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One caveat about Ampeg. IMHO - Try to avoid one made during the period when Ampeg was owned by Loud Technologies / Loud Audio. That was a dark period in Ampeg's history. Before (SLM ELectronics) or after (Yamaha) are better...

If you don't want to worry about having your bass intonated accurately (or setting the intonation on a fretless bass because of touch sensitivity and muscle memory), play slide bass (a la Mark Sandman) or washtub bass... :)

If that bass unboxed in uncomfortable or unplayable condition, a purchase would be less likely. The stores I worked in were smaller and we were not busy with customers from open to close. UPS deliveries arrived in the morning, shortly after we opened. There were routine chores to be done -...

Intonation should be the final step of a setup. If you try to set intonation before the topnut, frets, and bridge saddles are correct, you're just wasting time. Using an accurate electronic tuner helps finesse the intonation adjustment. When all is done, it should be possible to play chords...

The very first tool one needs is a generous helping of patience. It's free, but too many overlook it.

I hope it works out well for you.

Having worked in several stores over the years, I disagree. Inspecting instruments before putting them on display catches most potential issues and gave us time to correct them before a customer would even see them. The inspection and associated setup was a value add that our customers may not...

I've worked as an electronics tech for over five decades. In recent years something has changed with Duracell batteries such that I no longer use them. I've had instruments come in for repair when the whole problem has been a bad batch of Duracells. At the least, they do not last. At their...

I'm not sure that they don't try - it has been a few years since I stepped into a GC store. (Recent big box purchases have come from Sweetwater.) The last time I was at GC I found an Ibanez 6-string bass that I was interested in, enough to wheel and deal (and play hardball) for it. By the...

Any instrument, not matter the price, will settle and move once it leaves the controlled environment of the factory. Higher priced instruments MAY settle less than lower priced instruments, but they are not immune to environmental changes. I have seen mistakes from everyone from the lowest...

It took me years to be able to play an instrument and appreciate it for what it is, rather than comparing it to other instruments, or measuring it against its price tag. I own several instruments, of various prices - some very inexpensive, some not. If they can deliver something I need AND I...

My thanks to everyone for your replies. I think the answer distills to "Yes." If a baritone guitar is used as a bass, then it is a bass. ;)

Aprod: Alright. To split hairs - If someone hires me to show up with a "traditional" bass (4-string, 5-string, ... [don't jump on me for this generalization]), I will do so. Hopefully there will be some discussion before the session which will help me choose the correct bass for the session...

If I am hired as a bassist, I will show up as a bassist. If whoever is hiring me knows that I have other instruments I can play and hires me to play them, there will be no issues or surprises.

When does an instrument become a bass? Would TB'ers consider a Baritone Guitar as a type of bass? Or would it still be considered a guitar? Some 6-string basses - Fender Bass VI, and various Danelectros, to mention just a few - are tuned a 4th lower than a standard guitar (B), others are...

A brief look at the website reveals that Seymour Duncan posts very little information about the frequency response of their pickups. DiMarzio gives more information on their website. They show relative output levels for Bass, Low-Mids, High-Mids, and Treble. Choose pickups that have the kind...

I have played a lot of basses over the decades and worked on a generous number of Warwick basses. I have worked on many active instruments – Fender, Gibson, Martin, Dean, Music Man, G&L, Spector, Alembic, Ibanez, Warwick, Jackson, ESP, and so on. Warwick basses are well-engineered and...

I’ve had several Musicmaster Basses over the years, and ended up modding them all. The stock pickup, controls, and bridge greatly inhibit what this bass is capable of. I am not sure that you are going to get a P-Bass type of sound just by changing the stock pickup in a Musicmaster Bass. You'll...

When I decided it was time to buy a Rickenbacker, I searched for six years, and then gave up because I could not find one that sounded and played suitably. Fifteen months after I stopped looking, I visited my local music store and found they had just accepted a used 4001. I sat down and played...

Thank you for posting this link.

A friend of mine has a wonderful description of playing bass - he describes it as "Preaching the lower tones." There is a certain joy in providing the low notes that carry everyone along to a shared destination.

