Advice for Blues trio bass please!

[Dr Improbable]

I recommended an Epi Rumblekat, but after watching the youtube thing I wouldn't suggest spending one dime to play with those guys.

Your stuff is fine.

The guitar player's tone is bad (imo), maybe because of Epi HB's and/or a lame amp.

The drummer lacks pep.

There needs to be an interaction aka locking up between the drums and bass for that type of thing. The way it is now, it comprised of 3 parts boring.

Here's the bassist before the guy who's leaving:


He's been using a rotating cast of drummers and bass players. I think if I can lock it down tight it could work. If not, they're paying gigs...

 

[GlennW]

Here's the bassist before the guy who's leaving:


He's been using a rotating cast of drummers and bass players. I think if I can lock it down tight it could work. If not, they're paying gigs...

I liked that much more than the other (it also has an organ). It has a beat. I like the bassist who's leaving (other vid) better than the guy in this vid, but drums/bass in this one set a pace which is more important.

I still think your equipment is more than good enough, unless you just need an excuse to buy something.

 

[blowinblue]

Lots of good observations in this thread. And some that are not so good. LOL. I especially liked basspipe's comments in post #58.

Even though I've been fronting a Blues band since the fall of 2004 I'm really not sure what the answer is to getting a full sound that fills space. One compliment that my current band gets and the one previous to it always got was, "Man, you guys sound huge for a three-piece." Was it our gear? We've always been privileged to use good gear. The vast majority of my gigs (and what few recordings I'm on) have been done with my Stambaugh ODB 5...sometimes with nickel rounds and sometimes with flats. Or could it be the way we hold our notes? I've often wondered about that. Or is it a 'feel' that transcends instrument and gear? Again, I'm not sure. In any event, our band sounds full for a trio. And I ain't messin' with it.

If there's anything I can definitively contribute to this thread it would be this. You don't have to play the 'usual suspects' bass wise to get a full sound in a trio. Of course, if you've convinced yourself otherwise nothing I say will change your mind.

M. M.

 

[Rob Martinez]

Waterstone TP 8 string or 12 string bass. Problem solved!

 

[bluesblaster]

play in drop tuning of E flat, but you probably knew that little trick already.

 

[gregmon79]

play in drop tuning of E flat, but you probably knew that little trick already.

Yep, that's what I used to play in in my bluescore band, tuned to flats.

 

[Ric5]

Waterstone TP 8 string or 12 string bass. Problem solved!

8 and 12 string basses are not a good fit for blues.

They work better in something like Cheap Trick

 

[AltGrendel]

8 and 12 string basses are not a good fit for blues.

They work better in something like Cheap Trick

Or led Zepplin.

 

[Ric5]

Here's the perfect bass tone for 3 piece blues ...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ai-aLzd5imI

 

[snowtraveler65]

That is the domain of the P bass.

+1 Think Pino Palladino with John Mayer Trio

 

[Dr Improbable]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys! Food for thought, for sure...

Ultimately it's all academic as the BL hasn't contacted me back about starting. I think they found someone closer, but a yes or no would have been great...

 

[msb]

I use an upright for that old school approach . For the later electric Chicago style either a short scale hollow body or a Pbass .

 

[4andnomore]

Oh man just get a P bass already!

 

[wcoffey81]

what about the schecter diamond p that's in the classifieds?

 

[Dr Improbable]

Well, I got the gig. I going to do the gigs the weekend of the 4th with my 5 string. I think I really want to go a "classic" look more than anything else. Right now I'm boosting the bass, cutting the treble and using the front coil of the MM style humbucker in my bass. And yes, I am using this as an excuse to buy another bass! I think my wife realizes that, but humors me anyway...

I need to go under $300, I'm thinking:
Used P or J (MiM)
Gretsch Electromatic

 

[Misty Mountain]

Peavey Fury or Foundation... Well under $300.

 

[bassbenj]

Well, I got the gig. I going to do the gigs the weekend of the 4th with my 5 string. I think I really want to go a "classic" look more than anything else. Right now I'm boosting the bass, cutting the treble and using the front coil of the MM style humbucker in my bass. And yes, I am using this as an excuse to buy another bass! I think my wife realizes that, but humors me anyway...

I need to go under $300,

I own a OLP MM3 but I wouldn't choose it for Blues unless I had to. Classic enough, but too bright and forward.

My main Blues axe is one of my G&L L2500. (fretted, fretless and Trib) Killer basses. (Other blues bands in town use G&L too) .

And there is no look more "classic" than a Fender Headstock. So second choice is my Squier P/J 5er. It's a killer fer sure. AND has a fender-shaped headstock (even if it does say "Squier" on it)

And for Trad blues, I go my Carvin AC50 semi-hollow. It really does it for that close to upright thing.

So in your price range, it looks like something P/J in a Squier (or maybe even a Peavey is within grabbing distance.

Rule: You can never own too many basses.

 

[Dr Improbable]

I own a OLP MM3 but I wouldn't choose it for Blues unless I had to. Classic enough, but too bright and forward.

My main Blues axe is one of my G&L L2500. (fretted, fretless and Trib) Killer basses. (Other blues bands in town use G&L too) .

And there is no look more "classic" than a Fender Headstock. So second choice is my Squier P/J 5er. It's a killer fer sure. AND has a fender-shaped headstock (even if it does say "Squier" on it)

And for Trad blues, I go my Carvin AC50 semi-hollow. It really does it for that close to upright thing.

So in your price range, it looks like something P/J in a Squier (or maybe even a Peavey is within grabbing distance.

Rule: You can never own too many basses.

You can get a used MiM P or J bass at Guitar center online for $250-$300 ish. I'm borrowing my son's bass for next weeks gig, then Friday is payday! (heh heh)

 

[scottbass]

You need to fill up the mids and low mids and of course the bass frequencies. Part of it is EQ and part of it is style.

This is it in a nutshell. IF your technique/style is OK, you can enhance your mids/low mids by getting a bass with great mid/low mid projection - like a P bass. You can't amplify/EQ what's not there. You can also add into the equation effects (I don't) or amps - like Ampeg - that will further bolster the mids. Many amps can be EQ'd to give you what you need - Ampeg seems to deliver it with the EQ knobs at noon. Strings that don't have top-end zing - like nickel RW's and especially flats - will make it easier to find those mids and low mids without having to EQ out as much of the upper frequencies. And of course neither the strings, the bass, the effects (if any), nor the amp will get you where you need to go if your technique tends to quash the mids rather than encouraging them.

It is entirely possible to get great, bluesy mids and low mids without a P bass, without flats, without effects, and without Ampeg if your technique/style is right and if your amp gives you enough EQ in the right places. However many of us have found that each of those items (P bass, flats, Ampeg) help deliver the desired mids with less dialing-in and technique policing.

Me? I play in blues bands using a P bass with 5-year-old TI flats, no effects and an Ampeg EQ'd almost straight-up noon. It works well for me!

Usual disclaimers: IME, IMHO, YMMV, etc.

 

[u84six]

Can't go wrong with a P bass with flat wound strings.