Urban Gospel Bassists, What's Your Set Up?

capnsandwich · #1 09-04-2008, 04:40 PM

I searched and searched for a thread such as this but to no avail, so here's one.

How many people listen to urban gospel? I'm sure there a few of you out there. You probably listen to it for the bass, at least I do. Some of the best modern bass tones are found in modern urban gospel music.

How many of you play it? If you do then how do you get that tone? What's your bass? What's your rig? Do you use a rack compressor or rely on the house?

I use my Valenti J5 with EMG 40J's and an 18 volt Aguilar OBP-3. I also use Sadowsky stainless steel blue label strings. I run that through a GK 700 rbII with an Alesis 3630 compressor and a BBE Sonic Maximizer going through the effects loop. Then I run that into an Avatar B212 and an SWR 210. I must say I get an amazing modern punchy tone from that set up.

The bass

The rig

Dave Muscato · #2 09-04-2008, 04:47 PM

- MTD Artist 5-string or
- Line6 Variax on the MTD 535, Modulus Flea, Alembic, or Steinberger settings

-->

Line6 Bass POD xt Live or
Markbass LMII

-->

Crown K2 (if using the Line6)

-->

Schroeder 1210L or 21012L

PilbaraBass · #3 09-04-2008, 04:52 PM

My setup is simple and effective:

Bass ==> Zoom B2.1u (DI Out) ==> F.O.H.
Zoom B.2.1u(Line Out) ===> Laney HCM65 (used as Foldback amp)

Basses: Squier Deluxe Jazz Active V (95% of the time)
Carvin AC40 (5% of the time)

However, Sunday night, I'm going to pull out the P-bass...

about 5-10 of the stuff we do is "Gospel" the rest is modern P&W stuff like Hillsong, Planet Shakers, etc...

Dave Muscato · #4 09-04-2008, 05:03 PM

The church where I play most often is a decent size (~1000-1200) so my stage rig is really for me. The Line6 goes to the house and that's what everyone else hears. Lately we've been using in-ears so I only bring the Line6.

What I like about using the Line6 Variax is that I can go from a punchy MTD tone, for the big parts, to a vintage P with flats for the quiet parts, at the turn of a knob. Although the Variax sounds incredible (literally - I've had engineers tell me they simply could not believe this was a Line6 and not the real deal), it plays like a $500 bass with $750 of electronics.

I paid $1250 for each of mine (I have two) but would have gladly paid $2k/ea for a $1250 bass with $750 of electronics, instead.

I do a lot with my volume & tone knobs while I'm performing (swells, attenuation between various parts of the songs, rolling off the highs or volume to kill the attack, gradually rolling up the bass boost as a "compressor" to increase the sustain of those breves, etc), and I hate that the pots on the Variax, especially the volume knobs (on both basses), have a lot of "slack" in them. Few things ruin an otherwise great bass for me besides cheap-feeling knobs. But, tonally, the Variaxes kick butt for... well, any kind of music, LOL.

mr sprocket · #5 09-04-2008, 05:06 PM

PilbaraBass I also run a Zoom B2.1u direct. Sometimes I will run an out to my Asdown C210. Bass of choice lately is an Ibanez SRX705.

We do more modern PW songs as well but venture into Gospel when the right mix of musicians is there.

capnsandwich · #6 09-04-2008, 05:13 PM

The church Igo to doesn't put me through the mix or the monitors so I have to rely on my rig to be heard by the congregation and the othe musicians. I wish we had a big enough board to put me in too but not yet.

RickenBoogie · #7 09-04-2008, 05:27 PM

That's a very nice looking bass.

capnsandwich · #8 09-04-2008, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RickenBoogie

That's a very nice looking bass.

Why thank you very much kind sir.

kirkm24 · #9 09-04-2008, 06:23 PM

I play at a church of approx. 8,000 members (3,500 per service) 3 services a weekend. We do a mix of gospel (Israel Houghton) and modern P&W (Hillsong, Matt Redman, Paul Baloche, etc.). We have a nice house mix and monitoring system. I use in-ears (M-Audio IE-30's) and I have an SVT 810 with an SVT 4 Pro head behind me. We are getting Avioms (they'll probably have them this weekend) to manage our own mixes. I play my Fender Marcus Miller Jazz which runs direct (the DI is before the stage rig) into the house. I use DR Fat Beams on the Jazz Bass. It sounds nice and full, round and punchy with some hi-end sizzle when called upon. It's a nice sounding bass for running direct. The overall setup is really nice but for all the money my church invests in sound gear, I can't believe I'm still plugging into a Whirlwind IMP2 DI every week. I guess for live sound, the DI isn't that big of a deal.

kirkm24 · #10 09-04-2008, 06:26 PM

Capnsandwich, when did you get that SWR 2x10 cab? I sold one just like that about 2 years ago to a local guy who was using it for a church. I'm just wondering if that's my old cab and if we have met before.

bottomzone · #11 09-04-2008, 06:28 PM

Ken Smith Black Tiger 5
Peavey Cirrus Bubinga/Walnut 5
Euphonic Audio iAMP Micro 300
Schroeder Mini 10+L/SWR Workingman's 10

A Groove is a Terrible Thing to Waste!

capnsandwich · #12 09-04-2008, 06:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kirkm24

Capnsandwich, when did you get that SWR 2x10 cab? I sold one just like that about 2 years ago to a local guy who was using it for a church. I'm just wondering if that's my old cab and if we have met before.

