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Bass rig for Praise and Worship

#21
I should add that I play at a few very large churches in my area (7-800 per service. 3 services usually).

When I get a call for a church I haven't played at, or if there is a sound man I haven't worked with, I always start with a "Fender" type bass.
I have a custom PJ 4 that is my go to church bass right now.
That's being said, I've used a lot of different types of basses. But if all else fails, a "Fender" will usually take care of the problem.

Take a listen. This is my standard tone.
 
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#24
"Contemporary Christian Music, or P&W is pretty well set on a "Fender" type sound.
Someone said it's "hi-if". I couldn't disagree more to be honest."

Says the person who plays an active sadowsky ;-) Fwiw, I was talking more about the amp than the bass. I've never seen a p&w bassist playing flats and a tube amp/fridge. It's always been a clear even tone, scooped if not flat, which to me is "hi fi" or modern, not vintage. I don't know exactly what the "Fender" type sound would be, since that runs anywhere from Jamerson to Greenday, to Geddy Lee, to Marcus Miller, etc.

Fwiw, from the basses the op mentions, I'd almost go with the squier dimension. I, personally, have quit using my jazz because even though the tone is perfect, the single-coils can make enough noise to be a problem.

I don't know, maybe flats wouldn't be so bad after all. I used flats for a couple months, and the low string noise, reduced overtones, etc. were probably easier to deal with, even if they were kind of muddy and boring.
 
#33
Korladis said:
Don't assume things about other people's relatives.
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Just saying that everything you are saying about the technology, used to amplify i.e. the tradition or it just ain't right, was made to counter the piano. The instrument that you have said should replace a bass since their is a shortage of organist and that argument was made a short 50 out of 3000 years before the priest, speakers and singers along with guitarist and other instrumentalists without a backing section to boost their volume had access to microphones, amplifiers and speaker systems to boost their volume in order to project the sound to an audience.
 
#34
We all go direct @ my church, no amps onstage & Iem's, Roland electronic drums. I love this setup! currently I'm using a Phil Jones bass buddy direct to house. It gives me my personal mix.. soon will be upgrading to either a millennia td-1, or the new Wayne Jones preamp. We are very blessed to have a pa that is overkill @ my church - congregation of 350-400 usually.. (around 25,000 watts, the headroom is heavenly :) with 18's under the stage & mains flown above. As far as basses, I currently use either My Modulus Q-5, Bossa Ob-5, or my Lej 5/24. Each bass has its own character- definitely all " hi-fi" & it works great for contemporary Christian music. A simple P bass w/rounds would suffice I'm sure, but I'm a fan of active-5'ers personally. Hopefully you will find a setup that works for you :) Gk makes some very nice sounding gear @ great prices, as well as the previously mentioned Tc electronic.
 
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#35
Korladis said:
Don't assume things about other people's relatives.
Click to expand...

Don't assume things about other people's gigs. This is a gear thread about people who play church gigs of a certain size, not a religious preference discussion thread.
 
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#37
I play at several churches and fill in for various Praise groups in the surrounding areas where I live. My main rig right now consists of 2 Warrior Custom 5 string basses and My Genzler 800 and 2 of the Genzler BA210-3 Bass arrays. Only one of the churches I help at regularly uses IEM's and I have taken just the Genzler 800 head using as a DI box and it killed it tonally. I've been playing christian music for over 10 years and I have the best setup I've ever had right now.
 
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#38
Here's my P&W setup. GK 550 fusion amp on a GK 212 NEO cab, set off-stage behind a curtain but pointing across the stage right to left. Then a pre-signal to the FOH for floor monitors, house, and sub. I use a Warwick Custom Shop Corvette $$ with two MM humbuckers on passive. (Bass can be active but it sounds better here passive.) Steel rounds, finger style, neck pup on single coil, bridge pup on parallel, and I get three different sounds by moving the balance. Bass and Treble do not work when in passive so it's a pretty clean bass tone I'm sending. For long sustains I use a compressor with 4:1 ratio, and I have a FDeck HPF set on 50 Hz to protect my cab. I do NOT get a straight Fender P-bass or J-bass sound but what I get us usable and my BL likes it. We have 3 guitars, full drum set and percussion set, mandolin, 4 lady singers, and most of us also sing. We could be loud but we're not. We're just praising and singing. Hope this helps you out.
 
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#39
I play three different basses equally often: 1) Sadowsky PJ, 2) Sadowsky fretless J, and 3) Fender Roscoe Beck 4. I choose among them depending on the songs we'll be playing that particular Sunday and which I have to be comfortable with for secular gigs that week.

My church can hold about 2000 or so, which it does on Christmas and Easter, with a couple hundred attending on the average Sunday.

My amp is either a Sadowsky SA200 tube amp or a Bergantino B|Amp into an SA410. I use both the direct sound of my amp and I DI into the system as well. I would describe my tone as an updated traditional tone; it's relatively flat with slightly more lo-mids. I'm happy to discuss setup with you, and you should feel free to PM me.
 
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#40
jowes said:
Dear All, I currently own a ESP LTD B10 guitar which is a passive precision type guitar. We have found the tone of the guitar to be quite unusable for the P&W genre. For instance, any amount of tweaking the settings in my Guitar and the HA2500 amplifier wouldn't get me the right tone for the song 'My Redeemer Lives'.
Click to expand...

Say more about what you're missing... and what you're looking for...

just FYI, I play in a smaller church and use the fretless Bee Bass in my avatar with a Genz Benz shuttle 9.0 head and a Genzler BA12-3 cab. We play a very wide variety of styles including "Praise & Worship" but also funk, gospel, ska, calypso, and even some traditional hymns on occasion.
 

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