what is your favorite bass player sterotype

[BassXgirl]

Originally Posted by mjolnir

"Yer a big dude, yer quiet, and you smoke like a chimney. Must be a bass player."

and on the opposite end of the spectrum...I get "you can't be a REAL bass player. You're too small AND you're female!"

[MysticMichael]

Floyd...

MM

[randysmojo]

I had a fiddle player tell me tonight " anyone can play bass because it's just so easy." My Wife replied to him "but not to master it." To which he said "oh ya, it's that easy." She just looked at him and said "You haven't heard my husband yet!"

Boy I love her!

The other instance that got me was when I did a show in Austin, TX and the sound guy asked me if the XLR out on my amp was pre or post EQ. I told him it was post EQ and not switchable so he refused to use it and made me run my bass first into his direct box and then to my amp because he wanted total control over the tone out front. Same sound guy saw me bringing in two cabinets, a 1-15 and a 2-10 and said I'd be to loud. I told him I use them both to get a good tone, and can garantee it will not be to loud. He refused to allow me on stage with both cabinets.

Sound guys that figure bass players don't know anything about setting tone and volume I guess is where I was going!

[bigthemat]

just got a nice one from this girl I am trying to hook up with.

No, I don't think you're a psycho.
Bass players aren't psycho.

[bikeplate]

HI

They are hung like horses?

Rob

[Howlin' Hanson]

Originally Posted by bigthemat

just got a nice one from this girl I am trying to hook up with.

No, I don't think you're a psycho.
Bass players aren't psycho.

The girl is wise beyond her years. Dibs for a sig.

[bigthemat]

Originally Posted by Howlin' Hanson

The girl is wise beyond her years. Dibs for a sig.

yeah, she is pretty much amazing. dare i say i can finally call her mine?

[schuyler]

Originally Posted by randysmojo

I had a fiddle player tell me tonight " anyone can play bass because it's just so easy." My Wife replied to him "but not to master it." To which he said "oh ya, it's that easy." She just looked at him and said "You haven't heard my husband yet!"

Boy I love her!

The other instance that got me was when I did a show in Austin, TX and the sound guy asked me if the XLR out on my amp was pre or post EQ. I told him it was post EQ and not switchable so he refused to use it and made me run my bass first into his direct box and then to my amp because he wanted total control over the tone out front. Same sound guy saw me bringing in two cabinets, a 1-15 and a 2-10 and said I'd be to loud. I told him I use them both to get a good tone, and can garantee it will not be to loud. He refused to allow me on stage with both cabinets.

Sound guys that figure bass players don't know anything about setting tone and volume I guess is where I was going!

when i run across a sound guy like that, i explain that if he doesn't want the DI post-EQ, then he can mic my cabinet just like the guitarist.

another thing which helps is having a synth pedal on my pedal board. at sound check i kick it on - and have it set real loud, so the sound guy notices it. then i politely mention to him that i have some effects that have a pretty broad frequency range and that i need him to run my signal the way i give it to him. it's a rare night when i actually use the synth pedal.

[randysmojo]

Originally Posted by schuyler

when i run across a sound guy like that, i explain that if he doesn't want the DI post-EQ, then he can mic my cabinet just like the guitarist.

another thing which helps is having a synth pedal on my pedal board. at sound check i kick it on - and have it set real loud, so the sound guy notices it. then i politely mention to him that i have some effects that have a pretty broad frequency range and that i need him to run my signal the way i give it to him. it's a rare night when i actually use the synth pedal.

That's a great idea with the synth pedal, and I just happen to have an extra spot on my pedal board.....

[casualmadness]

There might bemention in this thread already but I'm not reading through 6 pages to find out...
But there was a skit on "THe Kids in the Hall" a few years backl where Dave Foley did a hilarious stereo-type about bass players. I don't remember all of the particulars but if you can find some old Kids in the Hall clips, it's worth watching.

[EddieN]

To the previous post; here ya are: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jvl8rs95pU

...pretty sure it's been posted here before.

[mjolnir]

Originally Posted by EddieN

To the previous post; here ya are: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jvl8rs95pU

...pretty sure it's been posted here before.

The 80s make me sad...

