A wide open P-bass is a lovely sound indeed, and the Jazz is nice that way, too. I don’t blame you!
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Bass Player Confessions
- Thread starter Heiwa
- Start date
A wide open P-bass is a lovely sound indeed, and the Jazz is nice that way, too. I don’t blame you!
I gave up on that notion about 20 years ago. I have boiled it down to "I like this bass" or "I don't like this bass" and there is no other justification required. I have over a dozen "dream worthy" basses.
D
First step is admitting the problem.
D
Should have at least worn a tube sock.
I once sat in with my older cousins' jazz group (read: they were real / pro jazzmen) playing a red Rickenbacker 4000. Eek.
I make up for you - I use 4 fingers and a thumb - on a 5 string. Huge hands are a big help sometimes
I occasionally use different speaker sizes in the same rig on a gig.
I ruined a really nice P bass trying to relic it and then repaint it, having never done either before.
The guitarist in my band was bee itching about my bass killing him due to volume on a night when my GK MB150e 112 was dying and was barely working at all. I told him my bass was not loud at all and he said; “it is on my side of the stage”.
The confession; I played the next two songs in a row with my bass OFF. Amp off, volume controls on the bass totally off. I just played my normal bass lines on my un-amplified solid body electric bass and sang my backup harmony parts.
Then I asked how it was & he said “still killing him”, so then I said, “my bass has been 100% off for the last two songs and it’s still too loud?” followed by an aggressive flamenco-type strum of all my bass strings to reiterate the fact that my bass was producing no amplified sound.
His reply was that it must have been coming through the mains (it 100% wasn’t & didn’t when I did the all-strings strum)
I pulled out an old Fishman preamp with a DI and played the rest of the night with no amp (I had IEMs before my amp died, which is another reason I knew I wasn’t too loud in the mains).
It just goes to show that when the guitarist is too loud even for him or herself, it’s still the bass is too loud (or sometimes the drummer!).
The confession; I played the next two songs in a row with my bass OFF. Amp off, volume controls on the bass totally off. I just played my normal bass lines on my un-amplified solid body electric bass and sang my backup harmony parts.
Then I asked how it was & he said “still killing him”, so then I said, “my bass has been 100% off for the last two songs and it’s still too loud?” followed by an aggressive flamenco-type strum of all my bass strings to reiterate the fact that my bass was producing no amplified sound.
His reply was that it must have been coming through the mains (it 100% wasn’t & didn’t when I did the all-strings strum)
I pulled out an old Fishman preamp with a DI and played the rest of the night with no amp (I had IEMs before my amp died, which is another reason I knew I wasn’t too loud in the mains).
It just goes to show that when the guitarist is too loud even for him or herself, it’s still the bass is too loud (or sometimes the drummer!).
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I did, but not till later on when Bootsy taught me that the Funk is on the one, baby.
Over the last 45 years I had exactly zero complaints about my tone. Soundmen love it because there is no mud to filter or balance out of the house mix. They get to add in as much low end as they need.
My first band in high school I had a cheapo amp I got from a pawn shop that I played with all knobs maxed out because it was the only way the audience could hear me over our painfully loud drummer and guitarist. Was a few more years until I realized volume was not tone.
When my guitarist isn’t looking I turn the bass knob way down on his amp. He is the type that finds a killer bedroom tone (smiley face with mids cut and lows/highs boosted to the max) and blasts that on stage.
Confessions eh? Hoo boy, here goes......
When I was a kid, I didn't really know the difference between bass and regular guitar, I could see they all looked different but thought they (all guitar players) were all playing the same thing just to make it louder to be heard over the drums. I liked Gene Simmons of Kiss because he looked cool ... I liked Ace and Paul too but knowing he (Gene) was the bass player? Nope.... for an 8 year old, Gene was both scary and cool
I am one of many failed guitarists that moved to play bass since the band needed one. I just evolved from there. In retrospect, I'm very glad it happened this way. I actually really love playing bass in a band setting and it really suits my personality.
I'm also a set it and forget it kind of guy, especially on Amps.... once it's set, I hate to touch it and dread the knobs getting moved around in the case/bag on a way to a gig or rehearsal knowing I might have to tweak it again and it won't sound "good" like it was before.
I have a fuzz and a DI pedal on my pedal board along with a tuner..... I have not used the fuzz or DI in several years, just the tuner but I'm too lazy to unplug everything and remove them. They are all powered with a power pedal and everything is cabled nice and neat and looks cool but yeah, the last few years, I just use the tuner pedal, haha.
I change bass strings all the time ( I know, bass players actually change strings? ) Even when they are not old and crusty, I just like to try new strings and actually find the process of changing them very satisfying for some reason.
When I was a kid, I didn't really know the difference between bass and regular guitar, I could see they all looked different but thought they (all guitar players) were all playing the same thing just to make it louder to be heard over the drums. I liked Gene Simmons of Kiss because he looked cool ... I liked Ace and Paul too but knowing he (Gene) was the bass player? Nope.... for an 8 year old, Gene was both scary and cool
I am one of many failed guitarists that moved to play bass since the band needed one. I just evolved from there. In retrospect, I'm very glad it happened this way. I actually really love playing bass in a band setting and it really suits my personality.
I'm also a set it and forget it kind of guy, especially on Amps.... once it's set, I hate to touch it and dread the knobs getting moved around in the case/bag on a way to a gig or rehearsal knowing I might have to tweak it again and it won't sound "good" like it was before.
I have a fuzz and a DI pedal on my pedal board along with a tuner..... I have not used the fuzz or DI in several years, just the tuner but I'm too lazy to unplug everything and remove them. They are all powered with a power pedal and everything is cabled nice and neat and looks cool but yeah, the last few years, I just use the tuner pedal, haha.
I change bass strings all the time ( I know, bass players actually change strings? ) Even when they are not old and crusty, I just like to try new strings and actually find the process of changing them very satisfying for some reason.
I have to confess that I also avoid touching any controls once I think they are set. Also, I started playing in the 80s, way before the internet and I never had any idea about setting up a bass. I would try different string gages and never touch my truss rod or intonation. As long as the action was ok I thought everything was good.
On my first gig, right after a painstaking sound check, I turned down the gain rather than hitting the mute button on my amp. And I hadn't taken a close enough look to know exactly where it was set.
I was too embarrassed to own up to my mistake (which would have been the right move), and got the gain close enough that nobody noticed, but it did not help my nerves
I was too embarrassed to own up to my mistake (which would have been the right move), and got the gain close enough that nobody noticed, but it did not help my nerves
The only thing I could think of is that I hardly ever tune my bass. With the graphite neck, it just doesn't go out of tune. When I built it 26 years ago, I never expected it to be so stable. Even the truss rod hasn't been touched since it was built.
Last gig of the year, just last night, I went: passive bass>tuner>amp. That's it. And....I liked it.....
My confession: I mostly play 4-strings, but also have a couple Fender Bass VI-style short-scale 6-strings (tuned E-e). Yet I have a weird aversion to 5-strings. Every time I see one, I can only think of the old 1980's SNL "Handi-Off" ad: Watch Saturday Night Live Clip: Handi-off - NBC.com.
