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best bass for reggae
- Thread starter beaumcrunner
- Start date
You should make sure your husband likes Steinbergers before you buy one. They're not a bass for everybody.
For $400, you can't go wrong with a Fender. Fenders are the universal bass for every kind of music. But really, there are so many good basses in the $400 range these days that it's tough to go wrong as long as you stick with name brands like Fender, Yamaha, Ibanez, Hohner, Schecter, Spector, etc.
For $400, you can't go wrong with a Fender. Fenders are the universal bass for every kind of music. But really, there are so many good basses in the $400 range these days that it's tough to go wrong as long as you stick with name brands like Fender, Yamaha, Ibanez, Hohner, Schecter, Spector, etc.
- Jul 30, 2006
- 2,315
- 453
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist:Regenerate Guitar Works Carvin, Micheal Kelly Guitars
Well, I have some feedback on the Spector Legend. Mine is a 5'er but that shouldn't matter. They actually sound & play pretty darn good. I didn't like the volume pot it came with. It was either on or off. Not much graduation between the two. I ended up putting a set of active EMG pups & preamps in it & it sounds murder on recordings. I'm using DiAddario Chromes (flats) on it. I was shocked at the recording sound...excellent.
I'd strongly suggest that you either make sure you can return or exchange the bass you get, or take your husband with you to buy it (still a nice surprise!). Getting stuck with a bass he's not crazy about would take a lot of the fun out of it.
Reid
this guy gets an awesome reggae tone with a jazz bass
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=ALIONBASS
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=ALIONBASS
- Oct 17, 2006
- 731
- 21
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Aguilar Amplification, Dunlop/MXR
With playing reggae bass it's more about HOW you play it instead of WHAT you play. With that said, you're going to hear a lot of answers as to which bass you should buy for this genre and that genre but when it's all said and done, it's all in the hands.
+1000 on the p bass with flats or even roundwounds. It's a perfect deep hearty sound.
The great thing about reggae bass is that it's one of the only genres of music where you can (or should!!) be so far up in the mix and have so much space around your instrument, that everyone can hear that tone you have spent so much time working on.
I have 8 basses and I play reggae on all 8.
And they are all the best for reggae.
Some have flats, some steel, some nickel.
Several J's , several P's, a couple with soap bars, one single coil P.
Some are 5 string, some are 4 string.
They each generate a monster reggae tone when I play them...
And they are all the best for reggae.
Some have flats, some steel, some nickel.
Several J's , several P's, a couple with soap bars, one single coil P.
Some are 5 string, some are 4 string.
They each generate a monster reggae tone when I play them...
I play in a reggae band Link Removed
I have played mostly rock but funk and r&b/rap in the past.
The operative thing about which bass I chose (out of many) was the strings. I ended up choosing flatwounds, consequently I grab my TBC M that has nordstrand pickups and an aguilar preamp. But the bass part I believe is less important than the strings (except that the aguilar is definitely a better choice than the stock preamp.
In my rock band I play a Tobias Growler with roundwounds.
I have played mostly rock but funk and r&b/rap in the past.
The operative thing about which bass I chose (out of many) was the strings. I ended up choosing flatwounds, consequently I grab my TBC M that has nordstrand pickups and an aguilar preamp. But the bass part I believe is less important than the strings (except that the aguilar is definitely a better choice than the stock preamp.
In my rock band I play a Tobias Growler with roundwounds.
BurningSkies
CRAZY BALDHEAD
- Feb 20, 2005
- 27,956
- 20,348
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Dingwall Guitars
I've heard/seen Reggae which has been played by various instruments, from a Fender Jazz to a Fender P, to other brands- Ibanez, Yamaha, etc... it's all good. I'm not sure I've seen an electric bass that can't be used for Reggae. You'll find a bass that can be used for Reggae at Rondo Music. It's a fine place to look, and at those prices, hard to go wrong, particularly if you're just starting out on bass.
Good luck with it.
I'm sure you can get a nice Reggae sound out of one of those. I have the Sting Signature model which is very similar, but made in a different country, and it seems to do Reggae very well for me. As yours should for you.
Well I am very interested in reggae right now and I'm wondering if someone could even suggest an amp that would match up well with my bass and give me a good "reggae" sound..
I think a lot of amps can help give this kind of sound. I would just give a word of caution in that no bass amp you'll plug into will automatically give you "instant Reggae" as much of this is dependent on player and instrument before it gets to the amplification stage.
I don't think there's any one single wattage, speaker configuration or brand of amp that you can't get some good Reggae tone out of. Of course, I'm keeping the small 30 Watt 1 8-inch speaker kinds of practice amps out of the picture. I have gotten good Reggae tone out of a Hartke 140 Watt solid state combo with a 1 15 inch speaker, but this is not an endorsement of brand or config- just a baseline that may be helpful. I'm sure you can get great Reggae tones out of the Hartke's polar opposite- a huge all-tube SVT with 8 10s, as well.
I tend to think by and large, with Reggae, it's about the player and the approach, and not necessarily about which amp.
Check out your local store and see if you can get some good Reggae tones out of them. And it's fun to shop! At least for music toys...
HAHA... Yeah it was either Gus Hoffman or Anthony Dorion told me that you played in the band...