[billyfalconer]

Originally Posted by randysmojo

The other instance that got me was when I did a show in Austin, TX and the sound guy asked me if the XLR out on my amp was pre or post EQ. I told him it was post EQ and not switchable so he refused to use it and made me run my bass first into his direct box and then to my amp because he wanted total control over the tone out front. Same sound guy saw me bringing in two cabinets, a 1-15 and a 2-10 and said I'd be to loud. I told him I use them both to get a good tone, and can garantee it will not be to loud. He refused to allow me on stage with both cabinets.

Sound guys that figure bass players don't know anything about setting tone and volume I guess is where I was going!

What club was that? I would've packed up and left.

[JKT]

Originally Posted by randysmojo

That's a great idea with the synth pedal, and I just happen to have an extra spot on my pedal board.....

As far as I'm concerned just having a pedal board ends the debate. Why would I have a pedal board and not want the product thereof not going to the FOH? The only point of legitimate debate might be compression.

Any tech not wanting my sound is in for some awkwardness at least. Fortunately I don't get many complaints as the DI in the GK is pretty engineer friendly. I sense noise and signal level issues are their number 1 and 2 complaints.

JKT

[JKT]

Just an afterthought, I don't know how others preface these encounters but since I use good communication skills in my othr jobs and since good communication is getting to be somewhat rare these days, when I get to the gig:

I find the sound guy before I do anything

I stick my hand out, make eye contact and introduce myself

I mention right off the bat that I have a great DI signal all ready for him and he needs just to yell if he needs more or less of it.

I go out of my way to communicate to him that I am all about helping him make his trip happen.

Soundmen, whether good or bad are after the same things we are- success in our jobs and the recognition therein.

JKT

[WJGreer]

Any time the bass player pulls a fretless out of the bag, he's going to be trouble - he'll be laying out Jaco fills, harmonics all over the place, and an obnoxious tone as he walks all over the rest of the band.

[Illbay]

Originally Posted by Tony G

the "failed guitarist" stereotype....

Well, given that "Duck" Dunn famously made the comment that "I couldn't handle the guitar so I tried the bass 'cuz it had fewer strings," we're probably stuck with that one.

[WJGreer]

Originally Posted by randysmojo

The other instance that got me was when I did a show in Austin, TX and the sound guy asked me if the XLR out on my amp was pre or post EQ. I told him it was post EQ and not switchable so he refused to use it and made me run my bass first into his direct box and then to my amp because he wanted total control over the tone out front. Same sound guy saw me bringing in two cabinets, a 1-15 and a 2-10 and said I'd be to loud. I told him I use them both to get a good tone, and can garantee it will not be to loud. He refused to allow me on stage with both cabinets.

It sounds like this guy was a little abrupt. But do realize the soundman perspective:

• The EQ settings you come up with make your rig sound the way you want your bass to sound. The FOH speakers have totally different tonal characteristics than your bass cabinet - especially if you use a cab without a horn or turn your horn way down or off. The soundguy just wants to start with flat so that he can make your bass sound good in HIS speakers, just like you do in yours.
• Unless this guy was also the club owner, I don't get him "refusing" to allow you on stage with your equipment. But again, he is probably making that call from experience, having had myriad players run his FOH over with loud stage volume.

If I find myself in this situation, I try to find some common ground with the soundman. The good news is that you've run across a guy who gives a damn, and not all of them do. I'd tell him that I really appreciate that, and that I want to do my part too to help the band sound good in his system. I might agree to the dry DI out because I understand why he is asking for it. What he doesn't know, though, is how I want the bass to sound in the mix - fast and zingly, big and dubby, vintage, whatever. So I would spend my points establishing that concept with him, and trying to see if, in return for my cooperation with his preferences, he would be willing to help me get "my" tone through the FOH. I see this whole discussion taking two minutes. When done successfully, everybody wins.

The one thing that I have not found a way to work through, though, is when soundguys have a radically different concept of appropriate stage volume than the band is accustomed to. At its worst, you end up with a stage mix that's all drums and whatever the soundman is willing to put through the monitors. It's hard to do a whole night like that.

[aborgman]

Originally Posted by artiej

Preach on my bass brother. Software engineer by day, bassist (and sound guy) by night.

Computer/Electrical engineer...

[Fassa Albrecht]

What happens if you're a drummer bassist?