hi bass newbie

[slayer1968]

hello there,

wanting to start learning the bass. Any tips on equipment choice for home use. A few years ago I started with the electic guitar and bought a 2nd hand Jackson USA soloist a joe satriani JVM and a 1960ADM cab. Stunning sound.

prefer fender superstrat shape, an American deluxe FMT or Custom Shop precision bass or 90's Hamer USA chapparal max bass. Initially I would get a 4x10 and valve preamp/hybrid head then add a 1x15 later.

mint 2nd hand and ex-demo rather then full price new. I rather like the look of the mesa standard powerhouse 410 and 115 with a m-pulse 600. I would jump at a hellborg pre and stereo pwr amp for a grand.

cheers

andy

[baldwinbass]

Welcome Andy

My advice is to try before you buy - and buy what you enjoy listening to.......

[discreet]

[steve-bbb]

[Naetharu]

[quote name='slayer1968' timestamp='1453312098' post='2958371']
hello there,

wanting to start learning the bass. Any tips on equipment choice for home use. A few years ago I started with the electic guitar and bought a 2nd hand Jackson USA soloist a joe satriani JVM and a 1960ADM cab. Stunning sound.

prefer fender superstrat shape, an American deluxe FMT or Custom Shop precision bass or 90's Hamer USA chapparal max bass. Initially I would get a 4x10 and valve preamp/hybrid head then add a 1x15 later.

mint 2nd hand and ex-demo rather then full price new. I rather like the look of the mesa standard powerhouse 410 and 115 with a m-pulse 600. I would jump at a hellborg pre and stereo pwr amp for a grand.

cheers

andy
[/quote]

Hi Andy,

First welcome!

I notice that you say you are after a rig for the purpose of learning bass at home. With this in mind I would focus on getting an amp and cab that sound nice at modest volumes, and that offer the feature-set that you find the most useful.

The Mesa amp you mention is very powerful and is way more than you would ever need to play even medium sized gigs. If you are playing at home and practicing lots it might be good to look for an amp head that offers features such as head-phone sockets and line-in. I find the line-in function especially useful for home use since you can have the whole mix coming from the headphones/amp that way meaning you can jam along using a smart-phone or MP3 player.

Some good examples of amps that offer these kinds of features would be the Ampeg Porta-Flex series, the Gallien Kruger MB-200, the TC-Electronic class-D amps and some of the Mark-Bass amps. There are no doubt quite a few others too though those are the ones that I can think off right away.

As to speaker cabs, it is really a case of trying out some different options to see what you like. They come in all shapes and sizes from small portable 110 units to massive fridge-sized monsters from Ampeg. I play in quite a loud rock/metal band and I find that I can get by using a 112 just fine on stage provided that we have a PA, since the cab is just for my own monitoring anyhow. Try and spend a bit of time in a big store and mess around with a few different options to see just what you like.

When it comes to bass guitars you seem to have a clear idea of what you are after anyhow. Given that you are talking about Custom-Shop stuff from fender I assume that price is not an issue. In which case I would recommend you check out some of the other more specialist bass brands too since they often offer excellent alternatives to the classic Fender stuff. The obvious things to consider would be Sandberg, Dingwall, Mike Lull and so forth. I am sure some other helpful folks on here can offer you a far more comprehensive list than I. But certainly if you are after a Fender shaped bass there are many options beyond Fender themselves that are well worth considering.

All the best

James

Edit: Re-structured to make reply clearer since first one done on my phone

Edited January 31, 2016 by Naetharu

[keefbaker]

If you're playing at home then yeah, get a small one first. Maybe even (and this may be blasphemous to some people) buy the game "Rocksmith 2014", it's immense fun and will keep you playing.

I have to admit that when I practise alone I do it not plugged into anything, at most I might use my bass attack into a computer and then listen on headphones, but the big thing for me is being able to hear the metronome or drum track.

Which leads me to the other thing. If you're on your own, get a metronome or drum machine app for your phone or an actual physical drum machine metronome. These are the best learning tools you can buy.

As to basses. It seems from what I hear the best bang-for-buck basses out there at the moment are the Sire Marcus Miller basses, but you might not like the "Fender Jazz" look.

[Swijn]

[quote name='Naetharu' timestamp='1454248083' post='2967804']
Some good examples of amps that offer these kinds of features would be the Ampeg Porta-Flex series, the Gallien Kruger MB-200, the TC-Electronic class-D amps and some of the Mark-Bass amps. There are no doubt quite a few others too though those are the ones that I can think off right away.

As to speaker cabs, it is really a case of trying out some different options to see what you like. They come in all shapes and sizes from small portable 110 units to massive fridge-sized monsters from Ampeg. I play in quite a loud rock/metal band and I find that I can get by using a 112 just fine on stage provided that we have a PA, since the cab is just for my own monitoring anyhow. Try and spend a bit of time in a big store and mess around with a few different options to see just what you like.
[/quote]

+1 for the Ampeg Portaflex series Amps - these are cracking amps packed with many features. Extremely portable & light great for home practice - I use the PF500 live, which given that i always run through the PA is plenty loud enough for monitoring. I use with either a single or both 4x10 and 1x15 cabs.

For the home i usually twang around on an Ibanez acoustic..