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Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

#25,461
ugly_bassplayer said:
@Bob_Ross
I was browsing Dingwall Super P models yesterday.

Enabler
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Sorry, it won't work: I somehow never got the gene that causes bass players to believe there is anything desireable about the P Bass paradigm.
Not for lack of trying: I've owned three different P Basses over the ~50 years I've been a bass player, and I've played a crap-ton more, and I just don't get the attraction. There's something about that throaty formant that results from a single pickup in the P location that just irritates my ear.

I'll bet that Super P is a killer bass...just, not for me. Gimme a Z3! or a Prima Artist, I'm not too particular :)
 
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#25,462
Bob_Ross said:
Sorry, it won't work: I somehow never got the gene that causes bass players to believe there is anything desireable about the P Bass paradigm.
Not for lack of trying: I've owned three different P Basses over the ~50 years I've been a bass player, and I've played a crap-ton more, and I just don't get the attraction. There's something about that throaty formant that results from a single pickup in the P location that just irritates my ear.

I'll bet that Super P is a killer bass...just, not for me. Gimme a Z3! or a Prima Artist, I'm not too particular :)
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I know your disdain for the P, but on my end Ive been a J player for the first part of my playing years and now about 98% P for the past 10 years.
Hey in my my book, use whatever works for you.
Im just a boring passive P or sometimes J guy.
 
#25,466
I once got kicked out of a store for playing one of their basses for too long--the passive 3 pickup 37" one. They've very well made, have their own sound, and anyone who's skeptical of the fanned fret thing needs to play a G or A on the low B string of one of their instruments. It's a whole other world from even 35" scale.

I've got a gentle fan on my headless (I blame @steubig) Keith touch guitar (34.5" to 33") and it's great!

Prices have skyrocketed though.

The Super P and J are 35" scale, so then it's more about the sound and feel of the bass. Not a huge difference in B string from my 35" Lull.
 
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#25,467
JES said:
I once got kicked out of a store for playing one of their basses for too long--the passive 3 pickup 37" one. They've very well made, have their own sound, and anyone who's skeptical of the fanned fret thing needs to play a G or A on the low B string of one of their instruments. It's a whole other world from even 35" scale.

I've got a gentle fan on my headless (I blame @steubig) Keith touch guitar (34.5" to 33") and it's great!

Prices have skyrocketed though.

The Super P and J are 35" scale, so then it's more about the sound and feel of the bass. Not a huge difference in B string from my 35" Lull.
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why? i don’t do fan. ;)

the headless thing, yeah, i do that.
 
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#25,468
IMG_9476.jpeg
 
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#25,471
Starthief said:
I think the different approaches and motivations people have is the reason why there's such a divide in what people recommend for gear. Sometimes when I look at other peoples' modular rigs it makes me itch. And in return, I drive them crazy by having exactly one dual VCA and four flagship digital VCOs and (gasp!) a DAW.
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@Starthief, is there a blog post or something you wrote where you lay out what you do in the DAW vs what you do in hardware? I'm experimenting with smaller setups for my year*-in-a-smaller-apartment-away-from-home and trying to figure things out.

In related news, I sold my Super 6 and while here in the US looking after family got an actual decent deal on a used Take 5. It only needed a little dusting. After the standard cursing period I got it set up with Bitwig (with a bit of help) and can now add an infinite number of mono envelopes, LFOs and other modulators to it. The sound suits me a lot more than the Super 6. Definitely in my honeymoon period, but it's my first "complete instrument" synth. Even though it's not full MPE, the basic tone is much more to my liking and after a few piano lessons I'm not going to play any wheedle-wheedle solos but can hit the notes I want. When I get home I'll try poly aftertouch with the Linnstrument. It's got 3 places to add distortion (all sound different), plus audio rate modulation possibilities from both LFOs, cycling envelopes and one of the oscillators. The interface is also more mature. A small screen, no shift functions, everything just does what it says it does. And I can also easily go around the guardrails by stacking modulations to the same destination. It's not "all sweet spot." Lesson learned.

* 10 months, plus two months with a tiny setup (probably just Linnstrument, knobs, computer/iPad).
 
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#25,472
JES said:
@Starthief, is there a blog post or something you wrote where you lay out what you do in the DAW vs what you do in hardware? I'm experimenting with smaller setups for my year*-in-a-smaller-apartment-away-from-home and trying to figure things out.

In related news, I sold my Super 6 and while here in the US looking after family got an actual decent deal on a used Take 5. It only needed a little dusting. After the standard cursing period I got it set up with Bitwig (with a bit of help) and can now add an infinite number of mono envelopes, LFOs and other modulators to it. The sound suits me a lot more than the Super 6. Definitely in my honeymoon period, but it's my first "complete instrument" synth. Even though it's not full MPE, the basic tone is much more to my liking and after a few piano lessons I'm not going to play any wheedle-wheedle solos but can hit the notes I want. When I get home I'll try poly aftertouch with the Linnstrument. It's got 3 places to add distortion (all sound different), plus audio rate modulation possibilities from both LFOs, cycling envelopes and one of the oscillators. The interface is also more mature. A small screen, no shift functions, everything just does what it says it does. And I can also easily go around the guardrails by stacking modulations to the same destination. It's not "all sweet spot." Lesson learned.

