I need help with my live rig!!

El Beardo · #1 05-23-2009, 03:48 PM

So I'm in a coverband that's almost ready to start playing out and I have a problem. I'm going to be using 3 basses with this band since I have no 5 string and some songs are tuned flat and some IMO call for a old fretless kinda tone and the third bass is a fretted tuned standard. So I'm using a bass with an active P/J pickup set up...these pickups to be exact

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support..._have_the_old/

The other is a Fender P fretless(passive) and a '74 Ric 4001(passive) and I use a Fender Bassman 400 w/ a 1X15" cab.

My problem is I obviously don't have time to mess with my amp EQ in between songs and going back and forth between a passive and active bass(much, much hotter) gets one bass sounding good with the other two sounding terrible. So I was wondering if anyone else has dealt with a similar problem and of course, what you did to get past it. I was thinking about getting one of these so I could have a different EQ setting for each bass.

http://www.tech21nyc.com/products/sa...ssdriverp.html

but I'm open to your suggestions. Thanks in advance for any help, it's appreciated.

Nick Kay · #2 05-23-2009, 06:29 PM

Tune all of the basses as low as they'll need to go, capo up if you need open strings in a higher tuning. Pick one bass as main and one as backup each night, and switch only when there's something going wrong with the main.

A friendly little reminder: 99.9% of the audience won't be able to tell the difference between fretted and fretless. They're there to dance and drink, not to fawn over your basses or watch you switch them out every other song.

Of course, your other option is to use one bass for each set, and use your set breaks to change settings for the next bass. But, personally, set breaks are better spent on having a smoke and taking a piss.

Zooberwerx · #3 05-23-2009, 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick Kay

....use your set breaks to change settings for the next bass. But, personally, set breaks are better spent on having a smoke and taking a piss.

I've found a way to do all three at the same time...but that's another thread.

If you absolutely must change basses during a set, be quick about it. A programmable BDDI will work nicely for the stated application.

Riis

**jmattbassplaya** · #4 05-23-2009, 07:00 PM

+1 on the capo

Most guys who gig regularly will tell you that less is more and that bringing more than two basses is a real waste of space, energy, and time. Tune down your two basses and capo them as needed. Set your rig to how you mainly want to sound throughout the night(which will depend on the venue) and then use your hands and bass`s eq to fine-tune your tone for whatever the song calls upon. Also work with your bandmates so that you play certain songs in order so that you don`t have to switch between basses after every song.

JimmyM · #5 05-23-2009, 11:57 PM

A capo will work, but so will that PBDDI. Actually, any multi-effect unit will do it...just program the sounds you want for each bass in it. A Radial Bassbone is a two-bass unit that's a little more user friendly than programming stuff, so maybe if you have two basses that can use the same EQ, it would work for you, too.

**jmattbassplaya** · #6 05-24-2009, 03:23 AM

A multi-effect unit could work, but I`d er to the side of caution with those. I got the BOSS GT-6B a while back and it was fun for a few months until it became a huge choir trying to program. Switching from patches would often cause huge leaps in volume and if I wasn`t careful I`d get huge amounts of feedback when passing certain pre-sets(not good for a live setting).

Unless you`re a bit of a tech junky or don`t mind spending quite a good deal of time working on it, it really becomes much more of a pain than anything else.

tom once dead · #7 05-24-2009, 04:41 AM

I honestly would get one tone and keep it all night. Maybe have two basses for different tunings

gregoire1 · #8 05-24-2009, 07:34 AM

our guitar player wanted to swap out guitars during out last gig. We arainged the setlist so all the songs using the "backup" guitar were blocked together, and the singer filled the time with audience interaction.

Still, no one, could tell the difference, and the break kinda messed up the flow of the show. Unless you have your own bass tech and dedicated sound guy, I think its a bad idea.

ubado · #9 05-24-2009, 08:41 AM

IMO ... swapping out (3) basses will get old real quick. Plus the amount of space taken up by them, one day will just not work (you'll be surprised on how small of spaces you have to pack yourself into for some gigs).

A Capo is a good idea ... and will work nicely. Personally I find them a bit distracting when playing, and they limit your number of frets (the amount depends on your tuning needs ... of course), so if you're a player that likes to use the entire neck ... it may get in the way during the songs that don't call for special tuning ... especially if you need to downtune for just a few songs.

