beginner - equipment questions?

[qwerty123]

Hi everyone, hope you all had pleasant holidays. :]
So I recently became involved in a band as bass player and I'm quite clueless about equipment issues.
For example;
I'm interested in purchasing a stage tuner; any suggestions on some nice affordable ones?
Do floor tuners work better than... non-floor tuners?
Also, the head I've been provided with has two jacks: Active and Passive. What is the difference between these two?
And where would the tuner plug in?
What kind of equipment might I need in the future?
Any advice you could give a new kid like me is greatly appreciated. :]
Thanks!

 

[Davebass]

well, first of all you need a bass

but i supose youve sussed that out already

i use a boss tu-2 floor tuner, ive had it for quite a while now and it hasnt gone wrong once, so i would recommend that although it has a price tag that isnt very beginner.

the active input is for basses with active electronic aka a bass with a battery in it, and passive inputs are for those basses that dont have a battery in and have passive elctronics.

if your head has a tuner out jack then plug it in there (you dont have to but thats what i would do), if not then just put it between your bass and the amp

amp > pedal > bass

Hope that helps

all the best

Dave

 

[JimmyM]

Tuners...I use those $20 black Korg tuners and love them. Some people like rackmount tuners because you can see them easier, but I prefer the cheap stuff as long as it works well.

Active input vs. passive...the active input is usually turned down compared to the passive input. You don't have to use the active input on an active bass, BTW...I use a passive input on active basses all the time because I don't want a signal cut.

There is often a tuner out on most amps. If you don't have one, you can do what I do, and that's yank out the cord from the amp and plug it into your tuner real quick

If you have a bass and amp and tuner, that's all the equipment you need to gig, however, some people do like to plug effects up to it. I'd say if you're playing metal or hard rock, a distortion would be a cool thing to own.

 

[qwerty123]

thanks for your help guys! :]

 

[tjh]

tuners, I have run the gammit ... I have the inexpensive Korg mentioned, a slightly more expensive Boss (with metronome) and I just purchased a Peterson strobe tuner like I used to use back in the early 70's ... its amazing the difference in precision ... the Korg is the least precise, but just fine for most stuff, the Boss seems to be a little more consistent, and the Peterson is state of the art and very useful for setting intonation ... I do not use a tuner in line, so most of the timethe Boss sits on top the amp and I plug in and use when needed, although one of my heads has a tuner out jack, which I use that way ... an advantage of a floor mount is that you have 'mute' capability in case you want to tune during a set, or switch guitars ... the Boss TU-2 mentioned above is probably the most popular floor tuner, Peterson Strobo Stomp again state of the art, also acting as a DI ... then we can get into rack mount tuners ... enough said ... dont get hung up on gear as a newbie ... learn the tool ... a good bassist sounds good (if not better) on mediocre gear ... a mediocre bassist will sound mediocre at best on very good gear (me)... good luck