* 10 months, plus two months with a tiny setup (probably just Linnstrument, knobs, computer/iPad).
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Moving away from MTL?
 
#25,475
lordradish said:
8lbs, 2oz.
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I just mentioned this in another recent thread: Up until I joined TalkBass I had no idea weight was even a thing with basses (at least in terms of absolute numbers), I just had a rough sensation that "oh, this bass is conspicuously heavier/lighter than is typical" ...plus, until very recently I didn't even have a tool to weigh instruments. Yep, not even a bathroom scale in this house.

Anyhow, I preface with that to note that now that I finally do know exactly what all my basses weigh, I am both A) impresssed that a 5-string Stingray w/ HH pickups is only ~8lbs, and B) wondering if it was just pure luck that you found such a light instrument, or if you intentionally looked for certain specs that would ensure a light weight?
 
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#25,476
Bob_Ross said:
I just mentioned this in another recent thread: Up until I joined TalkBass I had no idea weight was even a thing with basses (at least in terms of absolute numbers), I just had a rough sensation that "oh, this bass is conspicuously heavier/lighter than is typical" ...plus, until very recently I didn't even have a tool to weigh instruments. Yep, not even a bathroom scale in this house.

Anyhow, I preface with that to note that now that I finally do know exactly what all my basses weigh, I am both A) impresssed that a 5-string Stingray w/ HH pickups is only ~8lbs, and B) wondering if it was just pure luck that you found such a light instrument, or if you intentionally looked for certain specs that would ensure a light weight?
Click to expand...
I didn't think of weight too much until I came to the realization that my old Stingray was 9lbs 4oz. I bought it as an alternative to my almost 11 pound Wal. Stambaugh 5 is just under 10. Bordwell 6 fretted is about 10.5, Bordwell 6 fretless is 9.6.When I read what other basses weigh, it really hit me... I have no light ones.

I'm 52 and I really notice it when standing up for a gig for 3 hours. Of course, I'm going to continue to play the hell out of all of those basses. But it's nice, as I get older and more injured as I inexplicably push harder in my cycling life, it's gonna be nice to have a truly light bass for once.

HOWEVER, the weights do wildly vary. There is currently on Sweetwater a purple 5h that is 7 pounds 14 oz. Then you look at other 5h's on there and they are 9lbs 14oz, or even 10. When I decided I was gonna upgrade, one of the caveats was that it HAD to be substantially lighter. I'm not shelling out almost 3k to just save 4 oz. So I waited and watched what they got in, and looked at the weights. They were going to hold a 5h for me in that color and then let me know what the weight is, but just for the hell of it today, I was on there checking weights, to see if anything new came in. When I saw they had the HH and it was that light, I couldn't pass on it. So if you do go EBMM, just remember that there are wild variances in weight across the same models, and not every dealer has or will give you specific weights.
 
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#25,479
To add to the weight thing... I should note, I am still utterly shocked I was able to get a 2-pickup one at that weight. I wasn't even considering them, based on weight alone. I'm glad I have it, though... more versatility and I think some more appropriate tones for jazz, which I've been playing a lot of (all of my non-ambient playing is jazz lately). I've also switched back to 5's for the jazz band because my soloing really sucks ass and sucky soloing sucks even more on a 6 string. More woodshedding needed on that one.

Was also surprised SW matched MF's price and threw in a set of straplocks, too.
 
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#25,480
lordradish said:
I'm 52 and I really notice it when standing up for a gig for 3 hours. ...[snip]... When I decided I was gonna upgrade, one of the caveats was that it HAD to be substantially lighter.
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I'm ~10 years older than you and I'm definitely starting to notice instrument weight during 2- and 3-hour gigs. Basses that previously felt perfectly comfortable during long sessions are now starting to bug my shoulder or back. While I'm not really in the market for a new bass, I am paying more attention to published instrument weight these days, and yeah, I won't consider anything that's heavier than what I currently own -- so there go my pipedreams for someday owning a Wal Mark I or an Alembic Series I -- and tbh I don't think I could seriously consider anything over 8lbs at this point.

steubig said:
fwiw, and i've probably mentioned this before, if you're really concerned about weight and ergonomics, headless is a really viable alternative.
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Yeah, my headless Steinberger L-2 is about 1 lb lighter than my next heaviest bass [edit: wait, no, my 8-string is only 0.13lbs heavier than the Steinberger...and that's got a full-sized headstock loaded w/ eight tuners!]

The thing that seems to make the biggest difference is hollow or chambered bodies: My Rob Allen MB-2 is 6.61lbs including the strap, and that's more than 2 lbs lighter than my next heaviest instrument. Only other bass I have that comes close is the Breedlove Acoustic (ABG).
 

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