Simon C

This was my weekend “gig”: Church on Easter Sunday. This week was a lot of fun, especially the last 2 songs. So that you don’t have to watch the whole service here are a few extracts that may entertain you: 1h:00min:37-57s is me playing a bass solo (I wasn’t expecting to) 1:04:10 is the worship band leader “enthusing” the congregation for the closing couple of songs (the antics for final song makes more sense if you listen to this). 1:05:10 into the final 2 songs 1:09:25 the final song. The final song antics weren’t rehearsed, but I’m sure I’d have channelled my inner punk rocker more if I’d known. Unfortunately you can’t see much of the congregation but it was like a gig -they were rocking. Comments are welcome - on the playing, stage presence, antics or anything else you’d like to comment on.

I was going start a new chat but then found this one. I thought it might help others if I posted how I’d got my Hypergravity working. I’d bought the pedal after trying it out at Anderton’s with the “ Beauty and the Beast “ toneprint by Rudy Sarzo, which at the time I bought the pedal was the only bass specific one. Once I had the pedal I tried it with the Rudy one and also built one in the Toneprint editor that a bassist was using in their Spectracomp and had posted in Talk Bass. (Incidentally I found the editor ok to use with my rudimentary knowledge of compression). I preferred the Rudy one, so decided to work with it. The 1st step was to set all the knobs centrally. I started with my main bass ( a G&L L2000 Tribute) and style of playing (finger). I found I needed a bit more of the compressed sound so turned the blend knob to about 2pm - that’s the gold sticker in the photo. Then I moved to my other bass: a Sire V7 fretless. The pick ups aren’t as hot as the G&L, so I’m using the level to balance the volume between instruments. The manual (once I found it) explains the interaction between level and blend, so I used that info with my ears to back off on the amount of compressed signal in the output. The white stickers are the result. Then back to the G&L for slap (the red stickers) and pick ( the blue ones). The blue sticker for the blend knob is turned all the way clockwise, so no dry signal when I’m using the pick. These took more time to set up, perhaps because I’m not particularly good at either of them, don’t play them frequently and needed to move more of the knobs. But it was worth it, particularly for pick playing, which now sounds like a bass played with a pick rather than a horrible muddy mush. Unless there is a coloured sticker the knobs are at the 12 o’clock position. So for the G&L finger style all knobs are at 12 o’clock other then the blend. I’m really impressed with the compressor. Hopefully this is helpful to someone.

If you are thinking of using both the jazz and the MM at the same gig through the same rig, you might want to think about how that would work. How would you set the preamp up for both the active MM and passive J? Use the same settings? Bypass the preamp with the MM? Fiddle on the fly? 2 active basses with controls under your finger tips feels like the simpler solution to me.

Well here is mine. Pre birthday it was looking a bit bare without the "Landlord Lock-in Tuner" and "Hypergravity Compressor". Post birthday it looks more like a pedal board (hopefully). The gap between and above the "Bad Monkey" and "Hypergravity" is reserved for (probably) an Octave pedal (one of the more natural sounding ones rather than very synthy ones). The Bad Monkey may get replaced at some point. I'm using the Fender ABY to switch between basses (a G&L L2000 Tribute and a Sire V7 fretless). The power supply underneath the board is an "MXR DC Brick"; it just about fits under the PedalTrain Metro 20 board - it would have been less tight if they'd provided a few 90degree to 90 degree power cables, rather than all 90degree to straight. I hadn't intended the patch cables to give it a slope type aesthetic, but as they do I'll claim the artistic creativity😜. The bass lurking in the background is my G&L L2K (the same one as in my profile pic).

I have used a Chorus pedal with my P Bass in church. It is (for want of a better term) a starter instrument and I wanted something to thicken the sound a bit. I now have a G&L L2000 and a Fretless Sire V7. I don’t use any effects with the G&L, but have started slapping in the occassional drum solo that gets into worship songs (and which really shouldn’t be left to a drummer 😀); so have bought a compressor to do what compressors do (I intend to use it as an “always on” rather than an effect). I may start using an overdrive in some banging choruses (the sung variety). I intend to use the chorus (pedal variety this time) with the fretless. The 1st time I used the fretless I forgot to engage the pedal; the second time I was having pedal board problems so played without any effects. I’m considering getting an octave pedal. Mainly for use with the fretless, but maybe also so that I can play frets 6 and higher most of the time (which I find a little easier on my relatively small hands, and maybe also helps for learning a song then playing in whatever key the singers want to) yet still have plenty of low end.