Some days my 6-string bass feels like someone fitted bass strings to a carrier flight deck - those are the days I wish I chosen a Chapman Stick instead of an extended range bass. (I'm changing the setup of the 6- to encourage tapping.) I do not think that I'd want to add strings that feel like...

This is where your amp and speakers come into play. If the speakers cannot reproduce the note, then you won't hear it. Some tube amps may have output transformers that roll off the lowest frequencies. Better solid-state amps may be flat down to DC (or close to it) so that subsonic...

I like your idea. Set it up as a contrabass - tuned BEAD, with the lowest B the same as on a 5- or 6-string bass. Adjust the scale length to be a good compromise for the different gauges of strings used so the heavier strings would not be too "flubby," and the thinner strings would not be too...

You are confirming one of my guesses. There would be so much energy in the higher registers that the sound would lose its character as a "bass" - I think it would be too "chimey." At the end of the day, it might be more practical (for recording) to double the bass part with an electric mandola...

Does anyone string and tune their 12-string bass in a Root-Octave-2nd Octave arrangement (with each triplet spanning two octaves)? (Like having a piccolo 8-string bass on top of a standard 4-string bass.) I know about 12-string basses that are tuned Root-Octave-Octave, or Root-5th-Octave, but...

If you play a bunch of different P's, then you'll hear a bunch of different variations from each. Every instrument is individual. Some of the most sage wisdom I ever got came from a player who had been playing for over 40 years at the time I was just starting out. He suggested that I play as...

A stock Musicmaster Bass may lack a bit, so upgrade the bridge and pickups. My first Musicmaster Bass is fitted with a Badass bridge and two DiMarzio Model G pickups. Each pickup has a series-parallel switch. There is a pickup selector and a phase switch as well. (Bridge pickup...

That raises the question of proper setup and maintenance. Intonation should not improve (or worsen) with changes in scale length. :eyebrow: I have long, medium and short scale basses and they all intone correctly - except for occasional problems on the fretless, and that is not the fretless'...

Big differences between "electric" and "acoustic" amps are going to be in the tone controls and speakers. "Electric" amps combine with the instrument to create the player's sound. These amps have tone controls and speakers that are configured to give emphasis to certain frequency ranges that...

It is interesting that no mention has been made previously in this thread of Stanley Clarke's use of short scale basses. His Alembic that is referred to as the "Brown Bass" is a short scale bass. Link Removed

Best - (no 'best' this year) Neutral - Ibanez GSR206Bk 6-string bass. Almost tolerable at first until 1) sharp fret ends were filed, 2) restrung with new strings and 3) disconnected active bass boost control; then quite good. Worst (for me) - Aria TAB-60 bass. (Excellent bass, just not...

I have a sign in the hallway that reads "Love One Woman... Many Basses." My wife smiles whenever she reads it. If I get a new bass then she gets a new hammer dulcimer... :)

Many of the basses I've seen that come factory-equipped with switchable mutes seem to suffer intonation problems when the mute is engaged. Is this true for all such mutes, or are there ways to engage a mute while still keeping accurate intonation? Harder or softer mute material (e.g. Rubber...

If security is ever an issue in your travels, get a case that is plain on the outside - no Fender logo...

Thank you all very much for your help with this. Flatwounds are definitely the way I will go. However, I won't be keeping this bass. My Fender basses all sustain quite well, my Ric is definitely a "famous sustain monster" as GIBrat51 states, and the Alembic sustains even more. The mute...

There should not be any problem if you buy a standard case specified for a Jazz Bass. (The rectangular cases have clearance to fit both 4 and 5 string basses easily. You may want to do a test-fit before you buy if the case is shaped and snug-fitting.) There is often a slight difference in...

Give a listen to Ed Friedland's review of the Eastwood Classic 4 bass. (Note that he has a foam block mute installed during the first part; he removes it later so you will hear a difference.) :bassist:

I tried installing a foam mute under the strings. The bass still sustained too much. :rollno: Time to post it for sale (CL) and move on. I checked out a few hollow bass videos on YouTube - Gretsch Electromatic short-scale, Eastwood, Hofner Ignition and Epiphone Viola - that is the type of...