should be PunkPonyPrincessofProfessionalPacking Anyway, good luck with recovering the bass!

Welcome @Han

I use Logic Pro X along with two Scarlett interfaces, the Scarlett Solo and the Scarlett 18i20 (2nd gen), both into a MacBook Pro. I had a similar enquiry a while back and got some excellent advice especially from @Sibob.

That’s bad design initially and if they decided to stick with that bad design then at least round off the sharp edges, poor show top to bottom, that injury could have cost you your playing career. Bad form.

Thanks Stuart Maconie in your Freak Zone...

Just watched Lovers Rock the first episode of Steve McQueen’s new series Small Axe. Wasn’t expecting much but I just thoroughly enjoyed it, not so much narrative but more a tone poem really.

Welcome @lowrentdiscographer