I got it in an ebay auction from a shop in Missouri that rents out to schools. It's a great little cab and it punches through walls. When I slap it puts out some sweet highs and thumps hard, especially matched with the Avatar.

capnsandwich · #13 09-04-2008, 06:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bottomzone

Ken Smith Black Tiger 5
Peavey Cirrus Bubinga/Walnut 5
Euphonic Audio iAMP Micro 300
Schroeder Mini 10+L/SWR Workingman's 10

A Groove is a Terrible Thing to Waste!

Looks like you're sounding pretty good.

bottomzone · #14 09-04-2008, 06:45 PM

Yes, I must say that I do. God has blessed me with basses and amps that I never thought that I would have!!! Awesome weapons of praise for HIM!!!

A Groove is a Terrible Thing to Waste!

PilbaraBass · #15 09-04-2008, 07:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by capnsandwich

The church Igo to doesn't put me through the mix or the monitors so I have to rely on my rig to be heard by the congregation and the othe musicians. I wish we had a big enough board to put me in too but not yet.

our board is big enough...our room isn't...

actually, our room is so acoustically live that if I turn my little 65W foldback rig much past 4, the soundman complains that he can't control the bass in the mix.

The thing our space is really missing is a decent sub-channel...8 suspended speakers makes the deep bass go bye-bye...

MoSlevin · #16 09-04-2008, 07:10 PM

My P&W setup:

Gibson Thunderbird (50%) or Squier Deluxe Active Jazz V (50%) => Behringer 7 Band EQ => Boss Limit/Expander (limiter rolled off) => TU2 => Radial Pro48 => Compressor at the board.

I also used to play through an old 70s Peavey just for stage monitoring, but now that we have Aviom mixers, I don't bother. Although I do sometimes use the Peavey head to drive a set of Aura-Interactive shakers on a platform to give me the vibrations to give a bit more natural playing sensation when going through the house.

We play a lot of the standard P&W stuff, but break out with the Gospel when we have a moderately funky drummer.

Ahh, it's good stuff, and I miss it... Either way, I don't know what I'd do if I wasn't able to be a part of the worship/music thing.

dogbluedrummer · #17 09-04-2008, 08:13 PM

Well, I just got the nod to join our P&W band. I have been a backup drummer and lead sound tech for a few years. Our lead guitarist left to help another church, so our bassist is moving to lead guitar. That leaves a void for me to fill!

Now, I've only been playing the bass for 3 weeks. But, I'm pretty good at banging out root notes. Making progress!

I'll be bringing my DR Low Riders.......and a Rogue LX200B.

I'll be using the old bassist's Peavey 115 combo amp. This is mainly a stage monitor, as we run the signal through the Allen & Heath 32 channel mixing board and Renkus-Heinz house speakers.

Christmas list has only one thing on it.....a Squire VM. I'll add a Fender Bassman 150 or 250 in the spring.

Our service is in the fellowship hall (gym) with about 75 members. We did manage to add a bunch of sound insulation to the walls, so the acoustics are pretty good.

hands5 · #18 09-04-2008, 08:30 PM

I play at a church that is still somewhat in it's infancy ( 4 yrs ),however things are coming along well,especially the music ministry because not only did we get more people to join our P&W ensemble but we've also been blessed to have real good equipment. I'm using my Marcus Miller V thru the Church's Rig which is an Eden 800 World Tour and my Goliath III 4x10 ( which is a little too scoop sounding for my own personal taste....but that' ok ) and I'm also using the Seymour Duncan Paranormal outboard preamp,because the preamp the MM5 is not voiced the way I would like and I'm also using a StingRay V ( again ) which is perfect for Urban-type gospel

Dave Muscato · #19 09-04-2008, 09:17 PM

Are we all still talking about urban gospel?

edit: This is the sound I think of when I think "urban gospel" - http://www.mtdbass.com/ (listen to the music that plays automatically)

bassistloaded21 · #20 09-04-2008, 09:31 PM

yea alot of these rigs and setups dont sound liek urban gospel rigs at all, maybe we should mention some names that are considered urban gospel? Fred Hammond, Tye Tribett, Marvin Sapp, Byron Cage, those are urban gospel names