A Radial Bassbone is a pretty solid, easy to use unit, and will work nicely with (2) basses.

IF it was my call ... bring two basses .... Capo the PJ and slap some chromes on the fretless; using the fretless as much as possible. When comming up with set-lists ... work the bass switches around breaks, as much as possible.

Another route ... look into purchasing a versatile 5'ver

... it will automatically eliminate the need for the capo ... and will give you a nice excuse to get another bass.

ga_edwards · #10 05-24-2009, 12:37 PM

You say you have one bass in standard tuning and one tuned flat? Do you mean half a step down to be like the original recording?

If that's that case I would abort the flat tuning and play them in concert pitch. yes it's a little harder work for the vocalist, but otherwise, no one will notice. The other option is to play everything half a step down if it's too hard for the vocalist.

If on the other hand you mean drop D tuning I would advise investing in a Hipshot D-tuner. Since putting one on my main 4 string, my 5 string all but lives in it's case unless I really need it for something that requires something the 4 just can't do.

I personally always take 2 basses to a gig, one is my spare. I normally play the whole gig on one bass, any tonal adjustment to get say 'modern' or 'vintage' tones are done on my fx unit which is a lot faster than switching basses. Yes they may not be spot on, but whose going to really notice? My spare is a lightweight yamaha RBX4-A2. I'll only use it if a) there's something wrong with my main bass; or b) if the main bass gets too heavy after playing for 2 hours.

As someone else has touched upon, if the fretless tone isn't a signature part of the tune, you could probably leave it at home. You can always fake the general fretless tone with your playing style, eq and a couple of fx.

El Beardo · #11 05-24-2009, 01:13 PM

First off thanks for tips, Good stuff. I really don't want to lug three basses around with me but I couldn't think of a way to bring less, that's where you guys come in

+1 for the capo idea, that's something I never thought of. Getting the rig down to two basses and planning the set list around bass swapping is a good idea too, and believe me I'd rather not play songs as recorded a 1/2 step down but that's so the vocalist can sing them well so there's not much I can do about that.

I've never been a fan of multi effect pedals so I'm probably not going to go that route. I don't like having the multi effect over processed sound too much.

Thanks again guys, I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet but you guys gave me a direction and some things to try so at least I'm not feeling so overwhelmed anymore. Cheers!

wysiwyg248 · #12 05-24-2009, 04:49 PM

El Beardo,
Have you ever heard of William of Oakham? He pretty much defined the KISS principle many centuries ago.
As someone posted, the audience are there to enjoy the music and dance. They don't care about how many basses you bring and if one is a fretless and they will probably get more upset if your band finish a good song and they need to stop so you can switch basses. Just use one bass, the capo and Keep It Simple.

JimmyM · #13 05-24-2009, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wysiwyg248

El Beardo,
Have you ever heard of William of Oakham? He pretty much defined the KISS principle many centuries ago.
As someone posted, the audience are there to enjoy the music and dance. They don't care about how many basses you bring and if one is a fretless and they will probably get more upset if your band finish a good song and they need to stop so you can switch basses. Just use one bass, the capo and Keep It Simple.

I don't know if I agree with that. I agree with it personally, but if the guy thinks he needs 3 basses, that's his decision. I do, however, think that if you're going to switch basses that you need to figure out a way to do it in 10 seconds or less. I've seen dudes make switches and the time in between them is interminable. I used to have my switches down to 5 seconds, and I can still switch between my electric and upright in 5 seconds.

Gearhead17 · #14 05-31-2009, 10:31 PM

http://www.tonebone.com/tb-bassbone.htm

That little gizmo won't mess around with your instrument's inherent tone and will allow you to balance out the signals of each bass (active signals versus passives ones). I use to have a huge signal gap between two basses, so to alleviate the problem: I bought the pre-amp I liked in one bass and installed it in the other. Then I installed the same pickups from my favorite bass into the other bass. Guess what? Same signal levels and both instruments still sound like they always do. BUT, they both sound just AS GOOD - I EQ the amp head to sound good with both of the basses and just let each of the basses do the tone changes along with my playing style. NO Crazy boosting or anything, just letting the instrument speak as it is through the rig.

+10 on grouping tunings together live so you minimize your instrument switching. That way, everyone switches at once and you don't delay the show for yourself.