Bandmates and your basses

[darwin-bass]

A few gigs ago (church gigs) I had both my single-pickup MM and P basses, trying to give both some love. I started with the MM and switched to the P. Pastor told me afterword how he loved the sound of the black one (MM) and he was disappointed when I switched to the P.

The MM is my main bass because it is easier to hear in the mix.

 

[Thorsoundcore]

Guess I've been pretty lucky no one has been overly disappointed with any of my choices. However, I've only been in two bands I consider legitimate over 12+ years of playing.

First band was from about 10 years ago, when I was only rocking my trusty Yammy RBX and an Epi thunderbird through my then newly acquired Acoustic rig. Once they had already heard the RBX through one practice, and heard the thunderbird the following practice, they were sure to let me know the TB was their preference as it was more "punchy" or something of the like. Also, when I first started with this band I had no rig, so I was only running a low watt combo amp plugged into a PA type speaker (which probably did nothing, but ignorant 18 year old me probably thought it somehow made me louder ). I surprisingly received no complaints about this at the time though, until the one guitarist mentioned "we need to get you a real amp" which was just before I went shopping for my rig anyway.

Current band is a breeze as I've upgraded so much in the past decade. Have six basses at this point and aside from the newest addition, the remaining 5 have all been used during practice (including the RBX, the TB is long gone though). Everyone always has good input as far as my sound. BL (vocals/guitar) and other vocalist seem to like whatever I play. The drummer and other guitarist seem to like my Spector the best of all, but I came to the conclusion that the preference is mainly aesthetic as no one really mentions anything about tone.

 

[rollie 55]

Hello everyone.............Do any of your bandmates prefer any of your basses over a different one, that you play at gigs or practice? I've had a guitarist and a drummer both tell me how much they liked my Warwick Thumb and Sadowsky.
Any other bass I bring no comment either way.

my guitarist likes my G 4 M six string bass guess he likes the low b

 

[jeff62]

Hi jeff62



Only twice?



Get a Ric that can make pizza instead!


greetings

Wise(b)ass

Lol. Would you like some jam and butter with your toast.

They always love my tone... I just found it surprising on those specific occasions where their eyes popped. The Ric was described as the purest clearest bass they ever heard.

 

[selowitch]

The guys seem to prefer the punchy tone of my 2001 Music Man Stingray 5H and so do I. When I play it my right thumb is usually on the neck-side edge of the pickup where it sounds best to me. Unfortunately, that bass (with an ash body) weighs about 10.5 lbs, so playing standing up is a bit of a chore.

 

[milesdavisblue]

I still remember the rehearsal I brought out my Lakland 55-14. I had been using my P Bass. We played a couple tunes and the drummer tells me to that Lakland is the Bass to use.

 

[JimmyM]

In my band, I'm left to my own devices, but our singer, who doesn't have the standing to tell me what bass to play, always complains in a very irritating manner when I bring a hollowbody. He calls them my "weenie basses," and says he hates that "when you play a note, it goes thud, then it goes away." I told him that's why I love them, but the truth is he's right that a Fender or Fender-style works best for our band. So I usually bring my Hammersmith PJ. At least it shuts him up

 

[abarson]

My natural finish Tobias Growler was in the shop for a repair and I bought a black Silvertone Pbass copy 'cause it was $50 and I needed to play.
None of the band noticed and I was highly offended.

That was a number of years back. They now notice when I change my strings.

 

[Tony In Philly]

Unless a drummer is trying to stuff a Neil Peart size kit into a small corner, I'll never make too many comments to a drummer about my preferences for their kit configurations. I wish they had the same sense of discretion about basses. Trust me, they usually don't.

 

[jamro217]

Nah, I'm invisible.

 

[HolmeBass]

Nope. Quite the opposite. They always tell me that no matter what bass or rig I bring, I always sound like me. Sometimes it takes a little fun out of new gear day.

Which version of me I sound like tonight is pretty much exclusively for my own enjoyment.

I mean they try. We’re releasing an album soon. On one moody slow song called Chasing Dragons I went with a subtle chorus sound in the verses, and clean on the choruses. The singer/writer didn’t notice the chorus at all. The guitarist, who is also an excellent bassist, noticed the chorus, and like it, but didn’t notice that I was turning it off during the chorus. And this is after listening to different mixes, song orders, etc., we each probably listened to these recordings over 100 times.

I think they’re happy when the bass isn’t too loud, but basically sounds and feels right. Then when they feel they need not worry over the bass and drum parts, they focus on other things (i.e. themselves!)

 

[Bunk McNulty]

This one is easy: Everybody--band members, studio engineers, my little sister--loved this bass. It did have a great big sound, but for me it was seriously ergonomically incorrect. So it went away. My current BL called it the School Bus bass. (Note California Series P/J...now that was an awesome bass. Why on earth did I part with it? I'm sure I had a good reason at the time. )

 

[jamro217]

I had an old bandmate get really ticked off when I showed up to practice with a Rickenbacker.

Yeah, those old cowboys can be touchy sometimes, Pardner.

 

[57pbass]

Usually not an issue with my basses but surprisingly they were not happy when I used my Barefaced Super Twin Cabinet.
They all said the cab wasn’t focused and they couldn’t hear the articulated notes. I agreed and promptly sold the cabinet.

 

[jasper383]

Rob Allen Mouse always gets positive marks from band members. They don't expect a great upright sound from something that looks like a Tele.

P Basses and Jack Casady Epiphone gets good reviews, too. Punches through the mix pleasingly.

 

[Alexander]

Anything but an old Fender and Ampeg get me a dose of stink-eye from our guitar player. I’m in an old school Americana and Blues band so that just works.

 

[alaskaleftybass]

All my basses are Ibanez and I have kind of a signature sound (at least I think so) so no one ever complains about which bass I use. I did bring an SR1200L to a gig and the guitarist acted like I brought in Elvis for the show. I ended up selling the SR1200L because it had neck dive and sounded too radically different from my other Ibby's.

 

[selowitch]

Anything but an old Fender and Ampeg get me a dose of stink-eye from our guitar player. I’m in an old school Americana and Blues band so that just works.

Is it strung with flats?

 

[frnjplayer]

I've been told that my band would prefer it if I didn't bring my fretless. Can't understand why.

 

[ProgressiveDoom]

My band never mentioned anything about tone when using my modded Squier precision but when I switched to the Thunderbird it was then that they voiced there feeling on what a great tone my precision had. I tried a few different basses like Washburn Delta King, Fender Jazz and a modded Chickenbacker to find a tone that suited the band best and the precision won them over every time. Now Im using a G&L L-2500 and we all agree that is the finest tone we have ever had. Playing through a Traynor Monoblock or my Traynor Dynabass 300H