I am in the market for a versatile bass for jazz,gospel and funk. Alot of gospel stuff like Fred Hammond, Kirk Franklin genre as well as SHOUT. Any ideas on what my choices are? very much appreciated. 5 OR 6 strings. Are bolt-ons better for gospel than neck throughs?
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BEST BASSES FOR CONTEMPORARY GOSPEL
- Thread starter holuoch
- Start date
Nice way of putting it.:scowl:
holuoch, knowing your budget would help us make some recommendations.
Neck through or bolt on are really your personal preference. The church I go to plays a lot of urban gospel stuff, even though we are a small church in a whitebread town in Arkansas. Our Pastor is also our worship leader, and a formidable pianist. He likes to do hymns with a blues feel, playing harmonica while comping on piano, and all of our more modern stuff is very urban influenced. I have used bolt on, hybrid, and neck through, and all have worked equally well IMO.
A good starting place is a used Peavey Cirrus. They won't break the bank, you can usually get one for around ~$900 - $1100 in our Classifieds or on Ebay, depending on the woods.
As prices go up, things like Roscoe, Zon, Nordstrand, Sadowsky, MTD, Dingwall, Ken Smith, and Fodera work very well, but there are a lot of other brands I haven't mentioned that do the job.
I primarily play a Nordstrand SC5 (hybrid), but also play a Cirrus (neck through), a Zon (fretless bolt on) and Lakland Skyline (bolt on), and they all do the job well.
For low budget, I'd say an american peavey cirrus, very good quality instrument and a tone really close to one of the leading brand in gospel: Ken Smith.
If money is not a problem, I would suggest A Ken Smith or a MTD.
These 2 brands are leading the bass in gospel.
A fender jazz bass is also a good choice (a 5 string because in many gospel settings, you need a low b)
If money is not a problem, I would suggest A Ken Smith or a MTD.
These 2 brands are leading the bass in gospel.
A fender jazz bass is also a good choice (a 5 string because in many gospel settings, you need a low b)
It's hard to recommend a bass for a specific genre esp. an umbrella like contemporary gospel. I play contemp. and traditional gospel almost exclusively and it is more of what kind of character you want to bring to the music. One suggestion is to get a versatile, non mid shy bass that is comfortable to you. I've played a Squire, 2 rogues, Alvarez, and now a modded neck thru Brice Z6 and they have all worked in the genre. Some basses of my fellow bassist in the area are; Fender Jazz 5, 5 string Music Man, Conklin GT7, RWG 6 string, Rogue 5 string, Lakland, MTD, Ibanez, etc. and they all sound great in the gospel arena. If you check out the thread "Urban gospel bassist whats your setup" thread you will see the wide variations of player preferences. So its really about what you favor.
I personally use the Stingray and Jaguar for my CCM services. I use either one of them depends on the style of the music.
I play a Knuckle Quake string 39" scale detuned to A. Most of the southern gospel songs that I play are in the key of Eflat or Aflat. Having the notes on the first fret all a half step below standard tuning makes playing in those keys easy
photos please my good man!
I'd have to say this bass would be a good choice for praise music...If I was playing this beast, I'd be saying "Jesus Christ" while trying to stretch into every position!
photos please!
Believe it or not playing it isn't anymore difficult than playing any of my other 34" basses. Here are a couple of pics
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I've played quite a few different brands but the growing standard seems to be MTD and Ken Smith. Fender 5's are widely used in the Chicago area too. One thing I do know is that 4 strings wont cut it for me, lots of Gospel players really utilise that low B.
+1 on the Cirrus.
And as said earlier, Smith or MTD if budget is no problem.
It's hard to beat a used Cirrus for the $. They sound great!
And as said earlier, Smith or MTD if budget is no problem.
It's hard to beat a used Cirrus for the $. They sound great!
If you're on a low budget maybe the Cort/Elrick JP5 or RB5 might work for you? I'm really tempted to upgrade to one of these after I read all the highly positive reviews on the board.
What I Think:
- Ken Smith (bolt on or neck thru)
- Roscoe (fretted or fretless)
- Peavey Cirrus
- MTD 535 or 635
- Fender Jazz 5
- Musicman Stingray 5
I'd suggest playing around with as many of those as possible before making a purchase decision. There are others like various Ibanez and Yamaha basses that I'm just not too familiar with that can also probably do the job. But since you specifically speak of the Fred Hammond / Kirk Franklin type of sound, consider that Fred used / uses Ken Smith and Fender, Maurice Fitzgerald uses Fender, MTD, and something else I can't recall (Warwick?), and when he was with Fred Hammond, Terrance Palmer used Peavey Cirrus. Now he uses Pavel.
What I Play:
- Alembic neck thrus
- Roscoe fretless (bolt on)
- Devon 5 string J bass clone (bolt on)
- Fender Jazz 4 string
- Marchlewski 5 string neck thru
I really do just play what I feel like playing at service that week and my sound is my sound. Sometimes I tailor it to a particular song. If we're doing a lot of slow moving ballad-type stuff, I take the Roscoe fretless. But I'll also use that for walking patterns, fast or slow. I strongly prefer 5 strings. I bounce back and forth between neck thrus and bolt-ons from week to week, so I clearly see no tonal advantage there.
Peace,
James
My brother-in-law's Tobias killer B 5 string does a really good job. The MTD he is about to buy sounds even better, though. We also have a Warwick thumb that is just ok, IMO. Hard to say, we are running direct into the P.A. and they have all the low end in just the subs, and all the high's EQ'd out. Old folks :scowl:...
But, what I said still applies as we do play live through better equipment...
But, what I said still applies as we do play live through better equipment...
I still don't get the 'genre specific' basses thing. Honestly, how many folks can afford an MTD or Smith? Especially young cats starting out?! I say find a bass in your actual price range (unless you got it like that) and play them all and choose whichever sounds good to you and is comfortable enough for you. True, there are a lot of MTD's and Smith's out there but it's sort of 'well "enter name here" plays one so I must have it. I see quite a lot of other brands. There are a ton of Laklands, Yamaha's and Ibanez' out there. Fenders and Stingrays too.
Word... My Fender Precision Lyte will go toe to toe with the Tobias and Warwick that I or one of the other bass players use. I just don't use it much because the 5th string on those other two is so handy for so much of what we play, as was mentioned in a similar thread.
I'd suggest anything with a rich low register tone that has a warm growl. It's a very smooth and tasty sound, and I think that characterizes the gospel attitude, while being sufficient for jazz and funk.
Wow!! Thank you guys for the replies. I am going to check out Peavey Cirrus 6 and an MTD. I think Ken Smith is over priced for my budget which is 2K. Now What is th best rig value for money, assuming I get a Peavey Cirrus 6 . My church is probably 200 people on any give sunday that comfortably fit the hall, no much extra space left. Probably 40ftX40ft.