….then I had a read and YouTube watch / listen of the Rudy Sarzo TonePrint. It seems like he and I have more in common than I thought. We both play a fretted bass with hot pick-ups (a G&L L2000 in my case) and a fretless with less hot pick-ups (a Sire V7 in my case). His tone print is set to work for both of them, with just a tweak to the level (I think) when switching basses. So I went to Anderton’s with both my basses and gave it a whirl. I wasn’t totally convinced by Rudy’s, but the default was pretty good, if a bit bright on the top end on my fretless. But there was enough in the 2 TonePrints to be confident I can get one that works for me. So I’m now the owner of a Hypergravity (or at least will be after my missus has wrapped it up for my birthday😄). I tried the mini one too. But the knob I found myself fiddling with most on the bigger one was the “blend”. I know I can reassign the knobs, but for reasons of OCD I wouldn’t. So the big one it was. In case you are wondering: Anderton’s were ok with me beaming Rudy’s Toneprint to the pedal (good of them), and I did remember to put them back to the default 😀. And in case you are further wondering, neither Anderton’s nor Guitar Guitar in Epsom had a Spectracomp to try. So my birthday has come and gone and I’ve put the Hypergravity on my pedalboard. I loaded Rudy’s TonePrint. Listening in my music room it worked well with both basses. The L2000 sounded a little fuller with the pick-ups in parallel without any knob adjustment ; with them in series it was a bit sizzly (a bit more listening and fiddling required). By fuller I probably mean a little more sustain - which I wouldn’t have thought the L2K needed before using the compressor - and a little rounder. The fretless needed more knob adjustment but the extra sustain really improved the sound (I think I’ve a tendency to “kill” the notes a little early on my fretless). And it was easy to balance the volume between the two basses using the level knob. I’m very impressed with it based on this 1st play.

Thanks itu. That’s helpful.

This can nearly count as a 1 year anniversary for the previous post 😁. I think this is the most relevant thread for this question, apologies if not. Reading what you've written and what I understand from elsewhere, this is my synopsis of the TC Electronic Spectracomp, Hypergravity and Hypergravity Mini. Is it about right? Spectracomp It's aimed at bass players. There are loads of tone-prints available for bass or you can make / edit your own. There is one knob. You can assign whichever parameters you want to it and the knob can handle multiple parameters. Hypergravity It is aimed at guitar players It works well with bass, but there aren't any (maybe 1 or 2) bass toneprints available. So you need to be handy with the editor and have a good understanding of compression if using it for bass. It's got 4 knobs with named functions but you can assign other functions to those knobs Hypergravity mini As the Hypergravity but in small form and it loses the blend knob (it's not clear to me if blend is an adjustable or assignable parameter, so please chime in if you know). The one toneprint I could find on the TC Electronic site was by Rudy Sarzo - but that's not my kind of music (or at least not what I play). The other was in a TalkBass thread that looked like the bassist had put a load of effort in to producing it. https://www.tcelectronic.com/tcelectronic/artists/artist?artistId=rudy-sarzo Thanks in anticipation, Simon

Yes, I thought there probably would be numerous threads. That’s why I offered to put my view on a different one - I guessed the introductions one probably isn’t appropriate.😀

Thanks for replying, sorry I missed it earlier. It’s an interesting point. I have a different view (or whatever the aural equivalent is😁) which separates bass and keys (and pretty much any other pair of instruments) based on what they sound like (timbre I think) rather than frequency. I can expand if you like, either here or somewhere else if you would like to suggest a suitable thread. I’m not sure what “comping chords” are, but in a band situation my keys left hand plays chords (usually orchestral pads), rather than a structured bass line. On bass I try to play structured bass lines.

I recently bought a pair of KZ ZS10 pro IEMs. I went for the gold one both in ear and visible side - a bit of ear bling without needing a piercing 😀. They had their 1st outing on Sunday at Church. I thought they worked really well. They were reasonably comfortable for the duration of the rehearsal and service - I guess I wore them for about 2h over a 2.5h period, but wouldn’t have wanted them in for much longer. A few things I learned that might help fellow newbies: I’d turned the stage bass amp on pre rehearsal to balance the volume levels of my 2 basses (I was using a fretless for 1 of the songs). I forgot to turn it off (or down) once I’d finished. So not a silent stage, but it was funny watching the drummer trying to work out why he was getting too much bass. I think the learning point is to turn down (or off) the bass amp rather than having a laugh at the drummer. In rehearsal I’d run the IEM cable through the bass strap. When I went for the bass change I knocked the IEMs out and it took me most of the song to get them back in. I later noted the guitarist unplugged his IEMs at the extension cable when he took his guitar off. In the service I ran the cable outside the bass strap and unplugged at the extension cable. It wasn’t a slick change, but it was better and I was ready to go at the beginning of the song. The cable that comes with the KZ ZS10s isn’t long enough for on stage monitoring (1.2m I think). I managed to blag a short one from my son’s electric drum kit but was still shy of 2m. I’ve bought an extension (also in gold bling on both the female end and the chord wrap 😊). I think the supplied cable may be long enough if you are using a headphone amp on your waist - I wasn’t (see below) and I’m medium height (1.74m). I was trapped with the short chord both during songs and when not playing - the singer was very gracious about me barking requests at her “can you get my water please?”, “can you get the sound guys to give me a mic so I can talk to the drummer and leader?” We each have individual mixers: Allen & Heath ME-1, so I didn’t need a headphone amp. It also meant I could pan the instruments and singers to where they were left and right of me - that worked well. I didn’t get any ambient , so the atmosphere felt a bit dead - I only found out where the ambient was on the mixer at the end of the service, so something to have a play with next time. Hopefully this is helpful to someone.

