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bass who plays guitar

#22
by "big sound" do you mean like downtuned aggressive chugging wub wub metal? because there are some great sounding small amps that absolutely will not produce those kind of tones, and relatively few decent sounding small amps that will. my favorite small amp (that will not do chugg-metal tones) was a 1975 silverface fender princeton. i WISH i could have that back, and not just because it's now selling for 3x what i sold it for, but because it sounds phenomenal at low to moderate volume.
 
#23
I started playing pedal steel guitar a few years back. Steel players generally like REALLY clean tone. For home practice I use my standard Zum Steel Encore to Hilton VP and then to pedalboard. From their it's either into my Milkman Half and Half (a 300 watt Tube pre/ClassD hybrid with 15' speaker) turned waaaaay down or into headphones via my Zoom B1on. It depends on how early in the morning I'm practicing.

6 string with option for overdrive/dirt/etc is a different matter. When messing about with 6 string (Agile LP clone or Squire strat), or when having guitarist friends over to jam in my small music room, I simply plug the guitar into an old POD 2.0 which I run either into headphones or my Sunn Alpha 4 PA. For 20 year old tech, it has some impressive sounds, breaks up quite realistically and with so many knobs is easier to use than I expected. I picked up the POD 2.0 because it was only $50 bucks and I had already been given the original large floorboard which doesn't work with any later models.

If I wanted a budget home practice setup starting from scratch, I'd probably skip the 2.0 (hassle to interface with PC as it doesn't have a USB hookup and has no stereo audio input) and pick up whatever Pod XT, or PodX3 I could find locally for under a hundred bucks or maybe a Pocket Pod. Any of those would be an excellent headphone amp, a good recording interface (though I don't think the Pocket Pod is), a useful platform to put in front of whatever amp you want to play softly, and if you're so inclined, there's a whole world of tweaking you can do once you hook it to your computer.

There are alot of other devices that do similar things, but suffice to say I really think digital is the way to go if you really want quality amp breakup sound at very low volumes. Save your pennies for a good stage amp and let cheap digital devices do the work for you at home practice.
 
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#24
I use an H&K TM18 on the 5 watt setting through a 30watt Celstion voiced 1x12. My guitar is a Squire VM Parts-caster 72 Deluxe I put together, with Fender bridge, neck and tuners, Gibson Burstbuckers, CTS w/ trebel bleed and switchcraft controls.
s0TKTKB.jpg
 
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#25
Also a guitar player. I have a few different options. Got a bunch of different guitars (Gretsch 6120, PRS Singlecut, Tele, Ibanez Roadstar II….). When I’m home alone, I’ll often just play through my 1964 Gibson Falcon GA-19 RVT. Otherwise I’ll play through a Strymon Iridium or any range of guitar sims/plugins…eg Amplitube 5. I had considered the Line6 Helix at one point but never pulled the trigger on that.

I don’t gig anymore so no need for any more amp than I have now. I record a LOT so the Strymon or plugins are deployed for that.
 
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#27
I've played guitar as long as I've played bass, though I've found much more work as a bassist. My typical rig is a 04' Am std strat (replaced the bridge single with a duncan little 59), fender blues Jr, crybaby, and light overdrive pedal (used as much to push on the amp as it is for drive and color). Ive also got a 01' les Paul gold top, an ES137, and a 89" Charvel 475 Deluxe, but the strat is so light and easy to play that it gets the most playing time.
 
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#29
I don’t know what kind of sound you’re after, but I like any guitar through my Marshall 5005 Lead 12. Long out of production, but readily available on reverb; made in England, with a good 10” Celestion. One small solid state amp that can chug if that’s your thing. Lead 12s have served as secret weapons in studios for some time now.
 
#31
Started on guitar way back in the '60's, and never really gave up playing, but mostly at home. I have a fender Jazzmaster and a Dobro, that I play a lot, along with a Taylor Dreadnought.
 
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#32
I replaced my Blues Jr. with a Super Champ X2 head and 12" cab (very pleased with the tone). I also have an old VOX 30w Valvetronix in my studio that I still use (really sounds great for acoustic or 12 string). But the joke is that the amp I use the most is a VOX Mini 3 (3w) in my home office - I use a bit of spring reverb and the AC30 settings and it sounds great. I have a Trio+ pedal that use with it to practice. So go figure, it's easy and I don't have to go out to the studio.

VOX_Mini3.JPG
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#33
My parents started me on accordion at age 9 in 1961. I did that for a few years while also teaching myself piano (my brother's instrument) and moved to teaching myself guitar and bass at about the same time.

I stopped playing accordion and stuck with piano, guitar and bass (much to my parents chagrin).

My current guitars are:

Fender classical/electric CN-140SCE
Squier CV Duo Sonic

I used to use a '63 Fender Deluxe Reverb blackface but switched to playing through my bass amp. I used to use a MXR Phase 90 and Distortion+ but haven't used them for decades.

I can currently play only bass (but with some difficulty) due to a minor stroke three years ago that messed with my right side and made playing guitar and piano a thing of the past for me but I hope to return to them if my recovery permits.
 
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#34
I started, like many, with an acoustic 6 string. Played in many bands as the guitarist. Now a days I do not even have an electric or guitar amp. Still got an acoustic. If I were to get a guitar it would only be for recording reasons. Therefore a good multi-FX board in to a computer would be all I need. Not tone chasing so that would be all I need for basic tracks and a bit of fun.
 
#35
I started my music life on bass, moved to tenor sax, came back to bass + sax and started on guitar a little while back, love what playing other instruments does to my playing.
For low volume and great tone a VOX AC15 covers bluesy/rock/clean
and an Orange Dual Terror goes from clean to grungy.
Tubes are the tone,....emulators and solid state just does not cut it for me.
 
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#37
For guitar practice at home I use a cheesy little 15W Line 6 Spyder IV. I think it sounds great. Has the four buttons: Clean, Crunch, Metal & Insane (I mostly use the first two). I just use the default settings (I'm not really into effects, other than a bit of reverb and a touch of distortion). For recording I go out of the Spyder's headphone jack into an ART Studio V3 tube preamp and then into the mixer. Sounds great.

For live performances I use a little pedal board with a TC tuner and SansAmp GT2 into a Fishman Loudbox amp. The Fishman is small, loud, and does a great job of transparently amplifying whatever is fed into it, and has a Lo-Z line out to the mixer. That way, if I'm playing acoustic guitar I bypass the SansAmp, and if I'm playing electric guitar I engage the SansAmp. Very simple.

Guitars:
Line 6 Variax JTB-59
Fender Mexi Strat
Fender Acoustasonic Strat
Fender FA-235E Acoustic
 
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#39
I play mostly baritone guitar, and I'm not into distortion, just smooth, clean jazz tone. I get all I need from my regular bass amp, a Markbass Little Mark II, racked with a Sansamp RB1 and an old Korg digital reverb unit. The reverb is looped from the Sansamp, so to switch to bass I just punch the Sansamp out. For output I use either one of my EA Wizzy 12s or a passive Kustom 10" monitor wedge.
 
#40
I got rid of all my guitar amps (exccept a late 50s Gibson combo) a while ago. I still play guitar, but I don't gig on guitar so for the most part these days I just run a Fly Rig into my computer. It can sound like a cranked Marshall but at whatever volume I want.
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