5 mins or 20mins are both fine dependent on what you have to say and demo on the topic. Humour is good. I think if you’ve something interesting to say, keep it in the 5-20 min range, entertain (a bit) and have prepared well for the session, you’ll have a decent chance of views and likes.

Some of the answers made me smile. I'd only ever played rounds. Then my Jazz fretless arrived with flats on it. They are really smooth to play and the fretless sounds good. I like them and they'll be staying on the bass. Will I be putting them on my fretted G&L L2000? No , It's such a versatile bass and with rounds sounds great. So for me it's horses for courses.

Hi everyone, I've been reading your chat for a while and occasionally contributing, so I figured it was time I said hi. I still think of myself as a pianist / keyboard player that can fill in on bass. But I'm playing bass more and more in church and piano / keys hardly at all. My bass gear (all 4 strings): A G&L L2000 Tribute in 3-tone sunburst -purchased earlier this year after spending too many birthdays and Christmases acquiring ski and cycling gear A Sire V7 fretless in antique white that I've only had for a week or so, but it has already had a couple of outings. One of its outings was at work who kindly purchased it for me as 25 year anniversary present An Encore P-Bass that I played for 8-10 years or so before this year's gear acquistion I play them through my Carlsbro Colt keyboard amp at home and through a Gallien Krueger 210 in church Piano gear A Kemble upright A Roland XP-30 synth And the Carlsbro amp mentioned above I'm looking forward to being a bit more active on the site

Hi Owen, I've been a Sire Fretless player for a week and a day (at the time of writing). Mine is a 4 string V7 Alder in the Antique White. It looks very cool with the coated ebony fingerboard, red pickguard (and, if you choose to wear them, a black shirt, red tie, white trousers and maybe some black and white ska braces). The neck is very quick to get round (though calling me quick in any situation would probably be stretching reality a bit), but I suspect this is more to do with the satin jazz neck and flatwound strings than the coated fingerboard. The rolled edges probably make it a bit more comfortable when moving quickly. After reading your post I played it to see if I was actually touching the fingerboard. I think my little finger did occasionally, but I think most of the time fingers are on strings or hovering just above them rather than in contact with the fingerboard. (Edit a couple of days later: no finger contact with the fingerboard on the E string, hardly any on the A, a bit on the D and in contact on the G between the intonating finger and the fingerboard edge). So I think the coating is more to do with aesthetics and giving the wood some protection from contact with strings. The only other fretless I played was an Ibanez in the £350 - £400 range, with (I think) an uncoated fingerboard; it had a narrow width neck and maybe a slimmer profile than the Sire (note "maybe"). It was nice to play though and put a smile on my face. Bearing in mind that it was 6 weeks or so ago that I played it, my impression is that the Sire is quicker. I suspect what I really mean is that the Sire has less friction due to the flatwounds (thus giving the impression of being quick) vs the Ibanez which had roundwounds (and thus probably more friction). Bottom line: the Sire is really nice to play. The coated fingerboard looks really cool, but I suspect the neck and flatwound strings have more influence on how it feels to play. I hope this helps. Cheers, Simon

I bought a L2000 Tribute 6 months or so ago. Due to a screw up with email addresses I can't review it on Andertons web site. So I'll do one here. I agree with all the positive statements above. I've played a number of instruments (Pianos, keyboards, 6 string guitars as well as basses - it's fair to say that piano is still my main instrument). The L2K is my favourite amongst all those I've played on a regular basis. The knobs and switches are easy to get your head round. You can get plenty of really good usable sounds out of the instrument. My live here position is: both pick ups, series, active, bass at about 80pct and treble at about 60pct. I solo the front or back pick ups on some songs. I really like the bridge pick up - tight and burpy - but most of the stuff I play sounds better in my "live here" position. I can get close to an upright acoustic sound (neck pick up, parallel, passive, bass at about 80pct, treble rolled right off). The neck is really nice to play. I had to adjust pick-up balance (lowered the neck pick-up a bit) and raise the pole pieces under the A string on the bridge pup about 3/4 of a turn. But it was easy to do and I haven't had to make any further adjustments. The 3 tone sunburst with Brazillian Cherry fingerboard looks really cool (photo attached and also in my profile pic). The orange one with the maple fingerboard looks cool too, but I couldn't see my self on-stage with it - but that's me, I'm sure others will look great with it round their necks. Mine's a tad on the heavy side (4.9kg I seem to recall), but it is so well balanced that I haven't found it a problem. To give you some idea: I'll have it round my neck for about an hour and 40 mins in 2.5 hours (start of church service practice to end of service) and haven't found it uncomfortable.

Hi, I guess from what you've said you do gig this bass. Do you have any photos or video of you on stage? I'm thinking of either the V7 fretless in sparkly blue or in Antique white (the one with the reddish coloured pick guard) - both with the ebony fingerboard. I saw a V7 earlier this year in the sparkly blue and thought it looked really cool in the Andertons demo room, but am not sure about the stage look. White doesn't look great in shops (IMO) but I saw a couple of people playing white basses live a month or so ago and thought they looked really good on stage. If you'd rather not post any photos or videos that's fine, I just thought I would ask.